Chicago Trip-- Day 1

Packed and ready to go at 8am, Bryce and I headed to Bush Intercontinental Airport to catch a 10:20am flight. We had about a 20 minute wait after everything was all checked in and bodies and baggages were scanned (or 'thoroughly patted down'). As we waited to board our flight a 5 or 6 year old Chicagoan boy declared to everyone he bought a stuffed animal deer for $10. Better yet, that his mother bought it. The same mother who disappeared for 10ish minutes leaving the boy asking where his mom went. I think she felt guilty for trying to leave the boy at an airport since she eventually did return. And just my luck, his seat on the airplane was EXACTLY BEHIND ME! I guess karma got me for suggesting he had a mental retardation or some sort of social disorder. Bryce claimed I kept "eyeballing" him. Whatever. We had a really sweet older woman sitting in our row who talked about how she liked to paint "after the war" Bryce asked which war? "The marriage war" hahaha. Ahh... She kept poking us to have conversation, including Sex and the City 1 and 2, sewing Easter shit, asking if we could see the lake yet, and mistaking the plane's wing for the lake. Hahaha, I love her.

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Bryce kept putting on his ipod so I had to keep getting his attention and repeating myself while we were trying to find our way anywhere and everywhere. He was so annoying!!!! Until he took out his ipod (finally!) I trekked most of the day in my nearly 6 inch Jeffrey Campbell platforms, woooow, the balls of my feet felt that.

 In anycase, found the hotel (Hotel 71) and found out that even though I paid for our room February 15th, I still had to get charged $360 I guess because my card I paid with was a debit instead of credit. WHAT?! But apparently if I don't damage the room or use room service, I get the full $360 back. DUMB!!!! That's my shopping money! FORTUNATELY... minutes after this happened my mother sent me an e-mail letting me know she deposited some spending money in my bank account, because she's a sweet and nice mama! THANK GOODNESS! Also, I was pretty relieved that I had $340 in cash for food, transportation and admission fees. Smart Moni, smart!

The hotel is... meh. I've seen much better. I'm pretty peeved by the ridiculous "deposit" but aside from that the room is so basic. No one helped us up to our room. There's not even a mini-bar in here!!! :( not that I'd waste my money on it, but STILL! The closet is in the bathroom-- weird! The only thing that makes this seem even remotely like a luxury boutique hotel is the damn animal print chaise by our window. Dumb! But our window has a decent view. It's a "city view" which is a view of buildings. I'm not going to hate on it, because the architecture here in Chicago is so brilliant and beautiful.

After bitching about my "deposit" and transferring money over from my savings to my checkings, Bryce and I decided to hit some food! Pizzzzaaaaaaaa! Nyum nyum! We went to Pizano's Pizza and Pasta. We ordered Blue Moons and calamari, which was good. Not too fried. Infact big cuts of squid with light fried batter. However, the serving was so big that by the time our pizza came, I was already feeling the stop point. But of course I couldn't stop. We had a small deep dish "Mark's Special" which was tons of mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and tons of pizza sauce. Delicious, delicious! I'm surprised I didn't enter a food coma.

 We headed to H&M and Urban Outfitters, because I decided I wanted a hat. Found a cute one at Urban, as well as some flats that tie up my ankle by Kimchi Blue. Saw many things at H&M that I plan to splurge on later this week.

We bounded over to Millennium Park, but stopped on the steps of the Art Institute because the balls of my feet were on fire, so I had to switch into my new nun-looking ballet flats. Ahhh... Relief. We took photos of MP. Gorgeous, gorgeous structures! My face and thighs started to get really cold at this point, so I suggested that Bryce and I head to Harris Theatre to get our tickets for "Death and the Powers: The Robots' Opera". We had 30 minutes to kill, so headed to Starbucks and I nearly fell asleep sitting up. Zzzzz...

The Opera... The effects and technology was AMAZING! So innovative, creative and stunning. I was insanely impressed by how much work must have gone into creating the set and the robots. The opera singers... Eh... One was extremely talented, but I don't know, I felt dialogue was really weak and so was a couple of their performances. Oh well, I'd still suggest it to anyone, just for the robots and set!

Headed to the hotel pondered what to do or to eat. Blahdy blah... We eventually ended up at a bar and grill right around the corner called Emerald Loop. Derrrrricious! I had a "Chirish" burger which was a burger with Irish Cheddar (one of my faaaaves) and american bacon, with onions, lettuce, tomato, etc. It was so fabulous! I cut it in half and am already pleased by the thought that I'll be eating that for breakfast. Ha! I think we're going to go back at least one more time while we're here to try something else off the menu, because damn did it look good! Curry burger... Drool!

I'm lying in bed now and am pretty sure I'll be getting a good night's sleep. Zzzzz... Sweet dreams!