OK, so here's the scoop on our trip to Chicago last weekend...
On Thursday morning, we were mapquesting Water Tower Place in Chicago (shopping mall downtown with 7 floors), and I searched for hotels near there and found
this - the Hard Rock Hotel! (Our room looked exactly like the one in the slide show on the main page. I didn't take a picture of the room itself.) We also got tickets to Wicked online!
We got ready and hit the road after changing up our suitcases a bit. We arrived at the hotel around 3pm, checked in, I called one of my best friends to let her know what we were doing, and we relaxed in the room for a while. DH called down and made us reservations at the China Grill that was inside the hotel.
Upon checking my email, I found an invite to a party on the north side of Chicago at which Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy (one of my favorite bands) would be doing a DJ-ing set. It was being put on my Malibu liquor, it was free, and the Malibu beverages were free, so I RSVPed. I figured we'd decide later.
A little while before our reservations, we headed down to check out a Vera Bradley retailer that DH had found near the hotel. When we got outside it was raining, and luckily the shop was like two doors down. AND they had a Vera Bradley umbrella in my print (mod floral pink)!!! I quickly picked it up and after looking around, decided it would be the only purchase there. We headed back to our hotel and our dinner, which was quite yummy and quite filling! Then we headed to the theater, which was only about 4 blocks away. It was a beautiful old theater! And Wicked was just WONDERFUL!!! I sneaked the picture of the map/stage curtain when no one was looking since photos weren't allowed inside the theater.
The next day we shopped our way down Michigan Ave up to Water Tower Place and back. I got a Nine West bag for $19.99 at Nine West and a
long sleeved Alice t-shirt for about $8 at the
Disney Store on Michigan Ave. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, and when we got back to the hotel after a side trip to Bloomingdale's (which was closing), we watched Game Plan on pay per view.
Our hotel is the darker building in this pic - beautiful!
The Wrigley Building
The new Trump Tower under construction
Another day of shopping followed. This time we walked over to Old Navy and then took a cab down to Bloomingdale's and Louis Vuitton. After that, we took a cab up to the north side to hit a couple of boutiquey shops my friend and I have discovered on our recent Chicago trips. Then we headed back to the hotel. After a break there, we headed over to Ed Debevic's for dinner and decided to go to the Malibu party. We did indeed get in for free, and we did indeed get free Malibu drinks. Most were really good. One was AWFUL. But we just threw it away and tried another. We each tried about 4 different drinks. A Mango Malibu Mojito being one that was yummy! The party was in another old theater. The seats had been removed, and it wasn't as nice as the one Wicked was in, but it was pretty cool. We moved down in front of the stage, where the DJ was, at around 11:30 because I had a 'feeling' Pete would be coming out soon. At about midnight, he did. He played some great songs - some of my favorites actually - Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani, Just Like Heaven by The Cure, My Sharona by The Knack, Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi, a couple of Gym Class Heroes songs - it was very 80's inspired, which I LOVE, being the 80's child that I am.
Here's a couple pics I took...
and a link to the photos taken by the photographer this website sends out.
http://chicago.going.com/event-213090?type=album (You might have to sign up to see the pics, but I'm not sure.) I plan to save a few of the pics, but I haven't done it yet, so I can't post them at this time.
Pete's dad was there, and they got him out on stage at one point. Pete then dedicated a song to him saying, "Thanks for making babies and having me."
After that, we headed back to the room and got up the next morning to check out.
After we did so, we headed out to Oakbrook to an outdoor mall they have there. They had a Vera Bradley store, which was really cool, but I didn't get anything. They had a lot of really cool stores actually. After that, we were off to Aurora to the outlet mall. It was there that I acquired two - yes, two new Coach purses! (Good sale!) We drove to Bolingbrook that night and stayed at a Springhill Suites before heading home the next morning. But we shot just past home to hit an outlet mall about 20 minutes south of here, and at Old Navy there, I got 2 long sleeved v-neck t-shirts, a hoodie, a v-neck sweater, and a zip-up sweater, and DH got a long sleeved thermal shirt and a sweater, and our total was about $65!!! I LOVE sales!
Oh yes! The view from our hotel room at the Hard Rock!!!
(We had two windows!)
And here's the purses I got...
Nine West
and Coach
Well, that's about it. It wasn't
Disneyland, but we did have a great time! OH! AND DH talked to Disney Travel and was able to rebook our DL trip for December of this year, and they applied all but about $250 of the money towards that trip!!! That's right! We only lost $250! I am so thrilled.
but i totally understand about saving money! i'd be all over it too!!!
wwpd??? (and I'll never forget when Rosie O'Donnel had her talk show and went on the low carb diet - and they told her to eat cheese instead of popcorn!! 
) STAY STRONG!! 
YOU can do it You CAN DO IT you can do it 
the idea behind the way they do things there is you order a few things and everyone shares.
i'm just gonna watch it closely and if it's less than an inch i'm still going. i'm a big girl.......wish me safe travels!
And funny that you say that about DH. As you may have guessed, my DH was REALLY trying to make it up to me that we weren't in DL. He felt TERRIBLE and was VERY appreciative that I wasn't mad at him, which is why we went to Wicked, and I got those purses, and why we pretty much went where I wanted to go all weekend. 
It did help me take my mind off of the situation and move on. And we both ended up having a really good time, and we even had mild weather for Chicago in January.
Dawn should have had no travel problems. It's just cold, and gonna get colder. I think our low tonight will be in the teens.
Too cold for my southern blood.
i dunno why he'll go on his own, but wont go with me.
