Thursday night Beth and Adam picked me up from the airport and we went directly to The Four Shadows. Why? Because TKTC was there. I think my sis and Adam were slightly sketched out at first that I was meeting up with a girl I had never met in "real life," and I mean, I can kind of understand. But after having a couple beers with TKTC and even meeting her personal trainer, they quickly realized she wasn't an Internet freak (or a man, like they warned me she might be). However, I'm pretty sure our blogging talk confused everyone else quite a bit and my sister claimed at one point she felt like she was watching a Best in Show type movie about bloggers (um, amazing idea. Somebody, get on that!).
Friday consisted of my sister and I on Southport eating cupcakes, shopping in tons of cute little boutiques, and getting our nails done at Pinky nails, where my manicurist pretty much beat me up. They try to massage you while they give you manicures, but my woman didn't warn me and was pretty much whacking me (hard!) and yelling at me to relax. (I just looked on their website and they say: "we promise to provide you only the most Tender Loving Care...oh, and we give free back massages too!" FYI, that was NOT tender loving care, it was a beat-down). That night, we cooked dinner at Beth's (look here for our results), and then went to see Wicked. LOVED it (just like everyone said I would). I already want to see it again...or at least re-read the book.
My sister and I after Wicked. It was a COLD weekend in Chicago! And I thought Boston was bad...
Saturday was a continuation of the cupcake crawl we started on Friday. You have no idea how many cupcakes I ate over the weekend. Some of you would probably consider it a bit disgusting, but I don't regret it (though I probably won't want a cupcake for quite a little while). I have many, many pictures of cupcakes and will probably post them up in a cupcake crawl post for all you Chicago cupcake lovers and wannabes. You guys are lucky, you have TONS of awesome cupcake shops. And my sister, Adam, and I were more than happy to taste them all and rate them all for you. You're very welcome.
Me, indulging at Sweet Temptations, one of our favorite spots!
Saturday night we took my sis out for her birthday dinner. First we went to Vintage Wine Bar, where we indulged in a fabulous bottle of Meritage and a delish cheese platter. Then we went to Bob San, for sushi (and more wine, obvi). Dinner was fabulous; if you live in Chicago, definitely check out Bob San.
After dinner, we went to TKTC's apartment and drank champagne and wine and basically talked for two hours. Her cat (Honey) is adorable and her apartment is just lovely. We probably could have sat there all night listening to music and just chatting about everything, but we eventually decided to head out for the rest of the evening.
So, after having more than enough champagne, we went down the street a bit to Pint. People in Chicago are NICE (imagine that, Bostonians??) While we awaited the arrival of d-blogged, we drank beer, took shots, met new people, and generally had fun (do you sense any common themes here??). When d arrived, we sat up in the balcony and chatted and talked and gabbed. I can't even describe how crazy it is to meet people who you already know so much about (and who know so much about you), though you've never met. TKTC said it best when she said, "With both D and Susie, it felt a little cracking open a book I'd been enjoying, only to find a way to interview the characters," (except fill in her name in place of mine). It's seriously like you have instant friends and you're just picking up where you left off in your blog, filling in details and learning the secrets that they can't write on a daily basis (hi, we all have them, especially us not anonymous bloggers). Could I have met two nicer, more awesome people? I honestly don't think so!
My sis and Adam wanted to go home, but I was having too much fun hanging out and trying to get the dj to pay attention to me and play "Piece of Me," so TKTC and d promised to get me home safely. And they did. d even took a cab with me to make sure I was headed in the right direction (and he paid for the cab. What a gentleman!). Also, every taxi driver I had while in Chicago was extremely nice and chatty. I was quite impressed.
I know I'm leaving out TONS of important details, but the bottom line is that I had a blast in Chicago and am pretty excited for TKTC to come to Boston in March. I am more than happy that my sister is moving back to Boston in April (yay!), but am a bit sad I won't have her to visit in Chicago anymore. However, I might just have some new friends to visit!
TKTC, me, and d hanging out in the balcony of Pint.
Yup, pretty much what we did ALL night.
