Category: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life

Collagen Supplement

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I have been taking the Youtheory collagen for about a month now, I have it on the auto subscription on Amazon so I don’t run out. There are many known benefits of collagen and here are some of the benefits:

  1. May improve skin health – we know that a major component of our skin is collagen and it essentially plays a roll in strengthening our skin. Fact is- as you get older your body produces less collagen and this can cause your skin to look dry and wrinkles become more predominant.
  2. May relieve joint pain- Collagen helps maintain the integrity of your cartilage, the rubber-like tissue that protects your joints- again as you age and the collagen levels decrease you will start to have joint pain.
  3. May prevent bone loss- bones are mostly made of collagen which give them structure and strength- with age you produce less collagen and therefor decreases bone density and increase the risk of broken bones.
  4. May boost muscle mass- collagen is a major protein in the skeletal system
  5. May prompt heart health- Collagen provides structure to your arteries, the blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body. Without enough collagen, arteries may become less flexible and elastic.
  6. May benefit Hair and nails – Taking collagen may increase the strength of your nails by preventing brittleness. Additionally, it may help your hair and nails grow longer

Personally the benefit I have seen is in my skin, I have always struggled with larger pore size and my monthly visits to get hydro facials have substantially helped my skin. However, in the month I have taken the collagen supplement my pores have shrunk AND my skin looks so smooth. Also, my hair and nails look great (similar results to the daily biotin I used to take a few years ago).

The other speculated benefits are all long term effects, and if they are true there is no harm. The only CON that I can think of is the serving size- its SIX tablets per day and they are not small- although they don’t taste bad so it could have been worst.

I am going to go ahead and share the direct link to the product I order incase you want to try it: CLICK HERE

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A Day in The Life

A LOOK BACK AT 2021

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2021 started off pretty slow, we started January off with some date nights, and ended the month with a trip to northern Illinois with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend and Chaitan. It was SO COLD out but we had a good weekend in this house that looked out to the Chain O’Lakes.

February started with us toasting the Super Bowl with our siblings and some more date nights since restaurants were starting to own up again. We went on a Valentine’s Day double date with my sister and her boyfriends which was super fun! We then spend actual Valentine’s Day in the city.

We ended the month with a trip to Michigan with close friends of ours. It was filled with memories, a crazy airbnb situation which resulted in us moving houses, snowmobiles and breweries! Honestly one of my most favorite weekend trips to date. The whole trip is highlighted here.

March and April were particularly uneventful, really more date nights, and meeting each others friends and extended families

We spend the first few weeks of May driving the Pacific coast where Chaitan proposed to me.

June we started planning our engagement party, and my BFF got engaged. It was nice to share the joys of engagement together! The beginning of July we had a good friends engagement part. On July 11th was our engagement party AND my fiancés birthday. We had an afterparty after the engagement party at a local bar.

At the end of July I book a Getaway House in Michigan for Chaitan’s birthday. It was a nice rest and restoration weekend in the middle of nowhere! I drove my first ATV on that trip! We went blueberry picking and probably ate more than we picked LOL.

In August we went to Portland for Chaitan’s cousins wedding with was a great time!

We ended August with the Maroon 5 concert in Milwaukee with some fiends. This was my first concert at that amphitheater, which was a cool experience!

September we celebrated our first anniversary. Chaitan planned a night at a vegan restaurant called Bloom. It was shockingly amazing and I love diary but I didn’t really miss it. The restaurant was still new so it was BYOB, we brought one of our favorite wines from Geneva Winery! On the actual day of our anniversary we went on a sunset cruise on the river, which was fun!

At the end of September I hosted my cousins sprinkle at my place, then we were down to the river for lunch. It was a beautiful afternoon celebrating baby boy Vyas!

In October we made a trip to Six Flags for Fright Fest which was a blast as usual, honestly I love amusement parks! We ended the night at none other than Olive Garden!

October was uneventful until my birthday, I usually talk the day off for my birthday and so did Chaitan. In the morning, I went on a walk on the river with my BFF Justyna, I got coffee and a donut for my birthday morning. Then Chaitan and I went to lunch followed by cocktails on at London House. We then headed to the burbs to cut a cake for my birthday and Chaitan’s moms birthday, then we headed back to the city to have dinner at Eately.

