Last week was Christina & Geoff’s wedding shower. Christina’s Aunt Chris and Uncle Bob hosted the party up in Northfield, a suburb of Chicago. The plan was for about 15 of us to meet at Union Station at 5:30 p.m. and take the train up to Northfield. Unfortunately, someone decided to commit suicide by getting hit by a train on our train line so it delayed everything. What should have been a 36-minute train ride ended up taking a couple hours.

Luckily Geoff had planned ahead and bought about a case of beer.

We’d been out the night before and Dallas was pretty tired so he spent the Metra delay and ride resting. And holding our gift.

Good thing Dallas had that nap, because then he perked right up when we got to the party and was good to go!

When we finally arrived at the station, Christina’s brother and Uncle Bob picked us up in cars and took us to the house.

It was a big surprise for Geoff & Christina that Christina’s mom and brother flew in from Florida and California for the party. It was nice to meet Christina’s family – aunt, uncle, cousin, mom, brother – after having known her for so many years. Dallas knows Christina from back when they both used to live in Boston and worked for the same company. Christina’s maid of honor is Caitlyn, another friend from Boston, and she and her sister Sarah flew in to Chicago from Boston so it was good to see them too.

Out on the back patio, Christina’s Uncle Bob and Aunt Chris had a bar set up. Some people might have done some shots of Patron tequila. Not us! Christina and Geoff are getting married in Mexico in June so the party had a Mexican theme. Bob’s bar had Mexican beer, sangria, tequila and margaritas. I stuck with the margaritas.

Others? More shots!

Christina’s Aunt Chris had a bunch of appetizers that she was walking around. We had beef skewers with a pesto (?) sauce, goat cheese quesadillas with a mango relish, and ceviche. So delicious.

For dinner we had a citrus cabbage salad, enchiladas, chiles rellenos, and Mexican rice. Wow, the dinner was so good. The enchiladas were as good as in any restaurant. And the chiles rellenos were outstanding. Dallas always orders chiles rellenos when we go out and he thought they were fantastic.. he even got seconds on them.

After dinner we hung out around a bon fire. By then it was at least 10 p.m. and everyone had a lot of drinks in them.

Uncle Bob had a bunch of cigars and some people partook in smoking them.

I’d noticed earlier that there were sombreros hanging around the house and yard and I just thought they were decorations. Well, of course by now we were all wearing them.

I had to take a few breaks and drink water. I swear I only had 3 margaritas, but they must have been SO strong. They didn’t taste like tequila though.. just like delicoiusness. I don’t know what was in there, but it was good. Here’s a photo of me with my two best friends that night:

(sombrero and margarita)

Oh, and my third best friend, bon fire:

At about 11:30 or 12:00, I don’t even know any more, a bus came to the house and picked us up to go back to the city. There was more drinking on the bus, but Dallas and I were DONE. Some were still going strong, some were passing out on the bus. I think people may have gone out more when we got to Chicago, but I’m not sure because we got off the bus, said our goodbyes and grabbed a cab home.

What a fun party. Thanks to Christina and Geoff for inviting us and to Uncle Bob and Aunt Chris for hosting everyone. We’re disappointed because we’re not going to be able to go to Mexico for the wedding, but it was fun to at least spend the night with Christina and Geoff and their family and friends. If it weren’t for a conflicting family wedding here in Chicago we’d totally be in Mexico!

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