Chicago!

I was dragging at work Monday morning! I had one of those moments when the alarm goes off and you know that if it were college you would totally skip your morning class. Ah, too bad it's the real world and you're an "adult" now! :) I guess that's what a 6 day work week will do for ya!

I got back Sat. evening from a conference in Chicago. It was work, but it was also a lot of fun. We (the sales team) travel to about 3 conferences a year. The summer AAD meeting is the best one b/c it's smaller and more laid back. Luckily they are in great cities & this time it was Chicago!

Erica and I got there early in the morning on Wed. so we could do sightseeing. We ate at Giordano's and had their famous stuffed pizza, toured the Chicago art institute museum, walked the miraculous/miracle/magnificent mile, had ice cream at millennium park & had a short lived visit to China town. Let's just say, it's not like NY's China town! We ended up grabbing a quick bite to eat that evening before crashing.

Th, Fri & Sat was pretty much the same. We ate breakfast & worked our display booth until about 6pm. I always describe these conferences as the "COG assembly" for Allergists and Dermatologists. The winter derm meeting is huge & you can basically get all your skin products for the year by trading products with other companies! It's great, but I didn't do much of that this time. It's also a great way to meet doctors & get contacts in your territory. I will say how hilarious it is to watch these derms that make tons of money working maybe 4 days a week go crazy over free stuff! I love giving our products away & making relationships, but I hate the snotty docs. that think they can be bratty to me and still get free stuff. It's kinda nice to politely say, "oh, I can send you something in the mail if you would like" after they practically beg for a free product. For one split second I have the power. :)

Ah, the food. We ate at a wonderful Italian place called Francesca's on Th. night and at Ditka's steak house Friday night. I love food so these places were a great treat!

Some of the side story high lights included Erica taking a flash picture in the art museum & apologizing about it LOUDLY after she was yelled at! I had to leave the room before I burst out laughing. However, it was totally worth it b/c without the flash we may not have captured the lady meditating by the painting! Erica's mouth also got us in trouble on the elevator going to our room. A older gentleman was headed to the 30 something floor and Erica made a comment about him being "big dog." When he didn't respond....she kept talking to fill the awkward silence. He didn't even look at her! Tears were coming down my face to keep from laughing!! At least this time I didn't have a doctor tell me to "do my job" and massage the cream into on his hand, which happened at the last conference. Oh, the joys of work trips!

outside the art museum

side story: I'm pretty sure our room was being tapped b/c I found this behind the dresser. ALSO, John thought this was a picture of corn and a tractor plowing it....wow, we've been in MN too long!