For my friend Julie

Can you believe it's already been a year since our excursion downtown to see Wicked? And a very expensive excursion I might add- but worth every penny. This was one of the funnest nights- ever- from start to finish. It started with an all too handsome trainmaster ticket taker guy who was just too good looking to be taking tickets for Metra. If I recall, I had to apologize for staring! Something along the lines of "I am so sorry- I think I've been married too long"!! It was all in good fun!! I think we laughed the whole ride down!

But the fun didn't stop there. We had dinner at "Chicago 1-2-3" and after paying $20 something dollars, Julie was surprised to see her piece of meat was only the circumference of well, a filet mignon! After carefully observing that everyone else in the restaurant was drinking wine or some kind of mixed drink or another, Julie and I opted for Pepsi- with lemon- so there was a little embellishment on our glass in our attempt to be fancy.
Here we are during intermission-after this, I can't recall much else of the show. We spent the second half laughing over what happend during intermission. Sorry, but that's between Julie and me!! (and the people sitting in front of us who had to turn around and ask us to be quiet) :0) Some things are better left between friends! (and strangers who overheard/oversaw everthing!)
Now after the show, as we tried hailing down a cab, I was distracted by a flock of people crowded around a large glass window. In my attempt to rush up and get my own peek I heard Julie cry out "Melanie- be careful!!!" Much to my surprise I tripped over a homeless guy who took up residence alongside the garbage can in front of the building with the mysterious glass window. "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry" I said to the man as I continued on my way. I really was sorry but just too damn curious to know what was going on. I quickly got over it. Well. . . it turns out, we were outside the NBC or ABC building-whatever news channel Mark Geingrecko is on because here he is. . . in the flesh. I was like a 6 year old waving and yelling to him that "I see you on tv all the time Mark. You're my favorite newscaster"!! (It must have been all those pepsi's) But he saw me and he waved back! After I got my jolly's we waved down a cab, headed back to Union Station and learned that because I just had to see Mark Geingrecko, we just missed a train home and had to wait AN HOUR for the next one (I still say it was the cab driver's fault- the one time we needed him to drive like a maniac, he was actually pretty decent) and that's okay because the bulk of our fun was spent at Union Station-during that hour we were waiting. Again, some things are just better left between friends, but Julie and I will never forget that hour- and I'm sure we missed that train for a reason!!! Now the midnight trainride home was just as fun as the ride down- even though the handsome ticket taker wasn't there for the ride home, we still had a great time! You're probably wondering how you can have a"great time" on a train in the middle of the night- with Julie and I, all things are possible!!
Thanks for this wonderful night full of memories Jewell! We're over due for another night out! You're the best and I enjoy every single minute we're together!!!