{ chi - town }

This last weekend Chop and I traveled to Chicago......just the TWO of us!

I did crazy things. Like wearing jeans (instead of yoga pants), carrying a purse (instead of a diaper bag), and wearing a dress and tights (instead of sweatpants and sweatshirt).

We arrived Friday late morning and took the train from the airport to our hotel downtown. We scored an awesome $70/night rate through Priceline at Hotel Allegro. It was swanky in an overdone, outdated kind of way. 

From there, we headed to Lincoln Park for a little strolling along Armitage Street. Our weekend of "food destruction" was kicked off with lunch at Butcher & the Burger, a fun gourmet burger joint.

It was high on Chop's list and he enjoyed a giant beef/bacon burger, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a fantastic lentil/wild rice burger served on a "lettuce" bun. Win/win for both of us.

From there, we did some shopping and attempted to find the perfect pair of boots that I have been searching for all winter. Chop bought me a surprise pair of Frye boots for Christmas but they unfortunately didn't fit. I have searched high and low online without a ton of success in finding a boot that fits all of my needs (not too dressy, not too casual, not too plain, not too cowboy-ish, comfortable, no heel, and the list goes on......). I thought this pair was "the one" but couldn't pull the trigger. So the search continues......

Don't feel too bad for Chop being dragged along for boot shopping. He did plenty himself and walked away from the weekend with two new pairs of shoes.

Friday night we met up with our good friends from IU, Brent and Tracy, who currently live just outside of Chicago. They were part of the "marrieds" group while Chop was in grad school. We miss them (and the rest of them.....you know who you are!) and it was so nice to catch up in person over dinner and drinks.

We went to a hip new restaurant called La Sirena Clandestina. We enjoyed cocktails and Argentinian inspired food, including an alfajore pictured here (for those who have never had them, they are delicious!).

We felt like rock stars staying out until 11:30 but clearly can't handle the combination of drinking (tequila nonetheless) and staying out late, as demonstrated by the fact that we were still in bed eating "Do-Rite" donuts at 9:30 the next morning. And yes, we ate them all.

Saturday afternoon we headed out for a little walking downtown and lunch at The Protein Bar. I NEED one of these to open in Minneapolis.

It was amazing. Even Chop enjoyed his chicken quinoa chili (that's saying a lot - and that is greek yogurt, not sour cream on top)!

Michigan Ave was next on our list. This really was strictly window shopping, as most of the items in the stores cost more than our plane tickets to Chicago.

We did head up to the 96th floor "Signature Lounge" in the John Hancock Building to enjoy a drink overlooking the city. FYI - the best view, and where this picture was taken from, is in the ladies restroom.

Bet you can guess what we did Saturday night? Yup, more food. This dinner however trumped any dinner we've ever had. If you're in Chicago, you must go to Table Fifty-Two.

Executive chef and owner, Art Smith, was formerly Oprah's personal chef and Top Chef tv star. The level of service was beyond anything we've experienced at even the nicest restaurants in Minneapolis. And the food was amazing.

You know that awkward moment when you slyly decide to take a picture of your beautiful food because it is the nicest meal you've ever had and at that exact moment the chef walks out and looks right at you? Yeah, that was me. Awesome.

And we were treated to an extra dessert on the house because we couldn't quite decide between Chef Smith's family twelve layer chocolate cake and the chocolate chess pie. It was a tie.

We fell in love with Chicago and both agreed that it is the perfect spot for a short weekend getaway. That is, if Grandpa and Grandma C recover from the weekend with the twins and are up for the challenge again!