Thursday, September 27, 2012

MY KIND OF TOWN - PART ONE


Chicago is........
 
 
Where do I start? Trip of a lifetime as far as I'm concerned. (until the next trip of a lifetime that is!) How do you talk about something so amazing that you are in awe of each day that passes. Okay I'm going to start with a few of the things that didn't go right before we even took off and get those uglies out of the way.
 
So maybe a day or two before we left I had a "shit....OMG I can't believe I just did that moment!" I was plucking my eyebrows and then sometimes I use one of those little pencil shaped trimmers with the small two sided comb attachment with a long and short side. You have probably guessed where I am going with this one. Some of my eyebrow hairs can get really long so I will go over them with the long sided trimmer only that didn't happen, I mistakenly used the short side and didn't notice until the second eyebrow. (#$%@)
 
I tried very hard not to panic, I knew I couldn't go back. They were just very short, not shaved off completely. So I made sure I had wispy bangs and played around with different eyebrow pencils. I never told anyone and no one asked about them. I thought for sure my daughter would say "What happened to your eyebrows?" Enough said.
 
First we started out by trying to make our reservations for the hotel in Arlington Heights and they said they were booked, no rooms available. Well I emailed my future SIL and told her. They got on the phone and raised a fit and eventually that got all worked out. Then Mark went to make the reservation for our car rental and he needed the flight number we were on. Well guess what, they cancelled our flights back in August and never told us, never sent him an email yet he had a confirmation number. Well luckily it all got worked out and we were able to get onto the same flights on Monday the 10th of September.
 
So we go to the airport very early for our flight to Denver, then onto Chicago O'Hare. So it's like 5:30 am and we are waiting to board our first flight and Mark got a text saying our second flight out of Denver was cancelled. So he went up to the desk to see what he could do. Well they automatically moved Mark to a 1:20pm flight and me to an 8pm flight! They did give us $40. in vouchers for food and I spent everything but 60 cents. I wasn't letting that one go. Anyway when we arrived in Denver it all got straightened out and I was able to join Mark on the 1:20pm flight. Hooray! We only had four hours to waste and I didn't have to wait 11 hours for my next flight.
 
So we arrived in Chicago, got the car and checked into the hotel. Then we searched for the closest location of a few of our favorite pizza places and headed out to dinner. It was so funny, Mark commented and I agree with him "It seems like on every corner there is some great Italian food we want to eat." We went to Aurelio's which is by far one of our most favorite thin crust Chicago pizza and had a few glasses of wine. It was a long day.
 
One Tuesday Mark had a sales call in Lisle, IL and I relaxed a bit, went to the pool and got ready for our dinner date with Diane and Larry our BFF's from H.S. Due to a previous scheduled appointment Larry was not able to join us. We spent a few hours with Diane and it was a perfect, actually more than perfect evening. Your can read about Diane and Larry and the amazing things that happen on our trip to Chicago at my For Your Tears post called The Depth of Friendship. I shared this on my post the other day.
 
On Wednesday morning we got up early and headed to Wisconsin. Mark had a sales call in Oshkosh which was about 3 hours away but along the way he dropped me off in Milwaukee so I could spend some time with my brother. I had four hours with him and it was perfect. He showed me around the city, we had lunch and then he took me to one of his favorite gay bars where we had a glass of wine. It was so nice to see him. I believe the last time I saw my brother was in Florida a few years ago when we both visited my dad. (That is a statue of Fonzie. I am showing you him from the back since the front had been tagged)
 
 Remember to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

On the way home from Milwaukee we made a little stop at a White Castle. I had one little burger. Yes I cheated on my diet and I'm okay with that. Then we got back to the hotel and had about an hour before we were being picked up from the bride and groom to be. (Jimmy and Caprice) Mark's other brother Jeff was also in town on business and we all went to Lou Malnati's for a late dinner. I didn't get a picture of their pizza. That is the pizza we order from Taste of Chicago. We had never had it in person before. Actually Jimmy and Caprice send us that for a family gift each Christmas. It was so awesome and because of my low carb I did only eat the top but had one small bite of crust because I just had to! That was one long day. (The deep dish pizza is from Gino's which we went to on Thursday.....more to come later.)
 
Favorite treats from Chicago

 
So I want to end part one on this note:
 
Happy Birthday to my brother Raymond
who is 66 years old today!
Love you so much.
 
 

29 comments:

Mary said...

I wanna go to Chicago!!! Sounds like a good time!

trennia said...

It sounds like such a wonderful time!...and Looks like a wonderful time!
You always have such beautiful photo's to show, makes me want to go to Chicago!...and everywhere else you have showed photo's of you do an excellent job!

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

Well aside from all the logistics issues in getting there, it sounds like a great trip! The food looks wonderful. We went to Chicago for a day a few years ago and really enjoyed it!

