The Traveling Belchers: Windy City Adventures

Well the past two weeks almost seem like a blur. Justin and I have been working non-stop. Things are starting to look up at his store. In his business plan for the store he had set a goal to have 35 people hired by the end of February. We are just now approaching mid-January and he is only six people away from reaching his goal. A lot of the new hires are great and are really excited to be working at CFA. There is nothing better than having employees who actually want to come to work everyday! Justin also has a great trainer down this week. She is very thorough and teaches with reason and purpose. I have learned so much from her already and am looking forward to anything else she might teach me while she is here. (I am learning all the kitchen spots while we are here.)

CFA is rolling out new uniforms for all the employees. You would think it were Christmas all over again with how excited we are all to be getting new uniforms. The polos are bright red or a blue stripe. The pants are a grey and fit much more comfortably than the old ones. On Facebook a video has been floating around showing the benches made of the recycled Styrofoam cups. In addition to the benches our new uniforms are made from the recycled cups as well. I am really excited that CFA is working hard to find ways to help our environment.

Justin and I took a wonderful trip to Chicago this passed weekend. I am not sure if I would suggest visiting the windy city during the heart of winter, but with our schedules, we go where we can, when we can. We had an amazing time! We used some of our Marriott points to stay for FREE at the Renaissance Chicago Downtown. The location was perfect and super close to everything we wanted to do and see.

We started our trip off with some delicious pizza from Gino's East. While we were waiting for a table we kept seeing people go up the stairs like they knew where they were going. After about twenty minutes of watching the people go up, we asked an employee where everyone was going. They told us that there was a comedy club upstairs that served the full menu. We headed up and were lucky enough to get some seats before the show started. The comedians were no Anjelah Johsnon, but they were still pretty funny. Then we bundled up and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, we were shockingly surprised that due to our platinum elite status with Marriot, we got a complimentary breakfast at the hotel restaurant. The breakfast was delicious! We then headed to all of the touristy spots: the Willis (Sears) Tower, the Bean, and to the park to ice skate at the Skating Ribbon. It is an amazing outdoor ice skating rink that goes in the pattern of a winding path throughout the park! We had so much fun! We also tried to go to Wriggly Field, but it was under historic restoration, so the entire outside and sign were missing from the ball field.

We also proceeded to go to each of the businesses that Marcus Lemonis is a part owner in. We visited Denim and Soul, The Corner Barkery, and Sweet Pete's. When we got to Sweet Pete's we were asking the employees if Marcus ever stops in. They told us that he had just come in the night before. I thought Justin was going to pass out when he heard. He was so excited, yet so disappointed that he had missed seeing Marcus. They also told us that he purchased a restaurant just down the road called The Grille. They said that it would not be featured on the show, but that it was delicious. So, of course we had to go there for dinner. The food was amazing! Not only were all of Marcus's businesses great, but all of his employees were extremely friendly and had amazing things to say about him!