Chicago was a blast. Friday night we went out for a fancy evening with his friends from work. Dinner was at a place called Tapas, and I now understand how city folk stay so thin. The entire evening was a bunch of little appetizers that you share and sample. The meat and other veggies were sliced into 2mm thick transparent sheets, and it was all about the experience rather than the food. It was fun to eat, but definitely not a filling meal. Later we all went to a piano bar for martinis. Austin ordered a cigar with very little coaxing, to puff on without inhaling. I don't think he really savored it, but wanted to try it so he wouldn't look like a total novice when hanging out with his new brother-in-law. The large manly bodybuilding friend had a lemon drop, while the teeny little runner friend got entirely smashed after two drinks. I felt like Austin and I were the men of the group, drinking manly martinis with olives and smoking cigars.

Other fun things done during the weekend included a Cubs game, a ride on the L, a trip to a paper shop and a finalized wedding invitation, a nice sushi dinner, firework watching from Navy Pier, my first-ever Jamba Juice, homemade chocolate-chip cookies, and Austin buying power tools. Austin was grinning from ear-to-ear almost the entire weekend, and I think he had a lot of fun. It was a good vacation to just be ourselves together, and I was sad to go home. But, this week is a short one and there's some possible dress-shopping at the end of it. The book I bought the other day is VERY good, and I feel a lot more prepared walking into the maw of the beast now.