Chicago {Part 2}

I'm finally writing about some more of my Chicago trip (Part 1 here). My favorite thing to blog about is traveling, so here's what we did on Friday the 28th.....

Since we had a Starbucks in our hotel, my parents went down and got drinks for us. I could really get used to someone delivering a daily hot Starbucks to me while I'm getting ready :)

Our first stop was the Willis Tower, better known by its former name the Sears Tower. This was my 5th time in Chicago, but we'd never done the Sears Tower, although we've done the Hancock a few times. The Sears was definitely better though because of the Skydeck. They have this glass overlook that you can step out onto on the 103rd floor of the building. So crazy!

Unfortunately it was not a clear day, so the visibility was very limited. We were basically in our own cloud. I'd love to go back in the summer when stepping out onto the glass would be more of a "wow" factor!

I think this picture is so neat since you can tell we're hanging off the side of a building.

Here you can see the Skydecks on the side of the building

Ignore my poor stained Uggs in this picture......

Then it was time to check out State Street Macy's. But on our way we found a Garrett's Popcorn Shop and had to stop in. Their Caramel Crisp popcorn is the best, and I don't even like popcorn!

We also ran into a Target along the way. I've never seen a Target in a big city before, so we of course had to check it out. It was 2 floors and definitely so different from the Targets at home!

They even had cart escalators! Something I had never seen before but thought was so neat!

The outside of the store was even cool!

Then we finally made it to the State Street Macy's!

This Macy's was SO much better than the Water Tower Place one. Much bigger, not as crowded, and ten times cooler!

I'm a sucker for a unique Macy's store :)

I'm pretty sure I could live in this store. The amount of merchandise they had (especially in the beauty department) was crazy!

Mosaic tiles - I die! The place was so big, it would be easy to get lost and spend a whole day there!

In the past year, I have become obsessed with trying out different bakeries when I travel. Well, in New York I didn't get to try Magnolia Bakery, so when I found out there was one in Chicago right across the street from the State Street Macy's, I knew it had to go on the top of my list of things to do.

It was SO cute when we stepped inside.

I wanted to try everything - it all looked so delicious!

The S'mores cupcake I ended up settling on.

My mom's cute chocolate cupcake she picked out!

Magnolia Bakery might have been one of the highlights of the trip for me. I even picked up a cute cake knife and a precious jar of sprinkles. Yes, I am a total baking nerd :)

Our next stop was Navy Pier: one of my favorite Chicago places! Our first priority was food. And what better place to get food than Bubba Gump's? Their Hush Puppies are the best!

And their shrimp mac & cheese? So good!

Then we explored the rest of Navy Pier. I love Navy Pier, although it's much more fun in the summer when all of the outdoor vendors are set up too.

We even got to see palm trees!

After walking around there we headed back up to Michigan Avenue. There was a purse I saw at the Water Tower Place Macy's that I decided I wanted to go back and get. The brand is Olivia & Joy - something I'd never heard of, but I loved all of their stuff!

When we were there on Thursday, I saw a cute little cupcake kiosk in the mall of Water Tower Place, and since I skipped it the first time, I had to stop the second. The place was called Crumbs Bake Shop, and all of their cupcakes were HUGE. It took me awhile to finally just pick one!

I ended up picking out the Chocolate Velvet cupcake, and I'm so glad I did! It was a red velvet cupcake (my favorite) topped with a chocolate frosting, chocolate jimmies, and red velvet cake crumbs. What I wouldn't give to be enjoying another one of these right now :)

I took my cupcake to go, and we started making the trek back down Michigan Avenue towards out hotel. I loved that they still had all of their Christmas decorations still up.

Then we relaxed in our hotel a bit.....

....before checking out this amazing 3 story Ulta across the street and picking up dinner.

It was nice to relax the rest of the night in our hotel room after a busy day in the city! I enjoyed only half of my cupcake. It was so big I couldn't eat all in one sitting.

And that was Day 2 of my Chicago trip! I'll finish up with our last day later on since this post is already getting long!

Have a great weekend!