The best part of the whole story is when she wakes up in her freezing, terrible attic room to find silk bedding, gorgeous furniture, a warm fire in the fireplace, and a whole breakfast laid out for her. Isn't that the ultimate? From total misreable poverty and hopelessness to a room FULL of riches?

That scene has stayed with me since the first time I saw the movie.

Tonight, I'm watching it again, after decades, and it is just as effective! And to think, I got this classic movie on DVD in the dollar bin of some store. Crazy!

Some Fun Chicago Trip Photos

As a Christmas present to each other, joe and I splurged on two nights at the W hotel in Chicago. This hotel is INSANE-- totally hip, funky and stylish, yet comfortable at the same time.

We drove for five hours to get to Chicago last Thursday, checked in in the evening, and this is what we walked into:
After jumping on the bed for a while, we went out for a walk and some dinner. The famous "Magnificent Mile", on Michigan Avenue, is only four blocks away from the hotel, so we had a nice little stroll as we explored our options.
We ended up having a yummy pasta dinner at Bucca Di Beppo, an old favorite of Joe's that he used to go to in Vegas.
We then lounged around our hotel room and watched mindless cable until we fell asleep in the soft, down-comforter covered king bed.
The next morning, laaaaaaaaaate morning, we ordered a light breakfast in bed-- pastries, muffins and croissants with juice. We took our sweet time getting ready for the day. The room was so comfortable and nice that we were content just hanging around.

This was the view from our 27th floor window... dramatic, amazing skyscrapers.

Here is Joe, enjoying the view.


Once we FINALLY got going, we explored the hotel a bit, then headed back to Michigan Avenue for window shopping, treasure hunting, and sight-seeing. Here, we are just outside the elevators on our floor.

A seating nook in the lobby of the W Hotel.

"Wave" is the restaurant at the hotel. WAY too expensive for our tastes.

Because it's called the "W" hotel, their design includes as many "w" words as they can think of. In fact, their service moto is "Whatever, whenever." Here, the pool is labelled with a "w" word.


While out and about, we stopped at the Lego Store. This became Joe's favorite store last time we visited, and it is so fun to see all the crazy displays they have there. The street scene is a recreation of Michigan Avenue. The dinosaur part isn't real. :)

After a couple of hours of shopping, we had an amazing late lunch at the Grand Lux Cafe, a special branch of the Cheesecake Factory. Joe had the best burger of his life, and I had the bento box, which included a winter vegetable soup, an arugula and fennel salad, asparagus, and grilled salmon over potatoes. AMAZING. And we even lucked out and got an incredible window seat.We then went to a movie, The Good Shepherd, (which turned out to be incredibly NOT worth seeing), then strolled home in the night lights.

Chicago's famous water tower, and some really cool Christmas lights.

I thought this sign was funny-- just... PUPPIES. Random.

We stopped by Wrigley Field, just for a moment, as we drove out of town on Saturday. Cubs suck.

The last day we were there, it was incredibly foggy. It made for some breathtaking views of the city.
We stopped at IHOP for breakfast, then got on the road to go home. Joe was so sweet- he let me sleep and he drove the entire way.
This little trip was perfect. It was not all about the go-go-go of other trips... it was more of a detox and a break from real life. It was a chance for us to recover from the holidays and just be together.

Now, I get the rest of this week off, and must begin to think about school starting up on Monday. But not just yet.