Windy City is Mighty Pretty

Last week I got to spend a few days in my favorite big city (Chicago) for work. And to top it off, I was with my good friend Jill, who was also going to the conference. How lucky can a girl get?

I'm basically a flying pro now. I didn't fly until I was 22 and until last February when I flew to Florida by myself, the flight to Arizona at age 22 was my only flight under my belt. But I love it. I don't even get scared at all. I'm too excited!

Bowie's never been to Chicago. She wanted to go too!

Waiting.....

 This time, unlike in February, the skies were clear and we had gorgeous views the entire time we were in the air. Leaving Chicago we flew over Lake Michigan (my first time over water) and I saw Notre Dames football stadium from above (cool!). Plus the most georgeous view of Downtown Chicago as we were taking off. Breathtaking.


Wednesday we got checked in to our hotel, caught up on work emails and headed to this restaurant called Jake Melnick's for lunch. OMG! Deliocious. It didn't open until 11:30am (kind of late for lunch right?) and we were both starving because to us it was really 12:30!

yum. yum. yum. yum. yum.

But I got these pulled pork nachos and didn't even come close to finishing them because they were so massive, but so, so good!

We then walked around downtown. Visited Water Tower Place where we walked around the mall, visited the American Girl store :), and shared a cupcake from Crumbs. We also headed down Michigan Avenue to see Cloud Gate (aka, the bean) and ran into the Taste of Chicago festival that was going on in Grant Park. We got some free photo booth photos (something Jill and I have a history of doing) and I won a lottery ticket with my awesome corn hole skills. It wasn't a winner. :(

cloud gate.

mad cornhole skillz won me a free scratch off ticket.

I so wished Lt. Serveride was on this truck.

CHICAGO!

 Then we trecked back up State Street, across the river (my favorite spot in Chicago) and ate dinner at Giordanos. I had been craving their pizza for weeks! They did not disappoint, but it wasn't as hot as it normally was, so that was a bummer.

also yum.

 The conference was great. There were some sessions that were kind of misleading based on the title, but there were just as many that were awesome and were so helpful to me! I'm really excited to implement some of these ideas into my programs.

Thursday evening after the conference had ended for the day, we ventured to the Navy Pier. We rode the Ferris Wheel and walked to the end and just sat and watched the water. It made me want to be on a boat. Lucky for me in a few short weeks I'll be on a very big boat!

Free s'mores on the Navy Pier, just for the heck of it.

so pretty.

we both rocked the front poof that day.

so fun to ride and see the city.

take me on the water too!

 We had dinner at Margaritaville and I had a yummy Sweet Tea Margarita. It tasted just like sweet tea. No joke. And the food was awesome as well. We hit up TJ Maxx and Homegoods on the way back to the hotel, but I was beat and my legs were sore. Between the margarita and walking 239 miles the day before, I found myself taking advantage of the escalator to stretch my legs.

wasting away again in margaritaville...

my. legs. hurt. so. much.

Friday morning was more conferencing. It ended at noon and we then visited some stores on State Street. I found (well, Jill found it for me) a really cute leopard shirt at Nordstrom Rack. (Surprisingly enough, my brother introduced me to that store in Cleveland a few years ago. Love it.) We got Garret's popcorn and stopped at my favorite bakery - Magnolia Bakery - for cupcakes and cake, along with Potbelly's for lunch and waited to head to the airport.

headed back to the hotel. (my hair looks awful. so much bronze!)

 While waiting to board, we enjoyed our cupcakes and milk, and met some really interesting characters. The flight back was great and we made friends with the people beside us, who I'm pretty sure own some big company because they stayed at the same hotel as Justin Bieber last month.

leaving this city is always sad for me.

i just want to jump into them.

Until next time Chicago.