All Good Things

Hey peeps!

I’m a little late to the game, but how was your weekend?

As expected, my weekend of downtime and relaxation was anything but. Then again, after getting some pretty exciting news, it seemed only right to go celebrate a little, right?

A few of my gal pals came together on Saturday night (so there was that Friday night spent on the couch like planned- semi success!) for a nice dinner out at Tango Sur- an Argentinian BYOB steakhouse in the Lakeview neighborhood. I’d only heard good things about this place, so there were high expectations.

Well… the only negatives I heard were that you should expect a wait and you may walk out of the restaurant smelling of garlic.

Our wait was super short. Hooray! But don’t let that fool you… after we were seated, we started to hear the wait time climbed up to 2 hours!

And both of those things only validate their original claims- the food is good, yo.

Pechugo De Pollo- grilled chicken and veggies accompanied with a side of chimichurri. If you’ve never had chimichurri, you should fix that problem. There’s a lot of garlic involved, but I promise it’s worth not kissing your significant other for a week. Promise.

I’m aware it’s a steakhouse, and a good portion of their menu is red meat, but I still opted for chicken. Weird. I know.

It goes best with white wine, anyway.

Plus, we dined al fresco. So the smelling of garlic wasn’t an issue. Lucky for the boys we met later on in the night, am I right?

After a week of 40-degree swings in weather, it turned out to be a beautiful night. With good food and wine that flowed all too freely.

The rest of the night was spent dancing in spaces that probably weren’t meant for dancing and sleeping in (relatively speaking), followed by a lazy Sunday of walking around downtown to stretch out the limbs and cancel out a bit of those honey BBQ fritos we took down at 2:00 in the morning.

I’m still a little mortified about that minor frito detail.

Oh wait…

Did I not tell you why we were celebrating?

I guess I can now.

After almost 4 years at the same company, I’ve accepted a position elsewhere. I’ll be doing some of the same things and some new things, but in a completely different industry.

Putting in my two weeks was difficult. Bittersweet. I’m very much excited about the new position/company. But it’s a very sad thing to leave the first and only job I’ve had since moving to Chicago. The small staff I work with is extremely close. My coworker Jaime took me in like a sister- showing me the ropes of the job and the city, while giving me a family to fall back on when I needed it.

I look forward to what the future holds in my new endeavor. I promise to still be “here” on the blog regularly, but please be patient with the new schedule I’ll surely acquire.

Remember- “Randomness” is in the title for a reason. It covers my butt during times like these.

Now let’s go celebrate some more, shall we?

After a long Sunday, we treated ourselves to frozen treats at a Forever Yogurt. Being as how I don’t like fruit and am obsessed with chocolate, we can all easily figure out which cup is mine. Although I’m not quite sure why I passed on the melted marshmallow that Mon ended up getting…

Laters!

And then I disappeared…

… or at least it feels like I did for a bit.  In my defense, I’ve been very very busy with fabulous friends and crazy amounts of things to do.  Let’s rewind a bit, shall we?

After work, we got together and headed into the city towards Papacito’s for a solid BYOB experience in the Lakeview neighborhood.  I had been there before.  It’s nothing fancy, but if you like some decent Mexican food and have an adoration for cheesy deliciousness, it’s the place you want to be.See? Needless to say, they approved.We were full and ready for the next adventure: Annoyance Theater in Uptown Chicago.  We considered Second City, but I thought it’d be fun to give them a little bit more of an intimate experience.  We looked at the show list.  And were intrigued by one of the shows- lovingly called Co-Ed Prison Sluts.  It wasn’t just one of us that pushed to see it.  We were ALL intrigued and decided to go.  And giggled about the name of the show every time it was mentioned.  Because we’re really 12-year-old girls at heart.

The show was raunchy fo’ sho’.  But what can you expect with a name like that?  And it was hilarious.  A bit juevnile, but hilarious.  Fun fact- it’s the longest running musical comedy in Chicago.  So obviously they’re doing something right.  Even if it had a creepster clown… because really, who’s not scared of clowns?  They’re just awful.

A hundred laughs, two bars, and five hours of sleep later, we were up and ready to hit the city again!Large coffee mug and an ice pack.  Sorry this is “pre-makeup”.  If your eyes have started to burn, I suggest you scroll down immediately… aaaahhhh!

