My cousin Karen was in town for a work conference and as luck would have it, was coming in on Sunday, so I basically invited myself over to her hotel in Chicago to have a sleep over.  A great way to make impromptu memories – we had so much fun!  All we do is laugh when we are together too.  I met her at the hotel Sunday afternoon and our first order of business was to get our nails done.  How swanky is the hotel lobby?!

I didn’t need a pedicure, but needed a manicure badly.  I had been getting gel manicures, but it’s basically ruined my nails – they are so brittle if I don’t keep up with it.  It’s been a month, and I finally just got a regular manicure and my nails feel fabulous.  I thought the color was more grey in the bottle, but I am liking this blue!  #treatyoself

We had nothing but time, so it was nice to leisurely walk back to the the loop to find a place to eat dinner.

I am still on a quest to try ALL the burgers in Chicago – ha!  This one was good, cooked medium rare, but not a whole lot of seasoning.  The sweet potato fries were a bit cold too, but I didn’t send it back, it was just what I needed not to eat the whole plate.  I ate half the burger, a few fries and a beer – dinner clocked in at 20 points.

I had to pick up my insulin before heading downtown, and I saw these tiny bottles of moscato (my cousin loves this sweet wine!) and for a gag I bought her two mini bottles – guess how much they cost?  .76 cents each! 

My cousin left basically right when I was waking up, so I literally had an hour and 45 minutes before I had to be at my desk – so much time!  I took a long shower, blew dried my hair, even put makeup on!  I was half tempted to order room service for myself, but thought about how many eggs I could buy for $30 and said “no thanks!”

I was trying to remember what I had in my work “pantry” and knew I had bananas, trail mix and peanut butter.  I stopped at Walgreen’s and picked up a $4 container of honey ham to have for the week, and two hard boiled eggs for $1.  I’ll be doing some grocery shopping tonight, because it’s slim pickings at home – I think I’ve gone two weeks without a full grocery shop.

The heat index was over 100 degrees so my sister and I walked Macy’s.  It always fascinates us that there are never any culinary events at the Culinary Center.  Even if you check out their upcoming events – there isn’t a single one.   I joked that Jenn and I should just start our own cooking show since it’s completely empty and see what happens! 😀  

Since I was downtown I obviously didn’t bring any food, but picked up this white chicken chili in the basement of Macy’s food court.  Holy balls was this good – the picture doesn’t do it any justice.  But, um, why have I never made chicken chili before?  It’s basically two #freestyle points for that serving – it has chicken (0) chicken broth (0) poblano peppers (0) white and black beans (0) – I basically counted it as 2 points because maybe they sauteed the chicken in oil.  Spicy, yet light and delish.  And yes, I realize it was 100 degrees but I can eat soup/chili 365 days a year – it’s not like I was eating it on the beach 😀

Yep, I need to clean the lens on my cell phone – ha!  Before I knew it, it was time to meet up with my cousin.  My Mom was meeting us downtown for dinner.  I was glad to see my Momma because she’s headed out of town for her SIXTIETH high school reunion!   How crazy is that?!

We ate at Randolph Tavern and they had a great beer tap list – I got this Beer Hates Astronauts by Half Acre.  So good!

Half Acre

Shocking – another burger!  My dinner was 25 points, but I only had 6 points going into dinner, so it’s all good.  I also ate half this burger – when I asked for medium rare, he told me that they serve their burgers “diner style” which meant that they were two thin patties – which makes me nervous.  I love a good thick medium rare patty, but I threw caution to the wind, and got the BBQ bacon burger.  

And can we talk about tots?  Please tell me that if you see tater tots on the menu that it is a no brainer that you get them?  My cousin couldn’t decide which side she wanted and I said “are we even related?!  You always get tots!”

The burger was delicious by the way – super flavorful and juicy.  Nice to know this place is only a few blocks from my office – this may be a regular stop for our Food Fun Friday.  It was great seeing you Karen – I’ll see her next month at our family reunion.  And safe travels Momma – I know I’ll talk to you before you leave.

It started raining when we were eating dinner, but we got a break while we walked Karen back to her hotel and then walked to the train station.  My Mom’s train and my train were 10 minutes apart.

Right after I took this picture, the heavens opened up and it started to pour – almost made it!

Check out my steps for the day – not too bad without a formal workout!

Hannah was my Uber driver – love her! Thanks for picking me up Hanners.

And a huge shout out to my new Instafriend Christina!  She noticed that my FUCK coffee mug had a crack in it, and she made me a new one!  You can check out her page here – she is super talented.  Thanks Christina!  And thanks to Tia for delivering it to me – she didn’t want me to think I was getting more hate mail.  Hugs girl!

It’s cool and rainy today – love it after the heat we’ve had.  Hope you have a great day friends – make it a great day!