Okkervil River and Obama-- Tues., Oct. 14 and Sun., Oct 19

Last week was an odd one with me mainly trying to recooperate from the exhausting weekend w the law school crew in Boston. There were a couple of events worth noting:

Okkervil River

http://www.okkervilriver.com/

When Jew Dan asked if I wanted to see Okkervil River at Metro, I instantly said yes. It didn't really register that it was: 1. on a Tues.; 2. at 9 pm; 3. with 2 opening bands; 4. after being out of town the weekend before. But I rallied! Met him at Gingerman for a couple of drinks beforehand. Crooked Fingers was the 2nd opening band and they were pretty good. Okkervil River was great. Really, really great. They have this alt-folk-emo sound most of the time. Tim compared them to Bright Eyes. But live? They totally, rocked. Lots of loud guitars, hip shakin and mike stand kicking over. Really rocked out. Lots of energy. Rhett Miller and The Old 97s energy-- and if you know me, you know that's HIGH praise. The show ended around 1 am. The next day was pretty rough. But it was so worth it.

Obama

http://www.barackobama.com/

In 2004, Lisa, Lori, Ashlee & I went up to Milwaukee to canvass for Kerry since WI was a swing state. It went blue. So we figured we'd give it another try-- this time taking on Indiana. It was only me & Lisa but I had mentioned it to Dan at Okkervil River and he wanted to join. So Sunday morning the 3 of us went to Michigan City, IN to canvass for Obama.

All I know about Michigan City is that it has: 1. outlet malls and; 2. casinos. The neighborhood we went to was a crystallized version of the economic crisis we've all be hearing about. Most of the doors we knocked on there was no answer. Of those, a large portion had "for sale" signs on the front lawn. Some were even boarded up. There were just a disturbing number of vacant homes falling apart. I'm not sure if that is due to the housing crisis or to a depressed community. Regardless, it was sad to see. The up side was that when we did encounter people, they were Obama supporters and excited about the election. We informed people about and encouraged early voting. Dan got a woman who said that she was a supporter of Hillary's but not of Obama's to change her mind. It was a beautiful fall day and lovely to be outside talking to people, getting excited about the election. PLUS we got Culvers for lunch. AND Steak n' Shake shakes on the way home. What more can you ask for? Other than for Indiana to go blue!

10 year BU law school reunion-- Oct. 10-12

Night 1: "How would you ladies like the best limo ride of your lives?"

This past weekend was my 10 year law school reunion. Not really sure how that happened, but there you have it. Tim came with me to Boston for the festivities. We landed at 7:30 and were at the Cask & Flagon by 8:30. A quick stop at Amy & Theo's, an even quicker change and there was a beer in my hand soon thereafter. The drinking by the crew had started much earlier-- some had started with cocktails at lunch at 1:30. So everyone was in different states of inebriation. I had to catch up. The Bud Light wasn't doing it. But the 2 Jamesons took care of it. It eased the pain of watching the Sox win at a bar on Lansdowne St. But I love these guys and it was well worth it. The night ended with the girls + Tim leaving the bar and having a guy w a Town Car ask us, "How would you ladies like the best limo ride of your lives?" Who could say no to that? Other than some aromatherapy scents being pumped out, not sure it was any different than any other Town Car ride. But then again, I had been drinking whiskey. What did I know?

Ethan & Lauren at the Cask & Flagon

Kim, me, Nicole & Theo
Ameen, Fintan, RIck & Ethan. Everyone knows what it means when the baseball hat is down that low.

Happy Ethan & Kim post-Red Sox win.

Sexy Nicole & Theo with bemused RIck & Ameen in the background.

Theo & Ethan at the end of the night.

Day 2: The baby tour

We started Sat. morning with some greasy food to combat the hangovers that some of us had. It was a girls day + Tim. Tamara and Michele both have newborns so they were taking a pass on the reunion festivites. But we couldn't be in Boston and not see them and meet the new additions. So we walked over to Charlestown, did part of the Freedom Trail, Nicole & Tim insanely climbed to the top of the Bunker Hill monument and then we visited the babies. It was pretty impressive-- 2 newborns and a toddler and not a single moment of crying. That's better than most of my Friday nights. The kids were beautiful, the moms were good and all in all, it was a lovely afternoon.

Us with the Bunker Hill monument in the background. Nicole & Tim walked the 300 steps to the top. Tim still can't walk right.

Aunt Nicole holding Baby Ella

Mama Michele with Little Griffin

Addison and Kim digging a hole in the sandbox. Not a castle. Because you need wet sand for that.

