Chicago

Last week, my boss surprised me with a trip to Chicago which included 2 tickets to the Oprah Winfrey Show. Yes, Oprah. I could not believe it. When I heard her say 2 tickets and then it clicked…. I was like, oh wow, are you serious? I need at least 6 more tickets. Then as we sat and talked about who I would take with me…of course the likely candidate to go would be my daughter. I of course wanted to take everybody --sisters and girlfriends, but there was no way we could get more tickets. The tickets to Oprah are almost impossible to come by. As I thought about it I didn’t want to tell anyone I was going. You know that feeling –let’s not jinx it, because if you tell -- it might not happen. That is what I was feeling, especially since the confirmation letter from Harpo says no show is 100% guaranteed.

We arrived safely in Chicago on Thursday afternoon to very cold temperatures. We had dinner that night at Table 52. If you just happen to follow our President, then the name of the restaurant may sound familiar because this is where he and the First Lady had dinner on Valentine’s Day. Also, the hostess let us know that we were sitting in the exact same seats that the Obama’s sat in on February 14th. How nice was that. The food was excellent!

The Grouper was seasoned and cooked just right.

Crabcakes and Macaroni and Cheese with lots of cheese

Our tickets were for the Friday taping at 11:00 am and we had no idea what the show was going to be about. . Laurin’s only hope was that it not be Dr. Oz. LOL… I didn’t care who or what the show was going to be about …. I was in the audience of OPRAH. Everything was very well organized. We were not allowed to keep the camera or cell phone with us. Security checked them at the door with our coats. It was amazing to be there after watching Oprah for so many years on TV. Oprah looked like Oprah. The studio seemed really small, but it does seat 300 people. We had great seats on the 2nd row of the 2nd tier. It will be interesting to see if we make it on what gets aired. The show was on Internet Predators. It was interesting and sad but so true to hear how dangerous the computer can be for some people. John Walsh/America’s Most Wanted was one of the guests. We don’t know when the show will be aired, but the DVR is already set to tape Oprah everyday. We were there until after 3:00 but it was all worth it.

We had to wait in line with 300 other people.....

Oprah has her "O"randomly placed all around the studio....

Laurin is sitting in Oprah's chair from the 90's. They have it sitting in her store and that is the only place you can take a picture.

I was browsing in the Oprah's Store.. She has some nice things, but I had Suze Orman in my ear saying -- do you need it or do you just want it.. Thanks Suze.

After Oprah we went to Heaven on Seven for dinner. I had to go there because of the oysters.

After Heaven on Seven... guess where we went..... hahahahaha to the YARN STORE. Loopy Yarns was a really nice yarn store and they were having sit and knit night and also a SALE. Check this out they were open until 9:00 pm. I picked up a couple of skeins of the Misti Alpaca bulky yarn. I regret now that I did not get any of the Lorna Laces that was on sale. I just could not wrap my mind around buying yarn and no project in mind. NOTE TO SELF... next time take patterns with me.

Glad we went to the yarn store Friday night because we woke up to this on Saturday. SNOW.

Laurin got to visit with her friend Morgan who now lives in Chicago.

We had a great couple of days in Chicago and hopefully the next time we visit it will be a little warmer.....