Good afternoon!
We had a ball of a time in Chicago today. A big group of us met in the lobby around 11am and hit the road!
Of we went, cameras in tote.
Hmmm….
Oh boy.
THE BEAN!
A photographer’s dream mirrored bean basically!
The inside of the bean…like ovaries almost!? ;)
I asked Eric if he wanted to come out with us crazy gals and he was all for it. I think he is living it up with all these gorgeous ladies! ;) Every time I ask him if he minds being with all women, he says he is having fun and has this big goofy grin on his face. Oh boy.
hehehe
I love the architecture.
We found a cute place for lunch called Argo Tea.
They have a full menu of iced and hot teas. I pretty much died and went to heaven. I got the White Tea Acai Squeeze and it was incredible.
Their entire menu has calorie counts! I’m not sure if that is common around here or not…as I haven’t noticed it elsewhere.
They had lots of vegan options too!!! Amazing.
My lunch:
Oh my gosh it was so amazing. All of us loved it.
Everyone I have met here is so nice. I feel so lucky to meet all of these fabulous women through the blogging community. :) Lots of friendships have blossomed.
The Trump tower. I heard he is having trouble trying to fill it!
Then I had my first trip to Trader Joe’s. Oh dear me.
We had a field day!
On the loose in a fun grocery store. Never a good sign.
When I get this look in my eyes Eric knows only bad things can come of it. ;)
Our last stop was a wonderful chocolate place called Vosges Haute Chocolate. They had lots of vegan options too. The lady who worked there was a vegan and showed me her two favs and I picked those up for a special treat.
I will show you the TJ’s loot and chocolate in my next post.
I’m off to get ready for dinner and the HLS Cocktail party. We’re getting all gussied up. ;) Have a great night!
FYI, for all you who don’t have a Trader Joes in your state here is the scoop. TJ makes alot of money on the liquor sales and doesn’t open stores in states with restrictive liquor laws. Therefore, me being in California we have many. We love our liquor and our Napa Valley wines!!!!!
That story about Eric reminds me of when I was in college earning a degree in dance. The department was, not surprisingly, 99% women and so all the parties were quite estrogen heavy. My husband never complained about hanging out with a bunch of dancers though, in fact, his friends would try to score an invite!
Love the fork attached to the bowl :) So convenient!! I’m easily entertained by little things like forks.
Have a fabulous time in Chicago!!
Vosges is the absolute BEST in Chicago! My favorite is the Organic Chocolate Enchanted Mushroom Bar and the Rooster! Mmm =)
What an awesome day! The food looks fantastic!
Those bean pics are amazing and Eric grin is so funny.
I’m all about tea restaurants so I’ve book marked that when Hunni and I go visit a friend.
I just want to say how beautiful all of you fine food bloggers are! The HLS looks like so much fun. I am exactly the same way in a great grocery store!
I’m so glad you had fun in Chicago! About the calorie counts…in the states, health and food regulations are often tested in New York City (requirements from the FDA, like ingredient lists). Recently, New York has required restaurants to offer calorie counts on menus. This has caused some places to really switch up their menus, since patrons are realizing things they though were healthy, well, weren’t (chicken tenders salad with cream dressing, anyone?). California has also jumped on this wagon. I’m seeing the effects of it in Boulder, particularly with chain restaurants that have had their menus redesigned. The companies order new menus for all the locations and suddenly I’m benefiting from New York and California. Other cities are catching on and you probably hit up a restaurant that is well-aware of current events. I know I adore seeing the calorie counts because it really makes me think about what I want to eat.
P.S. Sorry for the novel comment, I’m just excited to see calorie counts transitioning to the Midwest! :)
Great views of the city. It totally makes me wish I had bought a ticket early enough to attend. Now I’m really looking forward to next year’s HLS if there is one. I can’t wait to see what you picked up from Vosges. BF and I were at the one in NYC last summer and we had quite a hard time picking out just a couple of bars. I love TJ’s! I really wish it would come to Toronto! I once had someone mail me a bunch of stuff from TJ’s via FedEx. It was a really crazy order but I was dying for some TJ goodies.