This past weekend was fall break here at LMU which really isn’t too much except for an extra Friday off from classes, but I’ll take it! I decided to leave LA for a bit and go visit two of my friends, Maddy and Hannah, in Chicago. Hannah goes to school at Columbia College and Maddy is working and dancing in the city. It was such a nice, relaxing, and chill weekend. So nice to escape the heat in LA and get some fresh midwest air. I experienced all the possible midwest weather you could in one weekend as it was warm and mid-60s on Friday when I got there, rainy all day Saturday, and windy and cold on Sunday when I left. But it was just the right weekend for me following the stress of midterms and being sick the past couple weeks. I needed a taste of home without fully going home quite yet to rejuvenate me and get me ready to focus and start taking care of myself the next couple weeks until Thanksgiving.
On Friday, after I landed and dropped off my stuff at Maddy and Hannah’s apartment uptown, Maddy and I walked to Southport Ave to do some shopping and grab some lunch. They live uptown legit right off the train station next to Wrigley Field and uptown is such a fun, funky, yet quaint place. It’s a lot less crowded than downtown and has a much more suburban feel to it. After that, I hopped on the train (which I am so proud to say I was able to navigate all by myself up and downtown all weekend long) to meet Hannah downtown after she got out from a callback. We grabbed fro-yo and she showed me around downtown a bit where she worked and went to class and what not. Then after heading back to her apartment and chilling for a bit, we went to this really awesome diner called Chicago Diner for dinner. It was such a cool place I wish I had snapped a pic but it’s completely vegan and has gluten-free options as well. I had a mushroom, veggie panini thing with waffle fries and Hannah had a veggie sandwich with soup. It was so so so so good! I definitely want to go back again next time I’m there to try their vegan milkshakes which are apparently very good. To round off the night, Hannah took me to a cast party for the show she just wrapped the day prior and I got to meet all her theatre friends! Very fun night!
Saturday I took my time waking up because I was so cozy in Maddy’s bed:) It was rainy outside and it felt like the perfect day to just snuggle up with blankets and fuzzy socks but Hannah and I knew we had to make the most of it so we got up got ready and fought the torrential downpour outside. We stopped at Starbucks for some quick coffee and breakfast before making our way downtown to go to the Art Institute of Chicago. Surprisingly, I’ve been to Chicago multiple times but had never been here. We spent a few hours exploring the exhibits and escaping the rain. My favorite section of the museum was the contemporary and modern art. So fascinating! Afterwards, it was time for some food so Hannah and I went across the street to Corner Bakery. I had some old-fashioned tomato basil soup which was just what I needed on a rainy day. Then, we were going to go to Barnes and Noble up the street to get some coffee but as we were walking we discovered this little nook in the wall coffee place called Hero Coffee Bar. It was so cute and I had a pumpkin masala chai latte which was so delicious! After, we stopped by Maddy’s work to say hi before heading back home where Hannah made the very impulse decision to cut her bangs lol 🙂 For dinner that night we went to grab a slice of pizza at Dimo’s Pizza before attempting to fight the rain and walk to Hannah’s friend Bailee’s apartment for a girls night. We couldn’t even make it the whole way in the rain so we had to seek shelter in a Taco Bell and Uber the rest of the way there. At Bailee’s we popped popcorn and made brownies and watched the movies 20th Century Woman (highly recommend) and Hocus Pocus. Fun, rainy night in!
On Sunday, we woke up early to grab breakfast before I had to leave. Hannah, Maddy, and I went to another adorable diner called Pick Me Up Cafe. It was another vegan/vegetarian-friendly place and I had veggie benedict with a good ‘ol fashioned cup of coffee 🙂 It was really delicious and it was so nice to sit down with Maddy and Hannah and fully catch up on our lives. We have grown up together at dance back home in KC since we were like 6 and so it’s so crazy now to talk about where we all are in our lives and see what we’re doing. Such a good time to finish my trip. After that, I went back, packed up, and head out to the train. While on the train, I got a notification from my flight saying it was delayed 30 minutes so I decided to hop off the train downtown near the River Walk and walk across the bridge across the river and take some last minute pics of Chicago before getting in an Uber and heading to the airport.
It was such a nice, refreshing weekend for me and I’m so glad I got to go visit Hannah and Maddy. But now, back to the grind in LA!!
1 Comment