Chicago Nights Out

This past weekend, we decided to be adventurous.  Okay, not exactly, but we did finally decide to get out of the house for the majority of the weekend.  


Friday night's pleasure?  Dinner and a movie with family, except we refused to make it "ordinary".  We hit up a new restaurant/bar just one block south of Wabash and Roosevelt.  It's called The Scout and the general manager lives next door to us so we had been trying to go for weeks.  It just opened and there is a lot about which to brag.  The general idea?  Think Champps but more designer.  Covering the walls are huge flat screen TVs and the atmosphere is noisy and upbeat, but the food is anything but what you're expecting.  Classic American fare has been given a makeover. Now, you're not just buying a grilled cheese sandwich, you're buying a foot-long grilled cheese with a side of tomato basil soup for your dipping pleasure.  And, oh, was that bacon and jalepeños you wanted in there?  No problem!  I'm sorry, you wanted sweet potato fries instead?  You got it!  What about black bean burgers or flat bread pizzas?  So wonderful!  An absolute MUST for Chicagoans.


After dinner, what movie did we see?  The Lion King, of course!  It's only out for a few weeks and since it's, hands down, one of the best Disney movies, we absolutely made sure to see it.  And in 3-D at that!  Does it get any better than seeing a big Mufasa and giant elephants cross the screen?  Oh, it does.  The opening scene makes the entire movie, and we almost thought we'd miss it!  We literally ran to the theater to make it in time.  Forget previews, we wanted to see the "Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba!" part, we the sun rises and Simba's about to be held up to the parting clouds.  HELLLLOOOOOOO!!!!!! Best part EVER!  And, yes, we made it literally as the sun was coming up.  We sat down.  Sun rose.  It was perfect.  And what we even cooler, now that we're adults, we actually understood all the adult jokes and subtle hints / cultural references.


And for those of you were are sitting there going, "Please, like I would go see that movie as an adult" (in which case, I'm close to certain you are the minority.  It's amazing), the entire theater, save a few kids, was all adults.  Yup.  Old school Disney movies are like our drug.  Who wouldn't want to be reminded of all the things they loved as a child, or laugh at all the jokes they missed, and see the parts again that sparked the creation of one of the coolest Super Nintendo games they played as a kid.  I certainly enjoyed it!  


So yes, two "must do"s for this weekend, especially because, after this weekend, one of them will no longer be available. 

K1043

Chicago has revised its radio stations.  It's killed Q101 and has changed 104.3 multiple times, the latest was Jack FM before it became K1043, which is what it is now.  I always listened to it here and there, but it was never a super favorite of my pre-sets.


Well, things have changed.  Eddie and Jobo (anyone remember them from the old B96?) host the morning show and they can be fun.  They have the senseless phone call where they call up some random business and spout of random stupidities until the person hangs up.  It's things like "If a smoke detector detects heat, wouldn't putting popcorn on the ceiling do the same thing?"


However, the best part?  The music!  I'm suddenly obsessed with the music selection they have.  They've played "kyrie" by Mister Mister, "The Motown Song" by Rod Stewart, which, by the way, I'm OBSESSED WITH!  I roll the windows down and crank that puppy like an obnoxious high school kid!  Love it!  And, listening to it in the morning seriously puts me in the best of moods.


So, although Chicago has notoriously messed up multiple "staple" radio stations and has others that just play the same thing over and over, this station has been a wonderful breath of fresh air.  I just wonder what song I'll be jamming to tomorrow.  

A Quick Catch-Up

My goodness.  I have been MIA for quite sometime now.  So sorry and that's totally unfair to all of you.  I won't make excuses, but I have been busy and there is lots on which to catch you up!  Let's get started.


1)  MUST SEE Apparently there is new fashion in town, and Starbucks is heading the way.  Unfortunately, I think it may be for the worse.  I guess they're trying to make coffee stains fashionable.  Now, I may not be a fashionista, although I do love me some BCBG, J Crew, and Arden B, but even I know this is a step in the very wrong direction.  It's almost as bad as their introduction of the "treinta" sized coffee cup.


2) True Blood.  O.M.G.  This show is amazing and I'm admittedly hooked.  Granted, if it weren't for the fact that I have them on DVD and can breeze through all the seasons I probably would have given up.  It took until episode 7 to become addicted, and if I had to deal with commercials and waiting a week between episodes, they would have lost me.  However, I happily admit I am a Sookie and Bill addict, obsessed with Eric, and completely terrified by the concept or idea of watching them alone at night.  Still, on to season three!


3)  Band of Brothers.  Yes, I am WAY behind on the band wagon on this one.  Just started watching the DVDs and they really are everything the hype suggested.  They are not only moving and emotional, but they are historically wonderful and completely educational.  What a great thing for a history class.  It certainly would have peaked my interest.


