Work Hard, Play Hard.

I had lunch with my buddy Ray yesterday. When I told him of my various events this week (Monday's reception with Virginia Madsen, Wednesday's StyleChicago event at Pops for Champagne with the 35 pound goodie bag, and that evening's wine-tasting for charity), his response was to ask me if I remembered a couple years ago when all I used to do after work was workout. Its true. My week nights used to consist only of working out and occasionally re-hydrate at a nearby bar with Missy. (As an aside, as I've switched gyms due to closings, I've also switched bars. My gym has classed up over the years and so has my bar, with a giant leap for liver-kind in the last year. My gyms, in order: Lakeshore on Wabash, Lakeshore on Ontario, and Trump. My bars, in order: Rossi's, Timmy O'Toole's, and Theory. And, I've liked each of my gym and bars, in their own unique way.) But, now that I workout at Trump, for the first time in my life, I am now a painfully-early morning worker-outer.

I am also a work-hard, play-hard kind of girl. That was the unofficial motto of my undergrad and it continued at law school. Last night was a wine-tasting benefiting BUILD, Inc., a charity focused on involving urban youth in positive things. The wine-tasting was up in Lincoln Park, on a rather desolate stretch of Elston, at the Wine Discount Center. Prior to heading over, I drove Missy over to Wicker Park to pick something up. Traffic was way better than we thought and we arrived at the wine-tasting 20 minutes early. Given the desolate area, we decided it was best to trade our prime parking space in favor of a bar to occupy us. Neither of us knew the area well so we soon ended up at Lalo's on Lincoln. The place was deserted due to some rather icky weather outdoors. We enjoyed our first-ever strawberry vodka soda (strangely like a smoothie but without the calcium) and chatted with the bartender, a super-nice and super-bored guy who offered us a shot to try to get us to stay. But, we had our commitment so back to the Wine Discount Center we went.
It was a nice event at an odd location. There were six tables of six bottles each for tasting. The pours were rather stingy -- they were taking "tasting" seriously -- and there were quite a few people who were more interesting in education than drinking. (Obviously, not me. I wanted them to stop learning about the wine to make room at the table for me.) Their education left me thirsty. We stayed maybe 45 minutes and then headed on.

I suppose this is where the work-hard, play-hard part of me comes into action. I had left work early -- 6:30 -- for this event and I just wasn't ready to call it a night at 8:15. If I'm not working, I best be playing. So, we decided that dinner was in order. Because I was driving Missy home anyway, we figured we might as well eat in the West Loop. We tried Sushi Wabi (packed), WestEnd (busy and no parking), and were getting frustrated when Missy had a brilliant idea: Province! Its one of my favorite restaurants but for some reason, I never think of it as a random dinner place. Its a reservation-restaurant in my head. But, we were able to get in with minimal wait.

Things to love about Province on Thursday:

1.) The food is always so incredibly delicious and satisfying.

2.) Our waiter was a character.

3.) Best of all, the couple behind us was ridiculous. A clearly gay guy who strongly believed himself to be straight on what we think was a date with a girl who could not possibly have been less interested, given that she didn't smile, laugh, or even say a word (other than to order) for 35 minutes. The man more than filled the void. For one thing, he really thought he was Very Important. And, he was so quotable. My favorite quote from him was "Every single woman that I've been engaged to, I've loved to death."

4.) Our character-waiter gave us a free dessert because we had trouble making a decision and we opted against his favorite in the end.

It was a perfect way to finish what was an already-fun night. Nights like last night make getting up early each morning to workout worthwhile.