Last Saturday was one of the most fun-filled days I've had in a long time.

It began with Jen's bachelorette party. We went to a Sox game (and I really did try to be open-minded, but it was just not fun to me), then out to dinner at Rock Bottom.


Then we walked over to Howl at the Moon, where I was supposed to be meeting Rachel and some other friends. It worked out well because my friend Kris was also there with a bunch of her friends who were visiting, and her boyfriend and his coworker. It turns out the coworker, Ryan, just moved to Chicago and lives in my neighborhood. I gave him my number in case he needed anything or just wanted to hang out, and me, Rachel, Stephanie, and Trevor left to go to a party.

The party was not that exciting, mainly because a friend of mine was annoyed with me. It's so hard because I feel like, at this point, she genuinely dislikes me, but won't say anything about it. I miss her, but I miss the way she used to be, not the way she is now. And I know it's not my imagination, because our other friends feel like this as well. But I guess it's just something she needs to work out on her own, and I need to patient.

Anyway, I was not having the best time at the part, and Ryan texted and asked what I was up to. When I told him I was leaving soon, he invited me over to hang out, and I thought, why not? Everyone was insisting it was a booty call, but I knew it wouldn't be a booty call unless I made it one. So I got there at like, 3:30 a.m., and we drank and played cards and watched a movie and flirted. Finally, around 6 I was like, "I need to go home." He tried to talk me into sleeping there (so I thought maybe he does just want one thing), but then when I refused, he offered to sleep on the floor. So I wasn't sure what he was thinking. But I wanted my own bed, so we made plans to hang out the next night and I went home.

Sunday night was great. He called when he said he was going to and was on time getting to my house. We walked over to Simone's and had more great conversation. It just feels like we have so much to talk about. Rachel called later that evening to let me know she was at Violet Hour (I was supposed to meet her and some other people), but Ryan was like, "Tell them I'm your date tonight." I knew I shouldn't be driving anyway, so I stayed with him at Simone's. Once again, there was a lot of flirting. We went back to my place and he stayed till after 2:00 a.m., even though he had to be up at 6 for work.

So at this point, I was confused. Did he like me or not? If he liked me, he would've made a move. But he must like me a little to hang out with me so late when he had to be up in the morning. I decided he was probably just looking for friends in the city, which was fine, because it would be really nice to have a friend in my neighborhood.

Tuesday we had plans to go for Tapas. (I love how this guy follows through with plans!) There was no alcohol involved, and therefore no flirting. Just friendly conversation. After dinner he asked if I wanted to go for a walk. I showed him Prairie Ave, and we listened to the Incubus concert, which was taking place nearby. It was lovely. He walked me to my car, hugged me, and made plans to see me when he got back from Vegas the following week.

After this, I knew he was just not that into me. But like I said, that was okay; I still love making new friends.

Well, after last night I'm not sure anymore. We went to Violet Hour and Reggie's, then back to his place. At this point I was pretty drunk, but I'm not sure about him. We were out on his balcony (he has a gorgeous view of downtown), and I was being silly and flirty and he was trying to make me tell him something. He kept trying to corner me and tickle me, and then finally I was up against a wall and he kissed me. Some serious making out took place on that balcony. I finally went home around 2:30.

SO, I'm still not sure what to think. Maybe he just kissed me because of the alcohol. Who knows. But, I'm having a lot of fun, so whatever this ends up being, I'm happy.

I had such a lovely afternoon yesterday. I went out to my parents' house for a late lunch. Usually, I look forward to spending time with my family, and then I get there and remember that the reality is that my dad is grouchy and my mom's a little crazy and my brother is mean to my mom. But yesterday was different, maybe because my brother moved out. Everyone got along and actually enjoyed being together. And it was a nice bonus that we watched the Cubs win, which put them in first place.

We had a feast of sweet corn and tomatoes and chips and salsa and these roasted red peppers that you wrap cheese in and then grill.


We had strawberry pie for dessert. Delicious.

I know this is not a very exciting post, but I pretty much had to write about our lunch just so I could post this pic of my dad and brother. I told them to smile, and this is what I got. My dad is hilarious.

