June 2008 Archives

Sunday Em (who, by the way, is not my girlfriend) and I woke up early (in separate beds mind you) and hit up the jewel for snacks before parking ourselves on a bench until the pride parade. I point out that she's not my girlfriend because apparently everyone there thought she was. And it probably doesn't help here that many of my entries end with "then we went to bed"...but that's just because I'm a mooch who should probably start paying her couch and/or air mattress and/or arm chair rent...

So yesterday was the Pride Parade which was awesome in that way that pride parades are. We got there a couple of hours early to claim a bench and munched on vanilla cupcakes and cherry coke zero. Em used the $10 I hid in her purse to pay for groceries to buy us rainbow chains and "chained" me. Yeah... Eventually others joined us, including Julie and Heather and Layla and Plecki and Andrew and Ian.

The parade half rocked my socks and half soaked my socks. It started raining pretty hard a few times, which caused some delays (not to mention people apparently falling off of floats...). At one point we combined the forces of our small umbrella with a nearby groups bigger umbrella (with a super tall guy holding it) and made fast friends with some new awesome people.

Emily kept telling everyone I was bi for some reason (for the record, I like men but am fully supportive of anyone liking whatever gender they happen to like). I was told it was OK I was straight by a gay man because he "doesn't like vagina." Everyone tried to help protect my camera from the elements. One of the guys (I am so bad with remembering names...I think half of them were named Mike though) seemed not to care about getting wet himself as long as his chicken nugget stayed under the umbrella. I was told I have really pretty hair :)

After the parade we headed back to Emily's, ordered (unfree) burritos and watched the beginning of the game (GO SOX!) Ian was an ass as usual and started trouble for me by texting someone we all are pretty sure has a crush on me that I said hi when I totally didn't. What is this, third grade?

PHOTOS HERE!!!

Saturday was Taste number 3...this time with actual people and not just trying to cram food down my throat and leave...

So I met up with Emily at the bright and early time of noon oclock and we headed out to the Taste. We were pretty much starving so we wandered about and tried some mustard fried catfish before anyone else showed up. Then we shared some yummy deep-fried artichokes, which are my staple every year because I love them so much. I may have to get them again...

Throughout the day everyone was calling with crazy stories. Jeff calls and tells me he was in a bar fight the night before. Heather calls and asks what one wears when testifying in court. Josh calls and says someone fell into the lake the night before so the patrol helicopters were out all night keeping him awake (and THEN he showed up with a black eye!)

JoeJoe texted me and Emily at some point. Em texted him "Go Cubs!" so I texted "Go Sox!" JoeJoe replied to me "kick Emily."

Jeff finally got there and so we wandered tasting things. He got an arepa which looked really disgusting. We watched this group of kids who looked like they were going to come out and do hip hop but instead started tap dancing.

We saw Budweiser Clydesdales and Jeff stole my water. And Josh came and had a black eye. He looked more like what I expected Jeff to look like when he'd said there'd been a bar fight.

After everyone was there we headed over to watch the Stevie Wonder concert. But, since we couldn't really see him or hear him we headed off pretty soon after it started. (Later we still kept hearing him play...I think the dude played for like three hours straight.) Joe and Alina and Jen and Andrew were going to meet us, but they were at the Sox game and it hadn't ended yet. That didn't matter though because at last the Sox won!!!

We got a little bit more food before Josh and Jeff headed off, but then, alas, they had to leave :-(

Mustard-fried Catfish (B.J.'s Market & Bakery), Beer-Battered Artichokes (Bella Luna Café), Pistachio Gelato (Canady Le Chocolatier), Rum-battered Fried Tilapia Fillet (Polo Cafe & Catering), Fresh Pineapple Seafood Salad (Grazie! Ristorante), Toasted Cheese Ravioli (Tuscany), Petite lamb chops (Morton's)

Em and I then tried to wander off the Navy Pier but totally went the wrong way (seriously Chicago, stop being built on levels). On the way back we saw plenty of signs pointing us the right way that we should have seen in the first place...

Finally we made it to the pier and got set to conquer the beast: the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel!

