Reunion, Reception, and Rabbit Ears

What a busy weekend! First off, this past weekend turned into a mini-reunion of sorts as a bunch of my TU friends happened to be in town at the same time. Friday night we feasted on Mexican food together at Uncle Julio's Hacienda in Chicago, and Saturday morning we woke up to good friends and comforting breakfast foods at Egg'lectic Cafe in Wheaton.

Favorite moments include: a) when Lori grabbed her camera to take a picture of the girls at dinner, and rather than prompting "Say cheese!" she instructed, "Say 'We're having a baby!'" to which we instead said "What?!" and moments thereafter, once convinced of the veracity of the announcement, together squealed the kind of girlie squeal that makes the whole restaurant wonder "What's gotten into that table?" Before the check came we had already begun planning the baby shower. b) back at Allison's house afterwards, when we were all just sitting around talking, someone said something that made Allison laugh, which made Janelle laugh, which made Allison laugh harder, which made Janelle laugh until she fell over, which me laugh until I rolled over into the fetal position and went into silent-laughing mode where you just shake until you finally manage to suck in some air as the tears roll down your cheeks. c) at breakfast, when Chris couldn't decide what to order, so he ordered the oatmeal, and the cinnamon roll, and the fruit and yogurt parfait.

Also on the weekend's agenda was accompanying my friend Melissa to a co-workers's wedding. Favorite moments include: a) Introducing Melissa to the "in the bathtub" hymnal game during the drawn-out processional, and stifling our laughter when we came across, "Lord, Make Me A Captive" (in the bathtub). b) being approached by an older gentleman at the reception who led off with, "Don't worry, I'm not coming over here to ask you to dance," and then proceded to offer to set me up with his 45 year old son, who, although perhaps too old for me, apparently has lots of money. He then asked how tall I was, sans heels, and informed me that I was too tall for his son, after which he returned to converse with his little group of older men, leading Melissa and I to believe that perhaps the son does exist, but they were really just taking bets on how tall I am (which, with heels that night, was probably about 6'3"). c) stopping on the way home to take a picture at a gas station with a sign that read, "Puppies for Sale 39.95." Turns out the puppies are fake, but the sign did make us choose to fill up at that particular gas station, so I suppose it worked to sucker in our business.

Finally, the weekend's activities included heading into the city to be spectators at the annual Chicago marathon. Despite the many layers (including foam bunny ears which, in the absence of a hat, served to at least keep my forehead warm) we had donned to do battle against the low temperatures and unforgiving wind, we didn't last long. We watched from the 25 mile mark long enough to see the first 50 or so people run (and wheel) by (including that poor man from Kenya who finished first but slipped and cracked his head on the pavement at the finish line) and then we retreated to Java Java, where we warmed up with tasty beverages and leisurely passed the rest of the morning with our reading materials. After lunch we did a little shopping and called it a day.

Back home in the cozy warmth of my apartment, I spent Sunday afternoon cleaning my apartment and ordering my life for the week ahead while listening to the voice of Tim Curry reading the first five chapters of The End, the final installment in Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, and then capped off the weekend in the company of Michelle who came over to watch The Amazing Race, which involved me yelling at the TV (and specifically Peter) at least once.

A busy weekend indeed, but the good kind that leaves you feeling full instead of spent.