Thursday, July 3, 2014

That time my cousin visited Chicago and I took her to all the best places

It all started with a long over due trip to O'hare to pick up my cousin.
The "we haven't seen each other in 8 years" selfie on the L.
Then we got the best Ramen ever at Umai.
The next morning we took the L to go to brunch...
A delicious brunch at Little Goat was had.
Then we went to La Colombe for the best coffee ever.
And then we walked to Millennium park to burn off some of that delicious brunch.
And we did touristy things like see the bean.
And take photos with the bean.
And admire the reflective properties of the bean.
Then we continued our walk to the Hancock tower.
And we saw the best views of Chicago.
*Pro Tip* If you want your photos from above Chicago to come out good, use a flash.
We continued to admire beautiful Chicagoland from all angles. 360 degrees, in fact. HA

And then we continued our walk around Chicago.
We took more "iconic" Chicago photos.
We went to dinner at Porkchop which was DELICIOUS. And had yummy mixed drinks. *but not my cousin because she is not 21.
Saturday morning we went back to Millennium park and admired more statues.
And were one of the first people to visit the bean for the day.
We did yoga in Millennium park and it was so fun!
So fun, that we needed a "jumping bean" photo.
We also needed a group shot at the bean photo.
Millennium park is beautiful.
Later on we watched the Brasil game. It was nerve wracking watching the game go into penalty kicks.
The big surprise of the trip was taking my cousin to Bottle and Bottega to paint a chicago themed picture. She is an excellent artist and I knew she would enjoy this part of the trip.
My blank canvas + wine. The Brasil game drove me to drink 3/4 bottle while painting...
Painting was fun and we were happy with our finished products!
Then we went to the Terrace for dinner.
But the sky had other plans for us.So we had to eat inside.
We went to Eataly for some Nutela crepes for dessert and they were DELICIOUS. *Surprising since I dislike nutela so much.
Saturday night we went out to the Planetarium for the best view of the skyline.

And we watched the weekly firework show.
It was beautiful.
Sunday we went to Chinatown.
And had fun exploring the shops and drinking bubble milk tea.
Chinatown is so cool.
We went to the Potsticker House for lunch. It is one of my favorite places in Chicago. We had Wontons in chili oil.
And steamed pork dumplings. And more foods which were all yummy.
Soon it was time to head back and get ready to go to O'hare.
CB made a new friend. **We also went to a TON of boutique stores where my cousin finally bought that white shirt. It's like an exact replica of her dog. How could she pass up something like that?!?
And just like that... the weekend was over and my cousin had to go home.
It was so fun showing her around Chicago and catching up on the past 8 years.
I know we won't go 8 years ever again without seeing each other.

6 comments:

  1. What a fun weekend!!! Also so many more restaurants for to try out. Robert calls me his Porkchop and we keep saying we'll go to Porkchop ... glad to know the food is good! He also loves Chinese food, normally we just go to Chinatown and pick a random place, but I'll add Potsticker House to our list! And I looove your paintings! We already have two sets of our Chicago skyline paintings, but maybe we need a third, I love the colors.

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  2. I want you to take ME around Chicago! Hee hee. Do you think that that ramen place has vegan stuff? I would really like to try that!

    So... she did or did NOT have a mixed drink? LOL

    Your paintings are so fun! I love what she did with the sky on hers!

    What a fun trip! I bet she will be thinking about it with good memories for a long time!

    And yay! CB made a new friend :)

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  3. WOW I haven't seen half these places, and I've lived here 3 years! What fun!!!!! <3

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  4. Such a fun weekend!! Oh, and LOVE your pictures. I always look forward to seeing them.

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  5. Great pics and sounds like you guys had a blast! I like the one of the "El" station at the airport. I didn't realize it had those cool lights!

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