The girls ( and ) and I have been having a great time. As you can guess from my icon, I’m currently in Chicago. The weather’s been perfect and we’ve been on many Grand Adventures thus far.

Friday morning, I headed off to pick up mom and we went to our WeightWatchers meeting. My weight was down again – whee! I’ve now lost 20lbs since I restarted WW. I decided my goal for this week is to gain no more than 2lbs during my time in Chicago. I may even lose weight (at the rate we’re going, I will!) I returned mom to her home and drove directly to the Columbus Airport.

The flight to Chicago and train to Roosevelt were both uneventful (just the way I like it), and Judi and I met on the streets near the station to get a late lunch. We tried out the new (since last September) Artists Cafe. I got a strawberry & spinach salad (with goat cheese and pistachios and such a small amount of vinaigrette you’d think I’d put it on myself. Heh) and water. Judi tried one of their gyros. We both enjoyed our lunches.

Back at Judi’s we vegged a bit and then eventually went to the pool. I didn’t think it was warm enough to swim, so we didn’t dress for the occassion but went to sit and read. That didn’t last long because when Judi found her dog sitter there (she’d borrowed Judi’s pool fob) the lady talked & talked & talked. I can get into that state sometimes, but Judi assures me that this is her default state. We eventually untangled ourselves and returned to the room.

Elsa arrived before 6pm and we decided we’d go off to Ma & I for some Thai food. There was a 20 minute wait, but we sat & chatted and were eventually seated. I, of course, ordered pad Thai (with tofu) and, once again, it was very delicious. Ate it all, too! (I think the WW points assigned to pad Thai in the database is a bit low, but I’m not changing ’em!)

The three of us went for an evening walk along the lake path and it was simply beautiful to watch the skyline get darker and darker. Judi has a lovely city, especially at night. And as we returned from out walk, we popped into Little Branch cafe and ordered ice cream. The pistachio was yummy!

We’d decided that Saturday morning would be our Dim Sum day. Elsa got up earliest and then rode her bike off to a nearby farmer’s market. When she returned, I took a walk around the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium. By the time I was back, Judi was up and ready to go, so we headed to Chinatown and Three Happiness, our Dim Sum place of choice.

We were good girls at Dim Sum and didn’t overeat. Well, Judi and I had two sesame balls each, but I did track it! It’s funny, Judi had surreptitiously wrapped the last sesame ball in a napkin, intending to take it home for later. And then one of the waiters popped by and handed her a small takeaway box to put it in. And she thought she was being subtle! 🙂

We stopped at Target on the way home and Judi got some essentials. Then we returned home. After awhile, Elsa and I took a walk around museum campus, which started out perfect, but was just a smidgen warm by the end. I grilled her about names of flowers and wildflowers, but probably won’t remember any of ’em when I get home.

For supper that evening (I had no lunch – just ate most of the cherries that Elsa had bought at the farmer’s market) Elsa made us salads with fresh greens, tomatoes, peppers, onions, raspberries, and strawberries topped with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette. She also found a package of Jiffy corn bread mix and made that up, but realized after the fact that it was probably out of date. (Judi found the expiration date – it was 2008.) They were dense but still tasty. She’d also had some brie/bleu cheese hybrid she’d gotten at the farmer’s market which we also had with supper. A very filling meal.

I had pre-ordered tickets for us to see the Navy Pier fireworks on a boat, so around 7:45pm we headed off to Navy Pier. Our original plan had been to take the bus, but that had been changed to car trip. This turned out to be not the best idea we’ve had for the trip, but it all worked out in the end.

When we got to Navy Pier, the main parking lot was full. So we were shunted to alternate parking. Having never done this before, we wound up on lower Wacker and then upper Wacker and Judi finally got us to streets she knew better. We eventually found a parking garage (the prices? OUCH!) and then walked toward the pier (once we figured out where it was in relation to where we were).

It was a long walk and I was afraid there’d not be enough time to get some Haagen-Dazs ice cream before we had to queue for the boat. Judi was more optimistic and insisted I stay in the line. We got our (teeny tiny) scoops of mint chip ice cream (very yummy, and really, the size I should get) and found Elsa at the boat booth. We wound up being nearly the last on the boat, but we still found seats on the bow and waited for launch.

Once we were underway, the boat found a spot and just sat there, playing music from a Pandora radio station. The music wasn’t overly loud and some of it was good. But the star of the eveing was the fireworks show. We could actually see the barge that the fireworks are fired from and the time between light & sound were almost instantaneous. It was the best way, IMO, to watch fireworks.

We got our entire hour (plus change) on the boat and then made our way to the trolley stop that (a) is free and (b) has a stop near our garage. The first trolley was after a 20 minute wait but filled before we could get on. The second was another 10 min wait, but we were the second party aboard. It did get us near the garage and so we got our car out of hock and returned home.

Today we’re off to Taste of Chicago (the dying carcass that’s left of the original Taste, which used to be spectacular) and then on to Galena, IL for a night of dining and day of shopping. The lodge has free wi-fi, supposedly, and wasn’t as expensive as some of the places. (Well, it’s off season for a ski lodge. Heh.) I suspect the fun will continue as normal. 🙂