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T h e A d v e n t u r e s o f C h i c a g o J o

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How to Spend a Weekend

2004-02-16� � 5:11 p.m.
If there was ever a great way to spend a weekend, this one was the way to go.

On Friday afternoon there was a special delivery of this variety to me at work. I blushed and giggled an insane amount, and then got all girly-gushy on a particular someone at the thought put into this gesture. I�m still a grin-y over it, so the sender�s intent has definitely been fulfilled.

After a breezy day at work, Friday night�s girl�s night out took us (Happy, Lorinda, and Bethany9) to a monster truck rally. There were significantly fewer necks of the crimson variety, and more people of the familial variety.

Lorinda caught the grunt of one child�s lack of parenting, which resulted in her hair being petted (yes, seriously), getting cotton candy on her shirt�s hood, and receiving spills of red snow cone on her jacket. She took it a lot better than I did, as I have little patience for crappy parenting. I�ll forgive a kid for touching me with sticky hands any day, but I�ll be damned if that parent doesn�t get eye daggers from hell and the dry cleaning bill.

There�s more to tell about monster trucks, but I�ll save it for a photo entry. Trust me. It�s worth it.

We drove back to the city and enjoyed some tasty frozen treats of the alcoholic type, finishing off two pitchers between the four of us. We ended up at a Wrigleyville bar where more drinks were consumed (I abstained), and Lorinda and I danced to Pour Some Sugar On Me, our perennial favorite.

After leaving that bar and heading to some other place, I drunk dialed my best friend who had arrived mere hours before to see where she was. She answered the phone at 1:30, gave her GPS coordinates, and thinking that I was a mere block from her, I started running in that direction.

I made it where I thought she was, and the bakery indicating I was in the right place wasn�t there. I thought, �It must be just one more block,� and I started running again.

Lather, rinse, repeat several more times, and I finally arrived to a warm apartment and open arms. I proceeded to talk her ear off, and she fell asleep moments into my excited blabbing. It was nice to be around her.

The next morning was lazed around, chatting and laughing and being generally lazy. We got dressed and went in search of the Chicago food of her choice. The sun was shining, likely bringing the temperature to a pleasant 40-ish degrees, so we walked to Pot Belly�s for sammiches, a big ol� pickle for me, and an Oreo shake for her.

We ran some errands (including one that involved me sticking my hand into a giant pig�s mouth in the name of admiration), and we ended up sidetracked at this bead shop.

I�ve been in a bead shop before, mostly just looking around and confused by this being enough to fuel a merchant�s livelihood. The 5-cent beads and $1 charms hardly seem enough to keep a store�s rent paid-up, but the Chicago store better explained how this sort of operation worked. The place was a packed estrogen fest, classes were starting in the back room, and something drew me in. Three hours and 30-something dollars later, I walked out with two sets of jewelry I designed and made myself, a best friend with similar loot, and lots to laugh about from the ladies seated next to us (who I named Gloria and Pamela in my head) who told us how they met eight years ago when that particular bead shop was located across the street.

I dropped the best friend off with another of her Chicago friends and headed home to wash some clothes and un-stink and dress myself up for the heart-shaped crate paper holiday.

As far as Valentine�s Day festivities go, I don�t recall ever doing much. My last actual V-Day with a love interest involved us meeting another friend up for our regular Thursday night pizza. Whereas I�ve gotten flowers on days besides the holiday and had dinners that involved wine (as in three of them -- one of which was with Lorinda on my birthday), this Saturday was a first. And to top things off, he�s as cool as they come.

Many props to the boy for his preplanning and awesomeness, as Saturday night was a great one. Fondue is indeed more than just fancy nachos, and three hours pass quickly when you�re with someone you can easily chat it up with and have his hand resting on your knee.

All right. Enough mushiness. I don�t want to dork out on you all any more than I already have.

Sunday was spent throwing a baby shower for my most fantastic best friend. About fifteen people showed up in all, ranging from an 11-year-old who petted on Ming as much as possible to the mama-to-be�s mom, already a grandma of three. We had a good mix of people -- volunteers from the Adler Planetarium, a random rollerblader, her dentist, some family members, and other friends-of-friends who later became her friends.

Mama walked away with a lot of sack full of booty, and everyone ate most of the foods I made and seemed to have a good time. By time everyone left seven hours later, I was pooped.

So there was my weekend. I couldn�t have asked for much better. Hope yours was just as great.


And now for a special announcement from the management of TAoCJ:

My friend Paul and his wife Kara are super-involved community members in SE Texas doing all sorts of neat stuff that they get to brag about in family newsletters each Xmas. These two wonderful and caring people are having their yearly American Cancer Society funds drive. They�re aiming to raise $1,000 this year, so let�s see if we can help them reach their goal. All contributions are tax-deductible and go to the ACS -- a great cause whether you�re into the humanitarian acts or life-changing scientific research! We�ve all been touched in some way by this wretched disease, and this organization has services available to all. Why don�t ya help out and give what you can? �



Miss something?

Moving Day - 2008-02-15
Working from Home is Glorious - 2008-02-13
Speaking in Tongues - 2008-02-07
I Have My Reasons - 2008-01-25
Got an Itch, Fix it, Shine it Up, Sing it Out - 2008-01-23

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