Photo Diary | Girls weekend in Chicago

If you're interested, we have lots of fun pictures to share from our little weekend getaway to Chicago!  Sorry in advance for photo overload, but it's not every day we getaway just us girls with our mom and we want to remember this trip! :)  I have a work event that I attend every year in Chicago.  Every year I'm up there in a hotel solo and think to myself, I really wish Mom and Heath (or J.D.) were up here enjoying this city with me.  So this year, we finally made it happen.  We did lots of playing, and then mom and Heath flew back home while I got to work.

Guys, Chicago is the BEST weekend trip!  I feel like we packed so much into such a short amount of time.  It's such an easy, walkable city and we had so much fun.  We flew up Friday morning and got settled into our hotel by 11:30.  Then we just set out walking.  We found a fun little spot for lunch to kick off our trip.  After lunch we just wandered around, walked up to the infamous Drake Hotel, admired Chicago's pretty architecture, and fell in love with Chicago's clean, flower lined streets.

After lunch, we wandering around, did a little Michigan Avenue shopping, and then we headed back to the hotel to drop off our loot!  (I scored big time at H&M.  Cute shorts, patterned jeans, a few tops, and my grand total was $60!  yea!)  Then we headed to Millennium Park to check out the The Bean.  Such a cool sculpture!   We had fun at the park people watching and of course took a few obligatory Bean photos!

After our fun at The Bean, we walked back toward the river and around that time the day was winding down and we decided it was the perfect time for a River Boat tour.  We hopped on a boat, Heath ordered us all a drink, and we just sat back and enjoyed the boat ride.  Even though I've been to Chicago a handful of times, I've never done a boat tour, and I now HIGHLY recommend it.  It was so much fun and such a good way to see all of the city.  We toured all of the river and saw the city's architectural gems, and then the tour took us out on Lake Michigan for even bigger views.  We all really enjoyed it, and it was the perfect break after a day of walking. 

After our boat tour we walked to dinner at The Purple Pig on Michigan Avenue.  Highly Recommend!  Even though this place is on Michigan Avenue, it isn't a tourist trap.  It's really delicious tapas, and a really fun, cozy atmosphere.  Warning, the line will be long!  Get your name on the list and go have a drink somewhere while you wait. 

The next morning, on Saturday we woke up (early!) and were out of our hotel by 7:30 that morning walking around.  We got coffee, walked and walked, stumbled on a farmers market where we grabbed breakfast, and then made our way up to Lincoln Park and the beach.  We grabbed traditional Chicago style deep dish pizza for lunch (had to!) and then headed to Wicker Park for an afternoon of shopping.  Let's just say this is where the shopping got fun/dangerous.  Gone were the H&M $9.95 for a pair of jeans deals!  Heath and mom fell in love with a purse and I feel in love with some sunglasses, and they happily came home with us!  We found a cute café late afternoon where we sat, people watched and enjoyed wine, walked through Mario Batali's new Eately, had an early dinner, and called it a day.

All in all a really fun trip!  I hated to see mom and Heath go.  My hotel room was awfully quite after they left!  But I finished up my work early week and headed on back to Charlotte to give Virginia a million kisses!  I figured out the cure for wanderlust - a baby!  I love to travel and have an incurable case of wanderlust, but Virginia has just about cured me of this.  I couldn't wait to get my hands on her, and there were happy tears involved when I did.  Missed her so much but loved my time away just us girls!

~Mary Keller