I met Meagan in New York around 2015. She was starting out her collection, Ollari. I actually have no idea how we first connected (hahah!). But we did, and I’m so glad. Every time I would visit the city I would check in. I consider her to be one of my fearless friends as she moved countries to pursue her passion. Read 5 Minutes/5 Questions with Meagan Ollari here.
ELENA:)
I’ve never been so tired in my entire life. And it doesn’t help that my nose is runny either. My head is pounding and on Friday, when i decided to take 2 Tylenol cold medication tablets (daytime pills), it made me so nauseated and drowsy. Blah.
My final paper/project is due at the end of Sept. And i put myself on a writing schedule of 5 pages per weekend. Right now, I have a line. Eek.
I’m working with my favourite editor right now on a book trailer. Should be out sometime this week on my site: www.ElenaMurzello.com
Home stretch and all i want right now is my blankie. 
ELENA:)
I love Chicago. Chicago is like the cousin of NYC. You can walk around. Not get lost. People are friendly. Interesting architecture (Frank Loyd Wright) and great food. Last spring, I went with a bunch of guys. But this time it was all about doing things i wanted to do.
Where did i stay? The Trump Tower. Yup. I have a letter from Donald himself. OK, so it might be a form letter… but i don’t care. The room was incredible and it was the size of people’s condos in Vancouver (600 sq ft) complete with a kitchen and a TV in the bathroom mirror (fantastic).
My first nights’ dinner was at Graham Elliot. So fantastic. I need to go back and try the tasting menu for sure. The popcorn sample at the beginning of the meal was so scrumptous i think that i totally ate our tables’ portion. I think that i had the crab cake. It was amazing. Bravo.
The next few days were spent eating (some more) a lot of drinking and shopping. I heart Potbelly’s sandwiches and WowBao’s hot Asian buns. They definitely take the fast casual (someone taught this terminology and I’m giving you credit) to another level. My favorite breakfast in Chicago has to be at the Old Fashioned Pancake House. The sweet pecan pancakes are spectaular. I totally recommend it.
Enough about food, more importantly I got to test out my shopping skills on a coworker. Although she wears scrubs most of the time, she managed to pick up a few things to enhance her wardrobe at JCrew (I love JCrew!) . It’s tragic that she can’t wear normal street clothes more often, she has the body type that 90% of girls would kill for. Not only does she have a great body, but she is the sweetest resident ever so you can’t even secretly hate her!
Of course, bought a few things from Anthropologie. A long blue dress, a pair of jeans and this cute equestrian hip bag thing. I can’t wait until they open here. Maybe I’ll apply for a job.
I fell in love with these butterscotch patent leather pumps (Prada) at Nordstrom’s, but a lady bought my size and they were sold out nationwide. They are the perfect height and shade. I looked everywhere for them, but there was none to be found. (A little update is that i found them online and they are making their way to Vancouver shortly. Thanks Neiman Marcus!)
One night after dinner we all went bowling (10Pin Chicago) which was interesting to see who was a closet bowler. I believe we actually got flashed at one point.
On Friday night after this wrap up dinner, we checked out the Crimson Lounge, where we found out that not everyone knows how to play spin the bottle. After the lounge we found our way Mother Hubbard’s where we made nice with a guy named John who claimed he was moving from San Fransisco but he had a Midwest accent. I don’t know how that worked out. But he managed to get us inside and bought us a round of shots. Which was not a good idea considering i needed to be sober enough to catch a flight to London later that afternoon.
Next up… why Elena should not drink alcohol and text/email.
ELENA:)