4 days off in Chicago....I had the BEST time! First of all, I had my own hotel room. After months on the road with a roommate and sometimes multiple roommates, it's nice to feel like an adult and have a private room. When we arrived that afternoon, we settled in our rooms and enjoyed some relaxation. That night, Lauren, Colleen and I went to IHOP for dinner and rushed back to the hotel to enjoy some wine and Lost. We had a nice evening and geared up for 3 full days of Chicago fun.
First stop for me? The Oprah Store! Brian tagged along with me even though he is only an Oprah appreciator and not an actual fan. I bought a magnet and a note card, both of which had Oprah quotes on them. Charles is thankful I did not walk out with any souvenir clothing items that were clearly marked as being Oprah items.
This is the Oprah studio. I wish I'd gotten to go to a taping!!!
After the excitement of the Oprah Store, Brian and I went to the area of town Colleen was in to meet up with her for lunch. Lauren had opted to stay at the hotel to work on her one woman show she's writing. We ended up in a restaurant called Big Bowl which was Asian cuisine. They had a make your own stir-fry bar where you could choose your meat/tofu, type of sauce and type of noodles or rice you wanted. Then they sent you up to the veggie bar where you filled a bowl with things like bok choy, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, cilantro, water chestnuts, etc... Once you filled the bowl at the bar you gave it to the chef who stir fried it up with the meat, sauce and rice or noodles and then it came to your table ready to go. It was sooooo good. And all the ingredients were so fresh. They even make their own homemade ginger ale. We each decided to have the pomegranate ginger ale. YUM!
After lunch, we wandered down the Magnificent Mile, an area of town with lots of pricey stores. Think: Chanel, Prada, etc.... We were passing a Neiman Marcus, when I suddenly remembered I'd heard this crazy story years ago about Neiman Marcus having the best cookies ever. It came to me via email forward with this crazy tale of a woman paying $250 for the recipe for these cookies because they were THAT good. Well, as soon as this story came to mind, I thought, "I have to try these cookies!". I've never been to Neiman Marcus because we don't have one in NYC, so now was my chance. I dragged Colleen and Brian up to the cafe in the store and bought my $4 cookie. I chose the Toffee and Chocolate Chip and Colleen and Brian chose the Oatmeal Raisin. Well, I'm here to tell you the rumor is true. It was THE BEST COOKIE I'VE EVER HAD. No joke, and I've had a lot of cookies in my life. The good news is the recipe is free. you can get it here: http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/service/nm_cookie_recipe.jhtml
Here is my cookie. It was so thick it actually looked like a scone.
This "American Gothic" sculpture was on our Magnificent Mile walk.
The view up the Magnificent Mile.
The Wrigley Building. I have no idea what they do in there, but I have to assume it either involves baseball or gum.
The river that runs through town.
Do you see the parking garage on the lower levels of this building? You can't see any barrier at the edge of the building so it looks like the cars could just accidentally roll out. It looked really weird.Our walk carried us to Millennium Park where we got to see some interesting sculptural art.
This looks like a sculpture, but it's actually where the symphony plays. Those curvy things help the acoustics.
This big reflecting bean was cool. I got some really neat shots.
Can you see me, Colleen and Brian in the bean?
Now can you see us?
How about now?
The face on this fountain is a video projection, so sometimes it would smile and the water would stop squirting.
This devil car thing is holding up a golden pig with it's long red tongue. Art.
This looks like a sculpture, but it's actually where the symphony plays. Those curvy things help the acoustics.
This big reflecting bean was cool. I got some really neat shots.
Can you see me, Colleen and Brian in the bean?
Now can you see us?
How about now?
The face on this fountain is a video projection, so sometimes it would smile and the water would stop squirting.
This devil car thing is holding up a golden pig with it's long red tongue. Art.
Speaking of art, just on the other side of the park was the Art Institute of Chicago Museum and as luck would have it, Thursday after 5pm, it was free admission! We love free. Brian was meeting up with a friend for dinner, so Colleen and I headed into the museum to get cultured.
