4th of July Weekend!

Thursday, July 3rd The weekend started off in a lovely fashion-- free White Sox tickets thanks to Magen (Thank you Magen!). We were in the upper deck which has the advantage of a great view of the city from the ramp (see above) and of the field (see below-- stole that picture and a couple others from Shannon. Thanks Shannon!)

Shannon and her super fun friend Karen met me at the Red Line stop. It was a lovely day. The sun was out and there were finally clear skies. It was breezy and actually got pretty cool at night. It was a great way to head into the long weekend. And the ballgame.

Karen & Shannon at the Cell

One of my biggest pet peeves in the world is when girls wear major league baseball hats in pink. No team has pink in their uniforms. Making them girly is just unacceptable for people over the age of 10. Shannon KNOWS how I feel about this. I have gone on many a tirade against the pink baseball hat. And what does she do? On purpose? Exhibit A below. I should learn not to tirade.

Exhibit A

Tim, me, Karen & Shannon at the game.

The game meant we missed the fireworks but we could see some of them from the L. After the game, we headed to a party in the South Loop that Shannon knew about. The party was nice and more importantly, I gorged myself of cheese, crackers, macaroons and some sort of moonpie-like cake/cookie/sandwich thing. That and all the beer combined for a bit of a tummy ache when I got home. Yes, I have the self-control and foresight of a 5 year old. Tim still had the constitution to get some Chicago Pizza and polish off a few slices when we got back to my place. I was passed out. Late night pizza and passing out-- signs of a good night.

Friday, July 4th

The 4th was THE OLD 97s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, The Old 97s might be my favorite band. I love, love, love them (Thank you Madison Megan & Matt). Rhett Miller, the lead singer, is in my Top 5. So when I found out that they were playing the 4th of July concert at the Taste of Chicago, I was there. Matt gave me tickets to get into the seated area early (Thanks Matt!). Tim and I headed down there with some vodka lemonade and a blanket and spent the day in the sun.

Rhett!

Tim & Me
The day got even better when I ran into Jordan
Starting on the turkey leg...
...Finished with the turkey leg.

The Old 97s were AWESOME! They played every song that I wanted to hear. Even "Won't Be Home" which has the great lyrics "I'm on a Wounded Knee/And we're at our Waterloo" and then the refrain "So please get out/Of my car" (I don't know why I love that line but I do!). Rhett had all the energy that he usually does. He played "Melt Show" which was my original favorite Old 97s song. He dedicated it to the VIPs from the Mayor's Office bc the opening line is, "At the front row at the Melt Show I fell in love with you and that was 3 wks ago". The chorus is "Will you sober up and let me down?" Which again, I just love. I've seen these guys a bunch of times and I have to say, they never let me down.

Rhett doing "Melt Show"


Gomez was actually the headliner. Here's the "La-La-La"s of "See the World"

After the Taste we headed over to Wicker Park to meet some of Tim's friends. There was a party at a very art-y loft that I felt way too uncool to be in. But there was a rooftop where we watched fireworks all over the city. It was pretty wild. You could see them in all directions. I was surprised to see how many people were shooting off fireworks in downtown Chicago. I mean, the neighborhoods and suburbs I expected. But seriously, there were some right by the Hancock building (heh- I said Hancock). It was all pretty wild and cool and beautiful. A great way to celebrate Independence Day.

Tim & Luke in the very art-y loft

Saturday, July 5th

Saturday was very lazy. I spent most of the day reading in the sun and Tim spent most of the day-- check that-- all of the day, sleeping. After 2 days of partying it felt like a lazy Sunday. That's the beauty of the long weekend! My neighbors are insane barbeque-ers so they had a big shindig that they were preparing for all day. They had 60 lbs. of pork shoulder, 30 lbs. of brisket, ribs, smoked mac & cheese, etc., etc. So I stayed close to home, drinking and eating in my & the neighbor's backyards. Miriam came over and helped me with some Jamesons. Tim is apparently someone's grandma because his drink of choice that day was Whiskey Sours. But he couldn't find sour mix at my local liquor store so he got some sour lemonade thing. Not so good. Anyway, we headed over to the Edgewater to meet up with Brett. There we had scintillating conversation. We figured out how to stop the war, get gas prices down and end world hunger. For real. Can't you tell from the photo below?

Sunday, July 6th

Sunday started with a lovely ladies lunch-- me, Lisa, Maureen & Miriam. The twist was that it was at Kuma's which has a heavy metal vibe to say the least. I had promised Miriam mac & cheese from my neighbors' the night before and didn't come through-- it was on the dry side. I swear! Anyway, Kuma's has the best mac & cheese in the world. And burgers. I had the Dark Throne. Goat cheese on a burger? Helllll yeah.

http://www.kumas-corner.com/food.html

After watching Rafael Nadal (such a hottie) win Wimbeldon, I spent the rest of Sunday a way I never thought I'd spend a Sunday-- in the 'burbs. Watching country music. Tim has talked about showing me around Naperville where he grew up. This weekend was Naperville Ribfest. His sister, her boyfriend and his parents were going Sunday night to see Trace Adkins and they had 2 extra tickets. So we went. First, let me explain that this fest was HUGE. HUGE. We had to park at the train station and take a shuttle. Tim sings the praises of the suburbs with its ample parking. This weekend-- no ample parking. We get to the fest and there are 2 music stages. The most ginormous food booths I've ever seen. The lines were long so I didn't even bother with the ribs. We make our way over to the Adkins stage and there's a field of bodies. I think there were more people there than there were for Stevie Wonder. It was nuts. We finally find Tim's family. I was a little nervous about meeting them as expected. But they were super, super nice. Within a minute, Tim's dad says, "So let's get something straight-- you're a Yankee fan?" I explained how that happened and he seemed to accept it. And was comforted that at least I wasn't a Cubs or Boston fan (Boooooo Boston!). The show started and Tim was not happy-- he's the only person in his family that hates country music. His sister was trying to get him to dance and he was having none of it. It was pretty amusing. We only stayed for about half the show and then headed out. Tim took me to the Mexican place that he spent most of high school, college and adult life eating at. It was pretty damn good. And I got to see where he went to school, the house he grew up in, the fields he played baseball on. All in all, a lovely day.

Monday, July 7

I'm back at work and clearly procrastinating since I'm writing this blog instead of finishing a spreadsheet. But come on-- it was a pretty damn good weekend. Coming back to reality's tough. So I'll replay the weekend a few more times in my head. And then start thinking about the concert at the Hideout on Thurs. And Ravinia on Fri. And T's bday on Sat. I'm feeling better already...