More Merriment

After that excitement, I was blessed with more company! My friends Bri and Alisha (college roomies) and Jenna (from high school) came out for the weekend to see Janice and I! Here we are one of the many times we used CTA :)Their big Chicago welcome was an appointment at a massage school for an hour massage! There were only 3 openings in their schedule so I missed out this luxury but an hour later I picked them up smelling all eucalyptus and minty fresh. When Janice got off work we went down to Buca di Beppos for their Dolce Platter: 4 desserts, the huge chocolate cake, homemade raspberry cheesecake, tiramisu, and apple crostata! The waiter was skeptical in thinking we five girls could finish it all but have no fear, they were all sooo good! From there we went up to the game bar. This time we got a table and it was on the porch! That made my night, to be sitting basically outside with good friends and a good game while being served food and drink. It felt like we were at someone's house rather than a bar.. I love spring! We played a game called Loaded Questions and ordered pizza and had a ton of laughs.

Random aside: On Thursday night when I got back from the Bakers, Susan and I stayed up until about 3:30 just talking and being 'too excited to sleep.' I later got mad at ourselves for having gone to bed then! We could have waited one hour longer and been awake during the 5.2 magnitude earthquake! As it was I was apparently so dead tired that it did not phase me... Janice however had a dream that there was an earthquake (which later in the dream turned to a fire, but that is beside the point..) The Chicago Trib was talking to her when they put this on the front page:

"Nope, you weren't dreaming (that was an earthquake.)"

Saturday was forecasted to rain, but luckily we found a few hours between to do some sightseeing outside. We walked around in Millennium Park of course, the bean is a must-see/ must-take-picture-with in Chicago. Jenna and I also got our picture in front of 'our' pub. We had Ed Debevic's for lunch. This 50s style diner is known for its rude staff, so I guess you have to be in the right mood and then its funny. They threw the sailor-looking hats they give you right into our faces and threw the menus on the table. Basically every comment made was just really short and they often tried to dis us in other ways. I had the unfortunate seat in a chair at the end of a booth, each time one of the waiters walked by I got bumped or 'butt in the face' comments. They made a really good hamburger though! And they did the YMCA dance for us on tables, what else could you ask for?! A nap. We came back and lazed about for a few hours, some napping, some chatting, a lot of chillin, before going out to eat again! The only Costa Rican restaurant in Chicago, Irazu, is another must-do on my list. Janice and I had gone in January when I first got here with some other kids from the program, and it was so good I wanted to go again! I had a delicious steak, white rice and black beans, and plantains and a guanabana shake... I could eat there daily. Bri got the aveno shake, aka oatmeal, I'd recommend that one. Its a fun atmosphere too, the entry way is too small for its popularity and seating is one smaller room with the large mural wall of a small costa rican house and greenery. It is worth the wait though, and the staff of this family owned restaurant, are all very funny and friendly :)
Back at the apartment we watched one of my favorite movies, Juno, before going to the iO theater for the $5 midnight sketch, Klusterphuck. This improv group is very random and fast-paced. They came out on stage all doing their own scene on top of each others voices, and they would switch scenes so quickly you could almost overlook that they had done it. It was really funny, and my only complaint would be that it was far too short at under an hour. Around 2 we all made our way to bed in the living room, 5 girls sleeping on the floor with two open beds in the other room :)