Chicago Weekend

Our girls weekend started out with what else-shopping!



We stayed in Lombard and we were just down the road from the awesome shopping center in Oak Brook. Hands down my favorite store was Crate and Barrel. I loved everything in that store! My second favorite store was Land of Nod which had so many cute kid's things like sock kitties! How adorable are they?

Why didn't I buy one??



After our day of traveling and shopping we had a great dinner at a brewery complete with some nice brews. We had a super awesome waiter whose nick name on the sales receipt was "Chadillac". I was having a really good time because when he asked if I wanted another drink I said no, but he misunderstood it as "yes" so...it was a good time! :o)

YUM.

Me, Kelly, and Kelli (all the way from AZ)

Ashley, Jodi and Emily- great gals! Jodi coordinated the whole trip for us and forced us to come. :o)

After dinner we had some wine, did our nails, ate M&M's, and relaxed in the hot tub. Ahh...heaven.

Sunday morning we slept in, had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then caught the train into the city. It was my first time taking the metra and while I was nervous about the lines/logistics of it all, it was a very easy way to travel into the city. There was a Cubs game so it was fun to see everyone in their Cubs gear. I would love to go to a game!





Our first stop was the Chicago Jazz Festival where we relaxed for a bit, ate lunch, and saw some funky groups. Jazz harp, anyone?

After the Jazz Fest, we stopped at the bean and then headed down Michigan Ave. for some shopping and sight seeing. It was super super busy so we changed routes and headed to Navy Pier instead, which was also super busy. Lots of people!

Of course, what is a trip to the big city without a Starbucks stop?

I thought everything in the store looked so beautiful in the afternoon light, but I tried to refrain from looking like too big of a dork and just took a couple of photos. Scott was worried about my taking my new camera with me, but I saw lots of very nice cameras around people's necks the whole weekend. I also got a new bag that also has room for my wallet so that made it easier to carry with me. Anyway, back to the trip:

The whole group (minus me)!

After catching a cab back to the station it felt good to relax on the train ride home. We had a great dinner at Weber Grill complete with more brews, awesome pretzel rolls and quite possibly the best meatloaf I have ever had. I think the best part of the trip was eating good food and relaxing away from the husband and kid. Priceless!

It was a great weekend, and I can't wait for girls weekend next year! :o)