Brussels. 

These are the days that I love my job.

I had a few meetings in Brussels in June. I feel so lucky that I get to travel for work, and especially to great international cities!! I arrived in Brussels on Sunday morning, and quickly found myself to my hotel, and then off to church in a nearby suburb in Lueven. The church members are so kind and lovely there. They had a family baptism that afternoon, and they invited me to stay for the baptism and lunch, so I did. The baptism was beautiful and the food was amazing!!

Cool street in Lueven.

Row houses in Lueven.

Traditional Belgian Feast.

Traditional Belgian Meatball Soup.

Square in Lueven.

I had a day to explore Brussels on my own, and loved touring this beautiful city. I filled up on chocolates, Belgian waffles and lots of seafood! So good!

Grand Plaza.

Grand Plaza.

Grand Plaza.

Flowers in the Grand Plaza.

Beautiful windows and detail on these buildings.

The detail is just incredible.

Grand Plaza.

Grand Plaza.

THE FIRST Godiva store!

I was SUCH a tourist! It was 60 degrees and rainy this day ... so I just embraced my tourist nature.

Cute chocolate store.

Yummy Truffles.

Restaurant Row. When mom and returned on Thursday night to this street we were attacked by male hosts trying to lure us inside!! I was NOT wanting seafood and so I politely declined each of them. I also had to force them out of my way after I declined!!

One of the many lace stores.

The cobblestone Road. I loved these roads at first...until I had to drag my suitcase on them for a mile...

Famous gold statue-- ritual to touch him and get good luck.

Famous Mannequin Pis Statue. Yes, it's a little boy peeing, and it's the Belgians favorite statue!

Beautiful Church.

Street singers/musicians.

Cool buildings on a hill.

Beautiful Gardens.

Doorway.

Tiny alleyway-- reminds me of Venice.

Modern part of town --- crazy to see this and then the old buildings, right?

Beautiful church.

This guy was just classic.

On Wednesday morning my mom flew in to see Brussels, and then to travel with me after. She joined us for dinner at a traditional Belgian restaurant, and we watched my colleagues enjoy a beer tasting...

View from inside the restaurant.

I wanted to take a photo of the beer mug-- and at the last second my co-worked put her fingers up! Awesome. She knows our standards!

 Our next stop ... Brugges! The Venice of the North...

Keep Calm and Love Britney Spears.

My friend Lindsey and I have been SO excited for Britney Spears concert at the United Center and it did not disappoint. Lindsey got us awesome seats (10 ROWS back!) which was AMAZING. Girls night + Britney Spears = a great time. I'll just let you check out my photos and see what I mean.

yes, that is the stage behind us.

Jesse and the Boy Toys was super entertaining.

Nicki was pretty fun.

Nicki's dancers ROCKED. They were going full out for the whole performance. SO impressive.

Getting excited for Britney.

 

Such a great show!!

Let's just say it's Freedom Week.
As Bono said, "America is more than a country-- it's an idea".

On Tuesday, July 5, we went to Soldier Field and saw U2 360. It was awesome. The venue, the seats, the company, the band-- awesome. Its definitely one of my top favorite concerts I've ever been to. I loved being at Soldier Field-- I think it's my new favorite concert venue (I hope to see a football game there one day too!) U2 loved the Chi-town fans and did 3 encores for us-- it was a 2.5 hour concert just with them! Interpol, who opened for them was also phenomenal. Such a great summer night.

View of Soldier Field from the Pedestrian bridge.

I love these columns.

 

U2 are true performers-- they love it and you can see it. So awesome.

Happy 4th - Continued. 

We took full advantage of the Holiday and had a really great 4th of July. Started with Tennis in the morning (side note: at the park at 8:30am we found caution tape up where families had blocked off their designated picnic areas for the day. They already had their smokers going with BBQ Chicken-- I was trying to figure out how I could get a piece of that... so jealous). Ok, so after tennis we cleaned our house, had a quick (delicious) lunch and then rode our bikes and met some friends at Northerly Island Beach. It was so hot in the sun, which made it nice to swim in the lake. My first time swimming in Lake Michigan!

I love going to the beach and seeing this gorgeous skyline in my view:

Monday evening we hosted a BBQ with some friends from our ward (check out this awesome festive ice cream cake our friends made!), and then walked over to Millennium Park to watch the Navy Pier Fireworks.

Custom ice cream cake -- so delicious!

Fireworks in the distance-- we didn't have enough time to walk the extra mile to get closer to Navy Pier. It's ok-- Navy Pier does Fireworks shows every Wednesday and Saturday in the summer. We'll see them again :)

Seriously, such a great 4th-- the only thing that could have been better is if we were with our families. I have to say, my favorite part of the evening was when we got home and I heard Ryan yell, "Kiley get our here!" I went out to the balcony and saw dozens of 4th of July fireworks going on in the western suburbs. We were 3 for 3 seeing fireworks shows in the suburbs over the weekend! It was the perfect way to end the day.

Happy 4th of July!
Here's a secret: In Chicago I love the 3rd almost as much as the 4th.


We've had a really great 4th of July weekend already. We just returned from a trip to Michigan, including the famous Mackinac Island (blogs from that trip to come soon). As we drove into Chicago we saw at least a dozen fireworks shows going on in Michigan, Indiana and Chicago. It was awesome. On July 3rd, we sung Patriotic songs at church, BBQ'd and then headed over to Millennium Park for the Symphony Orchestra concert of "American Songs" including Star Spangled Banner, Overture of 1812, Armed Forces, etc. It was amazing. A great way to spend a Sunday evening. After the show we hung out with some friends in their condo on the 54th floor of their building. After admiring the gorgeous sunset, we spent an hour watching dozens of fireworks shows going on out in the suburbs of Chicago. It was so cool!! We finished the evening with an American Classic Movie: The Sandlot.

We love the Pritzker Pavillion and the concerts in the summer!

I love the 4th of July -- so many great memories of spending the 4th with my family; but also because I'm so grateful to live in America. We are so blessed to live in this beautiful country and have the freedom that we enjoy. Especially right now with so many others fighting for the freedoms that we enjoy, and take for granted. I am grateful for my family and friends who continue to fight for our freedom. Thank you for your sacrifice and dedication to our country.

I hope you're having a great 4th!!