After-Theater

Ghiradelli's and a scenic (and warm!) walk back to the hotel.

Lookingglass!

Bistronomic

I picked this restaurant out of the online Michelin list largely because of 1) it's proximity to the theater and 2) the tasting menus listed online.

Sadly, when we arrived we discovered they no longer offered the tasting menus. Dashed were my hopes of my parents experiencing wave after wave of food appearing like magic at your table!

Fortunately, the food was still delicious and the service attentive. Highlights included the pate, my steak, and the creme brûlée/chocolate mousse combination.

Here are the dishes in random order. I'll come back and reorder/label them when I'm back on a real computer.

Napping on the L

Lunch

Since our dinner reservations are in a few hours, we grabbed just a quick bite of pad Thai and salad with peanut dressing at a Thai noodle house in Oak Park.

And a Bonus Literary Stop

Oak Park - Lloyd Wright Homes

Puddles

We ventured out as the rain let up, but had to do some hopping to get to the sidewalks.

God's Wrath!

Just as we were leaving, the storm kicked into high gear - booming thunder, brilliant lightning, and rain/hail pouring down. We might enjoy the Unity architecture for a bit longer....

An Anti-Grammatical Hymn?

(Look at the author)

Oak Park - Unity Temple

We decided to take the L out of town to tour some Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. After dropping by the visitor's center, we made our way to the Unity Temple.

I really liked this design for a church. I'm a fan of Lloyd Wright's style anyway - the geometric cleanliness and upward sweep - but seeing it in a house of worship reminded me of the Islamic principle of worshiping God in a place that celebrates His creations without actual images. Like Taylor Mali says, “How can you study geometry and not believe in a god? A god of perfect points and planes, surrounded by angels and angles of all different degrees."

(A Reminder - my mobile blogger app uploads photos in random order. Hardly appropriate for a Lloyd Wright building, but try to bear with it anyway.)

Oak Park!

Dad Blending in on the L

A Room with a View

My parents pick nice hotels. :)

View south

View north

Arrival!

Uneventful flight after a quick escape from school today (no speech practice for me). It's 10:40 local time, and I'm making my way downtown in a cab.

Whoo! Chicago!

I'm Gonna Rouge My Knees...

It's been almost two weeks since I packed a suitcase, and more than two months since I've traveled out of town without a busload of teenagers.  Time to fix that!

Tomorrow night I'm heading to Chicago for a quick weekend trip that has been in the works since Lookingglass Theatre announced they were doing Metamorphoses for their 25th anniversary season.  My favorite theater companies doing one of my favorite (yet never seen!) plays directed by the original director/one of my favorite playwrights?  Yes, please!

The run of the show coinciding with the annual ophthalmology conference my parents attend just makes everything shiny and bright.  Not only do I get the pleasure of their company, but I get to take them out for a Michelin dinner before the show so they can get a taste of eating from a tasting menu.

It's a weekend of the sort that I adore, and I'm super excited for the whole enterprise.

Eeee!

Crafty Saturday Night

Rachel gave me this adorable ornament kit for my birthday. She got one for herself, and we got together tonight to craft while Jack and Ben watched Fantasia 2000.

A few hours later I had the deer and the house cut and glued and a finished tree while Rachel whipped out 1.5 bears.