Swag highlight: Influenster

Living the good life is fun, but very expensive. Living in a big city like Chicago makes the cost even more. But one can still live that champagne life on a beer budget if one tries hard enough. A way to help offset that cost is through swags. Swag stand for Stuff We All Get. And I usually get them at parties, events and the internet. Thanks to the internet, anyone can sign up and get these things mail to them free of charge. If you want small samples, go to the free stuff page of fatwallet and slickdeals and simply sign up. The really GOOD stuff requires an exchange of online work, mostly through Word of Mouth Marketing. Bzzagent, Crowdtap, PinchMe and Influenster are my top three sites for such things. However, I've been slacking on keeping active on these sites. I'm going to try to make more of an effort and I'm going to start with Influenster.

I love Influenster - they provide the members with boxes of sample products based on their area of expertise, and in exchange, members promote these products via social media such as facebook, twitter, youtube, and other blogs such as this one. I've been a member of Influenster since October 2, 2011 and currently have an impact score of 1852, which is high, but not the highest.

I've received 2 boxes since I joined. The last one was a year ago and one of the items- the Rimmel Scandalous Mascara- was reviewed with this blog post. (Sorry about the bad eye-makeup job. I love makeup but am nowhere near professional-caliber yet, sadly.) What I love about the boxes is the variety of items in it. That last box had chocolate, biscuit, insoles, nail polish and mascara. I consumed each of them with such glee!

Influenster RoseVoxbox

Not only do you receive these things, but are enticed to receive more with rewards for doing certain tasks and actions. I loved the eye makeup, so I made sure to win those rewards, and ended up with more Rimmel!

Like I've mentioned, I haven't been using these sites in a while, and since I last used it, Influenster had a site overhaul. I'm still trying to understand it, and had just spent a good hour answering "Snaps" questions. Hopefully those answers bring some more VoxBoxes!!!

Another change to Influenster is their new InfluensterApp, available in both Apple and Android. I downloaded it and perused it for a bit. One major difference from the full web site is the upc product scan capability. I scanned a few makeup items, and 98% of the items I scanned appeared on the screen, showing me reviews, and prices, and where-to-finds info. I can totally see this coming in handy. Like when I'm at a friend's, and seeing an item and wanting to buy it so I'll use it to locate the stores and prices. Also, if I'm in the store and wanting to know how well it works, I can simply scan it and read the reviews. It's so useful! I don't know why they didn't think of this earlier!

Music Perks: A free Ingrid Michaelson Concert

I once sold a pair of 3-day passes to a Chicago Music Fest. For $250. CRAZY RIGHT?!

Concerts and musical performance are great and all, but it still shocks me everytime how much a ticket cost. And don't forget the extra $20 convenience fee you pay to ticketmaster! And the worst part is sometimes, the venue is so gigantic, you end up watching the show from a screen. What's the point in that?

If you look really hard, there are many ways to obtain entry to a show for free. And the best part - most of these free shows are so intimate that you can get real up close and personal with the artists. Best sources are restaurants and bars that host these shows, radio stations, and liquor companies. Liquor companies LOVES to sponser artists.

Over the years, I've been able to see Gemini Club, Walk the Moon, Ne-yo, Lucius, plus many, many more in really great settings. I saw Moon Taxi on a booze cruise. I danced with Janelle Monae. I hugged St. Lucia. And last week I had lunch while watching watching Ingrid Michaelson crooned out a set of 5-6 songs in the dreamy setting of Carnivale. The afternoon was perfect! Carnivale gave us amazing acoustic and Ingrid gave us an amazing performance. Check out my video of it below:

Ramenfest 2014 at Urban Belly

A week and a half ago, on November 18, 2014, I was invited by my bestie to attend the first ever Ramenfest taking place at UrbanBelly, and presented by UrbanBelly's Head Chef Bill Kim. She won those tickets from a facebook contest, so if anyone ever tells me social media is useless, then that person isn't doing it right. It was an amazing good time, and I can't wait until next year event!

We arrived a few minutes after start time, and was astounded to find a long line out the door! So many people are eager to eat RAMEN! Once entered, we were given a voting ballot as well as a complimentary drink voucher. I opted to try the new Marz Brewing What the Pho Porter. I heard about it a few weeks prior at the Tastes Talk event, and have been eager to try it ever since. It was a collaboration between the brewery and Bill Kim, and had essense of Pho spices in it, so it was a guarantee good time! I actually had 2 cups, and the first taste was very mild and more like a normal porter. However, after eating many, many bowls of ramen, my second cup was a lot different. I can defiintely taste the pho spices in this one and I liked it. I'm not sure if this is due to the ramen tastings, or because the first cup was from draft and the second was from the bottle, but either way, I'd defintely get another bottle of this whenever I can.

Anyway, moving onto the ramen (cuz that's what we're here for, right?) 27 restaurants showed up to this Ramenfest. The first one we tried was from Acadia, and we immediately love it! It tastes very traditional, with broth that were so full-bodied, and porkbellies that were so tender that it melted in our mouth! It actually won the Chef's choice award!

Another favorite of mine was the Honey Butter Fried Chicken Ramen, which included a whole chicken wing in each tasting cup. I loved that restaurant to begin with, but this chicken was different. It was crunchy, honeyed, and reminiscent of Korean-style chicken, which has a soft spot in my heart. It's my absolute favorite chicken.

