travel

This past weekend I went to Chicago, alone, for a girl’s weekend with some of my college friends. I needed a break from my stay-home-mommy-madness. I needed a break from laundry, dieting, cooking, and repeatedly asking small people to brush their teeth and put on their shoes.

I love Chicago, and it is my favorite city! Aside from being beautiful with endless cultural opportunities and diversity, there is a comfort and familiarity that always draws me in. Lakeshore Drive, Michigan Avenue, State Street, Navy Pier, Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain and the Shedd Aquarium all hold memories for me that span the first 25 years of my life.

Millennium Park

Some of my favorite memories include prom dress shopping at Lord & Taylor and Bloomingdales, attending the Taste of Chicago food festival, Cubs games, making a music video at Navy Pier (which I am still extremely embarrassed about), attending a friends fairy-tale wedding at the Hilton Towers, and endless nights of fantastically bad behavior while bar hopping with friends.

The weekend was amazing!

We spent time in downtown Chicago and went to Macy’s to look at the holiday windows. We had lunch at the Walnut Room and I felt the holiday spirit begin to rear it’s glorious head as I drank wine and allowed myself to be sucked into the moment .

Macy’s Christmas Tree in the Walnut Room

I believe!

We walked the city and visited Cloud Gate, or as the locals call it, The Bean, at Millennium Park.

The Bean!

We drank endless bottles of wine, ate tapas and sang at the top of our lungs in a lovely little dive bar. We reminisced over old memories and we laughed until our sides hurt.

I froze my ass off, but it was worth it!

I want to thank my friends for making themselves available to me when I desperately needed to escape from my life for a few days. Thank you, Jennifer, Katie, Amy N., Amy D., Jenn L., and Melissa. Thank you for being the wild, wine-drinking, fun-loving, adventurous women that you are!

I also want to thank my mother-in-law for the first class plane ticket to Chicago! You spoiled me rotten for my birthday and gave me a much needed boost to restore my sanity, and I can’t thank you enough! 🙂

Last weekend my husband and I went to Catalina Island for a wedding. Yeah, it wasn’t rough.

One of Dan’s fraternity brothers from college was getting married, and although it was a small wedding, the list of people invited ensured that the weekend would involve three days of organized hilarity and madness, which is just what this newly-turned 40 year old, sometimes depressed stay-home mom needed.

The weekend was fantastic! You have to take a boat or helicopter from one of the ports in and around southern California to reach the island. It’s about an hour and twenty minute trip by boat. On our trip out there, our boat was escorted by a large school of dolphins. It was incredible! The dolphins played and danced in the waves alongside the boat, and stayed with us for several miles. There were baby dolphins as well, and my husband was hanging off the side of the boat to capture these pictures.

The island is very small, so cars are a rarity and you either walk everywhere or rent golf carts. We stayed at a beautiful hotel located on the main street, ate fresh seafood at restaurants overlooking the bay, and the Catalina Air Show provided some very exciting entertainment. Planes of all varieties were swooping and diving, skimming the water as the pilots showed off their mad skills. The most exciting moments though were when an F-18 fighter jet practiced maneuvers over the island as part of the show. I can honestly tell you, that was some sexy shit. When that jet flew overhead, the noise was deafening, the walls of the restaurant rattled and every cell in my body jumped to attention. I kept looking around, waiting for Maverick and Goose to stroll into the bar so I could buy them a beer.

It was a Sunday wedding, and Mimosas were served on the lawn overlooking the bay with palm trees and blue skies as far as the eye could see. It was truly an incredible place to get married.

I had planned to write a very detailed blog post, sharing all the bad behavior and drama that ensued over the weekend. Then I realized some of our friends might not appreciate that, because you know, what happens on the island….

So out of respect for our friends, I will refrain from posting any embarrassing stories or moments that could be traced back to the not-so-innocent. But I will share this one tiny little bit of detail…while partying at the bar after the wedding, SOMEONE licked the chest, and chest hair, of the guy who officiated the wedding. After observing this icky display of drunken madness, I looked at my husband and said, “That dude is not a man of God.”