Ok this just might be the most boring Monday Meal Plan ever. The reason is simple. The King and the Eldest Princess have taken off for camp, leaving the Youngest Princess at home with me. And we’re basically surviving off of scraps in the freezer and eating up left overs, PBJ, and whatever I can find. 🙂 They return tomorrow, but then both Royal children will be making a trip to their grandparents and we’ll be headed out of town to celebrate our 10th Anniversary (YAY!) later in the week. Soooo . . . I’ve greatly reduced the grocery budget and meal plan for the week.
Monday: Grilled Veggie Kabobs
Whole Wheat Pasta with Olive Oil, Garlic, and some sort of Seafood
(whatever I can find cheap at the grocery store today!)
Strawberries
Tuesday: PBJ/Veggies/Fruit (got to use up the fresh stuff so it doesn’t go bad while we’re gone)
Food for our travels:
Homemade Granola with Almonds and Dark Chocolate
PBJ
Water/Tea in our own bottles
Fruits and Veggies
Boring, right? In other news, after plowing through a system of multiple envelopes each revealing special clues, I finally know where we’re headed to celebrate our anniversary. It looks like we’re headed to Chicago to celebrate our anniversary, staying downtown and getting to see Jersey Boys. WOOHOO. I have been spending time researching some free things to do on our trip! The King knew to clue me in a little early so I could pick some places to visit on our adventure. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
- Hull House Museum. Ok, my history geekitude is showing but I love Jane Addams and her ground-breaking influence work in the Settlement House structure during the late 1800s. I have LONG wanted to visit this museum and was thrilled to find out that admission is fuh-reee.
- Lincoln Park Zoo. I didn’t know it was free! We’ll be taking the bus to avoid parking fees.
- We’ll definitely wander around Navy Pier at some point. If the timing works out, we’ll catch the free fireworks after Jersey Boys on Wednesday night!
- The Art Institute of Chicago offers free admission at select times if we’re feeling artsy!
- Free Dance Lessons on Thursday night at Grant Park as a park of Chicago SummerDance.
- Someone on Twitter shared that you can go here to have a drink in the Hancock Tower (or perhaps not even make a purchase) and get a better view than paying $11 for the Observatory Tower. 🙂
www.queenoffree.net
Don’t forget they have that new glass overhang at the SearsTower to get a true birdseye view of the city. Also, Museum of Science and Industry has Harry Potter, if you’re into that…and don’t miss GARRETT’s POPCORN!!! My fave…
Just to clarify, make sure you go to the 96th floor of the Hancock. . .the 95th floor is the Signature Room and a very tasty meal, but the 96th floor is the bar area where you can sit and enjoy the view. There are stairs from 95th to 96th so it’s not a big deal (and it’s the same elevator bank), but I didn’t want you to end up in the wrong place!
We did a frugal Chicago vacation for our first anniversary. We hit the Lincoln Park Zoo, walked the Magnificent Mile, walked Navy Pier, walked through Millennium Park… the theme of the trip was “walking”- we didn’t have a car; we took Megabus up. There’s a free trolley that runs through the popular sights, but it was packed every time we saw it.
On a previous trip, we’ve made a trip out to the Frank Lloyd Wright home/studio/neighborhood in Oak Park. The tour was reasonable, and so was parking. If you’re interested in architecture, it’s a neat trip.