Amanda Squared

Over the weekend I ventured up to Chicago to visit my friend Amanda before she moves for her new job.  (True story: I met one of my best friends through MySpace.  Granted it was at least in a time 9 years ago when MySpace was THE social media outlet so it's not as weird as it may sound.  We met in a group for incoming freshman at IU and she was one of the first people I met during Welcome Week.  We've been friends ever since and even when we went about 5 years without actually seeing each other, we talk so much through texts, g chat, etc that it felt like we had just seen each other the week before.)

We had a pretty chill weekend.  There were plans to go out on Lake Michigan but Mother Nature decided that she needed to interrupt those.  We ended up going to Spacca Napoli for pizza and then to a neighborhood bar for a drink instead due to some rain showers.  Since most things we had talked about doing included being outside during or in order to get there, we decided to just hang out and watch movies that afternoon.

That evening we went to Shake Shack for burgers and fries.  We also went to Eataly for gelato to round out dinner. OMG, Eataly is like heaven.  I cannot wait to go back there some time when I have more time to spend there and a bigger appetite!

On Sunday morning the weather was gorgeous!  We grabbed some Starbucks and headed straight to Amanda's balcony to enjoy the pretty weather.

Until next time Chicago,

Chicago Halloween = Best Halloween

For Halloween, I went to Chicago to visit one of my favorites from college, Amanda!  II had not seen her for four years but we talk almost daily in some form or the other.  It was like we'd seen each other yesterday.  After doubling my commute time due to white out snow and heavy winds, I finally made it to Amanda's apartment!  Lake Shore Drive was closed because the winds were so bad there was 10 foot surf on the lake and water was spilling across the road.  We went to see Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness with one of Amanda's friends, Rachel! (Fact: We became friends at IU because of our love for Andrew McMahon's music.  Fact: I've only seen him in concert with her.)

He played at the Vic Theater.  Amanda was able to score us passes to meet Andrew after the show.  Not only did we meet him, we got to hang out with him and the band in the dressing room.  It was, without a doubt, one of the best experiences ever.  Andrew was extremely nice(I'm not exaggerating, if anything it's not doing him justice). He got us girls some beers, offered us food, and was just genuinely nice and had great conversation.  It just does the soul good to have experiences like that.  Here is a guy who I have admired since I was in Jr. High (that does make me feel a tad bit old) and he went above and beyond for his fans.  So cool.

Also. it was Halloween so we all dressed up for the show. After we left the venue on cloud nine, we stopped by house party for a little while before getting something to eat at a diner near the girls' apartments.  We crashed early for the night.  The next morning Amanda and I got up and got donuts at Firecakes, walked over to the Bean and wandered around Grant Park for a bit before going back to her apartment to hang out.  We ended up walking over to get Portillos and having a Gilmore Girls marathon before I left that afternoon.  It was so much fun to see her and hang out in the Windy City for a night/day.