How else would I want to start the weekend?  Oh yeah… with a solid breakfast for me and my guests:Everyone loves a baked pancake.Once we were safe and sound on the metra, I started to plan our assault on Michigan Avenue.  We started out in Millenium Park:We cooled off in Crowne Plaza and headed to Park Grill Cafe in Millenium Park to eat.  If you haven’t been- think twice.  It’s overpriced.  We knew this, but said screw it because we happened to be hungry right then and there and the view was pretty. 

How did the stalking Shia tracking down of the movie set go?  Eh.  We didn’t get nearly as close as we wanted.  And after a few failed attempts at different routes toward the blocked off area, we just settled for the random props being shipped in and out and overall excitement of what was going on.

We also checked out the recently installed Eye Sculpture in Pritzker Park in the Loop by the artist Tony Tasset.  It’s hanging out there until some time in October.

It was eye-opening to say the least…

All we could really think about is what would happen if it got loose and started rolling down the street… Being as how it’s 30-foot tall, it would be traumatizing!  And most likely quite dangerous.

After all that walking around for 4 or 5 hours, I was cool with saying no to yoga.  And saying yes to Lou Malnati’s deep dish with the hometown girls and my suburb ladies. 

Oh and if you haven’t noticed, I wore a romper all day in the city.  I finally broke down and went with the trend- they just looked so comfy!  And it totally was… But I do warn you- if you like to stay well-hydrahted like I do (which means going to the bathroom often), be prepared for feeling awkward.  It’s like you undress every time you have to go.  Sort of  a pain.  And I’m pretty sure they don’t make jumpers with snaps in the crotch for anyone over the age of 6.  But it’d be pretty cool if they did…

Life is good…

Fleet Feet Women’s 10k race recap tomorrow (it went well!).  I’ve GOT to take a nap.  I haven’t had more than five hours of sleep in any night for the last three days.  It’s nap time.

Southern Hospitality

This month was Jaime’s month to figure out where we would be going to lunch.  She had it limited down to a tapas place close to where they live.  Turns out, as I’m looking through the website on Friday, I realized I had already been there.  Oops… And one of the rules (yes, we have rules in lunch club) is that it has to be a place where no one has already eaten.  So Jaime started looking again.  And that’s how we ended up at Wishbone.

I’ve heard of Wishbone, but had never been there.  We went to the Lakeview location. I got there kind of early, so I put our name on the wait list and waited for everyone else.  This creepy thing stared at me while I waited…. alone… scared and vulnerable…Roosters are scary.  I don’t care what anyone else says.

So everyone arrived and we were seated with a view of some colorful and fun yet slightly odd artwork: The whole restaurant was open, colorful and fun.  Which I liked alot.  We were there at a time on Saturday that fell into the “Weekend Brunch” menu.  Everything looked like a winner, but here’s the lineup: I had the blackened catfish salad with garlic vinagrette (don’t worry- I wasn’t making out with anyone yesterday).  Once I looked at the menu, I knew I wanted that blackened catfish some way or another.  Shockingly, I wasn’t feeling like breakfast at the time, so I went the salad route.  And it was awesome.  I’m pretty sure it was one of my favorites of all our lunch outtings.  The catfish was perfect.  The vinagrette was just flavorful enough.  Fabulous. Jaime had the andouille hash with scrambled eggs.  She let me sneak a bite and the chicken sausage was really spicy!  Yumm… Cathryn chose the black bean patties and scrambled eggs.  After she was done, she was all smiles in food coma land.  So I assume it was tasty. Scott went with the cheese omelette with a side of cheese grits and bacon.  Believe it or not, with my farmland background, I had never tried grits before.  I tried his.  Not a fan.  There’s just nothing really exciting about them I guess?  I just shrugged and was like, “eh”.  I didn’t hate grits.  But I doubt I would ever order them for myself.  Good to know.

Scott and Jaime had a bloody mary or two and Cathryn tried out the mimosa selection.  Cathryn raved about the pomegranate mimosa, but S & J are always hard up to find a bloody mary better (and cheaper) than what they get at Salt and Pepper Diner.

All in all, another win for lunch club!    We’re 6 for 6 on being well-fed and happy. Not to get cocky, but we’re kind of awesome.  Next month is my pick- clearly there’s a little bit of pressure…  But no worries!  I’ve got a few options in mind that will hopefully be mixing it up a bit! 

