Chicago!

Back when I was living in Atlanta and working at CHOA, I had the best coworkers that turned into some pretty incredible lifelong friendships. My friend Lauren texted me back in September about a possible trip to Chicago since her husband needed to attend a conference in the city. I immediately texted Marly, who lives in Chicago, to make sure her house would be available for a house guest since I wouldn't be able to afford a hotel by myself. When she said yes I asked Matt for my Christmas present a little early- a plane ticket to Chicago!! I was so excited for this trip and am so sad it's already over. 

I was up at 4am Friday morning to make the drive to Charleston for my flight. I've never flown alone before so I was super anxious and terrified to do so! But I made it (well halfway...I'm still at the airport waiting to fly back to SC). Marlys and Lauren picked me up at the airport and we kicked our girly weekend off!! We went back to Marly's house to drop off my things then we caught the next train into the city to meet up with our friend Rachel for brunch...which ended up turning into a super long and fun lunch at Yolk. We then walked the whole city (it felt like)!

 It was so fun to see the city lit up for Christmas! I'm a sucker for lights and decorations. We headed back home and ate dinner at a place near Marlys's house and turned in early.

Saturday morning Marlys had a dentist appointment, so Lauren and I walked to get coffee and explore downtown Western Springs, which is such a cute little town! I love that you can walk anywhere. After she got back we took the train back into the city to meet back up with Rachel for lunch at a delicious pizza place. We then walked the entire city again (joke!)!! We walked down near the lake, then through Lincoln Park, then caught a cab up to Michigan Ave where we did a little more shopping, ate dinner, then walked back to the train station.

We also made it to the Bean and to watch skaters at the ice ring! The train ended up being super delayed do we took a cab back home and were back in a jiffy. I had to turn in around 10 since I was pooped!

This morning we got up, ate some donuts, then took Lauren back to her hotel. We had quite the misty goodbye, but thankfully her family is vacationing on HHI in May so we will see each other in a few months! Since my flight was later I drove with Marlys to the vet because her 20 year old jack russell had a tough night last night. We picked up lunch on the way home, ate, then she dropped me off at the  airport with another tearful goodbye!