As stated in my last post, I recently turned I celebrated my 30th birthday with my childhood friends in Chicago. We did a lot in 48 hours so I thought I would share what we did!
FRIDAY
I flew out of Atlanta around 3:30pm. Got to Chicago around 4pm CST. We dropped my bags off at my friend's apartment. She has a beautiful rooftop view, so we checked it out.
We changed and got ready for dinner. We went to the Chinatown Square. It's a two-story outdoor mall with an endless amount of stores and restaurants. I could have spent all day here just window shopping! We explored a little bit before our dinner reservation.
We got dinner at Minghin Cuisine and had the most yummy dim sum and drinks. I had sake for the second time in my life (my first time was the night before back home lol).
We decided that we were going to get Labubus (this generation's beanie babies...sort of). Unfortunately, we weren't going to be able to get them that day, so we decided to go shopping for outfits and accessories for our future Labubus at L&D Handmade. I got a mini Chanel purse for mine (Yes, we are all grown adults).
In the center of the square, there are bronze zodiac sculptures, so I took a picture with my sign.
The night was still young (it was 10:30pm) so we went to The Pearl Club for a nightcap. It had the best ambiance and drinks.
SATURDAY
We woke up and got ready for the day. We grabbed breakfast at Swadesi and that was probably my favorite meal of the trip. It was so good! The breakfast sandwich is what they are known for and it was worth the hype.
Next, we went on an Architecture Tour through the company First Lady. I was under the impression that it was a walking tour, but then I found out it was a boat tour, lol. The weather was perfect and it was so cool to learn about the backstory of the architecture of the buildings!
We did some shopping and headed back to the apartment. We took a power nap and started getting ready for drinks at the rooftop at The Godfrey Hotel. It wasn't quite a rooftop, but it still had great views of the Chicago skyline!
Next we went to dinner at LÝRA. We weren't starving so we shared a bunch of dishes. It was so good. My friends mentioned it was my birthday, so they gave me a sparkler and dessert!
We came back to the apartment after dinner. We took another power nap and started getting ready to pregame and go out again for the night. We ended up spending the rest of our night at Beauty Bar. It was the first time I had experience the nightlife since I got married, so it felt different but nostalgic of my early 20s... Waiting in line to get in, waiting in line to use the bathroom, and dancing with my girlfriends. Total flashback to college, haha. Although I did feel old and it was kind of concerning when I noticed the kids not recognizing Missy Elliott.
SUNDAY
We slept in and then headed towards The Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue to look at the high end/designer stores. It's one of the most iconic shopping areas in the world according to Google. I wasn't planning on getting anything, but I walked into Coach and walked out with a beautiful purse. I know Coach isn't what people normally think if when they think of designer, but as someone who has never cared about designer (still to this day, I don't really care lol) and walk around with purses from TJ Maxx regularly, this was a pretty special purchase for me! Felt like the start of a new era (not a new era of me buying designer clothes and accessories lol but just a new beginning).
I had no idea Chicago had a Popmart, so we had to stop by and see this infamous store. Popmart is the exclusive retailer for Labubus, but unfortunately they stopped carrying them in store because of the crazy customers. It was still cool to see them in person though! Labubus are a lot cuter in real life than they do on the website.
Our final stop was the Starbucks Reserve. I saw on social media that there was a new tiramisu latte that was exclusive to the Reserve locations, so I had to go try it for myself. It was good and something I could probably drink again, but it was nothing special. It just felt like another Starbucks drink. But I'm glad I got to try it!
I had never gone to a Starbucks Reserve, so that was pretty cool! I had no idea it was so big. I wish we had been able to spend more time there, but I unfortunately had a flight to catch.
And that concludes my 48-hour trip to Chicago. Grateful for my wonderful friends for making it such a fun trip! Hopefully I can go back soon! A part of me wishes that I could live here. Maybe one day.
Here is a summary of all the places I went to if you are also interested in going:
- Chinatown Square
- Minghin Cuisine (in Chinatown)
- L&D Handmade (in Chinatown)
- The Pearl Club
- Swadesi
- Architecture Tour (through First Lady)
- The Godfrey Hotel
- LÝRA
- The Beauty Bar
- The Magnificent Mile
- Coach (on Magnificent Mile)
- Popmart (on Magnificent Mile)
- Starbucks Reserve (on Magnificent Mile)
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