I noticed this sign on the way out.  Kinda liked it! After we parted ways, I headed straight home.  My aunt and cousin were visiting my cousin Niki who lives here and they were going to stop by my place because they hadn’t seen my new place since I moved (I moved in June- but really, I always go to Niki’s place, never the other way around).  She’s the one running the Shuffle with me, so we discussed meet up times and the race in general.  So excited! 

I did end up running 3 miles before we met up for lunch club.  Nothing “hurt”, so I’m hoping I was just sitting there freaking out over silliness.  Because I knew I was only going to run the three, I decided to turn it into a 5k, pump myself up, and see what my time was looking like.  I clocked it at about 25:50.  Not bad!  Hopefully, before Annie and I do Run for the Cheetah, I can shave off a little more time.  After I got back and the fam had left, I did The Shred before calling it another lazy night.  I’m thinking it might be time soon for Jillian and I to take our relationship one step further… to Level 3.  Not today… but soon.  Either way, I’m getting tired of Level 2- that combination strength move with a cheer squat involved kills me.  EVERY time.  If I were a grunter, that would be the part where it happens.  Instead, it’s more of an exhausted and whiney squeal.  It burns!

Lunch Club goes Greek

It’s that time of the month again.  No, I don’t have cramps.  I had a date with my three fellow foodies for our monthly lunch outting!  Cathryn picked the place- Melanthios Greek Char House in the Lakeview neighborhood!

Believe it or not, Mid-Missouri doesn’t have a large selection when it comes to authentic Greek food, so this was one of my first experiences in a Greek restaurant.  We were welcomed with this lovely sight:

Luckily, I did not have the full view of this the whole meal.  It’s kind of a little much for me.  I mean, I ordered the lamb.  Because I’ve never had it.  But I don’t think I would have if I was looking at this the entire time.  Ignorance is sometimes bliss in this case.  We started out with saganaki as an appetizer.  I love it.  But I also love anything with flames involved…  I didn’t catch it when the waiter lit it up at our table, but luckily, I still got a shot of the action when he did at the table next to us:

OPA! 

Fried cheese is not for the faint of heart.  And when I say that, I really mean you can feel your arteries slowly dying inside as you eat it.  Is it worth it?  Sort of…

And here’s the run down of the meals.  Obviously, they had some rotisserie lamb going on, so we took that as a sign to try it.  Three of us ordered it.  Jaime and I both got it with a side of green beans :

It was good.  But lamb is probably not a thing I will order often.  Plus, there was no way I could eat it all.  I’m not used to meat taking up 2/3′s of my plate.  Very intense.  But I cleaned up those green beans- holy cow they were awesome. Nom nom nom…

Scott mixed it up by having Greek potatoes with his… 

And Cathryn decided to go against the grain and order moussaka.  Which I luckily got to try and decided I need more eggplant in my life.

The things we chose really were from the dinner menu.  Ironic, since we’re the “lunch club”.  But we went with it.  And of course, if you’re doing dinner, you need to have a proper dessert.  We were going to get one thing to split four ways.  But couldn’t agree.  Jaime wanted baklava, Cathryn wanted chocolate, and I was pulling for tiramisu.  So what’s a lunch club going to do?  Get all three- with a side of homemade ice cream.

My favorite by far was the tiramisu.  Clearly- I was craving it.  But everything was amazing.  We did a little take a bite and pass it around until it was all gone.  My stomach cried happy tears.

Can't talk now, I'm busy!

Luckily, I got to walk some of this food coma off.  After lunch club, I had a date with some boys from my hometown who were in the city for the weekend.  I caught up with them at The Spread to watch the Mizzou basketball game against Nebraska.  GO TIGERS!

After that, I played tour guide and took them to my fav stomping grounds – Wrigleyville of course.  We hit Sluggers, Red Ivy, and Merkles.  Merkles was the place they had randomly ended up at the night before, and they really liked, so that’s how we rounded out the night.  The waitress and bouncer remembered them.  Is that a good thing?  Depends on who you ask.  I’m so glad I got to catch up with them all- and I really miss my friend Brian- he’s one of the few that puts up with my friendly sarcasm.  And shoots it right back.  I need to be kept on my toes more often.

Today I woke up a little sore thanks to Jillian’s Level 2 workout yesterday.  Not sure what this means for the rest of my day.  I also didn’t get to bed until 3:00 last night- so slight fatigue may keep me from hitting the full four miles I’m allowed to do.  A chilled out run might be necessary.

