a day at the races!

i never posted my story on this and for that... whoops... it's been awhile... but in all fairness i've had a lot going on lately!

so at the races: me, alice, devon, and patrick decided to get all dressed up for opening day as well as the kentucky derby. we all met at the clybourn metra station and started off the day right because devon had brought us mini champagnes in cans complete with mini straws! we arrived about 30 or 40 minutes later and followed the crowds to the track. it was super easy as the track is literally right across from the metra stop. we saw so many wonderful outfits. everyone seemed to be dressed up!

oh, at this point, i should probably mention that it was freezing! and kinda raining and it would stay that way allllll day long. we got their fairly early - i think around 11ish? or 12? i can't quite remember anymore, but once we got there, we had a few hours until the first race started so we hunted down some food and came up with food court type items. once the races started, we went up to where our seats were, but no one was out there b/c it was so rainy and cold. but the seats were great for viewing the races so devon, me ,and alice would dash outside right before each race started to watch. patrick by this point had met up with some of his work friends and who knows what they were doing. they eventually joined us though. devon and i decided it would be fun to gamble on some of the races... i don't remember all of the horses names, but i ended up doing pretty darn well! we were fascinated by the order machines - that kept us occupied for a solid few minutes!

then it was time for the derby and we all placed our bets... i made dumb bets b/c i have no idea how to bet. i put 3 horses as finishing first and clearly only 1 could. i should have done them to place or show or i have no idea really what that all means. i just know i placed a bet on big brown and eight belles and another horse. all 5 dollars. i'm not a big gambler, but it sure does make the races a lot more fun if you are rooting for a horse! as we know, big brown won and poor eight belles broke both of her legs and died on the track - it was so sad!!

so by the end of the day, we were all a little tired and ready to go home. luckily instead of packing ourselves on to the metra home, we were given a ride by one of patrick's coworkers. that was fantastic. they all went to dinner at la guardia which i would love to try, but alice and i were exhausted from the night before and so we just went home. it was a long day at the races! we didn't get hom until after 7. it was so much fun!! all in all it was a great day. check back, eventually i will get pictures!