Chicago Weekend - Part 1

This may be the craziest month of my life... but it's a good kind of crazy... a memorable kind of a crazy... a crazy that is crazy but also weirdly keeps you sane... that kind of crazy.

Four of the the last five weekend I have been out of town... two weekends for Florida.  The the next weekend to Colorado, one weekend home and finally this past weekend to Chicago.

I know all of these trips are right next to each other, but I just couldn't pass them up... these are the things you remember for a lifetime.  They are something you can't get from sitting at home... they are memories (wow, getting a bit profound here).  It's just not something I like to miss out on.

I went to Chicago for my dad's birthday weekend.  My step-sister Adriane and her husband, Chad live there... but before we get to the Chicago part of things let's start at the beginning of Friday.

I stayed the night at Dan's on Thursday since I wouldn't see him all weekend.  First thing in the morning I went over to my dad's where I gave him his birthday present - a tie, two pairs of socks and a gift certificate to Circle 7 Ranch.  This is the place that's near Dan's apartment.  I think he will really like it since they have the beer taps at some tables.  Then we went to breakfast (along with Connor) to Bread Company.  After breakfast we had some business to attend to for house related things.

Once all of that was sorted out I met up with my good friend Susan to celebrate her birthday (her and my dad share a birthday).  I gave her a birthday present (which needs it's own post!)  Then we were off to get pedicures.

It was really fun to get  pedicure with her.  We chatted and got pampered.  Of course the nail lady kept going on and on about how my toe nails were stained from the blue polish I used last time... um ok, what do you want me to do about it lady?  But they turned out nicely!

The color is more hot pink in real life... and check out the 3 mosquito bites on one toe....

Then we did a little shopping at Old Navy and Barnes and Noble and headed to lunch at Crushed Red.  It was delicious.  We shared two pizzas and an appetizer.  It was really nice spending time with her on her birthday.  She's getting close to her due date which is exciting!

After lunch and pedicures with Susan I headed back to my dad's house and soon we were off to Chicago.  My dad, step-brother Connor and Janet all pack into the car and made the drive.  Which at this point in my road tripping weeks was nothing!  Six hours... sheesh... that's NOTHING!

We did stop for dinner at Cracker Barrel which was really yummy.  I joked with dad that if I didn't know any better I would think he was turning 79 instead of 59 with a birthday dinner at Cracker Barrel... but really his fancy dinner was Saturday night.

We made it to Adriane and Chad's around 11:30 and went to bed pretty quickly.  It was late, I had been up awhile and traveling is tiring! 

Now this post probably isn't titled well, but oh well that's how I'm going to remember it.  I'm going to break up the posts again... b/c why not?!?