I just had one of the craziest weekends / week ever. So lets start at the very beginning shall we?
Thursday 8/14:
Knowing that I have an early flight to Chicago on Friday, in true OJ tradition, I decided to start the weekend a little early and go out with some friends...HARD. The night started at Lotus Lounge, it's a place just down the street from my apartment. Next, we walked next door to Aura, a higher energy club - but finally settled at Joyce, a brand new club that opened near downtown. I ended up getting smashed, closing out the bar, and staying up until about 3 am.
Friday 8/15:
I jolt awake to the sound of the doorbell. 7:00 am! I had forgotten my mom was taking me to the airport. I climb out of bed.. wow.... I'm still drunk, (Thank god I packed the night before!). I jumped into the car, handled a quick delivery, and am on my way to the airport. After being 2 hours delayed, I arrived in Evanston in shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals 10 minutes before the wedding. A quick change in the bathroom of a bar and I'm ready for the ceremony. It was a beautiful wedding...and a beautiful reception, Cafe Brauer at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
The Air and Water show was taking place at the same time, so we had fly by's from jets and a gorgeous view of the Chicago skyline with perfect weather. 2 hours later we're “cheers-ing” Pat Pelling on an amazing Best Man's speech with shots of Makers Mark while I had the garter belt wrapped around my head (classy, I know). I ended up dancing the night away with the Gentlemen of Sigma Phi Epsilon-the most fun dancers I know. I know it sounds gay, but I tore up the dance floor with Charlie, Steve and Ben Woo. Don't get me wrong, I whirled several moms around the dance floor, but I had the most fun with my boys.Seeing as I had a 7am flight the next morning out to Detriot, (again in OJ tradition) I planned on not staying at a hotel and partying all night long, which is exactly what I did. After the reception, with my luggage in hand, we headed to a bar down the street for some additional shots – obviously 5 hours of open bar wasn’t enough. I stashed my luggage with the door guy and proceeded to loose memories. Poured a glass on red wine off a balcony at one of my friends but ended up nailing a giant guy in a white t-shirt. Whoops! Clearly good decisions were not made. Luckily, I made it to 5:00 am! I remembered my luggage, jumped into a cab and headed to the airport. I had a little time to burn before my flight so I grabbed some breakfast from McDonald's, sat down right in front of the gate door, took a bite of my hash browns and closed my eyes for a second.
Saturday 8/16:
I opened my eyes and BAM it's an hour and a half later!! Everyone had boarded the flight at 7 and left me in Chicago!! I scarfed down the rest of my hash browns - and headed straight to the next flight to Detriot. I found out that the next flight has 4 open seats left, but there are 11 people ahead of me on standby. After pleading with AA, I’m shocked to discover that it'll cost $420 dollars to guarantee a seat. Wow! Ok, so I can be a little late to the wedding. I decided to take my chances, and by some sort of luck, I got the last seat on the plane! I arrived in Detriot with 2 hours before the ceremony. So I rushed to the rental car company and ended up wasting an hour in line. No joke, one hour! When I finally get to the agent, guess what? My driver’s license is expired!! I can't rent a car. I'm an hour drive away from the ceremony and an hour until the wedding starts. What do I do? Cab!
I jump into the nearest cab and head straight to the hotel to meet up with everyone. Luckily the driver knew where the hotel was. When I finally pulled up to the hotel, the driver turns around and asks for $100 dollars. Wow, ok. I paid for the overpriced ride and stepped inside the hotel. BAM - I'm caught in a whirlwind of hugs and kisses from all my friends. They instantly turned me right around and we jumped into cars and head straight to the Church. For the record, I'm still wearing the exact suit I had on the night before and am still carrying around all of my luggage, I'm so late I don't even have time to set it upstairs. When we get to the church, I change in the parking lot, and head into the Chapel for wedding #2.
We've got 20 minutes before the wedding, just enough time to sound check the songs we'd be singing for the service and, oh yes, comb my hair. Another beautiful ceremony filled with oodles and bunches of mushy mushy love....I almooooost cried.
After the wedding, I had just enough time to brush my teeth, take a quick shower, and lay down on my bed for 30 minutes (the first time since Thursday night). At the reception I was seated at a table with 3 guys and 8 girls - my kind of ratio!! After about an hour, I realized the girls at the table are either married or gay. What is this? Some kind of joke? I quickily realize, however, I'm sitting at a table with some of the most fun girls I have ever met. We all tore up the dance floor! All the F15 guys all got up on the stage and sang a couple songs for everyone. We ended the night at Champps drinking beers and telling stories. It was great catching up with these guys.
Ok, this was just a quick little recap of the weekend. Jon, I still have the Patron Music in Motion Tour to tell you about… that’ll be on the next post! See you in LA in a couple weeks.
