Wandering Aimlessly

This is possibly very, very long. We'll see how motivated I am. *wink*

Day One: Thursday

I'd forgotten a very important disk at work, and since Noora needed to exchange her money for smaller bills anyway, we went in to the bank. After the brief stop at work during which I tried to skirt the question of how I knew her, we took a walk through downtown N'Ville.

We got Cold Stone (Noora agrees that cake batter ice cream should be offered everywhere), poked through a resale shop called Serendipity, browsed through the little bookstore, and strolled down the River Walk. It was the absolute most gorgeous day ever. Ever.

Every year, the N'Ville United Way does a themed... theme throughout downtown. Little statues that local artists paint and they auction off at the end of the summer. Last year it was teddy bears, this year it's Farm Friends. Noora liked this sparkly lamb best. I decided the Pirate Sheep was pretty cool.

And then, after dinner, we played an exciting round (or two) of *Nsync Backstage Pass. Noora kept getting questions like What's Lance's middle name? or What's JC's birthday? or What's Justin's favorite color? While I got questions like Who is JC's favorite cartoon character? (Plastic Man, if you're curious) or What kind of cologne does Justin wear? (Abercrombie Woods). Needless to say, she won and I lost.

It's okay, I'l keep her around for a few more days.

Day Two: Friday

We started off the day trying to find the Finnish Consulate so Noora could vote. After a few missed turns, and with the help of my mom's car's navigation system, we found it. But not before we endured a bit of bad traffic/road rage.

... Only the woman running the voting wasn't in for two more hours. No worries, the little town the consulate is in is rather quaint, and was fun to drive through. Also, quite close to Shelley's house, so we pointed the car (and navigation system) in that direction to meet up for lunch.

We explored Suzy's town, and then went back for the actual voting.

Afterwards, we headed up north (waaaaaay north) to the IMAX to meet Meg and Dor for some Harry Potter! That's Noora with her freaky-ass, poster-matching eyes.

And that's the end of Day 2.

Day Three: Saturday

We took the train into the city, because they have a nifty $5 weekend pass. Yay for weekend passes! That's us awaiting the train.

We took a Water Taxi down the Chicago River to Navy Pier. Yay for $3 transportation across town!

Before entering the Pier, Noora refused to play Ring 'Round the Rosie with the children, but I channeled my inner child and joined in. I'm not about to fall down, regardless of what it might look like.

Noora didn't have too much pride to get her picture taken with the giant pig, however. He had a really cute corkscrew tail on his backside, too.

We then strolled down the Pier, keeping our eyes peeled for cute navy boys (disappointingly, there were plenty of navy boys, but none worth mentioning). We also couldn't pass up the giant Ferris Wheel. It doesn't look that high, but we're towering above the skyline! Really! Heh. And the other side of the Wheel, with Lake Michigan in the background. Also, just the lake, from the ferris wheel. Doesn't it almost look tropical?

Afterwards, we strolled further up the pier, and then made our way back down via the stained glass museum.She's thinking real hard about that one... And the one I liked best...Thank you, Vanna.

And did a little shopping. And pretended it's REALLY summer and stopped briefly <at the beach. We were tempted to stop and sunbathe... but weren't quite dressed for it.

We then walked (blocks and blocks and blocks) to Ed Debevic's for lunch. Love that place! The wait staff is amusingly rude, and dances on the counters, and they have the best chocolate shakes ever. Yum! Isn't she adorable in her little hat?

We then walked some more, up to the Magnificent Mile, and did a bit of window shopping, and then reading of books in Borders. And then we walked back to the train station. And then, when we got to my town, we walked from the train station home. It was a day of walking, that's for sure. But only spent $8 on transportation, and got a workout! Yay!

Oo, also, Noora was on the hunt for the June Bop with Tony Lucca in it, and finally, at the train station, she found it! Yay for Tony!

And that, my friends, was the end of Day 3. Whew!

Day Four: Sunday

I, sadly, didn't take anymore pictures after Saturday, but I'll tell you about the rest. On Sunday, we went shopping. We met up with Megan from Wheaton(tm) and went to Target first. Noora wanted to see a Target. She and I both found some super-cute shoes. Yay for super-cute shoes!

We headed over to Woodfield next, to do a little browsing. Noora was taken with Bath and Body Works, and we browsed Build-A-Bear and the Disney Store before heading across the street for some Starbucks (which she'd never had), Famous Footwear (where she purchased gym shoes to hopefully avoid the blisters caused by walking lots and lots in sandals or borrowed shoes), and the Container Store. Ohmigosh, Noora loved the Container Store! She was out of cash, but I promised I'd bring her back.

We spent Sunday night listening to Noora talk about Finland. The whole family. It was really neat! She went online and found pictures and everything. Totally fascinating. We were educated in all things Finnish. Sort of. *g*

Day Five: Monday

Last day. Sadness! We went to the Cumberland station, which happens to also be the closest Greyhound station, so Noora could buy her ticket to Minneapolis for that evening. And then, as promised, returned to the Container Store. Noora bought a portfolio to use as a scrap book, and lusted over many, many other things.

Afterwards, we headed to 7-Eleven for Slurpees. Noora had wanted to go to a 7-Eleven. Yummeh. Hee. We came home and watched American TV. *laugh* A Makeover Story and Clean Sweep and While You Were Out (which I don't really care too much for) and Trading Spaces and What Not to Wear (my absolute favorite!). A day of TLC, man. Doesn't get any better than that. *laugh*

Then, we did the final thing Noora had asked to do: went to an American grocery store. I took her to Dominick's, and the first thing she said was "No wonder you eat so many vegetables! There are SO MANY here!" Hee. She said her entire grocery store would fit in the produce section. We bought things for dinner, and went home and grilled out. We were in a bit of a rush to get to the Greyhound station for her bus, but we made it with plenty of time, as the Traffic Gods were with us.

And that, my friends, was my mini-vacation with Noora. She'll actually be in LA next week, same as me, so I'm hoping to meet up with her again.