Shopping in Chicago

On Friday morning, Kevin and I took a cab from our hotel in Chicago to a small bakery the Ukrainian Village, Shokolad Pastry & Cafe. We started the day with their crepes… glorious crepes. Chocolate & cinnamon for me, Nutella & banana for him. Heaven! Despite being *completely* stuffed, I couldn’t pass up this incredible looking Opera cake from the pastry case. With layers of chocolate, vanilla, almond biscuits and espresso buttercream, how could I resist?? :)

Of course after that, I totally deserved our 2 mile trek up Chicago Avenue.

We made our way through the Ukrainian Village to the trendy Wicker Park neighborhood. Our first stop was Pitaya, where I totally fell in love with this dress!

And these earrings! Had to grab these earrings. Only 5 bucks! Won’t they look nice with this ruffly top?

Pitaya has a few locations across the US, definitely check them out if you’re near one! Too bad the closest one to me is 5 hours away. I might have to consider driving there sometime!

We ran in the Marc Jacobs boutique, and look what I found! Yep, that stressed-out look is definitely the face of someone with two boston terriers. ;)

Right after that we ran into the sweetest, tiniest, fattest little BT I have ever seen. Totally scooped him up and got some kisses. I wanted to put him in my purse and run. Wicker Park was very dog-friendly. Most of the stores had water bowls out front for the thirsty pups.

Kevin tried to talk me into buying this shirt, but I resisted. But check out the back! It was hard. But then check out the price. Ack!

Oh man. Stopped in this cute store, M2 Boutique. Loved this place!

I was mesmerized by this necklace. It just so happened to go perfectly with the navy blue dress I was wearing. And the khaki dress I just bought. And that white top I brought with me. And everything else I own. Or have ever owned. In my entire life. Amen.

This bracelet was conveniently (and innocently) sitting right next to the necklace. I could get into some serious trouble if I lived in Chicago.

This cuff bracelet was calling out to me! Between this place, Sephora, and Sur La Table, I think I spent my entire life savings in Chicago.

Kevin’s a huge Braves fan, and it just so happened they were playing at Wrigley the weekend of his bday.

It was a pretty exciting game. The left fielder and third baseman had a huge collision going after a fly ball. The pitcher got beaned by a line drive. And the Braves came back to win it in the 9th inning!

And I finished off the rest of my Opera cake. :D

Filed Under: Vacations & Travel, Chicago • 42 Comments

Chicago: Our View

Last Thursday Kev and I got up bright and early, jumped in the car, and left for a 10-hour road trip to Chicago. It was our first visit to the Windy City and we spent a long weekend celebrating Kevin’s birthday, seeing a game at Wrigley Field, shopping in swanky boutiques and eating delicious meals.

And walking 5,672 miles a day!

Of course if I walked that far back home in Alabama, I wouldn’t even be to the nearest gas station.

We had some gorgeous views from our room on the Chicago River. We recognized the Sears Tower immediately! As we were driving into the city and first saw the skyline, it stood out head and shoulders above all the other buildings.

I’m pretty sure I should be able to see our hotel reflected in this building (it was right across the river), but I have yet to figure out which one was ours!

After making a quick stop for some doughnuts on our way up (more on those later!), we arrived in Chicago right at sunset… and right about dinner time.

We took a walk down the river to Portillo’s for a Chicago Dog, an Italian Beef, and their famous chocolate cake shake. It was an actual piece of fudgy, chocolate cake with frosting down at the bottom of a chocolate milkshake. Goodness gracious. Loved catching the moon peeking through the buildings on our walk.

24-70mm f/2.8 lens
ISO 400
f/16
20 sec

When we got back to the hotel I snapped this slow-release pic of all the cars and trains going by. One last view of the city before we fell into bed. More to come! :)

Filed Under: Vacations & Travel, Chicago • 79 Comments

Top of the Rock & The NYC Cupcake Challenge!

On our last day in NYC, my awesome travel buddy and snacking partner-in-crime Jenny and I headed to Top of the Rock, the observation deck at Rockefeller Center.

What an incredible view of the city we had!

From up here, the island looked so small..

I just love the big green rectangle of Central Park. Looks so funny surrounded by all the buildings!

We got a huge kick out of seeing all the tiny cabs down below. :)

All weekend we had been meaning to go to Crumbs Bake Shop (which had a location right by our hotel) to continue our NYC Cupcake Challenge! :) Finally on Sunday afternoon we were able to make our way over there. We brought these goodies back to the Royalton lobby for testing. Don’t you just love their bags!

First… The Cinnamon Roll Cupcake with cream cheese icing. This was totally Jenny’s favorite!

Next… the decadent Brownie Cupcake.

Incredibly rich chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate fudge, drizzled with chocolate, and topped with little bites of brownies. I think this was my favorite!

Then… the Cookie Dough Cupcake.

Ooh, chocolate fudge filling! What a fun surprise. The icing was a cream cheese frosting mixed with chocolate chip cookie pieces.

And finally… the Cappuccino Cupcake!

A delicious chocolate cupcake filled a coffee cream cheese frosting and covered in mini chocolate chips.

Also very close to our hotel was Magnolia Bakery! We were in heaven surrounded by all these cupcakes! :) I got just a plain vanilla cupcake with buttercream icing.

Jenny got a Banana Cupcake with caramel meringue buttercream frosting. Tasted just like banana bread!

The Verdict? So, who was the winner of our NYC Battle of the Cupcakes?? Here’s the final rundown!

Crumbs Bake Shop. These were good cupcakes, but I’m just not a huge cream cheese frosting fan. Seems like all the cupcakes we tested that day had cream cheese frosting. I’m definitely a buttercream frosting kinda gal!

Magnolia Bakery. If you’re a traditionalist looking for a plain vanilla cupcake, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! My vanilla cupcake and the buttercream frosting were both delicious. I’m definitely going to be trying the Magnolia Bakery recipe. However we were not overly wowed with the “specialty” flavors they had that day.

Eleni’s Cupcakes. Hands down, these are the winner! :) We couldn’t stop talking about our Oreo and Peanut Butter Cup cupcakes. That buttercream frosting was just outta this world incredible. If you are ever in the area, definitely head over to Chelsea Market and check them out!

Thanks for sharing NYC with us!!

Filed Under: Vacations & Travel, NYC Trip • 35 Comments