Just Another Weekend In Chicago

I titled today's post, "Just Another Weekend in Chicago," because I feel like we are here all the time these days. Haha. We are just under 3 hours from the city, so it's not too far, and it's one of our favorite cities because there's just so much to do here.

Last week, we spent a couple of nights here on our way back from our Michigan vacation. We actually stayed here because we were attending the Third Eye Blind concert Thursday night. They are one of my favorite bands, so I was so excited to finally see them for the first time!

We stayed at the Congress Plaza hotel again, and this time our room was even better than the first time we stayed here. We had a lake view, which was awesome.

Our room even seemed bigger, even though it was only a standard room. It was a bit noisier with the traffic right outside, but the view of Grant Park, the lake, and even Navy Pier in the distance was totally worth it.

Plus, it looked even better at night. Amazing view!

The Taste of Chicago was going on right across the street in Grant Park, too, so we could hear music from that, and we walked through it on our way to the concert Thursday night. You could buy tokens to try some of the local food from the vendors who were there, but we didn't partake in the food since we didn't have much time.

We did eat at Italian Village on Wednesday night after we arrived in the city.

It had been a long time since we first ate here. Actually, it was back in 2010 on my 22nd birthday to be exact! So it was nice to finally come back to this place. The atmosphere and food is a little like Olive Garden, but 100 times better.

It's more authentic Italian, and the food and wine we got were all great.

The next day, we went to North Avenue Beach on Lake Michigan. I had always wanted to go to the beach here. It was a fairly hot day, a little breezy, but the sun felt good! We layed out for a while, and Trent went in the water. I waded for a few minutes, but the water was freezing!

After getting a pretty good sunburn (haha), we ate at a restaurant at the beach called Castaways.

The building is shaped like a huge boat, and we sat on top and had a great view of the entire beach.

I got a Pina Colada which was pretty yummy. It kind of felt like we were back in Jamaica. It was so nice to have a day to relax at a beach after an eventful vacation!

That night, sun burns and all, we went to the Third Eye Blind concert at the Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island. They were just as amazing live as I had imagined!

It was literally a nineties music dream come true.

After the concert, we had a great view walking off Northerly Island. I mean, Chicago, could you get any prettier?

We had to do a selfie in front of the lake and night skyline. It was such a perfect ending to a great night!

The next day, we drove home but stopped at a couple more places along the way. First, the Fashion Outlets of Chicago, which is a pretty awesome mall, though we just ate there and didn't buy anything. And then to Haley and Dan's again for another quick visit.

We got home on Friday night, and while it was so nice to be home, we were sad that it was the end of our 4th of July vacation. It's been back to reality and work for us this week! I'm sure there will be many more fun vacations and trips to come, though. ;)

Short But Fun Weekend in Chicago

Hello everyone! It's time for our Chicago trip recap, as promised. We went up to Chicago on Saturday and came back Sunday afternoon. It's just a few hours drive for us, but we don't get up there too much, so it was nice to get away for a couple of days.

We actually went to see the Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds concert on Saturday night. They played at the Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island. It's a pretty cool venue, but I'll get to that in a moment!

First, let's talk about our hotel. We stayed at the Congress, which is close to Millennium Park and Lake Michigan, and best of all, was within walking distance of the concert venue which was super convenient.

This was our room..Isn't it cute? I loved the bed pillows and airy curtains.

The room was comfortable and charming, and you could tell the building was pretty old (and huge!), but also historic at the same time. Apparently a lot of U.S. Presidents have stayed here in its day, though I'm sure they stayed in nice suites, not a simple room like ours. :)

We will be back here again for a concert next month and will be staying at the same hotel, so it was nice to get a feel for it now, so we know what to expect when we're here again in July.

After we checked into the hotel on Saturday, we headed out and walked around town, looking for a good place to eat. Well, the place we wanted to eat at, called Cindy's (it looked pretty awesome inside and has rooftop seating), was super crowded with a long wait, so we decided to just walk to the lake and see what we found along the way.

It was a nice day, pretty hot but with a nice breeze! The lake made for a nice view, though. We walked through a couple of parks first, and we just ended up eating at a little food vendor by the lake that had hotdogs and nachos and some other refreshments. As long as we had food in our stomachs before the concert and plenty of water, we were satisfied!

It felt good to be back in Chicago again. It had been a while since we actually had some time to walk around and explore a little of the city.

We watched the geese swimming for a little while, then made our way down to Northerly Island, which is where the concert venue is. It's actually a little peninsula that juts out into Lake Michigan, near the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. Here's a map for your reference:

It was our first time seeing a concert here, and our first time seeing just a Dave and Tim show, and we were actually really impressed. Not only was the area around it really pretty and nice (can't beat both lake and skyline views), but we had a great time overall.

We sat near the back floor sections, so weren't super close, but we had a good view of Dave and Tim on the screen. And once it cooled down at night, it was much more comfortable! I think it was in the lower nineties all day, so we were pretty hot at first.

