In addition to our wonderful time with Stephanie and Kyle, Philip and I also enjoyed the sights and sounds of the city.

Nearly all day (Saturday, July 25) Philip and I enjoyed strolling along Michigan Avenue window shopping and browsing many of Chicago’s finest stores. We enjoyed Giordano’s Pizza for lunch, after which I felt like I had a 20 pound weight in my stomach. But it sure was good.

Our whopping 10 inch pepperoni and sausage stuffed pizza at Giordano's. Whew!

After spending all day on our feet, we hitched a free trolley ride over to Navy Pier to watch the evening’s fireworks.

Our beautiful view of Chicago from the edge of Navy Pier.

The following day, Philip and I saw the Real Pirates at the Field Museum and explored the rest of the museum. So many neat things! Including this eerily familiar looking sculpture in the Egypt area…

Do you see the Michael Jackson resemblance too? Or is it just us?

We didn’t have nearly enough time to see everything the museum had to offer, but we’d definitely like to go again next time we’re in the Windy City. I hope “next time” comes again soon.

(Philip, Stephanie…did I leave anything out of these posts about Chicago? Please feel free to refresh my memory if there was a significant moment I forgot to include. You won’t offend. Yes, there’s one moment I intentionally omitted. More on that later. Love you both.)

Philip and I on a bridge over the Chicago River in front of the Chicago Sun-Times building.

Last weekend, Philip and I enjoyed a wonderful visit to Chicago. After a short 1 hour and 15 minute flight (sure beats a 9 hour car ride), Philip and I boarded the train to be taken into the city and dropped off just a few blocks away from Stephanie and Kyle’s apartment.

Stephanie met us in the lobby and took us up to their lovely home on the 12th floor of a building in the heart of Chicago. The view from their place was amazing. An entire wall of their living room is nothing but windows. We could literally see everything the city had to offer – amazing shopping, impressive skyscrapers, the Chicago River, crazy cab drivers and more.

Immediately upon arriving, I could tell Philip and I would really hit it off with Kyle. The man can COOK! When Stephanie opened their door and led us inside, a waft of delicousness spread throughout the entire hallway. Kyle had whipped up chicken breasts with a red wine sauce and perfectly baked/smashed potatoes. Mmmm. I can taste it all over again. We topped the evening off with a glass of wine and delightful conversation. Thank you to Kyle and Stephanie for not only treating us to some scrumptious homemade goods, but also for taking us to the Greek Islands Restaurant (The skordalia and saganaki were fabulouso!) and directing us to several other tasty locations.

I’m pretty sure one of the biggest highlights for Philip was going to Wrigley Field. I’ve never been a sports fan, (Give me a gun or a fishing pole and I’m set.)  but thanks to Philip’s patient explanations and tutorials about strikes, balls, RBIs, etc. I really enjoyed the  baseball game. (Seriously Philip, that would have been miserable without you. Thanks for being the bestest.)

Another highlight of the weekend was catching up with Sunny, a long time gal pal of mine and Stephanie’s. I also got to catch up with Rebecca, a native Chicagoan and amazing lady friend of mine whom I met at Belmont.

I have more photos to post and more stories to tell, but I’m saving that for my next post this evening. Stay tuned! Happy travels!

I just finished packing up for our first trip as an engaged couple. (!)

This evening we’re flying up to Chicago to visit one of my best gal pals, Stephanie, who is also newly engaged. Her fiance proposed on July 4 on Chicago’s Navy Pier. Stephanie and I have known each other since we were competitors on rival speech teams in high school. (Speech competition is seriously intense. Not even kidding.) After we graduated, both of us were offered scholarships to be on our community college’s speech team – The SIC Forensic Falcons. (That’s me on the far left in the pink sweater.) Ever since those days back in high school, we’ve remained very close – though there are many  miles between us. I can’t wait to meet her fiance and see her gorgeous face and that beautiful ring in person.

I’m really excited about visiting bridal shops in Chicago. Philip told me that tomorrow is the “Running of the Brides” at the Filene’s Basement in Chicago. You ever heard of this? I’ve seen it before on The Today Show at the Filene’s in New York. I’m sure this event is a lot of fun and many brides probably find AMAZING deals on their wedding gowns, but I just don’t think I could do this. (I definitely won’t be participating tomorrow.)

I want my search for the perfect wedding gown to be calm, relaxing and with my mother and close lady friends – NOT with thousands of other women who are ravaging through clothing racks and swapping gowns back and forth. Seems like a neat event…but not for me.

We’re going to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game tomorrow and we’re also planning to see Blue Man Group at some point. Other than that, we plan to just do a little sightseeing and some major catching up with Stephanie and her fiance.

Stay tuned for more updates and details about our visit to Chicago! TTFN!