When I say it started early, I wasn’t kidding. 3:30AM! Yes, I said 3:30AM!

I am staying at a hotel I really like in Chicago on my new project, The Palmer House, http://www.palmerhousehiltonhotel.com/about-our-hotel/. It’s a grand and historic hotel, I don’t know if you remember me telling you about the weekend I spent in Chicago about two years ago.

I checked in, headed up to my room, changed into my jammies and settled in to eat some dinner and get some work done. I was tired and crashed out early, you know, for me that’s about 11:30pm/12am. There were loud voices coming from one of the rooms, I didn’t see anyone in the hallway and let it go.

At 3:30AM when I woke the voices were still going and getting louder, including the room across the hall. I can’t believe it, but I “narc-ed”, I called down to the front desk to voice my concern. I don’t think they actually sent security up to do anything about it, because the only thing I heard was more voices coming down the hall, calling out room numbers, looking for…yup, the room across the hall.

I opened the door and they just looked at me, no apologies, gee thanks. When I closed the door, I heard them continue to knock and the people inside the room, talking and “shush”ing. Please shut up!

And…as you know, with my trouble with insomnia, I couldn’t fall back asleep, pook. I did fall asleep about 6am for an hour, it was a glorious hour!

Ok, so that was the start. Then…when I went to take a shower…after 15 minutes I gave up and took a sponge bath in the sink, fun, at least there was hot water. I got dressed and headed to the office, it should take about 20 minutes.

I missed my turn, the sign is very small, so, I walked the quarter mile back to my turn and then on to the office. I really didn’t want to be late and…I wasn’t. It was a decent walk and it added to my steps, priorities you know. The flowers are all in bloom.

The training day was good, I learned a lot, got to know people even better, welcomed a new person and I trained them on what I learned yesterday, pretty cool!

After work, I walked back to the hotel, no issues this time! I decided to say something, so I ended up at the front desk talking to a manager, told him what happened last night and this morning. He upgraded me to a king room on the executive level, you know…need a key to get onto the elevator and it’s a special elevator that holds just a few people, with a bench, love it!

Part of the reason for noises is that the NFL Draft is happening in Chicago, this weekend and a bunch of them are staying at this hotel! Go figure! Sorry, I don’t know football players, couldn’t tell you who is here, but there are some massive guys walking around the hotel, blocking the doorways!

I went up to my new room…ahhhh. Then off to find some dinner and found a fabulous vegan restaurant, Native Foods Cafe, https://www.nativefoods.com/. I’m looking forward to going next week to get something in sandwich form! I got a chicken salad and a peanut butter pudding for dessert, just finished it, fabulous! And I feel great! All vegan! Wahoo!

On the way back to the hotel, I gave a homeless guy the rest of my salad, it felt good to be able to share my meal with someone who was in need. I missed that from my days in Michigan.

When I got in, I decided to take a shower, just to be on the safe side, in case I have the same problem in the morning and it was hot and glorious! Fingers crossed I don’t have an issue in the morning.

So…the day started out not so great, improved along the way, Hilton pulled it out and I had a great meal and now I’m sitting here talking to you, what could be better? Please keep your fingers crossed I get to sleep past 3, 4, 5, 6am even!

Tonight I did something different and fun.

I went to a place near my hotel called The Chocolate Bar.  It’s a bar/restaurant that specializes in chocolate,  as you might imagine. Drinks, food,  dessert.

Mondays they have a promotion, Martinis abs Manis,  buy a martini, get a free mani,  fabulous? Yes! Wednesdays is Martinis abs Massages.  It’s a hook and a gimmick, but it worked! Worth it,  oh yeah!

They need to do this in more cities!

I found out about it from someone in one of my classes today,  she was meeting a friend there herself.  I had been wanting to go, I know,  I don’t like chocolate, but I was curious.

I got there,  ended up seeing the girl from class,  we chatted while she word for get friend. The menu was extensive,  well, the chocolate menu that is.

I ordered my first martini ever,  chocolate and peanut butter. It tasted like a Resee peanut butter cup,  except with vodka, um, not my thing,  but I tried it.  So I got a hot chocolate with amaretto,  better. They had virgin martinis, but they were made with milk,  oh well.

If you bite the ends off the chocolate stick, you can use it as a straw! That was tasty!

I ordered sweet potato fries with three sauces for dipping sauces, dark chocolate, which had a kick, rosemary butter and maple mayo,  that was the best. I keep trying things,  like chocolate to see if I like it,  you know,  tastes change! Not in this case!

Then I ordered a salad, very-berry, it was good,  lots of berries and nuts in a giant martini glass! Tasty!

They had Willy Wonka in a loop in the bar, along  with the I Love Lucy episode in the

chocolate

factory and some

episode of Sponge Bob selling chocolate on in the bathroom.

There were some interesting people at the bar while I was there,  always fun to people watch.

Then it was my turn for a mani. The girl who did it talked 90 to nothin! She was very nice and chatty and when we talked about travel I asked if she traveled a lot, yup, to Florida and NYC all the time, but she wants more. I think she did a great job,  it’s very dark green with a gold party nail,  St Patty’s day is coming up,  maybe this will give me a touch of luck!

Back to the hotel with my leftovers,  way too much food! The valet and front desk were happy!

I wonder what my next adventure will be!!