C-H-I-C-A-G-O!!

The best city ever never disappoints! This past weekend we had so much fun! I love Chicago and would love to live there. The weather was great this past weekend. It was in the mid thirties so when I said great, it was cold but not 10 degrees like it was last week. With the appropriate winter wear, it's actually not bad. We arrived Saturday morning around 9:30am and after we checked into our hotel, we hit the streets! First stop = The North Face store on Michigan Ave...Brent had a birthday present from me waiting there! I got him a jacket that would be perfect for the Chicago weather! I think he liked it b/c he wore it the whole weekend :)

                               The North Face Redpoint jacket

After we picked up Brent's jacket we headed to grab lunch at Big Bowl. They have this delicious dumpling noodle soup and the best lettuce wraps ever! We actually re-created the soup when we got back from our last Chicago trip and we fix it all the time. 

                    We got the  beef and chicken lettuce wraps...Yum!

This is a picture that we took while at lunch looking out onto the street. They had mounds of snow higher than cars along the side of the road from the storm 2 weeks ago.


Then we walked around the city. We went to the river and to Millennium Park to check out the ice skating and the "bean". I love how Chicago always has different things in the planters on Michigan Ave. In the summer they usually have tulips and then various artists display their work among the flowers. Well for the month of February( and I'm sure for the next few months) they have all these different HEARTS up and down Michigan Ave! Different businesses and even some families sponsored and decorated their own hearts...Here are a few:

                 Each heart had a heart health fact to go along with it.


      Those are just a few! There were probably 50 different hearts on each side of Michigan Ave.!

                      This is a video of the North bridge and the River


Saturday night we went to Tavern on Rush for dinner. I don't think that restaurant will ever get old to me! AND I get the same thing to eat everytime( chipotle mac&cheese and a wedge salad ) haha! 
We went to Millennium Park on Sunday to get some pics and we walked around the city and did some shopping as well. 

         This was a HUGE pile of snow in Millennium Park...it wasn't like this 
                                                 everywhere!

We went ice skating Sunday night. There is an outdoor skating rink in Millennium park and it was really fun. The views of the city where really pretty especially since all the building were lit up and they still had white lights on trees down Michigan Ave.

                            Here is a video of the ice skating fun!

    This video is of us shooting the first time we went over to check out the rink


                         and this is a video of us skating skating!

                                                   
We went to dinner Sunday night at the absolute best Italian restaurant EVER! This Italian food at Quartino's is real real real Italian food!! -Delicious!!!- They make their own pasta and sauces fresh everyday. We wish Nashville had this restaurant and hate that it's so far away! haha I know Brent would want to eat there once a week if we had it here! 

I had: the olive assortment(  3 different Italian olives..about 6 of each ), a beet & walnut salad, and then the fettuccini( organic tomatoes, sweet basil, and EVOO). This whole meal was one of the best meals at a restaurant that I have ever had!
Brent had: the chicken soup( fresh vegetables, chicken, and carnaroli risotto ), and then he had a half & half order of 2 different pasta dishes. The ravioli and the cavatelli. He loved them and said they were both amazing. To top the meal off, our waiter brought us complimentary chocolate covered strawberries :)


                        Here are a few more pictures to finish up...

                   We can't wait for a next trip to the Windy City!!!