A Tribute to the Weekend

There's something about the weekend that makes me happy and giddy and feel as if I'm in elementary school again.  There's something about Friday, knowing that there's "freedom" in the schedule, or at least "fun" things to do in the next few hours and days.  I love the weekend.  I love the time that I get to spend with my husband and friends.  I love the time that I get to spend with my church family and my sweet small group gals.  Did I mention that I love the weekend???  Here lately, I've been loving the weekend even more as my schedule has gone haywire on me, leaving me out of breath, looking both ways and wondering what just happened.  You might've caught on to that feeling if you've visited around here lately - you came and all you saw was...nothing.  All you heard were...crickets.  Stinks.  There are LOTS of things I have my mind set on, with little time to do them.  Boo-hoo.  Yeah, I know, a "shut-up, Kari" is in order.  Hold on a sec, I need to go get my big-girl pants on.

Okay, I'm back!  So, because I haven't been here to talk about my great weekends, today is the day.  A couple of weeks ago my good friends, Carly and Ryan came here for a visit.  This was their first time coming to visit Stephen and I and it happened to be the weekend after my sister and her husband came and the week same week of the blizzard.  Snowcalypse 2011 didn't stop Carly and Ryan (they're brave souls ;)  ) and I'm so glad it didn't!  To be honest, I was a little apprehensive of having weekend visitors back-to-back.  Especially after coming off the Food Weekend, 2011 we had the week before.  When my sister and her husband were in town, we successfully ate our weight in greasy Chicago food.  I was worried about what the weekend would bring with a second set of out-of-towners...would I be eating Chicago-stuffed pizza again?  While my mouth watered, my thighs shuddered at the thought.
All that time I was unsure of what the weekend would hold for me and my dear friends, and the worrying ended up being a waste of time!  Turns out that Ryan and Carly's visit happened to be the most low-key visit.  Ever.
They came in on Thursday night.  All the snow had fallen on Tuesday and Wednesday but Carly and Ryan weren't scurrd.  We ended up having to shovel a spot to nestle their car in for the weekend as the streets were still covered in snow.  After successfully tucking their car in for the night, we went in and enjoyed a little time catching up.
On Friday, there was no rush or hurry - no agenda...well, except maybe for Stephen - he had to work.  We just woke up whenever and hung around the apartment, spending time filling each other in on life and just sharing ideas, thoughts and stories.  It was great!  Ryan really wanted to get sushi for lunch.  While Stephen and I love sushi, it's one of those things that we go to in All-You-Can-Eat style (I married a human vacuum) and I was in the market to try something new.  I yelped a sushi place close to our apartment and we had SUCCESS!  We went to a little place on Clark, called Toro.  With 485 reviews and an average of 4.5 stars, I was sold.  The sushi was great and the price tag was little.  YA-HOO!  After lunch we walked around (which ended up being a big workout considering all the snow everywhere) a bit and then headed back home to hang out before dinner (did I mention their visit was low-key?).  We then headed off to Zed451 where we met Stephen for a Brazilian steakhouse dinner.
I bet you're thinking that our weekend must've started to pick-up the pace on Saturday.  You couldn't be more wrong!  We spent more than half the day hanging out and playing a very long game of Settlers of Catan before we realized that it was probably good for all of us if we got out of the apartment before we ate any dinner.  That's when we rode down to Michigan Ave, took a little stroll and then headed back to Lincoln Park to enjoy a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, The Basil Leaf.
Ryan and Carly split town early on Sunday morning to get back to Lexington for the Big Game (Super Bowl Sunday was that day) and we were sad to see them go.  We really enjoyed our time with them.  I was grateful for this time as it gave Stephen the chance to really get to know some of my sweet friends.  The only regret I have from that weekend was that somehow we managed to not get a picture of all of us...HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?!  Oh well.  That's just a good reason to get them to come back to the city :)

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This past weekend, Stephen and I enjoyed some low-key time together.  On Friday night, we had the privilege of babysitting for one of my good friends, Shea's baby - Naomi.  This baby is a cutie with a little raspy cry that you can't help but chuckle at!  We really enjoyed being able to take care of her, and she proved to be a good personal trainer, as the next day my arm hurt :).  On Saturday, we got to catch up with our friends Matt and Amy.  This was a blessing because we haven't really been able to spend a lot of time with them lately.  It was fun to just sit over lunch and catch-up on life.  That night, my sweet husband treated me to a "fancy" dinner for a belated birthday gift.  Stephen had made reservations for the Signature Room on top of the John Hancock Building.  Here are some views from our night:

A view of the southern part of the city

Navy Pier

My handsome husband

My handsome husband believes in equity.  If there's a picture of him, there must be a picture of me.

{please forgive the darkness...I didn't want to flash out the restaurant}

We had a wonderful time in intentional conversation and enjoying each others' company.  It was nice to talk without the possibility of one (if not both) of us falling asleep on the couch, which so often happens!

So, there's my tribute to the weekend.  What about you - did you do anything fun this past weekend?  Or, do you have some fun plans coming up in a future weekend?