Neighborhood Tour & Giveaway Winner!

(Hi friends.  Before I begin, I have a small favor.  My husband is a super hard little worker bee, and he created a commercial/video for a contest.  Would you mind voting for him here?  It's on the Facebook.  I would really appreciate it.  You see, he worked on this independently, and a lot of the other entries were created by 5,6, even 10 people.  


If you do help us out, be sure to actually vote.  You cannot just "like" the video.  And, it's VIDEO #9!   Here it is if you actually want to watch it!  THANK YOU!!!!!!)




A few weeks ago, my dear friend/sorority sister Jill (Hi, Jilly!) asked if I would be interested in volunteering on Monday nights to play bingo with senior citizens.  Umm, YES PLEASE.  I jumped at the chance (because secretly, there is a 75 year old woman deep inside of me) and have really enjoyed myself ever since.  Last week, we were making conversation with the bingo "caller" (who is hilarious) and he asked if I lived in the neighborhood.  When I replied that I lived in River North, he said, "You might be the first person I know who actually LIVES in River North."  I laughed, because I knew exactly what he meant.  River North might be the equivalent of New York's Times Square.  It's filled with restaurants, tourists, hotels, and more tourists.  My husband and I certainly didn't set out to live here, but an opportunity presented itself and we took advantage.   So, I thought it might be fun to take you on a little neighborhood tour.  We certainly won't live here forever, so I wanted to document the joys (and pains) of living in River North while I'm still here.


(To be perfectly honest, I REALLY set out in search of food because I hadn't eaten all morning and I really wanted to try this organic cafe, but since I've been kind of a disappointment of a blogger lately, I figured I'd take the camera along.)


So, when I walk out of my front door, I see this:

And this.  Let's be real.  My husband and I eat more Subway than Jared.

My "driveway" (a.k.a. the parking lot):

My "garage".  Don't worry, we aren't allowed to park our own cars.

River North is really known for two things.  Hotels and steak houses (Harry Caray's, seen below, totally rocks).  Seriously.  I am surrounded on all sides by tourists and slabs of meat.  

My "neighbor", across the street.  A Vietnam veterans memorial.

The underbelly of Michigan Avenue!

The River North "Axis of Evil".

(Seriously.  Trying to drive among these three things = sheer disaster.  But it has to be done.)


Is your neighborhood known for anything special?

And, I totally didn't forget!  The winner of the Stella & Dot giveaway is...

Krystal of "Krystal's Kitsch"!  

Congrats, girl!  Please send me your contact info: perfectcompilationtape@gmail.com  Thank you SO much to everyone who entered.  Your support really means a lot.  Also, I hit 300 readers, so look for another giveaway soon!  Special thanks to Gretchen, our Stella & Dot hostess, for sponsoring the giveaway!