Wed-Sun

Wednesday: I had lunch with Nichole at a Mexican place in the Willis Tower. I decided to drive down there and ended up paying a ton in parking. Oh well. I relaxed and got some work done the rest of the day!  That night Beth and Cris made some bomb fajitas for dinner!

Thursday:  I met up with Bryan and his good friend Nick for some lunch at XOCO (Bryan's fav place).  It was super yummy!  Its owned by Rick Bayliss.  I took the bus downtown and we walked quite a bit.  We went to see American Gothic at the Art Institue and wandered around for awhile.  After we sat in Millennium Park for awhile and chatted.  I headed back to Beth's and we went for Jimmy Johns and mani/pedis and a spray tan (traumatic!).  At 9pm I picked up Ann Marie and the airport.  We walked down the street to a local bar for a few drinks.  We cheers'd with a shot at midnight for my birthday :)

Friday: My birthday!!!  I woke up super early (730am) and watched a movie (Time Travelers Wife) and did some work.  Around noon, Ann Marie and I drove downtown and got Jimmy Johns for lunch. We had to pick something up at Tiffany's for Beth, and I ended up splurging on a diamond necklace for myself.  So in love with it, I haven't taken it off once!  After we did a little more shopping and I got my makeup done.  We picked Bryan up at his brothers place and went back to Beths to get ready.  We drove down to the tapas restaurant and waited for everyone to show up.  There were about 10 of us total. The food (and sangria) was sooooo good!

After we went to the bar next door, Beaumont. It was totally dead.  But we made it fun, had more drinks and even danced.  Around 1am, everyone had left except for me, Ann Marie and Bryan.  We sat for awhile and then AM and I danced until about 3am. (At this point the bar was packed with 21 year olds!)  We came outside to a parking ticket (my fault - booo) but overall it was a great 30th birthday!

Saturday: Wedding day!  Bryan and I headed to the suburbs for a wedding. It was crazy windy (and sometimes rainy) but it turned out beautifully.  The reception was in Geneva overlooking the river - very nice!  Bryan's dad lives right outside Geneva (how random is that?) so I dropped him off and came back to finish off the reception.  Beth and Cris were guests so I drove them back to the city...almost falling asleep at the wheel!  Beth did everything in her power to stay awake and keep me awake - even hitting me at some points.  But we made it home safely!

Sunday (today):  It was a nice lazy morning.  We picked up Kate and went to Goose Island for beer and food. It was really good!  They let you choose what beers to have in your flight which is awesome! We went by Sweet Mandy B's cupcakes after for some dessert.  The rest of the evening as been lazy other than taking AM back to the airport.  Its crazy thunder and lightening here too!  I have to be at the Milwaukee aiport in about 5 hours so I'm debating if I should sleep or not at the moment. :)

Kate, Beth, AM and me

Off to Orlando in the morning...to be continued!!!