A Chicago Weekend

Since our daughter E lives in one of the many suburbs north of Chicago, we make this journey a few times a year. But we had another reason to head north and brave the holiday traffic this time. Dennis' dad, stepmom and sister were all going to be attending the EGA (Embroidery Guild of America) conference in downtown Chicago. Since they all live far way (Arkansas and Colorado) we wanted to take this opportunity to get together. Pat's business, The Stitcher's Workshop , had been chosen as the exclusive boutique for the conference and Dennis' sister Jody was there to help them set up and work the booth. I must say we were very impressed with the shop and all the work that Dad and Pat put into getting ready for this event. Here are a few photos of the boutique and some of the colorful displays of threads, beads and interesting canvases. Of course E, B and I all had to shop the boutique too! Even though we aren't "stitchers" the colors and textures were calling to us, so now in addition to my quilt stash, I have stitchery and beading stashes :) The girls will probably get their projects done before me. In fact, B started on hers in the car on the way home!

It has been quite a while since the girls and I have tackled the Magnificent Mile. We had a great time elbowing our way through the holiday tourists and browsing the stores. My biggest purchases were at the caramel corn shop and Ethel's Chocolates !

The weather was beautiful ! I don't think we've been downtown Chicago very many times when it was this nice. Usually it is freezing or windy - or both! Grandpa didn't mind having being photographed with two pretty granddaughters on the streets of Chicago!

The Greek Islands Restaurant - a fun place for a family meal !!

Grandpa and his girls !

We managed to do our share of eating this weekend too! On Saturday night it was Greek food at the Greek Islands Restaurant. They can serve your meal family style and we had a blast feasting on saganaki, tzatziki, taramasalata, pasticcio and several other delicious dishes. Then Sunday evening we went to the Weber Grill for a belated 25th anniversary celebration for Bill and Pat. My filet was superb! I know, I'm becoming obsessed with taking strange photos, but I really could cut this with my fork! We also had lunch on Monday at a Thai restaurant. So we had a global gastronomical weekend.

One more stop for the weekend was Hannah's Home Accents in Antioch, Illinois. We went to find some quilting fabric for a project that Pat is working on but they have much more than fabric. I was impressed by the large inventory of Crocs ! Check out their website and blog.


Now that I've bored you all with family photos this week's blog wouldn't be complete without a pet photo ! So here is my oldest "grand kitty" Decibel. She loves to sit on her mama's deck and watch the ground squirrels.


Thank you all for a great weekend - wish we could do this more often.