Monthly Archives: July 2011

By the time we made our way from the River to Willis Tower, I wasn’t really feeling that good.  Chicago is great, summer time is great, being pregnant is great (actually amazing!), but being in Chicago in the summer while pregnant is not always that great!  I was overly hot, overly tired, and kind of ready to be done.

On our way to Willis Tower!

Fortunately, the line for Willis Tower wasn’t that bad and after minimal waiting in line we got to head up to the observation deck!

Both of us had been to the observation deck at Willis Tower before, but that was back when it was Sears tower and way before they had the Sky Ledge!

Sky Ledge at Willis Tower

The Sky Ledge is a series of glass platforms extended out over the edge of the building that allow visitors to walk out and look straight down to the city below! It was also interesting to be able to walk 360 degrees around the building and check out the changing view!

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In addition to the Sky Ledge, the whole observation deck had been updated since I’d been there to give it a much more modern and clean look.  There were also more historical exhibits lining the inside walls.

Once we finished with Willis Tower we headed back out into the heat and found some lunch and ice cream before heading to the train station.

Even though we’d taken the train up to Chicago, we were scheduled to take the bus back to Bloomington because they were finishing up work on the tracks.  This wasn’t that big of a deal for us, except there was some miscommunication about how we were to be notified that we could board the bus. Because of this we were almost the last ones on the bus!  Luckily we still found two seats together, but once we got seated I noticed a sign saying the restroom was out of order.  This was definitely not good because I knew there was no way I could make it out of Chicago, much less to Bloomington without going to the bathroom (ah, the joys of pregnancy!).

I hurried back off the bus and told the driver that I was running to the bathroom and would be right back.  He looked at his watch and told me he was leaving at exactly 6PM (it was @ 10 minutes till).  I told him that I was pregnant and there was no functioning restroom on the bus and I would be back as soon as I could.  I then literally ran through the train station to the restroom and then back to the bus, making it back with a few minutes to spare! The rest of the trip was uneventful and the driver actually got the restrooms working before we left Chicago!

Overall our Chicago trip was a lot of fun and an excellent way to spend our last childless anniversary!

After our crazy busy Friday, Saturday was a much more relaxed day!

We didn’t set the alarm and had a leisurely morning before getting breakfast (at the hotel again) and heading to the Spa Space on North Canal.

Ready for some relaxation!

When planning our Chicago trip, James found the Spa Space and liked their 3.5 hour “Spa Lovers” couples package.  Below is the description from their website:

Begin your spa day together, receiving our signature “Art of Touch” – an instructional massage session for couples. In a candlelit room, you will learn massage techniques especially designed for the needs of your partner, and then receive massage from your partner and a massage therapist. Next, contemplate what you’ve learned as you each receive a one hour Swedish Massage from a professional massage therapist. You will be reunited in our private dual pedicure room. Bask in the romance!

We both enjoyed the instructional massage session, me possibly more than James just because my part (where I got the massage from James and the masseuse) was focused on relieving the different aches and pains caused by pregnancy!  It was also nice because I got to go second, so I literally got a 45 minute massage from James and the masseuse and then went to another room where I got a 60 minutes individual Swedish massage!

Our Swedish massages were very relaxing and by the time we met up again for our pedicures we were both in pretty good moods. This was James’ first pedicure and while I think he was ok with it, I think he definitely prefers facials!  I on the other hand prefer pedicures, so it was heaven for me… and made my toes look pretty!

After our spa treatments were over, we headed back to the hotel and then for an early dinner.  I wanted something hearty and filling (and close), so we decided on Pizano’s Pizza & Pasta and were not disappointed!  The helpings were huge, flavorful, and definitely hit the spot!

We then went back to the hotel and I caught a quick nap before getting ready for our Saturday evening’s entertainment.

About 180 degrees from the family fun of Blue Man Group, for Saturday night we headed to Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood for “A Nude Hope: A Star Wars Burlesque.”

This is what we're going to see!!!

I’ve wanted to go to a burlesque show for quite some time and while this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, James was searching the internet for things to do in Chicago thought this sounded fun.  The show was playing at the Gorilla Tango Theatre, which is a ways out from downtown, but literally right off the Western Blue Line (subway).

Taking the subway to the theatre

The area was a little rougher than the rest of our adventures in Chicago, but it wasn’t too bad and overall I felt fine with the little bit of walking we had to do.

When we got to the theatre, the previous show had just ended so there were a lot of people milling around from the previous show and a number of people already waiting for the next show (9pm).  Shortly before 9pm they opened the doors and we made our way inside.

Outsie the Gorilla Tango Theatre

To say the theatre was tiny is to put it mildly. Including the stage, the entire theatre was about 40ftX30ft (or as James put it, classroom size).

View of the stage from our seats!

Yet what the theatre lacked in size, the performers made up in enthusiasm, confidence, and lots of humor!  As a female I know how self-conscious most of us are and for the ladies of “A Nude Hope” to get up there and rock their stuff, regardless of their size and shape, it was truly inspiring.  The ladies weren’t the Playmate pin-up type, but regular women who were comfortable in their own skin and enjoyed what they were doing.

The show parodied the original 1977 Star Wars (AKA – Star Wars: A New Hope) and actually did a pretty good job hitting all the main scenes (Leia’s capture and the recording of her SOS on R2-D2; Luke finding the message and then Obi-Wan Kenobi; bar scene where they meet Han Solo; rescuing Leia from the Death Star; Obi-Wan’s death at the hands of Darth Vader; destroying the Death Star; Leia awarding Luke and Han medals for their heroism), as well as a few smaller scenes thrown in to help keep the show moving along.

