chicago. part four. le fin.

our faux engagement photo shoot. heading over to andersonville afterwards for our celebratory dinner

holy smokes chicago had some gooooood food. *see above: sweet potato donut holes!! with spicy chocolate dipping sauce!! i rest my case

is it a beach? is it a lake?? ITS BOTH (mind. blown.)

i miss you guys already! thanks for the incredible weekend. i am officially a fan of chicago

(already planning my trip back)

chicago. part three.

chicago style dog. how could you not?!

there simply are no words for girl and the goat. other than DELICIOUS. we spent the hour and 15 min wait for an actual table (vs sitting at the bar) oogling other peoples food until it was our time to shine. and shine/eat we did.

i couldn't resist the quintessential 'i graduated from here!' photog. such a smarty pants that one!

garrets popcorn. finger lickin good (literally-the popcorn stains your finger neon orange so you HAVE to lick your fingers clean). i maaaay have bought a second bag at the airport intended for my roommate but ended up eating all of it myself . ooops.

we ventured over to the south side to find where erin's grandma grew up (apparently a block from obama's house!). i just cant seem to escape

chicago. part deux. 

 chicago deep dish pizza is every bit as delicious as they say it is. that whole gooey, dense cheesy pizza thing TOTALLY did it for me (and this coming from a seasoned lactard!)

 dear second city 100th review: thanks for the laughs. i almost peed my pants on several occasions. xoxo simone. 

us tall gals cant resist a good steve madden flat for city trekking

 i am completely smitten with the bean. i just cant get enough

intelligentsia store front! i did my san francisco roots proud

chicago. part one.

the only thing that could prompt these ultra excited grins after a 5:45 wake up call on a friday (besides the thought of coffee) was knowing we were 2 short hours from our visit to chicago!! i couldnt wait to catch up with old friends and finally check out this city thats been on my 'must-do' list ever since jenna went to law school (so almost 4 years?!). annnnd we'd pretty much memorized the menu to girl and the goat weeks before we got there

 apparently skulking around your friend's apartment in the dark to drop off your bags while shes at work is tricky business with a guard cat. chico was NOT having it (look at those fangs!). i dont think he ever quite got over the trauma *i repeatedly woke up to find him poised to sucker punch my face in the middle of the night

we met up with ilan at his future alma mater, art institute of chicago, for a bit of art & culture. after absorbing as much art as humanly possible for an afternoon (american gothic! monets! seurats! a room full of miniature rooms throughout history!!), we jumped on the metro (correction - "the el") over to wicker park to get a taste of the chicago hipster scene.

in desperate need of some midday pick me up (read: caffeine) we stopped at the wormhole, a BACK TO THE FUTURE themed coffee spot. as an unofficial member of the michael j fox fan club, i was in heaven

we pretty much spent the entire weekend in a cloud. i think it added a certain je ne sais quoi (and made for some awesome photog opportunities).

 we fiiiiinally got a bit of sunshine on our last day, so we hit lake michigan to max out our vitamin d quota for the weekend. naturally i was bathed in sunscreen, but man alive! did it feel good to feel that warm midwestern sun on my skin instead of the thick pea soup fog wed been having all weekend!

 

cherry blossom overload. overkill?

sometimes-most times-i absolutely love living in dc. like in march when its 70 degrees, sunny, and cherry blossom season.

*homemade white AND red sangria....PO-TENT!
 

*the simones!

 *awkward/amazing family photo

 

 *oh hey pat 

*these look like a cross between a seance and are you afraid of the dark.

*makings of bday a crafting project

allies birthday shenanigans! a weekend long celebration of surprise family visits and dinners, rooftop grill fests, homemade sangria, candlelit dinners, sweets, brunches and some serious fun. birthdays are the best!

speaking of rooftop weather...its spring! and gorgeous out! and i am majorly jonesing for all these fab sandals i keep seeing.  ughh i just need to suck it up and buy a pair already