windy city

for our second wedding anniversary j and i went to chicago for the weekend! j had a work conference so we flew up early to have a quick getaway together and it was nice that his flight was covered! we stayed at the marriott magnificent mile and it was perfect for sight-seeing and walking around the city. we lucked out and had amazing weather in the 70's (it was almost too hot)!

we got in around lunch time on friday and immediately went to giordanos for some deep dish pizza. i still prefer NYC pizza but it was still pretty dang good!



afterwards we headed to the sears tower (which is now called the willis tower - this definitely confused us at first) and went up to the skydeck. the views from the 103rd floor were incredible!



the "ledge" was pretty scary at first but such a fun idea. it definitely took me a minute to trust the glass!


afterwards we took a cab to bucktown to visit one of our closest friends, bari. it was so great to hang out and meet bari's dog ricky (richard pryor). i think my projected feelings about missing townes were pretty obvious! by the way, i discovered that chain mail (armour) would be a great gift for any guy in your life - they all love it, seriously.


on saturday, we walked around the city for a long time and walked down to millenium park.





we went to the art institute of chicago and had the best time. unfortunately they closed earlier than we expected but we still got to see some amazing pieces! we could have stayed there all day so make sure you give yourself enough time if you ever go to this incredible museum.










after a late lunch at potbelly's (yummm!) we headed over to buckingham fountain (married with children!) and the waterfront. we had the best time watching the sun go down while overlooking the sailboats and navy pier. this was probably my favorite time the whole weekend!





on sunday, we headed into lincoln park to visit the free zoo. it was incredible and the weather was p-e-r-f-e-c-t! we followed up the zoo (the were my favorites) by some classic chicago [veggie] dogs!





can you tell i was super excited about the veggie dog?

we headed back downtown and walked around the city to do some window shopping and we even stopped by the apple store following the recent sad, untimely death of steve jobs.




we decided to take the architecture river tour of the city and it was so fun! i definitely recommend this boat tour - it is scenic, informative, and shows you a totally new way to see the city of chicago!






we ended our last night at the incredible thai restaurantstar of siam. it's always such a treat to have such easy veggie options!



we had the best trip to chicago and i think between this trip and the last trip, we saw almost all of chicago's main tourist staples (with the exception of wrigley field). it was the best way to celebrate the 2 wonderful years of marriage to my best friend! ♥