Can't beat good music and good views, though! Seriously, I'm pretty sure this is close to what heaven is like: The sun setting over the Chicago skyline, Dave Matthews playing in front of you, and a cold drink in your hand.

Here's a wider shot of our concert view:

This was our 9th Dave show together, and the acoustic set with Tim was amazing. We can't wait to see Third Eye Blind here next month. I'm sooo excited for that one!

The next day, we headed home, but not before stopping in Geneva and eating brunch at Buttermilk. Our second time there. I'm still thinking about those pancakes...highly recommend!

And of course, we also stopped at my sister Haley and brother in law, Dan's house there to pay them a visit!

Overall a good weekend in Chicago, although as always, too short. Back to reality for us this week.. Until next time!

Quick Update

Hey guys! Just popping in, I know it's been a little while! We took a short trip up to Chicago this past weekend, and I'm slowly but surely feeling more inspired now, and feeling like it's time for a re-design of the blog pretty soon. Not drastic, just an update on the design end of things..Will be coming soon hopefully!

You might also notice I have a new picture there on the top-right hand corner. It was taken from our pretty hotel room in Chicago this weekend.

I literally just whipped up this graphic, which is inspiring my new blog redesign. I think I need a little pink in my life, what about you?

I'll be sharing more about our trip soon, including pictures from the Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds concert, and a few pictures of Lake Michigan. Stay tuned for more!

Springtime Fun

Happy Good Friday, everyone. I have the day off today, so I finally got a day to sleep in and a few extra moments to blog.

I know, I know. I haven't posted at all yet this month! So let me sum it up for you. It's April! Which means spring is finally here, and here in the Midwest it's been creeping up, slowly but surely. We had a couple of weeks of nothing but cloudy skies and rain for a while. But there have been some nice days here and there, and we're finally starting to see the trees bloom and flowers popping up! This weekend is Easter, so we're hoping for nice weather for the holiday.

We haven't gotten a lot of home projects done lately, since we've been pretty busy during the week with work, and on the weekends. Trent was in Cleveland a couple of weekends ago for his cousin Aaron's bachelor party. We're headed to Ohio next month for the wedding, and can't wait! 

His family all got together last weekend for the annual "Run for a Reason" 5k, in honor of Trent's cousin's son who passed away in 2013. Trent and I both walked, and each ended up medaling in our classes! I got the bronze and Trent got the silver!

Even though there weren't a whole lot of people there, we were still proud of our medals. :) 

After the race, we all went out to eat at the Stockade in Galesburg and stuffed our faces at the buffet. There were about 15 of us, with some of Trent's Ohio family even making it down. It was a great time.

Wednesday night, we went to the Eric Church concert at the iWireless Center in Moline. We saw him for the first time several years ago at the fair, when he wasn't quite as "big" as he is now. And now he's "Holdin' His Own" on his own tour! Ha. Ha.

The concert was great. We both loved it and we had pretty good seats. Though, I don't think there was a bad seat in the house! His stage wrapped all the way around so he spent some time on each side, which was pretty cool.

You can tell he is all about his music and he loves what he does. It was a great concert!

Sunday is Easter, and we'll be staying around here again this year. Probably just going across the street to Mark and Sandy's for lunch and the annual kids' Easter egg hunt. It should be another fun weekend.

Happy Easter everyone!

Chicago Trip, and Cubs win the World Series!

What a week it's been! Wednesday night, the Cubs won the World Series! It was such a crazy game, full of ups and downs, and it left us all on the edge of our seats watching. Trent and I both screamed with excitement after the final play in the 10th, when Bryant threw the ball to Rizzo at first to make that final out of the game and seal the Cubs' championship win. It was the most exciting game we'd ever seen for us Cubs fans.

Just a few days before though, Trent and I went up to Chicago for the weekend. We had originally just planned to see one of our favorite bands, Green River Ordinance play at a small venue, and have a pretty low-key weekend. But, the World Series schedule meant the Cubs would be playing at Wrigley that night, so that changed our plans a little bit!

We found out that Trent's cousin Jessica and her husband were going up to Chicago to celebrate in Wrigleyville, so we met up with them - after we went up in the Willis Tower. We had never been there before, so we got to cross something off our Chicago bucket list while there.

We all ate at Giordano's and checked out Harry Caray's, which was a little too busy that night to wait for a table. But we caught the first part of the game during dinner at Giordano's, then took the El down to Wrigley.

Even though the Cubs lost that night, the area around the stadium was still full of excitement and tons of Cubs fans. It would be their second loss in a row, but we were still hopeful the Cubs would get their groove back. Who would have thought though, that they would come back to win 3 times in a row and clinch the entire series!

It was such a fun night, and we even made it back to the venue in time to see Green River Ordinance play! They sang our wedding song, "Dancing Shoes," which was just one of the coolest moments of the night for us.

They even came out into the audience and sang right in the middle of the crowd. Literally less than a foot in front of us. It was an amazing show.

