Living it up in Chi-town!

So, be honest.  Did you miss me?  You didn't?  Damn.  I'll have to try harder then.

I disappeared for the past week for a pretty fun reason, I was in Chicago for work.  It was a really great business trip that also had a good amount of fun and delicious food mixed in!  The trip started on Saturday midday when I flew out of Albany.  It wasn't even an early flight but I was wiped.  A Starbucks iced passion fruit tea really hit the spot and what made it noteworthy to me was the fact that they spelled my name right!  There are so many different ways to spell Katelyn and I am really particular in that I think mine is well, the best.  I was happy to see my perfectly spelled name on the cup  because anyone who follows this blog, knows Starbucks isn't always accurate with names!

I first got to Chicago on Saturday night and met up with one of the long time loves of my life, Ms. Teenie.  Teenie has lived in Chicago since we graduated from college and I've visited her once before.  I was really excited to have work take me back to Chicago to see her new apartment and catch up with her live in the city!

Let me tell you, Courtney has one heck of a view from her apartment.

We ate that night at a great restaurant called Farm House.  It is a farm to table restaurant with a seasonal menu and local beers on tap.  It had a great country feel with all refurbished and recycled seating and tables and a friendly staff.  Since it's a farm to table restaurant and everything is made there, it also fell right in line with my recent kick of trying to eat more local, organic, unprocessed foods.  I loved it!

The meal started with some fried cheese curd and I followed up with a lamb pastie.  It was so delicious and all in all a really great meal.  It was fun to be able to catch up with Teenie, introduce her to one of my new friends, and catch up with her college friends who I haven't seen in a while!

Sunday started with a walk along the water with Teenie.

I had just received my "Boston Stands as One" t-shirt from Adidas the day I left for Chicago so I was excited to put it to use in the windy city.  I love the tee and recommend everyone go to Adidas and pick one up yourself.  All proceeds to towards the One Fund to help victims of the Boston marathon bombings.

After my walk I met up with co-workers for brunch at a restaurant called Yolk.  It was recommended to me by both Teenie and by another coworker of mine who lives in Chicago.  I was in charge of making brunch reservations for my team and knew that we had to eat at this place when I heard that Vince Vaughan lives in the building above the restaurant and frequents there often.  Not much can make brunch plans better just as they are... but a possible Vince Vaughan sighting?  I'm so in.

Well, we didn't end up seeing Vince but the food was DELICIOUS.  I am so lucky that my coworkers and I all get along so well and put up with my ridiculousness.  I am pretty sure I tried food off of every single person's plate.  Literally.  And my winner for favorite meal was not the one that I got, although that was delicious.  One of the girls got banana bread french toast that came with sliced banana and peanut butter.  OMG, so good!

We got really lucky because we had beautiful weather for the whole time we were in Chicago, which was nice because it made for the non-work time to be really fun and I got to experience a bit of the city.

I also had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Science and Industry and oh. my. gosh. is it amazing!!     Despite never having been since this week, I've been obsessed with this museum for a few years now.  In 2010 the museum had a contest I applied for called "Month in the Museum" where they picked a person to live in the museum for a month and promote their time (and the museum) with promoted blogs, tweets, videos, events, etc.  I thought it sounded like the coolest experience, but alas, I was not selected.  Some other chick named Kate was.  Pshhh....

Anyways, bitterness aside, the museum is awesome.  I loved checking it out and if you are in Chicago, I highly recommend it.

Another unique experience I had for the first time while in Chicago was visiting Wrigley Field for a Cubs game!  Only I didn't actually go to Wrigley, I went to a "Wrigley Rooftop" where across the street from the field, you can watch the game from one of many rooftop seating venues/bars.  It is hard to explain via pictures and words how neat of an experience this was, but it was an incredibly cool way to see a game, especially with a group, because you aren't confined to just sitting in a row of chairs.  And we had a beautiful night too!

One of the things that I find so amazing about my job right now is that I actually look forward to business trips and getting to spend time with my coworkers.  I work with really fun, smart, interesting people and I always have a great time when I travel for work.  The trip was for a conference that my team is responsible for planning and executing.  It was a successful trip for both work and play.

Oh, and by the way, it wouldn't have been a successful trip to Chicago if I didn't manage to get in some  pizza.  I actually had a mini crisis when I realized that there is a difference between "stuffed pizza" and "deep dish pizza" in Chicago and I hadn't tried the deep dish, only the stuffed.  But I guess there is always next time, and I had nothing to complain about when diving in to this...

Now that I'm back home, I have stocked my fridge with fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.  Lots of eggs, free range chicken, almonds, lemons, berries, brussels sprouts, bacon, and honey were also on my shopping list when I went to the grocery store.  I'm happy to have all these delicious foods surrounding me!  Tonight I made myself some brussels sprouts with panko and bacon and grilled some chicken.  I marinated the chicken overnight in a simple lemon, pepper and olive oil mixture I concocted.  It will be perfect for salads for the week!  Yum.

Oh, and I also made myself some citrus water to have in the fridge.  I sliced up two lemons and an orange and filled up a jug of water.  I've been drinking it like crazy and just filling up the water again.  So good!!

As for exercise... I've been having a hard time getting motivated since the half marathon.  I'll get back on track soon, I got a couple workouts in while in Chicago.  No runs.  But I'm hoping to now that it is nice out!  Have a great weekend everyone!!!