We ended October with a FALL DAY at Jack’s pumpkin popup, one of my favorite things do to in the fall.

November was filled with Diwali, holiday things and wedding planning. We were in the busy parts of wedding planning by this point and it was overwhelming. We took pictured for our save the date! We went to Geneva Winery to celebrate my parents birthday, after we went to this Italian restaurant that was legit in a house. We also went back to Geneva Winery to celebrate my sisters birthday early in the first week of December.

We went to out annual bar crawl for the holidays in December with our friends, my FAVORITE time of the year! We went to 4 bars in Wrigleyville.

We headed to Texas in mid December for my cousins baby shower, which was a good weekend trip to escape the cold weather! We ended the year off with MORE CHRISTMAS THINGS around Chicago. We ended 2021 at our friends place with a Bollywood themed NYE party!

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A Day in The Life

A LOOK BACK AT 2020

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2020 started with a family cruise in the Caribbean! We all got super super sick on this trip, in hindsight we all though that we possible had early COVID on this boat “covid before it became a thing” if you may say. Before we got on the ship we had a family dinner at North Italia in Miami and the food was absolutely amazing- there are a few locations in other cities as well.

Something I tried for the first time was making my favorite HOMEMADE gnocchi, it was honestly hard work but it truly made me appreciate the gnocchi I have at restaurants.

In the beginning of march we took a girls trip to Colorado to ski, it was the week of the the lockdown, what a crazy time, we flew home from the trip and days later the country completely shut down.

Honestly, there was nothing to do the first few months of the pandemic except hang out with the people you lived with, watch Netflix and COOK! It was such an unreal time, no one knew enough about Covid to make decisions about hanging out with each other. It was a time of social distancing and isolation. We got accustom to using FaceTime to communicate and everyone became a homebody. I occasionally went on bike rides with friends and we had a few picnics at the park. I didn’t even go to the grocery store that summer, thank goodness for the Instacart employees.

In July a close friend turned 30 and we decided to rent a house and go out to lake Geneva for the weekend! What a great weekend! It was so nice to actually hang out with people for a weekend. A few weeks later my family and I decided to rent a house in Northern Wisconsin for for weekend. Here is a detailed post about our family weekend!

Made 2 of my most popular sweet treats later in the end of summer: cast-iron cinnamon rolls and apple tart! You can see the full recipes if you click on the images below!

Towards the end of September- a good friend had a beautiful backyard wedding and that Sunday after their wedding I went on my first pandemic date with Chaitan. It was honestly very strange to meet a stranger at a. restaurant in the myst of a pandemic when indoor dining was still prohibited/ distanced. Our first date quickly turned into many dates and in early November we went back up to Wisconsin to hike Devils Lake with the family.

We ended the last few months of 2020 with a trip to Tennessee and family time for Thanksgiving, Christmas and my sisters birthday!

We ended 2020 with an evening at Chaitan’s apartment, we got ready and took pictures on the rooftop! We had just gotten the Covid vaccine ! around this time so the end of the pandemic seemed near!

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A Day in The Life

A LOOK BACK AT 2019

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Just like 2018- 2019 also started with a weekend trip to New York, this weekend was filled with FOOD to say the least. Some of the top places I went to that weekend were Baar Baar, Mr. Purple, Stuffed Ice Cream, Artichoke Pizza, The Blefry, and much more! If I were to pick my favorite spot it would be Artichoke Pizza- BEST artichoke pizza and vodka sauce cheese pizza!

Mr. Purple Rooftop

We explored a bunch of restaurants in Chicago including S.K.Y. Which had an amazing ambiance and amazing food!

S.K.Y.

Spring started with a quick trip to Nashville. Honestly if I were to ever move out of Chicago I would move to Tennessee or Colorado! Nashville is always a great time! I love all the live music + of course the wonderful weather almost year around!

2019- also known as the year I started using an air fryer! Who knew how much one can actually make with an air fryer. I think my favorite meal to make in an air fryer is probably zucchini with garlic aioli sauce. Honestly, anything you would want to deep fry can be air fried.