A few restaurants showed up with cold-noodle ramen, and that didn't appeal to me much. Another dislikes were the ones that steered too far off the path, like the pastrami ramen and the cabbage ramen. Those flavors just didn't go well with noodles.

Big thanks to Nico Osteria for bringing variety and having the most fun table. They provided wine to pair with their ramen, as well as cups of Pistachio Gelato and Snow Maiden Sake Affogato, to allow us a break from all the ramen slurpings. 

Overall, we ate 10 different tastings in the first hour because we went a little nuts. After calming down a little, we paced ourselves and only had room for another 5 tastes or so. There was defintely a lot of ramen! Each tasting bowls were about 4-5 scoops, so 15 bowls was a tremendous feat! I wonder if anyone actually finished all 27 bowls...

Pigging out at Ramenfest 2014

We left there full to the brim, but already dreaming of next year's event. Check here for more pictures of the event, courtesy of Raney Images, and consider going next year, like I am!

Bordeaux Wine Match Making Party

I am a huge wine drinker. Especially from a huge glass. But even with all that I drink, I still have a lot of things I don't know about wine. That's why when I was invited to a Bordeaux wine tasting event, (brought to me by the Bordeaux wine council financed by the European Union), I was eager to go.

We arrived at the Posh Gold Coast Public Hotel and queue up outside the Library Bar. Once checked in, we were assigned our wine profile - predetermined by an online questionaire we submitted at the pre-registration. I was assigned table #5, which was mostly red blends. Apparently, my wine profile is Elegant. That's completely true. I like a little bit of everything. We were each given 4 drink tickets, so I quickly grabbed my first glass of wine and then went to catch up with friends. 

Yes, I did like the red blend a lot. No, I do not remember what their name, year, descriptions are. How do people keep up with that? Thank god for pictures to help me memoralize it.

I drank my 4 glasses, then headed over to the sweet whites and tasted 3 more small glasses. I love sweets, but I must remember that I do not like honey in my wine. It doesn't taste like a honey-pot like you would imagine, but more like a thicker cough syrup. yuck.

I'm not sure who the caterers were, but the food was pretty good too. They had a table of cheese and charcuterie, nuts and fruits. Being passed around the room were samosas, empanadas, coconut shrimps, lamb skewers, burgers, hot dogs and truffle balls. OMG THOSE TRUFFLE BALLS WERE AMAZING!! Thanks for dinner, Bordeaux! 

Swag swag Swag

Oh, and there was a prize wheel too! With plenty of prizes to be won, if you can answer a wine question correctly. I had no problem answering a true or false q about whether Bordeaux was own by big corporation (False, by the way), but I only won a pair of sunglasses. With all the other items on the table, I was pretty un-enthused by my glasses. I have about 2 dozens at home. Thankfully, the nice folks allowed me to trade it in for a cooler bag. Now, if only I can figure out how the cooler bag works...But first, a nap. Because these 4-5ish glasses of wine is defeating me.

Craft Beer Week and Craft Beer Cruise (Many weeks later)

Disclaimer: This post was originally drafted at the end of May, but then, life happens....

It was just waiting for me to add pictures, and then hit post. I finally did it!

A Nice Glass of Rev Brew Loganberry

Chicago Craft Beer Week is a 10-Day excuse to drink as much beer as we possibly can. But it's good beer, so it's ok, right? There are so many events to choose from, that at first glance, I was overwhelmed with all the options. Eventually, I settled on some things that I wanted to try out. Last weekend, I attended the Laguinitas Beer Circus, which was a blend of circus acts, punk bands, and of course free-flowing beer. We drank until we knocked out on the grass, and then we got up and drank some more.

We also visited a new-to-us bar - Northdown Cafe and Tavern, in Lakeview. They ran a Craft Beer Week Special and I just had to try the Candi Crushables, which were only $4. It was very sweet, so the name on the lable wasn't a lie. The BF tried Firebird, which left a very smoky taste in my mouth. Pretty wierd- coming from a beer. Overall, I was glad we made that visit. Discovering new things are always exciting!

Another thing I wanted to check out was the Chicago Craft Beer Cruise on The Mystic Blue Boat at Navy Pier. I didn't think I could make it, but at the last second, I entered a twitter retweet contest, and Mystic Blue awarded me with 2 tickets! Thanks, guys! You are so NICE!!

On arrival, I was given 8 sample tickets for me and my BFF. I immedately went to work on sampling the beers. On the first level, there were 6-7 tables from different breweries, and 4 more tables were on the second floor.Although I arrived at 5:45pm and left at 8pm,  it felt like I was only there for 10 minutes. Aside from the beer, there were buffet tables of food and the amazing city view to distract me.

I love this view of Chicago From the Lake

Before I knew it, I had only 4 minutes left before last call, and I still had 5 more beers to try. I didn't want to miss out on any so I ran and grabbed as many beers as I could. The BFF sat at the table while I made 2 trips to pick up these beers. So, good news is I tried them all. Bad news is, I knew which cup was my favorite, but the cups weren't labeled, so I didn't know which breweries it was from. *womp womp* Overall, I had a great time, but wish it was a little longer. Oh, and also a little warmer! But that feeling of beingon the water is just incredibly wonderful and I wish I could do that everday!