The main feel of the show was a healthy mixture of dirty humor, Star Wars parody humor, and of course some sexy burlesque action! Each scene normally started with sexy (but covering) clothing, but by the middle to end, it would be down to pasties and some type of sexy bottom covering (underwear, boy shorts, etc…).

The audience was great and really got into it! Everyone cheered at the right parts and there was no judgement, only enjoyment and a lot of laughs!  Yet, if you weren’t a Star Wars fan or hadn’t at least seen the movies, the show made little to no sense.  Unfortunately, this was the case for James who had never seen the movies and didn’t really even know who the characters were.

Yes, I know, go ahead and be shocked. I have no idea what rock he’s been living under for the past 34 years (since Star Wars came out).  And yes, he should turn in his computer programming license because of this. 🙂

Luckily my enjoyment of the evening (and the partial female nudity) helped ease his pain!

Once the show was over, we made our way back to the subway and headed to the hotel. Overall we both had a good evening and definitely thought the show was worth seeing!

After the Cubs game we headed to the hotel to get cleaned up and then back to the Old Town district for Blue Man Group at the Briar Street Theatre.  Neither of us had seen the Blue Man Group, but had heard good things about it so we were looking forward to our evening.

Briar Street Theatre - Picture from Google Maps Street view

We took the subway as close as we could get and then walked the rest of the way to the theatre.  We were more than an hour early, so we went ahead and picked up our tickets from the box office and then decided to look around the neighborhood for some dinner.

After walking around a little bit we came across Windy City Burgers, just down the street from Blue Man.  I figured it was safe and James would like it, so we decided to give it a try.  James got a lamb burger and I got the grilled chicken Caesar salad.  It took forever to get our food and when we did get it James’ was good, mine was not. In fact it wasn’t a Caesar salad at all, just a regular (not that good in the first place) salad that didn’t even have the Caesar dressing on it; I had to ask for it.  Thus after eating, I was not satisfied at all and told James I needed ice cream.  He remembered a Baskin Robin’s back the other way, so we headed off on the hunt for ice cream.  Luckily the ice cream was just a little past Blue Man in the other direction, which left us with plenty of time to get our treats (I got ice cream and James got an icee – which was awful he said) and get back to the theatre.

We finished our treats in front of the theatre and then headed inside.  Our seats ended up being pretty good – Ground floor, Middle front, and towards the center of theatre. In all honest though, I don’t think there was a bad seat in the house.  The theatre is so intimate (aka small) that every seat had a good view of the stage.

The show started on time, but allowed for some late comers by integrating a funny soft-start to the show that involved a lot of humor and audience participation.  From there it just got even better.  It’s hard to describe the crazy amazingness of it, but here are some of the themes (per Wikipedia):

• Science and technology, especially the topics of plumbing, fractuals, human sight, DNA, and the Internet.

• Information overload and information pollution, such as when the audience is asked to choose one of three simultaneous streams of information to read.

• Self-conscious and naïve imitations of cultural norms, such as attempting to stage an elegant dinner for an audience member with Twinkies

I loved the music intertwined throughout the whole show and the amazing creativity definitely kept you on your toes wondering what they were going to do next! Unfortunately they were VERY clear about no pictures or video, so I instead I’ve included a few YouTube video’s that illustrate some of the fun we had!

This one is of their “Drumbone” routine that really illustrates how much music and creativity play into what they do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOL8-qIYemg&feature=related

This video is an example of the finale where they have huge bouncy balls that people bounce around the theatre from row to row, as well as the toilet paper type streamers that go out through the whole audience:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYeliiewYLA

Yet, the bet part was that James truly enjoyed the show.  There were a number of parts that he was laughing so much he had tears rolling down his cheeks!  I actually caught myself watching him watch the show because it was so fun to see him enjoying himself so much!

After the show we were happily exhausted from our long (but fun) day and relaxed on our quiet subway ride back to the hotel.

Riding the subway back to the hotel

Even though our anniversary was on Monday, back in May we had decided to celebrate our anniversary the following weekend by going to Chicago! It started with me wanting to take James to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field on Friday (the 15th) and ended up with us planning a Thursday-Sunday Chicago adventure!

To make the most of our time in Chicago, we decided to take the train into town Thursday evening.  We got to the train station in plenty of time, but our train was running 40 minutes late! Luckily when it did arrive we were able to find two seats together and settled in for a relaxing trip.  I read the whole way and James alternated between playing on the iPad (which he originally didn’t want me to bring) and looking at the track construction going on on the other set of tracks.

Once we made it to Chicago, we found a CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) ticket kiosk and bought two 72 hour passes.  We planned on going all over Chicago and recognized we would save a lot of money by not only taking the bus and subway, but getting the 72 hour pass.  The passes were $14/each and each trip on public transportation is $2.50.  Thus we’d only have to take public transportation 6 times to more than break even!

After getting our passes, we then walked (I know it sounds funny, but I needed to walk after the sitting on the train) the almost mile to the hotel. We decided to stay at the Silversmith, which is literally right around the corner from Palmer House, but feels  much more exclusive and is literally right next to a subway station for easy access around the city.

We quickly got settled into our room (which was on the opposite side from the subway luckily!) and headed to bed! We knew we had a long and busy day planned for tomorrow!