this years best

This post really isn't gonna be a review about how good or bad the past year has been. If you really want to know, the last year was pretty damn awesome. It is gonna be an update post though. I put on my Winter Wishlist that I wanted to post more, so here I go.

The past month has been crazy busy at issa.ino and at work. I've gotten some nice checks from working more hours than usual. I hadn't seen anyone I knew in a casual setting for quite some time. It was starting to get to me. I'm glad things are starting to slow down a bit. Work has been good to me. I got to travel for the company in November and then this week I was given special privileges to help out during a busy times. I feel like my manager must think highly enough of me to grant me those things.

I just got back from my annual after Christmas to Chicago trip. Lizard was unable to make it this year, so it was just me and Greg.  I was also unable to spend more than a day there due to work and other life responsibilities. Oh well, Greg and I made it work.

I think we had a great time even though it was short.

I beat him to Union Station so he told me to meet him in the Great Hall, like Love Jones. You might think our hello after not seeing each other for an entire year would've been epic, but it wasn't. We just hugged hello and headed out on our adventure to find pizza.

We walked around in circles, in the rain for about and hour looking for a California Pizza Kitchen that showed up on his phone, but not mine. When we finally got to the right address...it wasn't there. As if it never existed. Weird. We then settled for a local pizza joint called Pizano's. It was very filling with larger than large portions. Good stuff. I would'be boxed up my leftovers, but we just started the day and I didn't really want to drag around a box of pizza.

Next up we did the one touristy thing I wanted to do and took a picture of our reflections in the bean. As big and shiny as it is we didn't even see it at first and we were looking right at it.

Afterwards we began mission: mittens. All I wanted for Festivus were red mittens and a good cheek kiss. We walked up and down State and Michigan and no mittens were to be found. We did find an awesome couch to rest our weary bodies though. Greg also learned how not very aggressive I am when it comes to walking the streets of downtown Chicago. Since mission: mittens was a bust we decided to go and have a cup of tea and a snack.
Along the way and six hours into our day we finally found a not so public spot and kissed. I got real shy, real quick and couldn't help but laugh from being nervous. What if this ended up being awkward? We've been friends for 6 years. But it wasn't. It was fun and easy. We nuzzled and kissed and talked as people passed us by. At one point a family walked by and I saw the child on my left and then he disappeared...I'm about to lean in and kiss Greg and the child appears on my right. He's at my hip, touching my Spiderman bag. His parents called for him and all I could do is laugh. We nuzzled and kissed a little longer, but then I needed something to drink and a snack...it seemed best to start back towards Union Station.

Finding a place to have tea was impossible. Everything getting closer to the train station was closed. Even places in the train station were closed. It seemed to early for everything to be closed. We did find a Corner Bakery open and had a nice snack while we waited for it to be time for me to go.

We did the whole kiss good bye and waiting until almost the last minute for me to get on the bus. I really didn't want to go.

The lights on the bus were completely off and I thankfully had two seats to myself. I passed out quickly.
While I was glad to be out of my wet shoes and socks I was a little sad I wasn't still in Chicago. I'd have liked to stay overnight.

After I was FINALLY able to get moving today I went and picked up the goods that didn't sell at the Handmade Promenade Holiday Pop Up Shop. I ended up bringing home more than I expected, but I think it was a good experience and a good way to get exposure. I have a lot of plans for issa.ino this year.
And now here I am wrapping up a blog post that isn't really a year in review.