The Bracelet

Chicagoland has had record breaking cold this past weekend, setting records that were more than 30 years old.  Right now, at 7:00 a.m. on Monday morning – it’s only 57 degrees.

I actually don’t mind the cool weather at all.  The mosquitos are at bay, the humidity is gone.  Of course, I feel bad for anyone who had an outdoor party this weekend – who knew you’d have to wear jackets and have bonfires to keep warm in July!

Saturday was a lazy day.  We ended up sleeping in (awesome sleeping weather!) and then I ended up making us lunch at home.  Hot roast beef and American cheese sammies with some fries on the side – this was breakfast and lunch.

We watched a funny/stupid movie, and then headed out to the grocery store around 2:30.  When I got back and put everything away, I looked at my Insanity calendar and was happy to see it was a Cardio Recovery day – so it was only 43 minutes long.

Ribs were on sale again – I followed our tried and true method, and again worked out perfect except for one thing.  We are out of Rudy’s bbq Sause!!   We are still kicking ourselves for not buying more when we were in Austin in May.

So while these could have used more sauce, they were super tender.  And I finally brought in dishes I may have left out for a few days!

Yesterday I was meeting up with Hannah and my Mom downtown.  My SIL only lives 10 minutes from us, so she met at our house and we drove to the train station to go to the Randolph Street Market.  I was nervous because when I woke up it was blue skies, and then it got cloudy and rained.  But the weather turned out to be beautiful.

Here we are waiting for the train:

My SIL has lived in the NW suburbs of Chicago her whole life, but when I asked her when the last time she was in Chicago, she literally couldn’t remember.  Definitely more than 10 years, but could even be as long as 20 years!

Me and Hannah at the train station:

And me and my Momma when we started walking to the fest before catching a cab.  I always feel so tall next to my Mom!  (I am only 5.2!)

When we entered the market there was this German beer lady hawking the beer garden – I couldn’t help but get a picture of Hannah with her!

We didn’t walk around too long before we were all hungry.  I’d only had a piece of toast for breakfast not knowing what I was going to have for lunch.  We all settled on a Middle Eastern food tent – I got the falafel – so good!  My SIL had this too for the first time and loved it, so I plan on making some next week for our lunches.  I got mine with both a tahini sauce and hot sauce – the price?  $4!!  Totally reasonable.

So it was an eclectic mix of stalls at this market – some were high end furniture, then the next booth looked like someone cleaned out their basement.  Definitely awesome people watching!

Nicole, this picture is for you – this was such a sweet bull dog.  There were lots of friendly dogs!

I should have bought that hat!

Creepy stuff:

Longtime readers have seen this picture of me and my twin sister, circa 1980.  I am on the left.

I sent this picture to Tony to bring back that 80s magic!

So here’s where the day got a little weird.  Tony always makes fun of me because it doesn’t seem to matter where we go, I always seem to bump into someone I know.  I was in this stall when I hear my name being called.  WTF?

I look up and it is none other than the very first boy I loved.  Bob was my first boyfriend.  Not kidding when I say we “dated” from 4th grade until 8th grade.  I think the only reason we broke up is because he went to a Catholic high school and I went to the public high school.

Anyway, whenever I saw him in grade school my heart would skip a beat.  We had our first kiss at the age of 9 – his Mom actually caught us kissing behind a shed in the far corner of the school grounds!

Bob’s family always went somewhere for spring break.  We never went anywhere for spring break.  In 5th grade, he brought me back a macramé/puca shell bracelet.  It was thick like this bracelet, but white and had a shell in the middle.  I thought it was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen.

I put it on immediately and never took it off.  Until one day, my grandma that lived with us asked me where I got it.  I proudly said “my boyfriend brought it back to me from Florida.”  At which point she totally wigged out, telling me I was too young to have a boyfriend and that I had to give it back.

Why I didn’t just keep it and put it on once I left the house, I’ll never know.  Maybe because I was only 10 and I thought she’d somehow find out that I didn’t give it back. 

So I waited by his locker.  I was thinking up this elaborate story on how I couldn’t keep the bracelet.  I was all calm cool and collected until I saw him walk up the steps and the closer he got to his locker the more I was pissed I couldn’t keep it and by the time he actually reached his locker, I burst into tears, threw it right at him and said “I can’t keep it!”  And left it at that!

We have since reconnected on Facebook.  He and I both laughed because we remembered “the bracelet” story as if it were yesterday.  He’s now happily married with four kids in their teens.  He may read my blog because he’s seen my links on Facebook, so Bob, if you are reading this – it was really great to see you!

Alright, now I am curious.  Bob said a couple years ago that I was a hot topic in his house because this three boys couldn’t believe that we first kissed at the age of 9.  I have to know, do you remember how old you were when you had your first kiss on the lips?

We walked around for hours – had a great time and then it was time to head back to the train station.  Hannah left on the L, my Mom on the West line and Jody and I on the Northwest line.

Dinner ended up being super quick.  My thought was to do a quick Parmesan cheese chicken – turns out I used the flour/bread crumbs, but um, forgot the Parmesan cheese!  We had baked potatoes on the side.

I ended up taking the day off from Insanity with all the walking we did, but plan to hit Day 56 hard tonight!

Alright, I have to get this show on the road – I am making Chicken Tikka Masala for lunch today – it’s one of my bosses favorites (and mine too!).  I am fully prepared for Tony to call me later after I leave and want to know what smells like ass – he no likey the Indian food!

Make it a great day!