Reverence (or indifference?)

**Location: the Art Institute, Chicago

Cute, regardless :)

Ode to Warm Weather

Given that temps in Chicago might not make it up past zero today, I thought a post about summer might provide a brief respite for us Midwest arctic-tundra dwellers...

Marty took these shots five months ago, during a day at Oak Street beach. That was the day I didn't put any sunscreen on. The sun did its work while I was lying on my towel, feet in the sand, reading a book... We went to Greektown for dinner that night; it was there, standing in front of the bathroom mirror, that I realized I had been transformed into a red, shiny lobster.

It was a good day :)

Winter in Chi-Town

During our stay in Chicago last week, Marty and I tried to curb our spending a bit. One of us (still not sure who) introduced the idea of walking from our hotel on the Mag Mile over to the Shedd Aquarium, our destination for the day.

Hmmm. $10 cab fare vs. 4-mile walk in the blistering cold. (In hindsight, I could have skipped the glass of wine at dinner that night, and we could have taken the silly cab.) Regardless, the walk through Chicago's arctic tundra won out in the end (Never mind that Marty didn't have a hat. Or gloves. Or even a winter coat.), and we found ourselves scurrying along Michigan Avenue...


We made it to the Shedd:


So did 20,000 other people:

So we waited in line for 1 1/2 hours. Outside. (Did I mention it was cold and windy?)

I love irony.

But, it was sooo worth it! Here are a few pics; I apologize for the poor quality--these fish clearly don't understand the concept of swimming slowly, to compensate for my slow shutter speed ;)

Check out this guy: he's got a mark on his back fin that looks just like his eye, to confuse predators.



This turtle was GINORMOUS:


Seahorse!




This poor guy doesn't look too happy:


The Shedd is currently under renovation, which means that the penguins, dolphins, and whales are "on vacation." Seriously? No penguins?! I told Marty that the Field Museum (next door) has penguins galore. We could have gone there (and skipped the freezing-cold queue), but this is the reason Marty wanted to go to the Shedd:


Anything to keep the hubster happy ;)


I know. Iguanas at an aquarium?



We stopped at Millenium Park on our way back:



Our attempts at a Bean-reflection picture... My aim was off, and people started staring. So we made faces to really emphasize our coolness:




We love Chicago! (But next time, I'm bringing an extra $10 bill...)

Chicago (again!)

Chicago is an amazing place to live. The gorgeous skyline, the sports teams (GO CUBS!!), the restaurants, the changing seasons (fall is in full swing!)... I could go on and on :) Anyways, I can't believe how close we live to the city, and yet we manage to get downtown maybe four times a year?! Crazy!

Here are a few pics from our recent trip in; two friends and I took a boat tour (led by another friend from church... who hooked us up with free tickets! Thanks Josh!) over the weekend:


tour guide extraordinnaire:


Marty absolutely adores sailing, so I took this one for him:


I didn't feel like lugging my 40D around with me all day, so I brought the powershot instead. Image quality isn't exactly comparable, but it has one heck of a zoom :)






And... the almost finished Trump tower!

chi-town

Last week, Marty and I took the train down to Chicago for dinner at Petterino's, an excellent restaurant in Chicago's theatre district.

Check out the architecture! This is at Ogilvie train station:


The Lyric Opera house (always wanted to go there...!):


Picasso!! (um... maybe it's an orangutan?)


Ok, so I really, really wanted this girl's purple shoes. So we took a picture...


Marty, in the middle of Daley Plaza: he was taking pictures of little kids playing on the Picasso; I stole the camera, ran away, and snapped this! He looks amused :)


Dessert at Petterino's!! AMAZING APPLE PIE!! (seriously, GO THERE AND TRY IT!)


Outside the restaurant: the Oriental, where Wicked is (still) playing...


And... just a pretty building.


I heart Chicago, and date nights with Marty :)