well, i have had quite the social/busy streak lately, which has been nice in its way, but hasn't left me much time for crafting, finishing up some projects sitting on my sewing desk (one of which is darning the sweater i usually wear EVERY night while putzing around --cassie it's your pretty tan one!---, another of which is Weekend Anna's bag, which is in pieces and not a bit sewn...)
today i vowed to stay at home, clean everything, plan up some sunday dinner for tomorrow, at least START one of my projects, and to kick the cold i am having. it's freezing out, so my restrictions are not bothering me a bit. i stuck to journeys born of necessity (trader joe's and Mass for Lent) and i am listening to some big band favorites on full blast, thanks to iTunes radio, and i bought ***flowers***at the grocery store. so nice!!!
i used to think my mom was nuts with all her fresh flowering all the time, in nearly every room, but man have i ever caught the bug. they just make me feel so happy, even when i get that feeling that the clutter is going to eat me. and they smell nice, and they look so nice in old wine bottles! i have not been very good with plants, historically, and when i was in a position to recieve them, romantically speaking, i always felt so stressed when i killed them! i'm thinking if i get really good at keeping my cut flowers looking good, i will move on to learning how to be diligent with little potted things. it's a nice trait in a person.
well, i am off to some relaxed cleaning and enforced calm. here are some lovely flower shots for my dear readers!
lora and i decided, last weekend, that something had to be done about our level of ladylike behaviour.
it was way, way below the pioneer/victiorian standard.
our main reproachable behaviours? less-than-lovely language, occasional slips in terms of using the Lord's name in vain, and less than grateful expressions about our appearances. added to that, we won't stand for certain things in visitors to our apartment, such as misogynstic comments.
we devised a series of fines (some things are weightier fines than others) and we have been duly paying up, and occasionally forcing others to do the same. it's a bit of a tyrant move, but hey--it's improvement. we are very dedicated, and we hold each other to the honor system when we're not around each other. it's both amusing and highly annoying, since we are neither of us abundantly rich at the moment.
i owe a good deal of money already...but it's already improving my language!
and doesn't lora make the PRETTIEST tissue paper flowers??? such a talented girl.
that font is my papa's handwriting! neat, right? in any case... i don't know if i left my sigg at work, or somewhere in chicago (like a bus), or what... but i am dying of thirst because i just can't bring myself to drink liquids without a vessel designed for hikers. alas.
i think of my mind like a computer. in general, i think i have good hardware and even good software, but in general i contend that i am lazy with software updates. however, in the last two weeks i think i must have gone into the mac store for some repair, and then they must have done all my updates for me and now everything is lightning fast. they fixed my trackpad, too.
did i take that analogy too far?
in any case. i feel wired, and busy, and fast-paced lately. i am sure this is largely due to a busier life than i have had in six months, now that i am actually doing something. plus, i've been really social lately! i am not a seriously social girl but man i have been amping it up lately with the peopled activity thing. i think it's nice, actually.
anna's visit was so great... i wish i could have elongated it. we packed it in, though... we went for a REALLY late dinner at the hopleaf as valentines... and we got a perfect seat right away! love must have been in the air. :) i got mussels (of course) and saison dupont. anna had a cashew butter and fig jam sandwich and a chocolate stout. mmmmmm delectable, with the great frites to boot.
we then woke up early and rushed around to get to Mass in evanston (with becca!). sheil was packed! we had lunch with her relatives at the lucky platter (mmm) and then split ways so she could pursue some of her other chicago people. i had some coffee time with becca and some dinner with lucy. we ended up on my couch that night watching priceless--the movie that is inspiring the growing out of my hair at the moment-- in and out of sleep, totally full, and totally dehydrated and exhausted.
we woke up feeling sick! but we were in good moods. just sad to say goodbye! i miss her so much already.
