Kanela Breakfast Club

For our first breakfast of the new year, Talitha and I visited Kanela Breakfast Club in Lakeview. It's a cute place with exposed brick, chocolate brown hues, and classy chandeliers. We ordered the Stuffed French Toast with maple whipped ricotta, walnut streusel, and apple cinnamon chutney and the Lorraine Scramble with peppered bacon, gruyere cheese, charred scalions, and carmelized onions. Delicious!

Treat Yo Self

Do you guys watch Parks and Recreation? It's one of the few shows I watch each week and I love this episode of Tom and Donna's day of pampering. I'm proposing a 2012 Treat Yo Self day. Who's with me?

Food Lover's Cleanse

One of my 2012 goals is to eat better and I've been tossing around the idea of trying different cleanses and diets. I've had a hard time getting excited about any of the diets I've come across until now. The Bon Appetit's 2012 Food Lover's Cleanse is a 2 week healthy cooking challenge. They provide you with a shopping list and menus for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and dessert. I'm excited to give this a try!

Good Reads...2011 edition

Photo via {Chicago Tribune}

Best and Worst Films of 2011.

100 Notable Books of 2011.

The Top 10 Top 10 Lists of 2011.

The story of a year through an excellent playlist.

Chicago Tribune 2011 Pictures of the Year.

Take Me Somewhere

This husband and wife duo bought a 30-foot sailboat and set out for a yearlong tour of the Eastern Seaboard. I think that is incredibly romantic and this song has me itching to take off somewhere on an adventure.

Kitsch'n on Roscoe

Before the holiday craziness, Talitha and I had breakfast at Kitsch'n on Roscoe, a cute retro diner in Roscoe Village. They serve classic comfort food with a little twist. We had the kitsch'n chilaquiles and coconut crusted french toast. The chilaquiles were so delicious, by the time I got to the french toast, I was too stuffed to fully enjoy them.

We have a lot of breakfast spots on our list for this year and I'm looking forward to exploring the city and feeding my belly one breakfast at a time.

2012 goals

Via {Design Crush}

I've never been one to make resolutions but this year I wanted to make a list of things to accomplish in 2012. Some are big, some are small but all are totally do-able. Here's to hoping I can cross more items off this list than my semi-successful 28 before 28 list!

1. Eat better (without sacrificing my weekly breakfast dates with Talitha).
2. Complete Suzuki Violin Book 7 training.
3. Schedule a photo shoot for Magnolia Strings.
4. Complete Orff training.
5. Complete Pilates Mat training.
6. Buy an iPad.
7. Pay off 1/2 of debt.
8. Learn to play the Ukulele.*
9. Throw an Academy Awards Party and actually watch all the Best Picture Nominees.*
10. Take a photography class.
11. Learn how to actually manage a blog.
12. Resurrect my sewing machine.
13. Run a 1/2 marathon (or maybe just the Shamrock Shuffle again.)
14. Declutter my apartment.
15. Start a dinner club.
16. Dance...in tap class, in zumba, around the apartment...just dance.
17. Volunteer at the animal shelter.
18. Ride bike in Chicago (Christine, I'm counting on you to help me with this one.)
19. Improve my Spanish speaking skills.
20. Go on a vacation.
21. Go to a Bulls game.
22. Use my Cross Country skis
23. See a movie in a theater once in a while.*
24. Try a spin class.
25. Go to a summer music festival in Chicago.

 *Notes:

#8- I'm still learning!

#9- Party, check. Movies, 2 down 7 to go.

#23- The Artist