Since our Chicago trip, the Cubs went on to win, and we celebrated the rest of the week. Trent even went up on Friday for the parade with his friend Leo. Unfortunately, there were so many people there that they didn't even get close enough to see it! But they celebrated in Wrigleyville afterward, and got to enjoy the fireworks that were set off over Wrigley Field.

To make a great week even better, Trent got a new job offer and starts next Monday! He's looking forward to it, and excited to start this new chapter of his life.

Needless to say, we have had an amazing week and have enjoyed our Cubbies finally breaking the 108 year curse! Looking forward to the documentary and movie that is sure to follow this one. :)

Fun in Wisconsin: Summerfest and New Glarus

More travel stuff today! This past weekend we went up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the last weekend of Summerfest. It was our first time ever going to this music festival, and wow, was there a lot of people there! The crowds were crazy, and it was huge! But, it was all worth it - we had a great time, and we saw a ton of amazing bands perform.

The main reason we wanted to go to Summerfest was because we found out that Mindi Abair would be performing there, and she is actually a distant cousin of mine! My aunt and uncle have mentioned her several times over the years and are big fans of her music. She's a great saxophone player, and performed at Summerfest this year with her band, The Boneshakers.

Until this weekend, I had never seen Mindi play or met her in person. It was really cool to see her perform, and we even got to meet her and chat a little after the show. She was so nice and friendly! I bought a couple of her CDs there, and she happily signed them and left her contact info. We hope to see her play again sometime.

The same night we saw Mindi play, we also got to see The Fray. We didn't have the greatest view, but it was pretty cool, and they still sounded awesome.

The next day we drove down by the festival again, and ate lunch at a cool little place on the lake called the Milwaukee Sail Loft. There was a dock literally right next to our table, and to top it off, the food was amazing. I think I ate the best caesar salad I've ever had!

After lunch we went to Summerfest again, and hung out there in the afternoon. We rode the ski lift ride from one end of the grounds to the other...

We rode the ferris wheel...

Sat on the rocks by the lake...

Trent "test-drove" a Harley (that was stationed to the ground)...

And I totally ate a watermelon-flavored Hawaiian Shave Ice. It was a fun day, and the weather was perfect!

The night was great, too. We had tickets for the Weezer concert, and we saw so many great bands play that night. Andrew McMahon opened up for Panic at the Disco and Weezer, and I love him! He's one of my favorite artists of all time. It was surreal to finally be able to see him perform live, and he had so much energy.

The view from outside the concert arena was also pretty awesome. During Panic at the Disco, we stepped out for a little while to enjoy it. We could see the lights, the lake, the sunset, and the huge crowd forming in front of us for Barenaked Ladies.

It was especially awesome to see the fireworks that were shot off over the lake. We were totally not expecting to see them, but it was definitely a cool moment!

We left Weezer a little early and got to see some of the other bands playing that night, too - as in: Barenaked Ladies, Death Cab for Cutie, Skillet, and ended the night with Ben Folds! All in all, a great night, and a great couple of days at Summerfest.

Then, on the way home the next day, Trent really wanted to go through New Glarus and stop by the brewery there. It was a tad out of our way, but I'm glad we took the little detour. New Glarus was a charming little Swedish town in the Wisconsin countryside.

We ate lunch at a cute bed-and-breakfast-looking restaurant on a hill called Kristi's.

We enjoyed some yummy breakfast food outside on the porch.

My veggie omelet, toast with locally-made raspberry jam, and coffee were all pretty awesome.

Since we had to get moving, we didn't have a lot of time to explore or go into a lot of the shops, but I would love to come back here someday and spend a whole day here.

We did go into one of the giftshops, and it had a lot of Swedish and European-inspired items. It was pretty cool to explore, but I really wanted to stop into some of the cheese and chocolate shops, too. Maybe next time! Aren't the buildings cute, though?!

Our last stop on our trip was the New Glarus Brewery. Of course Trent loves visiting breweries, but this was actually a really cool place.

The facility was really nice - you can go on a self-guided tour, and visit the gift shops and the huge beer store with limited edition brews...

But the best part was the tastings and the outdoor area. For $8, you can get a tasting glass and 3 samples of their beers on tap. The samples are good sized, and once you get one, you can wander around the facility, inside or in their awesome outside area.

There is an amazing view of the countryside of New Glarus.

There are tables everywhere, spaced out and secluded enough so that you can hang out and enjoy your beer samples. We explored a little bit, and with the beautiful landscaping and view, the entire area was really cool.

On the way out of the brewery, we stopped by the hop garden. It's a little garden out front with hop plants, and some beautiful flowers.

If you're ever in central Wisconsin, I definitely recommend a stop in New Glarus to check out the brewery and the quaint downtown area.

We had a great little trip overall. Now the next vacation will be...COLORADO, In August! We can't wait. All hotels are booked, and the planning is in full force. This is shaping up to be a pretty eventful and memorable summer. Now, if only we could get some work on the house done... :)