I’ve made true to my promise to get out and enjoy Chicago more, even in this wonderful Chicago winter weather. A few of our favorite things that we’ve done/gone to this last month are:

Kingston Mines:  An awesome 5 am (on Saturdays) Jazz and Blues Bar. Who am I kidding, we are old and I think we left prior to midnight but it was still amazing and I will most definitely be coming back here again. It’s a $12 - $15 cover charge depending on the night you go and you get to listen to great music. They have 2 stages and flip flop between both with live music throughout the night!

Champs while enjoying the play!

Royal George Theatre: Ryan and I went here on Valentines Day weekend and enjoyed a comedy play called First Date…not quite sure we could relate to it as well as others considering we haven’t been on a first date since 2007 but it was still awesome. The play is about a blind date and it plays out in real time and takes your through all the funny things/awkward moments that happen on dates that we hear about all the time through our friends. Plus, the Royal George Theatre is super cute, small and there isn’t a bad seat in the house.

Dinosaur Sue

Field History Museum: We hung out with Dinosaur Sue and my favorite, enjoyed the rare jewel exhibit.

Bottle and Bottega: I gifted one of my close friends a night here and we happened to cash it in and celebrate my other friend Alexandra’s birthday sipping on wine while painting  our masterpieces. It was fun, although I’ll admit, I was a little stressed out and quickly discovered that perhaps the painting we picked was a little advanced and my OCD NICU nurse tendancies may not be well suited in a timed painting class. Unfortunately, we painted more than we drank but we did make up for that later. My only complaint is that we went on a night where our picture options were nothing that I would ever chosen to hang up in my house and if you decide to paint a different picture, you won’t get the direction that you really need but it was still fun nonetheless and a great girls night out.

Harnessing my inner artist

Tea at the Drake: Perks of working night shift/being a nurse….you work 3 days a week and that allows you all sorts of time to do fun activities with your best friends when you off and everyone else is working. I have wanted to do High Tea at the Drake for a while now and I will most definitely be coming back and doing this again. It was awesome and a great activity in the winter! It was a tad expensive but that may have been because we drank more bellinis than tea.

Besides looking like a line backer in my fur vest, it was a classy affair! 

Bellinis with best friends :)

Up next? While Ryan has gotten to ice skate this year a few times, I still haven’t gotten to try out  ice-skating at Maggie Daly park and so I plan to do this on an off day when there isn’t an hour long wait for skate rentals. This weekend we plan to go to a bar where you can partake in turtle racing…sounds like a hoot so why not? Then, Ryan and I are off to beer fest and perhaps we will squeeze in speakeasy called Violet Hour.