Back from the windy city!

I had the absolute best weekend in Chicago (and Carol Stream/Bloomingdale/Wheaton)! Saturday we packed up and headed out on our adventure to Illinois, it was a frosty cold morning so me and my mama warmed up inside while my dad braved the freezing temperatures to go hike to the rental RAV 4. Luckily the snow had stopped so we had a lovely drive through Wisconsin before we got to our final destination.

When we finally got all checked in to our hotel we headed over to my friend Boofys family's house for some real Chicago style pizza. After dinner I got to meet some of her friends and her boyfriend Rob. We spent the evening visiting and playing with her friends Ali and Scott's son Aiden (who is just way too cute and obsessed with watching fans!).

The next day we headed out to the city for a day of fun with Boofy and her sweet mom as our tour guides!

We started the morning off with some amazing applecider doughnuts from boofy's bakery that she picked up for us! Once we made it out of the parking garage (we got a little lost) we headed over to my new favorite shop where I bought some postcards, Christmas presents, a surprise for Chris, and some a few treats for myself! I absolutely love Chicago, there was celebratory Obama merchandise everywhere, so boofy and I bought Obama sweatshirts to keep us cozy warm!

After doing some shopping we wandered around looking at all of the cool art Chicago has! We especially loved the gigantic silver bean!

I also loved the ever changing faces... I could have stood there for hours watching them change!

Our last big stop was to Macys, formerly known as Marshall Field to see the Christmas decorations and the famous Walnut Room!

I fell head over heels for the top floor of macys, this is my dream window... ahh if only I could wake up to that every morning!


Boofy and I snuck in to FAO Schwartz even though we were probably the oldest ones in there with out babies of our own! While lusting after the sweet little dresses in the Ralph Lauren section for my future baby girl we felt sorry for the headless mannequins so we started a "Save the headless mannequins foundation!" (donations can be sent to my paypal hehe)

On our walk back to the garage we made a quick stop off at Garret's popcorn, the best place for popcorn in Chicago (or anywhere for that matter). I also picked up the most amazing peanut butter chocolate toffee there which I have been slowly savoring!

Once we got back to Bloomingdale we dropped boofy and her mama off, said our goodbyes and headed over to Barnes and Noble so I could check my lap top before bed (the hotel's wireless wasn't having a good day). As I was sitting there sipping on my herbal mint tea and chatting with my sweetie I turn around to see Boofy! She had been over at Rob's but he was sleepy so she decided to pop in and hang out awhile more, so we headed back to my hotel and stayed up late visiting and laughing in the lobby!

My last morning in IL boofy took me to "my store" (boy was she right on that one!) called it's our earth in Wheaton. I had a field day in there browsing their antiques and unique crafty things! I ended up buying two packs of vintage hair pins (one with birds and the other with forest friends) and a flattened glass bottle, that I think will be perfect to set on my nightstand and toss my rings in before bed!


(Boofy purchasing the cutest ornaments and me with my glass bottle)

After that we said our goodbyes and I made her promise to come visit me in California and I'd show her all the cool places there! We hit the road again with only a few little stops. One including the sweetest antique store where I found a vintage orange juice pitcher and 6 glasses all with tiny pink flowers on them! I also checked out their selection of antique art deco rings : ) Found my dream ring in amongst them! It seemed like it took forever to get home but we finally made it back to my grandparents house for a dinner of delish homemade pizza!