Chicago Weekend Get-Away

May 15th was mine and Joe's 8th Wedding Anniversary.  I had to travel the next day for work, so we thought it might be perfect timing to get away for the weekend. In fact, other than one night when all three kids stayed at John & Diane's (and we stayed in Minneapolis), we hadn't had a night/weekend without the kids since Wren was born (time really does fly!).  

Leave it to the best family members ever (here in Minneapolis;) to work together and tag-team watch the kids so Joe and I could head to Chicago for two nights! Seriously - I would not have any iota of sanity if it weren't for Jamie and Diane being able to give us a break from the kids now and then.

I flew out Thursday to do some work that night (Late Night Food Truck sampling Helper at bar time!).  Joe flew in Friday morning.  We had two full days to relax, go out in search of amazing food, work out, catch some rays, etc.  It was perfect!

Friday we decided to explore one neighborhood and then head back downtown to stroll around before visiting the Helper food truck again.  First up we went to Bucktown and Wicker Park, a short EL ride away.  It was super overcast, and at mid-day Friday many of the shops were closed.  There weren't many people out and there wasn't too much activity.  Kind of a downer way to start our weekend. 

But after grabbing some amazing hot chocolate, followed by salads and sandwiches at a grocery/cafe, we figured it'd be best to head back downtown where we knew it would be more bustling.  We walked around Magnificent Mile, shopped and window shopped and felt the city start to come alive. 

Friday evening we headed out to visit the Helper Food Truck for a bit and then decided to get dinner in Lincoln Park on our way back to the hotel.  

Dinner at Pasta Palazzo. A yummy, casual, neighborhood Italian restaurant we'd eat at often while in school at DePaul University.  

But wait... We ate a lot in Chicago.  Before our dinner at Pasta Palazzo, and after shopping Downtown, we had a late afternoon snack at Xoco, Rick Bayless' "street food" Mexican outpost.  Amazing flavors!  It's a torta sandwich dunked in soup/sauce.  The salad had a spicy lime chili vinaigrette.  Plus a Mexican hot chocolate and churro.

Saturday was our jam-packed day.  And we could not be more thrilled that the weather cooperated 110%.  We lucked out with the most beautiful weekend.

Saturday morning run.  I'd say early morning, but our run didn't start until after 8am, which felt like middle of the day!  Wow! Sleeping until 7am and waking naturally just sets the tone to be a bit more relaxed than rushing to shower, get ready, feed the troops, etc.  We ran to the City Target store in Chicago and then ran our way back through the city and parks.  Joe loves taking panoramic's with his phone.  Had I known how cool they turn out I would have utilized this feature a lot more during our weekend (i.e., Wrigley Field, view of the city from Lake Shore path, etc).

First round of bloody's at Southport Grocery and Cafe.  The food - hash, breakfast sandwiches, bread pudding pancakes and more - was delicious.  It was pure heaven having a long, leisurely brunch with cocktails.  The weather was drop dead gorgeous outside. We could have lingered all afternoon here, but we had a Cubs game to get to!

Our plan was to enjoy our brunch and then try to scalp some cheap tickets a few innings into the game.  It was our lucky day...a couple eating breakfast next to us wound up asking us if we wanted their bleacher seats to the game!  Joe was offering him cash and the guy was so cool and refused, saying to spend it on drinks at the game - that he has tickets to most games and up until that morning he didn't even realize he had tickets.  Such a fun surprise, and probably for the best.  My colleague and her boyfriend tried to get tickets, but had no luck.  

We had an hour and a half to enjoy the Cubs game.  Enough time to get a beer, people watch and catch some sun.

After the game we walked from Wrigley Field to Lincoln Park, passing the place where we met!  Then window shopped the cute streets in our old neighborhood as we walked to the EL, heading back downtown for the afternoon.

Early that evening we rented bikes and rode along Lake Shore Drive path.  Let me tell you...this path is S.T.R.E.S.S.F.U.L.  There is one path (albeit wide) for all bikers, walkers, joggers, strollers, skateboarders, rollerbladers, segways, wheeling coolers, police cars, pets, etc.  As I mentioned, the weather was probably the first gorgeous weekend Chicago's had all spring, so it was a mob scene. But it was worth it.  Feeling the wind in my hair and getting to take in beautiful views of the city.

And getting some kisses from this one

And then we got off the main path and found a more relaxed one and tooled around some of the green space in the city.

Buckingham Fountain.  I was having trouble trying to get the two of us and the scenic points of interest on my phone screen for a picture.

After covering so much ground on foot and by bike, I wanted a snack before heading out to dinner.  I had remembered seeing a Magnolia Bakery on our morning run, so we headed that way.  A little dessert first!  I truly love Magnolia cupcakes - still haven't found any other's I like better.

