Chicago Valentines Weekend

What are two young single girls in the travel industry supposed to do on Valentines Weekend? Why jet off to Chicago for the weekend, of course! Katie and I planned a weekend in Chicago long before we knew Wilmington would experience the worst winter in years. Our trip happened to fall the same week as our second ice storm of the season but we figured the ice would melt by Friday. Wrong. The ice caused every flight out of Wilmington to be canceled all week. After 2 canceled flights, we made a mad dash to the Raleigh airport to catch a nonstop flight Friday evening. We finally made it to Chicago and took a taxi from the airport to the Marriott on Michigan Avenue. We had beautiful city views from our room! 

We experienced Chicago style pizza at Gino's East and we learned it takes 1 hour to cook and Gino's makes their crust with cornmeal so we thought it tasted like cornbread. A little different and not our favorite. 

Saturday we woke up ready to shop! The Marriott was walking distance to all of Chicagos shopping! We bundled up and found a little corner restaurant called The West Egg for breakfast. They had great food and it was definitely a locals spot. I prepared myself for marathon shopping and Katie led the way! We went in every shop along Michigan Ave and I bought a heavy scarf and gloves because we knew Chicago would be cold, but we didn't realize it would be bone chilling cold. Finally, after 6 hours of shopping and smelling every perfume in the city I needed a break! A lot of people had recommended a hot dog place called Portillos so we braved the cold wind and walked 8 blocks until we smelled our way to the restaurant. It was worth the walk! We shopped the rest of the afternoon and stopped at the infamous Garrett's Popcorn for an appetizer before going to Tavern on Rush for dinner. We were getting ready to leave Tavern on Rush when we realized how crowded it had gotten in the bar area. I turned around to look at everyone and realized it was snowing outside! Katie and I grabbed our stuff, paid our bill, and ran outside! Real snow! We were like 2 little kids outside! Real fluffy powder snow does exist! When we got back to our hotel we walked to the Chicago River to watch the snow! It was beautifully 

The next morning we woke up to sunshine and blue skies so we bundled up again and played tourist by walking to Millenium Park to see Cloud Gate. We found the AAA on Michigan Ave on our walk to the park! 

The park was beautiful and not too crowded on a Sunday morning so we wandered around and watched people ice skate 

We went to the John Hancock Observatory and it was really impressive to see Navy Pier surrounded by ice since the harbor was frozen. 

We visited my favorite pizza place, Giordano's, for lunch and their pizza was 100xs better than Gino's East!  We ended our trip full and happy and already planning our return trip to Chicago!

Charleston Birthday Celebration

Everyone knows that you're supposed to drag out your birthday celebrations as long as possible...especially when you're birthday is smack-dab in the middle of your Dads and brothers. So I extended my celebrations to 2 weeks after the actual day and went with 3 of my very best friends to one of my favorite cities, Charleston, SC.
Mari (friends since we were 7) and Megan (friends since we were 12) and I all piled in Mari's car with our chai lattes and hit the road to Charleston Saturday afternoon. Highway 17 is one of my favorite stretches of road down the NC/SC coast with all of the trees covered in moss and glimpses of the ocean from the road. We met Tiffany (friends since Clemson) on Daniel Island and headed to our hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown. When I go to Charleston I typically have to stay a little outside of the downtown area so we were excited to be able to stay on Calhoun St. and be able to walk every where from our hotel. The Courtyard was beautiful and staff incredible hospitable. We threw our stuff in our room and headed out to do a little shopping before dark, After walking the complete opposite direction on King St than intended for a good half mile we wandered our way to the market area and went in a few shops before having a pre-dinner snack dessert at Kaminsky's. If you haven't been to Kaminsky's, I highly recommend it! What could be better than homemade desserts and specialty dessert coffees and cocktails!? I'll tell you...nothing! 

Since we were all on a sugar high, the cold weather didn't bother us any more as we walked back to our hotel to freshen up for dinner. Many men would question how 4 girls could manage to get ready in 1 bathroom within 1 hour but friends who have been friends forever make it look like an art. 1 girl sits in front of the full length mirror while another stands above her while another girl sits on the bathroom counter and the 4th beside her. All the while hair dryer cords and straightener cords stretch between them and lipstick and hairspray passed down the line.

We made dinner reservations at Fleet Landing on the water. After a couple John Daily's and their famous Shrimp & Grits we wandered down to Griffins for a drink and then to Mac's and sat at Mac's until Mari and Megan were nodding off at the table. We bundled up, linked arms, and strolled down empty King St. back to the Courtyard.
Oh the difference a few years and full time jobs makes. We used to be able to go out every weekend and bounce right back, but now after just a couple drinks and staying out until 1:30am we were silent grumpy women the next day. We only got out of bed because we knew the housekeeping staff would hunt us down by 11am. We packed up the car and went to Poogan's Porch for brunch. I have always heard great things about Poogan's Porch and was excited to finally go there. It is in a cute historic home on Queen St. and the food was simply delectable.
After dropping Tiffany at her car on Daniel Island, we headed north on Hwy 17 back to Wilmington. It was a quick 24 hour birthday celebration and mixing friends from various stages of life can sometimes create drama, but it can also create lots of fun when they all get a long! Lucky me, my best friends from high school got along fabulously with my closest friend from college! I loved being able to celebrate with my best girls all together!