Chicago 4 of 6: Naperbille and the Tivoli

So Friday was a wonderful day. Again I rolled out of bed a little after 8. Time changes always take a toll on me. And I had been eating a ton of food, so rolling out of bed makes a lot of sense. I think both the BFF and I were a little tuckered out so we lounged around for a bit downstairs. We watched more episodes of Psych. Seriously, I am a Psych convert. Love it. We went to Wal-mart to exchange a movie I brought for the BFF. I made a huge gamble on whether she had bought it or not. Good thing I’m not a real gambler. I think I would be in trouble. In trouble and very destitute.

Anyway, while the BFF was getting ready, I decided to do little Addie’s hair in French braids. She was a dream to work with. Seriously. She just sat there and let me do it. My mom fusses more when I do her than Addie did. So there we were, her in her little rocking chair that the BFF had just bought from TJ Maxx (She is very proud of the purchase, which she should be, because it is adorable. And she apparently really likes TJ Maxx (you know I had to put that in there)) and I was doing her hair in little piggies. I loved it. I loved how cute she looked afterward. I loved how she said “Thang you.” I fell even more in love with that little doll.

About twenty or so minutes from Downer’s Grove, the BFF’s neighborhood, is another suburb called Naperville. Or, as pronounced by Miss Addie, “Naperbille.” I wish you could hear her voice when she says it. So darling. We drove down there to walk around. Talk about a place dripping in charm! We walked across the bridge which reminded me so much of the bridge in Anne of Green Gables. I love that book. And then Annalisa confessed that she had finally watched the movies. (“How could you have been friends for so long and you hadn’t made her watch it?!” Greg wanted to know. BFFs are sometimes flawed).
Then we walked around the cute quaint little downtown. Seriously. It reminded me a little bit of Gilmore Girls. And Annalisa and I used to watch Gilmore Girls together. So it was doubly fun. We ate a pizzeria and got deep dish pizza. Talk about delicious. I love cheese. And I love bread. So it is a perfect combination. Besides, isn’t deep dish pizza a Chicago tradition? I know the picture makes it look not delicious, but believe you me, it really is.

Then, as we all know I ALWAYS have room for ice cream. So we went and got gelato. I can’t believe I thought I was living before I tried that gelato. I had it before, but I must have forgotten about it. If you have never had gelato, you haven’t really lived. And I would hate to waste my life. So I will be eating more gelato. We walked around a bit more and after Addie decided that she was ready to go home, we went.

We puttered around a bit more at home and then headed off to Trader Joe’s. Seriously, why can’t we have a Trader Joe’s here? Probably because I would waste all my take home pay on chocolaty things I would probably scarf down while I was reading and not really enjoy it… That’s why.

The whole time I was in Chicago, Addie had a fascination with looking through all my things. I was tired after Trader Joe’s (or was it before? I don’t remember…), so I decided to lie on my bed and supervise while she was going through it all. Then Annalisa came in and we started talking. Addie decided that coming up on the bed with us was more fun so she grabbed a book and came on up. She has become a regular parrot repeating everything she hears. Annalisa said something to which I replied, “Whatever.” Still looking at her book Addie just said, “Whatebber.” I love little kid lisps! And I think that became a catchphrase for the rest of the trip. Probably the rest of my life. Oh and just one more funny thing about Addie. She was wearing the cutest little dress. Annalisa had to change her diaper and before she could get the new one on her, Addie jumped up and ran away with her dress tucked up in her little cheeks. I am laughing about that as I type. It just reminded me of Calvin and Hobbs.

So, have I mentioned that the BFF is a magnificent cook? Well she is. And she made dinner again. It was a delicious crock pot roast on sandwiches. I couldn’t find the recipe on the cooking blog, but there are tons of other ones on there. And by the way, they are having a giveaway, so you will want to go on over there anyway. Mcconkiemenu.blogspot.com. It was heavenly. And filling too.

Greggamous put lil’ Addie to bed and Annalisa and I headed over to the Tivoli movie theater. Oh. My. Heck. This is not your run of the mill mega-plex folks. This is a real old fashioned movie theater with one screen. It has the chandeliers and the medallions on the ceiling and red velvet curtains and red velvet seats. How I love red velvet seats! It makes for a real movie experience! Even if we hadn’t seen a show and just went and sat there for an hour and a half, I would have loved it. But we did see a movie: Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. Now I know I have said that I am a sucker for a series, but I have not yet read Percy Jackson. Which I think is a good thing because then I had nothing to compare the movie to. It was entertaining but really had a lot of holes, but if you are looking for an entertaining ‘tween fantasy, then by all means you should watch it!