Cubs Game #1

So I think I'm driving Eric nuts with my annual Cubs games. He grew up a White Sox fan, and calls Wrigley a Museum. I've told him if he wants to do White Sox games, I'm open for them. But if I didn't book what I do, we'd never get out of town!

This trip might of gotten him to warm up to Wrigley a bit more, at least. Phase one of the renovation happened in the off season, and this first phase included two big screens in the outfield. (And these will come into play later.) He said the men's bathroom was better, too (I know the women's was upgraded!). So it wasn't much, but he wasn't complaining about the deteriorating stadium the whole time. In my opinion, the upgrades so far look like they are going well. They seem to be following the Fenway model pretty well - keeping the history and making the 'new' blend in as well as one can (rather than detracting from it - like Soldier Field did so many years ago). They even try to 'blend' the large LED screens by using 'historic' coloring.

We knew the weather was going to be iffy for the game. This was a night game, too, so we knew that time was limited t how long we could be there. We got there, and play was able to get underway on time. The Cubs even managed to pull into the lead over the Reds before a rain delay was called. It just seemed like it was going to go one for awhile. But, something they could never do before was able to entertain the crowd - they pulled up the Blackhawks playoff game on the big screens! So we had a spontaneous Blackhawks watch party, which for this crowd, was perfect! They probably kept a lot more people around when the game resumed much later, thanks to that.

We, however, were not two of them. We stuck it out through the end of the 2nd Period of the Blackhawks game before deciding to dodge the raindrops back to the car. But we were okay with that. We just went to the hotel and crashed - it was after 10pm by the time we go there.

This morning, we decided to go by Eataly for breakfast (Italian pastries and coffee), since they were open early enough (and the weather was still miserable and rainy). The weather didn't bode well for any other exploration of the City - just too nasty. After a quick breakfast, we wandered through Eataly and picked up a few items to cook up an awesome belated anniversary dinner tonight. Nothing like a little authentic Italian food to make for a mouth watering dinner, no matter the occasion. This, alone, almost made the trip completely worth it!

And we did go by Ikea before leaving town - I didn't think that was on the table this trip, but Eric wanted to grab a few items. And I can always do Ikea. But we still got home with plenty of time to cook up an amazing dinner, as planned! It turned out to be quite nice trip, for as short as it was. Always good to get away, even if it is quick.

Italian Fest

One of the perks to living in Fletcher Place is the annual Italian Fest put on by Holy Rosary. Eric might argue that we've missed a lot of them, as it usually falls on our anniversary weekend, but I contest that - we can usually make at least one night. The only exception was our wedding five years ago, and my friend, Chris', wedding last year. And then there was the year that is was cancelled due to 'church politics' - totally not my fault or any travel planning faux pas. Anyway...

This year we were excited to see some layout improvements from our last time (two years ago, for anyone keeping track). Last time, we saw they started to change the layout a bit, but it still had some areas that got bottlenecked, and the stage location was part of that. This year, they finally moved the stage to the actual park area, where there was a lot more green space. This allowed for the food area to expand/spread out, and also made it much quieter - you could eat in one of the table areas and hear yourself talk, while the other area closer to the stage allowed you to still enjoy the show while you ate. Granted, you could still hear the music wherever you were. This was the biggest change, and it was a vast improvement. I guess it might have been like that last year, but it was new to us.

Then there was the cannolis. They used to pass them out, for a few bucks each, and they quite obviously were a massed produced frozen item they bought for the festival. They were still good (they sold tons!), but not 'fresh' like you might find in an authentic Italian restaurant. But this year... they were fresh! At least fresh-er. I think the shell might have been pre-bought, but I swear, the filling was fresh. We were guessing that they came out of the new gelato shop that opened - we haven't been in there yet, but the family that opened it is quite tied-in with the church. They were SO good!

We didn't stay long this year, but it got us excited about next year (no - we can't go tonight). It is a fun event to go to, as it just so low key, since it's one of the few cultural festivals still actually in a neighborhood (rather than one of the large parks downtown). Regardless, it's always a fun time.