So here's my number call me maybe...
Chi-town 2012!! Back in the Midwest I let my hair down and had a blast. And by let my hair down I mean I walked, shopped, ate and drank a good bit! I had what some may call a "real vacation." Something I realize I haven't had in what feels like ages!
How did this random weekend of Chicago style bliss happen - well let me tell you. Because I work to much and had a shit-ton (yes that is a technical term) of vacation time to use I gchatted my friend Zak. As it turns out he had vacation time to burn too. So one work afternoon over gchat - bing, bang, boom - we planned an impromptu trip to Chicago, the windy city. We would be there 3 days and 2 nights - a quick trip, but one that sounded like a nice reprieve from a exhausting work schedule over the month of October.
I left at the ass crack of dawn on a Thursday morning. What is the ass crack of dawn? I am sure you are asking yourself that exact question, well it is being on a Supershuttle to the airport at 3:45AM. Needless to say Supershuttle got me to DCA way early - hell I was there before half the airport staff including security. On the plus side getting through security and to my gate was a breeze as was the flight to O'Hare. Of course like an idiot instead of trying to get some sleep on the plane I chose to read the requirements for a fellowship that I am considering applying for.
Anyway, I landed in Chicago bright and early and hopped on the CTA to downtown Chicago. Thinking I had it all together I get off the train at the stop closest to my hotel (for frame of reference I did not book the hotel, my friend Zak did). I get off the CTA and walked the 5 or so blocks to the hotel. As I am walking through what obviously was Greektown - I was like hmmm, this is an interesting place to choose to stay, but I do like Greek food so I could make it work. And when I arrived at the hotel - the Crowne Plaza of Chicago - I was like wait, I am paying what I am paying to stay here - you can rest assured I had a few choice words run through my head. Well as it turns out - dumb dumb here went to the wrong hotel. So, I had to cab over to our real hotel The Avenue - located right off the Magnificent Mile (aka - Michigan Ave.). This hotel was great and our room was on the 34th floor - so needless to say I did not have attitude with my friend like I had so planned on after arriving to the first hotel!
The weekend was great - got to see the Lincoln Park Zoo, the conservatory, the aquarium, explore Millennium Park and of course a little bit of Boystown. It was great to hang out with an old friend and see some new ones - and you know being the baller that I am I only hang out with the coolest people - including Louis Vuitton's number one salesperson in the Midwest!
So, I know you are asking yourself - where is the life lesson in this post? Why is it titled the way it is? and Were are some pictures? Well, wait no more because you are about to get answers to all those burning questions! The life lesson....don't be afraid to be yourself and have fun. I took this life lesson and lived it all through my Chicago trip and I encourage you to do the same. Now, the title - yes, yes it is an overly played song, but in this post it applies to my actions at one of our brunches! On our second day in Chicago, my friends and I had brunch at this great place called Orange. Picked by my new friend Jovan for brunch because they had pancake flights (mind you no one got pancake flights, but we did sample various mimosas). And yes you guessed it the theme was orange - they even had orange roasted coffee and it was surprisingly good! Anyway, the waiter we had at the restaurant was quite cute and Jovan and Zak were convinced he thought I was cute too - so at the end of brunch Jovan wrote my number and "thanks for a great brunch, Paul" on the back of the receipt. So as we left I made sure to go up to the cute waiter introduce myself and personally thank him for brunch. Life lesson number two - if you are gonna leave your number for a boy in a town you don't live in it might be wise to put "Paul from DC" to expedite the contacting process!
And now for your endless enjoyment some selected pics from the trip!
How did this random weekend of Chicago style bliss happen - well let me tell you. Because I work to much and had a shit-ton (yes that is a technical term) of vacation time to use I gchatted my friend Zak. As it turns out he had vacation time to burn too. So one work afternoon over gchat - bing, bang, boom - we planned an impromptu trip to Chicago, the windy city. We would be there 3 days and 2 nights - a quick trip, but one that sounded like a nice reprieve from a exhausting work schedule over the month of October.
I left at the ass crack of dawn on a Thursday morning. What is the ass crack of dawn? I am sure you are asking yourself that exact question, well it is being on a Supershuttle to the airport at 3:45AM. Needless to say Supershuttle got me to DCA way early - hell I was there before half the airport staff including security. On the plus side getting through security and to my gate was a breeze as was the flight to O'Hare. Of course like an idiot instead of trying to get some sleep on the plane I chose to read the requirements for a fellowship that I am considering applying for.
Anyway, I landed in Chicago bright and early and hopped on the CTA to downtown Chicago. Thinking I had it all together I get off the train at the stop closest to my hotel (for frame of reference I did not book the hotel, my friend Zak did). I get off the CTA and walked the 5 or so blocks to the hotel. As I am walking through what obviously was Greektown - I was like hmmm, this is an interesting place to choose to stay, but I do like Greek food so I could make it work. And when I arrived at the hotel - the Crowne Plaza of Chicago - I was like wait, I am paying what I am paying to stay here - you can rest assured I had a few choice words run through my head. Well as it turns out - dumb dumb here went to the wrong hotel. So, I had to cab over to our real hotel The Avenue - located right off the Magnificent Mile (aka - Michigan Ave.). This hotel was great and our room was on the 34th floor - so needless to say I did not have attitude with my friend like I had so planned on after arriving to the first hotel!
The weekend was great - got to see the Lincoln Park Zoo, the conservatory, the aquarium, explore Millennium Park and of course a little bit of Boystown. It was great to hang out with an old friend and see some new ones - and you know being the baller that I am I only hang out with the coolest people - including Louis Vuitton's number one salesperson in the Midwest!
So, I know you are asking yourself - where is the life lesson in this post? Why is it titled the way it is? and Were are some pictures? Well, wait no more because you are about to get answers to all those burning questions! The life lesson....don't be afraid to be yourself and have fun. I took this life lesson and lived it all through my Chicago trip and I encourage you to do the same. Now, the title - yes, yes it is an overly played song, but in this post it applies to my actions at one of our brunches! On our second day in Chicago, my friends and I had brunch at this great place called Orange. Picked by my new friend Jovan for brunch because they had pancake flights (mind you no one got pancake flights, but we did sample various mimosas). And yes you guessed it the theme was orange - they even had orange roasted coffee and it was surprisingly good! Anyway, the waiter we had at the restaurant was quite cute and Jovan and Zak were convinced he thought I was cute too - so at the end of brunch Jovan wrote my number and "thanks for a great brunch, Paul" on the back of the receipt. So as we left I made sure to go up to the cute waiter introduce myself and personally thank him for brunch. Life lesson number two - if you are gonna leave your number for a boy in a town you don't live in it might be wise to put "Paul from DC" to expedite the contacting process!
And now for your endless enjoyment some selected pics from the trip!