It's finally starting to feel like
summer in Chicago...most days. Everyone keeps talking about how great
the city is during the warmer months, and Cary Anne and I are starting to see it
for ourselves.
One of the best things about warm
weather in the city is that the beaches of Lake Michigan are actually
useable. (Walking down and sticking your bare feet in the sand isn't
exactly pleasant when it's in the 40s.) Just a few weeks ago, our
friend Kelly invited Cary Anne and I down to the beach for an
afternoon of reading in the sun. Turns out, there wasn't actually
much reading involved. We mainly just sat around and talked and threw
rocks at seagulls. (We're sadistic in that way.) Sadly, I learned
that just because the weather is warm, it doesn't mean the water is. Guess I'll
have to wait a few more weeks to actually go swimming.
After the beach, we picked up our
friend Sam and headed to a custard shop Cary Anne and I had been
wanting to try called “Lickity Split.” During our year in
Lexington, a self-serve frozen yogurt place called “Orange Leaf”
got really popular, and expanded from one location to at least four
in just a few months. With tons of flavors, lots of toppings, and
reasonable prices, it wasn't uncommon for us to swing by on a nearly
weekly basis. We've been looking for a suitable alternative here in
Chicago, but so far nothing has blown us away. But it looks like we
may be switching to custard now. Though “Lickity Split” only has
3 types of custard on tap at any given time, there are dozens of
toppings assorted into different glass jars, like an old-school candy
shop, making the combinations basically limitless. (I had vanilla custard with hot fudge and dark chocolate covered pretzels.) Kelly and Sam seemed equally impressed by the shop, and I would not be upset if it became a summer staple.
Recently, we got to travel back to
Kentucky for Memorial Day. Our friends Chris and Hannah in
Louisville were nice enough to put us up in their spare bedroom for
the long weekend. The great thing about our friendship with C&H
is that we're able to have great time with them even when we're not doing anything particularly exciting. That was evident over the
weekend based on the amount of time we spent playing “Settlers of
Catan,” looking up videos for old bands we used to listen to during
our middle school years (think BBMac, Bwitched, and LFO), and the
hours Chris and I spent shooting zombies on “Call of Duty” while our wives reevaluated their life choices.
However, we did leave their apartment a
few times. On Saturday we went for a walk down by the water front,
where we stumbled upon bus loads of old English dancers. They had on
puffy white shirts and bells strapped to their shins, and they
marched around in a line twirling ribbons. It was very captivating
and confusing. Sadly, it was over 90 degrees outside, so we quickly
returned home. After cooling off, we decided to go bowling. Somehow,
during the course of the second game, it was determined that Chris and Cary Anne, as a team, were trying to out score Hannah and I. Things looked
bleak when Hannah stepped up for the final frame and we were down by
10 pins. She only succeeded in knocking down 9, and Chris and CA
leapt into celebration. However, their cheering quickly turned to
tears when we realized Hannah had gotten a spare in the previous
frame, so her 9 pins were enough to put us in the lead. I started
telling people to suck it. (I'm not a gracious winner.)
On Sunday, CA and I visited Chris and
Hannah's church. I was distracted during the sermon because the guy
sitting beside me had his iPad out. I thought he was taking notes,
but when I glanced over I realized he was actually surfing Cracker
Barrel's website. Later that night, my folks drove up to have dinner
with us and show us photos from my cousin's wedding, which, sadly, CA and I couldn't afford to go to. On Monday, our other college friend Shelby came over for a big brunch. It was great catching up with her considering we hadn't seen her in well over 6 months.
So far, summer has been off to a great start, and hopefully it will only get better.
Last month, we (mostly me) also started a journaling project where we film 5 seconds of our life everyday. I'll be sure to post the videos here...
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