Plus, I’m getting a workout hopefully later when Mon gets back.  We both have some energy that needs to be let out and think batting cages might be the solution.  This is what I  like to call passive aggressive behavior.  Is it healthy?  Probably not.  Will it help?  Who knows.  But I do know, however, I am going to have a hell of alot of fun in attempts to get it out of my system.

Opa!

Where to Next?

So I finally made it down to see my friend Nicole’s new place since she moved to Wrigley and have a long night out with her and her friend.  I like her place.  But the first thing I said after I got out of my car and walking in was “oh god Nicole, you are going to die on these stairs in the winter.”  What a ridiculously Chicagoan thing to say.  But they’re on the bottom floor and have stairs that you have to go down in the front and back of her place.  I was instantly remembering Jaime’s laundry incident where she fell down the stairs on the way to the laundry room on their bottomm floor- which included a bruise on her butt that lasted for weeks.  We got updates at lunch of what color it was every couple of days. 

Anyways, I had talked to some random people here and there about what they were doing.  We had no idea where to go first.  Nicole suggested we start the night out at Cesar’s on Clark because she really wanted a giant margarita.  I’m not much on margaritas, but whatever.  A bar is a bar.  And I didn’t mind the unlimited chips and salsa.  But because the night was a blur of drinks, friends, and dancing, I’ll give the quick summary:

Cesar’s- Margaritas and chips.  Yummmmm… Sat at the bar in the back where there was little room to move.  Slightly annoyed by the couple sitting next to us.  I think the guy was trying to get the girl loaded on tequila.  It was working well.

Mad River- Met up with Nicole’s friend for a bit.  Not very crowded, but at least that meant we had a table to sit at for a while until we figured out our next move.

Kirkwood- We walked across the street to meet up with my friend Rob.  It was drizzling a little outside which sucked because it was already pretty cold out (don’t even get me started on my opinion of it being 50 degrees in August).  When Rob mentioned this bar, I felt like I had heard of it/been there before.  We walked in and I had some serious deja vu from a time I had driven up to visit Annie one weekend.  I love the chandeliers and mirrors in that place.  Very cool.  But very crowded.  The patio was closed- obviously because of this crap weather…  After a drink and a round of shots, we were ready to go.  I was kind of in a hurry to get to the next bar because my friend Chuck was there and he didn’t know how long he was going to stay.

State- This is where things seemed to escalate quickly… I got to see some of my guy friends from the burbs which was cool.  Took a little bit to find them all- the place is huge!  Rob said he remembers when he lived around the area that it used to be a grocery store or something.  I could definitely see that. 

Martini Bar- I think Rob picked this one.  I didn’t even know where we were heading when we got in the cab.  Then all the sudden we were on La Salle… I rolled my eyes because I couldn’t believe I was doing another tour of Chicago by cab after Cathryn and I did it a few weeks ago.  Oh geez…  This place was fun,  though.  Alot of people who were touchy feely, but I guess it was 1:00 in the morning.  It’s generally expected at that point in the night.  We created our own dance floor while we were there.  There seemed to be a general area that had been cleared out for that purpose.

After Martini Bar, we were wiped.  Big City Tap was mentioned, but I think after the cab ride in that general direction, we were all rethinking it.  We stopped at Clarke’s instead to get breakfast.  Gotta love those 24-hour diners…  I also loved that my omelet was baked when it came to me.  Fluffy omelets are soooo much better.  Rob went home before we ate- good thing.  Us girls chowed down.  I have no idea why I was so hungry.  I ate before Nicole’s… had chips at the restaurant… I assume I wasn’t really as hungry as what the vodka made me believe I was.

We were home and asleep by 4:00.  I know this exact time because I texted Adam my current status at 3:52.  I was asleep before he was able to text me back 10 minutes later.

