Boston Meets Indy Meets Chi-Town

Hi kids,

It's been a few days but there is a very good reason for that. You see, I spent this past weekend in Chicago visiting my darling Melissa who was visiting her friends that I can now lovingly call my darling Heather and Allie. That was a mouthful and furthermore, a poorly constructed sentence. I apologize for that.

Anywho, let's back it up to Friday. Friday started off in a not so great way... did well on an A&P quiz followed by a not-so-hot stats quiz. Apparently it takes me longer than 75 minutes to do 25 3-4 part problems. I am going to have to get a little faster at using these formulas and graphs. But alas, had a good day with the kids I nanny and came home to a very sweet and understanding guy who knew all the right things to say. I readjusted my thinking (and stopped threatening to tie cement blocks to my feet and jump into a lake) and studied hard for my A&P exam (yes, a quiz and exam in the same week. Fair you ask? I think not).

Then, Saturday morning I woke up bright and early and hit the road for Chicago!!!!!!!!!! Three and a half hours, endless cornfields, and a pumpkin spice latte later, I was in Chicago with my clone.

Before I begin with a recap, let me just say that Chicago might be one of my all-time favorite cities. It's fun, active, and has a bit of a Boston feel which I love :) I can see why everyone has been raving about it for so long.

Ok ok, back to the recap. So after I parked my car, Melissa, Heather and I dropped my stuff off at Heather and Brian's apartment. It is SO damn cute. Great colors, one brick wall, fun art and frames, a fireplace.... something you would picture on the set of "Friends." After a few quick hellos, we headed down to Navy Pier. It was pretty awesome to walk with the city on your right and the water on your left. It also felt good to WALK! I have been less active than I care for these past few weeks and bombing around a city by foot was just the fix I needed.

Once we had seen the pier, we moved onto Michigan Ave, THE street in Chicago. Lined with top- of- the- line stores (think Tiffany's, Coach, and Niketown), it was bustling with tourists and natives alike. After some window shopping, we stumbled upon a wedding! The bride was outside having her picture taken and was absolutely beautiful. Strapless dress, gorgeous updo, roses in hand... a beautiful city moment.

Eventually, we were tired, hungry and ready for the next event- dinner in Wrigleyville! The girls and some of their friends were headed to the Dave Matthew's concert that night so I went with them for dinner across from the stadium and then we parted ways. I remind you of the A&P exam that I had to take. Boo. So while they jammed to the college favorite, I sat in the apartment and took a two hour long test (which went very well, thank GOD).

I was asleep long before they got home (such a lame-o), but was glad once Sunday rolled around and we were gearing up for another day of site seeing (good to have some solid rest and energy). After a yummy homemade breakfast, we hopped on the brown line and headed to Millennium Park. We saw the bean and took some great pics and then

watched/listened to a symphony rehearsing in the park. After that, we moved onto the fountains and eventually to a few shops closer to the apartment. Last but not least, we dined on deep dish pizza and the chocolate chip cookie dessert (AHHHHH) at Lou Malnati's. Heaven, heaven, heaven.



And here I sit in Indiana, on Monday night, surrounded by art projects and updating my favorite readers on life in the midwest. A great weekend and a great start to the week indeed.... Two interesting factoids before I go:

1) I am working on growing some fun herbs. Here are the crafty little pots I created.

2) Today, the little girl I nanny for said to me, "Mariah, you need to have some kids. I am bored." I explained to her that she has a one-year old brother to hang out with. Her response? "Ya, but he's a baby and doesn't do anything. Plus, it's against the law to NOT have kids. I know. And you need to have 98."

OK. Right. Good.

XO.