Rolling and strolling in Chitown

I have had as much sleep, total, over my two days in Chicago as I normally get in one night.

Last night, after vowing to turn in at a respectable hour, I was peer-pressured (yeah, I know, boo hoo) into downing a shot of something or other and, shortly thereafter, lacked the will-power to say no when cajoled into heading to a club at 1am.

You read that right: I went to a club. And danced. Gawd, it's been a while.

I arrived back in my hotel room at 4:30 this morning which is normally when I wake up on a Friday to go to the gym. Since I had a 10am appointment at my exhibitor table, this meant I only got 4 hours of sleep. Ouch. It's 4:40 in the afternoon as I write this and I am still woozy from lack of sleep. Thank goodness I had the presence of mind to slow down on the libations after midnight or today could have been a lot worse.

Yes. It was fun, though.

I made it through this morning's meetings and then attempted to nap but, it wasn't to be. My body just doesn't like naps. I layed there for 45 minutes before resigning myself to feeling like I'd taken an overdose of cold medication all day. There was only one thing left to do: SHOP!

I switched my leather computer case out for a hand bag, threw on my walking shoes, and walked to Chicago's Miracle Mile - the equivalent of New York's 5th Avenue or London's Oxford Street. (Ok, well, it's not as cool as Oxford Street but then I am just a tad bit bias.)

I first went to Nike Town and bought a pair of cross-trainers I've wanted for a while, now that I have begun a more rigorous training regimen with my physical therapist. As luck would have it, the $120 shoes were reduced to $50. Score!

Then I meandered around various women's clothing stores, missing my shopping partner, my mum, and generally marveling at the price of things. It's been so long since I really shopped anywhere but Old Navy, so I had a bad case of sticker shock. Couldn't resist some purchases in "Zara", however. Not for myself but for Daisy and my niece, whose 4th birthday is coming up. Man that store has cute clothes for kids!

Then, as I was walking down N. Michigan towars the water and, evenutally, the hotel, I passed a "Corner Bakery and Cafe" and had to go in for a shopping break. Corner Bakeries have hands-down the best soups, salads, and sandwiches and, when I lived in Southern California, they were all over the place. Not so in Sacraghetto so a pit-stop had to be made for Roasted Tomato-Basil soup with their yummy croutons. Slurp!

Refreshed, I continued my meandering down the street and toward the water, fishing out my point-and-shoot to take pictures along the way. Here are some of them but you can see all by clicking here.















Below is Trump Tower, Chicago.


This is The House of Blues. Across the street is my hotel, the Westin, and one of those windows about 11 floors up, is my hotel room.