C-H-I-C-A-G-O

You NEVER guess what I got to do last weekend?  


Okay, so I kinda gave it away in the title.....


I got a weekend AWAY (shopping!) in Chicago to hang out with a couple of my D Mamas!!!


Let me tell you, what a weekend it was!!


I got to meet up with Misty from Life is Like a Box of Chocolates and Lora from My Diabetic Child.  I had never met any of my "friends that live in my computer" before but it was like we had known each other for years.  

I started out Friday morning with my first train ride.  LOVED it.  It was very relaxing.  So nice not to have to worry about the weather and traffic.  After talking with a couple people on the train,  I decided to take a taxi from Union Station to my hotel.  It was a good move, but I ended up with a stupid Cab driver who didn't speak very good English. He took me to the wrong Hotel.  I didn't notice until I was out of the taxi and he had drove away. Yep, I got there and was staring at a sign that said Swiss Hotel. Seriously how can you mess up The Hilton Suites on Delaware Place and the Swiss Hotel?! Even if you don't understand English that well, (which in that case you should NOT be a taxi driver) those words don't even sound a like! I ended up asking the door man about the hotel. I must note that the doorman was a VERY large (not fat, large!)  black guy. I was a little intimidated.  He turned out to be super nice though. (probably how a door man should be) He flagged down another taxi for me and while putting my bag into the cab told the driver to make sure he got me to the Hilton Suites. (in a slightly stern voice, I might add!)  I gave him nice tip, he was polite and treated me with courtesy. I know that is their job but  I really appreciated it!  Especially after that fiasco.  And I did get dropped of at the right hotel the next time!

Misty arrived next.  We got checked into our hotel room and then headed out for some lunch.  Not having a clue where to eat we just wandered over the the Water Towers building to look around.  We found a cool place in the basement of the Water Towers building, World Food Place, or something like that.  Basically it was a GIANT food court with ANYTHING you could ever want to eat.  There was even a wine bar.  It was awesome and little overwhelming.  

On our way back to the hotel, found the Aveda store and Misty made her first of many purchases there! :)  Although, I have to admit that I am STILL wishing that I had also purchased some of the hand cream she did. I LOVED it!   Lora arrived later that afternoon and we went and met up with Marc from Jonathan's Journey and his wife Bobbie. They brought their two super adorable children with them, whom I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know. 

Dinner at the Rainforest Cafe

We made a dinner date for Rainforest Cafe that night, a place their kids would enjoy.  I loved the White Peach Sangria I had with my dinner!  Yum-O. It was cute to see the kids get all upset with the "Thunder and Lightning" in the Rainforest.  

We got  to see all the store fronts on Michigan Ave lit up at night on our walk back to the hotel.  It was pretty gorgeous! One of my favorite sites that we walked by was this Christmas tree outside of the Hancock building. (it's a little blurry because I took this picture with my cell phone.) We also did a little window shopping on the way home.   We were scoping out our shopping trip for the next day. Oh, yeah and we found the Walgreen's we had been looking for! 

Misty, Me and Lora before heading out shopping

On Saturday we got around, after heading down to the lobby to get some Starbucks!  We were a little disappointed that it wasn't an actual Starbucks. They just served Starbucks coffee.  Didn't have all the flavors either!  At least we could get some coffee though.  On our way over to the Water Towers Building we decided to grab a little bit to eat.  We stopped at L'Appetito.  Oh my goodness was that place FILLED with goodies!  I decided to try a Chocolate Croissant. It was heavenly!  

Shopping on Michigan Ave

Our first place at Water Towers was the American Girl Store! I loved the American Girl Doll Store!  The kid in me wanted to buy ALL those dolls!  My girls love them but aren't quite old enough for me to be spending that kind of money on a doll for them.  Misty on the other hand...well I'll let her explain.  I think walking up and down Michigan Avenue was the best.  It was so beautiful with the Christmas lights and the snow coming down.  We tried to get into the Ghirardelli store but it was SO crowded I didn't even attempt it.  I'm pretty surprised people could breath in there.

