So… Where did I leave off?  Shit.  Oh.  Doni, Derek and I all poured ourselves into a cab as the sun was coming up over Chi-Town.  We got back to the hotel where the lovely Katie was already sound asleep.  I’m pretty sure we woke her up with our drunken stumbling about the room, so it was nice to meet her in my finest of forms.   We hopped into bed (Note: Doni is an awesome cuddler.) and passed out for a few hours.

Now, I LOVE me some Doni.  I do.  But um.  SHE WAS OUT OF BED AT 8:30am and I sort of might have wanted to fucking kill her.  Three hours of sleep was not acceptable, but she wanted to see things!  City things!  Me?  I wanted to fucking sleep.  I was still drunk for christs sake.  FINE.  I got up (sort of), tried to make myself presentable so the other bloggers didn’t judge me (not gonna happen) and we were off on our way.

We hopped on a train and headed… I forget where.  In the general direction of where the Pride Parade was happening.  We hopped on a train and got off… somewhere?  All I know is there were CROWDS.  Oh the crowds.  We were absoultely starving and I was in serious need of some pancakes to soak up all of the alcohol in my system so we headed into Clarkes.  Dear Lord, HEAVEN.  I am a pancake fanatic and i’m considering moving to Chicago for the sole purpose of eating at Clarkes every. single. morning.  So Doni and I scarfed pancakes, met up with Phammy and Erini and headed in the direction of the Parade.  Once we started walking, we found Jenn and Rachel (WHO SPELLS HER NAME CORRECTLY!  WIN! Seriously, you don’t even know how exciting that was. Also?  Total blog celebrity shock.) and rejoiced.  I love meeting bloggers, seriously… I’m thinking about making it my profession.  ANYWAY, we get down to the end of the street and that’s where the crowds get a little crazy.  We were like cattle.  There was lots of pushing, lots of nowhere to go, a girl with a fucking bike (seriously… who brings a bike into a crowd of half a million people?) and some random guy blaming the whole mess on Rachel’s four year old daughter, Diana.  RIGHT.  Her reply to this nutcase was something along the lines of  “RIGHT, my four year old brought half a million people to the city.”.   It was great.

So after much pushing and shoving, we all get to the parade a few minutes before it started.  We tried to call Derek to see if he was still alive, but the cell phone network was completely jammed.  Boo.  We hung at the parade for a while and snapped a million pictures of people and things and all was well until I felt a rush over my body.  My heart started racing.  I thought I was having a heart attack.  OMG, I was going to DIE.  Thinking like this only made me panic more and thus make the entire situation worse until i got to a point where I couldn’t breathe and I felt like the crowd was closing in on me.  I looked at Doni and I was all “I’m going to pass out or throw up.  I need to GO.”  And then I ran into a (disgusting) porta potty and barfed.  This did not make me feel better.  In fact, it made me more upset.

We ended up sitting in the shade relaxing, eating water (wooder) ice and drinking water (wooder) and just generally getting my fucking composure back.  It was nice to be in the shade out of the crowd and just people watching for a bit.  Doni employed her technical genius and managed to find the only outlet on a street to charge her iphone.  Allie and  Jess found us.  HOW AWESOME was it to see some more of my Vegas loves?!  Molly and Courtney found us and we decided that we needed pizza.  One of the priorities of my visit was to eat Chicago pizza.  We decided on Giordanos and waited for Derek to get his happy ass to us so we could leave (Apparently, partying until the sum comes us hits 24 year olds much different than 29 year olds.).

Eventually, we found Derek and headed to Giordanos.  OMG, it was so nice to see everyone and have everyone in the same place! Pham, Erini, Jenn, Allie, Jess, Derek, Courtney, Doni, Molly, Jenn, Rachel & Diana… I’m sure I’m forgetting someone, but man.  It was an absolutely SURREAL experience to be sitting at a table with all of these amazing people.  We ordered pizza and it came to our table.  The excitement was mounting.  It looked good.  But um.  WEIRD.  I’ve gotta say, the crust was EXCELLENT, but there was just so much CHEESE.  (Nicole is shuddering right now.  I’m not a cheese fan, get over it.) It was definitely different than anything I’ve ever had before here, but I can’t wait to get you guys to Jersey for some REAL pizza.    There was awesome conversation and we lingered until the last possible minute to avoid saying goodbye.  (Really.  Doni missed her flight.)

Eventually the time came and we all hugged and said our goodbyes.  Doni hopped a train to Midway and I hopped a train to O’Hare (aka THE AIRPORT OF DEATH) and that was it.  My whirlwind trip to Chicago was over.   It was bitter sweet because I made some new friends that I didn’t want to part with yet, but at the same time… I WAS EXHAUSTED and couldn’t wait to get home.

My flight to philly was an easy one, thankfully.  Short little hour and a half flights are not something that i’m used to.  I’m used to 13 hour travel days  with three layovers and a delay.  So to arrive in Philly so fast made my heart sing.  I had parked my car in short term parking because well… I figured you don’t get much more short term than 20 hours.  WRONG.  It wound up costing me $55 for parking.  Oh well.  The two hour drive home was eventful.  I think I made it a half hour into my drive before I called Doni.  I missed her that much.  Oh, and I got a flat tire.  That was fun.  I got a kids meal at Wendys at 11:30p to make myself feel better.

I made it home by 12:30a and passed out.  It was an amazing weekend, I can’t even put how I feel into words.  Thank you to Derek and Jenn and 20SB for literally changing my life.  Thank you to each and every blogger that was there and welcomed me with open arms.  Thank you to Dereks friends for just being HOT (and awesome) (and yeah, I totally just made HIM blush.).  Thank you to Doni and Derek and Courtney for talking me into this craziness.  Thank you Rachel for having an incredibly photogenic daughter and making me look like a rockstar.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for making my life better.  If i’ve never met you, rest assured that I want to.  If you read here, but you’ve never commented… just know that I thank you and um, I probably want to be your friend too.  To everyone that makes this blog and my life amazing… thank you.  I’m certain that this is going to be the summer that changes my life in ways I can’t even comprehend right now.

The best & most amazing part of this 20 Hour Adventure?  I’ll be back in Chitown (with Doni) the weekend of July 24th. WIN.

Ps.  I am beyond depressed that I didn’t get to see these ladies: Jamie, Joy, Angie and Renee & Tiffany.  You were missed SO MUCH, I can’t even begin to tell you.  I know that my spontaneous trip to Chicago didn’t really allow for schedule clearing (I know you wanted to), but I hope we can all get together soon!! Love you guys!!