Madison – SALLY♡THINGS

Will You Be My Galentine’s?

Happy Galentine’s Day! ♡

I’m a big lover of Valentine’s Day, so it’s no different for Galentine’s Day. If you didn’t know, Galentine’s Day is a day to celebrate women’s friendships and lands on February 13 every year. I have been so lucky to have been able to celebrate Galentine’s with friends for the last few years now. It’s the one event that I look forward to every year! I think it’s so fun to decorate the house, get cute, and spend quality time with your girls.

Every year, my friends and I plan a girls only party. We have food, drinks, themed outfits, photoshoots, crafts, gift exchange, etc. We’re always going all out and it’s always a great time. I just had my Wisconsin’s Galentine’s 2025 last weekend! I love love, I love being a girl and I love my friends ♡

Now let me take you through the years of Galentine’s events. You know, just SALLYTHINGS♡

2020

The very first Galentine’s party and outing was in 2020 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I remember I had to rush after work to the party and even though most of the girls left, I was still able to get some photos and food in. It was the first time I’ve taken any lingerie photos and those came out so good. There’s something empowering about having little polaroids of yourself looking hot! Lingerie polaroids are now a must every year. They are my favorite photos and everyone else’s too. ♡

The outing was with two other friends and that’s a story of it’s own. We went to a rooftop bar in Grand Rapids called IDC Bar. Yes, a rooftop bar in the middle of February and we weren’t freezing! It’s still one of my favorite rooftop bars to go to in Grand Rapids. The IDC Bar is so cute on the inside and the vibes are so fun. The IDC Bar had just opened in 2019/2020 and they served hotdogs and chili bowls. My friends and I will never forget how we were eating chili dog with our drinks that were 3x more expensive. We loved it though! There was a big insurance convention that happened in the same hotel right before, so we met a lot of new friends during our outing. We went all out with our new friends and got the huge IDC disco ball punch. Someone also ended up paying for our whole tabs as well. Definitely a night to remember ♡

2021

Galentine’s 2021 had a black and white theme. Celebrated in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ♡ Sometimes you have to be wild in this life and we made sure of that. Not only was it Galentine’s, but we were celebrating a 21st birthday! This outing started out with a nice dinner that quickly turned to a drink fest. I remember taking the whole margarita pitcher in a to-go soup bowl container and us drinking from that bowl. Next, we stopped by The Woods for some more drinks. It was completely empty there, but we had such a fun time. That’s where most of our photos and videos came from. If you have the best people with you, you’ll never be bored! We also made friends with whoever came in randomly. Free shots after shots. We couldn’t end the night there, the night was still young. We went to the Gun Lake Casino since they would be open. Lost a little money, but at least we had our drinks and more girl time. I specifically remember sitting at the cafe at 2 am or 3 am and drunk eating before our rides came. I’m pretty sure we all went to work hungover the next day. Nothing like a Galentine’s! ♡

2022

2022 was the first year and start of Wisconsin Galentine’s ♡ I was living in Madison, Wisconsin this year. Wisconsin Galentine’s has been happening ever since and the event I always look forward to every year. It’s always a girls only party and we tend to throw our secret santa exchange with it. This year was also a birthday celebration as well. Like all the other Galentine’s we plan all the decor, snacks, drinks, photo backdrop, outfits, etc. It’s always a good time! Of course we need the spicy polaroids. These are probably still my favorite ones. ♡

2023

2023 Wisconsin Galentine’s was a two day event. First day was the all girls party with another birthday celebration. The second day was our friend group including the guys and we all went out to a club/bar. For photos this year, we had our dress up ones, then the topless flower photos. We tried our best to recreate it and they turned out super cute. The second day, after the bar outing we stayed up until 6-8 am still hanging out. I have the funniest videos of us all at 7 am still partying, some sleeping and some just so tired but staying alive. Like I said before when you have a good group, you’ll never be bored or in the case sleep! ♡

