It was honestly just a weekend of incredibly fun. On Friday night, we went to The Bedford which is a bar built inside a bank vault. You'll have to see the pictures to get a better idea of what I'm talking about, but it was by far one of my favorite places of the weekend. Then we went back to the hotel in a rather jolly state of mind and plowed through our leftovers from the Pita Inn. Holy crap, shawarma never tasted so good!
On Saturday, we played tourist and went down to Navy Pier where I pretended I was 5 years old and rode the Ferris wheel. Kind of wished it had gone around more than once but it was definitely one of the many highs of the weekend. We went to an all vegan spot called Karyn's Cooked for brunch. I was kinda apprehensive about this given my 100% carnivore nature coupled with my firm contention that tofu tastes like soggy cardboard. But, I've gotta admit, I was pleasantly surprised with my skillet "scramble" as it proved once and for all that the right combination of spices can make almost anything tasty. Cheers to P for an excellent restaurant choice!
Following lunch, the girls decided they needed to hit the stores along the Magnificent Mile. God truly skipped over me when he was handing out the shopping genes because I instantly felt exhausted the second I walked into Nordstrom's. So I made like all the other boyfriends, husbands, S.O.s, etc. and plopped myself down on a couch and took a nap while the girls hit the makeup and jewelry counters. Best nap ever! We topped the afternoon off with drinks at The Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock tower. Gorgeous views and great company made for a solid end to the first part of our day.
Then it was back to the hotel to get gussied up for a proper night out on the town. My feet are starting to hurt again just thinking about my heels! We went to Tavernita for dinner, which was as pretentious as I had pegged it when I initially looked at their menu. Crappy service and having to wait over an hour for our reserved table to be free soured our mood, but again it was the company, and okay, also the round of drinks the manager bought us that salvaged dinner. After that it was off to the clubs- Hub 51 where we stayed for about 51 seconds, Mercer where we spent the majority of the night, and The Kerryman where we ended our night dancing to Ghetto Superstar. Classic! Off to the aptly named TacoBurritoKing for late night munchies and then into bed around 4 am.
On Sunday, we dragged ourselves out of bed with a singular goal in mind- to get to Millenium Park and see Cloud Gate aka "The Bean". Fun fact, it was an actually an Indian sculptor- Anish Kapoor who designed the Bean. Total tourist trap but we completely got into it and took approximately half a zillion pics. Loved it. After that, we headed to The Drake hotel for afternoon high tea. FANCY! I'll be damned if I wasn't a little dumbstruck when I walked in but the whole thing was such a charming experience and holy hell, do I LOVE scones. The British know whats up! It was the most perfect way to wind down our weekend. I wish I had gotten a pic of me sipping tea with my pinky in the air, but I assure you it did in fact happen. We also finally got in a birthday celebration, complete with candles for both of our birthday girls which was a sweet treat!
After that, it was a swift return to reality- changing into travel-wear, packing up, and heading off to the airport. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the tasty sandwiches we grabbed at Jerry's to eat before our flights. If I hadn't had a flight to catch I'm confident that I would've sat there for an hour longer trying to decide what in the hell to order. Our goodbyes happened so quickly that the pangs of sadness at parting didn't even have time to hit me until I was sitting at my gate, sandwich in hand.
It was the best weekend- and for a few days I really just forgot about everything else in life that hasn't gone according to plan. I felt free and alive and honestly, just genuinely happy to be with my friends and to be enjoying a new adventure. Now that we all live in our own separate parts of the country, the face to face time is far and few in between- which is what makes these gatherings all the more memorable. I'm really glad I decided to go (and that Kayak came through for me with some awesome flight deals) and here's to wherever the next adventure takes us!
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