hanging around Chicago

The day started late – often a sign of a good day. I woke just before noon after nearly 10 hours of delightful sleep. I met my friend JJ for lunch. We went to Shaw’s Crab House which much to my surprise rarely had an empty table even when we left at 3.30. JJ had a funny story – she was at a friend’s birthday party in London and met a person from Chicago who lo and behold turned out to be my good friend CG. JJ said she was not at all surprised since I know people everywhere.

After Shaw’s we ventured to Nordstrom where I helped the US economic recovery by buying more than I intended. In the elevator to shopping I met a former work colleague – more evidence for JJs theory that I know people everywhere. There was a free Clinique gift with $25 spend which is so much less than one has to spend in Ireland to get a free gift, that it seemed like a sin to leave it behind me. Then we went to Ann Taylor which is my favourite clothes shop and I bought 4 jumpers – I know it sounds excessive but there were all on sale and some were half-price.

Then we went to Macy’s on State Street where the half-Italian, half-Greek Estee Lauder woman promised me a free secret gift if I bought something so of course I stocked up on Beautiful. After so much activity we retired to the Walnut Room for restorative drinks and cake. There we played a game which is a lot more fun than it sounds. We went through all the free gifts and looked at the colours and tried to guess what the marketing people would call a particular product. JJ was much better than me but next time I think I will guess that all lipsticks have the word berry in them.

Then I dashed from Macy’s to Merkat – a trendy tapas bar to meet I & J for dinner. We had a plethora of dishes – all good but the chorizo was my favourite. My friends had good news – they will become parents for the first time next April. I warned them to get loads of sleep now because there would be little next year.
Finally I arrived back to M&R where we caught up on each other’s day – M had been very active running a 10K race that morning. We chatted and somehow it was midnight. A very very nice day indeed. I probably should have gone to bed then but I read my sister’s blog and discovered my car in Ireland had been broken into. Well I suppose there’s not much I can do now, so I will head off to sleep.