I have never been on the ferris wheel because I am afraid of heights and, well, ferris wheels. The last time I actually went on a ferris wheel was probably sixth grade. I braved up the nerve to go on one at a fair, and of course it broke down and kept going back and forth instead of in a circle. That was the last time I set foot on one of those creatures.

So Em and I decided to brave the big tall scary one on the pier. I was actually perfectly fine all in line and when it first started moving...but then I started to freak a little, but by the end I was mostly fine. But I did it!

We celebrated by going to Joe's Be-Bop Cafe for mai tais and desserts. Only we would go out for dessert after spending the entire day at a food festival. Then we headed back to Em's where we attempted to watch the Incredible Shrinking Woman.

At one point Em asked if we should turn off the movie and just go to bed. Considering that her asking that question woke me up we decided that that was probably a good idea.

MORE PHOTOS HERE!

The Taste of Chicago started today. So, of course, I have already been...twice.
I went eight times last year and one of my goals this year is to break that record. So I have to go nine times.
It's a 20 minute walk from my office to Grant Park, so with an hour lunch break that's enough time to get in 20 minutes of eating :-)

For lunch I had:

Jollaf Rice with Oxtail (Bolat African Cuisine), Grilled Plantain with Spicy Peanut Sauce (Bolat African Cuisine), Enchilada (La Justica), Vegetarian BBQ Twist (Soul Vegetarian East), Italian Breaded Steak Sandwich (Ricobene's)

I just ate my way through booths 1-4 :-)

Here's the way my taste planning works. I go through the brochure and write a list of everything that I could possibly want to eat. After the first time, I went back to my desk, stuffed and exhausted and sweaty from the walk, and look at my list. Anything that still sounds appetizing stays. Anything that makes me want to vomit goes. My list gets cut in half and I get a somewhat manageable list of stuff I might eat in nine times at the Taste.

You also have to factor in what's worth the money. Because there are a lot more 9-ticket items. Seriously, every dish should be cut in half and cost half. That way we could TASTE more. They each have one item for sale like that, but they all should be. Val has spoken.

Also this year, I was looking at the menus and something seemed odd but I couldn't quite place it. Then I saw an article that explained it: this year every booth had to have a "healthy alternative." Of course, this seems to be taken

There was something a little off about the menu for the taste this year and then I read an article that explained what. Every booth is required to have a "healthy offering." So...that's why there are a lot of WHOLE WHEAT pizzas and POTATO Chips and fried VEGETABLES and TURKEY meatballs. We're Chicagoans. Sorry, but Chicago wasn't built on steamed vegetables.

For dinner I had:

Skewered Shark Veracruz (Polo Cafe & Catering), Manzanita Sol (a weird apple soda they were giving away free), Blueberry Bajou Blasters (Heaven on Seven), Sesame Beef on a Stick (The Noodle Vietnamese Cuisine), Sweet Potato Hashbrowns (Hashbrowns), Mascarpone Gelato (Canady Le Chocolatier)

one.
I started a new job last night. I am now a staff photographer for a real estate magazine. Don't worry, I didn't quit my actual job, this one is only a few nights per month. It was the easiest and hardest job I've ever done. Easy because all I had to do was take photos, which I do all the time anyways. Hard becasue I have never had to ask strangers if I could take their picture before. And because I had to get 12 photos of people and there weren't that many people there. And hard because it's not the type of photography I typically take, and I am not that great at indoor photos. Hopefully it will get easier...

two.
My two worlds collide: Victoria Secret Pink's UofI Collection :-)

three.
I scratched a mosquito bite scab that was on my back and I think it pulled out some of my tattoo.

four.
Don't ask me if I want to go to London for a week with you because then I will try racking my brain to figure out if I can possibly pull it off...then again, please do ask :-)

five.
My favorite eater invited me out to the after party/bars after the contest next Friday :-) Hopefully he'll have a Mustard Yellow Belt to show off.

six.
I erased the last voicemail. Over it. Completely. Hold me to that.

Thursday
I hit the road just before 6. Summer scheduling = every other Friday off = eight three- (or four-) day weekends this summer = the perfect chance to go hang out in Champaign with people I never see anymore.

