So much fun!

Chicago was *such* a blast -- I'm almost terrified to get back into the swing of real daily life! (Esp. since I can be a wimp about jobsearching and such)

But! We just got back (a delayed flight due to the weather), and found shiny presents from Graeme (who was gracious enough to check in on our extremely-talkative kitty), and from Jesse/Lauren, plus tons of photos taken by friends, all of which makes coming home really nice.

But Chicago. Highlights from Kim's point of view:

• Shanghai Terrace -- our meal (at the Peninsula Hotel) was served by tiny Asian women in semi-gi-like beige outfits, who stepped in every few minutes to refill my tea. The restaurant was beautifully, soaringly decorated, with a breathtaking view of the city. And the huge chunks of lobster were delicious.
  
  
• Biking -- I managed to get myself a sore bum riding with Neil on a tandem bike, counterbalancing some of the steering and hills, but Lake Michigan on a perfect, crystal-clear day, with some time spent to beachbum around, was something to be seen.
  
  
• River tour -- we rode around and saw some of the most amazing architecture on that ride
  
  
• Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Oak Park -- I'd never seen any of his homes before, and I came away from it with an all-new appreciation of the prairie style home, as well as of Wright's mastery of sunlit spaces and compression-and-expansion contrast of spaces.
  
  
• Deep dish pizza -- which proved to be just as tasty (especially after carb-depriving myself for a little while to make sure I fit my dress) as hoped for, especially from Giordano's.
  
  
• Steak -- both Morton's and the Chicago Chop House served up the tastiest porterhouse steaks (juicy, medium-rare, thick, not overdone on the charring) I've had the pleasure of having in a while.
  
  
• Generous gifts, especially from folk that we *knew* were tight on money, and were still willing to treat us. We were incredibly touched, because the bestest part was just having you there.
  
  
• Surprise geekery present -- At our wedding, we got this extremely perplexing card filled with stick figures and smiley faces, in semi-indecipherable handwriting, and signed "5eth." Who was this "5eth" person? I forgot about it... until several days later, when we got a message in our KoL accounts, with paid-for and tradeable-in KoL prezzies. (Neil claims he knew all along it had something to do with KoL and that it was from Seth, but I was not nearly so astute.)