On Friday the 29th of May, I left Amanda’s I headed to my friend Patrick’s place. It was lovely to go to his place and he was very excited to see me! There is nothing nicer than feeling like someone had been actively planning things to do when you arrived and he was really excited to show me around his city! On the Friday, it was cold and rainy, so I had a much needed day of recovery and did a whole lot of nothing, which anyone who knows me, I need every now and then! Its my mental sanity time.

But it was back to catching up with old friends on the Saturday. I headed into the city to meet Janet Markelz and I caught the ‘L’ all on my own…very proud of myself! I had a beautiful lunch with her on Michigan Ave at an American style restaurant called Bandera Restaurant. I tried cornbread…not a fan unfortunately. But the rest of the food was amazing! We both enjoyed a couple of margaritas as well. Unfortunately, it was the coldest and most miserable day yet but we still had a great time. After lunch we went down to the river and went for a quick ride on her new husbands water taxi, which he is the captain of. It was a bit of a bummer that the weather wasn’t nicer, but what can you do?

After this, Janet and I parted ways and I caught the L home as well back to Pat’s place. That evening I got to meet Patrick’s lady friend, Chelsea and we went to one of her friends house to watch the Black Hawks hockey game on this guys HUGE projector TV. Not bad viewing! After this we went for a few drinks to a local watering hole which also served pizza all night! Pretty awesome. It was really fun to meet some new people, in between reconnecting with old friends.

On the Sunday, I was finally able to catch up with my old buddy and his new partner Nikki. We met at Patricks house, and then the four of us headed to Patrick’s place of work, called J Parker. It’s a beautiful roof top bar and we spent the early afternoon there and Patrick made it his mission to create new cocktails for us! Haha! Patrick’s lady friend also met us there to say hello. It was a great day, and it just got better when Mike, Nikki and I went for lunch to chat and hangout. It was a bummer that I only got to catch up with him just once, but they have grown up lives now! 😀 Plus I was crazy busy as well. I hope I get to see him again while I’m still in the country.

The next day would probably have to be one of my favourite days in Chicago. The weather came good and Pat and I headed out to play Bocce!! It was so much fun. The atmosphere was awesome and it was filled by industry people celebrating their hospitality weekend (Monday and Tuesday). The rules of the game state that you must have a drink in hand at all times! Pretty festive don’t you say!? The place was decked out with the cutest red and white umbrellas and picnic tables, where people were eating, drinking and being merry. It was just an great atmosphere. Chelsea also met us for a game and after this we headed out to the best food I ate while in town at a place called Longman and Eagle. We had one of the best steak tar tars I’ve ever had! It was awesome to hang out with Patrick, as we are both huge foodies and had an appreciation for good food!

Tuesday was more chilled, but in the afternoon I headed into the city to catch the Metra/the train back to Joliet, IL for the evening to spend the night at Janet’s place. It was really lovely of Janet to offer me a bed at her place for a night, as I had been on a couch for a while! Really makes you appreciate a real bed, when couch surfing. I tagged along to one of her Mary K meetings where I got to play with a little make up, which is always fun! It was cool to see Janet in her element! She is very into Mary K these days and I was lucky enough to get to take home a mascara which was very needed and very much appreciated! After this I got to go to Taco Bell and finally quench my craving that I’d have for 6 years…and it was as good as I remember. Although hopefully I can now hold off for another 6 years! HAHA. I’m glad that I got to hang out with her more than once while I was in the city.

I also spent my Wednesday morning in Joliet applying for my social security number! I had a few minor hiccups, because those kinds of things cannot ever go as you think they will. But after a couple of hours, it was all done and dusted! So yay! I can now work in the USA. 😀 After that was all finished, I then caught the train back to the city and stuck around for a while. Treating myself to a day in the city. I had a quick flat bread for lunch, and then proceeded to spend the rest of the day in the city, exploring, checking out all the areas I remember and doing a cheeky bit of shopping! ;D I definitely visited my most missed store, H & M, all three stories of it! 😀 😀

Well, Thursday was my last full day at Pat’s and we decided to go out for lunch to one of his favourite places, where we got some shameless American food, which came in baskets and on paper, and my burger came with the classic weird potato chips instead of fries…I never got used to that last time and probably won’t get used to them this time. But we had a good long chat and digested the food with a shot of sambuca. Each. He doesn’t do things by halves. So my stay with him ended on the highest note!

It was on Friday that I left, catching the train in the early afternoon, to head to St Louis, MO. But Ill end it there. Next instalment coming soon!

xoxox