I arrived at about 8:30 and Jeff and I took off for the quad. We stopped in to House of Gourmet Chinese and Thai Food Restaurant so I could get some dinner and get a fix for the best beef with oyster sauce I've ever had anywhere.

On the way to the quad I called Brian, who I told I'd meet there. As the phone was ringing I spotted him walking up ahead. He didn't pick up so I just decided to go and walk behind him until he noticed. As we were walking he pulled out his phone, saw that I called and called me back. "Hi I saw I missed your call" he said. "Hi Brian!" I said really loud, into my phone, from right behind him. The girls he was with had thought I was some crazy person who was walking too close for no reason. hehehe.

So I met up with Brian and Jack and Caroline and Jeff and James and Lindsay and MattG (not another Matt on this blog) and Sid and Sarah and Plecki and Andrew and Kurt and Marc and Heather and Josh and Tobey and Layla. And I think that I listed everyone. And we watched Back to the Future out on the quad. And I spent most of the time going back and forth sitting with everyone and playing with dogs and pretending to be a dog and dropping grass in people's ears.

After the movie Jeff and I headed downtown to go to the cupcake bar but it was closed so we headed to the Blind Pig. Matt met up with us later and I sipped some Duchesse De Bourgogne and Lindemans Pomme. We played darts and I told Matt and Jeff that they couldn't laugh when it bounced off the wall. And then they laughed anyways.

After that we headed to Jupiters and I had a Lindemans framboise and a shot of goldschlager which took me about 7 tries to get fully down.

And after those 3 beers and 1 shot (insert foreshadowing here) I was pretty drunk and made Jeff drive my car home.

Jeff: You car is pretty loose.
Val: Just like its owner.

Friday
Jeff and I headed to Rocks for lunch to get horseshoes. I told him I wasn't a girly eater and that I would eat the whole thing. I ended up eating about half. If you don't know a horseshoe is a piece of texas toast, topped with meat (I had hamburger), topped with french fries, topped with cheese sauce. And it's delicious. But huge.

We sat around watching Indiana Jones and I am now definitely sure I have never seen it before (I'd never seen any of them). But it was very good. Then we headed off to the pool to relax. We were tossing around a ball like thing and I learned I really do throw like a girl because it didn't even make it half way across the pool.

For dinner Jeff and I met up with James and Sean and Lindsay at Famous Daves. The bbq salmon I got was tasty but they gave me the wrong side and no bread. I didn't complain though because I wasn't that hungry anyways and figured it would be one less thing I'd eat.

When we got back to Jeff's place there was some yellow things all over the floor. Everyone was like "What is that? What did Tobey (the dog) get into?" I looked and immediately fell over the couch laughing. It took everyone else a little longer to catch on as to what went on. Yes, yes, my friends. The dog had gone into my bag, found a box of tampons, ripped it open and threw them all over the floor.

Yeah...so, anyways...

That night we headed out to Murphy's, which was my favorite campus bar while I was there. Sid came out in all his gimpiness. And Doug who I would say I haven't seen in forever but I'd just seen him last weekend. We sat around and played cards. When no one could decide what to play I just started dealing Go Fish, because it's the only game I know how to play. But Go Fish between that many people is hard because you use up all the cards fast so you run out of fishies in the pond. We played poker and I needed to cheat because I don't know how. I watched people play spades and finally figured out how they were playing but never figured out how they were scoring. I drank three whiskey sours and couldn't stand up (foreshadowing).

And I will leave you with the most thought provoking thought of the night:
James: (who wasn't drinking the whole weekend because he stabbed himself in the leg): I don't need water to get drunk!

Saturday
Went to the pool again. Made myself dizzy swimming in circles.

Went to Taste of Champaign which is kind of like Taste of Chicago but lame. We didn't buy any food. Met up with James and Sean there and Jeff refused to let me take his photo in front of the bluest water fountain and we tried to play where's James, which is kind of like Where's Waldo. Jeff won.

Went to the cupcakes and booze place and I was the only one who got cupcakes and booze. Everyone else got cupcakes and gelato. I had a yumtastic strawberry balsamic cupcake and a chocolate covered strawberry martini (martini 1 of the day).

