Oh man it's been so long since I've updated! I've been pretty busy with work and school and school and work. I have been able to have a little bit of fun here and there though. Last weekend Candy and I were able to take a trip to Chicago to go to the Bulls game, and have some fun around the city. We had 3rd row seats by the Bulls bench.
We've adopted this new idea that we have to go to some event every month for the entire year. So far we had New Year's in Chicago, and the Lady Antebellum Concert in January. We had 2nd row seats to go see West Side Story at the Civic Center in February. For March we were to go see Chicago Bulls vs. Toronto Raptors on March 24th. Next month we're planning on going to Minneapolis to go to the Mall of America and a few other places. We haven't gotten May or June's events planned yet, but July and August are going to be pretty fun!
Anyways, on to the fun. The trip to Chicago was great. When we got there we went up towards the northern part of Chicago, kinda by Wrigley Field. We were originally going to go to this place called Hot Doug's, but it was closed. I pulled up my UrbanSpoon app, and found a place a couple blocks away called The Square Bar and Grill. It was a really small place that seemed to be a pretty big favorite among a lot of people. It was packed when we got there, and people kept showing up. After that, we did a little shopping around there, and then headed to Chinatown to pick up a few things that Candy collects. Once we were done in Chinatown, we went to our hotel to drop our things off. We stayed at the Chicago South Loop Hotel, right down the street from McCormick Place. The hotel was pretty nice, the rooms were huge! So we dropped off our things, and then went down to the Water Tower Place to do some quick shopping before the game.
Well we stayed a little too long at Water Tower Place, and ended up being a little late for the game. We walked into the United Center right as they introduced Carlos Boozer. I was upset, but what can you do? I basically ran to our seats (I'm a huge Bulls fan if you didn't know). We sat down just as they were heading out to the court for the tip off. Well enough of my blabbering, here's some pics!
So the game ended up being pretty amazing! The Bulls didn't play too well throughout most of the game, but things started to heat up in the 4th quarter. The Raptors led for most of the game, but the Bulls kept coming back. Derrick Rose didn't play due to his injury, and Rip Hamilton was out also. They both were there and we got see everybody up close and personal (we were right by the player tunnel so we got to slap everyone's hands as they walked in and out of the stadium.). Derrick Rose and John Lucas III kept looking over at the jersey that Candy was wearing. Check out candy-rella.blogspot.com to see it. It's a Derrick Rose home jersey that she sewed sequins in to; it looks amazing!!! So the Bulls ended up tying the game towards the end of regulation, and the Raptors couldn't pull off the winning bucket so we were on to OVERTIME! Overtime was nuts! It was a great experience to witness up close and personal instead of at home on TV. The Bulls and Raptors were going at it, but neither could really come away with the lead. It was coming down to the final seconds, and the Raptors were up. The Bulls couldn't convert on a couple of plays, and the Raptors were struggling to extend the lead. The Bulls had a shot to get the lead, but couldn't get it. The Raptors ended up with the ball with 6 seconds left, so Kyle Korver had to foul to keep the Bulls alive. At this point, everyone in our row had left because they lost hope. Not us! The Raptors ended up missing both free throws, and Luol Deng got the rebound. Bulls called timeout, and we had a shot to win. The Bulls inbounded the ball to C.J. Watson, and he drove in to the basket. He put up the shot, but got blocked! Luckily Luol Deng was there to tip in the loose ball up to the hoop right as time ran out. The ball left his fingertips, the buzzer sounded, the ball was heading up to the basket... and went right through the net! Everyone in the stadium erupted! Candy and I both jumped to our feet screaming! Everybody was going nuts! So the game ended up being great!!! While the Bulls shouldn't have let it be that close in the first place, it was definitely one of the best experiences I've witnessed. It was a great time!
After the game, we went back downtown and headed to a place called Portillo's for some hot dogs and beer! It was awesome! I'm glad we found a place that was still open that wasn't McDonald's or some crap like that. The hot dogs were soooo good. We then went back to the hotel to end the night.
The next night we packed up, and left for the Oak Brook Shopping Center. That place was pretty awesome! A friend from work told me about it, and it didn't let down. It's an outdoor shopping mall with tons of stores. We had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, and shopped for a while. It was a beautiful day too, so that really helped. Afterwards, we headed back to the car for the long ride home.
It was a great trip, and I can't think of any way that it might have been better (except if we got to the game early...).
So that's enough for this update. I'll try not to take so long to update next time. I do have a few other updates that I should post, so I'll get to that sometime soon.
