Tuesday, November 25, 2008

My weekend in Chicago...

This past weekend I went to see my sister in Chicago (without Brannan or Byron, yay! Not that I don’t love them or anything, just needed some time away) and we had a super duper awesome time.

We started out on Friday night at the most awesome oyster house in Chicago called Shaw’s Oyster House. I had 2 oysters (I’m not really into oysters, but my sis loves them) and then we had fish and chips and the most amazing scallops I’ve ever had in my life. They were about the size of Milk Duds and they tasted almost as sweet and they were smothered in butter! On top of all that, we had about 5 pomegranate martinis each and we quickly made friends with our neighbors at the bar. On one side, this super cool gay guy named Adam befriended us and even secured us seats at one of the hottest drag shows in Chicago for the next night. We also set up a date later that night to meet him at one of the hottest gay bars in “Boy’s Town”.

Well, my sister had already secured seats at the show “Wicked” for the night and I was really excited to see it. So, we had to exit the bar after about 3 hours of meeting and greeting everyone there. I was bummed to leave, but was really excited to go and see the show.

And, this show was truly awesome! The singers were so amazing and the sets and the dancers and just the whole scene made it so great! Not to mention, the story was great too! I highly suggest this show for anyone and everyone.

After the show, it was probably about 10pm and we decided that we were spent and couldn’t meet our new friend, Adam, out at the bar because we were so tired, so we headed back home.

The next morning, we had plans to see the city. We started off on the “Magnificent Mile” where all the shopping is and since my sister didn’t have any gloves or a hat, we decided that we needed to hit a little store for some cheapo gloves and a hat. We went to Walgreens (I had to go there anyway for some allergy medicine because her cat was making my allergies go crazy) but she didn’t see anything there that she wanted. So, we walked by Burberry, Coach, Talbots and other spendy shops. I suggested them all, then saw the Gap down the street. I said, “let’s stop in there, they should have something for you” so she said “yeah, that’s cool”.

I’ve never been into a Gap as busy as this one was. They actually had a DJ at the entrance! Madonna was BLARING over the speakers and it was so loud it was almost annoying. So, we wandered the store in search of gloves and a hat and I hit the sale rack in case they had some warmer weather stuff for really cheap and actually found a few items. We met up again and decided to hit the checkout line (which was really, really long) and an employee came up to us and said that the men’s department upstairs had more cash registers and the lines weren’t as long. (And, the bathrooms were up there too).

So we headed upstairs since I had to go there anyway and waited in line. After we paid for our items, the cashiers gave us each a raffle ticket to enter into their raffle. Ok, yeah, whatever, another raffle entry. They said that you could win a $1000 gift card. So, of course, we wrote our names on the back of the tickets and since I had to go to the bathroom, I sent my sister upstairs another flight to drop them into the raffle box. As we met up once again, I said, “man, wouldn’t it be cool to win a $1000 gift card???!???!!!”

So, we go about the rest of our day, see a photography exhibit, go to the top of the Sears Tower, eat an authentic Italian Beef sandwich and an authentic Chicago hot dog, then head on back to her apartment for a few glasses of wine and a nap. It is nearing 5:00 and we have plans to go and see the annual Christmas parade where they light up Michigan Avenue with all of their Christmas lights with a parade and end up walking a ton (hence the blisters on my toes). While we are walking around, though, her phone rang and I said, “hey, maybe it is the Gap letting you know that you won the raffle!” Yeah, ha ha. She said, yeah, ha ha, I’ll check anyway. She checks, it isn’t them, so we watch the parade then go to Frontera Grill for super yummy margaritas and some super yummy appetizers.

We hit another few bars and at about 9:30 we are calling it quits (we started early and we had awesome sister time and spent a LOT of money!) so we head on back to the apartment.

I left my cell phone at the apartment hooked up to the charger since it was losing juice and as we came in, I grabbed it to see if I got any calls, and it said I had 2 new voicemails. Hmm, I freak out for a millisecond wondering if Brannan is ok, and dial into my voicemail.

The next thing I hear is “Hi, this is Julie from the Gap, please give me a call back.”

What the?????

I screamed at my sister – “NO WAY!!!! Do you think I won????”

I don’t even wait for her to answer and listen to the next message: “Hi, this is Jared from the Gap, please give me a call back.”

HOLY CRAP!

I call Jared back immediately and he said I WON!!!!!!

I WON THE GIFT CARD!!!!!! Can you believe it???? ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS at the GAP!

I scream a ton and scare my sister’s neighbors and jump up and down for about 10 minutes.

I felt like I won the lottery! Man, $1000 is going to buy a LOT of clothes at the Gap!

Thank you Gap Gods for shining down on me during this time of recession….

Well, needless to say, I had a BLAST in Chicago!

I LOVE CHICAGO!!!

Now, sis, when are we going to NYC?????

No comments: