as i was going to be out of town for yet another one of joe's birthday ... he flew to chicago to celebrate with me in the windy city. i don't think he knew what he was in for ...
on friday night ... the eve of his actual birthday ... we went to mike ditka's with five of my colleagues ... including my boss.
as to be expected with this group ... it was out of control. :-) to give you an idea, our server, jackson, referred to us as "his drinkers." love it.
so, during appetizers ... my boss returned to the table ... from the powder room and announced the DITKA HIMSELF was in the bar. WOOHOO! (i was kinda expecting it ... i've never been to ditka's when he wasn't there ... but i digress.)
gerianne, the only other girl in our party, was SO excited that we ran over to check him out. and there he was ... smoking a cigar at his own table ... and he was wearing his GIGANTIC superbowl ring. :-) gerianne was too afraid to talk to him, so i went downstairs, bought her a tee shirt and asked mr. ditka to sign it. which he did. (he had a sharpie!) then i asked if i could take his picture ... he obliged ... and I BLINDED him with my flash ... i apologized and scampered away.
a little while later, two of the guys in our party decided that they wanted me to take their picture with DA COACH. i offered to lend them my camera, but i was a little nervous to go back to ditka after i blinded him. they begged, offered to take my ben franklin action figure (he's like a gnome in our group ... he goes everywhere with us and even has a kite ... but i'm really digressing now), so i agreed.
we went back to ditka ... they posed, i took a flashless picture. it was too dark, so i advised mike to close his eyes as the flash was imminent. he took one for the team, so to speak, and the picture is perfect. ben is in touchdown formation.
after the photo session, i headed to the ladies. i figured the guys got ben. it wasn't until we were eating dinner that bobo (another story) got up quickly and retrieved ben from ditka's table. ben had been hanging with ditka the entire time!
as the evening progressed, we got drunker, which lead to more drama. my husband had SEVEN martinis ... holy crap. i then took apart one of the birthday blowouts we had at the table and made ben a birthday toga. he was adorable.
on friday night ... the eve of his actual birthday ... we went to mike ditka's with five of my colleagues ... including my boss.
as to be expected with this group ... it was out of control. :-) to give you an idea, our server, jackson, referred to us as "his drinkers." love it.
so, during appetizers ... my boss returned to the table ... from the powder room and announced the DITKA HIMSELF was in the bar. WOOHOO! (i was kinda expecting it ... i've never been to ditka's when he wasn't there ... but i digress.)
gerianne, the only other girl in our party, was SO excited that we ran over to check him out. and there he was ... smoking a cigar at his own table ... and he was wearing his GIGANTIC superbowl ring. :-) gerianne was too afraid to talk to him, so i went downstairs, bought her a tee shirt and asked mr. ditka to sign it. which he did. (he had a sharpie!) then i asked if i could take his picture ... he obliged ... and I BLINDED him with my flash ... i apologized and scampered away.
a little while later, two of the guys in our party decided that they wanted me to take their picture with DA COACH. i offered to lend them my camera, but i was a little nervous to go back to ditka after i blinded him. they begged, offered to take my ben franklin action figure (he's like a gnome in our group ... he goes everywhere with us and even has a kite ... but i'm really digressing now), so i agreed.
we went back to ditka ... they posed, i took a flashless picture. it was too dark, so i advised mike to close his eyes as the flash was imminent. he took one for the team, so to speak, and the picture is perfect. ben is in touchdown formation.
after the photo session, i headed to the ladies. i figured the guys got ben. it wasn't until we were eating dinner that bobo (another story) got up quickly and retrieved ben from ditka's table. ben had been hanging with ditka the entire time!
as the evening progressed, we got drunker, which lead to more drama. my husband had SEVEN martinis ... holy crap. i then took apart one of the birthday blowouts we had at the table and made ben a birthday toga. he was adorable.
we were about done at this point ... and we headed to the bar to say goodnight to my boss and craig, another one of our friends ... they were watching the basketball games ... after that, joe and i headed back to the hotel.
that is when everything took a turn for the worse. as i was packing ben's kite for the show the next day, i realized that I HAD LOST BEN. it was a nightmare.
joe - who was passed out ... was no help. i called my friends, and my boss, but no one was picking up their phones. it was after 11 pm and ben was on his own.
i had no choice but to call ditka's. the woman that answered the phone checked our table, with our server and even asked the kitchen staff ... no one had seen ben.
i kinda panicked. he's our mascot! our gnome!
joe was really out at this point ... so i downloaded my pictures from the night ... after looking through them, i realized that i had ben when we visited my boss and craig at the bar.
so i called ditka's back. i talked with a guy ... advised that ben franklin was missing in the restaurant ... and he put me on hold ... he came back before he searched the 2nd story and took my name and number. he didn't laugh once.
15 long minutes passed ... then the phone rang. it was anna from ditka's. she advised that she had my DOLL. i told anna that he's really an action figure and that we'd be by the next morning to pick him up.
joe did the honors and ben is back safe and sound. kite and all.
4 comments:
Ditka doesn't look like a happy man!
not at all ... a little scary, in fact!
I love that story.
i love it too. i totally wrote him a letter yesterday ... see new post. :-)
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