Amazing Friends

Everything seemed normal in my life...not like my friends and family had been lying to me for months. It was a Thursday morning, I had a yearly eye exam appt and lunch plans with a rep I used to work with. I got out of my eye appt and check my email via my phone. My rep had emailed saying her boss was coming into town unexpectedly, and that she was going to have to reschedule lunch.

No worries, Kelly had asked me earlier in the week if I could do lunch on Thursday. So I responded to Dawn and then called Kelly. Meanwhile, it’s about 10:45ish by the time I get home and Kel said “I’m in the neighborhood, so I’ll be there in a few minutes. I need to print some things off and then we can go to lunch…maybe brunch.” I’m thinking, that is weird, it’s a work day for Kel and she wants to do brunch? Okay, whatever, I didn’t question it. I get home and Kel arrives. She is putzing around what I now know was wasting time and trying not to look obvious.

Earlier, my mom had left town that morning and called to tell me she needed me to sign for a package she was expecting from UPS (I never answer the door). So after Kel and I talked for a few minutes, the door bell rings. I told her I don’t answer the door, and then remembered I needed to sign for a package. So I went to the door, peeked out the window and didn’t see a UPS truck, but knew I needed to sign for this package, so I opened the door……

Standing there on my mom’s porch was Jaime, not the UPS man. I looked at her and said

M: “What are you doing here?”
J: “Surprise, you have two hours to pack, we’re going to Chicago!”
M: “What?”
J: “You have two hours to pack, we’re going to Chicago!”
M: “What are you talking about? (I turn to Kelly) “Are you going?”
Kelly: “No”

The conversation went on…”What? Who? Now? How? When? Where? What?...I couldn’t believe it!!! My cove girls (Erin, Hunter, Jaime and Teresa), along with many, other people pulled this off like pros! They had planned a surprise baby shower trip to Chicago! I HAD NO CLUE, not the slightest!!! Literally everyone in my life knew about this trip, including Dawn, the rep that I was supposed to have lunch with! I called Kyle and he just started laughing…”you have incredible friends”….I KNOW! WOW!!

How they did it, I’ll never know, lots of planning obviously, but what I did know is that Jaime was throwing a baby shower that Saturday with the Bunco girls. Some cover up!!! She had been so vague about the shower, I just decided to go with it, and show up at Jaime’s when she told me to. Needless to say, there wasn’t a shower at Jaime’s house on Saturday.

On to the weekend…I had two hours to pack and leave with Jaime for the airport. I grabbed my suitcase, asked her what the weather was going to be like and if I needed dressy clothes. I don’t have that many options, so it took about 30 minutes. Kel left and Jaime and I left for lunch at the Cricket. We had a great lunch, as the shock sunk in, and were off to the airport.

Jaime and I haven’t had a good track record at the airport and I’m proud to say that we had a good experience this time and made the flight. I just couldn’t believe I was on a plane with Jaime going to Chicago to have a weekend of girl time! Even as I sit here today, three weeks later, I can’t believe it!

Jaime and I met up with Teresa and Hunter at baggage claim. There was a running scene, lots of squeals, OMG, hugs and I just can’t believe this. Of course, they had all been planning on this trip, like we normally do, so really I was the one who was shocked. We went outside for our ride…Erin. She pulled up right away and we were off for a slumber party weekend in Chicago.

Thursday night is Erin’s trivia night, so we dropped our stuff off at Erin’s place, cleaned up a bit and went to trivia. Our name was Phen and the Cove (a slight variation from their normal team name). Erin’s friend Christine joined us. We had a great time, lots of answers we knew, some not so much and guessed correctly, or we got the answer from this very intelligent table that wasn’t playing, but should have been. We came in third overall! We walked home (this bar is in her neighborhood) and proceed to sit around and talk for hours, finally getting to bed around 2:00am! Yikes, it had been a long time since I’d been up that late, especially being pregnant, I can hang!

P-Hen and The Cove

This bar just happened to be Vols bar...Hunter was very excited!

Friday was jammed with shopping all over downtown Chicago, The Bean, Michigan Ave, Old Town Oil, back home for a taco dinner and then to Guthries, a local bar to play board games. We literally shopped allllllll day long! Chicago has such great shopping and stores that aren’t in Colorado. Lots to add to my maternity wardrobe, especially for work. My all time favorite European shopping spot, H&M now has maternity, I had to stop in!

We always do cheesy poses....got love it! It all started on the road in UWP!

Our next stop was Old Town Oil and we took the bus to get there! For those who don’t know, I HATE public transportation, so it was a bit of a stretch for me, but the bus was clean, packed with people and all in all, it was fine. I had been to the oil shop before and love it, such a unique experience. Hunter, Teresa and Jaime didn’t really have any interest, and kept asking, we’re doing what? Tasting oil and vinegar? They turned their noses up at it until we got there….and then it was like a party in the oil shop! They all bought oil, nearly two boxes which each = 8 bottles!

Jaime trying to decide what kind of vinegar to buy

We then hopped in the Brown Line to get home for taco dinner. At this point, Teresa had figure out that she had lost her ID…She had it to get onto the plane, but couldn’t figure out where it was from there. So after dinner, we went to Guthries to play games, but they card at the door and since T didn’t have an ID with her birth date, it was a no-go. Our plans changed, probably for the better. We made a stop at Trader Joes….another store I love that we don’t have in CO…picked up munchies, wine, beer and goodies for Kyle. We stayed in talking, laughing hysterically and finally getting to bed about 2:00am, again!

Saturday was just as packed, we slept in a bit and then went to Brunch at Bongo Room. This place was delicious and had such a fun environment. I would highly recommend this place for anyone who is going to Chicago! It’s a foodies delight with a very unique menu that is fabulous! This is where the girls had a little baby shower for me. It was so sweet, a few tears and just wonderful.

The rest of the day we did a little Chicago neighborhood tour, shopping, eating, getting our eyebrows threaded and then home again to get ready for dinner. Side note…treading is done in the Indian culture and it is the coolest experience. They take a thread, like what you would sew a button on with and shape your eyebrows. It’s so cool and doesn’t leave you red for hours afterward. At first Jaime was the only one who had it done, then we all did…cultural experiences!

It was Chicago restaurant week and we had reservations at an Italian restaurant that Erin has heard great things about. It was authentic Italian and delicious! Our waiter had a strong Italian accent, which made the evening even better. Three courses, wine and decaf coffee, we were full and happy. We took a cab, squeezed into a cab rather, to the movie theater to see Valentine’s Day. A great Saturday evening, dinner, movie and girl talk! After squeezing into another cab to get home, we proceeded to stay up yet again until the 2:00am hour.

We forgot to take a picture at dinner, so it happened at the theater

Sunday…this amazing weekend was coming to a closeL We slept in, had breakfast at Erin’s house and then headed to the airport. I truly have amazing friends! It was so much fun and I was exhausted!

It took me nearly a week to recover, but it was so worth it! Thank you to my girls!!! Love you so much!