3 posts tagged “chicago”

I think I posted here a few weeks ago that I had started my moving out process. HA! I take that back. The moving out process began yesterday. I am so determined to just get this over with after the labors of yesterday. I had 2 pieces of furniture (a bedside table and a dresser) that I got from a neighbor who has going to throw them away...and for good reason. Now that I am moving, I really don't want to keep any of my free, cheap and/or junky furniture so I decided to go ahead and throw away the 2 pieces of furniture that were destined for the trash anyway. OKAY! I am not very strong and apparently have no common sense when it comes to lifting something that is much more bulky than it is heavy. I decided to carry the bedside table in front of my by the corners in a way that my knees bumped it every time I took a step. Down 2 flights of stairs. Smart. Luckily, the Big Guy was watching out for me because when I came around the corner, my awkwardly cute, emo neighbor boy took the table from me, hoisted it over his shoulder and took it the rest of the way without trouble. Sigh!!! I miss my boyfriend. And I wish I had bigger muscles. Thank you, neighbor, wherever you are! Oh yeah..in 318. So, aside from getting that furniture out, I also managed to load a bunch of my junk that I should never keep into my car for storage at my parents house. My dorm room is so tiny I don't think I am even going to be able to bring everything that I need. So, the books, the boxes of pictures from birth to present, my trinkets and leftovers from hobbies gone wrong...all must stay in Dallas.

After I did this (which took all day and was a much bigger task than I am making it sound like) I came to my parents house, pigged out and watched TV! Alone. Jordan went to Colorado yesterday (Saturday) and he isn't going to be back until Wednesday. OMG! I know it's really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but I have seen him every.single.day. since we met. I don't know what to do with myself. Sure, I am being really productive and getting things done that I would have put off in favor of spending time with him, but what the heck! This is making me so sad about going to college in less than a month. Because when I go to college...it's not going to be a 4 day separation. It's going to be weeks...and months. and He is going to bootcamp in Chicago for 2 months and I will be in East Texas. It is definitely worth it to me to wait for him and do the distance thing, I would just rather not if I had the option. But mannnn I really miss him...a lot more than I thought I would too :) 

Well, I have things to do. Then, I am going to see Juno! Bye guys :) 

My trip to Chicago was a whirlwind of excitement followed by a very sleepless plane ride home. I completely loved the whole city up until Sunday when we went to a Bears game and I froze. It took me HOURS to defrost and I decided I could never live there. Here is a recap of my weekend:

Friday

Our plane was supposed to leave at 7 PM to St. Louis. However, there was a snow storm in a lot of places that day and our flight to St. Louis was delayed due to the weather and the fact that our pilot was in New Mexico. We departed around 8:45 and got to St. Louis around 9:45. The plane from St. Louis to Chicago was also delayed so we had to wait another hour for that plane. We finally landed in Chicago around 11:50 and got to the Embassy Suites around 12:30. Dad and I didn't eat dinner so we ordered pizza to our room which wasn't such a great idea because it took them an hour to deliver it but it was good. Chicago has delicious deep dish pizza. We finally went to bed around 2:30 or 3. I don't know how this got worked out but Dad got a king size bed and I got a lumpy fold out couch with a fan directly above me that prevented climate control for the duration of my trip. On Friday night, we had the heater on high and I was too hot.

Saturday

We slept in because we stayed up so late the night before. We ordered room service coffee and left for lunch around 1:30. We ate at this restaurant called P.J. Clarke's which was in the same building as our hotel. It was good. I was so cold but I noticed lots of people wearing jeans and tshirts like it was no big deal. After we ate lunch we walked to Michigan Ave aka The Miracle Mile. That's where all the good shopping. I really had my heart set on going to H&M because I have never been there and we don't have one in Dallas. They have EVERYTHING on that street. I wanted to go into a lot of the stores but I kept telling myself "We have that in Dallas" so I kept walking. H&M was toward the end and on the other side of the street. I was freezing by the time we got there (freezing is a recurring theme of my trip). It was so overwhelming. I felt like I was in IKEA except that it was clothes. This place was 3 stories and there was so much stuff! I didn't even know what to do with myself. The first floor was sale items and it was really crowded and pretty picked over, the second floor was mens and the third floor was women's so I went up there in hopes of getting away from the crowd but of course that didn't happen. I don't know how long I spent shopping but then I had to wait in a line for the fitting room for like 20 minutes and then another 15 in the check out line. The clothes are amazingly cheap...it's like an inexpensive version of Urban Outfitters but not quite as crazy. I got 5 shirts, a purse, a pair of mittens and some tights for under $200. I was very impressed by that price.  We walked back to the hotel to put up my purchases and realized it was already 4! Shouldn't have slept in. We had a dinner date with one of my dad's colleagues and his wife at 5:30 so we decided to go to the Sears Tower before meeting them. The Sears Tower is really cool. It reminded me a lot of the Empire State Building...but mainly just the way they had it set up for tourists. The most interesting thing about the Sears Tower is that you can see 4 states from the top: Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. That's crazy. I have a tourist picture of my dad and me from the tower but I need to scan it so I will post it later. For dinner, we went to Hugo's Frog Bar. It was a really relaxed environment but still kind of fancy. I liked it and the food was really good. They served frog legs which we didn't get but I love frog legs and I haven't been to many restaurants that serve them. I had a filet mignon and a crab cake. So good! Then we went to Starbucks (the biggest and dirtiest I have ever been in) and called it a night. Because we got so hot the night before, we just turned the heater off and froze!

Sunday
We got up at 7, showered and went downstairs for the free breakfast we missed on Saturday. We left our hotel by 8:45 and made it to the Field Museum at 9 when it opened. I really needed to see Sue, the t-rex. That was one of the most important parts of the trip. She was right in the entrance so I saw her right away. Her actual skull isn't on her skeleton, it's on the second floor because it's too heavy to attach to the neck. It is SO BIG! I could curl up inside her mouth easily. It was scary. We saw some other cool exhibits...a lot of information and samples of rocks and meteorites. That was really fascinating to me.

We had to hurry because we were pressed for time. After the museum, we went back to the hotel to check out and then took a cab to a parking lot/bridge about a mile away from Soldier Field where one of my dad's friends was having a tailgate party. That was a very weird experience. It was about 9 degrees and everyone was bundled up under a bridge with little fires, drinking beer. I think we all looked like a bunch of bums. When it was time, we walked to the stadium to watch the game. I didn't take a single picture from the game. I was FREEZING! Our seats were in the shade. Then it started snowing. It got really windy. The Bears won so that was good...because that's what I was there for. By the time we left and had to walk that mile back, my whole body was pretty much numb. When we got back to the tailgate party, I got in my dad's friend's car and turned the heater on high. I sat there until we left for the airport about 2 hours later. Everyone else made chili and sausages and all this other man food on their little grills. It was odd. Our flights weren't delayed and we got back to Dallas about 11 15 last night.

It definitely feels good to be home. It's not as cold! I asked off today and tomorrow from work so I am planning on relaxing and getting a few things done around the house. I didn't take NEARLY as many pictures as I wanted to. I am a bad photographer. I always get caught up in the moment and I never think to pull out my camera. Oh well. I had a good weekend!

I am freezing here in Chicago. I went to H&M and the Sears Tower and ate at some delicious restaurants. Not enough pics :(