Our Kind of Town....

This weekend Felix and I were joined by Claire and Paul for a weekend get away to Chicago! We helped Mr. Joiner welcome his 30th birthday "in style". If any of you are paying close attention to my blogs, then you will realize that all of our vacations revolve around EATING. I'm not happy if I'm not EATING. I often get emails for dining suggestions (which is fine with me), and I find it funny because I now realize why. We are obsessed with EATING! HA! Anyway, back to the trip-and the eating. We all arrived on Friday morning and were transported to the Westin on Michigan Avenue. The trip didn't start off on a good note because FELIX (my fault if you ask him) left his lucky Cubs hat in the car. You would've thought that I lost my wedding ring or something (did that on another trip didn't I, Stacey? Actually he acted nicer to me that time). So after a "come to Jesus" in the hotel lobby, we all head over to "RL" for a wonderful lunch. We had an outdoor table and the weather was beautiful. Mr Joiner started his weekend off as the birthday brat and ordered the most expensive thing on the menu ;)

Lunch at RL

After an afternoon of shopping and little sightseeing (I don't like to tour) we headed to the Peninsula for appetizers and drinks. Our waitress was DANA from New Orleans and we had much to talk about with her. Friday night, we dined (once again) at Bice on Ontario Street. This made for another wonderful meal. The risotto is to die for :) After dinner, everyone thought it would be fun to go to the top of the Hancock building to see the the skyline at the Signature Room. I thought I would act all bad about it and "act" as if I was going up too.... NO WAY. I hate elevators and mostly, I hate elevators with 21 people in them. So, I backed out last minute. I asked Fe if I was being a scaredy cat and he said yes. But, the Joiners saw the skyline and enjoyed it.

Dinner at Bice

Well, what do you know..Saturday morning was MUCH better for Felix. The doorman called around 8:30 and guess what was waiting for Felix at the front desk? His Cubs hat! Felix swore the Cubs wouldn't win without the hat. So after some wonderful homemade Granola, Felix and Paul headed off to Wrigley. The girls did some light shopping and then headed to The Four Seasons to the spa. Our afternoon was filled with mani's, pedi's, facials, and massages! What a treat! After our splurge we headed off to meet the guys once again. Paul smelled just like a hot dog as we expected, and it was time to get ready for ANOTHER meal! We headed out this time to Room 21 on the outskirts of Chicago. It was WONDERFUL. I highly recommend this restaurant as well. The ambiance, food, and company were all divine :)

Dinner at Room 21

After dinner, Paul arranged for us a table at Pops For Champagne. Here I got to experience my first jazz club. At this establishment you sip on different types of champagne while the jazz band performs. This is obviously a very popular thing to do in Chicago. When I was asked how I enjoyed my jazz band experience, I answered "It was neat, but I like to hear words with my music." Obviously real jazz music has no words. Oh well, it was still fun!

Claire and Paul, Fe and Tar Tar had a wonderful time with you guys this weekend. We couldn't have asked for better company. Paul, we hope you have a great 30th birthday and maybe one year you will get that birthday party you have always wanted.

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY, PAUL!