Unfortunately, when Rob called me about going down to the Chicago Triathalon this morning, I was not in any condition to spend the day out and about.  So I missed my friend finishing it.  Would have been fun- a couple of the guys were going to watch and there was a post-race bbq or something that sounded fun.  But no… I was ready to get back to the burbs for a day of nothingness instead.  Luckily, I got started before too much of the Cubs traffic arrived for the game.  Nicole said she’s getting used to the game traffic.  I think she really likes her new spot.  I don’t blame her.  Cute place.  I’m jealous of her hardwood floors.  That’s one thing I really wish I had.  Well… that and a dining room table.  Still working on that one…

After the fantastic breakfast cuisine at Clarke’s, I decided to continue the theme.  It’s been an entire day of breakfast for me.  And not the healthy kind…  Omelet for actual breakfast (or whatever the meal is at the end of a late night/beginning of the morning), pancakes for lunch and a donut for dinner.  Yes, a donut.  With chocolate icing and sprinkles.  Nice solid dinner I had there.  The sugar rush was fantastic.  I was completely satisfied with that decision.  Until I started to smell some smoke from a grill because I had my balcony door open.  Someone in my building was having a pre-game grillout before the Bears game.  Now all I can think about it having a yummy bbq brat… damn.  Someone recently has gotten alot of use out of their grill.  I need to figure out who this is and become friends with them.  Immediately.

I enjoyed the nice weather from my couch.  It looked pretty and sunny.  But I wasn’t fooled.  I know how cold it really was out there… It might as well be October.  I’m a little bitter.  Obviously.

I’m only going to dinner. Seriously…

Us girls from work (and formerly from our office) has another get-together at a sushi place called Izumi Sushi in the West Loop on Friday.  I was going into my third packed night of socializing and drinking.  So I took the metra downtown on Friday with plans only to go have a few drinks, enjoy a good meal, and head home.  Which would have made Saturday absolutely lovely and somewhat productive.

Thanks Cathryn.

A Philly roll and a few glasses of wine later, people were not having it.  They grabbed my bag away from me and insisted I stay.  So my bag-o-stuff got thrown into Jessica’s car (because of course it wasn’t THAT hard to convince me to stay) and off we went.  We started our hike to Market Bar and, lo and behold, found ourselves approaching Harpo Studios.  Why hello Oprah- not only did I hang out a few drinks too many outside of where she supposedly lives, now I’m stalking her at the workplace.  Both times completely by accident.  Ok, maybe it’s some underlying infatuation.  Either way, the conversation switched to how much we all wish we could get onto her Favorite Things episode.  I really wouldn’t mind a new car.  Or iPod.  Or cash.  Just give me some cash, Oprah…

Market Bar ended up being a no-go.  It was too packed for our liking, so we hung out at a table they were serving on the sidewalk.  Next destination- The District.  A guy in our office was celebrating his birthday, and we all thought it sounded like a good bar to go to.  In my opinion, we were mistaken.  It was packed, people were rude, and drinks were overpriced for the atmosphere I was in.  Sure, I’ll pay $10 (which it better be a good drink) for a drink to hang out in a fun place with good friends.  But by the time we fought our way to the bar, fought our way back to the table, and fought to keep a decent conversation over the noise and constant interruption of people bumping into us and passing through, I was ready to leave. 

Some of us had contacted another group of guys from work earlier to see if they’d join us at The District, but they decided to stay put at The Pony Inn in Lakeview.  So I convinced Cathryn we should join them there.  What did we have to lose?  It was close to Cathryn’s apartment, it couldn’t have been much worse, and if anything, it was in an area with plenty of other late night options.  She agreed and it took everything I had but to run out of the place to grab a cab.

Rob’s directions got us to the right block.  But that’s about it.  We would have been screwed if the bar didn’t have a huge lit-up (practically flashing) sign.  It might as well have had a speaker, too.  “Why hello drunk people, come join us and get ridiculous.”  We walk in to the announcement of last call.  The night really must have gotten away from us…  But we got another good 20 minutes there until they started kicking people out.

Rob suggested our next stop be Big City Tap.  My eyes widened a little bit on that one- Big City is the place where people tend to flock after all the other bars start closing.  If you can still manage to walk in a somewhat straight line and aren’t ready to crawl home, that’s apparently where you go.  Was it really going to be that kind of night?  Cathryn was in dance mode, so I knew it would be…

Five of us piled into a cab and were again on our way.  Maybe that’s where most of my night went- time spent in cabs.  Makes sense.  We got there, and like clowns in a car, we all filed out.  I dropped my new camera on the way out.  Cathryn’s shoe strap broke.  But that didn’t stop us.  Alex and I checked to make sure the essentials (aka the camera battery) were still there.  Cathryn showed her talent in walking with one bum shoe (you would have never known it could have flied off at any moment).  Cathryn also pulled out another talent- talking her way into anything.  Four of us were still re-establishing ourselves and assessing the long line as she marched across that busy street to the bar on the other side.  “What the hell is she doing?!?!?”  She walked straight up to that side door and took all of 20 seconds to get us inside.  No waiting required.  I don’t even think she knows what she said to get us in.

