Birthday & Chicago Part 2

Good morning!  I hope your week is going well.  In case you missed my late post Monday, I shared about part 1 of my trip to Chicago.  Today, I will pick up with 11/11.

Saturday morning, I woke up to spend my 53rd birthday in Chicago.

Chicago is such a fun city!

We stopped at Starbucks to redeem my free drink!

There were so many beautiful buildings as we walked and shopped along Michigan Ave, the Magnificent Mile!

John Hancock building

We stopped at Ghiradelli and this was my lunch/birthday dessert.  This was the sea salt caramel sundae:

caramel sauce, vanilla ice cream, handmade dark chocolate hot fudge topped with whipped cream, sea salt and a dark sea salt caramel.  It was delicious!  I tried to get something I probably wouldn't make at home.

After spending the morning walking and shopping, we took an architectural boat cruise down the river to learn more about the buildings.  It was so interesting to know these buildings were all built within the last 150 years after the great fire of Chicago.

If you're a Seinfeld fan, you will remember the episode name which was on the side of this boat "The Summer of George"!

This is the Willis Tower and you can barely see in this picture the ledge where we were standing the day prior.

This is the NBC Building that is based on Rockefeller Center in New York City.

This is the tallest building (below) in the world designed by a female architect.  Notice it has 2 floors that are open for the wind to pass through.  My youngest daughter is an architect major!

Navy Pier in the daylight

I am wearing my 11:11 bracelet all month in honor of my birthday month!

We walked and ate dinner at House of Blues and listened to some blues muisc.

Chicago never felt very crowded and it was easy to walk most everywhere downtown.

They were beginning to put up Christmas displays, but all of their festivites really begin this weekend.

I would love to go back and take the girls and do a shopping/Christmas weekend here like we did in New York City last year.  

I will be back Friday with a few more favorites/birthday items.

Enjoy your day!

Chicago Weekend

Hi!   I couldn't quite get a blog post together for this morning, so I am joining in late today with my weekend recap!

Last Thursday, my husband and I went away on a trip to Chicago to celebrate my 53rd birthday.  This was the most last minute trip I've planned where I have flown somewhere.   This was just planned the Sunday before Thursday when we left.  Chicago was the most affordable place and they have public transportation, so we didn't have to rent a car.  

Lake Michigan from the air

And some pretty fall colors and sky!

We took the train from the airport to our hotel.  We stayed at a Hampton Inn and the location was great.  The first night, we got classic deep dish pizza.  We had the chicken sausage and spinach and it was a good combination.

After eating a heavy meal, we did a little walking and went by the classic Chicago theater.

Friday morning, we walked to Millenium Park.  There is construction around the famous "bean", but we got a few pictures there of the other cool structures.

From Millenium Park, we went into the cultural center to see the famous dome ceiling.

We walked from there to the Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower.  We went to the observation deck and stood on the glass ledge overlooking the city.

Just a side note....these shoes from Amazon were so comfortable for walking around Chicago for 2 days!

Afterwards, we ate lunch in the building and got these sandwiches, 1 on 2 doughnuts & 1 on a brioche bun :)

We took an Uber to the Museum of Science & Industry for the rest of the afternoon.

There was a fun mirror maze & Apollo 8 spacecraft was on display, which was so cool to see.

That night, we found a mexican resataurant to eat & walked to Navy Pier, but didn't spend too much time there since it was cold and dark at that point.

I will wrap up with a part 2 Wednesday!

Prime Purchases ~ October 2023

 

Here we are on the first Monday of the month and I am joining in with Tanya for Prime Purchases.  

Amazon hosted Prime Days again, so I stocked up on several things.

Portable Phone Charger

I finally broke down and bought a portable phone charger.  I haven't had to use it too much, but for sure could see this coming in handy when traveling.

Cocktail Dress

This was somewhat of an impulse buy, but it was a great deal on a cute dress.  I have a work event next May, so I will probably save this for that or could also wear it to a nice dinner or another event, not that anything else is on the calendar, ha!

Hair Ties

I needed some ponytail holders and now I have 100 of them.  I will definitely be sharing some with my daughters.

MakeUp Removal Towels

I needed some new towels to use to remove makeup, so I use these at night.

Silicone Dish Drying Mat

I use this every time I unload my dishwasher.  I have so many items, especially on my top rack that are not dry, so I use this on my counter to finish drying from the dishwasher and also when I hand wash items.  The former mat I had was cloth, so I think this will last longer.

Candle Set

This was an affordable set of candles that I plan on giving as gifts for Christmas.

Dog Toy

Our dog is a puppy and has destroyed every other dog toy he has had.  So far, he has not been able to break through this one. Here is the dog playing with a frisbee.

Wedge Sneakers

These sneakers have been on my watch list for a while &  I have worn these quite a bit already. I really like them.

Household Cleaner

I have used the brand, Thieves, from Young Living Essential Oils for several years.  I found this brand, which is similar, and will use it to make my household cleaner.  I mainly use this in my kitchen for cleaning.

There were a few other misc. items which I will share if we do end up moving, which is a talk still in the works.

Have a good Monday!

Currently ~ November 2023

 Hi guys.  Happy November! I am linking up with my friend, Jennifer, for the Currently series.  

Loving

I am currently loving this cold weather that has come with the beginning of November and the heat (and hopefully bugs) are gone until the spring.  Along with the cooler weather, I am loving the fall colors that are all around us now. This picture was taken at our neighborhood lake.

Buying

I bought a good load from Amazon Prime during their most recent Prime days, which I will share about next week.

I also recently bought some new make-up items from Tarte, that you can read about here. 

Preparing

There is a possibility we may be moving, so I am preparing my house by trying to continue to clean and organize.  

Excited for

My birthday is next weekend, so I am hoping to go celebrate that somewhere new, but I am holding all plans loosely in life at this point.  I am also excited to see Christmas decorations around town and to start hearing Christmas music later this month.  While I love all of this, I am not a November 1st Christmas decorator. I have had to promise my co-workers to not decorate our office until after Thanksgiving.

Planning

I am planning some meals this week.  I cooked a few items from my September Southern Living magazine this week and also my favorite chili recipe, served with cornbread, on Halloween night.  I cooked chicken fried steak and macaroni and cheese from the September edition of Southern Living.  This picture was pre-gravy on the steak, as we didn't use too much gravy.  Side note...my grandmother always used spaghetti noodles in her baked mac-n-cheese.  Since I didn't have any macaroni elbow pasta, I used spaghetti noodles.

Chili Recipe

1 pound ground beef

3/4 chopped yellow onion

1 pkg of chili seasoning mix OR

1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional), ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes & green chilies), undrained

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1 cup water

Cook beef and onion in large sauce pan.  Stir in seasoning mix and other ingredients. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.

I am currently hoping it is a great month!