Toss Toss

I had a fabulous weekend with my two girlfriends, Nancy and Sharla, in Chicago. It was just what we all needed I think. We didn't have our time overly scheduled and we all traveled really well together. I didn't even feel a need to have some alone time until late in the day on Sunday (after a long day of travel... more on that later) which is saying a lot. We flew to Chicago on Friday morning, got checked into the Marriott on the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue (41st floor, view of the lake. Nice.) and quickly proceeded to find a place to eat seeing that it was now about 3:00 and we had all had a light breakfast at around 8:00. We found a nice little italian restaurant where we all had very good food. The only problem was that our waitress kept asking if we wanted more Diet Pepsi (which we did) and failed to inform us that we were being charged for each one. And she seemed to act surprised that it bothered us that we paid over $15 for pop! In today's day and age, where free refills are the norm and not the exception, a wait staff person should most definitely tell you there is a charge associated with refills. We made sure not to make that mistake again by asking if there were free refills everywhere we ate all weekend long. Everyone seemed gave us a strange look that said, "Uh, yeah! Who doesn't give free refills??!" so we of course had to regale everyone about our tale of woe concerning the fizzy beverage and the italian waitress who didn't get a very big tip. After eating we did a bit of shopping before heading back to our hotel to freshen up for our trip to the theater to see Wicked. What a fun show. I can't believe God blesses some people with such good pipes! We all agreed it was highly entertaining and that the singing was outstanding but the songwriting could have been a bit better. After the show we met up with a couple of other girlfriends of mine that were taking their own (albeit strangely copy-cat version of our) chicago trip at a bar and had a few drinks.

Saturday we blissfully slept in until 9:30!!! Thanks to the dark curtains and Nan's white noise machine. I haven't slept that long in ages. What a blessing!!! After a quick stop at Dunkin Doughnuts (apparently the best coffee in Chicago) we hit the stores where I proceeded to spend myself into serious debt. But, I know I will keep all the stuff I bought for years. I got a leather blazer and 3 cashmere sweaters that will never go out of style (or so my fabulous partners in crime convinced me to ease my buyers remorse - who can ask for more out of friends??!). We did clothes and shoe shopping in the first part of the day followed by housewares shopping in the afternoon/evening with a little Spanish Tapas in between (I'd never had tapas before and it was so good!). That evening we went across the street for some seafood and wine at Joe's - super yummy. We climbed into bed and this time didn't wake up until 10:00!! Died and went to heaven. Sunday we did a little bit more shopping and grabbed lunch at this mexican place before grabbing our stuff and getting on the train to O'Hare. Our flight was scheduled for 4 something in the afternoon. We got a call from Eric, Sharla's husband just as we were getting to O'Hare to inform us that our flight had been canceled. Thanks to Sharla's cell phone, quick thinking and somewhat pushy attitude, we found ourselves on the way to midway in a taxi paid for by Northwest to catch an 8:00 flight home. We grabbed dinner at Harry Carey's to pass the time and had an uneventful trip home...until we went to get our baggage. Sharla and my bags came off the carousel right away but Nan's was nowhere in sight. Sharla went looking all over while I stood in a line (that wasn't moving) to report missing luggage. 4o minutes after our bags came off, Nan's finally slid down the shoot onto the carousel and Sharla grabbed it. Who knows where they were keeping it. Its always been a huge mystery to me what goes on behind the scenes at baggage claim. Anyway, we were finally on our way home to our own families. So happy to have gone and so happy to be back. That's what a vacation should always be like.

The highlights for me (above and beyond just being able to catch up with my two best friends) was the Wicked show, the sleeping and the eating. We've decided that we need to take this trip every year. So, I have something to look forward to now!

I'll post some pics after I get some from Nan...she was the only one who remembered a camera.