Catching up

We spent a few weeks in the United States at the end of September for my sister’s wedding.

In addition to all of the fun wedding weekend events, our time in Chicago was a whirlwind of catching up with friends and visiting an embarrassing number of restaurants.  We ate at Next, Topolobampo, Big Jones, Coco Pazzo, MK (for the rehearsal dinner), Floriole (for a pre-wedding brunch), Big Star, and a few other places over the course of two weeks.  Being able to see so many of our friends and family and visit so many favorite places was a good reminder of why we are excited to move back to Chicago eventually.  

Another big treat for me was using American-sized washers and dryers on our trip.  I washed all of our clothes before we packed for the trip back to Paris, fitting what would have been at least 6 loads of laundry (which would take about 16 - 17 hours of time in our little combination washer/dryer) into only 3 loads (and 3 hours) at my parents' house.

Packing for the trip back to Paris was made even easier by the portable luggage scale that J’s parents gave us as a gift for Christmas last year.  Besides our everyday clothes for the trip, we had formal clothes and shoes for all of the wedding events with us. And all remaining space in our luggage was packed full of treats like salsa, peanut butter cups, and Frontera taco sauces.  Having the scale allowed me to ensure that all of our luggage was under the weight limit imposed by the airline before we ever left for the airport.

We were sad to be leaving Chicago, but looking forward to a return to our regular routine after all of the decadence of our trip.  And we brought a little of Chicago back with us: I was careful to save enough room in my carry-on for a bag of our favorite tortilla chips!