Week 2: Being a Cheesy Tourist

My mom came to town yesterday, and you know what that means:

1) More or less free food and shopping

AND

2) A perfectly good excuse to be a cheesy tourist!

My mom has never been to Chicago except in passing, and now she is completely in love with it.  Why wouldn’t she be?  So far we have been to Millennium Park, Willis Tower, shopping on Michigan Ave, Buckingham Fountain, and Gino’s East.  The weather has been excellent and no major crises have occurred, like getting lost or not being able to find a bathroom when you oh-so-badly need one.

Oh, and we also saw the new Marilyn Monroe statue, the one where she’s in the white dress standing over a heating grate, which is delightful, and yes, you can totally see her white lace undies.

I know you were all wondering.

But it would have been embarrassing to take a picture from that angle, so here is a decent one from the front:

And here’s my snapshot of the city from the top of the tower, which I would secretly like to put on a postcard.

Now I have to ask a question about Gino’s.  Why is it the supposed best pizza ever?  Is it the crust?  The sauce?  The cheese UNDER the sauce?

Because I thought it was delicious, but not necessarily the BEST PIZZA I HAVE EVER TASTED.

Am I missing something?

Or am I just spoiled by the outrageously good pizza that Black Cherry makes from scratch?

Question of the Day: #71

How are you supposed to respond to “you haven’t changed a bit!”?

I hear people say it a lot, and it always seems awkward.  If you haven’t seen me since I was 16, I would hope that I don’t look 16 anymore.

I guess when you say it to old people, it’s a compliment of sorts, but I think that even if I were old I’d want to have something to show for it.

I would want to know that I had changed a LITTLE bit.  Wouldn’t it be awful to go to your high school reunion and have everyone tell you that you were the exact same as they remembered you?

Do you really want to still be the person you were in HIGH SCHOOL?

On another note, I went to go find Lincoln Park yesterday and it was very worth it, but very exhausting.  On the plus side I will never have to go to the gym here, since I have to walk half a mile just to get to my train station.

I was on the BEACH, people!  Do you hear me?  The BEACH!!!!

This excites me very much.

Why Being a Cubs Fan is Great for People Who Don’t Understand Baseball

My dad took me to two Cubs games when he helped me move here, and this was after I initially begged off going to the second one.  I don’t really follow sports and baseball has too many rules for me to keep track of, so I was pretty sure that one game would be all I could handle. 

However, being a Cubs fan can be very rewarding even if you don’t understand what’s happening on the field. 

The number one reason is that they aren’t that hard to keep track of.  If you don’t know anything about the Cubs, you probably still know that they don’t win a heck of a lot and haven’t won a World Series in, like, a hundred years. 

Personally, I love to root for the underdog, so being a Cubs fan is easy for me in that respect.

Also, I’m pretty sure that Chris Thile (that’s pronounced TEE-lee) of Nickel Creek fame is a Cubs fan. 



How can you disagree with this guy?

photo by Cassandra Jenkins



Also, cubs are young bears, which are:

1)       Baby animals.

2)      Adorable.

Win-win.  Have you ever seen anything cuter?  Before its mother ate your face off?  I didn’t think so.

photo by beingmyself

Go Cubs Go.

File 1: I'm Here!

Here are some things about Chicago:

Its name comes from a Native American word meaning “wild garlic.”

It has 552 parks.

It’s known for pizza, gangsters, and Harry Caray.

It is awesome.

Here are some things about me:

I don’t eat bananas.

I’m going to be in school for the rest of my life because there are too many things to learn.

I got most of that stuff about Chicago from Wikipedia.

I’m awesome sometimes.

Anyway, I just moved to this city and fully expect to be inspired and weirded out by it, both at the same time.  Like today, I rode the train down (up?) to the Loop, and the water in the river was so sparkly and pretty (someday I’ll know which river it was—Chicago?  Calumet?), and later I saw this old lady walk out in the street and stand patiently in the middle of traffic until she could get all the way across, and I was like…all of this is normal.

That lady had guts, I’ll tell you what.

I don’t ever want Chicago to be entirely normal to me though, so this blog is just intended to capture the fact that I am in love with the city and totally naïve about it.  OMG, I can’t figure out the trains!  How romantic!

Just kidding, that part is super annoying. 

But the sun on the river is still romantic. 

And so is this place:

That’s the Chicago Public Library, if you can’t tell.  I know I kind of caught too much sun in that photo.

More to come later, y’all.