My second Galentine’s outing was back home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. My best friend and I were on a mission to take some good photos for her Valentine’s and after that was completed, we had a nice lunch at Tupelo Honey. I wish I could post the photos we took because they turned out so good, but those are for certain eyes only! Being a girl and having girl best friends means no limits to what we do for each other and those friendships are so emotionally mature, deep and meaningful. It’s great to be girl ♡

2024

2024 was another Grand Rapids and Wisconsin Galentine’s celebration. For Grand Rapids, Michigan it was a little get together with my besties after work. Nothing like a comfy girls night in with some wine and pizza. Also, one of my friend’s mom made us these cute paint dripped wine glasses. It was super cute and so sweet! ♡

Wisconsin Galentine’s this year had a bigger group, but also was a potluck! We had really good food. We all dressed up for photos and then had our spicy polaroids. We had time to play card games and did gift exchanges. The floating flower backdrop this year is my favorite back drop of all! It’s so beautiful and simple. ♡

2025

I don’t know what happened this year, but Wisconsin Galentine’s 2025 stepped it up. The aesthetics were in the room with us. We did not come to play this year! Our outfit theme was cute pajamas and of course spicy outfits if you wanted those photos. We also had a cajun seafood boil. It was *chefs kiss* Although it took us longer to start and we didn’t to do any activities that we had planned, it was still a fun Galentine’s. Look I’m looking forward too and I’ll be back next year for Wisconsin Galentine’s 2026 ♡

A Grand Rapids Galentine’s is still in the works, but coming soon. We’re just waiting on the snow to stop doing what it does best, snow. So hopefully that will be very soon. A girls day is always needed! ♡

UPDATE (added 02.19.2025)

Grand Rapids Galentine’s! This Galentine’s was a packed one. My best friend Maddie made us some spicy vodka pasta and pickle pasta salad. We had a snack bar with fruits, charcuterie board, cookies, etc. A galentine’s is nothing without cute cocktails, so of course we had those. I’m not sure how we did it, but we were able to record a hot ones challenge with 5 different hot sauces, decorate the room and took our spicy polaroid photoshoot, shopped for charm bracelets, iron-on sweat outfits and our food, cooked, made custom matching charm bracelets and opened up our Galentine’s goodie bags. We finished our bestie iron-on sweat outfits another day. They came out so cute and perfect and it was a lot easier than we thought! It was an amazing Galentine’s filled with laughter. It’s always the best time with Maddie ♡

I am super lucky to have the girl friends that I have and I am very lucky to be able to travel to see them. I am very lucky to have all these women in my life. They are all strong, sweet, kind, beautiful, confident, funny, loving and so much more. They are the reason why Galentine’s was created. I hope every girl finds their girls, their gals! ♡

So will you be my Galentine’s? ♡

2024: April to June Photo Dump

I become a better person when the weather starts to heat up. I don’t know what to say, I just LOVE the sun. As you may have read or heard, I switched jobs and positions which has allowed me to have more time to have a personal life and more time to focus on my health and make improvements to it. I promised myself that I would live more this year in experiences and not live at work like how I have in the past. April to June has been a blessing and I have done just that ♡ I’ve done so many things in these few months, so I’m excited to see how this will continue for the rest of summer and after. I’m happy that I can feel like a normal person and be more with the people I love. Living my best life ♡

April

May

June

2024: January to March Photo Dump

A little late here, oopsie! Winter felt like it lasted forever and I’m so happy we started to finally get warmer weather even if it lasted for just a day. I’m not a cold weather person AT ALL. I question all the time why I live in the midwest, I’m not built for the cold. I started my second semester of college, so that school and social life balance has been a hard one. The beginning of 2024 has been an interesting one to say the least. I will say I am pushing myself to be a better version and opening up more. I want more out of life than what I have been comfortable with. Here’s to living more and loving life ♡

January

February

March

2023: January to March Photo Dump

New blog post series? Yes, we LOVE those! Every few months, I’ll post my favorite photos or videos from each month. The point of living is to live and I’m trying my best to do just that. A little trail of memories you can say.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

Food Alert: 3 States, 3 Bánh Mì.

