Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Chicago 3 of 6: Polish Food and Cantigny Gardens

I forgot to mention yesterday that I got about a million phone calls regarding the sale of Beyonce posted on KSL. Mean April Fool’s joke. Alana and Steve will get theirs. We all have a year to plan it. They put up my brother’s, two of my sisters’ and my car for sale, another brother’s pugs, another brother’s dog, and my dad’s chickens for sale. The chickens got the most calls…

Anyway, I rolled out of bed around 8:00, which felt like 7:00, which is earlier than I get up on regular days. I was sleepy. But the BFF and little Addi-kins had been up for a long time. We fancied a work out so we went to the local YMCA. It’s actually a gym. Did you know that? I didn’t. I thought it was a place where they hold scrabble tournaments and other such things. But no, a gym it is. And a gym with state of the art equipment. I couldn’t figure out how to get my treadmill to start because there were so many colors and buttons to push, but I think I preferred it to my own gym… As I was walking (I blame it on a bum knee that I can’t run, but maybe I just hate it?), I read more of The Hunger Games. Seriously, this book had me all wrapped around it’s little pages. Now reading and walking is not dangerous like eating and reading, well, as long as it’s on a treadmill and not actually walking anywhere…
We got done at the YMCA and headed home, got cleaned up,and headed off to a store called Michaels. Guess what they had? Polish stuff! I was so excited! I grabbed a bunch of Kubus, zurek soup, milka chocolate bars, princessa bars, pierniczki, delicji, and some other things. I seriously was a kid in the candy store. I have the best BFF for taking me there. Oh and by the way, today is the four year anniversary of my being back from Poland. Anyway, then we went and got some delicious sandwiches from a sub shop. I can’t remember what it’s called but boy howdy they were delicious! We met Greg (the hub) at his school and ate with him. He likes to hassle me. Addie was so cute running around and playing with him and I realized that the BFF has the cutest little family I have ever seen. She and the hub really are a perfect match. They just complement each other perfectly. And they are such great parents. That kid will always know how much they love her, and each other at that.

Anyway, Greggy-Pants had to go to class so we went to Target to find a sweater of Annalisa’s that I coveted. Didn’t find the sweater but I walked away with a different sweater, a hat, shirt, and Sherlock Holmes (I love that movie!). I tend to buy a lot of stuff when I’m on vacation… But it was in my budget!

Well, then we drove out to Cantigny Gardens. Um, hello! It was so beautiful! It was the estate of Robert McCormick who was an editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. He left his estate as a public garden and museum so everyone could enjoy it. Nothing was blooming, but there were trees everywhere and the grass was so green. Gorgeous. Addie had a great time too. We let her out of the stroller and she sat down on the path and started making piles of rocks. She’s such a hilarious little kid.
We walked after a bit around a little pond. Addie was standing on the ledge when Annalisa told her to get down. Then the BFF picked up a stick and walked over to what looked like a mushroom growing in the water with pond scum skirting it. She started poking it and I leaned in from the path to get a better look. It was pretty squishy and I really wanted to know what it was. So I told her to flip it over. As she was trying to turn it, she realized it was a dead animal. So disgusting! I screamed and beat feet out of there with Annalisa and Addie trailing behind me. I have never been an animal lover…

Well, we were getting tired and it was time to head out. Addie was plumb worn out. See?

We got home and made dinner. Sweet and sour chicken. Divine! We had a really fun time at dinner, put Addie to bed, and Greg went downstairs to study. So of course the BFF and I HAD to go get ice cream at the parlor around the block. I ALWAYS have room for ice cream! Besides, we had to walk there, so that cancels out the bad things, right? We came back to the house and watched a few episodes of Psych. This is one of my new favorite shows. It is just perfect for me! I love crime shows, I love slap stick humor, and I love Shawn and Gus. Besides, they have about a million movie references so it’s a perfect fit. If you haven’t watched it, watch it. You just might love it. I was really tired so of course I fell asleep. And then I woke up telling Annalisa that I, in fact, was not sleeping, to which she replied that she never accused me of sleeping. I incriminated myself. So we decided it was time to go to bed. We got ready for bed, I shut my door pretty loudly apparently because it woke up Addie. Sorry Annalisa and Greg! But then I was wide awake after that, so I read the rest of The Hunger Games. I was gripped till the very end. And then I had really weird and gory dreams. But reading the book was worth it.

3 comments:

Alana said...

i absolutely love that last pic of addie. so cute. and sweet n sour chicken! we are having that tonight! im so excited!

annalisa said...

I love that last picture! I will have to steal it when I eventually get around to posting. :) That was such a fun day. I lubbed it.

Josh and Anna said...

Blog post overload!
1. Let me know how The Hunger Games is, I have been thinking about reading it.
2. The sweet and sour chicken looks awesome!
3. I'm still giggling about the KSL prank. Maybe I wouldn't be if it were my Beyonce that was posted:)