…But really, Christmas is creeping up in such an alarming rate…
Anyway, on our second day in Chicago, way back in November, I got in 23,149 steps for the day. Too many steps, IMO. We started the morning at the fabulous buffet at the Riu Plaza and met our friend Tracy there. If I look sleepy that’s cause I was.
Afterwards, though, I got to jog over to Nay Pier which made me very happy. It was 54° that morning, but it must have been a little chillier down at the lake because I was wearing my hat.
I stopped to take a photo with this awesome statue of Bob Newhart.
As I ran back along the pier I stopped for a minute to watch the people putting up the Xmas decorations. It’s funny to think about how they’re all up now and I’m sure the place is packed with people. But I bet the weather isn’t as nice as it was that day.
We then set out up Michigan Avenue. We stopped in at a fair trade store that was a pop-up for Christmas and had just opened that morning. I wanted to buy everything they had, but I somehow restrained myself. When we walked a little farther down the street and saw the biggest Starbucks I’ve ever laid eyes on. Three floors! C’mon, isn’t that a little excessive? We had seen it the evening before when we took a cab up to Andersonville for dinner with Sandy. The cab driver had told us that there was usually a line to get in.
After we stopped at Water Tower Place so Randy could buy some fabulous clothes, we headed back to Andersonville, this time to go to my favorite store, Rare Form. I’d been there last October when they had just opened and I’d gone crazy buying so many different things. They have vintage-inspired stuff as well as a few actual antiques plus wonderful cards and decor and all kinds of stuff.
Instead of taking a cab, this time we rode the bus which was awesome because it was an express bus and didn’t take any longer than a cab ride would have taken. It dropped us off about 15 minutes from the store and it wasn’t a bad walk. I was very happy to finally arrive.
I didn’t go so crazy with the shopping this time, which is more typical of me.
Afterwards we went to a delicious Italian place just up the street, and then made the trek back to the bus stop. It was dark at this point and a wind had picked up and the walk seemed like a much longer trudge. We finally made it to the bus stop, though, and didn’t have to wait so long.
After arriving safely back at our hotel, I realized my credit card was missing. I called the restaurant, and sure enough, they had it. How was I so negligent? How did I realize I’d left it? Hard to say on both counts.
I panicked, of course. If we took a cab back up there it’d be at least $30 one way, and if we took the bus…well, the bus wasn’t an option because neither of us wanted to do all that walking. I called Kevin, who said that it’d be fine if they just mailed my card back to me. Whew.
We took the elevator up to the fabulous outdoor bar but were dismayed because the place was packed, it being Friday night, and there would be a 45-minute wait. We didn’t feel like that so instead spend about 45 minutes walking all around the neighborhood in search of a nice place for a drink. Even though I thought I’d seen plenty of places when running that morning, we couldn’t find anywhere acceptable, and ended up at the lobby bar of our hotel.
Not nearly as cool as the outdoor bar, but Randy enjoyed an espresso martini and I had my usual refreshing glass of water. With lime.
At this point I’d walked/jogged so much that I’d have been happy to go to sleep. but Randy was intent on finding a bar with music. I looked them up online and there seemed to be quite a few bars in the opposite direction from where we’d explored the first time. This bar was only a few blocks away and it sounded cool…
The Redhead Piano Bar, I guess it’s well-known and a young woman was playing the piano on a stage in the window. When we went inside it was stuffed with so many people, mostly young after-work guys. Her singing/piano playing was terrific, but very loud and the din of the crowd was deafening and there was no place to sit, so we made a hasty departure.
Only a block away was a karaoke bar but there was a cover charge and we could see inside that it didn’t look impressive. At least Randy didn’t think it looked great; I might have mentioned that I would have been satisfied to go to sleep. Randy, though, is a night owl and we were in Chicago and he wanted to have some entertainment.
He came up with the idea of buying a pack of cards to play a card game, so we found a drug store that was open. After scouring the place to find some cards I was ready to leave, but Randy was determined and cornered an employee who was pretty sure that they did have cards and eventually he did find a pack. Whew.
We headed back to the hotel and so much time had passed that I suggested that we try our hotel roof bar and luckily it had cleared out and Randy got another martini with an invigorating water for me. With lime.
Like I said, 23,149 steps that day. We certainly crammed a lot into the day. Meanwhile…ten days til Christmas. I put up the tree, put on the lights and decorated it yesterday, despite the fact that I got a cold on Wednesday and have had just about no energy. My cold hasn’t turned into something vicious, but I coughed so much during the night that I’m incredibly tired the next day, that is, yesterday and today.
I hope to finish up the other decorations today but that might be a bit too ambitious. A nap might be in order. But I also need to bake some Christmas cookies, at least a double recipe of Liebkuchen, Kevin’s favorite. They’re supposed to age to deepen the flavor for two weeks before eaten but it really doesn’t matter when I bake them, Kevin will start in on them that day.
I’m pretty sure I have to buy a few more gifts. plus there are a couple of critical time-sensitive end-of-year things that must be done. No time for napping! But you never know…
Ok then,
Mrs. Busy Holiday Hughes.