10 Days Away: Chicago Part II

Well I better press on with the Chicago recap before we cross over into November (how crazy that October will be over in a week!).

The subtitle to these posts about Chicago could really be the time I really fell head-over-heels in love with Chicago.  I have always enjoyed my time in Chicago, but this time I REALLY enjoyed it.  While I spent part of the time vacationing there, I also worked part of the week (and have worked there about 4-5 times) so I feel like I have a somewhat realistic impression of what life in Chicago would be like - or as good of an impression as you can have while not actually living there!  We will see what the future holds, but I would be happy if it included a Minneapolis OR Chicago zip code.

Anyways, back to the post at hand.  On Saturday morning we woke up and headed up to the Lakeview area to meet up with Nora & her husband, and a bunch of other bloggers!  I had not seen Nora since her wedding last October so we were so overdue for some face time!  I am really glad she was able to detour into the city on the way home from her vacation so I could see her in person. 

So happy to be reunited!

Amber had never met Nora in person so this meet-up was a long time in the making as we have all been blog friends since 2009 I believe!

All the bloggers/tweeters that came to breakfast!  I was so busy catching up with Nora, I didn't get as much of a chance to talk to the others as I would have liked!

After brunch, we headed back into downtown, checked out a bakery, walked around Millennium park for the obligatory bean photos, and then headed over to the shores of Lake Michigan, where we utilized the Divvy bike share program to bike along the shores of Lake Michigan. 

Chicago is so pretty!

After our afternoon of adventures, we met up with Lauren and headed up to Nilsa's condo as she was kind enough to host us for some pre-marathon carb loading!  It was so fun to have a low key night in - and a homecooked meal which is something I especially appreciated after my string of meals out.  Nilsa and her husband have a soon-to-be-3-year old son, Gavin.  I sadly do not have any pictures to share, but it was definitely a very fun and delicious night.  They even had salted caramel GF cupcakes which were divine.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel and went to bed fairly early.

Sunday morning - race day - quickly came.  I got up with the girls and we snapped a photo together before they headed off to the starting corrals.

The morning of the race was another tough morning for me.  I was excited for my friends, but sad that I was not going to be running the race with them.  I let myself experience those feelings of sadness but quickly cheered myself up a bit by picking up a PSL - with whip - before heading out to meet up with Nilsa, my spectating partner in crime.

It was such a beautiful morning. I had tear-stained cheeks, but a smile on my face as I headed up to the 10 mile mark

 It really helped to meet up with Nilsa as my excitement over spending time with her offset my sad feelings.  We met up at mile 10 and cheered there for about 2 hours and were able to see Amber, Anais, Lauren, Lauren's husband, and some of my Minneapolis run club friends!  Finding faces in a crowd of 40,000+ runners was difficult at times!

After seeing everyone at mile 10, Nilsa and I hopped onto the Divvy bikes and biked down to mile 15 - I left her there and proceeded onto mile 20 as she was hoping to meet up with Amber to run miles 15-20 with her (which sadly didn't end up working out as we just missed Amber).

I heart the divvy bike system - such a great and inexpensive way to get around!

I made it to mile 20 with just minutes to spare before Anais came through - but she was all smiles!

Amber was maybe 10 minutes behind her so I did not have to wait long, and she was also smiling and in good spirits! 

 After that I met up with Nilsa at an L station and we headed down to Millennium park to meet up with Amber and Anais at the finish.  It was another great opportunity to get some more one-on-one time with Nilsa.  We talked a lot about what it would be like if I moved to Chicago - she will definitely be an amazing resource when/if that happens!

The rest of Sunday was fairly low key.  We enjoyed some Garrett's popcorn (I love that stuff!) and then went to a pizza place for dinner that served Chicago-style deep dish pizza - and also had a GF option for me!  Yea!

Of course, Monday morning came too fast, which meant I had to say my good byes to Amber and Anais.  I walked to the train station and snapped one last photo of Chicago.