This is the painting that the musical Sunday in the Park with George is about. It was cool to see it in person.
That would be "Dot" from the musical. "Look I made a hat, where there never was a hat".
That night, I met up with my friend Trisha Jeffrey who is on the national tour of Rent. I didn't see the show, but I had to take a picture of the marquis. I know Trisha from working in the office at Circle. She graduated several years before I did, so I never knew her as a student. She is great and it was so nice to see her and have a drink. We met at a bar called Elephant and Castle.
She is tiny. I feel huge in this picture, but like what my hair is doing. While on tour I never bother to fix my hair or use my nice products unless it's a day off. This was a day off, and therefore a good hair day:)
The next day I slept in and then Brian and I headed out for lunch. We ate at a pita place and then we went in separate directions. I had plans to get together with my friends Bob Kruse and Delia Baseman. They both graduated from Circle (Bob in my year and Delia the year before) and now live and act in Chicago. We had coffee at a really cool coffee shop in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.
After coffee, I walked with them to the theatre where Bob had to go to rehearsal. From there, we said goodbye and I headed back into downtown to do some shopping while I waited for it to be time to meet up with the others. That night, Lauren, Brian, Colleen and I had tickets to go see a show at Second City. We thought it would be more improv but it turned out to be more of a sketch show written by Level 5 Second City students. There were a few funny things but a majority of it wasn't that great. And one of the actors in the show was awful and had terrible posture. We had fun, but it wasn't the greatest night of comedy.
When we got back to the hotel that night we saw this sign outside one of the ballrooms at the hotel.
I hope she doesn't choose to hyphenate. Try to say that second name five times fast. Now that's comedy!
Saturday, I headed out on my own to the Chicago History Museum. It was really nice to walk around by myself. I don't do that much on the tour, but in NYC I do it all the time.
An antique train car in the museum. This reminded me of my father-in-law, Ronald, because he loves trains. This past fall, the NYC subway did a special thing where on Sundays they had antique cars running on one particular line for certain hours. Charles and I went with Ronald and Edie to ride the older cars. We ended up in one from the 70's I think, and it was funny because Edie hadn't ridden the subway since then so to her nothing had changed! She was curious what the current cars look like.
After the museum, I met up with Lauren and Colleen. We had big plans for deep dish pizza. It was SOOOOO good! Apparently, you can order this pizza to be shipped frozen to your door. So you too can experience this delectable treat!
It was at least 4 inches high.
After dinner, Lauren and I dragged Colleen with us to the concert we had tickets to. Our new favorite band, The Ryan Montbleau Band was playing so we had to go. Lauren's boyfriend, Rob, had introduced her to the band's music and she introduced it to me. I gave my sister a copy of the CD and now she likes them too, and after the concert Colleen was a fan too. Now, I've been working on getting Liz hooked. He is playing in Teaneck, NJ when we get back to NYC so I think she is going to go with me to the concert. The opening act was even terrific. His name was Zach Deputy.
Zach Deputy opening the show.
Ryan Montbleau. So talented.
The Ryan Montbleau Band.
Zach Deputy joined the band on stage for one of the final numbers. They were amazing together!
Ryan and Zach sharing a moment:)
We met Ryan after the show. We heart him!
Guess what Ryan drives? A Sprinter van! Just like us! It's meant to be!
When we got back to the hotel that night we saw another sign that made us laugh. A baby shower for Gracie. Josh plays Gracie the bunny scout in Max and Ruby. We decided that Mr. Barley, his other character must have knocked her up.
This is the painting that the musical Sunday in the Park with George is about. It was cool to see it in person.
That would be "Dot" from the musical. "Look I made a hat, where there never was a hat".
That night, I met up with my friend Trisha Jeffrey who is on the national tour of Rent. I didn't see the show, but I had to take a picture of the marquis. I know Trisha from working in the office at Circle. She graduated several years before I did, so I never knew her as a student. She is great and it was so nice to see her and have a drink. We met at a bar called Elephant and Castle.