After walking in and out of stores for most of the morning I saw someone walking with with a Sanrio bag.  Um..Hello Kitty!!!  Peanut LOVES Hello Kitty.  I knew if she could see that store she would go bonkers. Anyway we went looking for it because I couldn't catch the person with the bag to ask.  We couldn't find it and finally 

found someone else with a bag and asked them. 
Can I just say it was little bit of Hello Kitty! overload?!   The Lego store was in there too!  I should have taken pictures of all the Lego sculptures. They were pretty amazing.  We ate lunch in the food court in that mall.  Lora and I ate at a really great burger place called Coast Burgers.  The hamburger was AMAZING! They had many different burgers to choose from. It was actually hard to decide but the one I got was AMAZING!! Just wish I could remember what the name of it was! We of course continued our shopping spree on Michigan Ave before heading back to the hotel before Dinner.

We decided to head over to Giordano's Pizza for dinner.  Everyone had told me that was the place to eat.  Oh my goodness they were busy!!!  Maybe busy would be an understatement!  We had to wait almost 2 hours to get a table and order our pizza ahead so it would be done when we got to the table. It was a little insane.  I seriously wished that we had called ahead to see how long the wait was.  We were freezing and Marc and Bobbie's kids were with us.  They were super well behaved for waiting that long!  Did I mention that my feet were KILLING me from walking around in high healed boots all day?  Okay, seriously, KILLING me would be an understatement.  They were getting numb they hurt so bad.  And I had to stand in one place for a almost 2 hours.  *sigh*  But I have to say the pizza was SO WORTH IT!!  Next time I go to Chicago I am going to have to try going to Gino's East to compare. (and too see all the graffiti on the walls!)  :) 
Sunday morning, we slept in!  Misty was meeting her relatives for brunch so Lora and I headed out to get some breakfast.  We went decided to stop into L'Appettito to see if they had anything for breakfast. At the least we could get another Chocolate Croissant! We found they actually had a pretty nice breakfast menu.  Lora and I both decided to try the Breakfast Panini.  Oh was it yummy!! It was Ciabatta bread with eggs cheese and bacon.  SO delicious.  And only $3!!  I also decided to grab another Chocolate Croissant take home with me.  

A street performer we saw on Saturday

Lora and I decide to do a little more shopping before heading home. (like I could ever get sick of shopping!) We went into H&M and decided that we could have done some serious damage in there if we had stopped in on Saturday. I never did make it over to the Kate Spade store, but I was shopping on a budget so probably better that I didn't. Although I would've LOVED to have gotten a purse there. We stopped at one of my favorite stores to get something I had been thinking about the day before and decided I just had to get it. (no, I can not say what store..what happens in Chicago stays in Chicago!) 


I would of had all afternoon to go shopping since my train didn't leave until 5:20. I  got a lucky break that day though because Marc and Bobbie offered to give me a ride home so I wouldn't have to wait around all day in Chicago by myself. (if I hadn't of had to lug my luggage around with me all day I would have LOVED the idea) I was able to get a refund on my ticket and took them up on the offer. It got me home around 5pm rather then at 10:30pm when I would have gotten home riding the train.  That ended up being a nice surprise to the girls! 


I had a really wonderful weekend.  I have only been away from Lovebug overnight one other time since she was diagnosed, that was for a Women's Retreat with our church. (Tim and I haven't been for an overnight since she was diagnosed) It was refreshing.  I didn't have check a single blood sugar for 3 days. It felt a little weird not having to make sure I had all her supplies with me every time I walked out the door. I didn't have to stop and check Dexie or a blood sugar. I didn't have to touch a single glucose tablet or juice box.  It was one of the best weekends I have ever had with friends.  


Meeting Misty and Lora didn't feel like meeting them for the first time, it felt like old friends just catching up and ended much too soon. I will cherish that time together for a long time.  Lucky for me Misty is driving distance away!  Lora isn't but it gives me a good excuse to go to Florida. I need to take my girls to Disney World anyway! 


We all agreed we wished we would have planned more time. Not just to spend together but for shopping and Chicago. There is SO much to do in Chicago. I think we should have another D Mama meet up there, but in the summer when we can go to Navy Pier and a few other places that we didn't have time to go to.  I want to meet more of my sweet D Mamas!!  


Now be sure to go check out  Misty and Lora's blogs for some more fun stories from our trip!