My grandma is an amazing seamstress. However, I have failed to inherit this skill. I don't like focusing on details, and sewing involves a lot of that. But I am determined that this is something I will share with my grandma, who is one of my favorite people in the world. So we are making a quilt.

I bought the kit over two years ago. It is going to be adorable. It's like a Sunbonnet Sue pattern in shades of blue. But there has been one problem after another, the biggest obstacle being free time, followed by a broken sewing machine and her 60 year old sewing machine that doesn't do fancy stitches. So finally this summer it occurred to me that my grandma is 89, so we can't let this go another few years.

I arrived at her house today armed with a new sewing machine, thinking we were ready to go. First, we realized we had no black thread, so I had run to Meijer. Then we had to learn how to use the sewing machine, because it was pretty complicated. Finally, we fell into a pattern. I would sew the piece on the quilt square, then hand it over to my grandma, who promptly got out the seam ripper and took it apart while I started destroying another quilt square. My sewing skillz are less than adequate. On the fourth messed-up square, the bobbin went crazy and we couldn't figure out how to fix it. At this point, my grandma said, "Why don't we go watch the Cubs?"

And we did. And we reminisced about our family's love for the Cubs. And they finally won, which was lovely.

During the sewing disaster, I remarked to my grandma that this all would've gone faster if we'd done it by hand. I was joking, but we realized this was true. And since I love doing hand embroidery, it might actually look better than if I used the machine.

So as I watched the craziness that is the Real World Cancun tonight, I sewed by hand. And it looks decent. And so this quilt might actually be finished within the next year or so. Sweet.

When I placed Jacob for adoption, I was worried that he wouldn't want to know me as he got older. I know that boys are not usually as interested in that as girls are. My brother wants nothing to do with his birth family, so that was probably my biggest fear. I'm realizing I worried for nothing. Whenever Marilyn (his mom) and I would chat in the past, she'd put him on the phone and we'd talk for a few minutes. But the last two times I've talked to him, he's called me. The last time he called a few months ago, he wanted to know about genealogy. Tonight he called just to chat, and that boy kept me on the phone for 35 minutes! And I was the one to end the conversation; he would have kept going. He definitely comes by it honestly. My birthmom and I can go on and on.

So he talked a lot about Harry Potter (he's reading the 6th book right now), and I told him to call me back after he sees the movie. I'm hoping to get out to Iowa before the end of the summer to have dinner with them or something. This has all worked out so much better than I could have ever imagined. We all got what we wanted. How rare is that?

I just realized I haven't written about Florida yet! It was the perfect vacation. I would wake up around 10 and go right to the beach. On the way home, I'd stop at Sonic for a half-price cherry limeade. Then I'd go home, shower, hang out for a while and read or watch stupid shows on TV (which I never have time for), then head over to my uncle's for dinner. I always eat so well when I'm in Florida. I discovered that I like rhubarb pie, at least the way my Uncle Joel makes it. One night I offered to make my grandma's recipe for lemon pie for dessert, and my offer was met with complete silence. They had no faith in my kitchen skillz. Luckily, the pie turned out all right. We watched several movies together, too- Ghostbusters, Little Miss Sunshine, Fly Away Home, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I really enjoy the time I get to spend with my family in Florida.

I also spent a lot of time with my kind-of cousin Amber. (I'm not really sure how we're related, but it's a relationship I'm happy to claim.) One night I went with her to play darts with the league she's in. She introduced me to her friend Mark, who was kinda cute. After darts we went out to a bar, but Amber was tired and left early. Mark and I stayed until the bar closed, and then he gave me a ride back to Amber's. The fun part was that he had a motorcycle! I was always terrified of motorcycles, and had been on one once and swore I'd never do it again, but I must have had just the right amount of alcohol, because I loved it. When we got to Amber's, I asked him to drive around more. It was amazing and now I want to do it all the time.

Another interesting night was the night we went to Razzle's, a club in Daytona. I don't usually dance, but I shook my ass for hours that night. It was just the perfect combination of alcohol and good music. I realized Amber is a great person to go out with, because she's really pretty and gets hit on a lot, so I got hit on too because I was with her. My Uncle Joel thinks she looks like a young Debra Messing, and I agree.


