Sunday of Girls’ Weekend 2008

Sunday (or Sad Day, as I came to think of it) started a little later, which was nice.   We checked out of the hotel about 9:45 and headed north to the Magnificent Mile for shopping.  

Since we had a little time before the shops opened, we ate a quick bite at The Corner Bakery and then headed north on Michigan to begin scouring shops for treasures. We had some definite destinations in mind and I don’t think we looked at much more than that. Of course, the best part of shopping on Michigan Avenue, in my opinion, is simply walking with the crowds and enjoying the window displays so I had a great time. (And I dropped quite a bit of moolah at Williams Sonoma AND Sephora so I did my part for the economy.)

We left town about 1:30 and due to a couple of fender benders on I-55, we didn’t reach Bloomington until almost 4:30. We stopped there for a late lunch/early dinner and arrived home about 6 or 6:30.

I would love to drag out all my treasures and take photos for you…but I am going to do what needs to be done around here and then head to bed. I worked later than normal tonight and have to be work earlier than normal tomorrow so I can definitely confirm that the weekend is over.

I hate it when that happens.

Sunday sounds a bit like a let-down but I assure you, it was a great day. Shopping on Michigan Avenue has to be in the Top 5 of my all-time favorite things to do…so yeah, it was a very good day.

Saturday of Girls’ Weekend 2008

After a quick hotel restaurant breakfast, we headed to Andersonville, another little neighborhood north of downtown. We LOVED this neighborhood and have already decided to revisit it on a future Girls’ Weekend. The purpose of our trip this year, though, was the long-awaited CHOCOLATE TOUR!!

We met at the Andersonville Galleria at 10:45. There ended up being 17 women, plus two guides, on our tour. We visited four different businesses and sampled everything from toffee to truffles to hot chocolate.

Before the tour even started, I fell in love with a pair of gray-green ceramic birds that I found at the Galleria. I saw them and they made me smile. I walked away but they drew me back. I walked away three times but I couldn’t leave them there. They now reside on a shelf in my living room. I’m not even a ‘bird person’ but these days I guess, if you can make me smile, you’re pretty much coming home with me.

Our favorite spot on the tour was the small shop called City Olive. OMG! It was like finding a room of heaven on earth. The walls are lined with bottles of imported olive oils, vinegars, sauces, condiments and olives. Like I said – heaven! They offered us chocolate (I think — I didn’t go through the line for samples at this store) but they also let us sample some of their oils and vinegars. I came home with three bottles of goodies and can’t wait to go back next year.

The tall bottle in the back is a basil-garlic olive oil that tastes like…something out of this world. It will be perfect for pasta or for dipping bread. The small bottle on the left is a balsamic chili pepper glaze that tastes so good you could pour it over ice cream.  And the cranberry chipotle sauce on the right is going to perfect on grilled vegetables.  Score!

After the tour, we drove around a bit and I asked to drive through the Theater District so I could see the theaters in daylight. This would turn out to be a nightmare as the left-most lane on Randolph Street was closed for construction. The cabbies didn’t seem to notice though as they still tried to drive as though the barricades and orange cones were just decorations. It was nerve-wracking to say the least. After that harrowing experience, we decided to go back to the hotel and rest for a little while before getting ready for the evening.

At 5 pm, we arrived at Scoozi, an Italian restaurant that David recommended to us. It was a beautiful place and the food was amazing! I had the butternut squash ravioli with walnuts and it was incredible. However…

Our server would have been more subtle if she had pulled the chairs out from under us, tied our arms and feet together and thrown us into a waiting cab. She rushed us through our meal, dumped our ticket on the table before we had even finished eating, and definitely gave the impression that we were in her way. I understand the desire to turn over tables at a reasonable rate…but we hadn’t been there 30 minutes when she started her antics. I suppose if we were trying to eat and be on our way quickly, the service would have been appreciated, but this was our big night out. We just wanted to relax and have a nice conversation. We had given ourselves plenty of time to eat and savor and enjoy before we had to be at the theater but as it turned out, we ended up at the theater about an hour and a half before showtime.

That turned out alright though because I had time to take a few photos before the doors opened and the crowds got too out of hand. Denise took the second photo in this batch.

