Chicago Weekend

 What a busy few days its been! As I spoke of in this post about greens & traveling, I had a weekend filled with long car rides and visits to other states!

 On Friday morning I woke up and packed myself some food to take with me on the trip. My travel food included:
 peanut butter and jelly sandwich
 bowl of vegan overnight oats
 banana
 green smoothie

 When traveling, it's more difficult to eat vegan if you don't pack, but it's not completely impossible. On road trips I don't pack food, Subway's veggie sub is good, fast, and easy. I load it up with every vegetable on the buffet and don't even miss the meat or cheese.

 The trip to Ohio wasn't bad, it was 88 degrees leaving Charlotte and I had the top down on my convertible. Of course, as soon as I crossed the Ohio border it started to rain and all I could think was: how befitting of Ohio weather to rain as soon as I get here. I have yet to travel back up north in the entire year since I've moved and not had it rain or snow on the drive. So it had to rain or it would have broken my streak ;)

 I stayed the night in Ohio but since my day-night schedule is opposite, I didn't sleep a wink. I laid there all night and watched the clock tick from 11 pm to 6 am. I finally just got up and got showered and set off for another friend's house, where 20 girls met to carpool to Chicago.

 The weather is Chicago was frigid! It was snowing and we could see our breathe. Talk about a drastic change. We could not believe how cold it was. The weather didn't stop us from seeing the bean though:

For lunch/dinner we stopped at Subway because we needed something fast. We had to be showered and ready for the whole night by 5 pm, so we chose Subway because they had veggie options and it wouldn't take long. Upon entering the store I noticed a new sign:

Oh my gosh, falafel at subway! I couldn't help but be overjoyed! I was babbling on and on about falafel and how good it was (when homemade or from an authentic mediterranean restaurant) and even though I knew this wouldn't be as good, I had to try it! Three of the other girls decided to try it too! Alright now!

 I got mine with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and pickle. It came with a cucumber sauce which is traditionally called tzat-ziki sauce. You couldn't even tell there was no hummus or tahini because the sauce was so good. It was 6 dollars for a footlong sub, so I ate half and saved the other half for later. This is the inside of the sub:

 After lunch we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. Getting ready with the girls was bittersweet. Although we were rushed and somewhat frantic, we were so excited and it was just like old times when we would all get ready together. It was like time had never even passed. We surprised the bachelorette with a limo, and then took a party bus/charter bus from bar to bar all evening.  It was a large party:

But soo much fun to get to be around all the girls who made my college days so amazing!

Some of my favorite memories of the weekend were getting to sight-see for a little bit with the girls I rode down with:

Being my "lil sis's" hairdresser (a position I have locked down) in the room before going out:

and dancing with the whole group at the 3rd bar we visited. We danced soo much that we had to stop and take a water break:

 Because I hadn't slept the previous night, I was a little afraid I would tire quickly. However, I took 3 of my green pills before I went out, and also gave three to my friend Stephanie, and we had no problem staying up. It was probably also partly adrenaline and excitement, but I wasn't dragging at all. When my head hit the pillow at 4 am, though, I was out like a light!

 The ride home from Chicago to Ohio wasn't as pleasant as the drive there because we were so tired, but it was still fun. We talked about the evening's events and laughed pretty hard. I was finally feeling the effects of being awake for 42 hours straight, so sleep that night came naturally and quickly.
 The following morning I drove back to NC from Ohio by myself. Now I am trying to catch up on emails, squeeze in some exercise, pay some due bills, cut up all the vegetables The Boyfriend got from the Farmer's Market, and get ready for work tonight. I work three nights in a row and drive to Indiana straight from work on Friday morning! What a month this has been/is still continuing to be! I like being busy, but I wish I had more time to entertain my readers with food pictures and recipes. I haven't cooked anything big lately, just been munching on raw vegetables dipped in hummus, making green smoothies, and trying to get a few hours of sleep! Has anyone made anything great lately that they would recommend for Easter? The Boyfriend's mom has been asking us what we want to bring and between being out of town and just plain not having the time because I'm back to work tonight, I don't think I'll be able to pre-make any extravagant vegan Easter dish!
  Here's to hoping there's some salad on the buffet table for us to eat! :)