i had work today and i felt a bit like i didn't get enough done... i need to use some of my day off tomorrow to get in a bit of reading/research. it sure is nice to have research to do on the kind of thing i e-mail my sister about... playing with miniatures and dollhouses! work with kids is AWESOME.
speaking of that, check out maggie's great picture of her little critters:
they are soo cute. i love calico critters. i keep my little hamster family on my tea shelf. one sits in my pretty teacup.
ah, little anthropomorphic creatures!!!!
ooo... i have to get this recipe i cooked with my friend aamna and upload it. it was this very delicious fish recipe with a TON of paprika in it and i feel so delicious right now as a result of it. her company was also delicious. food and friends are very nice.
well, i wish i hadn't had coffee in a soy freezie tonight. i am tired but mentally buzzing!
anna has to leave today. i am too sad about it to even give a good recap of her visit this weekend, so i will save that for later. right now we are lounging, marveling at our lethargy, wondering if we might be just a bit ill, eating a strange combination of foods and drinking coffee and water, and watching pollyanna. which is one the best movies ever. my family watches it every fourth of july--since hayley mills' "and crown they good with braaaaaaaaaaaaatherhood" is so moving.
we both think the best part is the cake at the bazaar.
something about hanging out with anna makes me use google in a very funny way. i basically type in the result i want instead of searching the right way. in any case, i wanted to find a recipe for this delicious cake and i think i might have hit the nail on the head thanks to this neat-looking blog!
i can't wait to give it a go--if it works out i will be a devoted reader. and i love her photo--i was just looking at a little teapot like hers at whole foods yesterday. so sweet!
well... i am sad about anna's departure, but i am glad to have a friend like anna to miss. see? i can play the glad game with the best of them...
no relation to this papermoon...but very neat!!! check it out yourself--just click the post title for the link. i want to buy something! maybe happy valentine's day to me? we'll see. i am so broke i would have to forget meals for three days to do so.
off to pre-work preparations... one day to anna!!!!
one of my favorite cookbooks of all time is a little wonder i picked up in my younger years. in fact, it was the first book i ever bought all by myself.
i was a wee little eight year old, taking my turn at the book fair in second grade. we were living in tokyo at the time, and my copy still has--among other childhood ephemera--an envelope stuck into the back cover, ripped at the top, with my papa's handwriting on the front stating my name, 2A, 'BOOK MONEY', and 2,100 yen. (which really isn't much money.)
yes, my sophisticated book of choice is Betty Crocker's NEW Boys and Girls Cookbook.
mine seems to be the 1990 reprint. the pictures are of little ugly children in 90's gear, adding their opinions to the easy recipes, which are categorized in such groups as 'super snacks and drinks', 'good morning eye openers', and 'noontime fixin's'--to name a few. i was enamored with it as a child, but i barely made ANY of the recipes--i just looked at them and thought about them. i was strange. i actually remember envying the kids on the 'test panel'. and i had their names memorized. it was a lot like my obsession (um... at 15(!) years old) with ZOOM on PBS, and all the kids on it.
in any case, i actually got the most use out it in middle school, when my taste for cooking finally went farther than melting american cheese and milk in the microwave, adding pepper, and proclaiming it salad dressing. (seriously. and i ate it.) i have made a few of the recipes many, many times...though most of the book goes unused.
the recipes i have actually used are a funny collection: -chocolate milk shake -chocolate popcorn bars -egg in a frame -big puffy pancake (this one is actually UNBELIEVABLE and a way better recipe for a german pancake than most. i will be sure to post it at some point. mmmm. i impressed many a sleepover buddy with this... in high school! andcollege!) -i <3 shortbread -big burger cake (we forced my mom to do this one) -cranberry apple sparkler -toasty hot dog roll-ups -and of course, the oh so chocolate brownies
all in all, it's actually a great book for kids. it makes everything sound easy, explains what every term means, and has pictures of almost everything--and the pictures are fairly realistic. for instance, the one pot spaghetti looks disgusting, and the vegetable soup looks appropriately bland. i treasure this little wonder.
