Chi-Town

One of the best times about being in your 20s and settled with a steady income is travelling spur of the moment. Case in point, on Thursday around 10am, I decided to take a weekend trip...to Chicago. Flights were not too expensive and Kunal's cousin, Rati was having a katha for her new house. All of Kunal's family was going and we decided to join. Since I was taking Friday and Monday off and Kunal had to be back in NJ for work on Monday we had to take different flights. Lucky duck, Kunal had a direct flight while I had a layover. During my layover in Cincinnati, I discovered the airport had a Chickfila! Woo hoo, yay for me, I got a chicken biscuit! Kunal was jealous.

Once we arrived, we went into downtown with the cousins to sightsee since Kunal and Nishan had not gotten a chance to explore Chicago before. After a delicious lunch of sushi at Niu we went to Navy Pier, Michigan Avenue, and Millennium Park. Kunal's niece was with us and she is a super adorable toddler which made sightseeing very fun. Kunal's parents and sister flew in that night and we all met up for dinner at Rati's inlaws' house. After dinner, we went to a grand opening of Hop Scotch Bar which specializes in beer on tap and whiskeys. I absolutely love the name!

Saturday, Kunal and I met up with my cousin and his wife for brunch. It was great to see them and get a chance to have actual conversation since the last time we saw them was at their wedding! The katha was that afternoon and it took up most of the day with the ceremony followed by dinner. That night after everyone left and the 'kids' wants to do something, we went to a local bar for some drinks and food where we had the best pizza ever. It was cut in squares, which I love and the crust was so crispy and the toppings so fresh. They were having a halloween party so we got fun necklaces, hats, masks, and vampire teeth.

I was originally meant to leave Monday morning but I decided to change my flight after all coverage about Hurricane Sandy making her NJ debut. Good thing I did since EWR is closed today..and tomorrow, and who knows when it would open again. I'm glad we were able to go to Chicago to see the family and it just made us even more excited for Boston in 2 weeks when we'll see them all again!

Here are some pictures from the BEAN! Last one is from Navy Pier.

In the meantime, Kunal and I are at home with symptoms of cabin fever due to the hurricane. We are okay so far, it has been extremely windy but luckily our power hasn't gone out. I hope everyone else in the Northeast is safe during the storm.

SoBe

After over 10 months of 2012, we finally took a real vacation. A trip meant for us to laze around, do anything we wanted, and have no planned events on the agenda. We went to Miami Beach which was the perfect location. Especially considering the cold/rainy weather that was creeping into NJ as of late. It was a great step away from reality into the life of leisure.

We were a bit worried about our flight getting delayed due to the downpour that occurred the day of our departure. Luckily our flight had no problems and we were off! Our flight arrived ahead of schedule and soon we were at our hotel. Thanks to the stocked minibar we relaxed for a bit with some beer until we decided on what to do. Since it was our first night, we wanted to do something low key so we headed to a local dive bar where the pitchers are only $8 bucks and games of pool are $2. We've never played pool with each other so it was a fun time, both of us winning games. I'd like to say that I'm the overall winner because I recall Kunal having to take more shots than I did. We made friends with some locals and played doubles. It was definitely a change from the ordinary bar scene. Now I want to find some pool halls up here so we can go again.

Saturday, we had brunch nearby and tried this amazing breakfast pizza that we both fell in love with at Front Porch Cafe. Afterwards, we decided to walk down Ocean Drive to see everything. We went all the way to the tip of the island and climbed over some rock quarry. Since the walk was long, we decided to rent some bikes to travel the 14 blocks back to our hotel. Now, I haven't been on a bike in who knows how long. While I definitely remember how to ride one, it still took a bit getting used to. Definitely had a couple close encounters with some fences. That evening we went to Mango's with a friend for dinner. Afterwards we went to the Clevelander Hotel because who doesn't love a good rooftop??

Sunday we had actually made reservations at a restaurant known for its amazing southern good called Yardbird. The food was SOO good and reminded us of NC. We had the shrimp and grits, chicken biscuits and mac n cheese. For dessert, we had a maple glazed doughnut with bacon. So good, but definitely heart attack worthy.

After our calorie heavy lunch, we decided to walk back on Lincoln Road so we can browse the shops as we made our way back to Ocean Drive. I decided to work on my skin tone while Kunal hit the gym. For dinner ended up getting sushi at Moshi Moshi which was so great. 

Monday was our final day in Miami and we had a sight-seeing tour planned through Duck Tours which was great. I booked it mainly because I was intrigued at the idea of this vehicle going into the water and being a boat. Good thing it lived up to the hype and we did not sink into Biscayne Bay. Unfortunately for us, it was quite a windy day which made the water rough so we couldn't go para-sailing or rent jet-skis like we originally wanted to. Instead, we spend the some time on the beach for a while enjoying the last warm sun we would see for a while. We met up with another friend that night for some drinks at Wet Willie's which was a place I always wanted to go since I first heard about it in Charlotte. I had been talking about how I really wanted to try a bulldog and as a nightcap, we ordered one..which was a pretty bad idea considering we had to be at the airport 4 hours later. 

The next morning, we had to wake up at 4am and were off to the airport to come back to reality. I prolonged it by taking a personal day so I could nap, do laundry, clean the house. Our next major trip is Boston for a family wedding, which will be loads of fun!

One Year Later

The musical Rent asked the question, "How do you measure a year?" and I"m sure everyone has a different answer. Rent proposed you can measure a year in daylights, sunsets, midnights, cups of coffees, etc. The top choice being love.

It's a been one whole year since Kunal and I signed our lives to each other in the tiny town of Conway, SC. We've had a pretty fantastic year. We're enjoying traveling as much as possible. We get to see friends fairly often. And most importantly, we're still just as obsessed as ever with spending time with one another.

So I guess I'll measure this past year in happiness. Happy that we're thriving in a tough economy. Happy that we're maturing together. Happy that we're enjoying our 20s with friends. Happy that we still see our families often. Happy that we're still happy. =)