CHICAGO

I’m back from my whirlwind weekend in Chicago! I fully understand now why it is called the windy city! I had a wonderful birthday and great memories from my birthday weekend. On Friday, John and I spent the day at Shedd Aquarium and saw some amazing fish. We bonded with otters, dolphins, beluga whales, turtles, and basically anything else that swam and we thought was cute. We also saw some freaky stuff that really gave us the creeps. We met up with Kedavies and Katie for some fun St. Patty’s festivities. That night we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day (the right way) with green beer and friends.

Saturday we walked around the city with our tour guide, Katie. She is a spectacular tour guide and will take you inside of buildings. She also brought us to the animal shelter where she works and John and I almost walked out with two large orange kitty brothers. We hit up Michigan Avenue and I rambled on about Oprah facts. We caught the game at Katie’s apartment (which is the perfect size apartment for mini-me) and cheered for the Hoosiers. The TV network put us out of our misery and switched to another game, so we didn’t have to watch the final fall of IU this season. The only thing that diverted our attention away from losing was Annie, Katie's cat, and her amazing kitty tricks. I have never seen a cat like her go hog wild on this toy. We laughed pretty hard everytime she batted the ball around really fast and it never got old. We stuffed ourselves with Chicago pizza and contemplated snoozin’ on the couch all night. We went out and met up with some more old college friends--Amanda and Andrea. It was so great to see everyone again. Just like old times, but only in a really loud Latino bar. We peaced out of there and headed to the Gin Mill. On our way, I bumped into an old IU friend on the street. What are the odds? The Gin Mill treated us right and before we knew it, we were singing “Man in the Mirror” only to be followed by “Africa” at 2:30am.
We were rudely awoken to it being morning too soon. We crashed at Katie’s apartment and rushed back out to the suburbs to get ready at our hotel for our last day (and my birthday!) in Chicago. John and I spent the day at the Field Museum. We saw Sue, the T-Rex, hieroglyphics, and the exhibit for The Evolving Planet (where we saw fossils found from John's hometown). It was really a fascinating day at the museum and I had a little birthday cake too! We were sad to have to leave, but we had a fantastic time in the windy city. I absolutely love Chicago. Thank you all for showing us a great time! We will back soon!

Personal Advertisement: Katie has found a new jacket (circa 1991) in her closet at home that has never been used. It is reversible—hot pink or purple, take your pick! The late ‘80s were about letting you be control of your fashion. Warning: The jacket does tend to add about 45 pounds to whoever wears it and bunches up in the back. Katie is going to put this jacket on eBay, but I thought I’d do my share and post this advertisement on my own site. Interested buyers name your price. I’ll let Katie know you are interested and she will have to decide if you are worthy of this great find.

*P.S. It is the 1st day of Spring and it is snowing outside! It waited all winter to snow today?!