Vacation: Chicago.

Hi, we're back. There's a lot to write, so here goes. As soon as I recharge the batteries on the digital camera, we'll download photos. I will post pics to the blog and facebook! :) Monday, October 12. A busy, planning day. I managed to catch a couple hours of extra sleep. Steve, bless his heart, taught his face-to-face class. It was a good day to get my hair done. (Any day is a good day to get hairapy, though). Now, when we travel out of town, I make this a ritual to have hairapy with color and a hairstyle. It puts me in the right frame of mind. Steve notices when I wear my tresses in a certain way (straightened), I seem different--more adventurous. Anyhow, this is my online accolades to Salon Rouge. Love the people--the staff is the most awesome people and the venue is a wonderful place to visit. I receive the best customer service. And I've made friends with most of the staff. Well, I enjoyed a great session with D. She is darling and we have a blast! D. is also artistic and talented. I love what she is doing with my hair--and for significant events like our class reunion, LaSalle Dedication and RetroFest: Celebrating the 1940's, and our vacation to San Diego. After hairapy, I trekked home. Steve and I packed, ran a couple of errands, including donating a half-bottle of delicious Spumante to our neighbors. Good champagne cannot simply be wasted! After we packed up, loved up a surly Latte and sleeping Java, and started on our way to Chicago. We started out after 6:00 p.m., but that is fine, we do not have to be on an airplane until the next day. The beauty of travel by automobile--saves us an additional flight and we can arrive at a more leisurely time. Speaking of which, our friend M. called from Chi-town and offered for us to stay with her. What an awesome offer! Since we had to take the shuttle bus to the airport (O'Hare) early the next day, we asked if she could meet us at the Marriott O'Hare (hotel) for coffee. We named this hotel "The Hobbit Hotel" because it contained the smallest elevator ever. Our hotel door and bathroom were narrow as well. If the doors were rounded, it would have been perfect for a hobbit. M. met us for a light snack and drinks in the bar called Champion. The bar contained a lot of people, but we managed to grab a table near the door and people-watch. The waiter/manager was a twerp and responded rudely to M., but the server was very sweet even though she waited on multiple tables. After we finished our drinks, we chatted for a long time and I walked M. to the lobby. What a wonderful way to start our vacation by meeting up with a dear friend! It was a very late night/early morning, but figured I could sleep on the plane.