Later it was on to Guido's for dinner with everyone to celebrate Josh's last weekend in Champaign. He's heading out to California for a bit and then moving to CHICAGO!!! I got grilled cheese.

Then it was on to Crane Alley where we agreed to meet everyone but found out they all went home (but were coming back). So we headed to Bunny's instead so Benge could get these breadstick things. We got Miller Lite and I drank a glass and a half or so faster than Jeff. It tastes like Heineken and since I drank Heineken nonstop for a week in Amsterdam I can drink light beers now without making my signature face. Benge also forced me to eat a part of his breadstick. That sentence can sound as dirty as you want to make it sound.

After finishing our beer we headed back to Crane Alley where everyone else had shown up. I started out with a Tom Collins (drink 3 of the day) and chatted up Sid and Sarah and Plecki and Andrew.

Josh was playing the "credit card game" where he took everyone's credit card who wanted a shot, put it in a hat, and whoever's got chosen by the bartender paid for the round of shots. I did not participate because I can't take shots. Of course, Josh completely forgot that I didn't put one in and ordered me one anyways and made me take it.

We got a "lunch box" which includes amaretto and beer and other things and is one of those thingys where you drop a shot glass into a bigger glass and chug. Everyone else finished in like 0 seconds. I took what felt like five minutes and probably was more like ten. I only had to restart twice. And that was because everyone who finished 10 minutes earlier was watching me and making comments such as:
"Is she even making any progress?"
and
"I think she's making negative progress."
and it made me laugh and I had to stop for a second before going again.
I eventually finished the glass.

Drink 4. Remember how on Friday I couldn't walk straight after three drinks? And how on Thursday 3 beers and a shot made me pretty darn drunk?

On to drink 5 when I found out that they had a yummy martini menu. I got a tira misu martini which was absolutely delicious.

At some point Heather and I decided to make a dirty mix on the juke box which included "Lets Get it On"

At some point Heather decided to steal my camera and take lots of photos.

At some point Andrew got a Pizza Beer that tasted nothing like pizza.

On to drink 6 when I ordered a peach martini when I should have just stolen the one Heather had on the table and hadn't finished.

At some point I started playing a round of pool with Heather but she gave up and passed her cue to James. I totally won and didn't cheat at all.

On to drink 7 when Plecki insisted I get another martini with her and I got a blueberry pie one. Did I mention that this was my fourth martini of the day? And that Sarah had told me earlier that she can never handle more than one???

So you know Val is drunk when she willingly does a shot. And you know Val is screwed when she takes a little sip of the shot and goes from perfectly fine (drunk, but fine) to ready to pass out.

And yeah. So I got sick, basically passed out (someone took a photo to prove it), almost forgot my hoodie, almost got sick in Jeff's car, definitely got sick at Jeff's apartment, and definitely blanked out for a bit in the bathroom.

Sunday
Woke up. That's an accomplishment in itself.

Went to breakfast with Benge and those two people I don't remember names of and Heather. Got toast because I was quite sure eggs or meat or anything remotely slimy would make me sick.

Went back to Jeff's and watched food network. He complained that Jamie Oliver made bad pizzas but I said it didn't matter because he is hot and has an accent and cooks, which is really the only three qualities a guy needs. (Granted the pizzas did have oysters IN THE SHELLS on them...how the heck do you eat that?)

Watched Indiana Jones Part 2.

Watched more food network.

Drove home.

Monday
I still feel hung over. Seriously. The moral of this story is that I either have to never drink again or start drinking way more often so I can handle it. The second moral of the story is that hanging out with the crew in Champaign makes for a totally awesome weekend.

PHOTOS HERE!!!

So...Glen and Jen are getting married in a few short weeks. And that, of course, means it was time to shower them with gifts and food.

Last night was their wedding shower where a few of us met up at Buca Di Beppo to celebrate. We gathered around the table and shared some bruschetta and calamari, some pesto salmon and gnocchi and eggplant parmigiana some cheesecake and chocolate cake and tiramisu. And, of course, 6 liters of Chianti.