Hilary said...

Rip. I have only been to Chicago once and it was for work, so it really doesn't count....

Joyce said...

Air travel has gotten ridiculous. You just cannot count on anything happening when it is scheduled. I know sometimes weather or mechanics are factors beyond their control but oftentimes it is overscheduling and poor planning. I cannot remember the last time I had a flight that was not delayed. I'm flying today so here's hoping : ) I love Chicago!

nancygrayce said...

I want to go to Chicago now and have that pizza! On my diet I could eat one piece and a salad and believe me, I would savor every little bitty bite! So great that you got to spend time with your brother!

Kathy ... aka Nana said...

I haven't been to Chicago in 10 years or more ... and I've never had Chicago-style pizza. I think it's time to remedy both of those! ;-)

Wow - what aggravations with your travel arrangements ... glad you were able to get them all resolved.

Deb said...

wow what fun....you really got lucky with that flight...

Rochelle@AFamilyofLooneys said...

It sounds like you are having a wonderful time. Now I want so pizza :-)

LynnMarie said...

Your eye brow look just fine in the picture of you. Pizza for dinner? Maybe.....

Anonymous said...

I have only been to their airport, but want to visit someday soon! Always looks so nice and I have heard nothing but yumminess for Chicago pizza:)

kc bob said...

Ginos East! Not quite NYC pizza but pretty good! :)

I liked the Italian beef at Portillos. http://www.portillos.com/portillos/

Ginny Marie said...

You stayed in Arlington Heights? You were so close to me! Malnati's has great pizza, but I haven't had it for a while. Can you believe I've never had White Castle? It scares me!

Miss Debbie said...

I keep hearing/reading about trips to Chicago. I am definitely gonna have to go one day!

Tami said...

I love how you just went with the flow in all these mix-ups. In my younger days the airplane changes and cancellations would have sent me into total melt-down. One of the blessings of being "of a certain age", I guess. "Let's just go to Denver and work it out form there." :) I'm much more willing to take things as they come these days.

Thanks for sharing your amazing trip.

The Boston Lady said...

I have never been to Chicago, but always hear what a wonderful place it is. It is so nice to "see" it from your perspective. Although you had a few stumbles, it sounds like the first leg of your trip was great and filled with lots of fun! Ann

Chatty Crone said...

Okay Chicago is my kind of town too - I was born and raised there like you. I miss the ethnic part - here in Atlanta we don't have that.

The Italian sections - the China Town - The Polish part - all the festivals.

Now mydad lived in Arlington Heights and we lived a little north in Lake Zurich - but I have been to all the places you mentioned.

Thanks for the memories today and I am so glad you had the trip of a lifetime.

Happy Birthday Raymond. The wedding. Seeing your dear friends.

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

Sorry about the eyebrow!

Looks like such a fun trip!
Amazing.
I love the pictures of your food.

CiCi said...

You're so funny, a short haired eyebrow is better than totally shaved. This does indeed sound like an amazing trip, and so far I only know about half of it. So glad you had time with your brother.

Katherines Corner said...

thank you for sharing your wonderful Chicago adventure. xo

momto8 said...

good for you! sounds like fun for everybody!!

Nikki (Sarah) said...

sounds like an absolute fabulous trip. I really want to go to Chicago....I heard it's a great city. Glad everything worked out well for you guys....

Joanne said...

My best friends is always mentioning a girl's getaway to Chicago...now I want to go!!!!
Blessings, Joanne

Empty Nester said...

Now that you've put the eyebrow story out there, has anyone said, "I thought something looked different?" LOL I hate it when people have to go through all that unnecessary stress when someone could have pulled it together to begin with. Another reason I don't fly. I'm so glad you got to spend time with your brother! The one that I am closet to only lives an hour away and yet we don't visit each other often--and we should. Happy belated birthday to yours!

betty said...

I think if I was close to a White Castle place, I too would have a hamburger, diet or no diet :)

Happy belated birthday to your brother! Glad you got to see him and spend some time with him.

Sounds like it was a good trip, once you got there! What a nightmare with all the canceled flights though!

betty

Liz Mays said...

It's amazing you were able to get everything all coordinated with all of those cancellations you had to deal with. I'd be freaking out!

Lou Malnati's is amazing. I don't like their sausage because they use a single big sheet of it on there. (At least they used to.) But the pizza itself is divine.

Holly said...

stopping by to check out Chicago when you visited!!! thanks for the reminder!

Amy said...

Yummy foods.. Wish I could have seen you.. Next time..

Anonymous said...

I just discovered your blog and am now a happy follower. I live in Wisconsin, so close to the Ill. state line I can almost touch it. We have been living here for a few years and we never made it to Chicago..it is on my list tho.
Elle
http://bodybyzen.blogspot.com/

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