Up Close and Personal

Photography Goal for 2012: Enter more photography contests.

Well, the Chicagoland Digital Photography Meetup Group holds a photo contest each month.  Somewhere between 50-100 people typically enter a photo for each month's competition.

This deadline kind of snuck up on me, but I got one entered within a half hour of the deadline, nothing like waiting til last minute, right?

This month's theme was Up Close and Personal.  My entry is titled: Mommy's Juice.

This photo is obviously of the top of a wine bottle.  This particular bottle is one I purchase in Galena (a getaway city in Illinois known for its wineries) a couple months ago and I need to get around to drinking it!  I once heard a friend's daughter refer to wine as her "mommy's juice" ha so I had to go with it for the title.  Not 100% happy with my entry for this month, but you got to start somewhere, right?

Butch McGuire's

I realize it is no longer the holidays, but Eric and I didn't make it to this gem of a restaurant until the first week of January, and I have never been so excited to have stumbled upon such a happy place.  Butch McGuire's is an "irish saloon" located in the Gold Coast area who decorate their bar like this every November - January.  There is a huge train that circle the bar, 50,000+ Christmas lights, and spinning decorations hang from the ceiling.  As long as I am in Chicago, a holiday season will not pass without a visit to Butch McGuire's.

Shot of the train -

Ignore this little guy -

Great Chicago sign -

The Book Cellar

I love finding cute bookstores.  I think this one is my favorite so far.  The Book Cellar is located in Lincoln Square and is the perfect combination of cozy bookstore and coffee shop.  Plus you can get a glass of wine - genius!  The staff has some great book recommendations, they've got a section of really comfy chairs, a stack of board games for anyone to play, and they have a great selection of cards and gifts.  I had the best carmel apple cider I have ever had in my life; I will definitely be back!  Yelpers agree giving it a 4.5 rating out of 5 (this is pretty impressive).

Molly's Cupcakes

Molly's Cupcakes is a famous cupcake place in Chicago and they did not disappoint!  I like them not just for their amazing cupcake making skills, but also their philanthropy minded owners who donated a portion of their profits goes directly to schools in the Chicago area.  Molly's has over 1300 reviews on Yelp and comes in with a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

Free sprinkle station.... got to love it. 

Yes, those are swings... you can sit on.  Pretty much amazing.

DMK Burger Bar

DMK Burger Bar is an amazing burger place and don't even get me started on their fries.  You definitely need to check them out!  Yelpers agree - 4 out of 5 stars with 791 reviews.  Equally important, that have a really cool Chicago flag burger -