Hot Mix 5 house party!

With softball during the week, I've noticed how time flies so quickly!  My birthday is coming up this weekend and I don't have any plans!  It falls on Father's Day Sunday, so I wasn't planning on doing anything special but spending it with family.  The past couple of years, my birthday was surrounded by so much sadness.  It wasn't by choice, trust me!  Sometimes I felt guilty to celebrate because of the things that were happening around me. 
But that's life.  You can't help what goes on.  Now more than ever, with the incidents involving Orlando in general (shooting of The Voice's singer Christina Grimmie; the mass shooting of Pulse Nightclub; 2 year old toddler at Walt Disney Resort), it's difficult to celebrate again.  I rather be with my friends and family who I love dearly and reflect on the fact I made it to another year of life.
If there's anything that these incidents have proven to me is tomorrow is never guaranteed.
With that in mind, I would like to reflect on last weekend.  I was going to celebrate a friend's birthday at the Hot Mix 5 house party at Mc Cormick Place.  I knew it was an all day event, so I figured I'll get some chores done first.  It was a very HOT Saturday, which is why I chose to preserve my energy for the evening.  I snuck in a workout, showered up, when one of my friends suggested to meet up at the Wells Street Art Festival in Old Town.  She initially said to meet around 4pm.  Seemed doable to me.  Off I went to Old Town!



My kind of cats!  lol

The Wells Street Art Festival is located on Wells between North Avenue and Division.  It's one of the most popular neighborhood festivals Chicago has to offer.  With over 200 artists displaying their work of eclectic art, you'll be sure to find some eye-catching handiwork.  I always have a good time, so I didn't want to miss this opportunity to go with my friends.  But once I arrived, the time changed to meeting up around 5pm.  I still had some time to kill before heading to the birthday celebration, so I was fine with the time change.  But then it changed again.  I knew this was too good to be true.  I walked around and checked out the band at O'Brien's while sipping on white wine.  BIG MISTAKE.
It was brutally HOT, and the sun would not give.  The temperature reached 95 degrees that day.  I had another glass of wine and that's when it hit me.  I felt dizzy.  I knew I had to eat something before I headed to the birthday party.  The first food vendor I could find had a big hot pretzel.  I quickly bought it and found a spot to eat when I noticed a woman drop her drink.  She fainted while sitting down against a wall.  Her boyfriend yelled out, "Someone call 911!"  It was terrifying.  Lucky she came too right away and didn't know what had happened to her.  It scared a lot of people around us, but it also reminded us how not to take the heat unlikely.  Once my friends arrived I had to go.  Go figure.  I took the time to talk to them for a bit before I saw how late it was getting.  I couldn't stay any longer.
I cabbed it to Mc Cormick Place and found my friends.  This was a massive event.  Over 60 different djs/ singers on 6 stages.  It had started from 12pm and was going to end at midnight!  I'm glad I arrived late because I was worn out with the heat already.  Me and my friends danced the rest of the night non stop!  Chicago's history with house music stems back to the late 70s.  In the early 1980s, Chicago radio jocks The Hot Mix 5, and club DJs Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles played various styles of dance music, including older disco records.  I've always loved dance music growing up so it was refreshing to be around a crowd that appreciated this influential sound.  It brought back so many memories for me and my friends.  

Me and the birthday girl!  She's a Gemini too...

Julian Jumpin Perez of B96

Imagine my horror the next day when I woke up to the news of the Orlando shootings of Pulse nightclub.  These people were doing the same thing as me and my friends the night before, just enjoying themselves.  I cannot understand the darkness that surrounds a person like this.  My heart breaks for so many senseless terrorism acts surrounding our daily lives.  It's not a world I recognize anymore.  Peace within each other; as well as other nations should be enforced constantly.  We have only one planet to care for.  We need to take care of everyone in it.

A long summer's day...

TGIF peeps!  I don't know about you, but this week in particular felt super long.  To make matters worse, it's getting dark pretty early.  Yet another reminder that fall is officially here.  Luckily the weather has been sweet so far, so it hasn't hit me yet that it's time to dust off the sweaters.  I'm hoping we'll have a warm Halloween for a change.  Last year the weather was cold and rainy!  YIKES!
Back in June, one of the most anticipated neighborhood festivals fell on a warm Saturday.  The Old Town Art Fest started off cloudy with the chance of showers, and if you know Chicago weather, it usually means storms.  Luckily it seemed the clouds were passing, (as so you thought).  I made my way down to join my friends for some afternoon action.  Artists showcase their work in a trendy locale ready for anyone whose interested in finding unique pieces.  There's even live music for entertainment.  I wore a white linen button down and my rag & bone jeggings with flat sandals.  Since I'm transitioning to summer weather, wearing breathable fabrics is a must.  Me and my friends had a good time before we all headed to other places we needed to be.  I had to head out to a family bbq while my other friends had a graduation dinner to attend.  We all agreed to meet up later on.
I hurried to my uncle's place to for the bbq.  A family friend had hired a Brazilian band for some music, but guess what came creeping up on us??  That's right, a storm.  It started to get very dark.  I think we were all hoping they were some passing clouds, but no such luck.  It started to pour on us.  We all scrambled to move the food inside and the poor band quickly covered up their equipment.  My uncle had a tarp so he grabbed a couple of guys to help him put it up.  I guess he could have done this beforehand, but these rain clouds came out of nowhere!  Once he got the tarp on, the party continued.  We danced the night away until the storm passed us by.  I loved the fact that we made the most of the night, despite our weather malfunction.  What else can you do?
We left around 11pm, where I quickly went home and changed to go back out.  Looks like the graduation party was heading out on the town and I wanted to catch up to them.  We met at Hubbard Inn for some drinks and then decided to go to another spot when we got a rude awakening.  Yup, you guessed it.  It was storming again.  We took refuge at Epic restaurant next door and stayed there the whole night.  The rain would not go away this time.  It did not stop raining hard til the next day.  I was pretty much done with the weather and headed home while my friends cabbed it to another spot.  They were determined to have some fun.  I on the other hand knew better.  No matter where they ended up, the weather was going to put a damper on attendance.  I knew I wasn't going to miss much.  lol.  Lesson learned from all the years I've lived here.  Sometimes it's better to quit while you're ahead...

Old Town Art Fest fun!

Look the sun's out!

Family bbq fun

Enjoying the music despite the weather..

My mom is still a little quiet around the family.  I think she's really missing her husband here.

Later on at Hubbard Inn for the graduation party.  We had a blast as usual...