My college girlfriends and I finally did what we've been talking about for quite awhile now--a girls only weekend--in Chicago!! With all of our busy schedules, it was hard to pick a date, but unbelievably, we finally came up with a date 10 days before Christmas! With pregnancies, adoptions, nursing babies, traveling husbands, children's birthdays, etc., scheduling became complicated. BUT, five of us, representing four states (Texas, Colorado, Missouri, and Illinois), were able to pull it off thanks to several planes, trains, and automobiles!
(The view from our hotel room)
Four of us were scheduled to arrive early on Friday afternoon. However, poor Jennifer had a bit of trouble getting there, thanks to Amtrak running behind. She had to redo her plans, which made for a bit of last minute stress. But thankfully, everything worked out in the end, and we we were able to catch up with her at Macy's that evening. After taking some time to chat at the coffee shop there, we headed to Christkindlmarket, which is a German Christmas festival downtown, where the city's Christmas tree is also located. A few of the girls got ornaments and German food. I just enjoyed walking around! It was definitely worth going to!
We stayed at the Swissotel downtown, which we were able to get a pretty deal on.
I thought it was a nice hotel and would stay there again.
On Saturday, we trekked up and down Michigan Avenue, straying a bit side to side. We had lunch at a really yummy pizza place that Kristina suggested, Pizzeria Ora. It's really close to our favorite pizza place, Gino's East, but I have to say it was just as good (and Josh would NEVER allow me to say it was better)!
We ventured up to Water Tower Mall. We took a few pics in front of The American Girl Place but easily resisted the urge to go in.
After the mall, we enjoyed some yummy drinks and chocolate at Ghirardelli.
That night, we had a lovely dinner at The Walnut Room at Macy's on State Street. There was about an hour and a half wait, but I thought it was definitely worth the experience. The Christmas tree in the center of the restaurant was beautiful.
On our final day, we taxied over to Navy Pier. They were having a Winter Wonderland Festival, which turned out to be a really fun, unplanned thing to see. We also all got Garrett's Popcorn to take home to our families!
It was a great "Chicago Christmas" weekend, but with all of the fun things we did, the best was just talking and catching up on life. It was almost like dorm life all over again. I am so thankful for these friendships and these ladies. On my train ride home alone, I was reading "Bread and Wine," by Shauna Neiquist. In it, she was discussing a special group of friends that she had, and it just really hit home for me after this weekend. She says, "But I don't think we knew the life and force and influence these friendships would have beyond that season. I don't think we knew that when we see each other a few times a year, there would still be that trust and honesty and love, that we would still care about each other in so many ways and understand each other so well, even across the distance and the times zones and life changes." This quote brought tears to my eyes. When thinking about these girlfriends, that's exactly how I feel. We can just pick up, no matter the time that has passed, and we understand and love one another. I'm so thankful God put me on A2 over 13 years ago!
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