So we had a blast dancing and talking to boys, but for some reason I decided to be stupid and text Brian, the guy I went out with in March who said he was now divorced. When he never called, Sarah insisted that he was still married. I didn't believe her. He said he was divorced, and I believed him. Well, I sent him an inappropriate text, and his wife replied. Of course, she was rude, but I told her I was so so sorry and that he said he was divorced and I would never intentionally get involved with a married man. (Which is true.) So she said it looked like he'd been lying to both of us and asked how long I'd been seeing him. I briefly told her our history, and that was the end of the conversation. Then Brian texted me the next morning and asked me not to communicate with his wife. I told him that wouldn't be a problem because I wasn't planning on communicating with either of them again. I feel so awful for her. I'm sure he's been seeing other girls, too; I couldn't have been the only one. So Sarah was right. I don't know how she figured that out. I figured he either wasn't that into me, or he wasn't interested because I wouldn't put out on our date.

Anyway, 4th of July in Florida was lovely. Here's a pic of Amber's son Stephen eating a cupcake I brought him.


We hung out at Amber's pool for most of the day, then went to the beach to see fireworks. It was lovely.


I really wish I had more pics from this trip, but I wasn't even thinking about it at the time. My hair looked really bad the whole time, anyway. You know that episode of Friends where Monica's in the Caribbean and her hair is huge and frizzy? That's what happens to me in Florida.

I did take a picture of these guys, though. I couldn't believe there were armadillos in my grandma's yard! Not the kind of wildlife you usually see in Illinois.


(Okay, I have another picture that is better that shows all three of them, but for some reason it keeps posting upside down. I'll have to figure that out later.)

So, it was the perfect vacation. I partied, rode on a motorcycle, read 9 books (6 of the Sookie Stackhouse books and 3 romance novels), spent time with family, and worked on my tan. I didn't want to come home!

Nancy and I went to Memphis several weeks ago and had a fabulous time.

On Thursday night, we went out on Beale Street, ready to party.


Unfortunately, it was all college kids. Some of them even looked younger than that. And the whole scene just seemed kind of lame- go get a cup of beer and stand on the street drinking it. Not very exciting. After one drink, we decided we were too old for this scene and would have more fun at the TGI Fridays in our hotel lobby. (This is so embarrassing to admit; the only reason I'm doing so is because it's important to the rest of the story.)

So we're drinking margaritas and Nancy comments that the waiter seems into me. We ask him how old he is, and he's only 22. But I think, hmm, the whole Mrs. Robinson thing could be fun. (I'm pretty drunk at this point.) At the end of the evening, he tells me he'll be working room service the next night, and I should order a drink if I want to hang out. Perfect.

The next morning we went to Graceland, which I really wish I had pictures of, but I forgot my camera in my car. It was so hilariously tacky. The 70's were a very unfortunate time for decorating, and this was extreme 70's decor. What really cracked me up was Elvis's motto: TCB with a lightning bolt. (There was one room that was navy blue and had that painted in yellow on the walls.) The audio tour went on and on about what a nice guy Elvis was, but with a motto like "Taking care of business," he had to have been a douche. I also thought it was funny that the graves were so close to the swimming pool. Just complete tackiness.

Nancy and I then headed to the nearest Sonic, where we realized you can combine different flavors in your milkshake. She had chocolate strawberry and I had chocolate peanut butter. Heavenly. This was followed by several hours of hardcore shopping at Dillards.

(This is Nancy about to lick the straw that had just been up her nose.)

We decided to give Beale Street another chance that night and headed to B.B. King's Blues Club. It was everything we'd been hoping for. We feasted on fried green tomatoes, mac 'n' cheese, hush puppies, and strawberry shortcake. The band was great, although towards the end they weren't playing blues anymore.


