Happy 2013!! How were your New Year’s celebrations?
I apologize for being absent and not holding my typical blogging schedule the past week or so – I was traveling A LOT! The good news is that I have tons to update you on today :)
I left off with a recap of our trip to Solitude, Utah so I’ll start from there… Kyle and I had the WORST flying experience ever on the way back from Salt Lake City. It actually started out fantastic with upgrades to first class thanks to Kyle’s frequent travels with Delta for work. I hate flying, but for some reason I feel so much safer in first class. (Crazy, right? I mean, if the plane goes down, the first few seats are still going to go with it!) The meals and complimentary beverages are worth it ;)
About an hour into our flight the pilots made an announcement that we were going to be landing in Omaha to refuel on our way to Chicago. Apparently there was a mechanical malfunction that caused the aircraft to burn through fuel much faster than normal during takeoff. I thought whatever, at least they realized it before we ran out of fuel and crashed to the ground, right? Well, about 45 minutes later, the pilots makes a second announcement that we would actually be turning around and returning to SLC since we would need to transfer to a new aircraft to get to Chicago. At this point I start to get a little panicky (and by a little, I mean I had white knuckles and Kyle was complaining that his leg hurt from my grip – HA!) – We were already about 2 hours into the flight and the entire flying time from SLC –> ORD is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes so I was confused to why we were turning around.
This is when I also got pretty frustrated that the pilots didn’t turn the plane around earlier since they had realized the issue while we were taking off. About 75 minutes later we landed back in SLC (yay…) and transferred aircrafts. There was a little girl, who was traveling by herself sitting next to us on the plane. The pilots bought her lunch from Popeye’s during our aircraft transfer so I didn’t stay mad at them too long. At approximately the time we were suppose to be landing in ORD, we took off from SLC for a second time.
Although Kyle missed the Bear’s game (thank goodness for Gogo Inflight Wireless to keep him from having an NFL mental breakdown!) and I missed my NYE mani/pedi (BOOOOO!), I am thankful that the pilots landed the plane safely in Chicago. This experience just adds to the list of why I hate flying.
Okay, now onto NYE!! Although Kyle’s dad and Joy live really close to downtown Chicago, we decided to stay in a hotel for NYE. Kyle had a ton of Hilton points (another perk of him traveling so frequently!) so we scored an awesome room, just off Michigan Avenue, with a sweet view of Lake Michigan. As a side note, I WILL be living in one of those condos in the building on the left someday. *SIGH*
We did a little shopping and I bought a NYE dress while Kyle bought some new snowboarding pants. Then we headed to Tavern on Rush to watch the Iowa State game! Iowa State started the game off really well but ended up losing in the Liberty Bowl to Tulsa.
After a quick nap, it was time to get ready for our NYE Party at State Bar in Lincoln Park! I had two dresses that had potential for NYE, one that I had purchased a week earlier that was ridiculously expensive although gorgeous (read $500… I KNOW!) and the dress that I found earlier in the day that was much more affordable ($58!) although not exactly what I was looking for.
Expensive Dress - You can’t really tell from this photo but there was a gorgeous lace and beading pattern on the dress.
My “Great Find” Dress
I ended up going with the $58 dress – There is absolutely no way that I could justify spending $500 on a NYE dress, crazy! Although I absolutely love it, I’ll be returning it to Nordstrom’s this weekend :( After I got all dressed up and ready I realized that Express had left the security sensor on my new dress! Freak out moment!! It was too late to run back over to the store to have them remove the tag so Kyle spent 20 minutes trying to pry the sensor off without any luck.
I promise that I paid for it too :)
Thankfully (again, looking for the positive aspects here!) the sensor was only attached to the lining so I ended up cutting a hole in the lining to get the sensor off. Ugh…
After we were finally ready and free of wardrobe malfunctions, we headed downstairs to have a drink at the hotel’s bar before meeting our friends at State Bar. State Bar was a ton of fun – They had great cocktail servers and their buffet was to die for. I think I had about 4 plates of their truffled mac ‘n cheese. Sadly, I didn’t get a photo of it… I think I was shoving forkfuls into my mouth too quickly ;) The only downfall of the bar was that you couldn’t order champagne until the midnight toast and then, when we finally got our champagne, it tasted like the awful sparking grape juice you can take at communion instead of wine – BLECH!
Me, Kyle, Nick and Christy
Me with the awful champagne!
Me, blurry and apparently mad about the champagne ;)
Overall, it was a great NYE and I can’t wait to see what 2013 brings!
What did you do for NYE? Are you keeping your resolutions so far?
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Ooooh! I actually like the less expensive dress better! You look so skinny in it! <3 Express :)
Aww… thanks chica!
Happy New Year!
I am so glad you are returning the $500 dress! You look beautiful in it, but it is so much better to make an inexpensive dress look fabulous – and you do! So now its back to real life. Glad you had a great vacation.
Mom
I already miss my 2 week vacay!
I love your dress! I’m the girl who always manages to fall in love with the most expensive thing in any store… If a store is having a sale, I’ll pick out the one thing that isn’t on sale. The $58 dress is gorgeous though… Just as gorgeous as the $500 one!
Happy new year :).
Expensive taste is awful! I’m starting your “no added sugar” challenge tomorrow! I’m pumped :)
I like the dress. I have kept my goals so far: I am drinking more water, about 32 oz. down so far! lol, halfway there! Also I am doing a 30 day challenge starting yesterday and I havent cheated yet ;)
Way to go on the water! It’ll make you feel SO much better… Plus you’ll burn some extra cals running to the bathroom every 30 minutes ;)
Oh nooo your flight sounds horrible! Glad you got in in time to buy that Express dress, though :) Nordstrom’s stuff is so nice, but CRAZY expensive!
Such a bummer about the sensor on the dress. I bought a blazer last week and kept beeping when I’d go in and out of other stores. Turns out someone put a used sensor into a pocket of the blazer – a store employee told me that’s what people do when they steal another item. Yikes!
Great hotel view – makes me miss living in Chicago.
That’s awful about the dress!! Thankfully you were still able to wear it. You should try to return it and tell them what you had to do! I keep forgetting that you two are bears fans and from Chicago like I am! My people!