(Note: This post has been restored after my site was hacked, but the images are missing because I CAN’T FIND THEM! I wanted to at least get the text back up.)

There was a lot I left out in my first Chicago blog and here I need to add some of it. Well, I am officially a sushi lover! Brian took me to Tokyo Lunchboxes & Catering (I just read that on the package of chopsticks I brought back, but I thought the place was called something different, shorter?). Mmmmm, I was hooked on the first try. Of course, now I’m back in this depressing place that very likely doesn’t have good sushi that I don’t have to hunt down and drive long distances to find.

Here’s a shot of me in the heavenly sushi place.

(Photo by Brian Salata)

The chairs were up because they were cleaning the floor. Damn. I wish I had some sushi right now. :-(

Here’s a shot Brian took at night as I stood in this odd cubby hole that smelled like pee a little bit. There was a small drain there, as you can see and I could only assume that perhaps bums peed there? I don’t know, but I got out of there quickly once the photo was taken. Nice shot though – good perspective.

(Photo by Brian Salata)

And this photo I’m only putting up because Brian thinks it’s ‘cute’, hehehe. Though for some reason it reminds me of Mary Tyler Moore….

(Photo by Brian Salata)

And I like this one at the Adler Planetarium. We were sitting in the cafe’ having a bite with the best view of The Lake and the city. It was raining, but that made it more special somehow.

Well, I’m ready to go back to Chicago. Like, right now. Yep.

(Note: This post has been restored after my site was hacked, but the images are missing because I CAN’T FIND THEM! I wanted to at least get the text back up.)

I got back from my 5-day trip in Chicago a little after 5:00a.m. this morning. I want to start from the beginning, but about all of the horrible Greyhound experiences, I will be brief as I don’t want to sour such a wonderful experience with negativity.

The Brief Bitch: Everything about Greyhound is torturous and I would never, under any circumstances, recommend anyone ride one, ever.

Now that that’s been said, let me start with the city itself. I’ve never been in a big city like Chicago. I’ve never been on a subway, or ‘train’ what have you, and have only seen them on TV and in movies. Brian (who I went to Chicago to see and I will get to that soon) showed me so many things and took me to so many places that I can’t remember everything right off (this might be a long post, but I’m due for a good one anyway!). Well, I absolutely loved riding on the train! Call me silly, but I would give up the use of my car everyday in exchange for hopping on trains that stop and go at stops so fast you have to stay on your toes lest you miss them. I loved watching all different kinds of people go to and from, this way and that, going about their daily lives, iPod buds dangling from their ears, backpacks tossed over their shoulders. Few people ever say much to anyone next to them, yet somehow that quiet mystery in passing between them fascinates me.

I stood beneath so many towering skyscrapers and I welcomed the vertigo with open arms. The Sears Tower (I refuse to call it the Willis Tower – sounds funny even for someone not from Chicago) was like standing under a Titan. Amazing.

(Photo by Brian Salata)

I’m having a difficult time choosing which photos to put up! I only took about 200, give or take, and then there are the ones Brian took, which turned out better than mine did. My camera sucks!

We also went to “The Lake”, which I like to call The Ocean because I’ve never seen a lake so enormous that you can’t see land on the other side. but it was frigid and we could only stay long enough to get a few shots.

(Photo by Brian Salata)

Brian took me to one of his inspirational places and I really loved it there. We both agree that it could do without the graffiti, but the area in general is peaceful.

(Photo by Brian Salata)

Brian took me to the Adler Planetarium where we saw a show called Night Sky Live. It was really nice, as we both are heavily obsessed with The Universe.

I  love this photo of Brian. :-)  It’s so fitting!

But this one, even more fitting! :-D

I look like shit in my newspaper ad, but oh well.

We had a great time.

I also got to meet a longtime friend of mine, Kris aka Sex, Death & Money, who I’ve known online since the role-playing days of MSN. We’ve known each other for about six years.  Me, Brian, Kris and her comical boyfriend (I forgot his name! What is it, Kris?) met up at Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria so I could eat my first pizza. OK, my first Chicago pizza, so technically my first pizza. We hung out for about 2 hours and laughed a lot about how Southern I really am (y’all hush! It ain’t that bad!) and made fun of Twilight and talked about just about everything. It was fun.

Love ya, Kris!

But Chicago was more than a vacation. I went for one reason and that was to meet Brian. And Brian was the best part of my trip. It was a long-awaited meeting, or rather, long overdue and I couldn’t be happier about how it all turned out.  :-)

I’m ready to go back to Chicago!  :-) … :-(

I know I’m leaving a lot out because I’m still zombified from the trip, so I’ll be addin stuff to this blog….