Chicago, Illinois

Hello everybody!!

Thank you to all who have been following along and I truly hope you enjoyed my snaps throughout the weekend in Chicago!! I still cant believe that I am already on my way back to Texas {yes, I’m blogging on my flight}, the past few days went by SOOO quickly and I am so bummed they’re over. The break {or trip} was needed though.

Because none of my friends really live in Texas anymore {except Tati, Kaylie, and Cody which y’all see on my stories a lot}, it’s so weird not knowing the times you’ll see your other friends next. With that, it was so much fun being able to see Tori and her family in Chicago for a few days.

Of course, if you keep up with my personal blog, you’ll know that I flew out Friday morning. With unknown plans, I landed and although we didn’t go to Egg Harbor for THE BEST GLUTEN FREE CINNAMON ROLLS EVER {it gives me a reason to go back}, we dropped off my luggage at home and then headed to the mall to do some damage.

Mom and Dad — you’ll be proud when I tell you I only bought two things {but I also went shopping on my own dollar the week before and bought myself a nice new camera and some cute clothes for fall when it cools off}.

After shopping for a few hours, eating some Auntie Annies {for my breakfast // lunch} and getting terrible stomach issues, buying Charlie his birthday gift, and styling Tori, we loaded back into the car and headed back to the house to put ourselves back together before dinner.

Dinner was INCREDIBLE!!

We went to a place called Shakou that was just a few minutes from the house and I don’t know if I was just so hungry that I would’ve thought anything would have been good, but my meal was BOMB!!

We both got blackberry mojitos {which I personally thought were strong, but then again I’m now weak when it comes to drinking}, we split the spicy edamame {with extra sea salt}, and then I got avocado rolls AND a beef and veggie bowl {without the beef and with a scrambled egg instead}. Definitely a much needed meal and sooooo filling. We went home extremely content and full tummied and then watched We’re the Millers. I truly forgot how freakin funny that movie was, and if you haven’t watched it in a while, I highly recommend watching it again soon!!

The next morning we got kinda an early start because we had to head out for the city by nine in the morning to pick up Charlie {the birthday boy // Tori’s brother} and get the yacht ready for all his friends’ arrivals.

By eleven in the morning, the boat was ready, the alcohol was out, and there was a White Claw in EVERY passenger’s hand. Within minutes, we “set sail” and were headed out onto Lake Michigan.

The music was bumpin, people were drankin, and we were off to the Play Pen. For those of you who don’t know what the Play Pen is on Lake Michigan, it’s basically a s**t show on water. There are police patrolling but there are TONS of boats, some tied up and some just anchored. Those that are tied up are where the party goers go and ANYBODY with swimming or floating capabilities go out to them. There you will find a TON of drunk people {majority college students and a couple years out} and a TON of booze.

I pulled Tori over on her noodle because of her foot surgery and we boarded one of the boats. There, I began tossing out cans of beer and more White Claw to the party and more because once somebody sees alcohol, everybody becomes a vulture. We lasted about an hour on the boat until it was time to head back to our boat {and perfect timing cause some rich b**ch decided to “kick us off the boat [her] dad paid lots of money for” and threaten us if we didn’t leave}.

Because no man gets left behind, I headed back to the row of boats with one of Charlie’s friends in search of the missing person. The friend wanted to take on and check the first three boats which left me with the last nine or so. For about forty minutes I was swimming from boat to boat in search of a dude with bright blue trunks and when I finally got back to the first boat the friend was in charge of, I found him.

We then swam back to our boat, headed to the main dock, and were on our way home to shower and get ready for dinner. Another incredible one!! This one: Italian.

The place was called Gianni’s and let me tell you, their bred and olive oil was THE BEST!! It was TOTALLY worth the stomach ache… The olive oil had TONS of garlic in it and then with fresh // warm Italian bread… WOW was I in heaven!! Not to mention, my pasta was incredible. I made my own pasta with gluten free penne and diablo sauce {meaning it was extremely spicy}, but everything was just so dang fresh.

Sunday was then our city day.

Tori and I were awake by nine and on our way to the city by eleven. Because the Sears Tower {now called the Wills Tower} was pretty close to the train stop, we decided to do that before brunch… Little did we know, the wait to get to the top was going to take OVER TWO AND A HALF HOURS!! And then, once we got to the top, we had to wait another half an hour {minimum} to take our pictures on the skydeck.

Honestly, I would NEVER wait that long again BUT if it is your first time, it is a fun experience // photo opportunity. If you’re scared of heights, don’t look down and DEFINITELY do not think about the glass breaking when you’re standing on it!!

Once our stomachs were practically eating themselves and after snapping a couple of pics on the skydeck, we then headed to The Hampton Social.

The place was SOOOO stinking cute and we just so happened to be there when there was live music, which made it that much better. We got ourselves some yummy frose {rimmed in sugar}, had some corn tempura as an appetizer {which I HIGHLY recommend}, and we each got ourselves a pizza… Another meal that was definitely worth my stomach reaction.

With not much time to spare before our train back to Barrington, we snapped a couple more photos in front of the infamous illuminated rose sign and listened to the live music for a little bit longer. We got back home in time to shower, to pack, to watch a movie, and to go to bed.