Longest Weekend EVER?

Thursday LD & I were off to Chicago for a long weekend. It was GREAT! We drove up to the John Hancock Tower (where we stayed in a very nice 1 bedroom condo on the 57th floor) for 4 nights! We got in around 8:30 or so Thursday night & were wowed by the view from the condo - it looks out to the South and the whole south wall of the condo is windows! We could see Navy Pier, Michigan Avenue, the Water Tower, the Lake and quite a bit to the South as the 1st three nights/days we were there everything was super clear! Very cool!

I roped LD into making a trek out to IKEA in Schaumburg, IL on Friday. Then Friday night we met up with Mike & Katie Cohen for dinner at Reza's on Ontario Street. It was yummy (Middle Eastern food) and it was great to spend time with Katie & Mike & Katie's sister & brother-in-law who were in town visiting from Omaha, NE. We took them back to the Condo to see our view & then we all went for a quick ride up the elevator to the 96th floor to see the view from the Signature Lounge. It was pretty great!

Saturday was a low-key morning for us - we did end up eating a great brunch at the LuxBar (which is right between Tavern on Rush & The Original Pancake House). Then we had tickets for the 2 pm show of WICKED! It was a really fun show. We were in row G on the left side of the stage & thought we had some really great seats! After the 3 hour show - we bopped over next door to Garretts Popcorn to get some caramel corn & some Chicago Mix corn (caramel & cheese!). We were pretty excited as this was the shortest a line had ever been for either of us at a Garretts! While we munched our corn we watched ABC7 news in their street level newsroom on State street & waited for my parents to come pick us up to go for dinner with us to the Twin Anchors on Sedgewick Street just off of North Avenue in Old Town. We all had the ribs (after waiting for about 40 minutes) and they were worth the wait! Then we took my Donna & Larry VdW back to the condo - showed them the view, showed them our house plans, and got to open the 1st anniversary presents we've gotten! It was a lot of fun!

Sunday we had every intention of attending church at 4th Presbyterian right across the street from the Hancock, but slept too late. When we finally got moving it was to take Larry's phone to the local Cingular Wireless store as the phone had pooped out on him. We stopped at a Starbucks to have some coffee and then we both bummed around for a bit. I hit a few stores I wanted to nose around in & Larry took his beer and sat in the lounge on the 44th floor of the Hancock & read his book. We had 6:00 reservations for dinner @ La Scarola, so we finally headed over there for some excellent wine & pasta. After dinner we went to the Pump Room for a drink & then back to the condo to indulge in the very fine bottle of champagne we had gotten as a wedding gift last year! It was tasty & we toasted our 1st year together while sipping the champagne and eating some cake!

Monday we awoke to NO VIEW from our windows. It was snowing in Chicago and we were in a cloud. We got up, went to get some breakfast at the local Einstein Bros Bagels, then came back to the condo to finish packing and cleaning up. After that we hit the road only to stop at McCormick Place for the Chicago Auto Show! About 2 pm we finally hit the road heading all the way back to Champaign & home! We did have to make a pit stop in Kankakee for gas & lunch - had to have a six pack and a pound at Taco John's in honor of my brother-in-law Joe!

On the way home - we kept hearing weather reports about what was coming this way - and to keep this wonderful weekend going - today has been a snow day for me! Whoo Hoo! Guess what! Tomorrow is one too! How great is that? I'm loving every minute of it!

I even ventured out this morning to get a shovel @ Home Depot & I got a new dining room light too - figured that while I was here at home I might as well get some good things accomplished! Larry went to work, but by 11:30 was home as Horizon Hobby closed down for the day too!

Well, I'm gonna get back to doing laundry, but this has been a very good weekend - and LONG!