Wednesday, July 21, 2021

On the way to Chicago

July 1: Got up early to do laundry. Packed my old glasses, just in case. Packed all the charging cords, also just in case. Took my roller bag, I kept thinking I wouldn't have enough clothes, it's only 4 days. I haven't been on vacation since 2019, but other than wearing a mask the entire time in the airport, I didn't see any big differences. Mom picked me up shortly after 11, we went to Culver's for lunch and had about an hour to kill before the Uber showed up to take us to the airport. We got a somewhat bigger plane, didn't have to check any baggage. I felt much better being able to look out the window. Got to Chicago about 5. 
Saw this in the airport:
Thought it was kinda funny that the dinosaurs had to wear masks, too. Got to my brother's about 6, went to a pub for supper, I had a mac and cheese, not so great. 
 Picked up this cute balloon for myself:
We went to a grocery store for breakfast stuff, I picked up a box of sweets for $17, got a Cassata Cake, a couple pistachio macarons, a raspberry macaron, a cream puff, a pistachio cannoli, a couple pistachio cookies and some pistachio spritz cookies, ate them throughout the trip, they were all wonderful.
It ended up being chillier than I thought it would, I only brought a sweater for the restaurant, I wish I had packed a hoodie as well.
Took a quick shower at the end of the day, it's amazing how short a shower I can take when I don't have to warm up.
July 2: My birthday. We went to a diner for breakfast, I had Belgian waffles, they were ok. And then we went shopping, we went down a street behind my brother's condo, N Broadway, maybe. I wanted to just shop on my birthday, figure we'd find some interesting and different shops, we didn't really. Went to CVS, TJ Maxx (where I picked up a couple birthday cards), Walmart (where I picked up some pain killer), Target, Trader Joe's. We were headed to Michael's when I spotted a Foursided, it was the store I was thinking of, but of course couldn't remember the name.
Picked up a bunch of fun stuff there, some books:

The one on the left was for my brother, the right for me.
A couple Pride grab bags:
I was disappointed that they were pretty much the same thing. I got some different airheads and cards. There were Twizzlers, Skittles, rainbow candy sticks, Airheads, pride flags, Starbursts, bottles of bubbles, stickers, and a couple cards. Sadly, I did not get to enjoy the bubbles, I wasn't sure if they were 3 oz, so I left them at my brother's place.
Some stickers:
This was a set from a local artist.
A pride flag lapel pin, a pigeon postcard, an avocado pen, a whale shark eraser, some binder clips and a turtle sticker. I spent a bit too much, but I wanted to get exciting stuff, we don't have stores like this.
Saw some interesting stuff on walls on our walk:
And a nice mural:
At this time, my mom decided she was tired and we had to go back to the condo. And sat for the rest of the afternoon.
We went to a nice Italian restaurant for supper, they customized the menu for our group:
I got some seafood ravioli:
And we got hazelnut panna cotta and bread pudding for dessert:
It wasn't that great, and it was a start to how we would spend a lot of the weekend. I'm excited for a birthday celebration with a friend where I will basically get to do what I want all day.

No comments: