August 15, 2021
Chicago Get-Away
My parents, Elizabeth and I planned a two day trip to Chicago and had a fantastic time! Before we went, my Mom made all of our restaurant reservations, which provided a nice framework to our little vacation.
Shorts/Top/Similar handbag/Elizabeth's pants/Elizabeth's top/Elizabeth's sandals
Upon arrival to the city, we went to Lincoln Park and enjoyed a delicious brunch at Blue Farm Door Stand on North Halsted Street. We love their menu, darling ambience and especially the blue and white dishes! After brunch, we walked around the corner and enjoyed shopping up and down Armitage Avenue. We made an appointment and stopped in at Serena & Lily to check out new artwork.
We shopped at All She Wrote, one of our favorite stationery and gift shops. In addition to finding some really fun desk accessories, we bought new makeup bags for school. My Mom, sisters and I always love their cosmetic travel bags. They are available in three sizes and are perfect for college and travel. We all use them for our makeup and face products.
Lori’s Shoes has been there for years and it is a fun shoes store with cute jewelry and accessories. The great part is that all the shoes are stacked up in the store making trying on really easy! I found a great pair of brown loafers and a really comfortable pair of cushiony slides. Elizabeth purchased an adorable bracelet and a ring.
Another favorite store on Armitage is Art Effect. They have great gifts, housewares, clothes, jewelry and accessories. There is always something different to find in there! The perfect afternoon pick-me-up was a stop at La Colombe coffee shop for some cold brew. I love La Colombe cans of cold brew and always love to have some in the refrigerator.
We drove to North Avenue and found some cute back to school items at the enormous Lululemon shop. It is the largest one in the country because it features some yoga studios and a café on the second floor. Before we went to the hotel, we also went to Alice + Wonder on North Southport. Their other location is on Webster and we found a couple of tops and some Chicago sweatshirts that are super cozy and soft.
The first night we had dinner at Shore Club because I met my friend Meghan and her friends for dinner. The restaurant overlooks Lake Michigan. The people watching is great and entertaining!
The next day we drove to Oak Park and toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio and walked up and down the street which has many homes designed by the famous architect from his years of living and working in Oak Park. The tour is about an hour and definitely worth a stop if you are in the area. Next we drove to Evanston because my parents lived there when they were first married. We stopped at one of our favorite coffee shops called
Newport Coffee House and then stopped by their first apartment.
We went to dinner at Somerset on State Street and then went to a comedy show at Second City. It was a really great day and I had never been to a comedy show before!
On Monday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and then went to the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. It was interesting to see and the building it was in was beautiful!
We also walked along the river and stopped in at Blue Bottle Coffee. Before we left for home, we did a little shopping on Oak Street and at Zara for some great end of summer sale finds.Chicago is a great place to visit with so many different things to do!