Big City was packed.  Hence the line.  But the difference between Big City and The District is this- The District is not that kind of bar.  It gives off the “lounge” atmosphere.  It closes earlier.  Big City is a drunken man’s haven.  Everyone and their mom wants to get into this place at 3:00 to continue to get their drink on and dance.  Crowds, elevated temperatures, and drunk people are expected.  And welcomed.  Not sure why there isn’t a sign on the door stating this fact.  If only they had a suggestion box…

Cathryn darted into the crowd without saying a thing.  The guys got a little nervous.  But I knew where she was and had no concerns.  She was on the dance floor.  And we would soon join her.  And we did.  Until we had to leave at 4:00 a.m.  Two whole hours of dancing and sweating (gross but true).  I still think it’s funny how heavily Michael Jackson is played.  I know we heard at least three of his songs while we were there.  Again, not that I mind.  I’m just amused.

After that place closed, back in the cab we went.  This time to go home.  Or at least, in my case, to crash at Cathryn’s.  And wouldn’t you know it?  I didn’t wake up until 11:00 that morning.  THAT is a momentous occasion.  For me, “sleeping late” is 9:00.  Maybe 9:30.  And that’s on a good day.  I guess the last three nights caught up with me.  Cathryn wanted to do breakfast somewhere.  I was all over that idea.  Omelet… yum…  We had two choices – Orange or Horizon Cafe.  I looked at myself in the mirror.  Then I looked at Cathryn. 

“Which one will we not look extremely inappropriate in?”

“Horizon Cafe it is.”

I felt ok there- the majority of people there looked like they were feeling about the same as we did.  Sunglasses on inside.  Downing coffee to cure exhaustion and a headache.  Some still a little intoxicated from the night before.  Perfect.  I had my standard bacon mushroom omelet- which grosses Cathryn out to no end.  She refuses to eat bacon and/or mushrooms.  At least I know she won’t eat off of my plate.

We found ourselves in the same position as we were about a month ago after eating- in a race to the Irving Park metra stop to see if I could make the train.  I watched the clock the whole way, almost positive I wouldn’t and would end up hanging out for an hour.  Which may have been a problem being as tired as I was.  Luckily, the train was running late.  And I got on and made it home by 1:30.  Just in time to collapse on my couch…

Needless to say, I was worthless the rest of Saturday.  And that spilled over into Sunday.  At least I did get up long enough on Saturday evening to hit up a movie with Annie.  We saw The Time Traveler’s Wife.  It was good.  I love Rachel McAdams.  And no one minds a nude Eric Bana.  But I really expected more…  Oh well.  It was still a fun little movie date with one of my favorite ladies. 

Now, the question remains… Who’s the bad influence in this situation?  And how do we always end up at the same place?  And how can we do it by spending less and not feeling so exhausted the next day?  An answer to any of these questions would be appreciated.

That Doesn’t Happen Everyday…

Ahhhh… the weekend.  I think back on it fondly as I start the beginning of another week from hell where we are short-staffed.  Lance had been sick, delaying my random-middle-0f-the-week-day-off-to-move-and-random-errands-and-keep-my-sanity that I had requested.  So what happened?  Lance came back on Thursday.  The stars aligned.  I got Friday off.  So I had a nice little three-day weekend.  Which will be followed by another three-day weekend.  And then again by my mini-vacay/Annie’s wedding in St. Louis.  This is how summer should be. 

It wasn’t all play and no work, though.  Friday I cleaned out the apartment of any remaining stuff I had over there.  Obviously, I really must have missed it being as how I didn’t make it back over to Palatine until then to pick it up.  Saturday I almost knocked myself out from inhaling clorox from all the cleaning of the Palatine apartment.  All the hard work is almost over… whew!  BUT, I did work on my tan…er… burn on Friday.  After I was done moving stuff, I figured I might as well swing by the trail and take a stroll in the lovely 90-degree weather.  Since I was in the area…  Once I got away from the part of the trail that runs along the two main roads, I got rid of my shirt.  Little did I realize the morning sun would mark the lines of my sports bra so definitively.  So then I  just HAD to go to the pool as to blend it a little bit… didn’t help much.  Maybe a bit.  Guess I’ll have to hit the pool again soon.  Life can be so hard.  People at work wondered where I was (I did accomplish alot, btw).  Jaime told them I took the day off to mourn the loss of Michael Jackson and that I was highly sedated because of the emotional trauma it had caused.  Apparently one of the agents almost believed her.  Wanna be startin’ something… got to be startin’ something…

