Girls Weekend

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of heading to Chicago for my soon to be sister in law's bachelorette party. She used to live in Fort Wayne and we became extremely close. Then she moved to Chicago and we still got to see each other often. Then she and my brother moved to Seattle and I haven't seen her since. Thank goodness for WhatsApp and Skype. 

A couple of the girls and I bolted out of town early Friday afternoon and made the three hour drive to Chi Town. I dropped the kids at my moms before I left, and judging from the text messages I got, they didn't miss me too much. Once we got to the city, we settled into our hotel room and got ready for our evening out.

On the agenda: Picnic and movie in the park. I prepped a picnic dinner along with cookies and snacks before we left The Fort. Our Hostess for the weekend, E, brought along the wine. The movie playing was "Moonrise Kingdom." I had seen it before, and I liked it more the second time around. There were lots of hugs, conversation, and catching up. It was a great evening.

The next morning we woke up to rain and fog. I headed out to find us some coffee since the Starbucks in our lobby had a line that was at least 25 people long. I LOVE Chicago! We used to live in the west suburbs when I was little, and even though I never lived in the city, it always feels like home. I could spend all day walking around downtown doing nothing more than watching people and taking in the architecture. The streets were super quiet Saturday morning at it was just lightly misting when I headed out. I was enjoying every minute of walking around, just me. In the amount of time it took me to step inside and get three coffees, it started pouring. My lovely walked turned into a second shower, and I barely made it back to the hotel without wearing the coffee.

After brunch at the hotel we met up with the rest of the group. We played Cards Against Humanity and then headed out to grab a late lunch. We were origianlly supposed to go to a street festival, but the weather changed those plans, and I'm glad they did. The restaurant we went to, Estate, was great. The drinks were great. The view was fabulous. The food was delicious. most importantly the dessert was ah-mazing. Nutella cookie wontons. Need I say more? Yum!!

Michelle and I rocking B's headbands and H's sunglasses.

An outfit change and a few hours later, the evening festivities began. A lingerie shower started to night, followed by an amazing food spread, custom cocktails, and cupcakes. The bridesmaids put together an awesome party. I'm pretty sure we all would have been content drinking and snacking there all night. Our bar reservations were calling our name though.

The bridal party at the lingerie shower

We took a cab to a fun bar called Public House. Their beer menu was pretty great and their cocktails weren't too shabby either. Beer flights are my jam, so I was please to see I could do a flight of any three beers they carried on draft. There were about 30 to choose from. The rest of the night involved lots of late 90s hip hop, some dancing, shots of whiskey (I still cringe just thinking about it), and of course a bachelorette checklist.

We called it a night close to 1am, we're party animals I know, and headed back to E's house. I think we killed almost all of the sandwiches and sushi that were left from the shower earlier. We kicked it sleepover style that evening, and amazing everyone woke up hangover free. After a great brunch involving bananas foster french toast and one of the best Bloody Mary's I've every had, we packed the van and headed back to Indiana. 

Road tripping with my girls was a ton of fun, but I was happy to see the kiddos. Harrison just showed me has vacuum when I got home, and Brooke screamed "Mommy, home." I love that I'm able to have fun girls weekends away and that I come hope to happy babies. I can't wait to see all of these ladies again in just a few short weeks when we all head to Seattle to celebrate M & M's big day!