Coffee Date with Sam

Emily Barber
Apr 15, 2015
2 min read

A few years ago, in the summer, my friend Sam had just graduated from college and found herself at a fork in the road. Lots of people were telling her to go one way with her life and then someone suggested another. Sooner or later everyone thought they knew exactly what was best for Sam, except Sam. Not sure if she was going to sign another lease, she crashed with us for a few months to figure out what it was the Sam wanted. It was one of the most fun summers I've had in my adult life. She's always full of bright energy and smiles. And even when she's down, she somehow manages to find a laugh. She's easy going and open minded and is kind enough to listen to me when I ramble on and on and on and on...talk about resilience! So when Sam needed a place to stay for a month I instantly thought, duh.

Express tonal portofino shirt and Big Star Denim

She used to live on the far North side of Chicago and we live on the West side. So we've been showing her around our hood the past couple of days; all the spots we love and where all the best food and bar places are. She's become more and more attached to our neck of the woods and just found a place down the street from me! We didn't get to see each other very much when she moved up North just because it was difficult to get to and from both our neighborhoods. There really is no direct route. But now I'll get to see her all the time!

It's been getting warmer and warmer here in Chicago (halleluhah!) so I threw on one of my new portofino shirts from Express. I bought a handful of them and I just think they can go with anything and flattering on anyone. Express has a thousand different colors and prints but I just stuck to the basics for our little walk around town.

We hit up one of my favorite coffee shops, Gaslight Coffee Roasters. Its new to us but they've been around for a bit. Their beans are all roasted in house and not too dark. Although I like dark coffee, it's nice to not have to add any sugar every once in awhile. Especially when you're having an iced latte (like I did) because sugar in the raw does NOT dissolve in cold.

Also, did I mention Sam is the coolest?! She's a director who's put together her own project called "The Window Series" which is a compilation of various musical artists. She is also a real model. Like IRL. Here's a photo of her.