Tour Partners Past and Present

No one should visit Chicago without deep dish and so obviously, I could not let Blaire and Sam leave the city without any!

Ms. Amanda Lauren Belscamper (known as "Mandy" to TADs -- and me, although I've been instructed to call her Amanda now) and I had planned on taking them to Pequod's for dinner on Thursday night but Amanda is currently hitting the books to get her master's in nursing (very proud) and needed to submit all sorts of assignments and things that night, so the plans changed.

We had a lunch date at Chicago's Pizza instead. I had never been to Chicago's Pizza but they had deep dish and were in walking distance of Little Marvels, the day care where Amanda works, so she was able to meet us on her lunch break. Blaire and Sam ordered "baby pizzas" which were essentially personal-pizzas, I ordered a slice of their stuffed spinach deep dish and a salad and Amanda, who has been there numerous times, apparently, ordered a burger.

I was also able to clear off some serious shelf space by giving Amanda her Christmas gifts, which she loved and everyone was impressed with my sewing skills as I gave her a mermaid blanket that I actually made!

We found it!

After lunch, I climbed into a "little red truck" for the first time in almost a year as Blaire, Sam and I went on the hunt for edible cookie dough. (Having me in the truck might have been a blurred line since there is a company policy that says no non-TADs in the truck, but it doesn't say anything about former TADs, so I think we're good). (Edible cookie dough, by the way, is "cookie dough" that is meant to be eaten straight. There aren't any eggs involved so no worries about salmonella and honestly, while there are probably a million calories, there are only about a half dozen ingredients and I can pronounce all of them, so I think that it might be a healthier junk food than most). I impressed them both with how I was able to navigate us sans GPS because yup, I can do that now! Well, I can do it some places, but those places included where we were going!

After we found sugary success, the ladies dropped me off and we said goodbye -- for now. Amanda spent lunch hassling them to move here while I just told them to visit again soon and said that the next time they come, they're welcome to stay on my couch.

It isn't a TAD Reunion if we don't take a selfie, so I present to you "Tour Partners past and present."