Up on a roof!

The summer is barely here and I’m already getting bombarded by events.  Unfortunately, Chicago in the summertime is a very busy place to be.  With  concerts, neighborhood food fests and baseball games, the city can get overwhelming.  On top of that, there’s personal milestones such as birthdays, graduation parties, weddings and baby showers to attend!  Oh my!

I was invited to a birthday party on a rooftop during the Bad Axe Throwing Party the week before.  I accepted the invitation, but as the weekend got closer, I can clearly see that it was going to be a very active weekend.  Other invitations came out of nowhere and I had to turn them down due to me getting my chores done.  Lol.  I had to do a ton of laundry, and there was no way around it.  Usually, this is a reminder for me to get some chores in by the weekend, so I don’t spend all of my Saturday cleaning up the apartment.

I did my usual Saturday leg day and then showered up and got ready for the party.  They had suggested to get there by 8:30pm so I took my time.  Out of nowhere, there was another invitation, this one too, a birthday party.  I was already on my way to the first party, I had to turn it down.  What can you do?

I made my way there, but quickly called my mom.  I don’t want to get caught up on my social life that I forget to call her.  FOMO is real here in Chi-town, but at the end of the day, you can only be at one place at a time.  I do not want to burn myself out.

Once inside I found my friends.  It was a nice party, and we got a chance to enjoy the rooftop for a bit.  Afterwards, his friends had the itch to go to Federales, so we walked down Randolph over to Morgan Street.  Luckily, we had some time to get some cocktails before it closed.  At 3am it was all over for us, but then, as usual, you have the one friend that mentions we can still go to a late night spot.  I jumped in a cab and made my escape.  That was enough action for me!      

 

Do Division Fest with Mr. Pig

After a cool off in temperatures, it's heating back up in Chicago.  I'm still recapping last weekend's events.

Last Sunday the temperature reached 90 degrees!  I have to admit, I almost forgot how hot summer can get.  Lol.  I laid out for a bit on the balcony again after church.  So far, I’m slowly deepening my color.  I hate looking pale!!  Ugh!

I watched the One Night in Manchester fundraiser via internet.  I’m deeply saddened by what is happening today in the world.  The night before me and my friends found out about the London attacks while playing bocci ball.  It changed our moods completely.  I yearn to travel again, but with today’s current events, I wonder if I should lay low for now.  What do you think?

I made my way to the gym for leg day when my friend started texting me.  She was curious if I was going to go to the Do Division Fest.  I told her I hadn’t heard from anyone, and we decided to check it out  after the sun was setting.  It was still hot and my friend is pregnant as well.  We wanted to go at a time where it would not be uncomfortable for her.

Once there we walked around for a bit and caught up with one another.  The last time I hung out with her was a month ago when we stayed in and chatted all night with her friends. 

My sweet tooth was starting to act up and we decided that Caffe Gelato was the answer to our prayers.  I miss having gelato.  I miss Italy dearly…

Out of nowhere we came across a pig.  At first, it looked like someone was walking a black dog but then we noticed it wasn’t a dog after all.  People kept coming up to him and petting him like crazy.  Things like that kind of freak me out because I know the pig is not at his normal habitat.  But according to my friend, pigs are very intelligent, and he seemed to be fine with everyone coming up to him.  It was the dogs of other dog walkers that got me worried too.  I wasn’t sure how they were going to react to a pig, but they were getting along with him too.  

I got home in time to call my mom up.  I warned her about being busy for the Bad Axe Throwing Birthday Party.  So far, lots of people have come by to see her house, but no potential buyers as of yet.

 

Bad Axe Throwing Birthday!

On Saturday I headed to Bad Axe Throwing for a birthday party.  I’ve never there before so I did not know what to expect.  The only thing I knew was to wear close-toed shoes.  Since it warmed up to the 80s, I opted for my converse sneakers and my denim cutoffs.

Once there, we had to sign a waiver and then we were all set to go.  We had a pretty big group, but the instructor did a good job demonstrating different forms of axe throwing.  It is not as easy as it looks!  After a couple of throws, some people either got the hang of it, or had a hard time.  Of course, I was one of the few that had a hard time.  I’m just terrible at sports!  Lol.

