Brittany Hill

We worked with an editor to pick a destination that would be accessible for a weekend trip, then get in the Jeep, try some restaurants and activities and take some documentation pictures and submit a story and photo package to the editor. We were lucky to cut our teeth as we did, but I think bloggers starting out are very lucky for all of the great outlets and agencies nowadays. We also would recommend Intellifluence, where there are blog resources you can read to help you get started and success story highlights like Leslie Rossi and best of all, paid opportunities to build your blog up. If you have questions about how to build a business of your blog and more about our favorite resources, check out then links provided and be sure to email us with your questions!

We’ve had a rental house in Chicago’s suburbs but having had bad experiences with long term renters in the past, we were reluctant to follow the same formula. We’ve learned that the desire for a rental home varies greatly, whether relocation, renovation, divorce, a safe space with pets or a new career, hosting guests in our rental home has felt good, because we were able to provide a solution to someone’s dilemma if even for a little while. There are real-time alerts which you can filter by location, price range, bedroom count, pet-friendly, or amenity and set an alert to get notifications when a new listing is posted. Should you find yourself in Chicago, we hope that you use Zumper for your long term needs and think of us for your short term traditional rental options at The Lilly Pagoda!

This post contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission on your purchase, but all of the opinions are our own and we would never promote something we didn’t use ourselves and love! Below is a walk through of a super quick real life trip you can take if you book today! Finally, to prepare you for your vacation, now through December 2nd Nordstrom Rack online is offering free shipping and $20 off if you spend over $100.00, plus 50% clearance and incremental incentives for spending more! The above trip is just an example of one of the pretty easy and fun getaways if you plan from late November-December.

The SEMA Show magically seems to grow every year in popularity, so if you plan to take the monorail, just plan ahead and give yourself extra time! This year I took Fred to the David Copperfield Show, where David literally shows you to “ The show starts with a narrated video of David and how he liked practicing magic, until he was twelve, and he threw his magic in the garbage. David made a car magically appear on stage, a UFO appear right over our heads, and his dinosaur Frank appear on stage!