I know this doesn’t have anything to do with design; I just had to share these photos of my little niece. My brother, sister-in-law, and niece came to Chicago this past weekend for Claire’s first visit to Chicago. Luckily my baby niece, Claire is a trooper and was able to handle everything we had planned. We started the weekend with a dinner I prepared from my fresh farmer's market finds and caught up on each others lives. Although I am not the best cook, it was all made with love (always my excuse when it turns out so-so). My brother’s family and I unfortunately live in different states but as soon as we get together, we always pick up right were we left off.  After some wine (even mommy had a small glass) we took a night stroll around my neighborhood. 

The following day, we went to the Shedd Aquarium, where Claire was able to see fish the size of her! She was hesitant at the beginning, but shortly after she was pressing her face up against all of the glass fronts. Later that day, we went to American Girl where she went wild. Claire's second word was baby, so you could imagine when she was in baby heaven. She was literally climbing on the shelves to get to the  babies and claiming them as her own.  This was by far Claire’s favorite place on the trip. The next day we went to the zoo, where we saw all the animals out for breakfast. The leopard there was so beautiful, my sister-in-law was dreaming of blankets and jackets! The Lincoln Park Zoo was a great way to end our trip. 

I'm normally not much for words, but I had to share! It was so fun to have family in town and I can’t wait for the next visit to Aunt Emmy’s.