Back to real life!

Well, that was one crazy week! I saw Ed off to the airport in Chicago this morning, and then spent the rest of the day in Chicago by myself. Let's see...here's a little recap of what we did.

Tuesday night: he got in and I went to Chicago to pick him up. Luggage was lost, so we got wayyy behind schedule. By the time we got out of the city we were famished, and the only place that was open was Denny's. So yes, his first meal on his American vacation was a good old Belgian waffle at Denny's, haha. Such is life. Got home LATE, went to bed.
Wednesday: we spent the day relaxing and just hanging out. That ended up working out since we had to stick close by in case his luggage came, and it was a little stormy that day as well. We did go out to lunch at the Cheetah, so I did get a good gourmet meal in his belly...brisket sandwich. :)
Thursday: was a beach day! I took him over to Holland to Kirk Park, which is stunningly beautiful. It was a completely clear, sunny day; and hot. We went and swam for quite a while...he loved the lake and couldn't believe it was actually a lake and not the ocean. The water was 78 degrees...crazy! After beaching for a few hours, we came back to GR and got all showered up for dinner with my family. My parents came over, and we all went out to Bistro Bella Vita downtown. We had a delicious meal, a few good drinks, and then headed to Hopcat for some microbrews. After all that, we came home and watched the new Jersey Shore, ha! I've got him hooked on it.
Friday: we said goodbye to my parents and then headed out for lunch at Rose's. It was such a nice lunch, the sun was out but it wasn't too hot yet. We sat out on the deck and just enjoyed each other's company and the good food. After lunch, we went to see Inception, which we were both dying to see. We had waited to see it until we could do it together, because Leonardo Dicaprio is our favorite actor. It was GOOD, I loved it. Finally, later that night, we went out with one of my very closest friends Liz and her boyfriend Sam to dinner. We went to Olive's and had a few drinks and yummy food, as always. After that, we came back home and met up with Brett before going downtown to the bars. We took him to McFadden's and the Viceroy...definitely had a lot of fun. Then we all grabbed coney dogs outside the bars after last call, hah. We got home around 3:30am and went to bed at 4.
Saturday: once we got moving (I was up at 8, he was up at 11, yikes!) we decided to drive back to the east side of the state for a couple days. I didn't really have much more to show him in Grand Rapids, and while relaxing days would've been fine, I really wanted to take him out on the boat. So, we left for PH at about noon, got there around 3pm. Later that night, we went to dinner at the Vintage, which is obviously always a hit. I got my usual - salad and sweet potato fries. He got the lamb chops. He said he really liked them, so that's good. :) We came back to the house and just hung out and watched movies for a while until hitting the sack.
Sunday: we woke up pretty early and got a start on our boating day. We were pretty much out of the house by 10:30...we left with my Dad and Case and the boat, and met my mom down at the dock. The water was STUNNING - I've never seen such a perfect day for boating. We ended up swinging down by Kim's house on the lake and stayed for some drinks (yes, it was before noon, lol) and chit chat. Then we all decided we should go down to the river to see the Float Down (yearly event) and then go to lunch. We ended up at Quay. After that, we came back home, took some quick naps, and then got back on the road to GR.
Monday: was our whirlwind tour day of Chicago! We left the house around 8:30am, got some breakfast, and then drove to Kalamazoo to catch the train down. It was running about 45 minutes late, so that was lame, but we ended up getting to Chicago around noon. From the station, we cabbed it to our hotel, which was beautiful and in a wonderful location...one block from the Magnificent Mile. As soon as we put our bags down, we ventured out into the city. It was a lovely day, about 83 degrees and sunny, sunny, sunny! First we needed food, so we walked around and stopped at The Emerald Loop, which is close to the river. It was surprisingly very good...we didn't have super high expectations because we just walked to the first semi-interesting place we saw since we were so hungry and desperate for food. After lunch and a drink, we headed to Millennium Park and I showed him the bean and the outdoor theater. After that, we walked to Navy Pier and took in the sites and ate some ice cream. Finally, we walked back to the hotel to freshen up a bit and get ready for the Cubbies game. We went down to Wrigleyville for some pre-game drinks at the Sports Corner bar. They have summer shandy on draft...I couldn't even say no. We also went and bought a couple Cubs t-shirts to wear to the game, so we definitely looked the part! The Cubs ended up losing, but he loved Wrigley and the seats were good so the game was fun to watch. We had a few more beers at the game (of course) and he made sure to get a hot dog. After the game, we got back to the hotel and ended up just having a couple drinks at the bar there. We actually met a very strange but talkative man who bought us a round, I think just to have people around to talk to. He was quite the character. Once his date finally showed up, they wanted us to go bar hopping with them but then they kept making fun of our Cubs tees. They were both very pretentious and wouldn't let it go! Um yeah, we just got back from the baseball game you fools! We ended up making an excuse and just going up to the room and fell asleep in the ridiculously soft beds.
And finally, Tuesday: we had to wake up this morning at 5:30 to get him in a cab for O'Hare in time for his 9:00 flight. It was a fun week, but the goodbye wasn't too sad...considering I'll be seeing him in less than a month! After he left, I went to the gym and got my workout in. Then I showered, slept for a bit, then woke up and got ready. I shopped for a while (H&M, ahhh) and then got a bite to eat for lunch. I was still tired after that, so I had another nap, checked out of the room, and then headed back to Millennium Park. Equipped with a few magazines, I laid in the park and just chilled for about two hours or so. Then I got an early dinner so I wouldn't be hungry on the train, and cabbed to Union Station. Wow, getting on the train in Chicago is a LOT different than getting on in Kalamazoo. It was crazy. But I finally got on, and I just got home about an hour ago.

So what a crazy week, and you can see by my description! I was kind of worried that we hadn't done enough, but now that I typed that all out I'd say we were pretty busy bodies. I'm very glad he came, and I'm already getting excited about seeing him in a few weeks.
Back to normal life tomorrow, after a nice sleep-in. I'll need to get to the gym, grocery shop, do some reading, etc. Off to bed now so I have the energy!