Girls' Weekend

Happy Easter! I promised a recap of my trip last weekend, so here we go...

Last weekend I had a date to visit Kristen in Champaign. The last time I went up there, I took the train. In an effort to same money/be able to leave when I wanted, I decided just to drive up there after work on Friday. Ugh, traffic on I-57N was horrendous. Apparently, it's gonna be that way for a while. It's ok, I survived. 


I slept in on Saturday morning. So, by the time we left Kristen's apartment it was almost lunch time. We just decided to head on over to The Black Dog Smoke & Ale House to beat the lunch rush. This was a brilliant idea because by the time we were done eating, the place was packed. We started with the corn bread appetizer. It was unreal. It had pulled pork and baked beans inside. Holy yum!

Even better with butter

For my entree I ordered the pulled pork sandwich and sweet potato fries. I got to take half of this home and it was just as good the day after. I have to say, it's a solid rival to 17th Street.

After lunch, we went to some neat shopping places around town. Kristen found some pretty earrings for me at Macy's. Then we came back to Kristen's apartment to watch My Week With Marilyn.

Celebratory mimosas were had

I'm engaged and she will be attending a doctorate program in LA next year, so we had a lot to celebrate! I also brought the little plastic glasses. Those didn't last long - we upgraded to big girl glasses after we drank those little things.

We continued our afternoon libations with a trip to Legends where some of Kristen's friends were watching the Final Four games. Then we went to Radio Maria for a gourmet dinner. I ordered the Sugarcane Shrimp Curry. It was scrumptious. 

The microgreens were taking over the plate! But underneath was a bed of jasmine rice with avocado, mango and crab. Yum-o. Kristen was raving about our dessert before we even got to the restaurant. So of course we ordered the Green Tea White Chocolate Mousse, behold:

 Look at how pretty the picture turned out due to the reflection of the string lights in the window! I had a great visit with Kristen and I'll be back in a couple weeks when Brandon competes in the Illinois Marathon.