Let me start off this post by saying that Jared is the perfect husband for me. His sense of adventure and love of traveling benefit me greatly.
My birthday was on Tuesday the 13th. Jared's birthday present to me was a date in Chicago! I found out on Friday that he had already bought us plane tickets to Chicago for the following day. We planned on having 8 hours in the city to play before flying back to Arkansas. But of course, there had to be a few glitches. Actually, there was really only one: Plane Delayed.
Our flight was supposed to leave at 7:40 am and get us to Chicago by 9:20, which would give us enough time to do everything we wanted (shop, Sears tower, pizza, ballet, and travel time). However, American Airlines did not leave until after 9:30 am, getting us to Chicago around 11:30. BOOOOOOOOO! And the worst of it was their reason for the delay. The crew overslept. That's right, you heard me correct. The ticket ladies kept making announcements to us like, "We are still waiting on the crew to show up. We aren't sure if they've left their hotel yet or not."
Really people?!?!
Here we are, spending two hours in the Northwest Arkansas airport, trying to still be happy even though we should already be playing in Chicago!
These pictures are a little out of order and blogger is not super friendly about letting me move them around. So, I'll tell the story just a little out of order. Here is a shot of me at the Chicago O'Hare airport on our way home after a whirlwind day.
Here is cute Jared!
I love this picture because it reminds me of the crazy frenzy that our shopping experience was. We had planned on spending 2 hours in the morning shopping on Michigan Avenue aka the Magnificent Mile- and let me tell you, it is MAGNIFICENT!!! Well, because we got majorly jipped on our (my) shopping time, Jared gave me TEN minutes to find a pair of boots (which I really wanted). I found Nordstrom (which does not exist in Arkansas) and ran like a crazy person! A salesperson came to me right away. I'm sure he thought, "this girl is going to buy something for sure." It's true, I was determined to find something. And I did! I bought a cute pair of khaki green northface boots that I LOVE. Everytime I wear them I will think of my fun 10 minute shopping spree!
Here is another favorite part from our trip. We saw the Joffrey Ballet perform "Othello." It was world class dancing and world class music. We LOVED it. Unfortunately, we had to leave after the halfway mark thanks to American Airlines and our complete lack of time. :( If we didn't leave then, I wouldn't have got my awesome boots.
Isn't the theatre BEAUTIFUL?!
Here we are at Giordano's. We had to get some Chicago style pizza. Yummy!
Chicago is an amazing city. I even like it better than New York City, which I LOVE. It has a St. Louis feel to me- and the Michigan Ave even reminded me a little bit of Madrid. Ahh, I love traveling!
Here we are, the happy couple!
I can't wait to turn 28!!!
What a fun birthday surprise! Warm muffins and hearts on your doorstep. Noah and I enjoyed them very much! (Thank You Julie)
Then, Jared took me to lunch at Olive Garden, where we had my favorite soup and salad.
Next, I had a little break until dinner at Las Palmas. Two of my favorite people took me here:
We had a lot of fun. Noah got a little scared during the birthday singing.
Anyone who really knows me knows what a classic birthday shot this of me. Courtney in a sombrero eating Mexican food. Of course!
Later, at my house, Julie went to town decorating everything in my two favorite colors, green and purple. We had some people come over for cake and ice cream and just talked.
Julie made me my favorite cake: funfetti! And it was delicious. She even filled it with buttercream. Fancy smancy!
Wow, that's a lot of smoke!
I LOVE birthdays! Thank You to everyone who called and texted and emailed and mailed cards and gave presents and came over and made me feel so wonderful on October 13th!!! 
