Sunday Salon: Chicago, food, and book tours

Good morning! It's Sunday, it's morning and I'm actually typing my Sunday Salon post. It's sunny outside, football previews are on tv, I'm on the couch under a blanket. And (before writing this post) I'm reading! What a wonderful fall morning!

Let's begin with the rest of the follow up from my Chicago trip this weekend. You can read my post-Oprah show from Friday afternoon. We didn't end up on camera but still had a great time. It was so interesting seeing it all. I thought Oprah didn't look well, but still she was fun and friendly. She said she was allergic to the eye makeup they put on her but I thought it was more than that. But what do I know? LOL

I haven't read much on my Kindle yet. I plan to use it this week when I read Midwives for LOLAs November book. After that, I'll be sure to give a review on it, comparing it to reading books in paper. She never did talk about The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. We heard the director fellow say the book club part was going to be cut due to the cooking taking longer than planned. I still need to finish the book, having about 200 pages left to go.

After the show on Friday, we had lunch at the Grand Lux Cafe - yummy! The best part of the lunch was the Molten Chocolate cake that I had to order when I ordered my main meal - because they baked it while I ate. Yummmm! We then hung out at the hotel for a bit, taking a short nap (didn't sleep much the night before - excited, chatting), saying good-bye to a few of the ladies. We then ate dinner at a tappas-style restaurant, Quartino. Was also very yummy, even for a picky, prefers boring food person like myself.

After dinner we went to see Wicked. What a great show that is! I highly recommend it. The first couple of ensemble songs were difficult for me to understand, but after that the singing and acting was wonderful. I was teary at the end. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Saturday we had breakfast at Tempo - apparently the hottest place in Chicago to have breakfast. Was also very yummy - we had great food all weekend!

I got home around dinner time last night. My family was out watching HSM3 - kids said it was the best, hubby says first one is best. Will have to see for myself. We then watched the Buckeyes play a great game against Penn State. They lost but I am still holding my head high as a Buckeye today. They played well, Penn State was just a bit better. Great game (as opposed to the USC game or the past two national championship games)!

Today is going to be a quiet day for us. I have a review due tomorrow for The Darker Side by Cody McFadyen so I will be reading that today. I've started it after breakfast and it's already pulled me in.

The rest of my book plans for this week include finishing Edgar Sawtelle and reading The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly (HUGE thanks to Miriam Parker at Hachette Books for sending it - she's my newest bff! :-). I have to pick up the 6 library books that I previously requested. I am overloaded with books to read at the moment. What a wonderful feeling but also a bit overwhelming too.

I will be posting my review of The Darker Side tomorrow (need to get back to reading). I also have a book tour stop scheduled on Wednesday for The Red Sea by E.A. Benedek. I liked that book so be sure to stop by and see my thoughts. Along with my review I'll post an interview I had with author Emily Benedek.

I hope you all have a great Sunday! I also hope you are able to get some reading in today!