Long Weekend in Chicago

It is a traveling summer for me. I will spend almost no time in my own bed in July. I am a lucky girl to have so many places to go and so many people to see, but the schedule is tight, that is for sure. I will try to fill up and take lots of pictures. I will be inspired by the scenes for the months to come.

Most recently I was on a Family Ladies trip to Chicago. What a jam packed weekend!

Friday night:
We had dinner all together at a great tapas restaurant, then some of us went to the show at Second City. (this is the comedy troupe that has been the “training ground” for so many of our favorite Saturday Night Live players.)

I even had a stint at an improve club in Minneapolis “back in the day” and so seeing Second City has always been on my bucket list.

It was amazing. There were lots of sketches that were funnier than I anticipated. And some silent moments too. (My family gathered from all over the country for this trip. And some of my Aunts choose to go to this show too. We talked about it afterwards and there was a generational divide for some of the topics and level of comfort with the language. Good note.)

Saturday:
We started with an architectural Boat tour (fantastic!)

I LOVED this tour.

I find the mix of “city” and “industrial” to be beautiful. The steel work, and the bridges have a strong and functional elegance.

I got to eat Lunch at Eataly.

A bunch of us went to the matinee of Kinky boots.

Drinks with cousins/sister cousin-in-laws (impromptu, super super high light)

And finally, dinner at Indian restaurant.

Sunday:
In the morning, my Aunt had organized a Foot massage at a ? Thai? Place. All you need to say is “foot massage” and I am all in. But this place was nothing like I had ever been to before. It was a cultural experience as well as a foot massage.

Then my Mom and I scooped ourselves up and rode the El to the Bean.
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Here is a neat cafe scene.

And us at the bean. I had sushi with my (cousin) Tyler and Mom (!!!!) And then I took the tour on the head set at the Art museum.
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Final dinner at Italian place. They personalized the menus!

Monday there were wild thunderstorms
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I had the good fortune of getting a legitimate appointment. One of my first bosses is now located in Chicago working for Google and I got invited to go meet him for coffee. He was influential in my early career and we have kept in touch since then. It was excellent to see him. As a matter of fact, we ended up talking about a client that is in the craft industry and he was asking my opinion of what I would say to this client. I’ll leave it at that for now, but it was really fun to talk about with him. On the way home I was lucky enough to catch Yosemite out of the airplane window.

It was beautiful.

I hope that all of your summer time off/trips are filled with family and friends and wonderful connections.