But in the end, even an irritating server couldn’t dampen the excitement we felt at seeing Dirty Dancing on the stage! I still have the sights and sounds in my head. It was magical! I kept the Playbill and bought the program (natch) because I always want to remember that night.

Poster outside the theater

The lift they did Saturday night was even more impressive than the poster. His arms were straight up over his head and she was straight as a board for what seemed like minutes. It was beautiful. The entire night’s performances seemed flawless to me.

If I were to chronicle the events of the night honestly, I would have to mention the annoying women sitting around us. But I prefer not to. They almost ruined the night, they don’t have to ruin my memories too.

I fell asleep still smiling from the music and the excitement of the play. I refused to think about the fact that I had only one day left in my favorite city.

Soon to come…Sunday on Michigan Avenue. You will want to hear about it!

Friday of Girls’ Weekend 2008

“Oh my stars, are people ever going to leave me alone and let me logoff from work?”

That is what kept running through my mind Friday afternoon. I was supposed to work four hours in the morning and then have the afternoon off so I could pack and we could leave for Chicago. Well, my four hours started early and ran late but I was finally able to logoff a little after 1 pm. But I hadn’t begun packing, not even to begin to lay things out that I wanted to take, so I was starting to feel a little frantic. I was able to finally pull it all together though and we hit the road about 2:45.

About two and a half hours later, we arrived at our first stop, Myopic Books, in the neighborhood of Wicker Park. We were hoping to find all sorts of treasures but sadly, that didn’t happen. It was a great college-town type of neighborhood…but the bookstore itself felt a little sad and a lot claustrophobic. And not to mention, overpriced. One particular title we had on our list was priced at $7.95. When I looked it up on Barnes & Noble’s site, the price there was $1.99. So yeah, being the book mavens that we are, we stopped looking after that.

However, the bookstore visit was redeemed by the appearance of not one but two furry four legged creatures. The first appeared just as we walked through the front door. A woman was shopping in the store with her MINIATURE HORSE.

It was adorable and seemed to love everyone who dropped everything they were doing to come pet it. I SO wanted to get a photo of it (the above is just something I found online), but the store was a little congested and I didn’t know if the horse’s owner would mind. But, I really shouldn’t have worried because when I heard her tell the bookstore person, “Oh, I didn’t mean to cause such a fuss”, I knew right then, she would have loved it. Clearly, if you are walking around Chicago, particularly in a crowded bookstore, with a MINIATURE HORSE, you are intending to cause a fuss.

The second beautiful creature was Lenny, the store’s resident cat. I was able to snap a few pics of him because he had chosen a secluded part of the bookstore to get away from the throngs. And probably the horse.

Yes, that is a small ledge running above the stairs to the second story. Smart cat.

After the bookstore, we found our hotel and checked in. We were excited to learn we were staying on the 33rd floor. Until we reached the elevator and realized that it was really just the third story.

Ah, well. I did have a room with a view, just not one quite as expansive as I thought it might be. And although we were across the street from Grant Park, I was facing the side street. This was my view. Which might seem sad, but I actually enjoyed it.

Yes, it is the Museum of Contemporary Photography. So it made me think of David every time I looked out, which was better than anything I might have seen in Grant Park.

After dropping off our things, we decided to walk up Michigan Avenue to find dinner. So if you’re keeping score here, I was staying downtown (check) and walking Michigan Avenue after dark (check). So I was able to cross off #78 from my list of 100 Things. w00t!

We walked as far as Ohio (which is a quite a jaunt from Congress, especially in the cold and intermittent rain) and had a great dinner. It was pouring when we finished so we grabbed a cab back to the hotel. I fell asleep to the sounds of the city and the rain on the window. I never wanted to go home.

Stay tuned for Saturday’s adventures…which may go down in the annals of Girls’ Weekends as the BEST DAY EVER!