Pictures here.

one
Victorias Secret semi-annual sale.
I saw three old Mexican ladies buy over six huge shopping bags worth of stuff. An associate had to help them to their cars.

As I seem to do every time I have added yet another cute little pink thing and have no one to appreciate it :(

Here's a taste of what I got:

two
I should not be allowed to wear a skirt. I decided this this morning after I dumped the bottom of it in the toilet. I really decided this after I did it again in the afternoon.

Since Scott is in town and last week was both his and Ken's birthdays last night we gathered at the froggy bar to celebrate!

It was good times as usual, with good food (I had half a chicken...and I mean half a chicken, I devoured every scrap of it it was so good) and good drinks (yummy chocolate cherry martini that tasted just like chocolate milk) and good people (ummm, I guess they are yummy too).

Professor John and Nicole were playing...and he even played "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" just for me because I didn't think he'd remember my name (I meowed at him so he'd remember).

They brought out three huge desserts (one was carrot cake!) and passed around champagne.

I have a bunch of crappy pics here...they'd be really good if I could take pics in very low light without a flash. But I hate bothering people in a tight dark space with my monstrous flash, so I'll make do with fuzzy grainy photos...

p.s. no tag teaming!

Scotty is in town! So last night I met up with him for a bbq. I made a delicious apricot chicken salad that kind of reminded me of the taste of the Stir Crazy Plum Crazy Chicken...I'll have to experiment with it because I loved that dish and they no longer make it.

Anyways, I had some ketchup with hot dog. An caught up with Scotty and everyone else. And then totally did awesome in a shooting video game (or...maybe I spent the whole time trying to figure out how to get out of a building and running into walls...)

KennyK and MattyK are apparently moving in together. When they started talking about their wine cellar I said to Scotty that they sounded more like a gay couple than brothers. Ken said they were more like Frasier and Niles Crane. Can't say I can argue with that one.

Ken and Scott smoked some pipes and I really wished I had a bubble pipe so I could join in.

At the end of the night I hung out with BobbyK and his friends for a bit as MK fell asleep on the couch. Eventually I patted his head goodnight...he opened his eyes and looked pretty pissed at me that I woke him up. I don't think he remembers that though.

More photos here!

Friday the 13th in 13 items...

1. Every time I meet a friend of a friend they say "I've heard so many stories about you..." I am often intrigued at what my friends are saying about me...

2. I bought a sox shirt that was not pink and a hat that wasn't the pinkest one available. What's wrong with me? Honestly though I decided to be a Sox fan at a young age because their color scheme was a lot more badass than the Cubs one. :-)

3. McDonald's presents U.S. Cellular Field sponsored by Pepsi, Miller Lite, AthletiCo, Ticketmaster, and Motorola has way better hot dogs than Wrigley. And the best nacho is the one you sit into a bath of cheese and then eat half an hour later.

4. Foam finger wars! I refrained from buying a pink foam finger (they had them though!) but Jen and Kurt bought fingers and I ended up playing with one for half of the game. They are good for poking, roboting, and rooting.

5. Quinn Kelsey, of Lyric Opera's Ryan Opera Center fame sang the National Anthem.

6. It didn't rain at all!!! Weather.com said all day that it was going to storm, so I was nervous. But the weather was beautiful

7. Kurt is my new bff because he is moving to Texas...and I like knowing people who have couches I can sleep on in other states :)

8. The guys who rake the field remind me of Spaceballs when they "combed" the desert.

9. There was so a gay marriage proposal on the jumbotron.

10. I am a good cheerer (except when I forget which team is at bat) and so in Andrew.

11. Fireworks!!!

12. SOX WON!!!!!

13. And, of course...tons of photos!!!!

one.
Monday I went to see Sex and the City...again...this time with Meredith, Maureen, Alina, and Jen. We started at Grand Lux cafe where we all got pink drinks and my plate of chicken, potatoes, and vegetables was huge. I didn't cry as much during the movie this time (that's not to say I didn't cry). Also, as promised, I paid special attention to the scenes with Jennifer Hudson and Sarah Jessica Parker. In doing so I noticed that Hudson spent almost the entire movie sitting down (to not look like a beheameth next to Sarah Jessica). And when they were standing up they never showed them in the same frame. And, for instance **spoiler** when Hudson gets engaged SJP doesn't even hug her or anything...because, you know, she's afraid of getting crushed.