to be honest, all the childhood reading of this book is probably responsible for my innate ability to make chili and macaroni and cheese without ever bothering to 'learn'. cute.
and here are my oh so chocolate brownies, freshly made this afternoon--off to eat them in front of some little house!!! hooray for my 23 year old childhood!!!
today was my first day on the job at my internship at the Chicago Children's Museum and it was just lovely. the women i am working with are definitely awesome, the children i will be teaching are veritable babies (so cute), and the space is spectacular. i am going to learn a lot about writing curriculum for a very unpredictable audience, and i think a lot more on top of that.
i ate lunch in the navy pier crystal gardens, watching little catholic school kids chase eachother around the palm trees. this is going to be great!
2. weather
whatever it is that has possessed God to give Chicago spring weather in february, i hope it keeps happening. i wore a blazer, and NO SCARF (or gloves!) and ballet flats today. that is UNREAL. then, after work, i went jogging again along the thawed lake, and it was amazing~! the weather has everyone smiling... i just hope it stays around a bit.
3. fake beef
i just want to talk about fake meat. i have never been really into meat--not for any high minded reason or animal rights reason, but just because it doesn't really do it for me. never has. in elementary school my favorite food answer fluctuated between 'lettuce' and 'baked potatoes' and 'soup'. (yes, i was a starving irish child.) in any case... in my adult life, i can probably count the number of times i have cooked meat on my fingers and toes. or maybe even just my fingers.
i don't worry about this AT ALL. i don't think my health is in the least affected. i eat more eggs than Gaston, and if i chance to eat out, i usually order meat because otherwise i suspect i am being ripped off. and, of course, i eat meat when i am at home with my family.
what i do cook myself occasionaly is fake meat. usually just fake beef. which is hilarious, because if i eat meat, it's usually poulty. but fake chicken is not really my style. i think i don't like the seasoning that usually goes with it. fake beef is really quite good. i love seitan, beef-style, and i love general beef substitutes (i also love tofu, but not when it's masquerading as beef).
tonight i am enjoying trader joe's beefless beef strips. one of the best things about fake meat is how cheap it is!!! it's even cheaper than the cheap meat at trader joe's! i fried mine up with mushrooms and onions and A1 and worchestire sauce and chomped it down over penne. good.
funny thing is, i can't even finish my fake meat!!!
oh my... how is it that this delicious thought never occurred to me until now?
i love grilled cheese and most people do. i pretended not to for a long time because i thought it was uncouth to enjoy fattening food. i was a lame-o. in any case, it's delicious. weekend anna and i like the grilled cheese at twin anchors* best, if we're eating out--it's ridiculous, you should eat it. but today i was so inspired and i will tell you why.
duh! half the goodness of grilled cheese is how fried and buttery (or margarine-y) it is, right? let's not kid ourselves. i don't even profess to like fried food that much--i am not one of those people who thinks the one way to make something better is to fry it up--but when it comes to something like grilled cheese the whole point is the greasy goodness. usually, grilled cheese is made of some kind of pathetic cheese like american, since the point isn't delicious cheese, but a gooey, greasy mess.
but today all i wanted to do was poke a fork into the brie i had in the fridge, cut into the wrong way and do away with the rind, and spread it like butter on bread. and that's when it occured to me! i could make a lethal grilled cheese! i have made creamed cheese grilled cheese before (awesome) and i loved the way the spreadable cheese made for a hot, thin sandwich. brie had the same effect. and for the greased up outside of the sandwich, i mixed margarine and MORE brie.
this is the most delicious heart attack i have ever had. if i hadn't eaten the whole thing in under a minute, i would post a picture. please, go make one now.
