Anyone else have the case of the Mondays?
It always seems harder to go back to work after an extended weekend and this three day weekend was no exception. We had great weather, a lot of relaxing, and time spent outside with friends and family.
Friday: I slept in a little bit (a.k.a. 8:30 AM) and caught up on the DVR. Can we talk about the Scandal finale?? There was so much that happened and I don’t even what to think! Shonda Rhimes always leaving us with so many cliffhangers! Kevin worked from home so we walked to a neighborhood joint, Scratch for lunch. On our walk back, I stopped in The Brown Cow for an ice cream cone (banana of course).
After lunch, Kevin went back to work/did homework and I headed to the outlet mall. Most stores were 50-60% off for the holiday weekend and I just couldn’t resist. I stocked up on chino shorts at J. Crew ($20!) and a got cute chambray dress from Gap that I already plan to wear with my cowboy boots to a couple of country concerts we have lined up this summer. We stayed in on Friday night and I caught up on laundry.
Saturday: The morning started off slow with some coffee, blogging, and HGTV. It was so nice to sit on the couch with the windows open and have the cool breeze and sunshine shining through. Kevin did more reading for school and then we headed out early in the afternoon. We knew we wanted to be outside so decided to walk around Lincoln Park Zoo. It’s so nice having a free zoo in the city and is a great go-to activity when you just want to walk around. I love giraffes so that is always my favorite stop. 🙂
The animals must have also been excited for the warm weather because they were all outside and very active.
After the zoo, we continued our walk through Lincoln Park and walked through the conservatory. The park has an awesome view of the skyline!
The conservatory was filled with so many bright colored flowers which was so nice to see after the long dreadful winter we had.
Our friends, Matt and Ashton, invited us to a concert they had tickets to that night. Before that, we met them for dinner at a Chicago must try, Oven Grinders. This hidden gem is located in the basement of an old house in Lincoln Park that was supposedly a lookout post for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929.
The restaurant os famous for their pizza pot pies. The pot pie is made by filling a bowl with meat sauce and cheese and then topping it with dough and baked. When it comes to your table, they flip the pie upside down and you end up with a delicious deep dish pizza. Yum!
The concert we went to was a group called Under the Streetlamp which is a male quartet who met on the set of Jersey Boys, which is one of our favorite Broadway musicals. The opening act was a male a capella group called Gentleman’s Rule. The group of guys are from Indiana University and formed by the creator of Straight No Chaser. We definitely brought down the median age of the crowd, but the music was great and we had a good time!
Sunday: He is Risen! Kevin’s parents drove from the suburbs to attend church with us in the city. It is always a full house on Easter and today was no different.
Our pastor talked about how too many of us are missing the hope of the resurrection. What is that hope? That if God is powerful enough to raise Jesus from the dead, then He surely can be trusted with our challenges. And the hope reminds us that what we are going through now is temporary because the best is yet to come. There is hope beyond life that is greater than the life we now live. What a wonderful truth! One of my friends, who I met through a women’s Bible study at church, got baptized and it was so special to hear her share her testimony and watch as she publicly declared her faith.
After church, went to Beatrix for Easter brunch. We had brunch here a couple of weeks ago as well. Kevin’s mom requested breakfast/brunch food for Easter so we decided to head back to Beatrix because we enjoyed it so much. I had an arugula salad that was so fresh and light – one of the best salads I have eaten to date. Kevin had steak and eggs which he also thoroughly enjoyed. Full restaurant review coming tomorrow! The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home and opening our Easter baskets from Kevin’s mom!
Hope you all had a wonderful Easter celebrating our risen Savior!
xoxo – Paige
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