She is tiny. I feel huge in this picture, but like what my hair is doing. While on tour I never bother to fix my hair or use my nice products unless it's a day off. This was a day off, and therefore a good hair day:)The next day I slept in and then Brian and I headed out for lunch. We ate at a pita place and then we went in separate directions. I had plans to get together with my friends Bob Kruse and Delia Baseman. They both graduated from Circle (Bob in my year and Delia the year before) and now live and act in Chicago. We had coffee at a really cool coffee shop in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.
After coffee, I walked with them to the theatre where Bob had to go to rehearsal. From there, we said goodbye and I headed back into downtown to do some shopping while I waited for it to be time to meet up with the others. That night, Lauren, Brian, Colleen and I had tickets to go see a show at Second City. We thought it would be more improv but it turned out to be more of a sketch show written by Level 5 Second City students. There were a few funny things but a majority of it wasn't that great. And one of the actors in the show was awful and had terrible posture. We had fun, but it wasn't the greatest night of comedy.
When we got back to the hotel that night we saw this sign outside one of the ballrooms at the hotel.
I hope she doesn't choose to hyphenate. Try to say that second name five times fast. Now that's comedy!Saturday, I headed out on my own to the Chicago History Museum. It was really nice to walk around by myself. I don't do that much on the tour, but in NYC I do it all the time.
An antique train car in the museum. This reminded me of my father-in-law, Ronald, because he loves trains. This past fall, the NYC subway did a special thing where on Sundays they had antique cars running on one particular line for certain hours. Charles and I went with Ronald and Edie to ride the older cars. We ended up in one from the 70's I think, and it was funny because Edie hadn't ridden the subway since then so to her nothing had changed! She was curious what the current cars look like.After the museum, I met up with Lauren and Colleen. We had big plans for deep dish pizza. It was SOOOOO good! Apparently, you can order this pizza to be shipped frozen to your door. So you too can experience this delectable treat!
It was at least 4 inches high.After dinner, Lauren and I dragged Colleen with us to the concert we had tickets to. Our new favorite band, The Ryan Montbleau Band was playing so we had to go. Lauren's boyfriend, Rob, had introduced her to the band's music and she introduced it to me. I gave my sister a copy of the CD and now she likes them too, and after the concert Colleen was a fan too. Now, I've been working on getting Liz hooked. He is playing in Teaneck, NJ when we get back to NYC so I think she is going to go with me to the concert. The opening act was even terrific. His name was Zach Deputy.
Zach Deputy opening the show.
Ryan Montbleau. So talented.
The Ryan Montbleau Band.
Zach Deputy joined the band on stage for one of the final numbers. They were amazing together!
Ryan and Zach sharing a moment:)
We met Ryan after the show. We heart him!
Guess what Ryan drives? A Sprinter van! Just like us! It's meant to be!
When we got back to the hotel that night we saw another sign that made us laugh. A baby shower for Gracie. Josh plays Gracie the bunny scout in Max and Ruby. We decided that Mr. Barley, his other character must have knocked her up.The next morning, Easter, we got up and drove to Green Bay, WI where we spent the night. This morning we drove to Houghton, MI where we have two shows tomorrow.
News: We have received notice of our tour end date which is now officially Sunday, May 10th. We will be back in the city the evening of May 3rd where we will have local shows and one show in Syracuse that week before our final day. After the tour I will have some time to audition, go to the gym, and relax a bit. I am scheduled to start back to work at Circle at the end of June.
More News: Josh has turned in his two week notice so we will be getting a new Gracie/Alien Green Gorilla/Mr. Barley for the last two weeks of the tour. I will miss Josh a lot, but I know we will see each other a lot once we get back. We already have plans to see Our Town in June and he has promised me his mother will teach me how to make her famous Matzo Ball Soup recipe!
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