Back from the windy city

First of all, Happy belated Mother’s Day to all the mommas out there. I don’t know how you all do it, but kudos. Specifically to Short on Coffee … she is the best and I know she doesn’t realize it. She has so many good qualities (which I hope I inherited), including an unbelievable amount of faith and patience. I am so grateful for our relationship. Thank God I stopped slamming doors in your face and declaring my hatred for you (me as a teenager, not so nice to my mom) because I don’t know what I’d do without your love and friendship. Thanks so much for being you!

We returned Sunday from our trip to Chicago to visit J’s momma and sisters. SILmeow, her boyfriend BladesofGlory and MamaF all live there, but SILadventure ventured from Colorado and GrandmaL from California for the reunion.

We started with manis and pedis on Thursday morning (J excluded, although I keep telling him to get a pedicure so I can take a break from the official foot rubber role for a day). I should have resisted getting the mani and pedi because I really don’t like getting them (I know most of you gasp at that statement). I hate when they push on your cuticles (I’m a bleeder) and I am so darn ticklish, I can never enjoy the foot scrubbing and rubbing. Besides that, my painted fingernails are already chipped – what a waste. Oh well, it was still good bonding time!

Then we all went to Wrigley Field for a game—Cubs vs. Dbacks. “Go Cubs go! Hey Chicago, what do you say, the Cubs are going to win today!” And as the song goes, they did win, 3-1. I haven’t been to many ballparks, but I really liked Wrigley. It is so old-fashioned and the hot dogs were to die for. We had great seats. It was a bit chilly, but the beers warmed us up a little.

After the game, MamaF and GrandmaL took off on a rickshaw ride back home, while the rest of us headed to a bar to see BladesofGlory’s friend play at Merkle’s. It was very fun. SILadventure got hit on like crazy and J got pretty drunk. We spent the rest night at eating MamaF’s chili and watching Mommie Dearest (not an Oscar-winning film from our list!).

Saturday, we shopped. On the way to meet the rest of the fam, SILmeow, J and I stopped for a mid-morning snack at Wao Boa, which sells cheap Asian Hot Buns. Very unique, but good! Anyways, the shopping was not really the top activity on J and my list of favorites activities, but we did manage to each get a $7 shirt from Nordstrom Rack (we do love our bargains). After that, we had a nice late lunch at The Walnut Room, a famous eatery on the 7th floor of the Macy’s, or the beloved Marshall Fields.

That night, SILmeow hosted a barbeque at her newly purchased town home, which is mighty fine I should add. We sent the older ones home around 10ish and headed to The Hidden Shamrock, Lincoln Park’s oldest Irish bar, where most of us drank heavily (ahem, SILadventure), played pool and danced the night away. J and I even introduced the jump rope and basketball routines to SILmeow’s friends and some others in the bar (Mouth and Roid should be very proud). They were a big hit.

On Mother’s Day, we hosted a breakfast feast at SILmeow’s. We bought some famous sticky buns from Ann Sather’s. Mind you it was pouring and windy when J, SILadventure and I went out on foot to get supplies that morning. Good thing none of us were hung over! Since the weather was a little frightful, we just lounged around SILmeow’s place and watched Into the Wild (of course) until our flights that evening.

All in all, a great weekend!