10 Minutes with Danielle: My Chicago Photo Diary Part 3

This is my third and final installment of My Chicago Photo Diary! If you missed anything, check out Part 1 and Part 2. So I’ve been back in NYC since the 9th and the second I boarded the plane back home I had instant Chicago tabanca (I typically hear tabanca when referring to Carnival Tabanca—aka Bunji Garlin’s song—meaning the sadness and longing you feel after Carnival is over…lol). I miss it! I’m also a native New Yorker (my parents came here from Trinidad in the 60s) so Chicago reminds me SO much of NYC with the ease of transportation, the gorgeous buildings and scenery (though I would have to say Chi-town might have us beat…lol), the diversity, and the amazing shopping but doesn’t have the dense population of people :)

So as I mentioned in Part 2, my new “thing” is the “Danielle Pose” which I inadvertently started back in June in LA where I pose against a colored wall with one leg kicked up behind me and my arms slightly crossed (please humor me…lol). I did a few against a grey and baby blue wall while in an alley near the West Loop. I’d also been pinning tons of red wall imagery in a joint Pinterest board my photographer (and homey…lol) Nas and I share for inspiration but hadn’t run into a ton of red walls. I felt like where we were in Chicago I wasn’t really going to run into many colored walls, but we walked by a Target and BOOM! Red wall.

(My bad again on all the pics…lol. I couldn’t decide which ones I liked best—seriously, Nasilele is so good!)

Outfit Details:

Top: Gap (plus 2% cash back with eBates) | Shorts: Gap (old but similar here) (plus 2% cash back with eBates) | Shoes: Via Spiga (they’re also surprisingly comfy and very easy to walk in) (plus 3% cash back with eBates) | Sunglasses: Celine | Leather Bracelet: Coach | Silver Cuff: ASOS (similar here) (plus 4% cash back with eBates) | Lips: MAC Ruby Woo | Necklace: By Kilian (it’s another amazing perfumed necklace from the Kilian scented jewelry collection—you open up the pendant and there’s a refillable scented ceramic disc inside and you get to choose from 29 Kilian fragrances.

Then it was off to grab some food. We were both in the mood for Mexican (which thankfully most things are easy on the Weight Watchers points so yay) and I wanted to head over to Magnificent Mile because: shopping. So I found New Rebozo on Yelp. I swear I have really good new restaurant karma because anytime someone else tries to find something on Yelp, it’s not as good…lol.

The food was SO good. I had steak tacos and Nas had fish. The drinks tasted like they had ZERO alcohol in them which for me to say says a lot because I can get tipsy from a thimble of alcohol. The staff swore there was a lot in my drink when I inquired, but I seriously felt like I was drinking juice. Great food, New Rebozo but please get a heavier handed bartender…lol.

And then for some shopping!

I call the Michigan Ave Topshop my good luck Topshop because I always score something cool on sale when I visit (probably because it was around the same time last year when I shopped there…lol). Also, they have a Tall section in store! Not a huge amount of selection, but the fact that it’s there makes my wrists and ankles smile. I picked up a jumpsuit, a tank dress, and boyfriend jeans that will turn up in outfit posts pretty soon :)

Then after hanging around Magnificent Mile swinging in and out of stores, we decided to head back down to the DuSable Bridge area to get some night scenery pics. My iPhone map said we were within walking distance so we followed that route. It took us underneath the bridge and not going to lie, I was nervous as heck…lol.

This is what it looked like:

But we saw tons of “happy” looking tourists and other people walking down there so we figured we weren’t going to get knifed on our last night out…lol.

Ahhh—Chicago is so beautiful and romantic at night. I need to come back for a trip with my boo (I also need to find a boo but that’s neither here nor there…lol).

Then we walked down to Millennium Park again because we just had to capture the scene there at night.

And we definitely needed to come back to Crown Fountain at night. They were so beautifully lit and it was such a joy to see all the children splashing around and then losing their minds when the water spouted out…lol.

Sculptures by artist Jaume Plensa…

And then the walk back to the hotel.

Nas wanted to experience Chicago nightlife so after I took a disco nap, we headed to a party suggested by a friend of a friend. And ya’ll, I’m not one of those New Yorkers who thinks life begins and ends here in NYC, but I seriously need a do-over on my Chicago nightlife experience…lol. Granted I don’t even really do “nightlife” here in NYC, but the place where we went was blasting Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” when we walked up and there were TONS of people sitting in the window front of the place. Now, I’m a very diverse music lover and as someone who was a pre-teen and teen in the 90s who went to St. Francis Preparatory High School in Fresh Meadows, OF COURSE “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is one of my fave songs. But not when I’m trying to get my drink and dance on…lol. I wanted to turn on my heels, but we’d come so far and I promised Nas we’d go dancing. So I went straight to the bar…lol. The drinks (X-Rated Fusion cocktails) were thankfully good.

Then the DJ played Gary Glitter’s “Rock N’ Roll, Pt. 2.” And people were turning UP to it. Had I been at say a Chicago Bull’s game, I would have been turning up to it, too but um, at a lounge? It was such a thing to see—obviously I’m not so simple-minded to think all Black people dance to rap, but I honestly would think “Rock N’ Roll, Pt. 2” would be the LAST song on the DJ’s set at a lounge with a majority of Black people in it…lol. Especially after we went to Luvvie’s 8th anniversary #pordee and the DJ there had a Ph.D. in how to get a party jumping. I mean look:

But like I said they were turning UP at this lounge. Then the DJ played a few songs from the 90s then hit us with Beyoncé’s “Party” then songs like Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” and then what I think was Chicago house music because people were HYPE and dancing erratically. But when in Rome, do as the Romans do! I had this guy who Crip walked to EVERYTHING dancing around me all night so after about a minute I said “eff it!” and Crip walked with him, too…lol.

It was a great way to finish up a great time in a great city. After the party we had about two hours of sleep before we had to head over to the airport and head back to NYC.

I seriously CANNOT wait to go back to Chicago! Thanks for showing me a great time :)

If you missed anything, be sure to check out my Chicago posts here!