Busy Week!

Friday night I met a girl named Eileen for drinks. I had met her a couple weeks earlier at a Chamber of Commerce function. Her parents own the flower shop in town and she runs it for them. She was really cool and we had a great time chatting. It was nice to find someone cool my age without kids to hang out with. I can't wait to meet her friends as well!

Right after I posted last time my friend Missy from my softball team came into town to visit. She stayed down in the city with a friend of hers that had to move here for work. Saturday I got a chance to head into the city to hang out. I was brave and took the train all by myself into the city and opted to take the train to the end and walk to where I was going. When you get off the train it is like an airport that enters into a mall like place that is similar the Westlake. I got outside and I was all turned around. I have no idea which way was which so I decided to start walking. Unfortunately I picked the direction where nothing was open for me to stop and get directions. I started to notice familiar landmarks and reverted to the path that my mom and I took last time I went down. I ended up having to call Missy and ask for directions and it turned out that I took an extra 3 mile walk around the city than necessary.

When I finally reached my destination I was delighted to find that Missy's friend Lincoln had a huge plate of Mac and Cheese waiting for me! It was the good kind too, the Velveta Shells and Cheese. I haven't had it since college and it was delicious!! After I warmed up we ventured out to see the Bean in Millenium park. We hung out there for quite awhile taking pictures and I have decided that the Bean has got to be the single most photographed site in the city. After that we checked out Navy Pier. I was a little disappointed because it just seemed to be like a carnival type place where parents can take their kids to spend excessive amounts of money on them. I am going to have to go back when it is warmer out. Maybe I was missing something? Next we decided to go check out the parade which was going down the magnificent mile in order to light up the street. It didn't take us long before we got tired of the cold and the crazy amount of people down there. We decided it would be a good idea to catch the L train to Wrigleyville before the crowd let out at the parade. It was was a good opportunity for me to learn how to use the L. It was really easy and we checked out Wrigley field and grabbed a beer and some food before I went home to hang out with Phil who had been studying all day. It was exciting to hang out in the city with someone from home!

For Thanksgiving we headed down to Phil's uncle Ted's inlaws in Oswego. It was a little over an hour away and there was absolutely no traffic! We had a good time hanging out there and meeting Phil's aunt and cousin for the first time. We headed home just before dark so we could find our way and headed back to our neck of the woods to go to Julie's sisters. Her entire family was over there so we finally got to meet all of the people she tells me about. We had dessert there and picked up Meggie who had been hanging out with them all day while we were gone. She was of course that star of the show over there and didn't stop moving all day long. There were so many people to follow around waiting for them to drop something on the floor:) She was so wiped out when we got home she did not move for the rest of the night!

The next day we went into town for the annual tree lighting. It was a very cute small town celebration with apple cider and hot cocoa and chestnuts roasting on an open fire. By the way I am never eating a chestnut ever again! Nasty!!! As it got dark the choir sang Christmas carols and the Olympic gold metal backstroker Matt Grevers was the honorary tree lighter. I had no idea he was from Lake Forest? He was very very tall! The tree and the street looked beautiful and it was a fun time. The perfect way to kickoff the holidays!

After the tree lighting ceremony Phil and I went to a potluck at the home of Eileen's brothers. It was full of people that we didn't know so it was a little scary but I knew Eileen and we hung out with this cool couple, Dan and Cassie, most of the night. They sell Ferarri's and Aston Martins for a living. The had many stories about really rich people that are addicted to buying these kinds of cars. Cassie's dad owns the dealership and she was saying that up until like five years ago no one ever really bought any cars. Now they sell over 250 a year! Including personal deliveries to Michael Jordan who has a full sized gym sunk into the ground on his estate!

Saturday Phil and I decided to get out a bit and took a trip down to Evanston which is where Northwestern is and is kind of like a mini Chicago. We just walked around and grabbed lunch. It was a beautiful day and Phil finally got a chance to ride the train!

Sunday and today I spent the day working on getting all of the painting done. I was planning on finishing up today but that did not happen. Hopefully this week. I am making Phil help me with the floor on Sat. I am hoping to have everything done within the next week so that when we get back from Seattle everything will be done and pretty!

Yesterday I assembled the Christmas tree! We were planning on getting a tiny real tree but we couldn't really find what we were looking for and decided it would be much easier to just buy a fake one with the lights already on it. I don't care what anyone says, I love my fake tree! And so does Megs:)