Chicago!!

This past weekend my friend Whitney and I went to Chicago. It was so much fun! We flew in Thursday afternoon, and took the "El" from Midway to our hotel. I am saying that so casually, but it was a big "discussion" on how to get to the hotel. I didn't want to waste my money on a taxi. Whitney, however, is afraid that serial killers and rapists are around every corner, so it was quite a big deal to use public transportation. We made it there is one piece and un-raped, as I suspected we would.

Our hotel was just one block off the incredible "miracle mile" shopping district. It was almost overwhelming. Every major department store you can imagine --Barney's, Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom's, Sak's, etc. And every other store you can imagine. On Thursday, we walked the shopping district , went to H&M, and ate at Grand Lux Cafe

Did I mention that Whitney and I were by ourselves--children and husbands were in TN. It was amazing.

Friday was our major shopping day. I was determined to find a dress for my brother's wedding. It is a gorgeous navy and white linen dress from Banana Republic. The Banana Republic was three stories high! After that, I found some matching shoes at Aldo's, and we just shopped around the rest of the afternoon. That night we ate some authentic chicago-style pizza at Lou Malnati's. It was delicious, and that night we saw Wicked. It was fantastic. The stage props, the costumes, the effects, the music--it was wonderful.


On Saturday, we woke up early and went to the Art Institute of Chicago. It was amazing, and amazingly big. We spent about two hours there. We saw "American Gothic," among other beautiful things.


We were there for a couple of hours. Then our friend, Shaulee, picked up us. The three of us ate at this cute brunch restaurant called Hot Chocolate, which was delicious. The rest of Saturday, we shopped, and by that night we were exhausted. We got some PF Chang's take away, and crashed at the hotel. Sunday morning, we flew home in time for Mother's Day. It was a great weekend. Just long enough to start missing your kids. I meant to take more pictures, but I just kept forgetting. Maybe next time.