4)  FALL IS HERE!!!! Love love LOOOOOVE this season.  It makes me want to snuggle up with someone by the fire, play in the leaves and drink Pumpkin Spice Lattes.  Yum.  Plus squash is in season again and I am just one overly happy camper...except, absolutely and without the camping equipment.


*Phew*  We made it.  A quick upkeep, a little housecleaning, and I sincerely hope that everyone is outside enjoying this amazingly beautiful weather we are having.  We may have had one rainy and overly hot spring and summer, but mother nature is definitely taking a break and providing us with a wonderful fall. I couldn't ask for a better September.

Cubbies!!!

About a week ago, I managed to make my way over to a major league baseball game – yes, that means in person! – and it is something I have not done for quite some time.  To be honest, the last one I remember attending was four years ago.  What does that tell you?


I'm not a "sider", aka Northsider or Southsider, although my dad would kill me for saying that as he is a die hard Sox fan.  This time, however, it was a Cubs game that won over my Tuesday night.  


Considering the crazy Chicago weather, as of late, I was happy to find the weather for the first Tuesday of September was encouraging for a baseball game: cool and no clouds.  It was great, albeit a little chilly near the end when we decided to head home after the 7th inning, but still, good weather.  I did find it amusing, though, that while so much of life around us has changed so quickly in the last decade, life of the baseball game has not.  Everyone was still buying their beer and hotdogs, massive fountain drinks and bags of peanuts.  Most people intently watched the game and even brought blankets and "pillows" to sit on instead of the uncomfortable bleacher seats or stadium chairs.  If you're not a super big baseball fan it's still a fairly long night, and the Cub's scoreboard is still changed by hand.  Aaaah, the olden days.


And, despite the fact that I'm a bit of a health nut, I found myself salivating at the idea of a deep dish pizza or chicken fingers or full bag of peanuts.  The reality of their insanely high costs kept me from overindulging, but it was so funny to watch myself revert so quickly to my childhood comforts.  It was as though the smell of food in the air and the atmosphere of people lounging to watch something made me want to eat.  ... I think that's an American thing.  I had to remind myself that I was only there for two hours, and that for a mere two hours I would be okay without food or gorging myself.  In Europe, at soccer games, you don't buy mountains of food.  You can bring your own if you want or you just wait out the few hours that the teams play and then head to a pub afterwards for drinks and grub.  But, alas, that's not American culture, and it was nostalgic almost, watching myself get re-sucked up into everything I remembered about baseball games as a kid.  I may have changed in the course of ten years, but stadiums and their offerings have remained quite on par.

T-Shirts Your Way

So many things today are made-to-order.  Even recently on Yahoo!news (are you seeing a pattern?  This is where I get my news) there was an article about how traditional family-style, casual-dining restaurants are struggling.  The reason?  My generation is boycotting.  We want things the way we want them.  That is why fast-food places like Five Guys Burgers, Chipotle, Panera Bread, etc are doing so well.  They offer up quick food made-to-order.  We would rather go there than Applebees, Friday's, or Ruby Tuesdays.  We go for the more "boutiquey" restaurants.

So, then it would make sense that I saw a new form of "deli" yesterday while walking around Wicker Park, Chicago.  It's called the T-Shirt Deli, and it's just like what it sounds: customizable t-shirts, made-to-order, just like ordering a deli sandwich.  It's very cool, but you walk in and have to do a double-take because your body instinctively knows you're in a deli, but your brain is confused because instead of meats and cheeses you see t-shirts and decals.  

And, all of it is made-to-order.  Pick your t-shirt style, color, and size, decide if you want letters, a decal, or your own decide, order up, and voilá:  your own personal t-shirt!  So, for your next walk-a-thon, party, promotional event, or just personal desire to have a noticeable t-shirt, make your way Chicago-side. Then maybe head over to the Chipotle a few feet further south for a customized lunch.

When Movies Echo Your Life

I love movies.  You probably have already realized that, but I do.  I've also been known to interject movie lines seamlessly into conversation, but that only works well when the person on the receiving end has seen the movie and picks up on the joke or reference.


Now that school is back in session and we just went through the explosion of Office Max and Target / Kohl's commercials, I couldn't help but think of the movie, "You've Got Mail".  Remember that movie?  It was the dot-com version of Sleepless in Seattle.  Between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, I was in love.  Plus, I'm a hopeless romantic, so of course I was bound to like it.


However, the reason it popped into my head was because with all the back to school advertisements, I couldn't help but think of the line Tom Hanks writes to Meg:  "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."  Aaaaah, fall romance.  Personally, real roses are fine with me, but I just love that that line still pops into my head, like clockwork.  Additionally, I love it when someone understand the reference I have just made when I use it in conversation.  That's the even more enjoyable part.


So, cheers to movie quotes and changing seasons.  They should always go hand in hand.