who needs blogher? i have chicago!

hi! oopsie! here i am! i do this all the time... i go on vacation someplace, or do something else that requires a Break From The Ol' Blog, and when i get back i CANNOT GET MYSELF TOGETHER enough to post. usually it's because i have lots of excellent pictures that need to be a part of the Hey, Here's What I Was Off Doing post, and i am just about the worst person evar at uploading photos in a timely fashion. but i FINALLY did that last night, so i can now tell you about the awesomeness that was chicago, because that is where i finally got to meet dasi, cheryl, and pseudostoops.

i've been blog-friends with dasi since 2005. TWO THOUSAND FIVE! that's longer than some of my in-person friends! so it was incredibly awesome to finally meet her. she met darlene and me at the airport (how awesome is she?!? LOVE!) and immediately fed us some authentic chicago deep dish, then we made a beeline to her home away from home:

there's this fence / gate area on one side of the stadium where you can watch the game from the sidewalk, and we arrived just in time for the cubs to pull it out in extra innings, thus allowing us to hear the storied cubs song that the entire stadium sings after all home wins.

portrait of a happy cubs fan

she has her own brick in front of the stadium!

after some beers with happy fans in wrigleyville, it was off to meet cheryl for dinner. this was also extremely awesome, because i've known cheryl as a blog-friend just marginally less time than i have dasi. i'm a little bummed that i didn't get any more time with cheryl (and that i was so worn out by dinner) because she rocks. beaucoup.

totally hot bloggers: dasi, me, cheryl

my only OTHER regret is that we missed nilsa for dinner, because that would have been pretty sweet as well. (note to nilsa: now you have to come to dc so we can meet here!)

the next day, darlene and i wandered the touristy areas of the city, marvelling at the fantastic weather and basically falling hardcore in love with chicago.

and then! did you know that chicago has an honest-to-god beach? that is covered in volleyball nets and very pretty, tan, scantily clad people? it's called north beach, but looked an awful lot like miami's south beach the day we were there. one of my sales reps collected me and darlene from our hotel room and brought us to a bar called castaways, which is right on the beach and is in the shape of a ship. (haha. it's ship shape!)

and! pseudostoops met us there! sadly, i did not remember to bring a camera with me (wtf, self!) so i have NO PICTURES from that portion of the weekend, but trust me when i say that psuedostoops is very, very lovely, and can put down a vodka lemonade with the best of them :-) and also should come to dc sometime soon for more hanging out. yes?

the rest of the week was spent in a sales conference. it was all very serious and definitely did NOT involve copious amounts of alcohol, which totally did not result in drunken dancing, which in turn definitely did not result in a very sprained ankle by someone named.. uh.. spalice. who continued to dance, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, on a sprained ankle. while.. uh.. not drinking. at all.

yummy!

and FINALLY, i even did the WWC while in chicago. grafitti and sign!

well that was certainly a lengthy post! full set of pictures up here for the bored at work.

to sum up, because i'm not sure i made it clear enough in this crappily-written and poorly-segued post, but a) DEAR CHICAGO GIRLS, PLEASE MARRY ME. i had such a good time with you, and i'm really really bummed we don't actually live in the same city, because i want more hanging out. and b) i could seriously see myself in chicago, and it is the only city aside from where i am now that i've ever felt that connection. so: good trip. yay. :-)