My private cabana.

I’ve finally dug myself out of the two feet of snow and am ready to face the world again! It’s in the 60s here this week. Crazy? Yes.

I feel bulleted updates are the best way to share what’s been going on.

•  My bruised nail (from an August vacation incident) finally grew out enough for me to get my nails painted something besides You Don’t Know Jacque or Chinchilly. Don’t get me wrong—I love gray. But hello, My Private Cabana! You’re a sight for sore eyes. If you’re looking for a great spring color, I highly recommend any of the Essie pinks. I heart them. 

Essie: My Private Cabana and a V-Day gift from my fantastic parents! It's a beautiful pink ring.

• I got some lovely Valentine’s gifts from my parents and the boy. I heart them, too.

They were supposed to be hot pink. Maybe next time.

• Friday night, I got to spend some time with two fabulous ladies that I don’t see enough! I promptly got a spray tan Saturday after taking photos this night.

Katie, Scarlet, Allison.

• We went to see Mamma Mia Saturday night. So good.

I totally cut off the bottom because it was bad.
I made Mr. A take a picture like this, too. I will spare him this time.

• I’m still doing the weight loss challenge at work. The two weeks of BAD weather was … um …. a slight set back. I weighed today (the last time I weighed in was Jan. 26), and I only lost .2 pounds. So my total percentage is 3.56.
• I'm going to back to blogging every day. I promise.

Happy Wednesday!

Chicago: The middle part II.

Day three was NYE. So, let's start at the end of the night and work our way backwards.

Ciroc Party at The Drake Hotel
I personally think this party was totally worth the $155 a ticket price tag. The music was fantastic. There were four rooms to choose from. Drinks were plentiful (and so was the food--we had Burrito Beach for dinner, so I didn't partake. By the way, I don't recommend Burrito Beach unless you only eat the guacamole). And everyone was dancing! My kind of party.

The best part of the night might have been the walk home. I made a point to say "Happy New Year" to each person we passed. Sometimes, I even added "ya'll." Amazingly, every single person said something pleasant back. And we stopped for pink frosted donuts at the Dunkin' Donuts across from our hotel. Did I mention we also stopped at 7/11 for ramen-in-a- cup? Because we did.

This was at our hotel before we made the brisk walk to The Drake Hotel.

A beautiful tree in the lobby of The Drake. Yep, that's my slip hanging out. At least I wore one, right?

This was our favorite of the four ballrooms.

Party time. This was after the balloon drop.

Self portrait.

Thanks random people who totally offered to take our picture.
I didn't even ask. This was RIGHT after midnight.

Self portrait. Again.

Let's celebrate!

Museum of Science and Industry

After a long bus ride to Soldier Field, we took a taxi to the museum. Total tourists who hadn't yet figured out the bus system.  Plus, we were starving.

U-505 sub.

I fit right in.



There was another cow you could milk.

We're so much bigger now.

His veins.

Her veins.

We did a flight simulator, and we were an awesome team.

Transportation room.

Who knew?

Soldier Field Tour
When we left the hotel, we quickly realized we had no time for breakfast. Uh oh. I'm a grumpy hungry person. However, the tour was so much fun that I forgot about the fact that I was starving. That is until the second it was over and we walked around the entire stadium trying to find the bus stop. You guessed it. We decided to take a taxi to our next stop.

Our entry gate.

Help! I'm injured. I wore the wrong shoes for the football stadium.

Visitors' locker room.

Soldier boy.

 I promise I didn't take as many photos on our last full day.

Home again, home again.

I heart Chicago.

And I promise I will get back to regular posting. As soon as I catch up at work on this Monday and unpack tonight.

For now, I will leave you with these lovely photos of Chicago 2010.

I will do more posts on Chicago as well as recap my fantastic family Christmas. So that's a whole week of posts that I don't even have to worry about coming up with something to write about!

Happy New Year, ya'll! (I might have obnoxiously said this exact phrase to every. single. person. on our walk back to our hotel after the NYE party.)

Day one: We arrived around 9:30 a.m. We checked into the hotel, took a quick nap, and left the hotel to explore the area. Our hotel was on Ontario (a block off Michigan Avenue--the Magnificent Mile). These are all day one photos (except the last collage photo).

Our plane was new! And look at all the leg room. I love the exit row.

I think this was in the Hancock Tower.



Fashion photography exhibit in the Water Tower building.

Fashion photography exhibit in the Water Tower building.

On the bridge over the Chicago River.