Chicago Work Week - Day 3

So I am finally going into Day 3 of my work week in Chicago and everything was looking good. I was well rested and ready to attack the day’s assignments. Thank goodness we didn’t go crazy the night before because we had a big day of meetings and work ticket writing. Finally around 7 PM we left the office… and did I mention that it was St. Patty’s day? Oh yeah…

So after leaving the office, I call up my Blonde Chicago Twin (me and this girl have tons in common and we heard from multiple people that we were the same person except for hair color. We met for the first time in person a day before this.) and make plans to meet up with her at a bar. Of course, in my mind we were going to go to the hotel, change out of our work clothes and then I was going to change into my perfect St. Patty’s outfit…but the boys had other plans. Rather than waste time going back to the hotel, we went straight to the bar…and straight to the drinks.

Earlier in the day, I found out that I had a 6:30 AM meeting the next morning. OK, no big deal. I will only have a few drinks with dinner and absolutely, under no circumstances was I to have any shots. As soon as I sat down I exclaimed that at no point would we be taking shots….yep, I did! As you may have already guessed, my plans were not to go as expected.

So I sit down next to my twin and we starting chatting up a storm and ignoring the boys, her boyfriend and his coworker. I am drinking my glorious cranberry vodka and we are checking out the menu. So we have our drinks, we are chatting, I am talking smack to the boys and overall having a great, low key St. Patty’s celebration. The next thing I know, a shot appears in front of my face. Ummm….apparently I wasn’t loud enough to be heard when I said no shots of the night. I know, shocking. So rather than being a responsible adult and refusing the drink (ok, I did at first) I took it. It was wonderful. The next thing I know, we are getting more drinks and somehow they are coming out doubles and more shots! I was in full on party mode!

We continued to drink and I decided to make the group new friends. We met a random chick outside on a smoke break (no, not me) and I yelled at/wrangled a Spanish guy over to our table minutes later. Then my twin and I decide to be matchmakers. There was more yelling, more declarations of undying friendship and then the realization that I went too far on socializing. Oh sweet dear Jesus, I was drunk. How does this always happen? So I go into “smartest person alive with the best ideas that always work” mode and I try to order bread from the bartender. Yeah, apparently the kitchen was closed and all he had to offer me were oyster crackers. So I took 5 packs. :)

Queue Time Travel trip #2…

*Apparently we got in the car to go home where I annihilated said oyster crackers (as they apparently were everywhere the next day)
*We made it to the hotel where somehow I was convinced to get another drink
*Since the bar was closing we got another shot and drink
*Once of my coworkers secured a cab for me for the next morning for breakfast
*Somehow made it to my room
*Somehow set my 13 alarms

Finally I find myself waking up at 5:15 AM. Oh what an early morning. While getting ready, I find out that breakfast is now at 7. I call and reschedule my cab, pack up all of my belongings, check out and head towards my early morning breakfast….all the while feeling like shit.

The rest of the day was filled with meetings, finding out about the $500 we spent the night before, waiting at the airport and finally coming home….still wondering how I managed to survive the last 3 days. What was I going to do when I had to go for 11 days in just one more week? At least I had a quick training session.