Happy Friday! How are you on this beautiful day? I’m so happy its the weekend!It feels like the train has left the station now, and we are chugging along gaining speed into fall and the holidays! We are now less than 4 weeks from Thanksgiving! Time to start putting those plans in place! And you know what follows… Christmas! WooHoo! I love love love this time of year! My heart gets so light and filled with joy!

So this year I am working on an Autumn Bucket List, and I will have more on that next week, but I did check one item off that Bucket List this past week, and that was a Girls Weekend in Chicago!

This is what this week’s Fashion Friday is dedicated to.

Honestly I have never done a Girls Weekend anywhere or anytime so I was so excited to do this! I think it was last February I started thinking I would love to do a girls trip. So I started by texting with my sisters Susan and Stacey (we do that all the time) seeing what they thought and we agreed fall would be a really fun time to go. It gave us time to make reservations, and to make money to pay for it all! I knew we would never regret it. And it would be a highlight of my life and hopefully the beginning of many more such trips!

We had a number of ladies that wanted to go, but had various conflicts come up, as we all get them in life, so hopefully the next one they can attend. So my sister Stacey has done many trips to Chicago, so she helped with great ideas of restaurants and shopping. My son Shane lives in Chicago, so he gave us some great ideas as well. Our goal was fun, food and a focus on shopping!

My sister Susan and her daughter Megan flew in from Florida on Thursday night of last week. We drove straight from Detroit Airport to Toledo so she could visit with my parents.

We met them at Denny’s where they were having dinner. They had no idea we were coming and it worked out they were at a large circular booth so we crashed their dinner, they were so happy to see us! My dad hugged me before we left and thanked me so much for bringing Susan and Megan down to see them.

So we drove back home to my house and tried to get a good night sleep before we left the next morning. I wish you could have seen us chatting and packing… all girl talk (which doesn’t happen much at my house except between me and Kasey!) And the next morning, those of us driving met and we took 2 cars.

Left to right, Carol Ann (my sister Stacey’s new daughter-in-law), Stacey (in gold sweater), Me in the back, Megan my niece directly in front of me, and on the far right my sister Susan. Do we look happy? Soooo excited! And off we went. Susan rode shotgun with me helping me catch the tolls on the road (at least I hope we caught them all… they will let me know if I missed any!)

When we got to our hotel, my niece Lauren from Texas had already arrived with her brand new baby! We hadn’t seen her in over a year so it was a sweet reunion!

And off to try some Chicago deep dish pizza at Giordanos! We got seated right away! Yay!

It was amazing! My son Shane was able to come join us, he hadn’t seen some of these relatives in years so it was a treat for him!

Tired but excited travelers ready to shop the next day!

We ate a good breakfast the next morning. And then… I got connected to Uber! My first time ever! My sister Stacey and I ordered the Ubers, she showed me how. Now its on my phone as an app. And it went so great! If you’ve never done it, once you request an Uber, it shows you all the Ubers in your area that are ready and waiting, the kind of car they have, and what they will charge you. You pick the one you want. Ours was there in less than 10 minutes! They were so nice and gave some great advice about the city. First stop… Bloomingdales! I had never been to a Bloomingdales!

My heart was pounding! In we went, and we shopped and shopped wanting to make good decisions (you know how that is!) And me and my sisters each found something!

Well we actually found lots of things, but we had great self control! Stacey hooked us up with a great lunch break. And then on to more shopping! The younger part of our crew went on their way to shop at the places that interested them, and we cruised on to what was on our list of must see’s. Tory Burch, Kate Spade, lots and lots of window shopping, we wanted to visit Rebecca Minkoff, but they closed early to set up for a wedding show the next day. (I will have to go back to visit Rebecca!) Again, massive amounts of self control… I only window shopped! But saw loads of things that were gorgeous!

Lots of walking… and looking… and a few purchases here and there, and stopping for coffee (oh that was nice!) and then we had a fantastic time at Nordstrom! All of us had some success again!

Notice Megan and I wearing matching tennies! Also, Megan is carrying the bag she bought that very day at Michael Kors! She had been saving and she walked right in and told them what she wanted and Boom! She walked out with her new favorite purse!

My favorite purchase of the day is in that Nordstrom bag, Red Shoes! Jacynth Bassett from the Bridging the Gap campaign, my new friend, wore a gorgeous pair of red shoes with jeans in a few of the photographs from last week blog posts, and I loved them! So I went shopping for red shoes! (That is a fun thing to do on a girls trip!) And I got some red shoes, forevermore known as my “Chicago Shoes”!

Well, Nordstrom was closing, and we hadn’t eaten dinner, so our wonderful cashiers at the last stop gave us a great tip on a restuarant, and we all headed out.

The streets were full of people just enjoying the beautiful evening, and music played on every corner!

And we went to a fantastic restaurant, Cantina Laredo, and got seated immediately with the baby in the stroller! The place was warm and alive with happy music and faces!

Table side guacamole, and chips and salsa and food food food!

And then off to another stop for milk shakes. I had to stop eating, there was literally no room left for even an ounce of milkshake, so I was a spectator! My sister Susan got all our purchases together and we snapped shots of them to mark this day in the annals of shopping history!

Well, it was after midnight, so another Uber back to the hotel, and a good night’s rest. And it was time to move on… Lauren had more family to see in Chicago, so we said our good bye’s to her and her sweet baby there.

And we were off like a herd of turtles! Heading back to our homes in Michigan, but taking a little side trip to Saugatuck, a place I’d never been before!

Saugatuck is this beautiful artsy community with wonderful shops and restaurants. Megan found some Birkenstocks (she lives in Florida so she will be using them all winter!)

My nephew Chase (Stacey’s middle son who lives on that side of the state) joined us for a nice early dinner.

And we were on our way back home, pulled in after 10pm on Sunday and back to the airport Monday morning at 6:15am!

It was such a whirlwind trip but absolutely wonderful!

Words can’t express how wonderful it was to step away from our routines and simply get together and make some new memories together! Anyone can do this, even if its planning a day to walk through a park together or planning an elaborate trip! Its just important to take time to discover new places and celebrate life with people you love! Its good for you and me and everyone!

So now we are living in the wonderful afterglow of a lovely trip, and dreaming of a next trip!

What about you?

Do you have any trips you look forward to with people that are dear to you?

I’ve heard how some people plan camping outings every year, or ski trips, or trips to go see a show.

What are some dream trips or outings you would like to do? I’m really interested to hear your great ideas!

I encourage you to start thinking and planning, whether big dreams or small but something fun to look forward to! I’d love to hear all about it!

I hope you have a fantastic weekend with laughter and good food and rest and a chance to refuel body, mind and soul!  And maybe creating some beautiful memories!”

I’ll be back next week for Tasty Tuesday!

Love Always,

Amy

“The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been, and the memories we’ve made along the way.”     Unknown