Day six of acute bronchitis feels like this.

FINALLY.

My great shopping regret of the past year has finally been remedied.

Bitch brows or bust.

Cheap Frills and Thrills

WHO'S GOING WITH ME

Still the one.

Jenna Lyons talking about lots of things, including social media.

Vacartion.

We're taking a road trip! I haven't been in a car for longer than it takes to get to Cedar Point since we moved to Chicago in 2008. At first this sounded like a really romantic idea—drive the Bourbon Trail, spend a few nights in the French Quarter, lay face down in the white sugar sand of the Redneck Riviera—but now I have severe anxiety-related acid reflux, which isn't romantic at all.

However, nothing relieves stress like a few hours list making, so my I present: OUR ITINERARY!

Day 1: Monday, July 23
Chicago ➞ Bourbon Trail
☛Visit Heaven Hill Distillery and help Paul pick out a barrel by saying things like, I don't really like whiskey straight; dusty bottle hunting; a round of Seelbach Cocktails at the Seelbach Hotel; dinner at St Charles Exchange; more drinks at The Silver Dollar.


Day 2: Tuesday, July 24
Bourbon Trail ➞ Nashville
☛ Visit Four Roses Distillery and warehouse for barrel-picking; hightail it over to Buffalo Trace Distillery for more barrel-picking; hit the road for Nashville; check into Hutton Hotel, where we'll meet Timmy (!) for dinner at Catbird Seat (hopefully) and drinks at Patterson House. Somewhere in there we'll also fit in a round at Holland House Bar & Refuge.


Day 3: Wednesday, July 25
Nashville ➞ New Orleans
☛ Breakfast at the Jack Daniels Distillery; road dog it down to New Orleans and check into The Roosevelt Hotel before diving head first into a frozen Irish Coffee at the Erin Rose. 


Day 4: Thursday, July 26
New Orleans
☛ Watch out: Cure, August, Dominica, Bellocq, Bar Tonique, Soda Shop, Arnaud's French 75, Cochon, The Swizzle Stick Bar at Cafe Adelaide. We're gonna eat/drink everything in your bar/restaurant. 


Day 5: Friday, July 27
New Orleans
☛ John flies down and meets us for a night of fun (but not too much fun) in the French Quarter. I've never met a person who loves to eat boiled underwater creatures as much as my brother, so I'm sure dinner at restaurant that requires eating off of a red and white laminated picnic tablecloth will be in order.

Day 6: Saturday, July 28 - Day 7: Sunday, July 29
New Orleans ➞ Navarre, Florida

☛ Drive my two favorite boys to the beach, as they will surely be hanging their still-drunk (John) and terminally hung-over (Paul, age 41) heads out the window. The main purpose of this visit is to wish my grandma a happy 80th birthday (!!!), but I am also intent on recreating this photo:




Day 8: Monday, July 30
Navarre, Florida ➞ Chicago
☛ It's a long one (916 miles!) but between the three of us, we'll force those 16 hours to fly by with a We're making memories! mantra.

Teen Idol

I'm hella positive for real that I love this song so so much. And if I had to move back into my eighth grade-bedroom, that would be totally fine because the walls would be covered in magazine cutouts of Gwen and it's pretty much all I can do not to decorate my room like that RIGHT NOW.

 Why do I suddenly want to buy L'Oreal Infallible Lipgloss 8 Hour in Red Fatale?

Tiki Pins

I started a Pinterest board to visually define a new wave of tiki, which is basically a collection of palm tree prints and flamingos and electric coral lipstick.

So, if you're into mid-century meets Miami meets mermaids, I'll happily to add you as a pinner and we can swap tropical inspiration photos while I make us banana daiquiris. 

Life is a series of difficult choices.

Which Baskin Robbins should I choose?