That night I headed into the city by metra to meet up with the girls from work.  I took the metra to Irving Park and then jumped on the bus all the way down to Ashland.  Kind of almost sat  on someone’s lap when I got on the bus.  I happened to be one of the last people to sit and the bus started to move.  Oopsie… I’m in some guy’s lap.  I guess it could have been worse.  Anyways, all current and recently former ladies try to get together once every couple of months for a BYOB dinner and drinks at a bar after.  I decided to skip the bar part, being as how I had the day of cleaning still ahead of me, but was super excited for dinner at Machu Picchu.  I’ve never had Peruvian cuisine.  I ended up being the first one there (the way the metra/bus schedules had worked out).  But I didn’t mind.  The waiter asked if I wanted to uncork the bottle I brought as soon as I sat down.  Yes please!  We won’t get into the long week of shit I had dealt with (work/personal- it couldn’t have been much worse).  Girls slowly started wandering in.  We were one of just a few tables that were occupied.  Cute place.  The cliche landscape mural really set it off- I kinda liked it in it’s slightly crass way.  I ordered the Ceviche de Pescado.  Oops.  Next time, I’ll be more knowledgeable on asking how exactly it’s prepared.  I didn’t realize “ceviche” meant cooked by a form of marinating and served chilled.  I now know better.  Ooohhhh boy I know better…  At least the sweet potatoes were yummy.   We all swapped some of our food- I enjoyed everyone else’s.  I don’t think badly of them for my ignorance in how the dish is prepared.  I’m just disappointed I didn’t pick a winner…  I never thought I could go wrong with tilapia.

At one point, us mighty fine girls asked our waiter to take a picture of us.  Of course he suggested we take our picture in front of the classy mural of Machu Picchu they had.  A very vocal group of men from the table next to us started shouting “U-S-A!  U-S-A!” as we filed past.  It seems they were not from around here…  It also seems they had no problems taking pictures of us with their own cameras as the waiter was taking pictures with ours.  Wow.  Embaressing.  Can’t say that’s ever happened to me before… if anything, people are generally a little more subtle than that.

So Cathryn offered to take me to the Metra station instead of me having to ride the bus back to it.  I wouldn’t have minded, but I liked the idea of riding in her BMW with the convertible top better.  So we made it out of the restaurant with a decent amount of time to spare.  She was not completely sure of where it was, but had a general idea.  “Is that it?” as she pointed upward towards an upcoming overpass.  “Uh yeah, that’s it.  And that’s the train.  That I should be on…”  Too late.  As we pulled into the parking area for me to rush up the steps, the train pulled away.  Insert curse word of choice here.  Cathryn asked me when the next one would come.  In another hour.  Insert another colorful word.  She wouldn’t let me stay and just wait it out alone.  But that’s ok- I had no problem with her suggestion of finding a nearby bar to grab a drink and wait it out at.  She mentioned one place, but we couldn’t find it.  So we ended up at Celtic Crown.  A place we had visited before in January for our friend Joe’s birthday.  Again, it wasn’t that crowded.  But we didn’t care.  We just sat and talked through our drinks.  We like to talk about boys because we have discovered many strong similarities in our situations.  It passed the time quickly.  Cathryn hinted that I could stay at her place if I wanted to and it wouldn’t be a big deal.  She had gotten that look in her eye.  The look that would only cause trouble as we kept drinking.  We had both said earlier that Saturday had to be a productive one, so I stood firm.  Even though I wonder where the night would have lead us… ha ha.  Probably into another morning of slap-happy exhausted stares out from off of her balcony as we watched the sun rise again.  Debauchery at it’s finest.

I made that 11:43 train, damnit!  Got there in plenty of time.  Talked to some drunk girl from Crystal Lake.  She’s from a small town, too.  Her town’s claim to fame is when Tim McGraw was spotted in a Wal-Mart there.  Comical.  And random…  When I got home, I raided my pantry.  They asked if I wanted to box up my plate.  I respectfully declined.  I was already dreaming of the peanut butter toast I could have when I got home.  And it was good.  Oh man do I love peanut butter…

There’s a second part to this one.  Wait for it…