Shopping and Friends-Making

Oh my god you guys!  Today I went shopping!  And it was like, so fun!  It was the funnest day ever!

Okay, it wasn’t the funnest, but it was fun.  I actually went out with people, people being my coworker and a friend of hers, which was a big deal because being social is a concept that usually makes me want to curl up and hide in bed with my Facebook and my Hulu Plus.  I am one of those awful Tech Generation people that old folks complain about: great at interacting behind the safety of the internet, then freezing up and being a weirdo in person.

Anyway!  You didn’t want to know that.  The point is that my two shopping buddies are really nice, outgoing ladies who put me right at ease, and we headed to DSW and Marshall’s and places like that for, I don’t know, a good seven hours.

Holy guacamole.  I am not a recreational shopper.  I don’t understand the appeal.  Today was a lot of fun, but I don’t shop for fun regularly.  It is exhausting! 

Also, here is where we went for lunch.  Mmm, I love Thai food. 

While we ate, we got to be entertained by the restaurant owner tacking a giant spider web on the wall, and attaching a several-feet-long-in-diameter stuffed tarantula to it.

We were also entertained by the bar hoppers running (literally running) past the windows in Halloween costumes, as part of a pub scavenger hunt.

When we walked out, they asked if any of us could turn our eyelids inside out.  That was one of the scavenger hunt items.

We had to disappoint them, however.

Later we got frozen yogurt at Red Mango, and wandered around a tiny mall on Clark Street until I collapsed on a chair and declared that I must go home. 

So, my first official foray in social life in Chicago was a success.  Next week, apparently, I’m going to a housewarming party.

I will keep you updated on how long it takes for me to wind up hyperventilating in the bathroom.