Chicago trip-Day 1

Here's the recap I promised you. I apologize ahead of time at how long it is. I hope you enjoy it and don't fall asleep reading. ;)

Friday evening we flew off for our weekend away in Chicago. Although I was VERY excited about our trip, there was also a part of me that was sad to leave my little family. I actually texted Robert and my mom that day and told them this and asked if I was normal. Ha! They assured me that I was and, in fact, it would have been abnormal to NOT be a little sad to leave my family. (Do you ever feel that way when you leave your family?) My mom also said that once we were on the plane, Mia and I would likely talk non stop and I'd immediately feel better. Well, she was right! We talked the whole time on both flights and the trip there flew by (ha! no pun intended! I'm such a nerd)!

My inlaws live in a suburb of Chicago and graciously opened their home to us. Can I just say how thankful I am to have a good relationship with my inlaws!! They picked us up shortly after we arrived and took us to their house. Between the excitement of being in Chicago and the need to learn maps, we didn't get to bed until midnight, or so, and planned to get up early the next morning to head in to the city.

Saturday morning came and we were ready to go! We decided to take the train into the city. Neither one of us had been on a train before, so that was a fun little adventure. We drove to the next city over from my inlaws town to catch the train. We made it in time and only had to wait about 5-10 minutes. We were a little nervous trying to figure out schedules and where the train was loading, but we followed the crowds and made it on the right train. :) 

We made it into the station basically on an adrenaline rush. WE WERE IN CHICAGO!! Woohoo!! Our train took us to Union Station, almost right to Willis tower, so that was our first stop. We wanted to go up into the Skydeck, but the wait time was 1 1/2 hours; so we decided to skip it and keep going. The only thing we had planned Saturday, though, was to eat at RPM Italian, so we decided to just explore the city and go wherever we wanted to go. We also talked about not shopping until Sunday because we didn't want to be lugging a bunch of shopping bags into the restaurant that night. That decision quickly made it's way "out the door".

Praise the Lord Mia is good with maps, otherwise I'd still be wandering the city! We made our way to State St where we found lots of good shopping. Our first stop was at Target. I know what you're thinking...you have a Target at home! But two things, I LOVE Target (and this one was 2 stories!!) and two, I needed a belt. I didn't like how "boxy" my shirt made me look, so I bought a cute little belt to hold me together a bit. We didn't stay there long, but it was our first stop. ;)

Like my belt? :)

Isn't she pretty!

 



After Target, we made our way farther down State St just checking out the stores and stopping where we wanted to stop. We made our way to H&M, which by the way, I can't believe I had never heard of. What rock have I been living under?! They had a ton of cute clothes at such great prices!! After H&M, we headed off for some luch. We enjoyed a nice soup and salad combo at Corner Bakery Café. It was delicious!!

Feeling refueled and ready to shop again, we set out for State St again. (State St was by far our favorite shopping strip this trip.) Thanks to Shay and Sheaffer, we really wanted to hit up Nordstrom so we went there next. We were both very impressed with the store. Mia picked up some super cute Toms (I really want a pair :)). We spent some more time in Nordstrom, then made our way back out to State St and more shopping.

 

 

We decided we needed a little break for our feet and a caffeine boost, so we found a coffee/tea cafe called Argo Tea Café. After that, we spent some more time on State St at Sephora, Macy's, Old Navy, and Urban Outfitters.

After all the shopping, it was time for the main event...dinner at RPM Italian! We were so excited to eat here not only because we were just sure the food would be delish, but because we're huge Guiliana & Bill fans. Unfortunately, from some completely normal Twitter stalking, we knew we weren't going to run into them this trip. But, it was still so fun to be there and the food definitely didn't disappoint!!

While all day had been smooth sailing and we had run into no time constraints, we found ourselves in a little bind after dinner. We really wanted to catch the 8:40 train back so we didn't have to wait two hours for the next train, but dinner was so good we lost track of time. Needless to say, we had to run for approximately 35,000 blocks. We were so out of breath from running and hysterically laughing that I'm pretty sure the people on the train thought we were on something. But, we made the train!! And have such great memories getting there. :)

Our first day in the city was so much fun!! We were excited to go back the next day.