Girls Weekend

Time for my update on GWO V in Chicago.  It was, as always, a wonderful weekend with my best friends.

Thursday I left work around 4:00 p.m. and was a bit anxious as the line to check in was extremely long.  When I got up to the counter, I found out why.  Storms in Chicago had delayed flights all over the place and lucky for me, mine was one of them.  My flight was scheduled to leave at 5:25 p.m., but the lady at the desk said it might be 8 or 9 p.m.  The bad thing was they didn’t know when it would be.  At around 6:15 p.m. they gave us word that the flight from Chicago was in the air and we should be able to leave by 7:15.  I went to find something to eat and when I ambled back to the gate around 6:45 p.m., they were boarding!  Yeah!  Once on the plane we were told that we weren’t allowed to leave until 8:00 p.m., so we were going to go sit on the runway for awhile.  We did end up leaving at 8:00 p.m., which got me into Chicago at around 8:30, just 2 ½ hours later than planned.  Anyway, Erica and Danialle met me at the airport and the first thing we decided to do was get some food.  We just got some McDonald’s and went back to Danialle’s.  We chatted for a bit and then decided to walk down to a little restaurant to check out some dessert.  It was so nice outside!  After we got back we pretty much got ready for bed.  I was a bit concerned about the lack of air conditioning, but I had a big fan blowing on me all night, so I actually slept pretty good.

On Friday, we got up in time to take Danialle’s husband to work at 8:30 a.m.  We ate some yummy breakfast and then headed back downtown to do a little shopping on Michigan Avenue.  There is always so much to look at, but good for my checkbook, no maternity stores!  I did end up buying a couple of things anyway, but it was still fun.  Heather gave us a call around noon, while we were still downtown, so we headed back to the car and then back to Danialle’s place.  Next we decided to put on our beach wear and get some lunch before heading to the beach.  We decided on wings, and after some time finally found a BW3’s.  Danialle and Erica were brave and got hot ones, but I decided to play it safe.  After lunch we hit the beach.  It was cold!  The wind had really picked up and it wasn’t that warm anyway, but we were determined not to let that stop us.  We threw our towels out and picked a spot to chat.  Heather fell asleep for a little bit, but the rest of us had some good conversations.  I also tried digging a small hole for my belly and laying on my stomach.  My  pregnant friend Kelly from work said that was how she first felt her baby move.  I think it worked for me too.  Have you ever layed on a body part in a weird way and you can feel your heartbeat thumping in that body part?  It felt like that in my lower abdomen.  Only, it wasn’t a consistent, “thump-thump-thump.”  It was more like “thump-thump……thump.”  Also, if I moved or sat up and then layed back down, I’d feel it again.  I’m calling that baby movement.  After the beach, we checked into the hotel and all showered and changed.  Then we went to Leona’s for dinner.  It was ok, but not as great as last time we ate there.  After dinner, we walked around a bit until the stores closed up and then went back to the hotel to chat some more and sleep.

Saturday was a day of shopping.  We went to Gurnee Mills outlet mall.  We got there around 11 and shopped until 6 p.m.  Again, I’m glad pregnancy limited my spending on clothing.  There was one maternity store and I did by something, but one outfit isn’t too bad.  Also, Danialle and Erica tried on the fake bellies at the store.  We got a cute picture of us all with bellies.  Where I really spent the cash though was at the Carter’s baby store outlet.  Everything was so incredibly marked down.  They had these $40 diaper bag’s that were only $10 with an additional $35 purchase, so I wanted to be sure I spent $35.  I ended up buying 3 long sleeve sleepers, a cute ducky onesie, a super soft blanket, booties, and 2 bibs plus the diaper bag for about $60.  After shopping until the verge of dropping, we headed back towards the hotel and decided on Outback for dinner.  We got in relatively quickly and had this bizarre waiter.  He was Native American, at least bi-sexual, and told us all about his new “Spiritual Love.”  He made it interesting though and we spent two hours at the restaurant.  It was 10:00 by the time we left and after all that shopping, I was pooped.  We all went to bed fairly early.

Sunday morning we got up said our goodbyes and Danialle took me back to the airport.  Luckily this trip wasn’t as bad as the way there, except one of my bags didn’t make it back.  I checked two, but only one made the plane.  I headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy.  My bag was delivered around 7:30 p.m. officially ending my GWO trip.

Spending time with the girls is so great.