Erykah Badu #mywinningstory

Thanks to the Illinois Lottery, I was given two VIP tickets to see Erykah Badu at the Taste of Chicago. If you follow my social media, you may have seen a few photos pop up on Thursday and Friday about this night. And, oh what a night it was! 

The Illinois Lottery has an "Anythings Possible" series where winners are asked to submit their winning stories. Head over to the website and check what all the winners have to say! And don't forget to tag #IllinoisLottery and #mywinningstory to be featured on the websites rolling photo gallery! 

So here is my winning story:

I invited a fellow mommy friend, and we headed downtown in our "black SUV" Uber. I mean, a night in style deserves traveling in style, no? 

As soon as we arrived, we were excited to find that our seats were literally right next to the stage! There was a tent with when you first walked in with tables, southwest dinner food (buffet style), refreshments, and passed light bits. Once outside the tent there were more tables set up as a lounge area, complete with citronella candles to keep the bugs away. The last area was right next to the rail. There were seats for all of us as well as standing room very close if you wanted to go up! Here are some photos from my night: 

Link: 

I mean, look how close we are! Myself and Lindsay took full advantage of the VIP view and rocked out to the opening band. It's never too early to dance, is it? We even watched Ms. Badu walk from her car to the stage right in front of us. What a fun experience this night was! 

By the time Erykah stated playing the crowd was full of energy and ready to dance and sing. She came out with feathers around her neck, ready to put on a heck of a show. And how could you not, look how many camera's (including mine) were on her (check out the second photo below)! That has to be so much more pressure then just preforming. This is all being documented , her every move, every note she sang, but she seemed unfazed and sung her heart out. It was one great performance! 

Have you ever won the Illinois Lottery (or any lottery at that)? Submit your winning story or let's chat in my comments section below! 

Recipe: Gluten Free Breakfast Bites

I was recently introduced to a new recipe via Kidstir. If your family is like mine, we are always looking for fun new breakfast foods to try and this one was too good to pass up. In true "us" fashion, we tweaked it a bit to fit our tastes and dietary needs.

Here is what you will  need:

2 bananas

2 tablespoons honey, yogurt, or seed/nut butter of your choice (we used organic peanut butter)

1/2 cup apple crunches

1/2 cup cereal or granola

popsicle sticks (we used straws that I cut!)

1) Peel each banana. Cut off the end and lay them flat on a plate or cutting board.

2) Use a knife to spread a thin coat of the peanut butter (or whatever you want to use) on all sides of the banana.

3) Use a rolling pin to crush the apple crunchies and cereal in Ziploc bags. Pour the crumbs onto a plate.

4) Sprinkle a topping over each banana, rolling it so all sides are coated.

5) Cut the bananas into bite-size pieces. Add popsicle stickes or in our case, straws into the top of each and serve! 

My kids are obsessed with these and honestly, so am I! They were fun and easy to make with the kids help and everyone really loved them.

What are your favorite breakfast treats? Have you ever tired something like this recipe before?

Great Food & Summer Fun (Plus a Giveaway!)

A few weeks ago I was invited to spend my lunch in Barrington at Meatheads. I brought my daughter with me, met other amazing bloggers and their kids, and heard all about Meatheads Voracious Reading Program. Plus as an added bonus I got to enjoy a darn good burger and milkshake. You guys, the food is so good! When I saw they had a drive through and kids menu, I was thinking this was another fast food place. Nope! No ingredients are ever frozen (except for the ice cream used in their shakes) and their fries are fresh cut daily!  I mean, fast food that is fresh and tastes amazing AND they help out the community? That is something worth sharing with you! 

Here are a few photos from the event: 

I was so excited to see a familiar face! What a small world to run into Cheryl of All Dressed Up with Nothing to Drink. This event was about an hour away from where I would normally run into her, so it was a good surprise!  

Meatheads is not only all about community & helping to get our kids excited to read all summer long, they are also hosting tons of events! Check here to find out what's going on in your area. I know my family will be going to a few of these!

