Chicago

I really think I had way too much fun in Chicago. Too much fun to consider it a business trip anyway. Don't get me wrong. It was A LOT of work. I haven't been on my feet for that long in 6 years. It's been since I moved from the lovely world of working in sandwich shops to working in an accounting office. And constantly engaging people is pretty much what I don't do all day. I sit in my quiet office and interact with a computer, so the trade show was a nice change of scenery. But like I said, I really had too much fun to consider it work.

The moment we got off the plane, we had to rush to get to the hotel and get ready to go to the city. Our hotel was a half hour cab ride from downtown Chicago, in good traffic. But it was going to take us an hour and a half because it was rush hour. So we had exactly 20 minutes to get ready and the hotel had given away our room. Oops. So we did finally make it downtown in time to see the bean before dinner.

So cool, so weird, who knew that a giant reflective bean in Millennium Park could be such a famous attraction. After dinner, we walked down the block to see WICKED at the Oriental. Oh so a dream come true. I have been waiting to see this play for 2 years! And it did not disappoint. It is the best play I have ever seen. It's hilarious. Especially Glinda the "good," who is actually really stuck up and full of herself, and likes to swish her hair in an extremely strange fashion. And Elphaba, who is the wicked witch of the west, and concerned with animal rights. The singing was perfect, the costumes were awesome, and the story is excellent. Loved it!
I know that some many be concerned, I was in Chicago and how ever did I get my Harry Potter book. Never fear, I reserved one at the downtown Barnes and Nobles. We went to the midnight sale and I started it in the cab on the way home. I absolutely love it! I'm almost finished and that's all I'm going to say about that right now.
Here's me working. Everyday we had 9am-5pm in the booth and then ran to get ready and get in a cab for the city. Another one of these awesome excursions (all planned out by my boss, by the way) was the architectural tour. We floated the Chicago river and the tour guide told us about the city. My favorite building was the Corn cobs:
I can't remember their real name, but we did end up back there another night and went to the House of Blues at the base of the building. The art that covers all the wall space in there is so cool and there was an awesome blues band from Chicago named Rob Stone & the C-Notes playing.

So I love this city, did I mention that? I think I'll be going back for another look around because I saw tons of art galleries that were all closed by the time we made it downtown. Plus I think Todd would appreciate their taste in pizza.