Priceline - Negotiator!

The reason for me to go to Chicago this week was to attend a course on negotiating called Getting to Yes.  I guess I'm just not all that great at negotiating and so I was hoping to learn a lot.  Unfortunately, I didn't find as much value in the class as I'd hoped.  Darn.  We all had a fun time pretending we were William Shatner though from the Priceline commercials!

After class was over, I ran up to Catherine's clothing store up in Vernon Hills.  I'd ordered a top and undertank from my local store at home and had them sent to the Vernon Hills store so they'd arrive while I was there in town.  They had arrived that day so I went to pick them up.  However, I found so many other cute things on clearance that I spent 2 hours trying everything on.  The humidity was so bad - even in the store - that my hair was a sopping wet mess.  Then, they told me there were 14 new boxes arriving on Wednesday.  I asked them to pull one of everything out in my size and hold it for me to try on on Thursday!

Next, I headed to the Westin and picked up two co-workers for dinner and we headed to The Cheesecake Factory.  We had a really lovely time talking and laughing.  Ginger had a salad that looked delicious and the lime-cilantro dressing was phenomenal.  I wanted to buy a bottle of it to bring back, but then I remembered that I wouldn't be able to carry it on the plane and putting it into my checked luggage wouldn't be a good idea either!  I had the garlic farfalle pasta with chicken and it was quite delicious.  The peas were a little overdone, but it was still yummy.  We were all pretty full but somehow we all decided we were desirous of some cheesecake.  Honestly, I couldn't eat another bite...but I ate a little of the whipped cream and then took the remainder back to the hotel. 

Once I got back to my room, I promptly plopped down on the sofa and zonked out.  I was SO tired!  I woke up around 10 and ate my cheesecake.  Then, I checked email, blogs, etc. and then headed for bed.  Tomorrow is a new day full of regular work!