p.s. here is a photo of them together at the MTV movie awards to see what I mean.

p.p.s. during the previews there was a trailer for Eagle Eye. Guy on cell phone behind Shia at the ATM...totally my friend Eric.

two.
This postsecret pretty much describes me...except without the professional part...

three.
My neighbor at work sends around opera news everyday. The following is a list of movies that have been commissioned as operas (this is 100% serious):
1. The Fly
2. An Inconvenient Truth
3. Brokeback Mountain

Saturday morning started bright and early at 6am when I woke up, got ready, and hopped in the car for a 2-hour drive...I headed off in my black pickle with an empty pickle jar to Caledonia, IL. You know you are literally in "boofoo" when all of a sudden the road turns into gravel and when lost while trying to waste a few minutes, driving down a deserted road you pass a small cemetery and almost hit a giant Welcome to Wisconsin sign...

On my attempt I totally missed the farm because the road sign was only facing in the opposite direction so I didn't see it. But on my turn around I saw it and found my way there.

Yes, I was headed to a farm two hours away from home on a Saturday morning. Why? For a cheese-making class!

Once there we dove right in. Everyone paired up and tackled a cheese. My partner and I worked on feta and ricotta. Ricotta was amazingly simple. We just heated some unpasteurized goat's milk to a high temperature then added some vinegar. The teacher said that we'd see the reaction really quickly and right away. I poured it in and stirred and it still looked just like foamy milk. But then all of a sudden it just separated and was curds in a clear/yellowy liquid. Amazing. A few more steps later and I customized my lump of it by mixing in some chopped garlic tops. It was delicious!

The feta would have actually taken about eight hours, so we never got to completely finish it...but it was pretty easy all the same. Others in the class made mozzarella and chevre and queso blanco. It was all yummy.

When the cheeses were about done we went outside to milk a goat. It's harder than it looks.

And goat's milk tastes like regular milk but was kind of icky to drink right away just because it was warm.

After the class, since I was out that far anyways I decided to take a mini-trip to Rockford for some cheesy sites! The first stop was Midway Village.

Midway Village is one of those old-time towns that shows authentic and replicated buildings of how things were in the past. A dressed-up guy took us around on a tour (by "us" I mean me and a few families and old people). So I saw lots of old-timey buildings and such.

After that I walked through the dollhouse museum and the rest of the museum. The museum housed the real reason for going to this particular attraction: The Sock Monkey Exhibit!!!

This exhibit showcased tons of sock monkeys (knit AND fiberglass) and showed how the town of Rockford and the invention of the seamless sock led to their being. SOCK MONKEYS!

They had a bunch of other weird little exhibits too...including a real airplane!

After the museum I drove off to Lockwood Park. I got out of my car and walked towards to farm area not seeing what I was looking for...but then I saw it...right there in front of me...a 19-foot high COW!!!!

Totally worth a 15-minute detour to see :) And a great ending to a cheesy day!

More photos here!

Fact 1: DePaul finally figured out that I graduated and mailed me my diploma.
Fact 2: Go to Dave and Busters was on my list of stuff I need to do this year.
Fact 3: Val likes to throw parties in honor of herself because she's conceited like that...

So detectives, given these three facts, what's the only possible conclusion? That's right I threw myself a graduation party at Dave and Busters last night! I even went all out by buying some crappy mortarboard garland to throw on the table...

Before heading to my party I stopped by WineStyles where MK was hosting a wine tasting. Actually, I forwent the wine tasting and just downed a couple of glasses of prosecco instead. He had raspberries to put in the glass too. Classy. Almost as classy as that time last week when I threw out a soda at work then fished it out of my garbage can later when I got thirsty again. True story.

MK's dad and this other guy who were there and I all talked photography. MK's mom and KennyK told me it was completely wrong to have ketchup on your hot dog. I said I was OK then because technically I take some hot dog with my ketchup.

After a few hours of wining it was time to head off to dining...and gaming!

