Ali's Farewell and Birthday

When thinking about coming back to Illinois again I knew I needed to make the most of it... When? Why? How much can we accomplish?

Well...

Jeff Cox and Meghan Schindler were getting married Oct 4

My niece's birthday (2nd) is Oct 5

Now - both great reasons, but I knew I needed more, and wanted more - since I miss so much being gone. Katie (matron of honor) and Ali (maid of honor) were kind enough to let me convince them both to have their "special days" coordinate with our visit. I am so so grateful to be a part of that, it would have been devastated to miss out. First - Ali's Party...

Ali had plans to move to Arizona in September - well that was just too close to October for me not to try and convince her to stay another week or two so we could celebrate her 30th birthday and combine it with her farewell bash! So she stayed - thank you Als!!! We met up at our hole in the wall on Clark where many of our Chicago debacles took place when we all moved to the city in 2003. We ordered Ali's favorite food, had cake... and way too many cocktails and a completely ridiculous stop at Shenanigans late night.

Ali - It was a great night and I'm glad I was to share it with you. Best of luck in AZ - you must keep in touch and I'll be seeing you sooner than later.

The scene - The Field House on Clark in Lincoln Park. We lived less than 2 blocks away our first year in the city and got to know the place well.

Ali's favorite - The Pasta Bowl - we catered in pasta, sandwiches and salad... YUM!!!

Ali's birthday cake... otherwise known as the "Barbie Cake" because the colors were pink and lavender. Don't let the pepto bismol pink color fool you - it was FABULOUS cake. Dominick's makes AWESOME cake - most of us had second and third servings... Double YUM!

Me, Ali an Katie

The ladies of 3130... the first year in Chicago me, Melissa (far left) and Katie lived together - Becki (far right) and Ali lived across the street. The next year we moved into a massive 5 bedroom place and lived at 3130 Lake Shore Dr - it was like the last year before we started really growing up

Katie's husband, Scott -he is always under control and him singing loudly to Def Leppard in a cab is not something you see often... in fact I'm not sure I've ever seen it! He was a blast!

The morning after at Katie's. It was like we lived together all over again. We woke up, ate greasy food, talked about the night before and of course shared some head massages!

* Note - Katie is pregnant, so she wasn't out until almost 3am like the rest of us, but she was out late and such a trooper for putting up with all of us, that most certainly earns her a head massage!