All posts by Ashley

Dating

Dating: A Stairway in the Dark

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I liken dating to a stairway in the dark.

When you meet someone new, you walk into a dark, unknown space. You don’t know what to expect. You don’t know what’s inside. Eventually, you find stairs and you start to climb. The higher you climb, the more the excitement builds.

Sometimes the stairs end after one single step – a few words exchanged on a dating app – and you tumble over. It isn’t far, so it’s not a giant crash. You aren’t bruised at all.

Sometimes the stairs end after one story – a first date followed quickly by a ghosting – and you topple off the top of the steps. It hurts a bit, but you’ve been there before. Brush yourself off, walk out the door, ready for the next guy.

Sometimes the stairs are three stories high – a month or two of dating and then poof! When the relationship ends, the stairs end. You can never see where they’ll stop, but you can feel the fall. And this time it hurts. A lot.

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#RestaurantforTwo, Chicago

Restaurant for Two: Knife

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Restaurant for Two: a feature where I bring a friend to a restaurant and we write a review together. This time around, I joined a group of fellow writers for lunch at Knife. 

Knife, located in Lincoln Square, offers guests contemporary twists on traditional steakhouse offerings. “We want to take the essence of a classic dish and re-create it in a unique way,” said Executive Chef Timothy Cottini. Under Cottini’s purview, both Knife and its sister Lincoln Square restaurant, Fork, use ingredients that are quality, locally-sourced, and seasonal.

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Below is a list of the dishes I tried at Knife. While it’s a small smattering of the many sophistically-prepared options on the menu, I highly recommend everything I ate. Since the dishes were also visually stunning, this review is more of a photo journal of the meal than I usual do. While more expensive than my usual fare, the quality is apparent and the taste is on-point.

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Dating, Travel

Filling the Void in my Heart

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The literal female human heart weighs only 8 ounces, a mere .3% of the average female’s body weight. The figurative heart, though, makes up a much larger percentage of a female.

When I think about my life and the things I love most, my figurative heart is nearly full of contentment, happiness, and pride. I’d say my happiness level is at a steady 90%. With work, hobbies, volunteering, teaching yoga, and seeing family + friends, my general daily life is pretty darn great. And while I’d love to focus on these positives – hell, 90% is fantastic – I regularly lament that 10%.

Until only recently did I think that void could be filled solely with a loving partner and a family. Actually, it wasn’t until I started to formulate my ideas for this blog post that I fully realized I’ve previously filled that 10% and even brimmed over it on many, many occasions. Sometimes these moments are fleeting, including my “I love Hong Kong moments” and my “I love Chicago moments“, and sometimes they’re longer: when I’ve been in love and when I’m traveling. Also, now that I’m back from Hong Kong, whenever I see my friends from there, watch videos, or read articles about it, I am teeming with an overflowing love and gratitude for my years there.

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Travel

Southeast New Mexico

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Full of kitsch and small town charm, my friend, Karen, and I took a 4-day trip to Southeast New Mexico, including Roswell & Carlsbad Caverns.

Full of all sorts of information, stop at the Roswell Visitor’s Center before you head off on your Southeast New Mexico adventure. Renting a car is a must to get around the spread-out region.

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Living Life and Yoga, Too

Goodbye Western Medicine; Hello Eastern!

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In early winter 2014, my right wrist and hand started aching at the end of every day. After typing on a computer for 7.5 hours, I’d go home to Facebook, probably some sort of dating app where you either swipe left or right 100 times in 5 minutes, and Instagram. My hand would fatigue easily, making it hard to write with a pen or even cut up a piece of chicken. It was painful to play volleyball, and most devastatingly, yoga was nearly impossible.

The year previous I’d had intense headaches to the point of not being able to concentrate at work. At that time, I’d gone to see more than a half-dozen doctors within as many months and spent a good chunk of change. (I chronicled my situation in 2013 here and then again in 2014 here.) Eventually, an orthopedist specializing in the neck found out that I had a fusion in my cervical spine causing a lot of neck muscle tension. After multiple months of physical therapy, I was feeling better.

Were the wrist and hand pains related to my neck malady? Onto another quest I went, seeing more than another half-dozen doctors:

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Chicago, Travel

24 Hours in Chicago: Near Southside

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Whether you’re stopping through Chicago on a long layover or driving through on the way to a nearby state, there will definitely be more than enough to keep you busy. Below is a list of how to have a rockin’ time in the Windy City for 24 hours with options depending on what you want to get out of your experience. Despite choosing some touristy things you just can’t miss, I’ve also added a resident-twist to it. 

This post features the Near Southside of Chicago, including Northerly Island, Chinatown, Pilsen and Douglas Park. Public transportation is not as easy to get around here, so rent a car or Divvy bike, use the CTA bus system or make Uber your bestie. This post is the 2nd part in a series about spending one day in Chicago; the first was a post on the Loop & River North.

Morning

Breakfast + Walk

Northerly Island – One of the newest parks in the city, Northerly Island features 91 acres of grass, flowers and trees – a real commodity in the urbanity of Chicago. Pop into a grocery store before you arrive to pick up breakfast items for a picnic on the lawn. Enjoy a stroll along the nature path, walk north along the waterfront or drink in views of the boats and skyline along the marina-front path.

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