I know that there is a widely held belief that you should be able to be happy anywhere, but I truly believe that there are some cities where it's easier to be happy.  Chicago is one of those cities for me.  I love that it's a large city with a great public transit system and a tangible buzz, but it also has great outdoor spaces and access to water.  Every time I visit Chicago, it sort of feels like coming home - which is a feeling I never have had and honestly never will have about Charlotte.  That's not a knock against Charlotte - it's knowing who I am and what I value in a city.  And I certainly value what Chicago has to offer.

Are there other cities you visit that you feel you could call home?  Besides Minneapolis, I also feel like I could call Chicago, New York, and Paris home as they all have a feeling of 'rightness' when I visit them.  Of that list, the only places I would realistically call home are Minneapolis and Chicago as I know I am meant to live in the Midwest.

10 Days Away: Chicago Part I

Greetings and Happy Monday!  I had a fabulous getaway with my mom, sisters, and sisters-in-law!  Time by the ocean was just what my soul needed.  But more on that later - I'm so behind on life and trip recaps, I need to share my Chicago experience before moving onto my Myrtle Beach getaway!!

Since I spent almost a full week in Chicago, I decided to break this up into two posts!  When I last left off, I had left Minneapolis after 4 fabulous days there.  I flew into Chicago on a Tuesday night, worked Wednesday and Thursdays and then had Friday-Monday morning to enjoy with my friends that were flying in to run the Chicago marathon.  This trip was a long time in the making as Amber, Lauren, Anais, and I decided that our next big marathon would be the Chicago marathon.  The trip obviously ended up being a very different trip for me than I imagined, but I still had a wonderful time.  To be completely honest, there were some very difficult moments on this trip for me, which is to be expected as I am still mourning the fact that running isn't part of my life, probably won't be for awhile, and the fact that it's pretty much out of the question for me to run another marathon.  But - I still had an amazing time as I was surrounded by good friends and in one of my favorite cities!

Anyways back to the recap at hand - I worked Wednesday and Thursday and was able to meet up with different friends that live in the Chicago area both nights.  After meeting a friend for tea on Thursday, I headed out for dinner and ended up checking out Rick Bayless's quick-service cafe, Xoco, which was SO good.  After a string of busy work days, it was nice to have a quiet dinner, read a book, and walk around Chicago.

The view walking along West Wacker Drive.

Chips & salsa, a delicious seafood soup, and a walk along Michigan Avenue

Amber & Anais got in around 10:30 on Thursday night and were starving so we headed to a local pub.  We were so excited to all be together, we totally forgot to take any pictures!  We were all pretty tired at this point, so we headed back to the hotel as we had a full day on Friday!

On Friday morning we got up, grabbed lattes at Starbucks, and headed to the Nike store to catch the shuttle to the marathon expo.  It was a beautiful fall day!

Stripes + lattes all around = a good morning

We hopped onto the shuttle to the marathon and met up with Lauren and Pete.  The expo was MASSIVE but so well organized.  It was definitely the best race expo I have been to.  Even though I was not running the marathon, I picked up my packet as I figured I might as well get my t-shirt.

What is not but might have been

Honestly I had been doing pretty well with the whole not being able to run the marathon emotions.  Until I got to the expo.  It was hard and there were some tears.  Luckily I had good friends around me to offer up hugs and words of encouragement.  They didn't make me feel bad for being so sad about not being able to run.  I rallied fairly quickly, though, and still had fun walking around the expo.

After the expo, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed over to the Chicago River for the Chicago Architectural Foundation architectural riverboat tour.  This is something I had wanted to do for years, but the weather has never cooperated or I haven't had enough time on past trips.  Luckily, the weather was perfect on this trip as it was sunny and 75 degrees!  

View from where we started the tour

 I highly recommend this tour as we saw so much of the city and I learned so much about the various skyscrapers and buildings.  Also, as a person who is considering a future move to Chicago, it was interesting to learn more about the different neighborhoods and see them from a different perspective.

After the tour, we grabbed some tea and relaxed a bit before heading up to the Lakeview area for a Thai dinner and the Blue Man Group show, which was very entertaining and a fun thing to do while in Chicago.  Our first full day together in Chicago was amazing, but the days only seemed to get better and better!  Stay tuned for more...

Have you been to Chicago? If so, what is your favorite thing to do there?  I loved the architectural tour, but also love just walking around and of course checking out the bean!