Night 2: "I want to have sex with Tom Brady"

I have no idea how we did it, but 5 girls + Tim managed to get ready for the reunion with 1 bathroom at our disposal. And we were on time! The reunion was at the Intercontinental and we had a decent turnout. There were professors and fellow classmates that I recognized. But I was fairly antisocial, only talking to the crew that I had gotten trashed with the night before. I mean, they ARE the cool kids after all. I thought the Dean's speech was relatively entertaining, the food sucked but the booze flowed. Wine glasses were knocked over and some even broke (poor Nicole got injured!) but neither were done by me, so that was a success. I didn't fall OR cry. Ethan declared that he wanted to have sex with Tom Brady. I told him I would put that quote on the blog. He threatened to have the blog shut down. I guess we'll see what happens. After the bad dinner, we went to the downstairs bar to catch the Sox game and this time watched them lose. Kim declared that they need to trade Timlin. Tim & I quietly cheered the loss. The night seemed to fly by. I thought we were back at Theo's by 10 but I was informed it was more like 1:30. Back at her place, we had frozen pizza and Slim Jims. Just like 1998.

2008 v. 1998- Ethan now pours his beer into a glass. WTF?

Ethan & Lauren

Rick & Julie. She just had twins. I can't believe it.

Kristen & Ameen

Me & Tim

Theo, me & my giant head that blocks out Nicole, Nicole & Kim.

Amy & Theo-- the best hostesses ever

Tim & me and the self-portrait

Amy, Kim & Theo

Me & Theo at the end of the night. Not bad.

October in Chicago

I welcomed October with girlfriends, too much wine and the Rachael Yamagata show. Well, about 20 mins of the show. Girlfriend + wine pre-show = missing most of the show. But it was a great way to welcome October. I've had a few more October thoughts:

• I think that people are either fundamentally Halloween people or NOT Halloween people. My friend Robin who always throws a Halloween party and a couple of years ago dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite with the dance perfected and tater tots at the party-- Halloween person. Me who feels anxiety over getting dressed in regular clothes in the morning-- not a Halloween person. Alex who loves attention and last year dressed up as one of the guys from the SNL "D*ck in a box" skit-- Halloween person. Just a theory.
• I was walking around the Loop today and saw 3 people wearing flip-flops. It's October people. In Chicago. Let go.
• Speaking of which, I took this picture last week. It's right by one of our restaurants that's in Wrigleyville. It was funnier when both the Cubs and Sox were in the playoffs. The crosstown rivalry extends to the L renovations. And this is why it's illegal to sell spray paint in Chicago.

Anyway, hope everyone is having a lovely fall. A toast-- To Autumn!

Fri. Oct 3 - Sun. Oct. 5-- Weekend in Madison

This past weekend I was in Madison! I've wanted to go back for a game-- I was horribly negligent last year and it was the 1st football season where I failed to go back for a game. Tim's an OSU fan, so we chose the weekend of the WI-OSU game. The weekend turned out to be a a combination of the grown-up and the juvenile. We visited w friends who now have families and it was fun to meet their kids and see my friends as new parents. Lisa and Jeff were kind enough to host us. Which was great because we got to know Grace, their 9 mo. old. She's super expressive and has this devilish look she gives you. Tim fell for her cereal and doll that sang the "ABC"s. We also visted with Megan and her 18 mo. old Lauren. Who is super sweet, taking care of Grace and cleaning up after us. And looks IDENTICAL to her dad Matt. Seriously.

Grace and her devilish look

Lauren aka mini-Kures and Megan at Nick's.

Which Tim called "dreary" . I call it awesome. I mean, note the vinyl of the booth.

And then the juvenile. Yeah, when I said juvenile, I didn't mean the kids. I meant me & Tim acting like kids. We headed over to the Big Ten Pub around 4. The game wasn't till 7. But it was already packed. Tim doesn't like packed. So I got him a Sparks and he was happy. He's very easily pleased. We drank outside, watched some of the Brewers sole playoff victory, met up with Alex & his buddies. It was so fun. And then the game. Not as fun. It was tied at the half. The Badgers had the lead in the 4th. And then they blew it. I believe I texted Dan to F-off about 100 times. Flipped Tim off 1,000 times. Commisserated w everyone bc everyone hates OSU. But all to no avail-- the Badgers broke my heart. Luckily the alcohol was there to kill the pain.

The packed Big Ten Pub

Happy Tim and his Sparks.
Tim post-Sparks. That's a foam Captain Morgan hat he's got on.

Me & Tim before the game. And therefore before the 1,000 times I gave him the finger.

Post-game we met up with Jeff and poor, sober Lisa picked us up. Sunday was back to Chicago. Tim slept/passed out for most of the drive home. Which I think is the sign of a great weekend. Of course, that's usually how Tim spends his Sundays...