The long anticipated visit home...

By popular request, Aimee is narrating this week's blog! As I'm sure most of you know, we made a much needed trip back to Chicago last weekend. (Crowley stayed at home with our friends Michael and Jeff from IHM!). Also, as some of you may or may not know, my 30th birthday is quickly approaching. We took advantage of our trip to spend some quality time with friends and family, and to celebrate my birthday!

Our trip began with a perfect flight from the world's busiest airport (ATL) to the world's second busiest airport (ORD, depends on how you count) that was not only on time, but EARLY! Which was perfect because we were definitely stretching on making a dinner reservation... unfortunately, AVIS had other plans for us. Their computers were "down" and it took a whole hour for us to get a car!! So we were a tad bit (40 mins) late for dinner, but luckily the staff at Veerasway was very accommodating! We had a wonderful dinner with the Neary's, Irena and Wes.

Our accommodations were provided by Mark B. We felt very "at home" there and certainly enjoyed watching the Notre Dame game there! He had a pretty nice view too...

The weather was amazing all weekend - certainly a nice case for how lovely fall in Chicago can be -- although I must say, the weather in Atlanta these last few weeks has been spectacular as well. I think I'm gaining a renewed (or just new actually) appreciation for fall.

Saturday we made a trip out to Lombard so I could get my driver's license renewed and then visited Megan at work and went back to our old 'hood. I was very excited to see that a Marshall's opened up in the Southgate Market at Canal and Roosevelt - very nice. After finally meeting our tenant and her new finance, lunch was enjoyed up in Wrigleyville with Kristen - had some excellent Mexican at El Jardin. My dad and sister visited and we enjoyed watching the Notre Dame football game (unlike today...grr).

Saturday night was an intimate get together at Café Ciao on Monroe. Great space, great food, and great wine was had by all.

Spontaneously and with no coercion from Mark, Megan made me some delicious and nutritious Rainbow Chip Cupcakes for my birthday. It is not truly a birthday without a little Rainbow Chips!!

In addition to birthday cupcakes, I also enjoyed a very delicious "Chocolate Wonton Sundae". I would be OK making that a birthday tradition as well! Thank you to Julie and the wonderful staff at Cafe Ciao for your hospitality - we had a lovely time!

One other tradition that we continued this year was that of the Birthday Brunch! This year's was at the trendy Branch 27 (continuing the para-tradition of brunch spots with numbers in their name, i.e. Cafe 28). They featured quite a few Southern dishes - which Mark and I could not resist... we're just embracing the Southern culinary arts while we can. It was delicious!

Our weekend was capped off by mass at Old St. Patrick's - just like old times. It was a very special visit and the perfect end to a perfect weekend. The last thing on our itinerary was a potluck dinner courtesy of the OSP 5pm choir. What a great time with great food and friends!! We made it to O'Hare just in time for our flight and had a terrific flight home!

Our trip was a breath of fresh air and it was great to see so many of our friends and family. We are already trying to plan our next trip. After 2 wonderful weekends, we are taking it easy this weekend and enjoying down time with Crowley!