Have A Little Faith in We

Hey friends – happy Tuesday! Today on the blog we are still working our way through our Chicago trip from this fall.  It is super behind and it is way behind Post 1 and Post 2. Yup….. I used to blog about what was happening in real time. But in reality that life has sorta been gone for awhile. When you throw into a blender full time working, managing life, some CF, and chasing after your goals days can get pretty darn full. When taking  my true break from blogging and social media this spring, part of it was letting go of the guilt I was laying on myself for not being in this space. I love to write, it fulfills a creative side for me, often helps my heart work things over, and we use it as a way to log our memories. But as life got more complicated and more and more time went past, getting back here fault daunting. Am I going to have to do this sorta intro EVERY TIME I POST?!?!? Explain where I have been and what I have been doing and how I wish I was here and why I am still going backward in time….  add that to the memories I wanted to log and this spot didn’t feel like fun or joy, just a lot of work. Really – it felt like too much.  So I gave it some time…. and here is what I came up with: I want to blog because I like it and enjoy capturing the stories of our life. So I am gonna capture them when it works and get back to just having fun here…. so there you have it: time for Chicago Part 3 just a 9 months later!

That Sunday Danny’s childhood pal, Nick who we had seen on Friday night, was performing in the Jazz Series at Millennium Park. He is a professional trumpet player and this was a big deal. We had no idea it was that weekend, but so glad it worked out.  So Sunday was planned around getting to the festival.

After some fun fulled days with a cocktail or 20 – we felt like the morning needed to start off with a good walk to get out those toxins…. and then replenish with a few other kind of toxins…..

The part that Danny and I wonder about the most when never having lived downtown in a city is upon exiting your front door, what its like to be able to just jumping into life whenever you want. When you leave my brother’s place and head down the street you are in the middle of the action. Just by going for coffee you feel so accomplished because you have joined the rest of the wide awake city.  So we took advantage and went jaunting, followed by showering up and heading down town for a little date time just the two of us and to let our hosts have a little bit of their own space.

Getting downtown we walked a bit – again we love to imagine city life and down here are neighborhoods with high rises and more well known Chicago spots. While my bother’s area feels little more like a neighborhood in the middle of a city – this is the urban jungle feel. There is this sort of cleanse when you get to do “regular” things – grab lunch, walk, talk -in a completely different place. It makes me feel more alive and like I am seeing the power of possibility. At the time we were seriously contemplating a move to the Windy City (in my mind every picture we took I envisioned as our announcement of this brand new life to come…), but even when we were there, if it didn’t happen that was OK, there was just something so freeing about knowing maybe it could….. that feeling of “what if” had us on cloud 9 and really enjoying life.

But as my a-type can do to us…. all that dreaming and planning and talking led to one important decision…. the need for a little margaritas to get back in vacation mode before the festival.

After our drink we grabbed our seats at the festival and waited for my brother, Kelly, and my cousin Casey. We  all ordered a few beers and got comfortable, just in time for the kick off of the event: New Orleans style parade.

The festival was awesome – even if a little hot. Seeing folks who are so talented share their gifts, be basking in the sunshine, and that afternoon delight that only can truly be found on vacation where you know there is no laundry or bills or cleaning awaiting you…. just total escape. It was awesome!

After the show we visited with Nick, his wife and a few of their friends for a bit and then headed to an AWESOME spot …..Cindy’s. It is this AMAZING rooftop bar that had incredible views. There was a bit of a wait – but even that was cool because it sits atop what used to be Athletic Association (now turned hotel) that had a bunch of the historical features still in tact. I have said it before and I will say it again… I LOVE THIS CITY – even the waiting is fun!

After the cocktails and visiting, Casey went to meet friends and Grant, Kelly, Danny and I took off walking along the riverwalk. It was the best Sunday afternoon just enjoying the walking, talking, grabbing Corona’s with a little chips and guac and I remember closing my eyes to feel the cool breeze – a hint that fall is really moments away for Chicago and its people.

It was yet again another perfect day….. last part coming soon (-ish) 🙂

Thanks so much for reading and remember to make it a great day!

Jackie