Mid-winter Break

This is my favorite time of February - 4 day weekend! I enjoyed my two days off from school this week due to mid-winter break, although they went by quickly. Thursday, I went over to Amy's to start scrapbooking my Puerto Rico trip pictures. I've never scrapbooked using all the crazy tools and whatnot, but it turned out pretty well. I finished about 5 or 6 pages.

Yesterday, my mom, Emily and I headed to Chicago for my mom's belated Christmas present. We got her a gift certificate to 1154 Lill Studio which is this cute little studio in the Lincoln Park neighborhood where you basically build your own purse and they sew it for you. A little pricey, but definitely fun idea.

I asked my Chicago-saavy friend, Christy for some restaurant ideas. After strolling Armitage and Halsted Avenues for some shopping, we found a little pasta restaurant, Pasta Palazzo, that was on Christy's list for lunch. I had some yummy homemade Spinach and ricotta ravioli, my mom had a portabella foccacia sandwich with side salad, and Emily had a Caesar salad and Chicken Noodle soup. Everyone was completely satisfied. Good suggestion, Christy.

The shopping in the area was fun. Each of us found somewhere we liked. My mom was super intrigued by Lush Soap Shop, she had to go in twice. It was a pretty good deal, when you bought so much soap, you could pick something from the "FREE" table. Emily enjoyed the Paul Frank Store and I found a great North Face down vest for 50% off, in pink! We rounded off our Chicago experience with a visit to the Patagonia store, where the winter clearance sale was going on, and the Crate and Barrel Outlet Store. Poor Emily was dragged through outdoor clothing and housewares...what could she hate more. We finished our day's adventure with a pit stop at the Pleasant Prairie Outlet Mall. Good bargains, once again.

This weekend, I have lots of correcting to do and lots of laundry. This week we have parent-teacher conferences, but Thursday night, we leave for sunny (I hope) California! More about that later.