Highlights from my weekend in Chicago

• Late Thursday night dinner at the Chicago Diner and narrowly avoiding thunderstorms & hail.
• Comments from pedestrians during a Friday morning run…”It is going to rain you know!”  Chicago is friendly.
•  Toast.  Specifically the vegetarian scramble, coffee, and veggie sausage.
• Adorable soap and candle dishes from Comfort Me (new boutique my sister’s friends recently opened).
• Meeting Em’s friends Sunil, Amanda, Dux & Liz, among others…
• Eating and drinking at HopLeaf.  CB&J sandwich sounded weird, but tasted great (cashew butter, fig jam, & cheese on sourdough bread, pan fried) and was the perfect amount of grease to aid the impending alcohol consumption.  
• Becoming obsessed with imitating my de Koninck glass for the rest of the weekend.
• Meeting my sister’s favorite bartender at Wrightwood Tap.  Or as my sister so affectionately calls it, Dub.        
• Tortellini pizza late night from Ian’s 
• Last minute trip to Urban Outfitters to find a new white outfit since the one you brought doesn’t fit (evidence of good food!). 
• White party on a 50-foot-yacht to watch 4th of July fireworks.
• Dux’s Catherine Malandrino American flag dress. 
• Rooftop cornhole at sunset.
• My sister pretending to be Emily Post & giving out etiquette advice to new friends over gin & tonics.
• Taking over the dance floor at a country bar and having hours of dancing end with a sidewalk kiss.  
• Your friend taking over the lead mic and singing “Friends in Low Places” at said country bar.
• My sister asking a bar patron for his jean vest so she can wear it on the dance floor.
• Watching The OC for hours in bed, because last night was a little too much fun (hmmm…this vacation feels like Idyllwild). 
• Free shots of limoncello at Trattoria Roma because the waiter poured our wine on the table instead of in the glass.
• Ice cream from Kilwins

Took an early flight back to NY this morning.   Now I have just enough time to unpack and pack again for my trip to Montreal this weekend.