For dinner we decided burgers and fries were what we wanted.  We enjoyed a casual bite at The Butcher & The Burger.

...And then headed to Little Goat for a late night dessert of a "Choco Taco" sundae.

A mere 10 hours after we had our Choco Taco sundae, we were back at Little Goat for breakfast Sunday Morning.  It was so delicious.  I got the Shrimp with Cheese Grits, asparagus, tomato, etc.  So amazing.  Joe got an Indian type flatbread with eggs and spices.  I still can't get over how much we ate in two days!

After breakfast and before we had to head to the airport, we decided to (finally) take the Chicago Architecture Foundation river cruise.  We've heard they are great tours, but we'd never taken one before.  Again, we could not beat the weather, so it was perfect being on a boat, learning about many of the buildings and neighborhoods we'd been exploring the previous day and a half.  

Thanks again to Jamie and Diane for making our Anniversary get-away possible.  It's always such a treat to have time just the two of us - unbelievable to get two nights away!  

May our marriage last as long as the Cub's World Series championship drought (104 years and counting, I think)!

Out Of Practice

Dinner at Tilia
March 9, 2013

We are so incredibly out of practice on "date nights," me and Joe.  Before we left for Mexico (post to come on that, and I'm hoping my phone can be salvaged after dropping it in water because it's got all our family vacation photos on it...) Joe and I had our March date planned.  And then we had to reschedule because the weekend we were planning to go out I came down with a 24 hour stomach flu, followed by the rest of the house (except Wren) also getting throw-up sick for a day each (Otto a few days).

Our original date was going to be brunch at a new place we've been wanting to try, followed by ice skating or something else fun downtown.  Our back-up plan, after finding a time the following weekend that worked for our sitter, wasn't much of a plan.

We thought we'd grab an early dinner and then head to the malls to do some returns and try to find some warm-weather clothes for Mexico.  I was super excited to shop - which is odd because I really dislike shopping.  But I was in the mood to spend. 

As mentioned, we weren't planned and didn't have a reservation (mute point, really, since Joe wanted to get back to Tilia and they don't take reservations).  We got to Tilia, enjoyed some drinks for nearly an hour until they had a table (chef's counter top) ready for us.  

After a couple hours enjoying relaxing drinks and dinner, it was just past 7pm (Early Birds!), which was about an hour past closing time at two of the three malls we wanted to go to (again, neither of us did any planning for this).  And the leisurely dinner with drinks pretty much killed my motivation to power shop.  I wanted to curl up on a couch and relax some more.  But we had a sitter for another couple hours, and certainly the kids wouldn't be asleep yet if we headed home.  So we made our way to the mall and Joe and I both struck out finding anything fun for the warm weather vacation, but each found a new work outfit.  

Point is - after dinner and drinks - this became a snoozy date (my small wine buzz made for tedious, tired shopping).  Joe and I've got to get our act together for our upcoming monthly dates.  Joe offered to plan the next one and I'm hoping he's thinking brunch followed by spa treatments.  Or a private jet to Chicago or Milwaukee for a MLB game, The Bachelor style.  Or even rock climbing to get my endorphins pumping (...followed by beer instead of preceded by beer, which tends to make me want to go to bed before 8pm).  

Ideas?  Send them our way!  Movies to go to, restaurants to try, activities and attractions headed to the Twin Cities, etc.  What are some fun things to do - ideally getting us home before 10pm:)

Skate Night, Date Night

Last Friday night the boys spent the night at Grandma Diane and Papa John's house.  Due to Diane's back injury, it was the first time since early October that they'd stayed the night.  I found a sitter for Wren so Joe and I could have a nice night out.

It was a balmy 26 degrees so we decided to lace up our skates, hit the ice and enjoy the refreshing night air.  It was our first time skating at Edinborough Park/Centennial Lakes in Edina and it was the most charming little (big, actually) skating pond.  I honestly felt like we'd found the "Central Park" skating rink of Minneapolis! 

We skated our way through the lit brick archways along with lots of other couples on dates and families.  And then we got cold and hungry and went out in search of hearty pasta and red wine.

After trying to get a table at five different restaurants (all had an hour wait), we wound up back in our neighborhood and had an amazing meal at Tosca.  Delicious fresh in-house made pasta, salad and bread.  Following dinner we walked next door to Turtle Bread for chocolate brownies, fudge and coffee.

A perfect little date night, that got ourselves and the babysitter home with enough time so Joe and I could watch the season 4 finale (from about 5 years ago) of Friday Night Lights. 

It's only the beginning of 2013, but Joe and I have enjoyed a January and February date.  And March is on the books, too.  Being twogether is one of our best resolutions so far.