staycation : five

stay : fiveiOS7 beer tasting @ prairie moon for new local brewery heat lightning

Well, um... Let's just say the staycation was interrupted by a little Apple update called iOS7.  I thought it would go live around 11 local time, but turns out it didn't go till 12.  Then it took me two hours to get the iPhone and iPad updated.  Then I had to play with my new toys for a little bit - discovering all the fun bells and whistles. Most of the changes I really like, but I have found a few little things that bug - that whole thing that comes up from the bottom ... messes with my VSCOCam photo editing.  I am hoping they will redesign a little bit to take care of the overlap of gestures.  I won't get all nerd on ya, but I certainly had my tech side all fired up today!!

I did manage to make it out of the house to dine with some friends and take in a little beer flight for a new local brewery.  'Twas the busiest that bar has ever been!!

On my ride home I was enjoying the lightening show and decided to pay a stop along the lakefront to test the new "burst" shooting on my phone to capture some of the light show.  Well, if I had better patience I probably could have gotten some great stuff.  Well, that, and if the iPhone didn't try to focus for each shot even in burst mode.  

staycation : three

Stay : threewalk thru millenium park and the laurie garden lunch @ sweetwater sweets @ sugar bliss happy exhibit @ the chicago cultural center impressionists @ the art institute walk @ the nature boardwalk near the lincoln park zoo

I was skeptical when I woke up this morning and is had rained overnight and the sky will filled with clouds. But, as the morning went on, the clouds rolling in over the lake began to give way to the blue sky above and it turned out to be a really, really nice day!  iPhone photos only for now - I will do a little more on each item in upcoming posts.  Just too many photos to process tonight and each of these things deserves a little elaboration.

I got downtown a little early to walk through the park and Lurie Garden - had not been in the gardens before. Given that it's Fall, most everything is on it's way out, but  it was still a beautiful green space in the middle of the concrete jungle!

I squeaked in a visit to The Happy Show by Stefan Sagmeister at the Cultural Center (it leaves next week) and I am so happy that I did!  I love his humor and keen grasp of the obvious.  This exhibit is fun and interactive and says much of what we think, but never admit or say out loud. 

From there I walked over to the Art Institute of Chicago to take in the Impressionists (another exhibit at the end of it's run).  There were a lot of amazing works - didn't really love that they were spread out so much - somehow never found the AI's famous Seurat.  Guess it's a good thing I have had the pleasure of seeing it before, but if I were an out-of-towner, I'd be pretty upset it wasn't front and center.  

Last stop of the day was over to the Nature Boardwalk near the Lincoln Park Zoo.  I have seen a good number of photos of this structure that sits along the nature walk and have wanted to get there myself to take a go at it!  No idea why it's taken me so long, but man, was I missing something fabulous!  I might have gotten a little carried away photographing this thing...

I fly swa

A rare opportunity at having a whole row to myself on todays flight gave me a beautiful view above the clouds!

Lake Murray

Had a client take us out on their boat on Lake Murray tonight.  Man is it beautiful!  Surrounded by pine trees, you can actually smell them after a hot day like today.  Incredible. And they have the perfect lake house - the view from the living room is unbelievable!  So thankful for these kind of opportunities! 

Frost!!

Finally made it to Highland Park to get some gelato from Frost. I had heard many good things, so my expectations were high. Let me tell you, it lived up to the hype. Wish I lived closer!! You are looking at cookies n cream, dark chocolate and sea salt caramel mix - sooooo good!  Also sampled their lemon - perfectly tart, perfectly refreshing.

brunch @ beatrix

One thing I love about Chicago - there's always a new restaurant to try! Met Selika for brunch today at a new space called Beatrix.   I really like the vibe of the space. It's this kind of hybrid bar/restaurant/coffee/pastry spot.  They have a great brunch menu and the pastry bar .. oh my, so good. I wanted one of everything, of course! I picked up a house-made graham cracker that was delicious, but had to grab one of these peanut butter sandwich cookies to go!  I mean look at this thing!  How can you pass it up?

Give it a try if you are in town! 

Waffles & Jam

I heart waffles!  I recently purchased what I thought was to be the best of the best of waffle makers - the All-Clad Belgian Waffle Maker.  I have to say I have yet to make a successful belgian waffle in this thing.  I have tried numerous recipes, cooking spray/not, butter on the iron, more batter, less batter, I mean everything to get that perfect crispy on the outside fluffy on the inside waffle .... but nothing works.  I even called my local Williams Sonoma store to see if maybe I got a faulty one - they said they would replace it, but I keep trying thinking it's got to be me ... right?!  Read the reviews of these babies online - fabulous, everyone loves 'em. What on earth could I be doing wrong?

bundt cake

It's the little things that get me all excited.  I spotted a Nothing Bundt Cakes store opening in a little strip mall not far from the mall I frequent and was so excited. They opened today, so you know I had to stop in and pick up a few bundtlets to sample!  The cake is moist and has just the right amount of cream cheese frosting.  Ohhhhh, this could prove to be dangerous for me.  

coming and going

Sunday ride

The beautiful weather we've been having has really inspired me to get out of the house!  Be outside.  Soak it all in! Saturday was beach day - loved every second.  And today I dusted off the bike - yes, I really had to dust it off, it has been that long since I rode it - aired up the tires and took a 4 mile spin.  This must be what it feels like to live in California.