9/7/09
Trisha and I spent the weekend exploring Chicago. Walking was the theme of her 2 days visiting chi-town…
She flew in Saturday morning and I showed her around the house and the neighborhood so she could get a feel for where I’m spending all my time and the community I have become a part of. We bought tacos at a random little place in a grocery store near my house that my boss had introduced me to. The tacos were huge but amazingly delicious. Then after a little down time and getting ready for the afternoon/evening we hopped on the el and headed downtown. Our first goal was to find a Caribou and an hour or so later we finally found one, it was worth it, I miss my chocolate coolers (especially getting them with Sista either before a long day of work or a long day of studying and running away from school). Then we wandered around Millennium Park and took some bean pics then walked down to the lake. We decided we needed to see Navy Pier so we made the long trek over there and then walked more to see all that Navy Pier has to offer. Finally we got smart and took a bus and found a pizza place for an early dinner. Lou Malnati’s (sp?) is one of my new favorite restaurants and had some of the best pizza I have ever had. We then took the el up north farther to meet some of my roommates and some Little Village people at McGee’s bar in Lincoln Park for a free happy hour. That was a lot of fun and Trisha had one of her friends come and so we all enjoyed getting to chat and meeting new people. We finished the evening back in McKinley Park neighborhood at a birthday party of a friend of one of my co-workers.
Sunday was eventful as well, we ventured downtown again to visit Trisha’s friend at work (Starbucks) and get free coffee. Then we decided we wanted pancakes so we used the map and GPS on her phone (these were our best friends this weekend) and found an Original Pancake House somewhat in our vicinity. But, as had been our luck for the weekend, we were within 200 feet of the place and couldn’t find it for like 10 minutes, haha, we are so good at life. We finished her trip by hanging out in McKinley Park talking to one of my kids and one of my friends from work.
After Trisha left Kate and I went for a run and then watched some of my kids play football. I went to mass at the church below the teen center because it is supposed to be an evening teen mass but no teens go and we want to change that this year. My boss is hoping that we can get some of the kids to come to mass and then open the center for a couple hours Sunday evening to give the kids more opportunities to be around us in a positive setting.
Today was a fun and eventful day as well. Kate and I made some friends a few weeks ago (they are more friends of a friend) and they took us thrift shopping today all over the Chicago-land area! Because it was Labor Day all Salvation Army stores were 50% off so we went to 5 different stores! They also introduced us to an authentic Chicago-style hotdogs with mustard, relish, onions, peppers, and French fries on them (Gene and Jude’s). And make sure you don’t ask for ketchup, they don’t have any; it is not a part of a real Chicago hotdog! We also spent time at Dave (one of the guys’ house) eating and playing batmitten (no idea how to spell that…). I really enjoyed being around his family and feeling a little more like I was back home, as much as I love my roommates, it was nice to be in a domestic setting around parents, siblings, and pets and just to be at their house. It was also nice being around different Chicago-ers, I love having lots of friends and really enjoy hanging out with a variety of types of people. Btw, my total purchases today came to under $7.50 and I got 2 skirts, 2 button-up shirts (one plaid and one striped), a sweatshirt, and a t-shirt!
Kate and I did a long run after a long day of shopping and I am physically exhausted from that and all the walking this weekend. However, we had yummy veggie and chicken (the chicken was a gift from one of my roommates’ mom!) kabobs and corn-on-the-cob (one of my favs) and then chocolate chip cookies that another roommates’ dad made! We finished our evening with a game of hotseat and fired questions at 2 of the roommates to get to know them even better. It’s about bedtime now, it was a long but fun weekend and I need to rest up for work tomorrow. It’s the kids’ first day of school and they are either going to have a lot of energy or be super tired and cranky from a full day of classes and new teachers.
Hope all is well back home and wherever you may be reading this from, I miss you all lots and lots.
Lots of love,
Meg
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