Life in Chicago and a Treadmill in my Hotel Room

Well it has certainly been an interesting day.

I started my day driving to the airport with Tim which I quickly realized was the most awake I have been in the morning in a very long time. Something about getting to chat and sing with him this morning really put me in a good mood.

Then I got to the airport and remembered it was a holiday weekend.

Good mood gone.

Epic Fail #1

But then I got to go in a separate line since I had already printed my boarding pass! Turns out I am smarter than about 500 people so even though I had to check a bag, it only took me like 5 minutes to get through that United line.

Big Win #1

Surprisingly enough the security line was not too busy and I got through there in less than 15 which was a big win considering how many people were there! I made it to the gate, checked a few e-mails (thank you Cleveland airport for free wireless) and then headed to Timothy’s World Coffee Shop to get some breakfast. I decided on an egg bacon and cheese sandwich on an everything bagel. In the brown bag it looked like the breakfast of champions.

Well if it was the breakfast of champions, I am a loser. That bagel stayed with me all day long and not in a good way. Even now while I type this at 9pm I can feel that thing sitting somewhere in my belly. You would think a bagel was a safe choice and well it was delicious but it was not safe for the man sitting next to me that I am certain had to smell my breath when I fell asleep with my mouth open. At least I was asleep though!

Epic fail #2

We landed, got off the plane pretty quickly and on the way to the baggage claim I stopped to use the bathroom. Well as some of you may remember I got a new Northface book bag for my birthday from Tim’s mom which is literally a weight off my shoulders considering that tote bag I was carrying. With a purse in one hand and no hook on the bathroom door I decided to just leave my book bag on my back so I didn’t have to mess with.

Bad Idea.

Peed on my book bag strap.

Epic Fail #3

*so far the fails are out weighting the wins but just wait*

Made it to baggage claim and to my rental car with no issues (well minus the pee strap on my back pack I was hauling around). I plugged in the address to our Chicago office into the GPS and was expecting it to say about 20 minutes.

Instead I got 4 hours. WTH.

Epic fail #4

Fixed that. Apparently there was already a destination in mind and I made a stop on the route instead of making a new route. This wasn’t figured out before I managed to tell the Budget rental car girl that her GPS was messed up and the clock was nuts. I won’t mention that I was wrong when I drop that car off tomorrow.

Made it to the office got some work done and then had lunch at Culvers with a few co-workers.

Big Win #2. A light side salad and a tuna melt was just what I needed to attempt to get that everything bagel taste out of my mouth. The bagel was still in the belly but that wasn’t going away anytime soon and I knew I needed something good to eat. Easy lunch filled with good conversation. No ice cream which I sort of regretted but I just wasn’t ready to take that risk with the bagel still hanging out. Back to work- afternoon went well and finally made it to the Hilton Hotel in Lisle to check in.

Insert note here: I have only been to this hotel 1 other time about 3 weeks ago.

“Hello Ms. Laney, welcome back” the gentleman at the corner says before I even get a word in.

“Why thank you” I reply and hand him my credit card

“Ms. Laney I took the liberty of upgrading your room for the evening. You will still have a king bed but you like to run right? (I nodded). I placed you in a room with a treadmill” he informs me.

BIG WIN #3.

I mean have you ever heard of something like this before? Did this young man carry up this treadmill from the workout area before I got here today? Yea I’m not that naive to think that but really… a treadmill in the hotel room!? Maybe next time I’ll get a hot yoga instructor or something. Or a mass therapist. Now that would be the biggest win of all.

Whether or not I actually use that thing- this guy knows I’m a runner. Can I get another big win shout out? I think we can make it Big Win #4 since I also had a cute display of towels and water next to the treadmill.

“Also, here is a coupon code for free wireless” he says,

Big Win #5. That MiFi from work only works sometimes!

I was feeling sushi for dinner (maybe that raw fish could defeat Mr. Bagel) so I headed back to Kona Grill where I had sushi a few weeks ago. I put in a to-go order for a few different rolls I wanted to try and picked it up at the restaurant.

The display was beautiful!

Big Win #6

But I take it they assumed 3 ppl were going to be eating this based on the number of chop sticks I received.

I can’t decide if this is a Big Win or Epic Fail but it was delicious whatever it was! Of course I could never had eaten all of that not to mention Mr. Bagel didn’t back down.

I wrote my 5 page paper I had to get done for missing class a few weeks back for my St. Louis trip

BIG BIG WIN #7 (or 8 depending on the outcome of the sushi).

And now I sit here writing to you all about this oddly amazing day.  Another big win!

Enjoy your weekend! After work tomorrow, Kara flies in to have girls weekend in Chicago! Looking forward to it!!