And what a better conversation starter than ugly Christmas sweaters?! We donned our knits all night, both tasteful and tacky. We talked about where we found our sweaters or how we made them. Someone even borrowed their granny's sweater just for the party. Also, not to mention any names, but one gentleman told his hilarious story of shopping is the womens section to find his perfect outfit! Our first Holiday party here in Chicago was off to a great start! The drinks were the size of fish bowls and the straws seemed as long as fishing poles. It was quite a sight! To add to the evening, it was nice to have our own area reserved because it gave us some space to do our first annual gift exchange. The anticipation was overwhelming as each of us opened our gifts one by one for all to see. Who would have guessed that a tin of cookies would be the most demanded present. After the gift was stolen a few times, some lucky person went home and indulged in a delicious treat (you know who you are). We also had a donation box designated to Toys for Tots. It was nice to see how many members brought gifts in hopes to make the Holiday special for children near and far. This was just a simple reminder to me how awesome our Chicago members truly are. All in all, the evening was great! We even started making plans for our Holiday party next year! 
Events And Adventures Chicago
Can’t find the perfect present? Who doesn’t love a handmade, one of a kind, gift? Our Chicago members got a jump start on the holiday season at one of the coolest events yet, glass blowing! We made our very own glass ornaments! Our two awesome instructors walked us through the delicate process. We were each given a glob of melted glass at the end of a pipe, we rolled it in all sorts of different colors of broken glass, and then it was time to turn up the heat. We had to keep our glass constantly rotating in a huge furnace to melt the colored glass shards evenly, turning our little blob into a rainbow of swirling colors. When it was finished in heat, our instructors kept the pipe rolling as we blew with all our might to fill our colorful glass blob with air. We pinched them off, and there you have it! A beautiful, unique ornament, a perfect holiday gift for a loved one, or for yourself! Glass blowing was definitely one of the most interesting and fun things the Chicago club has done yet! This event was on fire, literally! Events And Adventures Chicago
Traveling with E&A is awesome. Not only do they do all the planning work, but we get to hang out with members of the other cities. I had such a great time! For many of us it was our first time in New York City. I got to experience the city with friends not only from Dallas but also Minneapolis, San Jose and Vancouver. I met a bunch of new friends from other cities too. I love that E&A scheduled the best stuff for us. Carnegie Deli, Radio City and the Rockettes, Hop on & off bus tour, boat tour around Manhattan Island with a fabulous narrator that knew, well, everything about the city’s history. The holiday lights are awe-inspiring. We had time to do our own thing, too. We got discount tickets for Broadway shows. Spiderman Rocked! Visited the Empire State & Rockefeller buildings-WOW. Sat in the audience of my first TV show. Really cool. We ate all kinds of delicious food (think I’ll be paying for that for a while). How can you stop when it’s EVERYWHERE? Thank you so much for a great trip! I’ll remember it forever!
