Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Fall Weekend in Chicago




We just got back from a wonderful weekend in Chicago. We headed over there with friends Brandan & Kaly, Rich & Tracie, and Curt & Amanda. We stayed at the Ritz courtesy of Andy's work discount (ooh la la!) and had a fabulous time shopping, dining, drinking, and dancing. We had several great meals, including usagiya for sushi (usagiyasushi.com) and Riccardo Trattoria for great Italian food (riccardotrattoria.com). Both were a little off the main drag (short cab ride away) but very, very well worth the effort. I am still craving the Honey Moon chicken from usagiya as well as the olive bread and goat cheese salad from Riccardo. So amazing! I literally licked my plate clean at usagiya (classy, I know...) Our last meal there was Chicago-style pizza at Giordano's. Always good. Oh, and the shopping was fun, too. We spent three hours in Nordstrom at their Half-Yearly Sale and all found good deals. I do love Chicago!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Halloween 2008




So, I am not really into Halloween. I haven't dressed up since 2003, when I was a cheerleader and Andy my cheer coach. This year, however, we were invited to a couple of parties, one of which was a theme (sci-fi, yikes!). We trolled the net for cool sci-fi costumes. Turns out there aren't many. We ended up going as Queen Amidala and Darth Maul from Star Wars. Andy loves Star Wars. Me? Not so much. We really went all-out with it, though. Two nights in a row! Andy even painted his face to look just like Darth Maul, I'm told. I wouldn't know, as I've never seen Star Wars (I know, blasphemy!) But hey, we went, we had a fabulous time, and a very Happy Halloween!