Downtown...everything's waiting for you

Thanks to me and my disfunctional alarm clocks, we left an hour later than we meant to. When we arrived it was 10-ish and nothing was open. So, in retrospect, the alarm malfunction have been some sort of favor.

The goal of our little Chicago day-trip was to find coats for my roomy and I. We didn't so much as find a light jacket, so from that perspective we may have failed, but we had a fun time doing it.

We started off well and oddly (for me) optimistic. Well, the city will do that. Christmas decorations were up, the most impressive being the never-ending Macy's. Seriously. Never ending.

Also, this might sound silly, but it was rainy and a bit chilly. For what-ever reason, this made it better. Can't explain it. I love the city.

We got to experience the overwhelming Nordstrom Rack. This is the discount version of Nordstrom's. You might think that even a discount Nordstrom's would be classy. You would be wrong. All discount stores are terrifying. The fact that people are now fighting over Steve Maddens and Michael Kors that are marked down 75% only heightens the maddness.

But, as exciting as fighting through crowds of middle-aged women digging for burried Donna Karan was, I think my favorite part of the day was getting to go into an actual brick-and-mortar Blick art store and Urban Outfitters. I didn't get anything in Blick, though I do covet the $50 messanger art bag, not to mention every pen, pencil, and paper that they stock. In Urban Outfitters; however, I bought four Kurt Halsey paintings. I mean, they're not orginals, but they are printed onto stretched canvas and even have a vaguely turpentinesque smell to them.

I adore Kurt Halsey. Rather, I adore Kurt Halsey's art work. I've never met Halsey himself and I imagine he's an uptight, emo work-a-holic obsessed with getting proper recognition for his work. So the infatuation ends with me paying $55 to hang some of his various paintings on my walls. Robin found this a little outrageous. But, I was going to buy them at some point and this way I saved on shipping! They make me very happy.

We didn't cover that much of Chicago in our walking. But we were walking around the Madison St. area and it's many department stores for 8 or 9 hours. We try to go on a walk every day around town, but those are usually 1-2 hours. Not 9.

On our drive back we stopped to get coffee. When we got out of the car our legs were in so much pain that all we could do was laugh. We couldn't walk for a few moments, just laugh.

But it was a really great trip. It was so nice to be in Chicago. So nice to do something different and see something different.

Indiana is always gorgeous. I have it-so-pretty-I-can't-breath moments at least once a week, lately every day. So I'm not discounting that. But the city has always had a special allure for me. The massiveness of the buildings and the crowds. The crazy art, the ancient and new architecture all jumbled together. I love it. I feel safer, happier, more at home - in the city.

Happy Weekend.