Chicago!

After Nashville, I hopped in the car with Emily, we picked up Kim in Louisville, and we headed up to Chicago. We stayed with Oregon in her lovely condo in Wicker Park in Chicago.

Here's the downtown Chicago skyline. It was pretty chilly there, and luckily Chelsea let me borrow her jacket for the trip!

This is me, Emily, and Oregon huddled up for a picture.

This is "The Bean" in downtown Chicago (the picture above), and the picture below is me taking a photo of myself reflected in The Bean.

Below are two pictures from the surprise Bachelorette party that they threw for me! We started out at the apartment, dancing around to music and opening lovely gifts. Then we went to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas and tacos. We were planning on going dancing afterward, but our conversation was so great we just sat and talked for 2+ hours!

After dinner/convo/buckets of margaritas, we walked to a bar that was virtually empty, but we managed to make two fun friends! Oregon and the girl (Katie, I believe) exchanged numbers since she was new to Chicago and looking for friends. Yay!

The bartender brought us free shots (yum!), which prompted Katie's man friend to buy us another round (yay!). Kim talked the DJ into playing Bob Dylan for us, so when Tangled Up In Blue came over the speakers Kim and I geeked out! Next came Bohemian Rhapsody, and Katie and I sang and danced to the entire song. So much fun!

On Saturday, we headed to Oregon's friend Heidi's apartment in Wrigleyville for a keg party which started at 9:30 a.m. The keg had green beer (which turns your teeth green, by the way). Heidi made everyone breakfast sandwiches with green eggs and ham (or bacon)!

This is Oregon (or Ellen, her real name) with her boyfriend Fluff (or Sean, his real name) in their St. Patty's Day green.

The lovely Emily Moore, teacher extraordinaire.

Kim and Emily, ready to dominate the beer pong table.

But wait, they have forgotten the rules! Quick recap...

 

After a brief and disappointing round of Quarters, we headed to the living room to play a chant game with a lot of ladies at the house. It was pretty hilarious, and I'm sad I got no video...

I had so much fun with my WKU ladies in Chicago! I can't wait to get together with them again. :)

After the keg party, my cousin Nikki picked me up and we went back to her apartment. Later we walked to grab a delicious sushi dinner. Her and Eric (her fiance) were fabulous hosts! I had lots of fun with them, too. And also Oliver, her dog, who slept on the air mattress with me that night. :)

Sunday morning, very early, Nikki drove me to Midway and I boarded a plane to LA. I slept almost the whole way there, and when Mark picked me up, he was very happy to have me home!