the rest of my summer

in a nice, easy to read flow chart.

chicago -> ireland -> england (wedding!!) -> ireland, again -> new york ( another wedding!) -> chicago (for a day) -> SAN FRAN! (back to school, back to school...)


and on another note, it was kind of a interesting weekend. i got to see a coupld of kids from my grade school this weekend. it is so strange seeing people you were friends with when you were 10 years old all grown up now.

HIIIIIIIIIII-YA

after being a chicagoland resident for some 20 years now, today was the first time i visited the top of the sears tower. and it was amazing, and ofcourse, i forgot my camera. my cousin is in town for the week, and so my brother and i took him out for a day in the city. i'm always surprised how much fun it is to do the touristy things in your own city. it seems when you live in a city, you don't often take the time to appreciate the beauty around you, and its nice to get reminded every now and then that you're living in a fantastic place with world-famous attractions.


annnyway, i also a fantastic weekend.
it started on friday morning. i picked up cass at the airport, who had just flew in from NH very last minute, and we drove down to U of I for the birthday boys (count them, 3, actually 4) weekend.

the friday night highlights included:
- me becoming the WORST player ever at cass's high/low red/black game
- introducing the HI-YA rule in the c.o.d. game (thats kings to some of you, depending on your location and preferences),
- talking to carly at the bar, while the milkshake song was playing, and asking her "why are the milkshakes kept in the yard?" and carly looking back at me in surprise, "what? do i want some of your milkshake?"
- those obnoxious bouncers at clybourn's, telling us to get out their non-existant line.
- and ending the night with that perfect amound of drunkeness...so that you're super giddy and happy, but don't feel sick and are hangover free come the morning.


and saturday night just got better.
we went over to the boys apartment to celebrate their birthdays.
it's kind of sad because i'm noticing a growing rift between the girls and the guys groups...it could have just been the weekend i was down there, but they don't seem to hang out anymore when they're not drinking...but i guess its unrealistic to expect nothing to change from the high school days. it is afterall, quite impressive that we're all still talking four years down the road.

anyway, at the apartment, we, the girls, played a game of beirut that was just so crazy and hysterical that any guy would have probably just ruined it. i haven't laughed that hard in sooo long. my poor nose, it is probably permanently sore and slightly disfigured after that beirut game, but i just didn't care..i had to give in to the hysteria. we were, literally, on the floor several times because we were laughing so hard. and if i told you that we were lauging about smashed ping pong balls, smashed kleenex boxes, crazy high five sequences, and the imitations of crazy high five sequences, you probably wouldn't believe me. but i guess you had to be there, oh yea, and be a little drunk, to understand it all.

and again, i forgot my camera.
so sadly no pictures of the incredible weekend.

like, woah.

haha. MAKEOVER time.
i can't believe it took me this long to make my blog this obnoxious.
but i love it anyway.

the green dolphin

ahhhh. this new coldplay cd is really good.
i love when i buy a cd (or steal one off the internet, which i don't do anymore!) and the first time you listen to it, you like it, but then each consecutive time you play it, you notice more lyrics, more chords, more background instruments, and it just grows on you, one song at a time. thats how i know its a good cd.

okay, sidetracked.
i really just wanted to write about my recent downtown adventures. its kind of sad, but for being only 20 mins from chicago, i really don't get down there enough. something something parking. blah.

anyway, friday night, one of the rare nights this summer when a decent amount of people...sag, tom, louie, joe...were all in town, we decided to go downtown. first we hit up joe's friend's fancy apartment party. after people had sufficiently consumed enough rum & coke, we then went to a bar/club called BLU. it was nice to get out...this was my first real outing since the nose surgery, and it was really great to see everyone again, especially sherry! she just moved into her apartment downtown, and she's going to be a working girl soon...which is kind of weird. one of my oldest friends, who i've known since our 8th grade washington trip where we would gossip about everybody and they would be standing right behind us, is going to be a real adult. i think when you have known people in their young days (and 8th grade really isn't that young) its hard to see them as a real, independent, grown-up, and sophisticated person. that goofy image with braces and striped gap t-shirts just keeps popping up.

anyway, my freshly grown-up friend sherry saved me from going insane last night. the previous night we had a power outage on our street, so my evening was pretty entertaining watching my family stumbling around the house looking for the one working flashlight. but last night, i don't know what it was, but my boredom was really starting to get to me....nothing could cure it...not tv, not internet, not reading, and it was then that sherry im'ed me to come downtown again, this time to the green dolphin. she really saved me...thank you sherry.

well this green dolphin bar/club is usually a jazz club, but apparently on monday, it gets wild and crazy. and by wild and crazy i really mean transvestites everywhere! it was a lot of fun...they really spice up the bar, the dancefloor, and the women's bathroom. sherry and i were in line for the toilets, and a real GUY came in the to the ladies room to check himself out in the mirror, and turns to look at the drag queen next to him with GIANT boobs, and says to her, "hmph. all i can say to you is WOW."

haha. it was great.

red ribbon.

i'm wearing a plain red ribbon in my hair today, and it makes me feel like a little 7-year old. and i'm sure it makes me look like one too.

well that would be a little 7-year old that went over to the wrong side of the tracks and got beat up in the face, but is slowly recovering. the major bruising from my face has subsided, and now there are just spots of yellow, and a strange red bruise lining my eyelids...it looks like scary red eyeliner. but hopefully by the end of the week all the noticable marks will be gone!

so since i've made a habit of sticking around the house, although i did go out in public for a while today and didn't get too many double takes or odd looks, i've taken up cooking. or well, attempting to cook. today i made lasagne, and it was, surprise!, edible and kind of tasty. tommorow, i'll try lemongrass beef, although it might prove to be an overreach of my somewhat limited cooking skills.

ooh, and now i'm excited! i got that layer cake cd my brother and i wanted badly...after seeing the movie a couple weeks ago, we were both like "we have to get that soundtrack." hmmmm. i wonder how all the media that my brother and i buy together will be divided when we both go back to school. maybe i'll throw layer cake his way, because i want those arrested development DVDs.