Chicago Recap and Pictures Galore

I am going to try to make this more of a photo blog because there are SOOOOO many photos.  I am also going to split this up into 2-3 posts because it's too much at once and I don't want to overbear you!

We packed a TON into five days and I couldn't add 200+ on here.  So I will post the full album link at the end if you want to see all of them.

On Wednesday evening, the poodle started a hissy fit and saw the suitcase.

She decided to stage a protest:

We flew out on Thursday and this was the incredible view from my plane:

When we finally arrived to our gorgeous hotel, we were pretty tired. We had planned to adventure out to our favorite Chicago restaurant but didn't have it in us.  So we ended at staying at the hotel which holds the world famous Pump Room.  This place is legendary and is star studded, James Beard awarded and a ton of hollywood history in the place. Just an FYI - on a late Thursday night, it was like the model convention was in town.  Everyone was stunning in there and I felt a bit plane frumped and tired.  But we did start the evening off correctly with the following:

After that - we went up for the evening and retired.

When we woke up, we explored the gorgeous hotel.

The weather was definitely chilly and it was quite blustery.  We headed out on foot and decided to explore the city. We ended up walking around 9 miles.  As we started our day, we saw our first "faux" celebrity siting.  I saw Marci from last seasons The Biggest Loser. She was the super sweet mom of Courtney. Well ironically, she was out in full force jogging and looked INCREDIBLE!  Pretty fun siting.

This is a pic of them to trigger your memory:

We went out for a hunt of coffee and breakfast and a place to buy a nice birthday gift.

This is how I started my morning after a brisk beginning 3 mile walk:

And my cute man

After lobster, spinach and truffle Benedict's and mimosas we walked around this amazing market called Fox & O bel.  I picked up some nice french caramels with fluer de sel for the room if we had a sweet tooth. We then went on a hunt for a lovely foodie gift for the 80th birthday party we flew in for.   (a little background - the man we were there for is Z's best friends dad). He was like a surrogate dad to him and helped the boys thru the Univ of M ichi gan.
Since I love to cook and the birthday man loves to cook, we decided to splurge on a gorgeous bottle of Leonardi Cherry Balsamic aged around 30 years.   He has already sent 3 emails of how amazing it was on his trout he cooked up and is planning on using it on ice cream and fresh berries this week.   A success I think!  This is what the bottle looks like.   (was initially bottled at 20 yrs and the manager brought it out from behind the glass and said it was there at least 9 yrs).   Hmm - I want one now!!

After that - we ended up walking around Michigan Mile & went over to Navy Pier.  We jumped on an Architecture cruise which gave us a nice perspective from the water. I took a TON of pics so these will be in the album link at the end.

From there - we walked back towards the hotel where people were starting to arrive. Our friends were having lunch at a French Brasserie and we stopped in and ordered wine. We peeked at the menu and it looked incredible but we were still stuffed from breakfast.  We then went back to the hotel and got caught up and showered and dressed for dinner. We were having dinner this evening at the famous Pump Room.

I REALLY regret not taking photos of the beautiful food that evening but instead, I will list what I ordered. I am still reminiscing about it  ;)

For starters we had the tuna tartar again which was pictured in the earlier pic above.  It was so incredible, the table wanted to try it and they agreed. We then ordered a fresh ricotta ravioli and each of us had one.   Then for dinner, I ordered a half size of tagliatelle handmade pasta which was paired with a very light lemon cream sauce. I also ordered a crispy kale salad which made my eyes roll behind my head.  Yes, that good.
For dessert, we 4 split the most talked about in the place which was a french caramel seat salt ice cream sundae with toffee popcorn in it.   Just the right amount of sweetness. 

We then went and had cocktails and caught up some more & until bed.

The next day, a lot more people were starting to show up. Some of Z's college friends and some people from other spots who were family of the birthday man.   In total, there were around 15 of us who flew in from all over the world.  From Spain, Idaho, Florida, Oregon, Ohio, other parts of Illinois and Kansas City.   I think that says a lot about a persons character on how people will flock to you no matter what to celebrate your milestone. This guy is that neat!

The next morning we all met in the hotel library coffee bar and just went at a slow pace. I sipped on espresso and decided to finally remember I had a lapband and eat healthy. I had a hard boiled egg and Greek yogurt with fresh fruit.   We all decided to drive up to see the beautiful Fra nk L loyd W right - R obie House.  This was in the beautiful neighborhood of Hyde Park which is where a university is at and each mansion is more stunning than the next.  We toured the inside (no pics allowed) but did manage to take a few outside:





 Ok this concludes half of the trip.  I think it will be easier to blog this in 2 parts so it's not obnoxiously overwhelming.

Next up:  More 'celebrity' sitings, the main birthday party, more amazing food, Millennium Park fun, more shopping, lots of champagne and views. 

If you made it this far - I am amazed!!!