Then we headed back to our hotel, and it was time to put my Mrs. Robinson make-out plan into action. Nancy hung out in the lobby while I ordered a margarita. The boy brought it, then sat and watched CNN with me for a while and didn't make a move despite my flirting. I realized that the whole Mrs. Robinson thing is really not that exciting; this was a boy, not a man. A man would've made a move. A man would've realized that if a girl invites you up to her hotel room, it's not to watch CNN. Finally, I texted Nancy and told her to come back. The boy gave me a hug and asked for my number, which I reluctantly gave only because he wasn't on Facebook. He informed me that he'd be in Chicago in September. A few minutes after he left, he starts texting and saying how attractive I am, blah blah blah. I was like, "You should've made a move." He was all mad at himself, and I was like, "Coulda woulda shoulda." Hopefully he learned something that will help him in the future. But the story doesn't end there. He was like, "I'll be in Chicago in September, and until then, there's always texting." What did he think this was, the beginning of a relationship??? At first I responded to some of his texts because Nancy told me I had to be nice, but I stopped after a few days. It was non-stop texting, and I was trying to write a paper. Also, I didn't want to lead him on. Seriously, what did he think was going to come of this? So annoying. I haven't heard from him in like, a week, but I'm guessing I'll probably hear from him in September. Ugh.

On the way home on Saturday, we stopped in Carbondale to go hiking at Garden of the Gods. I forgot how far off the highway it was (like 50 miles), and I think Nancy was ready to stab me. All that driving for a half hour of hiking in terrible heat and humidity. I didn't realize until we got there that Nancy is not a huge fan of nature, so it was not worth it to her. I felt really bad. But it was beautiful. I love the view; it's hard to believe you're in Illinois.




After our hike we had a delicious dinner at Quatro's, one of my favorite pizza places. Then we had the long drive home, during with the rest area hilarity occurred.

So, Memphis was lots of fun. However, I would not recommend it as a destination city. It's definitely a good place to stop if you're passing through, but two nights and one full day there was plenty.

I love to read random people's blogs, and I particularly love this girl Azucar's blog. I love this post she wrote a few weeks ago. If you don't feel like clicking on the link (which you really should, because it's a great story and well-written), she writes about an encounter she has with teenage bullies who are harassing people from their car. I love it because she does what I would have done and gets to see justice served. But I also love her sympathy for the goth kid. I hate when people are made to feel like outsiders.

There was a really sweet moment tonight at DC's (the place where I go line dancing) that reminded me of her post. A guy was there who looked really out of place; his friends had probably dragged him there. He was wearing the baggy black jeans with lots of chains (and he was actually really cute). The band members often shout things at the dancers and make jokes, and tonight one of the guys singled out this alternative-looking guy. I was a little nervous for him, but the band member basically welcomed him to DC's, said he was glad he was here since this didn't seem like a place he would typically hang out, gave him a free DC's shirt, and told him to get his redneck on.

It was just a small moment, but it really made me happy. I hope the boy described in Azucar's post finds himself in situations where he is made to feel included as well. Also, I hope that it's okay that I'm posting links to her blog, since she doesn't even know me. :)

So far this summer, I have:

- Gone four-wheeling
- Made a friend in a rural area
- Been to a rodeo
- Gone hiking
- Been to Devil's Lake
- Been to Memphis
- Eaten a blue sno-cone
- Gone for a motorcycle ride (inspired by Bella in New Moon)
- Eaten raspberries right off the bushes
- Climbed a tree

I have plans to:
- Go on the Weird Chicago tour (tonight!)
- Play in a waterfall
- Go on a road trip
- Go on the architectural tour

I still need to:
- Learn guitar
- Go ghost hunting
- Read a Georgette Heyer book
- Play baseball at the Field of Dreams field
- Go whitewater rafting
- Have a water balloon fight
- Nap in a hammock
- Get a badminton set for Mom & Dad's yard
- Finish the quilt with Grandma
- Make vegan Rice Krispie treats
- Swim in my parents' pool
- Get married in Vegas
- Make chalk drawings on the sidewalk in front of my apartment
- Go on a neighborhood tour
- Go to an observatory and look through a telescope
- Go tubing
- Slip 'n' Slide
- Go to where the Mississippi starts and jump across it
- Achieve self-actualization
- Gangster tour
- Batting cages
- Waterpark
- Storm chasing
- Make out at a drive-in theater