Tonight I decided to ride the bus to north Michigan and meet Austin after work.

The building Austin is currently working in has a lot of shops...including j.crew and Williams-Sonoma.

2 of my personal favorites.

So while I waited for Austin to get off work,

I thumbed through Ina's new cookbook, "how easy is that?" and drooled over half-sheet pans, cast iron, and basil scented hand soap.

We checked out the Christmas tree in the building and the one at the Hancock building, walked around the shops a little and then decided to have a little Chicago pizza for dinner.

So many stores have their Christmas decorations up.

(i really dislike the way my hair looks in this picture but i posted it anyway. can you say third grade school picture?? i promise it was better in person)

The lights outside Cartier Austin has been telling me about.

We also saw a man leave Tiffany & Co with a small blue bag.

I smiled knowing his wife/girlfriend/fiancée is going to have a very good Christmas. :)

This Saturday is the lighting of Michigan Avenue and we are planning to attend.

You can see the lights in all the trees but they are not turned on yet and the workers have been planting mini evergreen trees everywhere. It's beautiful.

The temperature is supposed to get down to 29 degrees tonight, but a "feels like" of 17. yikes!

Glad tomorrow is Friday. Looking forward to a festive weekend. After all, Mickey AND Minnie will be here to light up Michigan Avenue.