-papermoon
* twin anchors is doubly awesome because it's where return to me is filmed. which is NOT cheesy, and is probably the second best chick flick with bonnie hunt in it ever. the first is obviously only you. seriously. cinematic achievement.
it is 50 degrees, sunny, breezy, warm, and beautiful. the lake is a pristine blue sheet. i woke up in a great mood--second day in a row--to a friendly breakfast of yogurt, honey, toast, and one organic egg. my coffee was strong and i felt absolutely in love with the world. the rhinitis i had yesterday is also gone! could it be the sunshine?
i did something crazy today--i went outside and jogged. yes, i know other people run and swim and actually do taxing things to exercise, but i fell out of the habit when i realised that my motivations for working out were entirely, 100% vanity-based. so it's been a few years of lethargy for me. in any case, i was ridiculously out of shape but it was fun! and it was great to see the lake and think about the nice fact that, as out of shape as a person can get, they always have the choice to reform. (we'll see... i can't say this will be habit!)
i let myself window shop after a bit of that, walking around and in and out of things over on rush st. and such. i got a free hand treatment at some soap shop, and enjoyed some vicarious shopping at anthropologie (it's great not to have any money), and just enjoyed the smiles on everyone's faces on the street.
i stopped in to l'artisan parfumerie (my favorite perfume house) and sprayed a very floral choice all over myself for a bit of added aromatherapy... anyone who's smelled me knows i really don't wear florals (bring on the amber! tea! musk! wood! bourbon!) but this was the day for La Chasse aux Papillons. that, mixed with the sweet almond oil all over my arms from my free hand treatment, was a sweet smell of a preview of spring.
i came home and did some yoga with the windows open, and the sun streaming through onto my face, and the breeze on my toes and neck, and the sound of the wind on my building like a gently lapping set of waves had me transported to the beach. when i finished my salutation i just laid on my mat, in and out of sleep and utterly blissing out!
i don't buy jewelery (unless it's from H&M) and i am not one of those people who keeps up with clothing or jewelery or anything... but when i saw this on design*sponge this morning i just about died. all of her other things are lovely as well...but this one ripped me right out of my seat and made my palms sweaty.
in middle school, i had this fascination with the idea of engagement rings. not really engagement, per se, or rings, but engagement rings. i still think they are one of the most romantic things around, and i love that they have been something humans have done for so long. in any case, i have this thing about simplicity... and i hate whopper-of-a-diamond rings, because they lack any kind of sweetness and they would never look quaint when you're old, or when your great great granddaughter is wearing them.
i was so sure i wanted a pearl engagement ring. of course, my mom told me that would be sad, because the whole point of a diamond is that it will hold up, and my imaginary engagement ring would be liable to crack and fall apart and that would not be symbolically prudent. :)
in any case... wouldn't this take your breath away, anyway? pearls are so romantic when they are portrayed naturally (as opposed to the preppy way they are sometimes set). this ring just looks like it was born.
warning: i don't think i have ever put so many links in one post in my whole life.
hi all!
yesterday didn't allow me to blog-- i had to work on printing out a lot of work, which always leaves me in a pickle--you have to watch and tweak and adjust print settings when you are printing graphics (on nice papers) so it doesn't leave much ability to multi-task. i settled for 7 episodes of little house. i ate a lot of food, too.
in any case, as promised, i am going to get myself caught up and briefly detail leigh's visit.
leigh arrived fresh on the tail of my san fran visit, so she had a real view of my apartment: no fancy clean up job. we started off the early day with a trip over to have some brunch at my favorite little place (maybe my only favorite place?) in streeterville: the cute little café that hugs the ridiculously lovely peninsula hotel. of course, we took a little jaunt through the main floor of that decadent hotel, first. and pretended that we already owned all the fur and diamonds in the little windowboxes in the lobby. the concierge smirked at us. pierrot gourmet (as that cute little café is called) is so calm-- i really like it there. i have a lot of important memories there, in fact: my mother and i sharing a sandwich a while back when she made a visit, while i was still in college... lunch with my whole family the day before my graduation... a sad conversation i had over the phone this fall... and now i have a new memory! brunch with a dear friend of mine. :)
we followed this deliciousness up with a walk down michigan, so she could experience the magnificent mile for the first time. we hit up all the glamorous stores... H&M, Forever XXI...you know the kind. big spending. that night i made rice casserole, which is a highly delicious and very affordable food item... leigh has since made one for sister, i hear. (i will share that recipe in a post to follow.)
