Chicago Girls Weekend

My friend Laura and I decided to get together in Chicago and have a fun girls weekend and then decided it would be even more fun if a bunch of our other friends came too.  Happily, nearly all of them could!  It was so much fun. Sadly, the bean (Cloud Gate at Millenium Park) was fenced off so we didn't get any cool reflective pictures, but we lucked out with great weather and a wonderful AirBnB in a fun, Hispanic part of town called Little Village.  Even though I'd visited Chicago 5 times, I'd never seen this part of town and it was a really fun, cultural experience with street food, loud music, traditional quinceanera dress shops, and delicious churro restaurants.  I love having a few days when I only have to think about what I want to do and not shuttling kids around or running errands.

Had to stop at the Nutella store.

The Chicago institute of Arts had so many paintings I didn't know they had there.  It was so interesting.  Especially the display of miniature rooms.  That part was my favorite.

I never get tired of walking along Lake Michigan and seeing the gorgeous skyline from the steps of the Field Museum.  The weather was a little rainy that day, but not too bad.

It's really so much harder to make friends as an adult, so I'm forever grateful for the friends I made in college and that we can still get together like this.  They are a treasure in my life and I hope we have many more girls weekends like this one.

While I was gone, and the weekend prior to that while I was still there, we'd been dog sitting for a family from church.  Their puppy, Winnie, came to live with us while they were out of town for a funeral.  I am definitely not a dog person.  They are just too much work when I already have so much.  She was a real cutie, though, and a real sweetheart.  I loved seeing how much joy she brought the kids when she would greet them in the morning or when we'd get home from somewhere.  She was also a wonderful addition during general conference weekend because we had an excuse to get out and walk the block between sessions.  She once again confirmed, however, that if we ever got a dog, it would be me and Kelly doing all the work.  Somehow everyone was nearly always too busy to do what needed doing with that dog.  So honestly, I was happy to see her go.  I really love dogs much more when they're in someone else's house.