MUST...TAKE...A....BREAK

yeah its 1 in the morning but really this is the only time i have to post. well, i technically don't really have time but i'm allowing myself to take a break from working so that my brain doesn't explode. and yes, thats what i said...break from working. i wasnt kidding when i said it was going to take me forever to process all the orders taken at our conference last week. i have taken them home the past 3 nites to work on and have spent anywhere from 5-8 hours each nite on them. and they still aren't finished!! i think they reproduce when im sleeping. jerks. but all to say...its gonna make for some SWEET comp time in the coming weeks. im already thinking of what im going to do on my days off.
but onto bigger and better things...my trip to chicago! heres the best way i can think to summarize the trip:
10 THINGS THAT MADE CHICAGO GREAT: (in no particular order).
*chicago is very much like NYC. very metropolitan, big city feel BUT super clean, less crowded, and the people are so friendly
*the weather was AMAZING. we're talking mid 70s during the day...low 60s at nite. i came back to austin and felt like i was suffocating..
*got to see my wonderful friends alison, eileen, and meet eileen's bf david
*the food!! chicago style pizza...yum
*magnificent mile/michigan ave. - the best shopping you can find..for blocks...and blocks....and blocks..
*staying at the westin hotel...having my OWN hotel room...having CABLE...having a corner room with a great view of the chicago river and downtown (ive decided that hotel living is the best - your room is cleaned everyday for you, your bed is made, you get a replenished supply of cute mini soaps, shampoos, etc. everyday...)
*can i say weather again? it really is worth mentioning again. weather definitely has an effect on my mood and walking outside and being met by little humidity and 75 degree weather in the middle of summer is quite possibly the best thing since sliced bread
*the BEAN! also known as the big giant bean shaped mirror in millenium park. check out my pics if you wanna see more of that..
*the taste of chicago. i only experienced a quick walk thru but i want to go back again sometime to fully experience it. imagine booths and booths of great chicago food, live music, and thousands and thousands of people
*last but not least...the medical institute's sixth national meeting- the whole reason i got an all expense paid trip to the windy city. this trip was definitely more work than play although it may seem like all i did was sightsee. i actually only was able to play on the 4th when i got there plus an hour or so each of the other days. we (the staff) endured 12-16 hour days going nonstop wed-sat. however, it all paid off. our conference was indeed a success and we made over 30K in sales!! (last year we made 4K, so either we were really good this year or really bad last year!) so yeah, the company is quite pleased with the sales/mktg team right now :)

id love to tell you more but the stack of orders is eyeing me and i really dont want to be doing this during the weekend...

oh and completely unrelated but info you might be interested to know. ACL single day tix go on sale today (thurs.) and the schedule grid is out so you can see who is playing when. it's only about 2 months away!!!