Us girls had planned this trip prior to Ken and me deciding to go to Germany. I never imagined having such fun in a 10 day span in the dead of winter.
Chardonnay on the plane? Yes please!
We had so much fun laughing and telling stories on the plane. Seriously, we all had tears from laughing more than once and this was only an hour flight. Isn't that what girl friends are for?
Once we arrived in Chicago we found that we were missing a piece of luggage. Michelle's luggage to be exact. Southwest was unsure as to where it was, so we set out to check into our hotel and then get Michelle a winter coat to brave the cold.
Christmas carolers in the Palmer House Hotel
When one of your besties is a mom, she brings snacks! We were teasing Jill about all of her snacks but we did enjoy them like a boss.
We found Michelle a coat and then made our way to my favorite Chicago restaurant, The Purple Pig, for an early dinner. We ate a wonderful dinner complete with some sparkling rose and left with very full tummies. We were still missing Michelle's bag that is named Black Betty. No folks, you cannot make this stuff up.
Downtown Chicago lit up for the season
Jill, me, and Michelle on Michigan Ave. Michelle is sporting her new coat and Uggs courtesy of SW Airlines and a borrowed scarf from Jill.
We stopped back by our hotel and checked in with Southwest and there was no update on Black Betty. We decided to go ahead and make our way to the Chriskindlmarkt that was just a few blocks from our hotel.
Michelle wearing borrowed clothes and making the best of the situation knowing she has no clean underwear for the morning.
We arrived to the Christmas Market and the first order of business was to get some gluhwein, obviously.
Cheers!!!
I love these girls
These two were excited to try their first ever gluhwein
I was pretty excited that my first day home from Germany included gluhwein!
In in the interest of full disclosure, Michelle did not love the gluhwein. I promised her that we would still be friends.
After enjoying the market for a bit, it was time for it to close. As we walked back to our hotel, I told Michelle that it was time to face the fact that she most likely would not have clean underwear in the morning. We decided to stop off at Target that was by our hotel.
I wish I could explain the shenanigans that took place in Target. I think this picture sums up things well.
This happened. I was trying to help Michelle pick out underwear. She was not amused.
Michelle was coming to grips that Black Betty might be lost forever. Jill was loading up on more snacks and I was along for the ride.
This might be the funniest picture of the entire trip. There was so much laughter that took place that I was expecting to be thrown out of Target at any moment. This was such a good summary of our time in Target.
At this point, we had already had four bottles of wine, so we figured the best way to end the evening was at the hotel bar drinking some sparkling rose. After all, Black Betty was still missing.
Drowning Michelle's sorrows about having nothing of her own for the next day.
While at the bar we got a call from SW Airlines that Black Betty had been found and she would arrive around 1:30 am. Excitement rang out in the entire bar! Black Betty had been found!
Black Betty has been found! Bottoms up!!!
Since a celebration was in order, Michelle ordered another bottle of wine and we celebrated. We ended up closing the hotel bar down while waiting on Black Betty to arrive. We finally decided it was time to go upstairs and stopped off for a picture of the beautiful tree in the lobby.
The Palmer House Hotel Christmas Tree
This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. It was 2:00 am and we are on the elevator with all of Michelle's new Target items and all of Jill's snacks.
Once we arrived to the room, we realized we were missing a scarf. Back down to the hotel bar we went, only to realize we were missing another scarf that was not known to be missing until we found it under the Christmas Tree. We were officially a hot mess and all dying laughing. The original missing scarf was never found and back upstairs we went.
Thank goodness Black Betty arrived fashionably late and Michelle picked her up in the morning while we were all sleeping off our too many bottles of wine.
The next day started with some deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's, which in my humble opinion, is the best Chicago style pizza out there.
Come to mama
It was at Lou Malnati's that it some how came out that I have never had a hard boiled egg or watched the movie Top Gun. Our waiter promptly asked me if I was even from the USA and if he could take me out to feed me hard boiled eggs while watching Top Gun on repeat. Seriously, judge away everyone!
Wearing her own clothes and feeling sassy, oh so sassy!
We spent the rest of the day walking around downtown Chicago and shopping around. We did stop off at the Hancock building to enjoy a cocktail in the Signature Lounge. The best views are from the Ladies' Room, in my humble opinion.
Bathroom with a view in the Hancock Tower
We had a little unfinished business at the Christmas Market and made our way back to enjoy a little German festivities.
Christmas marketing in the States
Three blondes enjoying the Christkindlmarkt
After all the Christmas Market fun, we decided we were all desperately wanting bar food. Fried pickles to be exact. We found a local bar that served fried pickles and Michelle called ahead to confirm if they were spears or chips. Not kidding. We were hoping for chips and chips they were. We walked to the bar in the spitting snow weather and all had tears streaming down our faces from laughing about the fried pickles. Seriously, we were dying over the pickles. I certainly love anyone that can make me almost pee my pants all over pickles.
We enjoyed our fried pickle chips and other bar food and called it an early night drinking sparkling rose back in our hotel room.
I am a firm believer that everyone needs time away with girl friends that can make them laugh until they cry. I am certainly blessed with some of the best and cannot wait for our next adventure!
Christmas in Chicago with some of the best girl friends out there!
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