Keeping up with the Grays: October 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009

Just in for the Night

Wednesday night Kate and Gray, and their flight instructor, flew in from Birmingham for dinner! HOW FUN! We ate at Boscos and had a great time catching up! How fun is that to fly into Nashville on a Wednesday night to have dinner! Gray will be needing more hours over the next year, so they promise to be back soon! I'm holding them to it! So good to see you guys! I'll see you again this weekend at Auburn vs. Ole Miss!

I have no pics from the night, but this is what I imagine they flew in on...

And this is my Kate Kate

Thursday, October 29, 2009

CHICAGO - Day 3

We woke early this morning to cram in some more Chicago festivities! We started the day with that wonderful french toast (I spoke about in the post prior) and a little bit of coffee and we were on our way. First stop was Millennium Park. Like everything else it was a short walk from the hotel and we wondered around for a bit looking at the sculptures, amphitheater, and lush garden areas. My favorite was Cloud Gate (the bean)!! It was such an interesting piece of art and so fun to take pictures. It is a 110 ton structure of highly polished stainless steel plates (looks like mirrors) which reflect the city's famous skyline. You'll see pics below. Then we made our way to the Magnificent Mile, which is filled with upscale stores, luxury hotels, restaurants, and businesses. Let's just say we didn't step foot in many of the stores, but we (well, I) had a great time window shopping and walking the streets.

Later that afternoon we met up with 16 others for a Chicago Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour. When looking online for things to do this of course caught my eye since Ryan loves to cook, taste, etc. So, I chose the Near North Tour, which took us through the Gold Coast, Old Town, and Lincoln Park neighborhoods. Along the 2 mile trek we tasted delicious foods from seven one-of-a-kind specialty food stores that were "off the beaten path". The tour lasted over 3.5 hours and was also probably one of our favorite parts of the trip. It was so fun to tour the neighborhoods were the locals live that we probably wouldn't have even ventured out to if not for this tour. We had many tastings and listened to short presentations in an authentic Jewish deli (Reuben sandwiches), a specialty tea shop (yummy tea that warmed us up too), the Spice House (cinnamon and salt presentation), Old Town Oil (olive oil and balsamic vinegar- OUR FAVORITE), Catering Chocolate (gourmet foods and cheese), the Fudge Pot (fudge and butter toffee-YUM), and finally Bacino's Pizza (famous spinach stuffed pizza). It was such a neat experience and unlike anything we have ever done before. Our favorite was hands down Old Town Oil. That was actually the one I was least looking forward to, but it was awesome! Even inside during the initial presentation I was very skeptical since sipping oil and balsamic from a little cup didn't sound appetizing, especially since there was no bread involved since that is "an insult to the quality of the oils". Boy were they right! I actually hurried around in that shop to taste as many combinations that I possibly could! First you choose a olive oil and mix with a balsamic vinegar. There were so many flavors! Ryan and my top two favorites were walnut extra virgin olive oil with red apple balsamic vinegar... it would make the perfect salad dressing! The other is garlic evlo and I think it was the 18 year aged balsamic... perfect for a steak marinade. All the combinations were so tasty though... the flavors ranged from Cinnamon pear, tangerine, fig, basil, lemon, cilantro/onion, blueberry, and on and on. We loved making up our own pairings.

After our lunch, we went on a search for something for our home to take back and remind us of our fabulously fun trip (a tradition we've started). We found the perfect purchase at a cute shop in Lincoln Park. It's a framed print/drawing of guitars in different (subtle) colors. We were immediately drawn towards it and knew it would tie in to our Nashville home perfectly. It is now hanging in our kitchen and we love it!

More pictures of our hotel lobby

upstairs lobby - so modern and chic

Walking to Millennium Park

At the famous park

me and my baby

I LOVE U

The bean!

So awesome to see the skyline in the reflection

That's us!

Getting closer...

Haha!

It's me!

Someone else taking our picture...

We had a lot of fun with this thing!

Strange scupture/screen in the park.... later I was told that if we waited long enough the kid would have spit water out of his mouth!

Having fun exploring Millennium Park

Chicago is SO pretty

The Gray's

I'm a VS angel! haha

The start to our food tour... a Jewish deli

Tea Gschwendner

The original Playboy Mansion!

Ryan in front of the mansion

Leaving the Gold Coast... entering Old Town

Salt and cinnamon presentation

At Old Town Oil sipping away - OUR FAVORITE!

Walking by Second City where we were the night before!

Last stop - Bacino's - for famous spinach stuffed pizza! YUM!

Lincoln Park

This is where we found our home keepsake (the guitars)

Taking the L back to the airport... bye bye Chicago! See you next time!

I already cannot wait until our next vacation together! Happy Anniversary to us :)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

CHICAGO - Day 2

On the 2nd day of our trip we went to State and Lake restaurant on the first floor of the hotel and had the most delicious french toast I think I've ever had! (It was so good we ate it the next morning too :)) The first thing we did today was visit Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) Skydeck. WOW. AMAZING. The tower is 103 stories tall and was the tallest building in the world for more than 20 years. It can be seen in four different states! The views were gorgeous! I've never seen anything like them! From there we walked around some more and shopped a little until it was time for our boat tour. Chicago has a river that flows through the city and it was so neat to learn about the architecture and history of some of the famous buildings. Not to mention the gorgeous panoramic views! We sipped our hot drinks and enjoyed the tour of the city river style! A must do if you're in Chicago! Tonight we decided would be our anniversary dinner night and we chose Art Smith's restaurant called Table 52. We had to make our reservations months in advance, literally. And let me just tell you, it was worth it! Top 2 favorite meal ever! The restaurant has a small, romantic dining room atmosphere and the food and service were impeccable. We had some sort of risotto appetizer and ordered duck confit and scallops for our main courses. Delicious. Then dessert... Ryan got his favorite, pecan pie which they were known for and I had the 12 layer chocolate cake. Yes, 12 layers. It was to die for. I really wish I had a piece right now. That meal was incredible and I'm so glad that we "got in" to enjoy it on our anniversary. Then we were off to see a comedy show at Second City. Second City has been the starting point for many comedians, award winning actors, directors, etc. You're likely to recognize many of the names that started their careers at Second City, but here are some to note, John Belushi, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Bonnie Hunt, Bill Murray, and Mike Myers. As you could imagine from the caliber of improv artists, the act was hilarious and so much fun. It was another great day in the Windy City.

yuuuum.