My friend had food catered there at the venue and we chomped away between throws.  The instructor had us play a couple of games since we had more practice.  I think everyone had a good time there!

We then followed afterwards to Kaiser Tiger for some cocktails.  They had an awesome beer garden along with bocce ball and jenga to play with.  We spent the rest of the evening there before a quick rain storm passed through and killed our night.  Oh well!  That’s summer in Chicago for ya!

Cafe-ba-ba-reeba and the beach!

I'm still recapping Memorial Weekend!!  My bad!

On Memorial Monday, we had a friend visit from out of town.  He was stationed away for 6 months and was finally finished with his assignment.  We were glad to have him back.  We decided to have brunch in Lincoln Park at Café-Ba-Ba-Reeba.  It was another perfect day in the weather department.  Lol.  I was glad I was getting my rays.  We all met up around 1pm and ordered away!  Tapas galore!!  I’m feeling a little guilty but Memorial Weekend should be about food.  Plus I really don’t have anything else coming up.  Afterwards, a small group of us headed down to Fullerton Beach to meet up with more of his friends.  It was pretty windy, but hey, this IS the Windy City after all.

I didn’t call up my mom these past two days.  It got too late once I got carried away with the festivities.  Since summer is right around the corner, I have to let her know that I might be busy if I end up doing something.  Since she is hard of hearing, it would be impossible to have a conversation if I’m at a party.  I just have to be more aware of what I get into this summer.

Memorial Weekend BBQ

Chicago lucked out with the weather the next day as well.  I was invited to two BBQs but opted to go to my friend’s farewell party.  She just found out she is moving to Miami!  Lucky!!  I made my way over there early in the evening and managed to catch up with her before the commotion.  Once the others arrived it got a little crazy.  We had a great time! 

Chicago House Party at Millennium Park

I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day Weekend!!  I had an eventful one despite it raining heavily on Friday.  I wanted to do some window shopping but never got a chance to because of the rain.  By the time I got home I decided to take a nap thinking the rain would eventually pass, but it never did!  I was a little annoyed because I was excited about the three day weekend, but the weather definitely killed my vibe.  Oh well.

The next day was a different story!  I was excited because I woke up to a sunny apartment.  I laid out for a bit on my balcony hoping to get some color.  I did my usual Saturday routine which was cleaning up my place, but I noticed that the forecast was not including rain for a change.  I went to the gym earlier so I could get Leg Day out of the way.

Once I got back and showered up, I grew anxious.  I wanted to go out and enjoy the sunshine, but everyone seemed to have prior commitments.  I knew the house music party at Millennium Park was taking place.  I figured if people showed up later on, I’ll find them eventually.  What a party it was!!  My brother and his girlfriend showed up towards the later part of the evening but I had a blast regardless.  I love that our city celebrates house music.  It started here in Chicago and the music spread all over the world!  I have included a mini history of Chicago House Music from Wikipedia.  At least it will give you a better understanding how much dance music means to me!  

House music became popular in Chicago clubs in 1984. It was pioneered by figures such asFrankie Knuckles, ^[19] Phuture, Kym Mazelle,^[20] and Mr. Fingers, and was associated withAfrican-American and gay subcultures. House music quickly spread to other American cities such as Detroit, New York City, Baltimore, andNewark – all of which developed their own regional scenes. In the mid-to-late 1980s, house music became popular in Europe as well as major cities in South America, and Australia.

Spring Cleaning Garage Sale

Since this rain is not giving up, last weekend, it interfered with my friend’s garage sale.  Every year, her neighborhood coordinates a huge sale, where a number of participants all sell their goodies at the same time.  It was going to be my first time going to this one, but because of the rainy morning we had on Saturday, me and my friend decided to drive out there on Sunday instead. 

Sunday was cloudy if anything, but there were some rain clouds that would pass by pretty often.  I loved it because a majority of her neighbors were involved, and you could see the blocks and blocks of garages lined up with their stuff on display.  My friend brought some toys that his kids have grown out over the years and he made out with some cash.  Me?  No sales this year but I only brought  a bag of shoes and purses.

It was fun seeing my friend and her family.  So much has changed and it was fun catching up with her.  I miss her a lot.  Looking back, I realized we laughed a lot.  Sometimes you miss those moments the most.