You might be wondering what is that word ‘Bánh Mì’ means. Well In literal translation from Vietnamese it means bread, but it holds so much more than that. It is childhood memories, it is adulthood, it is family time, it is history, it is culture and it is traditions plus many more. Bánh mì is a Vietnamese cuisine that is gaining popularity in the US.

Let’s go into a little bit of the history if it!
Like I mentioned bánh mì translates to bread, but for the cuisine it uses a baguette that the French colonist introduced to Vietnam when it was still part of French Indochina along with some of the other ingredients. Sometimes it is called bánh mì thịt, just adding the word ‘meat’ to the end so you know it’s the person is talking about the sandwich and not about bread itself. Bánh mì has been considered a luxury cuisine a couple of times in history, during World War I and after the Fall of Saigon in 1975, but is now a common street food. It has become a staple food of Vietnam and if anyone remembers H’Hen Nie, Miss Vietnam 2018 wore bánh mì as her Miss Universe national costume.

H’Hen Nie, Miss Vietnam 2018 wore bánh mì as her Miss Universe national costume.

There are different variations of these viet subs, but the ones that I will be comparing today are all Bánh mì đặc biệt which is a special combo sandwich. In these special combo sandwiches, you’ll find these ingredients:

• Vietnamese baguette
• Sliced pork or pork belly
• Chả lụa (pork sausage)
• Head cheese or brawn
• Fresh cucumber slices
• Cilantro
• Pickled carrots and white radish (shredded form)
• Jalapeños
• Maggi seasoning sauce
• Mayonnaise
• Liver pâté

bánh mì đặc biệt or special combo Vietnamese subs or sandwiches

I grew up eating these subs and I absolutely love them to this day. In the last month, I have tried 3 bánh mì đặc biệt from 3 different places, which happen to be all in different states. So here is from least liked to most liked.

The first place is from a restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin. I don’t really want to put the name of the restaurant out there because they have other foods that are really good. I had really good pho from them actually, so I won’t knock them down for just one food item. Their subs were okay though. I probably wouldn’t get any subs there again, but if someone else did they are still tasteful enough to eat.
So one main ingredient that makes up a bánh mì đặc biệt is the bread right? I mean it’s in the name. Well the reason why they are my least liked is because their bread was flat, not airy like a baguette. It seemed like they scooped the breading out like how Jimmy John’s does? Also their bread was really wide and the inside ingredient portions did not match at all. The shredded pickled carrots and white radishes were all cut super thin where you could barely tell that there was any in it.

The second place is right down from where I grew up in Kentwood, Michigan at B&N Sandwiches located in the Golden Bridge Plaza. I’m probably a little bias, but the bread there has a nice crunch when you bite into it. The veggies are cut into good sized pieces, the only thing that I would change about it is the inconsistency of the sandwich. Sometimes there isn’t enough of one ingredient compared to the last time you bought some. Overall all, I would really recommend them to everyone!

The last place is from Ha Tien Super Market located in St. Paul, Minnesota. All the bánh mì that I have ever had, Ha Tien Super Market has made it the best! The bánh mì has a nice crunch to it, the inner ingredient portions are more than you can ask for. They really fill the baguette up. I really like cilantro too, so the amount of veggies that they throw on is perfect. *chefs kiss*
I don’t know what else they use, but there is just way more flavor in their subs. I would travel again back to St. Paul just to get more. Might have to go back pretty soon to get some!!

I will always be trying other places, so there will be more food blogs on these Vietnamese subs! It’s nice being able to write foods that I grew up eating and that are a part of who I am. I’ll start doing more of these, it makes me feel a little more connected to my roots and my family since I moved away. The area I live in now doesn’t have too many Vietnamese restaurants like they do back in Michigan.
I also wanted to quickly add that while bánh mì (and other Viet cuisines) are gaining popularity here in the US, please don’t try to take these dishes and americanize them to make a profit off of. Do not do what has been done to Mexican/Hispanic foods. Foods should be shared with others along with their traditions and origins, even if someone else puts their own twist on it, but shouldn’t be monetized. It’s quite insulting, but that’s another topic for another time.