we topped it all off with cookies, tea, and watching our long time favorite special--'living dolls'--on youtube. it details the life of some child beauty pageant contestants, namely one Swan Brooner and her TERRIBLE mother, and nothing tops it. i recommend it highly, for the sake of this alone:
the time the two of us have wasted in pursuing this trashy documentary... it's appalling.
the next day was meant for evanston! we took the shuttle after a slow morning and got lunch with a friend of mine who happened to be free, enjoying the deliciousness of unicorn cafe, as a little peek for leigh into my college days. mmmm.... the windfall sandwich. we were so cold that we really elongated that meal--tacking on an amazing cookie. then we hopped across the street to look in at what asinimali and crossroads trading inc. had to offer. (in my case, they had an $8 banana republic sweater wrap and a $7 striped club monaco shirt to offer.) then we got a shuttle home, with plans to make some chicken stir fry.
funnily enough, we ended up being far too lazy to cook! maybe the sandwiches at unicorn are just very filling. we had a bloody mary (how crazy of us!) and some snack foods, and basically played scrabble all night instead of being normal, dinner eating people. very fun. :)
thursday was one of the museum of science and industry's free days, so we hopped into a cab and spent the day playing there. we even saw an IMAX movie about the marine life of south africa. so pretty! and we had a lot of fun with all the exhibits. i especially liked one exhibit about the internet... leigh caught me "swimming through the internet". it's a very special look for me, wouldn't you agree?
that night we had plans to meet up with leigh's uncle who lives in river north. funnily enough, i got us lost because i didn't pay attention to cardinal directions. no matter. we weren't late enough to make it problematic, and we had plenty of time to enjoy her uncle's company/beautiful apartment/delicious h'ors d'ouvres. mmmm spinach artichoke dip. he then treated us to a lovely little dinner at the exceedingly quaint la scarola. i had eggplant parmesan.
we hit the sack early because i was set to teach at galaxie the next morning. i deviated from my norm and taught a simple course this time-- 'secret stories'. i taught the basics of book folding, to enthusiastic reception. i had mostly repeat kids and a small group, so i basically got paid to chat up some nice, smart kids. they had great book ideas, too--my favorite was a girl's book--entitled 'where is the love'-- that had pictures of hearts, kissing couples, and head-over-heels-in-love faces, all of which were followed by the word "EW!!!!" hahahaha. kids are hilarious.
i came home to leigh, who having just woken up, sympathized with my comment that i was STARVING. we cooked up the neglected stir fry and enjoyed it while watching a special on scandalous pageant queens. (can i please remind everyone that is was record level freezing last week? and that i don't usually drain my brain watching people strut around in spangles?) is it bad that i can't remember what we did afterwards? what i do know is that we made tacos for dinner. and they were amazing. and this is coming from a woman who honestly could go without ground beef for the rest of her life. amazing.
saturday was lovely... we had brunch at ann sathers at my suggestion with some of leigh's friends from gwu who live around here now. (they were great fun and i hope to hang out with them again!) it was long and delicious and i had too much coffee. we followed that up with the art institute--happy hooray. i blew leigh's mind with my ranting on about contemporary art (haha) until it was nearly closing time and time for us to go home and nosh on leftovers.
which we did. a lovely combination of stir fry and italian food with some two buck chuck. (yay trader joe's.) then we headed out to hang out with the same girls we had brunch with, which was an EXCELLENT time, spent at their very homey apartment and then at fado irish pub. i sincerely enjoyed myself, partly due to the STRANGEST band ever. we could not stop laughing.