I've never been to Dave and Busters (my first attempt was Nadia's 21st birthday when Hood and I skipped the Michigan football game to drive all the way out to the Chicago burbs only for Nad to call to say she sprained her ankle and was in the emergency room...) so I put it on my list of things to do this year. And then I decided to hold a fake graduation party there. :)

JoeJoe and Alina came...despite the fact that Joe texted me earlier in the day with "Wait...it's in Addison? I thought this entire time it was in Chicago..." And so did JoeW and Meredith and Jenny and Adam and Nadia.

We got some food. In the drink menu I found a picture of a pretty pink drink but couldn't figure out which it was. I just pointed to it and asked the waitress which it was. She said she thought it was the "Pink Monkey" and said she could go check with the bartender what was in it. I said that that would not be necessary because with Pink AND Monkey in the name it had to be good no matter what. And I was correct. It tasted just like a banana split.

After dinner it was on to gaming! I played skeeball, which was really the whole purpose of going...and virtual jump rope because, you know, everything is better virtually...and popping ball thing which is kind of the arcade equivalent to slots in my opinion but with much better odds.

And then there was the weird wind west shooting game...I managed to get 120 points. 120 points to YOU if you can figure out which category that puts me in...

I took my 500something tickets and traded them in for lots of silly putty. Because, well...you can never have too much silly putty!

More photos here!

SPECIAL GUEST BLOG BY HEATHER, AS WRITTEN IN MY NOTEBOOK

My name is Val & this is my Emily's birthday Journal. We began the night at Risqué were we saw foamy messes & boobies. Fake boobies. By fake boobies, I mean cartoon ones. That looked fake. We are now at Rebel. Which was the Ivy. But this isn't the Ivy. It's the Ivy painted red with no punching machine which is lame.

lame lame lame

I broke my pen!!!

FUCK
NO MORE
BLOG

***

We now return to our regularly scheduled blog with actual Val...

Saturday's festivities started at a bar at 9:30...AM. Since at least I think that 9:30 is too early for beer or hard drinks we settled on getting some way-too-spicy bloody marys. But 9:30 is definitely not too early for a breakfast of cheeseburgers and french fries :)

Soon after arriving we were joined by Hareet (who is apparently not a figment of Emily's imagination) and Zipporah and Jeff. I was the only one of us not decked out in Cubs gear. I did wear a shirt though that had a bit of blue in it...I think that counts enough...

When we were done with food and drinks we headed out of Murphy's and across the street to Wrigley Field.

It was Em's birthday wish to get bleacher seats to a Cubs game so even though I am a south sider I sucked it up and went to the game. :-) Actually, I used to say that I wasn't a baseball fan but really just a fan of hot dogs and nachos, so as long as the team had those I didn't care and would go. But I think I will retract that statement as Wrigley had some pretty horrendous hot dogs.

Anyways...The game was fun. Heather came too and brought Jeff instead of Josh, which was a surprise. And we met Hawaiian shirt guy who was sitting in front of us.

And a baseball team won! Go sports team!

After the game we went back to Em's to chill for a bit then headed down the block to the Chicken Hut for chicken because all they have on the menu is chicken. Although Heather somehow managed to not order chicken. Crazy.

Then it was on to Risqué, which is an awesome bar that has pin-up posters and b/exploitation movies playing on a few TVs. It's a nice place but a little too contrived. One of the movies they were playing was a cartoon that had a naked woman running around sleeping with people. That's about as much of the plot as I can tell you.

The best thing about the bar though was the 8-ball floats...except that they only had runny ice cream so to make it we had to drop soft scoops of vanilla into our beer which made them all foam over creating a catastrophic mess and forcing me to chug much of the beer to keep it from spilling over. Everyone laughed when I did it...and then it happened to all of them too.

After that we headed over to Rebel. Josh (who works in my building), Josh (who is marrying Heather), Sean (who is insane), and Sean's friend we don't know the name of all joined us there. We rocked out to the music. Jeff bought me princess peaches (that's the name I dubbed the drinks he got me...I told him to ask the bartender for something girly made with peach schnapps). We got some tasty mushroom quesadillas and cheesy pretzels. We rocked out to the music.

