Chicago was great. Saw Princess and the kids (and enjoyed some AWESOME beef courtesy of Monkey). Also hung out with the Femme-Monkey and called Kat & on the road with her truck drivin' boyfriend. I believe we may have also sung "convoy" very loudly to her voicemail. Breaker breaker 1-9. 10-4 good buddy.
The rest of my trip was filled with shopping, long conference days and even longer conference nights. I must have increased my drink consumption pretty successfully as the week went on. Two drinks on Monday night(resulting in a headache Tuesday morning) had evolved to my drinking 7 beers by Thursday night and not even catching a buzz. I was definitely channeling my early 90's self. Word.
I did experience some firsts while in the Windy City, including the following:
- Got to hold a Super Bowl Ring. Dang it was huge, and heavy and gold and diamond-y.
- Shopped, by myself, downtown, all day long. I've always been with somebody before which is cool but limits the places you can go. I ended up at a Starbucks at some point and after I got my food & latte, I almost didn't know what to do with myself. I sat down at a table, alone. It was weird. I felt like I didn't belong to anyone.
- Had a Buffalo Fajita - that's right, a fajita made with Buffalo meat. It was good but I don't think I'd order it again.
- Hailed a cab all alone. This was going great until I realized that there was no meter in the car, no license saying he was a cabby, no cb radio. I wasn't really scared, just pissed that I was clearly not getting a receipt for my 10 bucks.
- Visited the House of Blues. Cool venue, check it out - but be prepared to fork out at least $5.50 for a bottled beer (I am so spoiled living in a small town).
- Finally got to see an American Girl Store. I have two words for you CREEP.EEE. And yet, they still suckered me into some jammies and a pair of glasses for PGirl Jr's doll. Damn you American Girl, damn you.
All in all, a great trip. But I'm glad to be back.