So each month we head out and try a new (or old) restaurant in the city. We usually choose a place that has been reviewed on a local station or in a newspaper. Sometimes we go big and check out places that are even on national TV shows like Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. We like to see what the chefs and critics have to say and then go in and rate it ourselves. This week we definitely found a hidden gem! Nestled between two buildings and just below the ‘El’ train tracks is Macello. The street is dimly lit and the noise of the train every few minutes echoes for blocks. From the store front it looks like your average Italian butcher shop. But as you step inside and walk toward the back you are taken in by delicious aromas. The atmosphere is rustic with wooden beams and bright, boldly colored artwork. The brick oven definitely adds a cozy touch. We had a private section reserved just for E&A. The menu had so many scrumptious choices that we all had a hard time deciding what to order. Everything was made fresh right in the restaurant! Most of us ended up sharing and sampling eachothers delicious dishes. We also were in luck because it was ½ off wine bottle night! It’s so nice to meet up after work and share dinner and drinks and talk about our day. We decided that events like this make a long day at work worthwhile when we have something to look forward to at the end of it. There’s nothing like spending an evening with good food and good company. (Especially when the owner sends over a round of delicious limoncellos “on the house” for dessert!) Events And Adventures Chicago
Shopping for the holidays? Can’t find the perfect present? Who doesn’t love a handmade, one of a kind, gift? Our Chicago members got a jump start on the holiday season at one of the coolest events yet, glass blowing! We made our very own glass ornaments! Our two awesome instructors walked us through the delicate process. We were each given a glob of melted glass at the end of a pipe, we rolled it in all sorts of different colors of broken glass, and then it was time to turn up the heat. We had to keep our glass constantly rotating in a huge furnace to melt the colored glass shards evenly, turning our little blob into a rainbow of swirling colors. When it was finished in heat, our instructors kept the pipe rolling as we blew with all our might to fill our colorful glass blob with air. We pinched them off, and there you have it! A beautiful, unique ornament, a perfect holiday gift for a loved one, or for yourself! Glass blowing was definitely one of the most interesting and fun things the Chicago club has done yet! This event was on fire, literally! Events And Adventures Chicago
This definitely tops the chart with the coolest thing I’ve done all month…A Salt Cave! 
For those of you that were not able to join us on this trip, here is a part of their Adventure as told by Reid our Event Host from Houston....
Foil, sabre, epee…do you know what these things are? I do! I never would have thought I would be doing something that dates back to the 16th century. I am referring to our Fencing Lesson. It was awesome! Our instructor was great at allowing us lots of hands-on exposure. She also educated us on the evolution of fencing up until its modern day. I had no clue that national fencing tournaments take place right here in Chicago. It’s a whole other hidden world! The experience was a first for nearly all of us E&A members. I love doing new things together! Someone was even able to check off an item on their bucket list! We let our guard down and tried something new. Actually, we kept our guard up! Haha…ON GUARD!
When you live in a big city, sometimes it’s easy to forget the little gems that make it so great. The Chicago E&A’ers got a chance to participate in our first ever Scavenger Hunt! We broke up into teams and ran all over downtown Chicago, searching for landmarks and collecting interesting information. Did you know the sculpture at Millennium Park that we lovingly call “The Bean” is actually named Cloud Gate? Who knew?! We also learned that it is not as easy to find a book of matches as it might have been a few years ago, am I right Scavenger Hunters? We roared with the lions at the Art Institute, interviewed each other in front of ABC Studios, and blew bubble gum bubbles in front of the Wrigley Building, and that’s only scratching the surface! After a day like that how could we not feel proud to call Chicago our home!
Cue spooky music…It was a dark and stormy night…Well maybe not “stormy” but it was drizzly and cold! The line was so long that we thought we would turn into zombies before we got to the end, but we didn’t mind too much. We had good company. There were 50 E&A members hanging out and we were on a mission! There had been a zombie out break and it was up to us to save mankind! We were loaded onto hay wagons and each assigned a paintball gun. Then we took off into the night. Things were calm at first but then zombies started coming at us from all sides and it was our job to mow them down with our paintball guns! There were a few close calls, but by the end we felt invincible! After that we ventured out on foot through the pitch black corn maze with nothing but our flashlights to protect us! We weren’t sure if we would all made it out alive, but we did, and would do it again in a heartbeat! At the end of the night we eliminated the zombies and gained new E&A friends!
It’s been awhile since I’ve felt like a kid again, and our pottery class did the trick! Having clay all over my hands, arms and under my fingernails brought me back to my childhood. There is something about being dirty that makes me cringe and happy at the same time! We all began nice and slow on our pottery wheels trying to keep control of our clay and the splatter to a minimum. It didn’t take long before we realized this isn’t as easy as it looks! Some of us created beautiful bowls and vases while others’ looked like the work of a kindergartener(myself). All and all our creations were our own and we were proud of our art, perfect or lop-sided. I can confidently say that we threw around some clay and some laughs as well! 