Dan and I got home today from a fun and relaxing trip to Chicago to celebrate my 30th birthday! We left on Friday morning and headed straight to Ikea in Schaumburg to load up on a few things for the new studio. After a road closure, accident (not us), more construction, then rush hour traffic, we finally made it! We ate at Sweet Tomatoes before shopping, which was my first meal choice on our agenda. It is a HUGE salad bar (over 60 ingredients), soup bar, with pizza and baked goods...all you can eat! Turns out we weren't as hungry as we'd thought and I was trying to be careful because of my gall bladder ---so we really didn't eat as much as I was thinking we would---but we did love what we ate! I was a little worried we didn't take advantage of it, but Dan made a good point when he said "If you feel like you've come out ahead at a buffet, I'm not sure that's a good thing!"We picked up a countertop to go with some cabinets we purchased on our last trip and it BARELY fit into the car!!! We also got 2 full size mirrors for our changing rooms and a few other smaller things. I can't believe it fit!!! :)
After going to Ikea and before driving to the hotel, we had just enough time to squeeze in a movie. We wanted to see Eagle Eye but we were too late, so we saw Burn After Reading. I truly enjoyed going to the movies with my sweet hubby (a treat we don't do much anymore)...but I have to say about the movie.....UM, WEIRD!!!!! Dan liked it, but I will just say......HUH??? I liked the premise of the movie but it was slow and weird and I prefer happier movies than depressing ones! But---it was really fun to go and have a weird movie to chat about on the way to the hotel! A photo of our hotel, the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place (from their website)...
On Saturday we didn't have many plans. Plan #1: SLEEP IN! And we did. It was great. We took a cab to the Magnificent Mile, ate at a very cool tea shoppe called Argo Teas, stopped in Ghiradelli for a free chocolate sample, waved at all the beautiful expensive stores from the street, enjoyed the perfect weather, strolled hand in hand down the street sipping on our favorite Starbucks drinks, and made our way to an awesome park full of cool statues and places to sit and watch people. (We saw two wedding parties, a comical amateur model photo shoot, and a man in a kilt saluting each person that passed him.)
I don't know what this sculpture thing is called but it is AWESOME! It reflects the entire city of Chicago in the bubble!
It's kinda like "Where's Waldo?"....can you find us?!?!
A better photo of what is actually looks like...
Okay, am I the only one who is blown away by the fact that we were celebrating my 30th birthday and our hotel room number was 3030?!?! How cool is that?!
My request for dinner was to get steak. I didn't care where it came from or what came with it but I wanted to get a steak for dinner! After many last minute calls to steak houses near the theatre district who were all full, we decided to take advantage of the fabulous restaurant in our own hotel before leaving for a show. We went to Shor and split a steak, mushrooms, and mashed potatoes...YUM! Unfortunately my gall bladder (after several weeks of no pain and lots of cheating) was really hurting all week, so we skipped dessert. As much as I love food and would have loved to have pigged out all weekend, this was much better for my hips and the double chin I've been forming lately!!!! I'm just looking at it like that......
Then on to the show......WICKED!!! It was soooo great! Aside from Dan not being able to see well from his seat, it was perfect! Funny, clever, entertaining, wonderful. We loved it!!!
Sunday morning we decided to leave somewhat early to make it back to Indy to watch the Colts game at Steve and Krystal's house. This was the view from our hotel room...
And our drive home with the Ikea countertop over our heads! I still can't believe how well it fit! We dodged a bunch of road closures for the Chicago marathon but otherwise it was a very uneventful quiet drive home. :)
What a way to end the weekend but with the HUGE win from the Colts!!! I don't have photos of the game with Steve and Krystal but we had a great time seeing them and hanging out before driving to get Sammi!
And a very accurate photo of our room (from their website)...
On Saturday we didn't have many plans. Plan #1: SLEEP IN! And we did. It was great. We took a cab to the Magnificent Mile, ate at a very cool tea shoppe called Argo Teas, stopped in Ghiradelli for a free chocolate sample, waved at all the beautiful expensive stores from the street, enjoyed the perfect weather, strolled hand in hand down the street sipping on our favorite Starbucks drinks, and made our way to an awesome park full of cool statues and places to sit and watch people. (We saw two wedding parties, a comical amateur model photo shoot, and a man in a kilt saluting each person that passed him.)
I don't know what this sculpture thing is called but it is AWESOME! It reflects the entire city of Chicago in the bubble!
It's kinda like "Where's Waldo?"....can you find us?!?!
A better photo of what is actually looks like...
Okay, am I the only one who is blown away by the fact that we were celebrating my 30th birthday and our hotel room number was 3030?!?! How cool is that?!
My request for dinner was to get steak. I didn't care where it came from or what came with it but I wanted to get a steak for dinner! After many last minute calls to steak houses near the theatre district who were all full, we decided to take advantage of the fabulous restaurant in our own hotel before leaving for a show. We went to Shor and split a steak, mushrooms, and mashed potatoes...YUM! Unfortunately my gall bladder (after several weeks of no pain and lots of cheating) was really hurting all week, so we skipped dessert. As much as I love food and would have loved to have pigged out all weekend, this was much better for my hips and the double chin I've been forming lately!!!! I'm just looking at it like that......
Then on to the show......WICKED!!! It was soooo great! Aside from Dan not being able to see well from his seat, it was perfect! Funny, clever, entertaining, wonderful. We loved it!!!
Sunday morning we decided to leave somewhat early to make it back to Indy to watch the Colts game at Steve and Krystal's house. This was the view from our hotel room...
And our drive home with the Ikea countertop over our heads! I still can't believe how well it fit! We dodged a bunch of road closures for the Chicago marathon but otherwise it was a very uneventful quiet drive home. :)
What a way to end the weekend but with the HUGE win from the Colts!!! I don't have photos of the game with Steve and Krystal but we had a great time seeing them and hanging out before driving to get Sammi!Danny, thanks so much for taking me to Chicago for the weekend! Thanks so much Kathe and Orlie for taking Sam and our dogs for the weekend! (I swear Sam has grown like 3 weeks worth in 3 days!)
It was so nice to get away and relax---to not work at all for three days----and just reset before this week starts! It's a funny thing hitting these milestone birthdays. I am thankful and proud of where I am in life, I have minimal regrets, and love my life just the way it is. But there is a little sadness that comes with realizing how many years have gone by. Sometimes I feel like it's just going way too fast and I want it to slow down because I am enjoying it so much. On the other hand...I think my 30s are going to be some of the best years of my life. I'm looking forward to the ride.
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