• Fun in Chicago,  Review

    Chatting With Katie Cazorla About Nail Files Season 2!

    I had so much fun on Wednesday. I know, you’re all like, “You seem to have fun all the time, Melisa! Geez!” Or something like that. But for real, I had so much fun on Wednesday because I got the opportunity to interview Katie Cazorla, owner of The Painted Nail salon in Los Angeles and the star of “Nail Files”, a reality tv show on the TV Guide network. When I received an invitation to interview Katie during her media tour stop in Chicago this week (to promote the second season of “Nail Files”), I couldn’t believe what a great fit this was. They approached me because of my blog,…

  • Favorite Things,  Fun in Chicago,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  My Friends Have Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments

    #BBSummit12 In A Nutshell

    After nearly a year of planning meetings, brainstorming sessions, countless emails, thousands of name badges (okay, 160 of ’em), and excessive sweating, the 2012 Brands and Bloggers Summit (#BBSummit12) came and went this past Saturday. After all the work that I put in alongside my Social RevUp partners MJ Tam and Dwana De LaCerna, I was looking forward to the beginning of the day just as much as I was looking forward to the end of the day (7:00 to be specific, which was the starting time of the after party). My brain is still swimming but I wanted to give you a recap of my favorite parts of #BBSummit12…

  • Food,  Fun in Chicago,  Review

    Vienna Beef = Hot Dog Heaven

    I really don’t even know where to start. I was invited to the Vienna Beef Headquarters and Factory Store to be in the small (miniscule, actually: there were about eight of us!) blogger audience for a broadcasting of Chicagonista Live, with my Social RevUp partner MJ Tam, BBRadio hostess Beth Rosen, and the other two CL ladies, Nancy Loo (Big Tiny) and Duong Sheehan. The experience was set up to be really fun: we would meet some of the folks from Vienna Beef while enjoying some Chicago hot dogs (THE Chicago hot dogs, actually: Vienna Beef hot dogs were first introduced at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, otherwise known as…

  • Fun in Chicago,  Review

    Glade® Expressions™ Collection: It’s All About Being #Happiair!

    I have a sensitive nose. This is a blessing and a curse. While I can smell a field of beautiful, purple lavender from a mile away, I can also tell when our kitchen trash needs to be taken out immediately because something in it is thisclose to spoiling and making an icky, bad smell waft through my house like a fast-moving thunderstorm. Trash cans aside, I love when my–or any–space smells nice. I am the person your realtor warned you about, the one who will look more kindly upon your newly-listed house if you bake cookies just before my walk-through. The smell of a new car makes me smile. I…

  • Food,  Friends,  Fun in Chicago,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  My Friends Have Mad Skillz,  My Sister Has Mad Skillz

    Chicago Food Swap: Almost Like Hanukkah!

    Yesterday my sister and I drove to Forest Park so we could participate in the Chicago Food Swap. It was the second swap that co-organizers Vanessa and Emily have put on so far, but my first time going. Sadly, I missed the first one due to having other plans. I’ve been looking forward to this one for two months. Great news: it was fabulous! We had a great time. The way a food swap works (apparently this is huge in Los Angeles, by the way) is that everyone brings home-grown or homemade items, packaged so that people can pick them up and look at them. When you sign in, you…