Catching up

While I’m off having a rockin’ good time in Chi-town, let’s catch up on some of the other things that have been going on…

• I remember as a kid, that the most difficult thing for my parents, when we took off for a weekend, was to remember to lock the door to the house.  (Yes, I grew up in Mayberry.  What’s it to ya?)   Today, my doors are always locked but now I have to remember to charge the iPod, the camera batteries, and the cell phone…and then remember to pack all the chargers just in case because Lord knows you don’t want to be caught in a Kodak moment without a charged battery.  Geesh, my parents had it so easy.
• I need a 12-step program for my iTunes addiction.  Some people buy a dozen doughnuts in the morning; I buy a dozen new songs.  It is getting serious, folks. Expect to see me on A&E’s Intervention show before long.
• But the reason for the iTunes addiction is because of my other new addiction: Pandora. Are you aware of this? You can create your own radio stations so that only the music you want to hear is played. I mean, seriously? Who is strong enough to resist that? Not I, my friends. I have a station for indy rock, classic rock, pop music, folksy music…even 80’s hair bands. If I could marry Pandora.com, I would do it in a heartbeat. Anyway, you tell Pandora one band or song you like and then it finds similar bands/songs to play for you. So if you put in AC/DC (which, yeah, I did), then you’ll hear anything from Metallica to Def Leppard. OR, (and this is where my trouble lies) it plays some obscure band you’ve never heard of and so you MUST go to iTunes and check out all their other songs and then you MUST purchase one or six of them to have forever and…now, you see my problem. And Pandora does all this work for you…FOR. FREE. If I can’t marry Pandora, I would definitely kiss it on the mouth. Oh yeah! And you would hear KISS too.
• The woman who cuts my hair is back from maternity leave so I went in for a sorely needed cut and color this week.  She finally took some of the length off that I’ve been asking for and she took all the blonde out that she put in earlier in the summer.  I don’t know why I ever get highlights – my own haircolor is better.  Remind me of that next time, okay?  That was money that could have been spent at iTunes!
• Things are swamped at work and getting swampeder (Of course, I know it’s not a word.  But just say it once…as three syllables.  It’s fun.) as we near the end of the year.  It is so crazy that I had to cancel lunch with David last week…and you know I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t have to.  We are losing another member of our little team this month and we’re expanding to two more divisions before the end of the year. Yeah, you can imagine. More on this and my time management plans to come…
• I had a short conversation with My Favorite this week.  I miss being able to see him every day. But then, I miss a lot of things about the time we used to work together. (See? I do think about you even when you’re not around.  *winks*)
• A few more items are underway in the 100 Things list. I should be able to cross a couple more off this year and I have a handle on a few more already for 2009. Maybe I should put everything on a list that needs attention. That seems to be my most motivating factor.
• The other day, I got on an elevator and there were two other gentlemen on it before me.   We rode silently down a few floors and then they exited on the floor before mine.  As one of the guys was leaving, he put his hand on my arm and said “Good to see you again. Have a great day.”  No FREAKING clue who he was or if we have even met before.  It’s been driving me nuts ever since.
• It is getting mighty chilly here in these parts. I have this thing I do every year, where I try not to turn on the furnace until at least Halloween. I don’t think I’ve ever made it that long but I still haven’t turned it on this year. I am, however, sleeping in layers of clothing and two pairs of socks…but hey, one of these years I have to make it to the goal or this is all just stupid.

It’s here!

Well, my Practical Self beat the living daylights out of my Girly Self and I am now taking a manageable wardrobe to Chicago. (Actually, my Practical Self asked my Wimpy Self if I really wanted to carry around a metric ton of clothing and accessories for a 48 hour trip and my Wimpy Self caved. Sometimes it pays to have multiple personalities.)

Yes, Girls’ Weekend is upon us and by the time you read this, I will have hit the road. If you’re checking out the agenda I published a few weeks ago for any type of stalking/paparazzi opportunities, good luck to you! By the time we figured out what made the most sense logistically, we shuffled most everything around. I think we’re still doing everything…just not when we originally planned. After the last couple of weeks, I will be happy to just get out of town. I could sit in the hotel room for 48 hours and as long as I didn’t have to logon to work, I would be thrilled.

Speaking of logging on, I may have a post over the weekend, if I get around to writing it today. I won’t be blogging while in Chicago but you can believe I will be taking notes of all the good stuff to share when we return. Oh, but I will probably Twitter occasionally, so if you’re following me, you’ll see that. Or, if you’re not on Twitter, you can just click the link over there in the right sidebar to see my tweets.

Yes, because what I do is that important to you. Geesh, what a dork. Multiple personalities and an ego the size of Montana. I am a gift.