Brian and I had a great weekend. We dropped off the kids with Brian's parents on Friday afternoon and headed for Schaumburg. After checking into the hotel we headed off for round one of shopping.
Let me tell you that normally Brian hates shopping. He would rather be anywhere else than in a mall. Whenever I have to drag him shopping with me, he complains that he is suffering from major leg cramps, his shoulders hurt and a headache is keeping him from thinking any positive thoughts. He refers to this as "shopping mall shuffle". I find it strange how he can run long distances (as in 26.2 miles), but cannot walk more than 10 minutes in a store....Hmmmm.....
For some reason, none of that happened this weekend. He was like a kid in a candy store. He is especially fond of Nordstrom Rack. He found a pair of shoes, a running shirt, a pair of pants which they hemmed while we waited and a few other things. As I mentioned above, Brian can barely last one round of shopping, much less a multi-round affair........I had to look closely to make sure he hadn't found a look-alike to take his place......this was definitely strange behavior......
At any rate, after our first round of shopping, we headed off to dinner at Yu's, a Chinese restaurant that is one of our favorites. That is where we had our rehearsal dinner before our wedding. This time we feasted on delicious seafood and Moo Shoo pork. We ended the meal with fortune cookies. My fortune cookie said that "A fun party is in your future". Coincidence? I think not!
Saturday started with breakfast at the hotel and a drive to Park Ridge where we hit up the Talbot's outlet - Round 2. Didn't find much there. And no men's clothes - Brian was devastated. Not even the single children's clothing rack that Brian used to spend 30 minutes reviewing (anything to pass time in a store dominated by women's clothing!). Had lunch in Mount Prospect at Gale's Carriage House (another of our favorites) and then back to Schaumburg to hit Woodfield Mall....Round 3.
I haven't been to Woodfield in years. I really had no intention of going this time, but I had two free gifts coming from Aveda, so I had to go and get them there because we don't have a store here in Northwest Indiana. While we were at the store, I had my make-up done by the sweetest young lady. She showed me how to use everything that I purchased. I have not bought make-up since our wedding 10 years ago so this was an exciting time for me. I felt like a grown-up again after she finished my makeup application. The best part was that I did not break out in hives from their products (a recurring problem for me)! After our purchase, we were treated to a chair massage. It was the most amazing massage I have ever had (not that I have had many). I walked out of that store feeling better than I have in years. Brian also received a massage and a bag full of samples from Christina, the sweet young lady.
After our mall trip, we headed back to the hotel where I met up with two of my high school friends, Kristen and Jenny. We chatted for a few minutes until it was time for Brian and I to clean up and change clothes for our high school mini-reunion.
We met my friends at a restaurant in Schaumburg where we had drinks and a delicious sit down dinner. It was so much fun visiting with everyone. Most of us saw each other at our 20 year reunion in 2008, but the reunion was so loud and crowded that it was hard to talk to anyone. This time was much different. We had the opportunity to talk, share photos and reminisce. It was interesting to hear about the jobs my friends pursued. Among the group was a V.P. for a major finance company, a BMW salesman, a doctor, an EMT, a federal agent, a music producer, a special events coordinator for Northwestern University and a few stay at home moms (I fell into that category).
Anyway we had a really nice evening with my friends. It seemed as if 22 years could not have possibly passed since our high school days. Toward the end of the evening, we asked the DJ at the bar where we ended the evening to play music from our high school days. I'm not so sure the other patrons of the establishment appreciated our music selection, but we sure did!
Well.... back at home now and back to reality. I have beds to make and laundry up to my eyeballs. Then there's dinner to prepare and kids to be bathed......