It's not just about the Voracious Reading Program though, look what else they are up too:

●      Community Programs include:

○      The Meathead of the Month - recognizes local, high school athletes each month

○      Voracious Reading Program - encouraging kids to read more in the summer and hosting summer reading events at all of its locations

■      Meatheads rewards kids who read 5 books over the summer with a Lil’ Meathead burger

■      Voracious Readers Parties throughout the summer (FREE) with special guest authors, bookstores, libraries etc to promote reading! (more information here) 

■      Special opportunities to win $50 Meatheads giftcard and 4 tickets to the Shed all summer long 

■      Excellent Pinterest page lists recommended books and includes a Book of the Day!

○      Meathead of The Game - Meatheads celebrates young athletes in organized sports who choose to participate in real games.

Here is some more info about Meatheads:

●      Meatheads is a fast-casual, family restaurant that provides a full-service made-to-order dining experience serving high-quality, fresh, never-frozen ingredients.

●      Founded in 2007, Meatheads now has 16 Chicagoland area locations: Barrington, Bloomington, Champaign, Elmhurst, Frankfort, Glen Ellyn, Lincolnwood, Munster, Naperville, Normal, Northbrook, Oak Lawn, Roscoe Village, Schaumburg, Schereville IN and Willowbrook. Meatheads will open a locationin Lake Bluff this summer..

●      CEO/Founder Tom Jednorowicz has 20+ years experience building early stage, high-growth concepts. Prior to founding Meatheads, Tom was Chief Development Officer at Potbelly, where he led the company’s rapid expansion. With Meatheads, he wanted to create a ‘contemporary nostalgic’, family atmosphere at Meatheads.

●      Take Care Policy: The culture at Meatheads helps build brand loyalty with the customers, community and employees for many reasons, including the ‘Take Care Policy’: Take Care of the Customer, Take Care of the Restaurant and Take Care of Each Other.

Have you ever eaten at Meatheads? What are your thoughts on their food and all the different community programs? 

Now for the Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ladies Who Lunch: Lake & Country Magazine

I was among the four bloggers highlighted in the Spring issue of  Lake & Country magazine. For those of you who are not familiar, Lake & Country is a Wisconsin's only property and lifestyle magazine featuring homes, condos, vacant land and commercial opportunities available for sale in Walworth, Racine, Kenosha and Waukesha Counties.

We took part in two photo shoots, the first at the home of the beautiful (inside and out) Sophia complete with floral arrangements from Lily Pots. She had everything set up beautifully and cleared out her main room for us to take photos an videos in. 

Here are some shots from both the shoot and the behind the scenes fun. All photos below were taken by the very talented Anna of Anna Urban Photography. 

I was joined by the very beautiful and talented Lauren, Elizabeth, and Kaitlyn for the article and we had so much fun together. The six page spread turned out awesome and I am so honored to have been included in it! 

There were talks of us getting the cover so we headed back up north for a second photo shoot. Although in the end they went another way, I really loved a few of the photos we took that day and wanted to share them with you! 

The magazine is currently out and I can't wait to grab a few copies next time I'm at our lake house! 

What do you think of the photos? What's your favorite Spring outfit above?

Related articles: Ladies Who Lunch: Lake & Country Shoot & Behind the Seams: Lake & Country

#SwapInTheSuburbs

If you follow my other blog, Sisters Marie, then you know we wrote a post last week about how to host a swap party. 

Myself and my sister-in-law hosted a blogger swap party the weekend before this past one and boy did we have lots of fun! We got organized on two different nights prior to the party by setting up closet spaces and areas to make Kaitlyn's house look like a store. It was so fun decorating and shopping for cute little details to make this swap party our own style and fun for all the bloggers who were attending. And obviously we needed photo areas and photo props because "bloggers gonna blog" after all! ;)

Here are some photos from the party:

As the bloggers came in they each set up their closets and before long the swapping area was good to go! We did a bit a swapping while sipping on signature cocktails before we had a sit down lunch. 

Clockwise from top: Deb, Tiffany, Cheryl, April, me, & Kaitlyn

Tiffany made these adorable cookies and we all decided to take "Lips pics". I mean how can you not? They are just too cute (head over to the Sisters Marie post to see all the cookies she made!). 

The pieces that did not find a new home during our event were donated to two different causes; the Children's Cancer Society & St. Vincent's Church in Chicago. As you can see below, they got some great stuff! 

Have you ever attended or hosted a swap party? Do you have a closet on Because I Shop Too Much yet? Head over to shop my closet and/or swap with me too! 

*ChaCha Flare's swap party recap