Chicago, Justin Timberlake, Jay Z and The Dollar Game

Ok, this is going to be random and filled with too many pics and not enough words.  As you may or may not know, we just got home today from a 48 hour whirlwind trip to Chicago.  Mark had to work, I tagged along, fun was had, restaurants were visited, champagne, beer and wine were consumed, five miles were run, 5 miles were walked, a weird barre class was attended, the dollar game was played, RPM Italian served me the smallest bowl of ravioli ever, and then Jay Z + JT capped off the trip (in an amazing way) and we got home to our beautiful children, who were so excited to see us. It was awesome.  I highly suggest power trips like this.

So here goes.....

 we started off with sushi and you could BYOB?!?! awesome! and it was delish

sister pic in front of sushi

on the way out, we walked by a gym surrounded by windows, mark had to mock the runners, i thought it was hilarious, the runner would most likely disagree.  

After this, we went to a really weird restaurant that was filled with people who reminded me of Snooki, JWoww and whatever the dudes names are from Jersey Shore.  We hightailed it outta there, Cam and Britt dropped us off at our hotel and we were excited to meet up the next day for the concert.  

Mark had meetings the next day and I was meeting up with the pavement and a new barre studio.  So we hit the hay and woke up refreshed. 

Mark had a very successful meeting.

I had a kinda successful run

 

 I had an ok run.  it was super hot in the middle and I had to walk for a bit.  It was great to get my first five mile run out of the way and my first outdoor run out of the way.  Running outside is way more difficult than running on a treadmill, but it's also way more entertaining.  I can run way faster on a treadmill because I just want to get it over with.  When I am outside surrounded by this:

It's a little hard to rush through my run.  I will tell you that 50 minutes running outside, go by WAY faster than 50 minutes running inside.  I really really love Chicago.  It's a close second to NYC for me and I think the more time I get to spend here, I will really fall completely in love with it.  I love NYC because it's so big, yet there are all these boroughs and  neighborhoods that make the city feel so small in a way, there is a neighborhood that you can relate to and feel at home in, even though you are in the biggest city in the country.   I think Chicago has the exact same appeal but on an even smaller level (obviously), I go there and feel at home.  I'm trying to figure out how to verbalize why I feel that way and I can't.  Maybe it's because a really big part of my heart is there, with Cam and Britt.  

Moving on

I went to a Barre class and it was weird but I am legit sore today, I will dedicate a post to how it compared to Pure Barre.  After class I was met by my handsome husband.  We decided to walk to Rush Street for lunch, we love a good patio for lunch and Rush Street has several of those.  We also have a little game we like to play when we are on a street level patio.  We tape up a dollar bill to something that is within eyesight of people walking down the street. 

 after an hour we finally had a taker.  It's amazing how freaked out people are by random dollars flying from trees.

 after the first game was over, we wanted to do a second, so Mark taped a $5 bill onto a cone and put it into the middle of the sidewalk

 people noticed but didn't take it

 we upped the anti and put it between two cones

a kid was super interested in grabbing it, but in the end couldn't do it. 

After our fun afternoon shenanigans, we went back to the hotel and got ready for our night out!

dinner

 unfortunately Giuliana wasn't here, so I will have to wait until next time to become besties with her

weirdos

My special ravioli with truffles, it was good but there were seriously six ravioli's in this.  six tiny ravioli's.  I love you Giuliana, but I need more raviolis next time!  hook a sister up!

Off to the concert!

Me and My BSFF (Best Sister Friend Forever) at the concert.  Check out the video below for some sweet dance moves. 

 Back tomorrow for realzies.  Thanks for taking a little vacay with me.