Thinking Out Loud #55

Hello hello hello! Happy Thinking Out Loud Thursday. And, wow, it’s been under a week since I’ve talked to you, but it feels a lot longer because so much has happened.

Don’t get too excited. Nothing huge. Just a weekend getaway and some catch-up afterward. But now I’m going to tell you all about it. Grab some cookies and settle in for pictures and random ramblings about the last week.

1.) When we last talked, my mom and I were headed to Chicago for the weekend. (Spoiler: it was so fun!) When we weren’t chatting, our road trip entertainment was listening to Defending Jacob. We finished it on Tuesday, and we both really enjoyed it. Grover Gardner does an excellent job narrating and injects the right amount of humor into a fairly serious book.

2.) After battling a teeny bit of Friday afternoon traffic to get into the city, we arrived at our hotel and I ran off to go meet Susie for dinner at The Chicago Diner.

I ordered a big, messy, tasty Soul Bowl. It had mashed sweet potatoes, black beans, scrambled tofu, sautéed kale, chimichurri sauce, and avocado. It was huge and wonderful, and I demolished it all.

Side note: I have had tofu all of two times in my life, and I’m a little bit skeptical in general, but this was freaking delicious. It was like scrambled eggs, and I could eat it every day.

And, of course, my company was amazing. I adore Susie and we just don’t stop talking when we’re together. Except sometimes to take bites. 🙂 She pointed out that we have no pictures together, despite having met up several times, sooo I guess we’ll need to hang out again. 

For an explanation of how I approached the whole Paleo thing while we traveled, check this out!

3.) On Saturday morning, my mom and I got up, fueled up, and walked a lot.

{Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, fresh salsa, thick bacon, and half an avocado}

{We wanted to be on a boat.}

{I kinda love this skyline.}

{Perhaps Converse weren’t the best choice for the beach…}

{… but the views were pretty great.}

{Just a little past the planetarium.}

4.) All that walking amounted to about 9 miles. We got back to the hotel, ate a quick lunch, drank a lot of water, and then I accidentally fell asleep for about an hour and a half.

{Snapchat: elleneveryday}

When my mom saw me asleep, she decided to take a nap, too. Aaaand the naps changed our plans a little bit. See, I intended to take her to Au Cheval for amazing burgers, but we were both feeling a little more lazy than that. Since Susie recommended a few restaurants near the hotel, we decided to stick with those and save the burgers for sometime when my dad is with us.

5.) So, we walked to The Windsor for dinner.

The crab and avocado toast was ridiculously amazing, and the asparagus and mahi mahi were also really good. But the combination of crab and avocado is such a winner.

6.) We somehow managed to forget sunscreen and were both pretty badly burnt, so we swung by Walgreens after dinner to get aloe and sunscreen. Racerback top + cross-back bra + tiny backpack straps = hilarious tan lines.

7.) After an early bedtime, we got up bright and early to beat the crowd at Millennium Park and get some good pictures. My mom probably got better pictures, because that’s her thing.

{I got a whole side to myself and had to document it.}

8.) We walked back to the planetarium and actually went in this time. PSA: Unless you really love space, there’s no need to hit the planetarium. It’s cool, but really small. Even though we read extensively about most of the exhibits, took some pictures, and watched a show, we were only there for a little over an hour.

9.) After walking back, cooling down, and getting ready, we ate an early dinner at another Susie-recommended restaurant: D4 Irish Pub.

I got a plate of smoked salmon, roasted cauliflower, and sweet potato fries. The cauliflower was “eh”, and I didn’t eat it. However, I savored every bite of the salmon. And that picture doesn’t show how deep that basket of sweet potato fries is, but it was the size of my slightly-larger-than-average head and I ate all but the crumbs.

Best. Sweet potato fries. Ever.

10.) Dinner was early because we needed to catch a boat for our architecture tour.

Long story short, the tour was a huge disappointment. The departure was delayed due to a busy weekend on the river, and we spent half the tour waiting to get on and off the lake. It was supposed to be a lake and river tour, and we spent almost all of the time on the lake. Basically, there wasn’t a whole lot of varied architecture to see. (We’ve since been refunded and have a free tour next time.)

Apparently, the holiday weekend was not the best time to be on the water. That said, it was a beautiful and relaxing evening activity after two consecutive days of walking about 11 miles.

11.) On Monday morning, we went to nearby Stan’s and Do-Rite to sample lots of doughnuts and swung by Garrett’s to get some popcorn to take back home.

My favorite was the plain old-fashioned one in the center, but there were lots of tasty options. 🙂

12.) And with that, we headed home! My mom and I concluded that we can officially travel anywhere together. We enjoy exploring and eating good food, and don’t need to jam-pack our schedules with activities to have fun. It was a great time.

13.) On Tuesday, I had an appointment with my Ehlers-Danlos doctor. I didn’t learn a whole lot, but I did realize that at this point, my meetings with him are simply check-ins and I have to look elsewhere if I want help managing symptoms.

14.) My Wednesday appointment was way more exciting (for me). I went to a runner’s clinic to help me figure out how to run safely for my slightly crazy body.

It was great! Why? First, this team of doctors has worked with Ehlers-Danlos patients before (a rarity). Also, I got a whole bunch of information about how I can stabilize the annoyingly loose parts of my body in order to run more and better. 

With a nutrition consult, foot analysis, form analysis, and lots of strength tests, I’d call it a very valuable use of time. And they send patients a full summary of the visit and the videos they take. If you’d be interested in a more thorough explanation of my appointment at the clinic and what I learned, let me know and I’ll absolutely share!

15.) If you made it this far, you are great. I hope you have a wonderful Thursday and I’ll talk to ya tomorrow!

Cake or yeast doughnuts?

How was your weekend? Tell me all about it!