I flew to Chicago on Thursday for some work meetings. It was a whirlwind trip as I was only in the office for just over a day but it was great to see some of my colleagues. The walk to work on Friday morning was beautiful as it was about 70 degrees. Chicago is such a pretty city. I'm a sucker for any city that is on the water or has a river running through it!
After work on Friday, I took the metra out to my brother's. It was great to squeeze in some time with them! My nephew Kolin is 9 years old and is learning to play the cello so he put on a little concert for me. It's great to see the love of music being passed down to the next generation. I'm envious that he gets to learn a string instrument as that was not an option for me in the teeny tiny town I grew up in.
Friday night was a beautiful night so we enjoyed some time outdoors.
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| My niece Anna and me |
On Saturday morning my brother made breakfast for us and then my SIL and I went for a Starbucks run. My nephew had soccer in the morning so I stayed home with Anna. I had a 3 pm flight so by the time my nephew got back from soccer, it was time to take me to the airport. It was a super short visit but I think I will be back in December when I come to Chicago for my company's holiday party.
I got home around 5 pm on Saturday night and we stayed in for the night. Unfortunately Phil has come down with a cough + cold. I really hope his cough doesn't last as long as mine did, and I really hope it's not a different strain of the virus I had because I'd hate to catch another bug. :/
For dinner, I made carrot, potato and chickpea red curry which is a recipe from the Minimalist Baker cookbook I bought in late August. I highly recommend this cookbook as it has so many great and easy recipes! This was a delicious, cozy meal to enjoy.
We spent the rest of the evening watching a couple of episodes of Bloodline and then we went to bed pretty early as we were both worn out!
On Sunday morning I was up bright and early (and earlier than I needed to be - grrr!). So I made the most of the time before I had to go to church and made a week's worth of date-sweetened apple pie oatmeal (which is delicious!!!).
After that I headed off to church and then went to body pump at the Y afterwards. When I came home, Phil made breakfast for us. He made eggs and hash browns topped with a shredded pork tamale. It's become a tradition for him to make this breakfast for us each weekend as he usually gets tamales during the week from a local Mexican place but saves one to use for our breakfast.
On Sunday afternoon, I was supposed to meet a friend to go to an apple orchard, but I ended up cancelling. I hate cancelling plans I had committed to, but after being gone the last 3 days, I really needed an afternoon to get things like laundry and grocery shopping, but more importantly, I needed an afternoon to relax. While I am feeling better, I still find that I get tired very easily. I am trying to do a better job of listening to my body when I feel tired. So after I got some errands done on Sunday, I spent the rest of the day relaxing.
I watched the Vikings beat the Panthers (which was a very exciting win for our team as beating Carolina at home is an impressive feat!).
While I watched the game, I started a new knitting project, which got Oscar's attention. She loves string!
I also did a little reading.
On Sunday evening, I made spaghetti squash for dinner and topped it with chicken sausage and some of my homemade marinara. When Phil got home from his mom's, he surprised me with a mum plant, which was a fun surprise as I had been eyeing the mum plants at the grocery store earlier that day! We caught up on our days and then I capped off the night with a video chat with Amber. We hadn't talked for over 2 months so were overdue! After that, it was off to bed for me!
How was your weekend?
Praying you don't get sick again!!! So glad you were able to see your brother and his family! The Vikings win definitely made one of my coworkers happy! She was at the game yesterday :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lovely weekend. I am glad you got to spend some time with your brother and niece and nephew when you were in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteWhat knitting project are you working on now?
My weekend was really busy. I had laundry and cleaning to do in anticipation of my parents' arrival this week. They'll be staying with us for 2,5 weeks and I am stoked :)
Sounds like a great weekend! I really want to go back to Chicago again when I can really enjoy it instead of stressing out about running a marathon!
ReplyDeleteSounds like an awesome relaxing day! Lately i've been saying "no" to a lot of plans, i feel bad that i'm not investing in the friend time, but I know I just need the alone time more.
ReplyDeleteI've been eyeing up mum plants too but when I am in the mood/have time to buy I can't seem to find as pretty as ones as I see at other peoples houses or at stores when I can't buy! I want one for my porch. I miss Chicago. I haven't been since last August when I was there for work. Isla had a blast there too and I think we will take her back sometime in the next year or so if we can figure it out with a train ride too.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a perfect week and weekend. Smart to cancel your other plans and lay low. Even though you are recovered, your body still has to heal -- be gentle with it.
ReplyDeleteI do love CHicago and whenever I think of it, I think of Diana and our meet up there. I loved Shoreacres recent post about Diana and her puzzle. It brought lots of good thoughts to me -- and a revisit to her blog. Interestingly, she must be in a lot of our thoughts because Bella just did a post about going back to read all her old ones. I'm so glad her blog is still there.
I digress. Glad you had a great week. Love the photo of Oscar!
That's wonderful that you got to spend some time with your niece and nephew. Your niece Anna's haircut is so cute! Also, that's super cool that your nephew is playing the cello; it's so good to learn to play an instrument at a young age.
ReplyDeleteMy weekend was great - stayed in and cooked :-)
I hope Phil is feeling better soon, and that you don't catch it.
I'm so glad we got to catch up - it had been way too long!!
ReplyDeleteI still haven't made that stew but it's on my list, I just had to eat down some of the food I had in the fridge / freezer this week. I'm thinking I will make it this weekend!
A very late comment, but that's awesome you were able to spend some time with your family even if it was for a short period of time. I've never been to Chicago. It looks like a great city to visit! We tried to watch Bloodline, but just couldn't get into it
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