Spent the weekend in Chicago

On Thursday, rain pelted the roof and wind rocked the casbah, resulting in mass power failure for many of the local states. 2/3, possibly 3/4 of Kalamazoo County was without power, including yours truly.

Luckily, my parents have a generator and while I bravely perservered through no A/C, sweat on my brow and determination in my stance, I opted out of suffering and hitched a ride to Chicago with one of my college friends.

Much conversation and traffic later, we arrived at our other friend's condo, a super cute, hi-tech place in Boystown. While there, we jazzed around town, spending too much money and eating great food.

Portillo's http://www.portillos.com/ - A Chicago favorite, I recommend their burgers and the onion rings weren't half bad either.

Pasta Bowl http://www.pastabowl.com/ - Truly a must for Fettucini Alfredo lovers. Mmm Mmm Good.

Lincoln Square is a quaint area for shopping, including a fun little bookstore called the Book Cellar. http://www.bookcellarinc.com/ I love book super stores where I can find almost anything, but this little place made me wonder what it would be like to own a small store, consciously hemming and hawing over every little book you picked to stock. What fun!

A great little store with a little of everything is Eclecticity http://www.eclec.com/ - Where I bought a writing game to help with those trouble spots. I look forward to cracking it open and letting the juices flow.

My girls and I played a game called Moods, where it isn't what you say, but how you say it. Anyone who is a fan of improv or acting, or just likes a case of the sillies, try this game. Truly a Zany experience.

My hitched ride stayed an extra day and then continued their trip cross country, so I bopped onto and train and with the help of a mellow massage therapist from San Diego, enjoyed the slightly prolonged 2.5 hours back to Kalamazoo.