Chicago - Day 3

So the weather didn't get better. Still cold & still raining when we left the hotel Saturday morning. Luckily, the rain didn't last too long. The first stop was Millennium Park.

We had to get pics of "The Bean"

We were early so there wasn't a ton of people. 

The park was really pretty.

After the park we went to the Museum of Science & Industry. I'm not much of a museum person but this place was really cool. There was a ton of interesting things to see. 

There was a model of the city with working parts. So cute. I was excited to see a real Oscar!

Next up was the aquarium.

The penguins & the otters are my favorite. Those otters were having a grand old time. They were swimming & diving all over the place.

We walked around Navy Pier, Michigan Avenue & did some shopping. There's a lot of people watching here. 

We went to eat at Harry Caray's 7th Inning Stretch. 

The hole-y cow cracked me up!

Attached to the restaurant is the Chicago Sports Museum. Well, we tried multiple times to go but the museum was always closed for a private event. So aggravating. We checked the website & knew they were going to be closed one day but there was no mention of the other times that we went. We ate anyway & the private event that night was a wedding. I thought that was a little different. 

After eating we walked around some more & eventually made it to Ghirardelli's for dessert. I'd been looking forward to this the entire trip. 

Worth the wait & every single calorie. Sooooo good!!! I love a good waffle bowl. Add chocolate & I was in heaven!

The view from our room was pretty amazing.

We had to get up bright & early Sunday morning to come home. We took the train to the airport. That was interesting. There was nowhere to sit because of all the homeless people laid out on the seats. We didn't even see that in New York. 

It was a great trip & I'd definitely like to go back. Just not in May so maybe it will be warmer!

Toodles!

Chicago - Day 2

This was a day I've waited for for a long time - Wrigley Field! We went on a tour & had tickets to the game. Very exciting! 

We were early for our tour so we walked around Wrigleyville & stopped at Starbuck's for coffee. 

The Team Store had a lot of awards that Cub players have won over the years.

Greg Maddux Cy Young Award

One of Greg's gold gloves. There were also Louisville Slugger & Gold Gloves for Ryne Sandberg. 

This was really cool!

The Cubs World Series Trophy!

We woke up to awful weather Friday morning. Rain & 42 degree wind chill awful.

The tour was really interesting. There's so much history. 

It was very cool to be on the field. We had on several layers. 

Dean in the Brewers on deck circle. The Cubs were playing the Brewers. 

After the tour we went to Wrigleyville for lunch & a drink & then back to the stadium for the game. 

We weren't the only ones cold. 

I loved our seats!! Also, I took my ear muffs off for the picture. Yes, I had on ear muffs. Luckily, we're check the weather before you go somewhere people so we were prepared for the awful weather. 

It started raining harder & there was a dealy & we waited around for about 45 minutes & decided to move on. We didn't know when or if they'd resume play & we didn't want to waste any time. We saw 5 innings & it ended up being a 2 hour rain delay so we made the right decision.

Next up was Chicago style pizza.

It was good but I prefer New York style. 

We spent the rest of the evening walking down Michigan Ave. & doing some shopping. That was it for Friday!

Toodles!

Chicago Day 1

I never intended to take a blogging break. I'm not really sure what happened. I like to look back at these posts so I'm going to attempt to catch up on the non-random stuff.

We flew to Chicago bright & early Thursday morning. We landed at 9:30. We stopped at the hotel to drop off our luggage & then headed out to start sightseeing. Our first stop was what used to be the Sears Tower, now it's the Willis Tower. We went to what's called the Skydeck. This building is the 2nd tallest in North America. On a clear day, which it was Thursday, you can see four states - Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin & Michigan. 

They have this thing called "The Ledge" on the 103rd floor. It sticks out from the building 4 feet. 

We were standing in The Ledge in this pic. I didn't think it was terrifying but it did make me dizzy. 

After Sky Deck we went to the Federal Reserve Museum.

There was 3 million dollars in the museum. 1 million in $1's, 1 million in $20's & a million in  $100's I think it was. 

They had all sorts of interesting things there. 

Everyone told us to take the Architectural Boat Tour so we did that Thursday afternoon. 

It was a lot of fun & really interesting. It was a great way to see a lot of stuff. We went along the river & Lake Michigan.

We spent the day walking everywhere which is another great way to see things. Our hotel was close to Michigan Ave. We walked 21,097 steps Thursday.

Thursday night we had a reservation at RPM Italian. This is one of Giuliana & Bill Rancic's restaurants. 

Everything was really good. 

Prosciutto Arancini, Truffled Garlic Bread, Mama DePandi's Bucatini, Spinach Ricotta Raviolo. We also had the Handmade Cavatelli & Braised Short Ribs. Everything is a small serving so you can order several things. This is great for me because I always have a hard time making a decision.

For dessert we had Cannoli's. Chocolate & Almond and Sweet Ricotta & Pistachio. Both were good but the Sweet Ricotta & Pistachio was by far the best. They were delicious.

We also had a bottle of Hendry "HRW" Cabernet. I loved it.

That's it for Day 1!

Toodles!

Amost Friday

I feel like all I do is look forward to Fridays. Saturday was the Mardi Gras Mambo. Me, Scott, Lydia & Logan were all running. Dean came out to keep an eye on Logan while the rest of us ran.

Notice how we're dressed? It was HOT. Me, Scott & Lydia were running the 15K but around mile 4 Lydia decided to do the 10K because it was so hot.

