Roy came and picked me up in the SmoQ van, and it smelled like brown sugar and BBQ sauce in there. The day was rather rainy by this time, and there was lots of Bears game traffic. We went to eat at Sultan's before heading to Delilah's.
Sunday was pretty quite. Roy had to work, and I stayed in the house and starting watching the first season of True Blood. Totally hooked on it. We went to eat at Quesadilla, a new veg place on Western. It was delicious and a very fair price. Would def return.
Monday we met up at the Handlebar with Mogan, Chris, and Booker. Booker is a fucking Adonis! We saw Giuseppe's new girlfriend there, and I finally had a chance to give her a real good looking over. And all I can say is, he def took a step down the ladder. I felt like I could do anything! And I felt so exhilarated and alive! Anyway, dinner was lovely. We sat on the patio, cold beers, good conversations, handsome dudes, delicious veg food. Finished the night at Delilah's. Saw little baby sugar and one of his friends. Also saw (little dude) Colin celebrating with some of his bandmates and girlfriends. We almost got a pic of him holding my beer when he wanted to show some one my Dopamines koozie. haha!
Tuesday was cheap movies at the ghetto theater. Roy, Mogan, and I met up with Rootbeer and Boo and another girl. We saw '30 Minutes or Less' and it was fucking hilarious! Aziz is so funny! It was done really well.
Wednesday we left at like 4am and drove straight to DC. We could not get out of Chi quickly enough, it seemed:
First pit stop, aka "MY NECK AND MY BACK!" What a gorgeous day. I love a blue sky with big sleepy clouds!
Pennsylvania is beautiful. Sweet bridges, hills, farms, an awesome tunnel.
Once in DC, we met up with Trey, Brittney, Jeff, Anne, and some other people for Greek food, then got some ice cream. I was able to get a mango and raspberry sherbet. It was delicious. It was nice to see Jeff and Anne. Back to Trey and Brittney's house we all talked a lot and caught up. Brittney was asking me about boyfriends, etc. I about died when she said I should ask out Rootbeer.
On Thursday, Roy and I went out to try to find Soul Veg. What a clusterfuck. They were supposed to be open, but were not; we had been warned they were unreliable. So we went to Everlasting Life Cafe and it was wonderful! And there was soft serve! I got a vanilla cone! First cone in over FOUR YEARS!!
After food, Roy and I hit the Mall! Saw the National Sculpture Garden, The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial, and the WWII Memorial.
We met up with Trey and Brittney for some more veg food. Came home and took it easy; headed to Philly next A.M.!
Met up with Dan Yemin and his adorable daughter at Grindcore House! What an amazing place! Literally a house, with a small dessert case and a few sandwich options, baked goods, and coffee/teas. And the whole back room, kind of like a living room, with tables, couches, bookshelves with all kind of random DIY and political literature. Art by local artists for sale. I was inspired! I got a delicious ToFurky sandwich and piece of Chocolate Cake. Claire met up with us, and the three of us drove to NYC.
NYC is a jungle!! Thank god Roy was driving b/c I would have prob just abandoned the car and said, "GAME OVER!!" We took Claire to the new Molly's Cupcakes location in Manhattan and got some cupcakes, then we went the heart of Manhattan and paid $37 to park our car for 30 minutes while Roy went to say hello to the Fuse TV people!
We went to Brooklyn and picked up Pagee and headed to Coney Island. I was in love with it. The whole evil carnival theme, and the boardwalk. The smell of the food, the smell of the sea, a storm rolling in. It was quite magical. I would have loved to ride one of the roller coaster, but the arm was still lame.
Pagee lives in Harlem, so before we went back to her condo, I called in an order to Red Bamboo, which I heard was THE vegan place in NYC, and I picked up dinner for myself on our way back. It was...lackluster. Don't get me wrong, it tasted fine, but I could have gotten veg food like that anywhere. Roy, Pagee, Rebecca, and I went to the Harlem Tavern. I got a Coney Island Pilsner. It was delicious, and I like the artwork on the label.
On Saturday, we went to Brooklyn to meet up with Rachel Kwon, who had been awake for like 36 hours. I got a delicious sandwich and soup and S'Nice, then we went to some Chicken place so Roy and Rachel could get friend chicken and biscuits. After that we headed to Williamsburg and people watched. Saw Chuck Bass, a pirate, and some pink dude who "will rap for food." Went to a bar called the Levy and I Yeungling was on tap there! Totally excited about that! Met up with one of Roy's old high school friends.
On Saturday day we went to this bakery in Harlem around the corner from Pagee's condo, and a lady had set up a vegan soul veg type place. It was called "Seasoned Vegan". She gave me sample of the drumsticks, ribs, adn the lemon chicken. The latter was the best, and I got an order with a side of mac n cheese and a side of broccoli. It was the most delicious food I had in NYC!
On Saturday night we went to some crazy expensive Italian restaurant with Pagee's roommates and some girls they went to school with. I went to some vegan bakery/ health food store next door to get some treats. The boy who helped me was the cutest boy in NYC. Seriously. Roy and I even discussed this. We didn't not see any attractive people in NYC, and we did not see anyone with tattoos. It was weird. But this boy was cute. Chicago/Logan Square hipster cute. After dinner we went to some dance bar called Home Sweet Home. It was in a basement and it was a straight up party in there! Lot's of fun!
Sunday we met up with Kwon again and went to the Brooklyn Bridge and just kind of laid low. Went to a place called Cafe Habana for dinner. Delicious Cuban food. And stopped by the Joe Strummer Memorial. Also went to some sweet record store in SoHo.
Monday was a long drive back to Chicago. We stopped in Cleveland to eat at this awesome placed called Fire and Ice. I got a delicious sandwich and a soup.
Homeward bound:
We got to Chi, went to Sultan's, then straight to Delilah's. The trip was a lot of fun. Made a lot of new friends and saw some cool new places, but nothing beats that beautiful Chicago skyline, beckoning us home with open arms.
