Summer Fun: Round 2

Whew! I am worn out! Two weeks of playing Chicago tour guide in record heat is exhausting, but definitely fun! My mom flew in for a quick visit, and unfortunately brought the Columbia, SC armpit heat and humidity with her! This was her 3rd time visiting me, so it was nice to be able to just relax and catch up without trying to do too many activities. Mom and Brizz had some sleepover bonding time, and now Brizzie is moping around like she lost her best friend. Sweet doggie loves her visitors. I think Mom really just came to see Brizz and do some Lush shopping...any time with me was a bonus! :)

While we did lay low, Mom and I still managed to get around town. To beat the heat, we spent an entire afternoon at the Art Institute and another afternoon at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Being a new student at SAIC, I get free admission to the Art Institute, and my membership at the MCA includes free guest admission. Great deals to see some fantastic art! The Art Institute is huge, so we saw as much as our tootsies could handle. I think the kids playing in the Crown Fountain outside the Art Institute, had the right idea for cooling off! The faces are digital videos that spout water every so often, like I showed in my previous post.

what a cutie!

The MCA has a Mark Bradford exhibit right now which I have been really looking forward to seeing. Bradford is an artist whose work I greatly admire and used as inspiration for some of my paintings. Bradford paints without using paint. He uses a collage/layering/sanding process that creates incredible surface texture. Some iphone pics of a few Bradford pieces showing at the MCA:

For dinner one night we ate at a little French restaurant in the West Loop, Maude's Liquor Bar. Justin and I love the restaurants in this part of town. They're all unique, cozy, and the food is fantastic! Many new restaurants in Chicago do the small plate, tapas style menu, which is always fun. We enjoyed some red table wine - makes me feel like I'm in Europe :) - brie, shaved veggie salad, summer sausage, salmon, and of course creme brulee!

Mom and I did a little shopping and sightseeing in Lincoln Park one afternoon for the annual sidewalk sale and Sheffield Garden Walk. The shops in LP are so cute and refreshing compared to the busy stores on Michigan Ave. We held back and didn't go crazy snagging all the bargains, but had a great time popping in and out of all the boutiques. 

love this glassware we found in one of the shops!

After taking a break for lunch at Nookie's Too - great all day breakfast, and anything else you could want, place - we took a stroll through a few of the gardens on the walk. A garden in Chicago is definitely not the same as a lush, sprawling garden at some Charlotte homes. It's more like a little sanctuary. A quiet, shady place, to escape the city. Lots are very small and narrow with neighbors on top of each other, so any green space is certainly worth showing off.

The last night Mom was here, our building sponsored a roof-top party complete with an awesome 80's rock cover band, h'orderves, and an open bar! Oh, and of course the Navy Pier fireworks complimented by Journey's Don't Stop Believing from the band. It was so much fun the Chicago police showed up twice! The first time, they decided to stay, have some grub, and enjoy the fireworks. The second time, they shut the party down....guess we were having a little too much fun! Mom definitely did!

 

 

 

 

 

After Mom left Sunday morning, Justin and I went to M Burger, kind of like the In-N-Out Burger of Chicago. Perfect after an open bar kinda night!

Had a blast with Mom and now only a week left until my art therapy classes start. I can't believe the summer is almost over, but I am so excited to begin my grad degree! In the meantime, Brizz says it's a dog beach kind of day, so off we go!!

Proud to be a Chicagoan!

Considering that we made absolutely no plans for this 4th, the holiday turned out to be wonderful! Justin had planned to work almost all weekend on an approaching deadline. He did put in some time at the office on Saturday, but thanks to his determination and the deadline getting pushed out, we were able to enjoy our 4th of July!

So, no plans on the 4th...not to worry! There is always plenty to do in Chicago, even if it's not a national holiday. Saturday afternoon we headed back to the Taste of Chicago with our remaining food tickets. We enjoyed some live music, baklava, Polish sausage, and a frozen banana dipped in chocolate, covered with nuts! Yum! I think the size of the crowd doubled since the weekend before. That, combined with the smoke from cooking, all different food smells, and temps in the 90's, we definitely had our fill of the Taste!

Tourists flock here in droves on the 4th. I had noticed an increase in camera and map toting sightseers since summer hit, but holy hordes of tourists!! We live right in the middle of the tourist attractions, and after the Taste, we honestly didn't even want to venture out into the masses. So, we decided to head North where most of the non-Chicagoans don't go.

If you're a baseball fan, you may have heard of the Crosstown Classic. It's the series between the North and the South sides of Chicago - the Cubs and the White Sox. Over the 4th weekend they were playing at Wrigley. Although we didn't have tickets to the game on Sunday, we heard of a block party outside the stadium and thought we'd check it out.

The game was still going on when we got to Wrigleyville, and the so-called block party was not exactly happening. So, we hopped on a bus and headed to Lincoln Park to grab a bite and do a little shopping. I absolutely love Lincoln Park. There are so many cute restaurants and shops. We spent a gorgeous afternoon just strolling around following our whims. We stopped for a beer at an Irish pub, and sat outside on a quiet, tree-lined side street. While enjoying our beverages we noticed someone take their dog into the bar. Sure enough there were 4 dogs inside! We had found a quaint little dog-friendly Irish bar that's been around since the 40's! How awesome is that! We had a late lunch outside at another restaurant we happened upon. The afternoon turned out wonderfully and we hadn't planned a thing....I just love days like that!

Clear blue skies continued on the 4th, which prompted us to head to the beach! Yes, there are "beaches" in Chicago complete with sand, but no shells and other seaside critters. I have been very jealous of non-stop Facebook posts boasting Carolina beach vacations all summer. Especially over the 4th, when the Lichty's get together at Justin's parents' house in Myrtle Beach. We couldn't make it last summer because we were in the middle of moving, and this summer it just didn't work out. So, we made a family beach day of our own...at the dog beach of course! This is again, out of tourist radar, but still packed with lots of beach loving Chicagoans and their furry friends! We circled for half and hour looking for parking and then ended up walking about half a mile to get to the actual dog beach....but the trek was well worth it!

Other than the random dogs running across our towels, trying to get in our cooler, and one rude K-9 actually taking a whizz on our cooler....it was an awesome afternoon! We stopped on our walk back to eat lunch under a tree along the lake (don't worry the cooler was closed during the whizz incident!). People had set up tents and were grilling everywhere. 

We are very fortunate to have a fabulous view of Navy Pier from the top of our building. The city cancelled the huge fireworks show in Grant Park this year, but Navy Pier put on a smaller scale show. They actually shoot off fireworks every Wednesday and Saturday night during the summer, so we already get 2 fireworks shows per week...guess I can't complain about the city's decision! Justin and I used one of the community grills on the roof to cook up some burgers, sweet potato fries, and corn on the cob! We staked out a prime spot for dinner and hung out there until the fireworks. Watching all the people packed into and around Navy Pier, we felt especially thankful for our bird's eye view! Boats started filling up the harbor early and afterwards all honked their horns in approval of the show!

What an awesome holiday weekend it turned out to be! It's amazing to actually live in a city that people from all over our nation visit to celebrate the 4th of July. Chicago is an all-American city and we are excited to be a part of it!

Happy 4th!!