sunday was lazy! we took our time. leigh had moved her tuesday flight to monday due to weather warnings, so we just enjoyed eachother's company for most of the day, before heading off to Mass (sad! my last Mass at Holy Name for a while--there was a fire yesterday!!!) and then out to dinner. we decided to forfeit the superbowl purely so we could have more time for conversation. we had a nice dinner at bistro zinc. another place i have a lot of emotional attachment with. the food was great, the company even better.
we browsed children's books across the street at barnes & noble for a while, and then left, having bought bananagrams--my favorite game of the moment. we played into the night, and i dreaded leigh's departure the next morning!
now she's home in nj and i miss her-but what a week it was!
and as if i couldn't get any luckier with seeing friends... weekend anna is headed out here for valentine's day!!!! just when i thought i was going to have hide in a cave for the whole holiday. i love anna.
(this will be a lovely segue into my back-track through the last two weeks.)
i just got in from some errands and checked my mail, to find i had a package. i left my crocs (yes, i love crocs--i own more than one style, in fact) at my cousins', and my aunt had called for my address to mail them to me. little did i know i would get a whole package of goodies!
i love cards, and the photos were so nice, and my cousin catherine sent me a handmade potholder--and she must have ESP because it matches my stovetop perfectly! what a nice surprise, especially when a person was just about to make tea!
i can't believe it was only a little over a week ago that i flew back from san francisco. it really was, altogether, quite a vacation!
i posted just after my first day hanging out with cassie and ben, so i should fill everyone in from there. on my third day, and final day staying with the witten siblings, i had a real marathon of fun. ben and i met cassie for lunch at a potbelly's-esque sandwich shop, and then drove to napa!
i didn't realize napa was in such approachable distance, so it was quite a surprising jaunt. the driving scenery was awesome--the golden gate bridge (cassie made fun of me for calling it 'that big red bridge'), the miles of vines, the hills. very beautiful. it was rather grey out--which anyone who knows me knows i was glad about--and all the colors were really coming out. we stopped in so i could attempt sophistication with a wine tasting experience, and with the first glass, clearly not from any threat of intoxication, but only clumsiness, i toppled over some red wine. oh dear... can't take me anywhere, i guess. but it was delightful and very educational!
one of the vineyards had a lovely red barn...
that night, we all cooked dinner. and by that, i mean that cassie made (awesome) guacomole, i chopped up some sausage and some apples, and ben made risotto. so, you might say ben cooked dinner. :) it was delicious and cassie had a friend come by, and we spent the night discovering how terrible i am at blockus! i was already sad to leave--but my family had already been kind enough to extend cassie an invitation to the new baby's baptism, so that helped the goodbye feel less sad.
the next morning, bright and early, i was shuttled off to my cousin's school assembly for the chinese new year. they attend a chinese immersion school, and the assembly was very beautiful--with lovely dances and songs, and a very impressive lion dance! i wish i could have gotten a video of the large scale puppets. all three of my participating cousins did a lovely job.
i spent the rest of the weekend with the whole clan and my grandma, which was utterly lovely and relaxing. i was put in a good mood that will last a long time...it is always so nice to hang out with other big families, considering how much i love my own. and it's doubly nice when you're related, too! all of my cousins cracked me up and we had a great time playing the game i brought them--bananagrams (which i was tipped off about by the small object).
i got to eat my first dim sum (very delicious), went to my cousin patrick's indoor soccer game (cassie came, too! what a good fan!), and of course--got to see a baptism, which is always special. all in all, totally wonderful. and i got peet's coffee EVERY DAY! a big plus to being in california!
i could go on for ages, but i have a lot to do today if i want to check anything else off my list.
here's how i have done so far:
clean bathtub done
get throat blessed (feast of st. blaise) done
buy rose water done
mail comcast bill done
buy binder with clear protectors done
walk around outside for at least 20 minutes done
buy a movie at blockbuster done(ok clearly this wasn't originally on the list... but see above)
blog done
put graphics work into said binder with short write ups
i am an INFJ. i woke up to see lora off to class today and she had me take a myers brigg because she thought hers was very accurate. i laughed the whole time because every question pointed to how introverted and pig-headed i am!
and the result? it sounds pretty accurate.
