Another trip!

One of my old roommates (Dawn) got married last summer in North Carolina. I went out for the wedding and had a wonderful time being with her again. When I left we said then that we'd have to find a way to see each other sometime for a few days. Rather to me going there or her coming to Goshen we decided to meet up somewhere. We found cheap flights from NC to Chicago , so we decided to meet up in Chicago April 7-9.

Dawn and me

We met downtown on Monday afternoon and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Allerton Hotel on Michigan Avenue. It was a quaint hotel with small, but clean and neat rooms. That afternoon we spent time walking around downtown talking non stop, stopping in the occasional store to do some shopping and ended up at Buca de Beppo's for dinner. Dinner was wonderful - of course! :) And after dinner we went to see the movie "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day." After the movie we walked down to the Cheesecake Factory where we shared a plate of fries and each enjoyed a scrumptious piece of cheesecake. I had the lemon-raspberry...Raspberry Vanilla Cake, Creamy Lemon Cheesecake, Raspberry Lady Fingers and Lemon Mousse...it was amazing!

Me & Dawn taking a photo of ourselves.

Tuesday we slept in and then headed out for brunch at Giordano's for some "world famous stuffed pizza." It wasn't so much an actual brunch since we just got pizza, but it was our breakfast and lunch combined. A great way to start the day - while on vacation at least! :) After breakfast we headed out to do some serious shopping - or at least serious window shopping! One of my goals was to find some cool sunglasses at H&M. I tried on tons and finally found a pair that I really liked on the clearance rack! So, my super-cool new sunglasses were bought for the bargain price of $1.00! We also found a Trader Joe's in downtown Chicago, so I bought some more yummy treats! :)

Me taking a photo of myself in the Big Bean.

Tuesday evening we went back to the Cheesecake Factory. This time we skipped the cheesecake and just had dinner. I got my usual dish of Cajun Jambalaya Pasta. It was as spicy and flavorful as I remembered! After dinner we walked across the street to the Border's Bookstore and looked at books together for a few hours - reminiscent of what we used to do on the weekend when we were roommates back in the day.

Me in Borders with a book about gnomes.

Wednesday we got up a bit earlier and checked out of the hotel. We grabbed breakfast in the Water Tower Place Mall and then walked down to Millennium Park where we wanted to see Cloud Gate or the "Big Bean" as most people call it to take some fun photos. It was a gorgeous day that made for a great walk downtown.

Cloud Gate or the "Big Bean" It was a gorgeous day!