Chicago

Ok, so I'm planning my best friend's bachelorette party in a few weeks, and can I just say, it's a whole lot of work! I won't say a whole lot (in the event that she reads this before the bachelorette - I don't want to give too much away), but I will say that it involved me reaching out to male exotic dancers....that's definitely a first for me. And apparently, some of them are not the brightest in the bunch, if you get my drift. Let's just say it's been an experience. My big learning in planning this has been that in the rare chance that pigs fly and I actually end up getting married - I am definitely taking one's ability to actively participate in the bachelorette planning into consideration in choosing my bridesmaids. Otherwise it just makes life too stressful for everyone else.
Moving on, I was in Chi-town last weekend for the first time in almost a year (I visited when I first moved to Minneapolis a year ago - speaking of which, this past week I celebrated my one year anniversary at work!!! I got a special card that my team signed for me....a gift card would've been nice too but no such luck). Anyway, my good friend Miata flew into Minneapolis last Thursday and we drove to Chicago after I got off work on Friday. It was a 6 and a half hour drive, with minimal traffic so that was nice. However, 90% of the drive is through Wisconsin, which has to be the most boring scenic drive you can take (except maybe the drive across the state of Pennsylvania). It was a good thing Miata was with me to keep me yapping the entire time (and yes, we yapped the entire time). We got to my friend Kristen's place in Chicago around 11pm (Kristen, Miata and I were semi-roommates in college...we lived in a cluster together in the same dorm and shared a bathroom) then we went for good old Chicago deep dish pizza at Giordano's. Saturday morning, Miata left with some friends of hers that she met when she was studying abroad - they were taking another road trip to some remote part of Illinois for the wedding of one of their mutual friends. One of the girls didn't seem so bright - she showed up at Kristen's place around 10:30am talking about her bus from Indiana got in at 6:30am and she had been wandering the streets for four hours. I looked at her like she was crazy in between my half sleep daze before I rolled back over and went back to sleep. Kristen and I ended up spending Saturday during the day at the outlet mall near Aurora. It was pretty disappointing overall - the prices were pretty similar to what you would find during a regular sale at the normal store locations. I did get a dress and some work pants from Ann Taylor, which was having a good sale, and I got a sweater from Benetton. Saturday night, we met up with another friend Erin, who also went to NU with us although she was a few years ahead of us. We went to this Columbian restaurant that Erin recommended called Tablas, which was excellent - I would go back again in a heartbeat. Everything was seasoned so well and tasted so good. Sunday, the three of us got together again, and went to brunch at Le Peep. Erin recommended this workout DVD to me called 30 lb shred by Jillian Michaels which I ordered, but I haven't received yet. Supposedly, it's a great workout that you can do at home and it's only 20 minutes but helps you tone your body. I'll let y'all know how that goes once I try it. Miata showed up around 4pm then we got back on the road and drove back to Minneapolis. Ok, I have to run y'all but I'll update some more soon.