Allie was running the 10K

Logan ran the 1 mi. fun run. 

Getting ready to start! 

Approaching the finish line.

We were at the finish line cheering him on. He ran that mile in 6:41. That kid amazes me. If I only had to run 1 mi. & I ran as fast as I possibly could, I couldn't do in that time. He still has a problem with starting. He runs all out at the beginning. We've all tried explaining to him that he needs to start a little slower. 

He was 2nd in his age group so he won the hat.

Scott was also 2nd in his age group. He won a beanie.

Monday morning I ran.

My legs were tired. 

I got back out there Wednesday morning. It was cold & windy. Louisiana weather is the best. 

Friday when I got home from work Dean got a call from the insurance adjuster. Long story short, he thought we had the car. He called the body shop, they said we'd been notified that we could pick the car up Tuesday. Um no. We had not been notified. Monday rolls around & the body shop guy called & said  there was a problem with the rear air the previous week & they fixed that & he had a few things to do to it Tuesday but it should be ready to go Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday afternoon rolled around, there was a problem with the power windows so a replacement motor had to be ordered. Should be ready Wednesday. The problem I have with all of this is that at the beginning when he had to give the insurance company an estimate of the damages he was supposed to check EVERYTHING. Clearly, he did not. So, late yesterday afternoon he called & said it was ready. By the time Dean would've gotten there it would've been dark & he needs to check out the paint job so it's being picked up today. Hopefully. I have zero confidence that everything will be the way it's suppose to be. 

Toodles! 

TGIF

Really happy it's Friday. That also means we're one week closer to tax season being over & having our early Friday's back. I HATE working until 5:00. Traffic is awful all of the time but leaving at 5:00 just makes it worse. When I worked at The Advocate I worked until 4:30. I had no idea just how much of a difference that 30 minutes makes with traffic. Tuesday it took 55 minutes for me to get home. Twice as long as it should. Last night I had to pick up race packets for the Mardi Gras Mambo Saturday. That meant I went home a different way. All that did was solidify that it's NOT the way to go home. 2 trains at the SAME intersection less than a minute apart. I don't understand how that's even possible. 

Speaking of the Mardi Gras Mambo, I got an email from them saying that because I've been a past participant for several years I'm a VIP. HA! What exactly does that entail? VIP packet pickup last night with snacks & wine. Of course it just happened to be at our local Fleet Feet where there were sales going on so basically being a VIP cost me $50 because I bought a couple of running tops. I can assure you this will be the only time I'm ever a VIP for any sort of race. Or probably anything else for that matter. 

The Mardi Gras Mambo has a 10K and a 15K. I'm running the 15K so I needed to do a longish run last weekend.

I did 8 miles Sunday morning. 

Sunday evening we went down the street to a Super Bowl party.

Can you tell who we were pulling for? We have a friend that is a coach for the Falcons. They lived across the street from us when he was a coach at LSU. 

 There were around 50 people there & each family brought something. There was a TON of food. 

This was my favorite. It was just your basic yellow cake with butter cream icing decorated for Mardi Gras. I could eat butter cream straight out of a bowl. LOVE IT!

I didn't even set my clock to get up Monday morning to run because it was a later than normal Sunday night. 

Monday night I woke up practically every hour so I turned the alarm off. 

Finally, Wednesday morning I got up & ran. At 4:30 it was only 70 degrees with 90% humidity. So ridiculous. This weather is crazy.

Last Thursday the owner of the body shop called Dean - that was a first - he told Dean "the plan" was to paint my car Monday & he "hopes" to have us pick it up Thursday. Guess what??? Today's Friday, a week later & I do not have my car. I'm not the least bit surprised. That whole "hope" thing doesn't exactly fill you with confidence in what he's telling you. I'm so over it.

Toodles!

Ball Season

It's Mardi Gras season in Louisiana which means there are balls every weekend. Friday night was Karnival Krewe de Louisiane. It's not affiliated with a parade but Debutante's are presented & all of the money benefits Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Baton Rouge. 

The 3900 Krewe was well represented. 2 of the girls were being presented so it we all went.

Each Debutante's mom was responsible for decorating the tables.

The first thing that happens is they introduce all the Royalty - King, Queen, Ball Captain, Dukes, Dutchess and then the Debutantes. They all parade down a red carpet while the MC tells all about them. Once all that is over there's a parade. It's not huge because we were inside but there were a couple of floats that the Debs rode on & threw beads. There were 2 high school bands too.

Parades aren't really my thing. This one was going ok since it was small & people weren't pushing & shoving but then I got beaned in the face with a handful of beads that someone neglected to catch. If you've never been hit in the face with beads, it hurts. I had a welt on my cheek the next day. 

Once the parade is over the Band starts & there's dancing until midnight.

I had a spray tan which is why I'm not 45 shades lighter than Dean.

It's really hard to believe these two are old enough to be Debs. They were both little bitty girls when we met them. 

No, Dean isn't wearing white gloves. That's one of the dad's. They escort the debutantes down the red carpet & they wear tails & white gloves. 

We had a great time. 

Saturday, I felt it. Those 4.5 in. heels KILLED my feet. All was good while we were at the ball. It wasn't until the we got out of the car at home that I realized just how awful they felt. My back & legs also hurt Saturday & there was the welt. I honestly, felt worse Saturday than I did the day after I ran the Marathon! 

Toodles!