A Night At Lincoln Hall

Pierre and I were lucky enough to get the chance to see Ellie Goulding on her North American Tour featuring her recently released album, Lights. I've been a huge fan of hers for a while and bought the tickets the day it went on sale! Her sold out show was held at Lincoln Hall, with The Knocks opening. The Knocks were new to both Pierre and I, but I am so excited to have some awesome new music to add to my iPod. They were beyond entertaining and amazing. I was upset to find out they were selling and signing their CDs after the show once I got home, but if they make their way back to Chicago, I'll definitely be there.

Ellie Goulding was unfortunately extremely sick, but she still pulled off a great performance. We helped her out by signing along throughout the show, but I'm still thankful we got the chance to see her sing, sick or not! With a tea by her side, she sang all my favorites (I found myself saying "this is my favorite song" to Pierre every time she started a new one). She made a promise to come back to Chicago, so I guess I'll be seeing her live again this summer!

Below are some photos and videos of The Knocks and Ellie Goulding. Unfortunately, I didn't bring the camera I wanted to, so while not my finest work, I hope you enjoy them!

Lincoln Hall (2424 North Lincoln Avenue)

The Knocks

If they have their own tour one of these days, I'm there.

Waiting for Ellie Goulding to start. Everyone with their phone out.

Ellie Goulding

My absolute favorite favorite favorite song.

Such an amazing performance!

And I got a free poster, sweet!

Earth Hour

Throughout Chicago, historic and famous buildings turned off their lights for one hour and joined millions around the world to celebrate Earth Hour, a way to show their support and dedication to building a sustainable future for our planet. Check out some of the photos of buildings in downtown of before and during Earth Hour.

Chicago Theatre turns off all their lights for one hour.

United Building, one of the few buildings that turned off their lights inside as well.

The huge Merchandise Mart, which is the nation's largest LEED certified building.

Wrigley Building with Trump Tower to the left.

Looking down the Chicago River with a glimpse of Willis Tower.

Chicago Tribune, always my favorite building.

    

LEED Silver Certified NBC Tower, so they just had to participate!

Navy Pier turns off the lights for their ferris wheel.

    

Prudential Plaza seems to disappear for one hour.

And the lights come back on...

My walk around downtown took about two hours, so I did a little extra energy saving by doing this post! How did everyone else spend their Earth Hour?

Seeing Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

With the second largest Irish population in the United States, Chicago takes celebrating St. Patrick's Day to a whole 'nother level. The festivities begin on the Saturday before the green holiday with tradition after tradition. For the past 43 years, the Chicago River has been dyed, you guessed it, green! Forty pounds of vegetable dye are poured into almost half a mile of the river and the transformation happens right in front of everyone's eyes! It is often called the "Irish Miracle", as the dye is actually orange, but with a touch from a leprechaun, it turns to the green we know. One boat pours the dye into the water, while another one "stirs" it around.

It has begun!

The boat pouring the dye.

The stirrers.

Mixing up the green paint.

Everyone in the St. Patrick Day's spirit.

All done!

After the dyeing of the river, the St. Patrick's Day parade took place along Columbus Drive this year. Another huge tradition, the parade is the largest in the city and was led by our Mayor Richard M. Daley.

On our way to the parade.

Some people go all out!

Opening of the parade.

She later on gave a kiss to a cop.

Traditional Irish dancers.

More leprechauns!

American and Irish flags.

There were so many traditional Irish dance troupes.

Yes, those are St. Patricks rollerblading.

The guy from before the parade!

Pierre and I tried to stick around for the whole parade, but after I couldn't feel my toes, it was time to meet up with Jill and Gary to grab a bite. Afterwards, Jill and I were on the search for some green beer, but while our search was unsuccessful, we did find some green shots!

Jill and Gary!

Pierre and me in front of the now green river.

Green shots!

And after the green shots.

Hours of celebrating later, we called it a night. For that night, at least. We still had the actual day of St. Patty's for celebrating, so Jill and I headed to Wrigleyville (home of Wrigley Field where the Cubs play) to finally get our green beer and get in the St. Patrick's Day spirit all over again. We stumbled upon The Irish Oak, where we saw our colored drink of choice and decided to give it a try. 

Welcome to Wrigleyville!

The Irish Oak, a new favorite of mine.

Green beer!

More green beer!

All Jill wanted to witness were bagpipers! And with a bit of Irish luck, the Chicago Police Department's Bagpipes & Drums of the Emerald Society came into our bar and put on an awesome show! After a performance in the front of the bar, they made their way towards the back where Jill and I were sitting and we had a front row seat to the festive show.

The sound of bagpipes and drums was a perfect addition to our day.

After they made their way to the back.

With bagpiper Mark Kelly. Thanks again!

The Bagpipes & Drums of the Emerald Society!

Jill and I at The Irish Oak.

The Irish Oak (3511 North Clark Street)

We got our green beer and bagpipes... St. Patrick's Day was definitely a success this year! And with every other holiday, one of my favorite parts is seeing the buildings lit up. Check out some of Chicago in the green spirit.

The Wrigley Building at sunset.

All lit up!

Hancock in the green spirit.