A week in Chicago!

This past week as soon as we got back from the cruise, I packed and unpacked and caught a flight to Chicago for our sales meeting.  Although it was an early morning, I am always excited to be back in Chicago for a bit!  After arriving, we got picked up by one of the local sales guys before heading to lunch at Lou Malnati's, which is my favorite Chicago Deep Dish Pizza!  After lunch it was time for the meeting to start, so we checked into the hotel then started learning :)

That evening we headed to Chicago Chophouse for our big dinner, and I must say it was one of the best dinners I have ever had.  The appetizers were great, and the filet was even better!  You know it's a great steak when you can cut it with a butter knife.  After dinner, we were all tired so we headed back to the hotel to answer some emails then headed to bed.

Wednesday, after my morning workout it was breakfast time at the hotel and then it was time for the meeting.  We did a really cool brainstorming activity to help us learn to think outside the box when coming up with solutions for our customers.  It was great to have a lot of interactions with my other team members and see how everyone else worked! Wednesday's activity was a game at Wriggley Field!  It was fun just relaxing and getting to know our team while watching the Cubbies play, and WIN!!!  We all know that doesn't happen too often.  After the game we went to a really neat Brazillian Sushi fusion restaurant, where we once again ate WAY too much!  Good thing I got two good workouts in that day :)

Thursday was another day of presentations (I even gave one) and Portillo's for lunch since that is a Chicago staple.  It was nice that we were staying down town because we could walk to all of the lunch places!  That evening we headed to Revolution Brewery which is a very small local brewery and did a brew tour before dinner.  After dinner we got some drinks on the top on the Hancock because it has THE best view of the city skyline and it is free to go up!  I love the Hancock and it is one of my favorite places to go in Chicago!

 

Friday was an open table discussion with topics we had put aside during the meeting, and before we knew it it was time for people to leave for the airport!  We grabbed lunch at the bar right next to the hotel before everyone headed out.  I was staying one more night with Ag, so I got late check out, then headed over to her place around 4:30 when she was done with work.

While Ag went on a run I took the bike so that I didn't hurt my ankle and took a bike ride down the lake which is what I miss the most about Chicago.  That evening we had a fun night, eating dinner at an absolutely amazing Greek restaurant then sitting on the rooftop with some of Ag's friends that I had met previously. Before I knew it it was Saturday morning so I hopped on the train and headed to the airport to fly home!  It is always nice being in Chicago and it was so great getting to do some more touristy things this trip!  On the flight hope I was upgraded to first class for the first time so that was SUPER exciting!  Hopefully that happens more often :)  After getting back to Atlanta, it was time for the busy weekend to start!

FIRST CLASS!!!