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.

For a talkative gal, I have sure been quiet...

So I guess we can tell which one of my new years resolutions I'm failing at…blogging of course.  I’ll try to be better at this…promise!

We’ve had a busy month or so since I last wrote on here.  We travelled to D.C. to spend some quality time with the Kellys and to meet our beautiful new nieces, Miss Dylan and Miss June. It was lots of fun snuggling up with the 2 babes...you would think with work, it would get old but I just can’t seem to get enough! We also got to spend some much needed quality time with the boys! Apparently our toy washing machine christmas gift was a big hit with Hank, while I believe the babies may have been Gus' favorite gift. They really are the sweetest brothers and every time we see any of the nieces/nephews, they’ve all grown up so much and their personalities have developed more and more which is an unfortunate reminder that we just don’t get to see them enough! After what felt like a short visit, I left my poor sister in a house with no heat or power and 4 kids under the age of 4 and came back to chi-town. Some sister I am, right? Obviously there was a power outage and just when my night nurse skills could have come in use, I had to ditch the poor mama of 4 who had to spend 2 nights in a hotel with her family of 6! They survived and on the bright side, perhaps it perpetuated some serious family bonding!  

Sleeping beauties :)

Mr. Hank at Zoo Lights!

Sweet Gusser!

Bundled up for an afternoon stroll

Uncle Ryan on feeding duty 

Trying to stay warm in the only warm room in the house…its hard to see but thats Dylan snuggled up under the covers!

Ryan and I thought we may get by with a somewhat mild winter but then February came and with it, some sub zero, frozen temperatures and a little storm called Linus. We survived the storm (although, my work was offering up patient rooms for the nurses to sleep in overnight in case we couldn’t leave…ummm, no thank you…I told Ryan, I would walk home from work if that was the only option) and we even enjoyed the Super Bowl with some great friends! Linus was the most snow I’ve seen in a while and for a week or so, our terrace was snowed in under a foot or so of icy, hard snow. Such a delight!

Ryan's snowman

Don't worry about King…he
 wears his fur hat when it's cold outside!

Snowed in...

Because when else can you make
snow angels in the middle of the road? 

So far in 2015, Ryan and I have been out exploring the city, hanging with friends and enjoying newly wedded bliss. Keep your eyes peeled for a more detailed post on our endeavors and of course, stay warm!

Love, the Bensons XOXO