Sunday is my favorite day of the week. Not night, but day. For one reason or another I always feel the most relaxed and at peace. If I had to pick just one day to live for the rest of my life, Sunday, you would be it. I never make more than vague plans just so I can move at my own pace and choose what to do at my whim.
I woke up this morning to blue skies, birds happily chirping outside my window and the sweet spot of temperature, 71 degrees. Not too hot, not too cold, just lovely.
I rolled down both windows on my car, slid back the sunroof and bumped Clipse's "Hello New World" on the way to gym. When the gym is empty, like it was this morning I always have the best workouts. My favorite elliptical machine is right in front of a large window overlooking the busy street below. Staring out onto the street below and looking up at the big blue sky is the ultimate reality television. 30 minutes and 4 miles later I felt refreshed rather than exhausted.
After eating breakfast, showering and browsing the Sunday Trib (damn, I got the GeoQuiz question wrong this week!) I headed back out to meet some friends in the Loop just to walk around. Despite there being a big marathon today (the "Shamrock Shuffle") the Loop was strangely quiet.
We made our way to Millenium Park where the Da Bean (in the pic above) looked positively radiant in the sunlight today. If you look closely you can see the mass of people clustered "inside" the Bean, which always makes me laugh since the best views can be had from the outside, but I guess people like the "house of mirrors" effect that can be had from within the sculpture.
The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is Chicago's other new, shiny toy and it looked almost surreal under the cloudless sky. Although I'm not a fan of classical music I'm promising myself that I will go out of my way to see at least one of the free performances by the Grant Park Orchestra this summer. If for no other reason I want to check out the acoustics (the steel structure over the lawn is used to hang speakers on) which apparently are better than many indoor venues.
Standing in Grant Park I always catch the scent of Lake Michigan when the wind shifts direction. We made our way to Burnham Harbor, which was nearly deserted except for a few people reading books or jogging on the path next to the lake. Usually the harbor is full of hundreds of boats moored to floating docks but since boating season has yet to begin it was tranquil. The water had a nice green/blue contrast to the white/blue sky, (that's Navy Pier in the upper right hand corner).
After heading back to the Loop I steered us over to H&M on State Street. It was funny going into that place with 2 straight dudes and after only a few minutes I could tell they felt uncomfortable. Despite the Christina Aguliara blaring from the speakers, they patiently waited for me to look around for some cheap clothes, (who-hoo, $20 for a hoodie and $21 for shorts!).
After that we made our way north to the House of Blues where I bought tickets to see Talib Kweli next week. I'm stoked...
All in all it was a fairly tame weekend, but a great one nonetheless. No crazy parties, boys or outrageous bar tabs; just good times with friends and lots of rest.
I woke up this morning to blue skies, birds happily chirping outside my window and the sweet spot of temperature, 71 degrees. Not too hot, not too cold, just lovely.
I rolled down both windows on my car, slid back the sunroof and bumped Clipse's "Hello New World" on the way to gym. When the gym is empty, like it was this morning I always have the best workouts. My favorite elliptical machine is right in front of a large window overlooking the busy street below. Staring out onto the street below and looking up at the big blue sky is the ultimate reality television. 30 minutes and 4 miles later I felt refreshed rather than exhausted.
After eating breakfast, showering and browsing the Sunday Trib (damn, I got the GeoQuiz question wrong this week!) I headed back out to meet some friends in the Loop just to walk around. Despite there being a big marathon today (the "Shamrock Shuffle") the Loop was strangely quiet.We made our way to Millenium Park where the Da Bean (in the pic above) looked positively radiant in the sunlight today. If you look closely you can see the mass of people clustered "inside" the Bean, which always makes me laugh since the best views can be had from the outside, but I guess people like the "house of mirrors" effect that can be had from within the sculpture.
The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is Chicago's other new, shiny toy and it looked almost surreal under the cloudless sky. Although I'm not a fan of classical music I'm promising myself that I will go out of my way to see at least one of the free performances by the Grant Park Orchestra this summer. If for no other reason I want to check out the acoustics (the steel structure over the lawn is used to hang speakers on) which apparently are better than many indoor venues.
Standing in Grant Park I always catch the scent of Lake Michigan when the wind shifts direction. We made our way to Burnham Harbor, which was nearly deserted except for a few people reading books or jogging on the path next to the lake. Usually the harbor is full of hundreds of boats moored to floating docks but since boating season has yet to begin it was tranquil. The water had a nice green/blue contrast to the white/blue sky, (that's Navy Pier in the upper right hand corner).
After heading back to the Loop I steered us over to H&M on State Street. It was funny going into that place with 2 straight dudes and after only a few minutes I could tell they felt uncomfortable. Despite the Christina Aguliara blaring from the speakers, they patiently waited for me to look around for some cheap clothes, (who-hoo, $20 for a hoodie and $21 for shorts!).
After that we made our way north to the House of Blues where I bought tickets to see Talib Kweli next week. I'm stoked...
All in all it was a fairly tame weekend, but a great one nonetheless. No crazy parties, boys or outrageous bar tabs; just good times with friends and lots of rest.
4 comments:
Chicago is a great place to have some quality rest and relaxation. Lots of cultural places, buildings to look at, and fun things to do.
Let me know how great the Talib Kweli concert was. The one song I enjoy from his early days is Reflection Eternal. Awesome song.
Laters.
i oh so miss chicago!
Nice pics. I'm hoping to make it up to chi-town before the summer heat sets in. I haven't been in over 10 yrs.
The city has changed A LOT in the last 10 years, mostly for the better.
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