Chicago Love

Well, it was wonderful!

Our trip to Chicago was perfect! Mom and and I had a fabulous time and we were pleased with everything we did, saw, ate, drank and bought! :)
The weekend was packed full of things, and we got to do just about everything we had on our list for the short trip. Oh, and I have almost 200 pictures to prove it!

Are you ready?

Mom flew up early on Friday and got a chance to see her ad firm's Chicago branch, and have lunch with that crew, which she loved! I arrived around 4:00 and made it to downtown around 5:30 at our hotel, Hilton Suites Magnificent Mile. Which I would recommend; great location! I had to go on a wild goose chase to find my bag at O'Hare. By the time I found it, it was the last bag on the carousel. I'm usually so good with directions and figuring things out! Hmmm....

 

{view from our room}

We began our night by strolling to the nearby Drake Hotel. It is so iconic, I had to see it. I would have snapped tons of pictures in here, but I felt so touristy and was certain all the fancy pants folks wouldn't like me taking pics of them! :)

 

We did a little more walking around the Michigan Avenue area by our hotel:

{gorgeous cathedral}

{water tower}

Next, we ventured to Old Town for dinner at Topo Gigio, which was charming and delicious.

{bad picture, but the food was amazing!}

{some kind of chocolate heaven}

Afterwards, we caught a show at the famous Second City comedy club.

{this was the show we saw, which was hilarious}

{the stage. we were very close! the seats were right on top of eachother, too!}

{some famous drink they had....it was yummy!}

{cute mom!}

We LOVED the show. We laughed so much. Sometimes we were the ones laughing the loudest. Oops. It was great! I can see how some of the comedians could easily make their way to Saturday Night Live one day. Good stuff! And worth a VERY late night :)


Saturday morning, we headed out and strolled down Michigan Avenue:

{beautiful river, and the draw bridge}

Our destination was Millennium Park, and we really enjoyed it!

{enjoying our warm coffee!}

{one of my favorite photos}

{the famous silver bean!}

{this really is amazing. it provides endless amounts of fun!}

{a bunch of folks liked mom's move here, so they started snapping pics doing the same thing. hehe.}

{the view from underneath, looking up. it was crazy! it just keeps reflecting in on itself}

 

{the reflection was really cool}

{i told you, endless amounts of fun!}

{especially fun for little people}

Millennium Park also had other cool things, not just a silver bean!

{this is an outdoor amphitheater that i just LOVED}

{wouldn't a summer concert here be so fun!?}

{love the red chairs, and the structure overhead. i'm sure when this is lit up at night that it's amazing}

{mom and her sassy pink gloves}

{i would love to come back and see something at this venue one day!}

{a very modern walking bridge to the museums}

{being that the art institute was nearby, there were some neat things in the park, too. red dinosoars to name a few!}

{the 'faces' fountain that wasn't running. boo}

After Millenium Park, we strolled back up Michigan for some shopping! Yahoo! Here are some pics we took along the way:

{cute little boat in the background}

{no big city is complete without silver people}

Oh, and we stopped for lunch at Ralph Lauren's Grille. Who knew he had one? It was charming and very Polo-esque!

{we sat by the window. prime placement for people watching!}

Ok, now there are no photos of the shopping, because, well, that would be unneccessary. Plus, we were focused!

For the evening, we went back to the hotel, got all gussied up and went to the John Hancock Building for dinner before the concert:

{this has 96 floors. dinner was at the very top!}

{the view from the signature room}

This was simply fabulous! We stared out the window almost the whole time we ate!

{i took these pics right from the table, and i tried to not look down too much!}

{i enjoyed a pear martini, while mom sipped her classic gin and tonic}

{when we weren't looking out the window, seeing the restaurant was quite lovely, too!}

{dessert and a chocolate covered strawberry martini. liquid goodness!}

{as it started to get darker, the twinkle of the lights were just beautiful}

Before we left, we walked over to the other side to see what their view was like:

{gorgeous!}

Then, we headed all the way out to Rosemont to the Allstate Arena to see my beloved Michael Buble. Get ready for a lot of pictures!!

{naturally 7 opened up for him. they are SO great! they make all the music without instruments. if you ever get the chance to see them, do it!}

{we were very excited to see Michael!}

{just as it was starting....he was behind the curtain. i was squealing}

{hello, you sexy canadian crooner. he sang cry me a river to kick things off}

{his amazing set would change colors constantly, and the screens would move around in the center. we were so impressed by it!}

{see how different?}

Even though the set was big, beautiful and flashy, Michael made it very intimate. He even talked about important that was to him, how his preference would be small, intimate theaters, and how big arenas can easily make you feel far away from the show. He did a fantastic job of making it seem sweet and personable. It helped that we were in the 18th row, too!!

Being so close made it easy to get good close-ups of him:

{he never, ever stayed still, so taking pictures without the flash was sometimes tough!}

{he stood still long enough to belt it out to the slow ones! songs like: georgia on my mind, home, crazy love....}

{i like this pic. i was surprised how far my camera would zoom in and still take ok photos}

{i loved it when he sang: haven't met you yet, everything, all of me, heartache tonight...

...really, there's not a single MB song that i 'snooze' too, i love them ALL}

{he really got the place revved up when he did a michael jackson bit}

{and when he walked down into the center of the auditorium, he was right behind us!}

{this image was up on the big screen, and i like the perspective. i can't imagine what it's like the be up there in front of all those people!}

{we look like blue avatars}

{confetti fell from the sky at the end of 'feeling good'}

{it was like new year's eve or something!}

{people went crazy}

{we really liked that surprise!}

{then he went into my favorite "me and mrs jones". i was in heaven}

{say what? mrs jones is here? i should meet her.
that's what he was thinking, i'm sure}

{he ended the show by singing 'song for you.' this is the way he always ends his shows. i know, i'm a 3 concert veteran! i love the part at the end when he belts it out, no music and no microphone. just pure, raw, amazing voice talent!}

Thank you, Michael Buble, for the best show yet! I LOVED IT!!!! I will continue to see your concerts forever and ever. Love, your #1 {married} fan.


Since it was such a great night, I won't tell you that we had to wait in line for an hour for a taxi after the concert, along with 100+ other people in the cold and drizzly rain. Nah, let's not talk about that!! We don't want to put a damper on the wonderful Buble night! :)


This morning, we had brunch at Orange:

{very cute and modern brunch place. we loved it in here!}

{home of frushi.....fruit sushi! yep! it was delish!!!}

{my banana split pancakes that I had trouble even eating half of!}

Next, we did a little bit more shopping on Michigan Avenue, and because we didn't have that much time we opted to go back up to the top of John Hancock to do a self-guided tour. We would have loved to check out a museum, but time didn't allow! Next time, right?

{navy pier}

{trump tower on the left, sears tower on the right}

{stunning views!}

{can't imagine washing the windows of a building like this? me either. this is what they get on to do it!}

{can't help but giggle. wouldn't that be a sight to see out your office window? hi! i'm jantastic! window cleaner extraordinaire!}

{great trip, mom. i love you!}

After a few delays and change of planes, I was in the air headed home

{goodbye, Chicago!}

It was the best trip. Mom and I realized that we had not ever done a trip just the two us like this before. So, it was pretty perfect. I loved Chi town and will go back again!

{now i've stayed up too late to write this, but i just couldn't wait to share!}