Chicago ....

When my sister and I attended a wedding last May in Memphis, we decided every year, we would take a 'sisters trip' and had pretty much decided right then and there, we wanted to go to Chicago. I have always wanted to go there IN THE SPRING and let me tell you, it did NOT disappoint. We invited our friend, Amber, whom we have known for nearly 25 yrs.

We stayed downtown at the Homestead Suites on Grand. I HIGHLY recommend this hotel. The staff was very friendly and their complimentary breakfast was wonderful!

Friday night we went to eat at Hugo's Frog - it was SO good!! We had a nightcap at The Signature Room in the John Hancock Building. It was crazy because a storm was definitely rolling in and within 5 minutes, you could not see ANYTHING. NOTHING. Then 5 minutes later, you could see all of Chicago again, then 5 min later, again, nothing. It was crazy.

We also went on an architectural boat tour of the city - if you are EVER in Chicago - I HIGHLY recommend this!! Seriously - it was wonderful and I enjoyed it so much {except for the crazy lady that wouldn't leave us alone. Bless her heart, she would just barge in and start asking us bizarro questions while the 3 of us were in the middle of a conversation and kept following us around the boat - then she asked where we were staying and where we were going for dinner that night - God forgive me, but I might not have told her the truth!}.

Sat morning we got up bright and early and decided to have an impromptu photo shoot on Michigan Avenue amongst all the tulips! Oh it was SO beautiful!!

Then we went to the Sears Tower and decided to venture out on to "The Deck". It was so weird being that high up, look down and be able to see 101 stories down. I couldn't comprehend HOW we were standing on Plexi-glass (I'm sure it's not plexi-glass, but it sure looked like plexi-glass) and the thing wasn't breaking off. SO neat - Jenn and I were getting our picture taken by other people, I guess maybe they've never seen twins before? VERY AWKWARD, but hey, whatever. Hopefully we don't end up on some mail-order bride catalog or billboard in China!

We spent the rest of the day shopping and sight-seeing, then met up with LegallyFab and Daisy, JD for some more shopping. Daisy, JD filled us in on lots of neat facts about Chicago - it was very nice having the 2 of them there to show us around. Yes, we met on "Twitter" but I consider these girls in real life friends now! Don't ever let the power of social networking fool you - it is POWERFUL! I have met some of the most amazing women thru Twitter and blogging -- but I digree.

Saturday night we went out to celebrate LegallyFab's birthday and had dinner at Epic and then went to The Underground. It is a pretty popular hot spot and has won tons of awards. It was great fun, even though all I could think about was the place catching on fire and where on earth I would make my exit.

Sunday morning we woke up early to head back home and get back to normal. I was so sad to hear about the flooding in Nashville - this was my home for only 3 short years, but home to Big Daddy for 15 yrs. He is devastated about the losses many of his friends suffered and the devastation to the city he loves so much.


Now for pictures:

** Top of the Sears Tower out on The Ledge**
If you look at the bottom of the picture, you can see below!

Michigan Avenue tulips w/Amber

The Navy Pier

The famous "Chicago" sign

The view from the bathroom in The Signature Room

Sears Tower from the boat

Amber and me at Hugo's Frog

In front of the Sears Tower {now the Willis Tower, but everyone refuses to call it that}.