This past week was a lil thing called, AWESOME! On Thursday I picked up my friends Jenny and Andrea from the airport and drove to Orlando. This was not only Andrea's first visit to Florida, but also her first Disney World trip. I felt like a proud mama as I drove her into the Magic Kingdom parking lot. We spent Thursday night in Magic Kingdom and squeezed nearly every attraction into our six hours in the park. We topped the night off with fireworks and ice cream. What more could you want out of life? Not only was I stoked about having my friends from home visit, but my roommate from Orlando, Alex, who now lives in Colorado, was also in town for the weekend. Us four along with my friends Dean and Lita all spent the day together at Animal Kingdom and Epcot. I think it's safe to say I've become a Disney nerd. Like I literally get way too excited about showing people the parks. I guess it's just a part of life I'll have to live with.
On Saturday morning Jenny, Andrea, and I headed back to Ft. Lauderdale. When Jenny and I were 16 we went on our first ever vacation together to Florida. On this trip we discovered one of the best gourmet, authentic, Italian restaurants known to mankind: Cici's Pizza, home of the $5.99 buffet. We ate there at least four times on our week long vacation. Unfortunately Cici's Pizza hasn't quite caught on in Illinois, so Jenny was beyond pumped when she laid eyes on Cici's. So obviously, we had to make a pit stop on our way back to South Florida. Carbs, carbs, and more carbs, mmm good!
That night we spontaneously decided to go to a Dierks Bently concert. As we were walking up to the box office a husband and wife approached us and handed us two free tickets. At first I was pretty sure it was a scam, but it turns out they just had two extra tickets and figured we could use them. Kindness in this world is still alive and well! The concert was amazing! It was at a really small outdoor amphitheater, and for some reason hardly anyone was there. We literally sat about fifty feet from the stage. It was by far one of the best concerts I'd ever been to. Side note, security gets really touchy about fans waiting by the stars' buses after concerts, even if you do claim he personally invited you to his tour bus. The nerve...
The rest of their visit was spent laying on the beach and lounging in my living room watching The Office episodes and movies from our childhood. We did squeeze in a night of dinner, drinks, and a drag show with my Ft. Lauderdale friends at my roommate's uncle's restaurant. I can't say that I had ever experienced anything quite like it before.
Like visits with people I love usually do, it ended all too quickly. Tuesday morning I took their bums back to the airport. As much I would have loved to return home and wallowed around in self pity about how much I'd miss them, I had to report for work just as I was dropping them off. All of this lovely weather that has been going on in the Midwest has been causing delays, which creates lots of really friendly passengers (insert sarcasm here). Since Tuesday I've been flying all around the country and spending each night back in Chicago. I've been able to hang out with my friend Eric the past couple of days who graciously supplied me with a much needed fix of Portillo's and deep dish pizza. At 4:30 A.M. (just writing that time makes me queasy) I'll be on my way back to the sunshine state.
Hope everyone has a great Maundy Thursday!
Can't wait tell you can bre my tour guide in Flordia and at Disney!!
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