While visiting my family & Katie’s family in Illinois this holiday week, we were able to carve out some time to spend with friends.  My best friend, Mike, and his fiancee, Brittany, already had tickets to the Friday afternoon Cubs game, so we decided to join them, but not before a detour through the South Pond area of Lincoln Park Zoo to take some engagement pictures!  I have always wanted to take engagement or wedding pictures at this location because of the really cool architecture and the combination of the outdoor/natural feel with the awesome views of the Chicago skyline.  (The Hancock Building, left, and the Sears Tower, faint right, are both shown in second picture below, which I love.)  And it works out perfect when you also get to hang out with really good friends who recently got engaged!  Anyway, we spent about an hour and half taking pictures before finally catching a cab up to Wrigley Field, buying some pizza, scalping two tickets for me and Katie, and then watching the Cubs lose to the Pirates (sigh).  It was a lot of fun, and nothing beats Chicago in the summer (Chicago in the fall is pretty close, though).  These few images below were just the first few to catch my eye as I was reviewing them in Lightroom – expect more to come in the near future!  Congrats to Mike & Brittany!  Can’t wait for the wedding in September!