In June I went to Orlando for the Mckesson Idea Share Show with my Pharmacy. Every year we go to the show to meet new people and learn new things. Something that has been around since we were kids was the Glendale Heights Fest, and my friend Susan and I went around 4th of July to see the fireworks– we were kids again!

In August, my family and I took an EPIC trip to Denver and we did a lot of hiking and site seeing and EATING. We saw the most beautiful things during that trip. The altitude got to me the first couple of days but I think as the week went on I got used to it. For full trip details you can click here for my full Denver Guide.

In September we had a wedding, my childhood best friend got married and it was an epic weekend! It was really nice to hang out with everyone after so long. In October Susan and I went to DC to visit our friend Jeiran. We had a great time catching up and exploring the city!

We had my cousin Lisa’s baby shower in October! We had my birthday dinner at ROOH with my sister and our cousins! The food and drinks were amazing, I had been wanting to try it for a while!

In November we went to Iowa for CC’s wedding. It was a weekend filled with friends, good times and amazing memories! Later that month we took our parents to a Bulls game for their birthday! We had a great time at the game, and my parents really enjoyed it !

They though their birthday celebrations were over after that game, but little did they know I had planned a surprise 60th birthday party for them with their friends and family! They were truly surprised!

We ended the year with a family Christmas and celebrated my sister’s birthday at home!

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A Day in The Life

A Look Back at 2018

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A Look Back at 2018

Oh what a year 2018 was! So much happened this year I don’t even know where to begin. 2018 started with a weekend trip to New York.

New York was followed by a weekend trip to Cancun, Mexico. It was a week filled with fun, sun and relaxation!

A month after we came home from Cancun, I was off to Denver for my brother in law’s birthday weekend. It was an amazing weekend in Breckenridge spent skiing, snowmobiling and hanging out in a cabin!

My favorite place this year was the 3 Arts Cafe inside of Restoration Hardware. So pretty, and the food was great!

When April came around, it was time for another trip. We were ready to leave the Chicago cold so we went to Orlando. We visited 2 of the Disney parks, Universal Studios, plus I rented my first convertible!

The beginning of May was spent moving into a new building…and it was finally summer. The warmer weather also meant rooftop season was in full swing. We loved every moment of sipping drinks in the sky. In mid-May we went to UIUC for my sisters graduation. I also celebrated my friend/forever roomie’s Bachelorette party in Chicago over the summer. We spent 4th of July in Chicago with our friends.

July ended with a work trip to Las Vegas! What a wonderful and HOT week it was. I was at a trade show during the day for work, but we were fortunate enough to be able to enjoy the nights exploring Vegas.

We flew home from Vegas and drove straight to Madison, WI for my friends wedding. What a wonderful weekend filled with love and celebration!

I went to my first concert, and saw Drake! We took Ace to his first fest, Little Italy fest. My sister Neha got her white coat for pharmacy school. I joined Orange Theory Fitness and absolutely love it! I got my first letter board! These are just some of the highlights from the end of summer.

I had my first staycation in Chicago and did SO MUCH in the city over 1 weekend. This was right before my 29th birthday! One of my most favorite weekends of 2018!!!

2018 was filled with so much love and laughter! I traveled, went to weddings, engagement parties, birthday parties and more. We ended 2018 with a trip to Costa Rica which I will post about later. Can’t wait to see what 2019 brings!

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A Day in The Life

The Journey Begins

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I have been wanting to start a blog for a while now. I was never sure about the specific content I wanted to blog about. I had tested out some topics that I would be interested in potentially blogging about but I was never able to pick one.  But then every time I cooked a meal or wanted to share a beauty hack, I wished I had a blog. Finally, after long thought and consideration (and words of encouragement and support from friends and family) I decided to take the leap! I love so many different things, so what better way to express myself than a lifestyle blog? I am a 28 year old pharmacist who lives in Chicago. I love to travel and explore new cities, cook and try new recipes, eat at new restaurants, consistently improve my beauty routine and so much more. Please join me while I enjoy the Windy City one day at a time, living my best life.

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Image taken on the rooftop @ 1001 S. State St.

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