3:30 am is really early (or late) depending on how you look at it yet I was up, in the process of getting dressed, and headed in Chicago for my first ever visit to the “windy city” (which as it turns out, isn’t so windy).
I normally don’t eat or drink before early morning flights so the Lynchburg, VA to Charlotte. NC and Charlotte, NC to Chicago, IL back-to-back flights were pretty miserable. (At least those parts where I wasn’t sleeping were). But, I was in Chicago bright an early, found my ground transportation, and headed into the city.
Chicago was bustling and crowded at 9:30am and I found myself getting really antsy in the car. I texted back and forth with my roommate for the weekend, Andrea. We had never met in real life of course but had been communicating non-stop in the weeks leading up to the Healthy Living Summit (HLS). I was pretty jazzed to meet her and even though I had maybe the slowest driver in the history of the world we finally pulled up to the Congress Plaza Hotel on Michigan Avenue.
Photo by Run, Eat, Date, Sleep
To say the hotel is interesting would be an understatement. The hotel is straight up creepy. It’s rumored to be one of Chicago’s most haunted hotels. Back in the day it was frequented by Al Capone, there is a supposed hidden passage in the hotel, and the hallways look like they are straight out of The Shining. Red Rum anyone?
As soon as I made it into the lobby I found Andrea right away. I didn’t know anyone who would be at HLS so I started introducing myself. Someone pointed out my “southern accent” first thing which I never thought I had. I kind of got a kick out of that because I am very “non-southern” in terms of my speech when compared to many other people in my life! I met several very cool bloggers including Lindsay, JT, Shannon, and of course my roomie. Everyone was so fun
and smart and health/fitness minded. It was kind of neat to find out what everyone did “in real life” for work and talk about our weekend plans. After some discussion we decided to meet up with Angela and several other girls to do some walking, take some photos, and have some lunch.
Chicago was hot on Friday. It’s that simple. I of course had on a black dress so I felt like I might just burst into flames at any moment. But it was my first time in Chicago so I was determined to get in some sight seeing. Chicago is a really visual city. I felt like there was something to see around every turn. (like that random eyeball or some really cool building)
We walked down to Millennium Park to check out some of the art and other cool sights.
I love the fountains right at Millennium Park. There were tons of people running through the water and playing under the fountains. The kids were loving it. The fountains reflect faces (which I hear is pretty cool at night) and the mist felt fantastic. I could not resist taking off my shoes and getting my toes wet.
After a little more sight seeing we made it to “The Bean”. The Bean is actually something called Cloud Gate. However, it is affectionately referred to as “The Bean” which makes me laugh. I love nicknames for people and things so this was cute. It’s hard not to be fascinated by The Bean. You can take groovy photos of the city, each other, or even yourself when you are under or near The Bean. I dare you to get close to it and NOT take a photo of yourself. You totally will.
As cool as The Bean was I totally lost interest because I was starving. Luckily a couple other girls were feeling my pain so we took off and headed to lunch. We stopped at the first decently healthy option we stumbled upon which was Café Bachi. I picked up a turkey, honey, and pickle hot pressed panini, fruit salad, and juice.
Can I just say how much fun it is to eat lunch out with other food/health bloggers??? Everyone photographs their food. I love that!
After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap. Much needed. Did I mention it was much needed? Andrea and I had been up for hours plus we had gained an extra hour with the time change so we really needed a power nap. Luckily we woke up in plenty of time to head out to LaSalle Power Company for a cocktail event hosted by Open Sky.
You know I love Open Sky (visit my store here) and they did a wonderful job of making us feel welcome. The food was great, the location was fun, and I heart free drinks (hellooo margarita).
This was technically our dinner so I grabbed a mini turkey burger, some roasted red pepper hummus, chicken skewers, salad, and a small piece of vegetarian quesadilla (not pictured). Very Yummy!
The party was a great time to meet the people whose blogs I read everyday or every week. I was super excited to meet Melissa from Crunches for Cupcakes (I felt like a stalker making sure it was her before I mosey-ed over to say hi), Leslie from And Her Little Dog Too and Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point.
Meeting Caitlin was a really cool experience. Caitlin has written a book and is extremely successful. She was completely down to earth and very approachable. Meeting her has definitely 110% gotten me on board with the Operation Beautiful movement. It’s a great message and I can’t wait to order my copy of her book. It was also inspiring to me because (as you regular readers already know) I struggle a lot though this fitness journey/process. Having someone sort of reinforce the positives is huge! This was just the first of many inspiring moments for me throughout the weekend.
The rest of the night was fun and everyone seemed to have a great time.
After the party we took a cab back to the hotel to get some rest. The 2010 Healthy Living Summit would start bright and early. Stop by tomorrow for my tales of swag, oatmeal, core yoga fusion, a break-down, a vegan bar, a shift in focus, and my tiny tiny computer envy.
Have A Happy And Healthy Wednesday!
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