Abigail bought us hats. They were made in Nepal.

My favorite thing about traveling with The Collective is that I never have to plan anything. I just get on a plane the day someone tells me to get on a plane, and Kat!, Abigail!, and Jennie! take care of the rest. When I landed in Chicago on Friday, I texted to say, "Landed. Waiting on further instructions."

Not knowing is kind of like magic.

Like, when we showed up at our apartment, this was the view:



And in the morning it looked like this:



And this:



Jennie! bought me Harry Potter Clue for my birthday.



Wall-E watched over us while we played. (Jennie always won.)



We visited The Bean.



And saw a big monument dedicated to Saddam Hussein.



We had some cocktails high above Chicago at the Signature Room at 95th.



And some delicious pizza from Geno's.



A lot of other things happened, too, but the rest of The Collective will tell you about that. I'm just here to set the stage.

My Collective Christmas Flickr set.