Again, I've Abandoned You...

Good morning!

I know it's been a while since I posted ANYTHING here, but last night was a post-worthy night! My husband took me on a date night, of which I knew NO plans! We took a trip to Millennium Park, where carolers perform every Friday night from Thanksgiving until the end of the holiday season. Last night was the Chicago Children's Choir, which brings together children of all backgrounds--ethnic, socio-economic, religious, and others--to sing together, as they believe music is the universal unifier... which I am inclined to believe. These children did a wonderful job! They "only" had a couple hundred perform, but they have something like 2700 children involved with their programs!

Before leaving Millennium Park, we also took a stroll by the ice skating rink, where people were having a wonderful time!

We headed north to Lincoln Park, our former home, to visit ZooLights. The Lincoln Park Zoo is a tremendous zoo, and is free every day, all day! This is actually the zoo we visited when Ryan and I took a trip to the city in 2006, I believe... we had NO idea we'd be living here 3 years later! Anyway, so ZooLights are amazing! They decorate the whole zoo with millions upon millions of lights... this sounds like an exaggeration, and it may be, but there's a lot... take a look at the pictures and you'll believe me! This is a great event because they keep the zoo open late during this season, so you can see all the lights at night... and the animals seem to be pretty active as well. The Ape House was totally asleep, which was cute; the Cat House was hoppin', but we didn't expect anything different with Santa in the middle of it all :) We actually got a glimpse of the snow owl doing its thing and the eagles... always my fav! I told them they were my good luck charms for my undergrad's round 2 playoff game... they started chattering a little to each other, so I'm taking that as a sign they understood and will do their part :) (don't miss my picture of the escaped wild rabbit on the loose!)

After the zoo, we headed over to the Andersonville neighborhood, which is such a cool part of town! They were doing a late-night neighborhood event, so lots of folks were out and discounts to be had. We went to a tapas restaurant, where we ordered 4 dishes between us and shared a little bit of everything. This was my first experience with tapas, and certainly not my last--it was WONDERFUL! I think my favorite dish was the order of lamb sliders, which had unique flavors... some sweet sauce to balance the savory of the lamb--very tasty! After dinner, we wandered down to the Galleria, where over 90 artists display and sell their work.. is a very small area! It was crowded but cool... lots of unique items of all sorts!

Finally, we headed to my favorite vice... George's Ice Cream shop. I've never had a bad taste in this place ever! We have had all sorts of delicious desserts, all decadent and put together in original ways. The first thing we had from here was an over-the-top German Chocolate sundae, with brownie pieces and coconut ice cream as the base... then tons and tons of chocolate and caramel sauce. In the words of one of my friends, it was "slap yo mama good"! :)

After such a great night, I'm not sure how we'll top it today, but we're already off to a great start--a lovely snowfall descended upon us last night and will stick around for another couple of hours. Probably about 3-5 inches of snow will be with us afterwards, and I get to call it lovely because I use public transit to get around--no driving for me! :) Also, I included a picture of our Christmas tree and Christmas kitten, who blends right in with my other decorative requirements (aka the Grinch and his buds). Yes, the tree is themed in support of my awesome GSU Eagles :)

Hope you enjoy the pictures from our escapades! My favorite is probably the dude carving the ice sculpture at the Lincoln Park Zoo... I love the shower of ice off the top!

Ziena