INFJ
slightly expressed introvert
moderately expressed intuitive personality
moderately expressed feeling personality
very expressed judging personality
this part i excerpted is most interesting to me, because people have often described their confusion about this aspect of my personality to me:
INFJs are deeply concerned about their relations with individuals as well as the state of humanity at large. They are, in fact, sometimes mistaken for extroverts because they appear so outgoing and are so genuinely interested in people -- a product of the Feeling function they most readily show to the world. On the contrary, INFJs are true introverts, who can only be emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few from among their long-term friends, family, or obvious "soul mates." While instinctively courting the personal and organizational demands continually made upon them by others, at intervals INFJs will suddenly withdraw into themselves, sometimes shutting out even their intimates. This apparent paradox is a necessary escape valve for them, providing both time to rebuild their depleted resources and a filter to prevent the emotional overload to which they are so susceptible as inherent "givers." As a pattern of behavior, it is perhaps the most confusing aspect of the enigmatic INFJ character to outsiders, and hence the most often misunderstood -- particularly by those who have little experience with this rare type.
interesting! i was also glad to find out that michael landon was also an INFJ.
it was also nice to hear that my 'type' almost always has problems deciding what to pursue as a career because while we are very human empathy/'inspiration' oriented careers seem like a natural career, we are often such compulsive system builders so darn full of judgement that we wish we could pursue more logic-based jobs... but we almost always find hard logic highly confusing.
isn't that a nice name? becca should name her first daughter that. and her daughter can live on breakfast delights. i for one will send miss rebecca some pancakes instead of flowers when she gives birth to her little lulabecca.
i should explain.
my friend becca and i always go to brunch. it's just what we do. if we are hanging out, brunching is likely to be the thing. it's very fun, and we have very serious patterns. becca orders a savory sandwich, often with something like avocado or chipotle sauce involved, and i pretend to be debating what to order until i get a LOT of coffee and the most immature pancake-like sweet thing on the menu. i usually bring my own benefiber to dump into the drinking water. clever. classy.
today we did something new: LUNCH. it was highly spur of the moment and i think we were both amused that it even came together. we'd both gotten up early and had a good portion of coffee, and i think we both must have been struck by how sunny it was outside. becca texted me right when i was about to melt away and do nothing for hours and not shower at all. (secret: i still didn't shower.) so it was good timing. i threw on some clothes and cleaned up my room before i left for her location of choice: lula cafe in logan square.
it was very chi chi!
but not that expensive, relatively speaking. the decor was simple, done in sage green and burgundy, and we both liked the simple photography and prints on the walls. our table was on a slightly raised platform (think kafein in evanston) and it was made of slate grey marble. the waiters were very coiffed and the company of diners were older than us and a bit art history department looking. the whole bit is organic and quite local and sustainable, which is nice to have in a restaraunt.
i got a BLT (i love bacon oh i do) and becca had a nice grilled up sprouty turkey sandwich. we chatted in the sunlight and then wandered off to our days. i for one didn't accomplish much, but i felt more structured because i left the apartment.
good times.
tomorrow i will post with some backtracking, considering i left off on san francisco after day one. yipe!
sorry about that-- the culmination of the trip to san francisco, and then a visit to chicago from a dear friend this last week has meant non-stop action lately. i have lots to say, and i will be sure to compensate for my absence with tons of posts this week.
on another note, i just finished bawling over this beautiful song by Flipsyde's "The Piper". I am not usually a rap fan, but this is a very unique song, and a very honorable move on his part. I bought the single because he deserves that support.