Next up was The Irish Oak, which normally would be exactly my type of bar: a chill Irish setting with live acoustic music. Perfect for a relaxing night talking with friends. However, it's not so perfect from going such a high energy place to such a low energy place, so we all bailed after just one drink. But not until Sean went around to tables of girls to try to impress him with his joke-telling skills...Yeah, take one guess at how well that went over...

So next up was Big City Tap which is one of those bars that people only go to because its open until 5am after everything else is closed...which meant it was one of those bars where there was a creepy old dude walking around scanning for drunk chicks...and that they had the most disgusting pile of nachos ever...and that the bartenders idea of give me a girly drink was a jager bomb with a splash of peach schnapps....But it WAS the only bar all night to play a Bon Jovi, so they get props for that.

So finally we called it and I fell asleep curled up on Emily's chair because it was the only place that there was room for me...and the next morning we capped off Emily's birthday celebration with Disco brunch at Ann Sather's where we had the tastiest cinnamon rolls ever (they do have the best ever) and a ridiculous Swedish breakfast sampler of meatballs, pancakes, sausage (which I didn't eat), eggs, and potatoes...

Wow...what an Emily-filled weekend! Well...she kept drunkenly saying that it was the best birthday ever, so I'm going to agree and hope she had the best birthday ever!

MORE PHOTOS HERE!

Friday I met up with Em after work for a happy hour at Cactus. A jager shot and a rum and coke later we took off...we left a bit early...but we had food and drinks and movies to get to!

Friday night was not only Emily's birthday Eve but also the premiere of the most anticipated female-centered movie probably ever: Sex and the City! So that could only mean a girls night out!

Em and I met up with Zipporah and some of her friends at Zella's to share some cosmos and appetizers. The cosmos were tasty and got me rightfully buzzed and we shared in some crab cakes, red pepper hummus, and spinach dip.

The only tickets we could get were for a 10:45 showing because the first night had been selling out fast! We got to the theater early and still had to wait in a huge line to get in. We didn't go all out all out with our night, but there were some crazy girls there all dressed up in cocktail dresses and high heels. I was still a bit hungry so I got some popcorn...and then in a cosmo stupor hit the bag with my purse all of 30 seconds later and spilled it all on the ground...right in front of the theatre cleaners who didn't look too happy at me. Luckily Zipporah pointed out that they did offer free refills, so I was able to actually eat popcorn.

The movie was good. It wasn't spectacular and it was pretty predictable and a little over the top at times and I didn't agree with all of the choices, but it was still good. I don't want to ruin anything by giving away plot points though. Seriously.

And I cried through the entire thing.

I am such a girl.

Those were both sad tears and happy tears too.

I am such a girl.

When I go see it again next Monday (yes, I already have plans to see it again) I have to remember to pay attention to what Jennifer Hudson looks like next to SJP. I don't remember noticing anything odd but when I saw them presenting at the MTV Movie Awards Jennifer looked like a giant compared to Sarah Jessica. It kind of looked like when in that episode of Full House when they made Michelle be the same height as everyone else by just blowing her up so everything was way out of proportion. Someone has to know the episode. They probably did some odd angles and had Jennifer sitting down most of the time when filming the movie so Sarah didn't look like a midget. I'll report back.

Finally we're getting back on track! And this month was the most rockin' month ever!

11. Leave the Country (5)
I spent an AMAZING week in Amsterdam.

22. Looptopia (3)
Yup, and it was awesome.

39. See two other musicals (3)
I went to Jesus Christ Superstar earlier, and this month saw Avenue Q!!!

54. Go to a coffee shop at least twice a month to write (5)
yeah.

103. Find a man (2 points...each ;-) )
Can't say I exactly "found a man" and as we all saw, I don't know if I can actually classify him as a "man," but damnit I'm giving myself 2 points, but not crossing it off :)

143. See Takeru Kobayashi (2)
No...he better be at Nathan's!!! But I DID see a kick ass performance by Pat Vandam :)

May total: 13
April total: 0
March total: 1
February total: 5
January total: 13
Total Points: 32