A Christmas Tale (In 3 Parts) Part III

Look at me...rolling right along ;) Also...I apparently took NO pictures in Chicago. Sorry Pres!! I was sick!!

Saturday Dec 29

Luckily, we beat the incoming snow storm and got to the airport in DC before the flurries even rolled in!!

As soon as our plane touched down in Chi-town (can I call it that? I'm not really a local. Does anyone call it that? Did I make this up?),  a migraine-like headache touched down in my brain. Owie. I used to get legit migraines when I was younger (thankfully seem to have mostly grown out of that) and I'm not sure this was one...but I was in a lot of pain.

I spent my first 4 hours or so in Illinois laying in Preston's old bed...not sleeping...not doing anything. Just laying silently. Preston's parents are so amazing and sweet and everyone checked on me multiple times. I eventually had to tell Preston to leave because I KNEW he was just itching to see his BFF (and my only competition? Kidding!!) Timmy.

I felt terrible that now that it was Preston's 'turn'...I was incapacitated :-/

I managed to get myself up and moving enough to go over to Timmy's with Preston and hang out with Tim and his fiance Lindsey. Lindsey and Timmy had visited us in LA a few months prior, so it was comfortable just to do very little with them.  Eventually a few other friends came over and we played a game, that I actually ended up being quitttteee good at ;) (Don't end sentences in prepositions screams my 6th grade English teacher and my grandmother!!)

Sunday Dec 30

Some of Preston's family came down from Wisconsin to do a Christmas lunch with us. It was nice to meet Preston's father's sister (still with me?) and her family. It was a nice lunch and good conversation.

Afterwards, we headed to the local bar (have I mentioned what a smallll town Barrington, IL is? Crazy) and I got a taste of what it is to be a BEARS fan. Fun!!

DA Bears!!

We ended the night with Preston's high school friends...listening to music, cooking dinner and lounging around. It's too cold outside in Chicago for much else...I gotta tell ya. Just going to the grocery store was like climbing Everest. I mean, we had to go out into those elements!!

Monday Dec 31

NYE is upon us!! Ugh. I detest this holiday. It's worse than even Valentine's Day. I know, I know...I should be positive about it, but bleh. What a disappointment these kind of things always are. I try to do as little as possible so that I never really experience the let down. This NYE was actually pretty fun, with the exception of the cold that I could feel creeping up on me.

That's right...a cold!! As if the migraine wasn't enough sick time for the Chicago portion of our trip...now I was getting a cold. I kept mum about it all day.  I NEVER get sick in California. Like, ever. It's awesome. I don't know if it's the weather or what. I also use one of the most magical inventions ever invented---the neti pot. I use this awesome thing every. single. day. I have for years. Nothing has ever done more for my allergies or sinus infections or whatever. That and cutting out most dairy (usually, OBVIOUSLY not over Christmas) has helped me tremendously. Unfortunately my neti pot is ceramic and was not brought on this trip. I blame the cold on this fact.  But, I digress...

We drove down into the city for the afternoon. We took Preston's sister Kate out for McDonald's (her favorite!!) and then met up with some of his friends for our own lunch. We had delicious BBQ. It was seriously way way way way WAY too cold to do anything else. I could hardly speak while we were walking outside. I'm not meant for that climate!! Or that parking!! Good-ness!! It took forever to find parking. I couldn't do it. I consider myself a good driver, but I detest parking. I hate doing it. I hate looking for it.There were even trick spots...where it LOOKED like a spot but once you were parked...there was a sneaky little sign "NO Parking. Ever. For NO reason. You'll get a ticket" Ridic. I'm not even bad at parallel parking, I just don't like it. I don't even like pull in parking. I just like to keep it movin ;)


My only request for NYE was that I get to wear comfortable shoes. Preston convinced (read: forced) Tim to throw a party at his place. It was awesomely low key and had delicious meatballs. What more could a party ask for? My cold and I agreed to be the DD, so things didn't get too crazy, but it was a fun night :D

Old Friends

The Guys

The Gals

Tuesday Jan 1

Weird!! 2013!! We made it!! This is the year I get married!! Crazy!!

Preston and I spent the day on the couch at his friend Alison's house. It was great to be low key. I'm kind of thinking Chicago and the surrounding areas just IS low key. Honestly, I'm telling ya...it's b/c it's too cold for anything else!! Also, they watch aaaaa loottttt of football. Like, a lot. :P

Preston's good friend Gavin came up from the city on Tuesday night and we watched "My Idiot Brother" and "Ted". Both were better than I expected.

Wednesday Jan 2

Back to LA we go. Our experience with the airline this time was pretty much the opposite of the start of our trip. They exchanged (without explanation) our awesome seats (2 together-- window and aisle!!) for crappy ones and I had to sit in a middle seat. Grr. What's the point of having Gold Status?? I tell you---apparently, there is ZERO point, b/c the people in the standby line get your great seats and the gate agent will be mean to you. I'm not huge on angry, complaining emails to customer service departments, but I  wrote one as the plane was taking off :P Maybe I'll get some more miles and finally make it to platinum so I'll feel extra dissed next time ;)