Chicago Fun

Sorry for the delay! I was in Chicago visiting some good friends and having a great time. It had been two years since I'd last been to Chicago and I desperately missed my friends and the City. Chicago is so awesome in that the people who live there think it's the best city in the world and there's no place else they'd rather be. That is some City Loyalty right there! Back in 2004, when I first moved to Chicago for school, it was one of the things that shocked me culturally; I just felt like I didn't get that feeling from any of the other cities I'd lived in before.

So back to the trip and how amazing it was! I stayed with Michael, my former-roommate-turned-best-friend, and we did all kinds of fun stuff! I timed my arrival to Chicago specifically to catch the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which Michael, Meredith, and I went to. It was fun! I had on my custom designed shirt (that barely got there in the mail the day of the premiere!) It's red with gold lettering that says on the front "The Original G-Unit Since 1,000 A.D." and on the back "Gryffindor." So cute!
Before the movie though, I went and got my hair done by my favorite hairstylist, LaShonda at her shop, A Hair Delight, in Oak Park. She was surprised to see that I'd relaxed all my natural hair! The last time she'd seen me was when I'd gone natural and had her cut out the all the relaxer. That was two and half years ago. Later, I enjoyed $5 martinis and then dinner with my former-landlords-turned-friends, Dave and Rene. It was either the martinis or the dinner that made me nauseous during the movie premiere. Let Michael tell it and he'll say it was the martinis. I'm pretty sure it was the dinner though. Note to self: No more Flat Top Grill for me!
We didn't get home until after 3am so we slept in Wednesday and went out to see Snow White and the Seven Drag Queens that night. The play was a fantastically fun time! My favorite line was from the Prince "Whoa Peanut [his plush horse], we're not in Wrigleyville anymore!"

Thursday was spent getting Michael's hair done, meandering about the City, and seeing the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. The exhibit was interesting because they had the real costumes and props from all six of the movies. While we were in the exhibit a terrible thunderstorm made it's way into the City and had the tents and the lighting at the tent's ceiling shaking! I was scared one of those lighting rigs was going to come crashing down on us!

Friday night we went to Boystown with Michael's friend Kevin and met up with some other friends. I ended up only staying about an hour. The black pumps I thought I'd broken in previously were killing me. I could barely wobble out to catch a cab! Got in that cab and yanked those shoes off immediately. My poor toes were all swollen and very angry at me. Note to self: break in shoes properly or pack flip-flops.

Saturday morning I had breakfast with my college mates Crystal, Gabby, and Amerit. Afterward, Crystal and I made a small detour so that I could tie a loose end, checked out the Chicago Premium Outlets, Crystal showed me her place, perused Nordstrom's Rack, and grabbed an italian beef at Portillo's. Crystal graciously drove me back into the City in just enough time to get ready for my night out with the Ride or Dies. Now the Ride or Dies consist of Luisana, Mayra, Erika, Susy, and Angela. Those are my girls! I cannot count how many times we've been out partying it up in the City. We had ourselves a good time at Club Ruby! They were playing all of Michael Jackson's jams, including PYT!

Sunday I nursed a hangover.

I had lunch with Robbi and Tracy from Dominican University on Monday. They updated me on the latest University news and Robbi gave me a ride to the Forest Park El Station so that I could be off to meet up with Victor and Gloria. I met Gloria and her son Victor while working as a bank teller in Broadview. They were one of my favorite customers so even after I'd left the bank (and that horrid manager, Paul Porter) I still kept in touch with them.

Tuesday night Crystal, Amerit, Gabby, Jose, James, and I had dinner at this great tapas place called Cafe Babareeba. The sangria was good! I also recommend the goat cheese croqueta. And before you go on a rant about goat cheese, try it before you knock it! You'll be pleasantly surprised.

On my last day in Chicago, I got a day pass for the CTA and went all over the City! I started at Buckingham Fountain, made my way to Millenium Park, headed out to Navy Pier, and then went to Oak Park for an arancini and cannoli from my favorite Italian spot, The Pasta Shoppe.

I'm so glad I got to visit Chicago this summer. I tell you what, my layoff couldn't have come at a more perfect time! I miss Chicago and I almost wish I'd never left. Hindsight is always 20/20 though, isn't it?

4th of July Weekend in LA

I'm back y'all! 4th of July weekend in LA was fun. The preparation for the trip was not. Talk about running around like a chicken with it's head cut off! Man, I was all over the place on Thursday and Friday.
Felicia picked me up from the airport Friday evening and we quickly made a Bee line for the nearest mall. I picked up a cute little white jacket and pair of black skinny jeans to wear in case we headed out to the club that evening. Got to Felicia's place and finally met her fiance, Derek. I had heard so much about Derek over the years that it seemed funny that I was meeting him for the first time. I wonder if he'd thought the same thing? Anyway, Derek was very nice and all that I thought he'd be.
After stopping by the house for a change of clothes, Felicia and I headed out for some dinner at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles and maybe a drink or two at Rock Bottom. Now for those that don't know, Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles is a California Legend. Since it was my first time at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles I ordered, what else, chicken and waffles. I didn't want to say that I'd been to Roscoe's and not had the chicken and waffles! How would that sound? Crazy, I know. By the time we finished eating at Roscoe's we were too stuffed and too sleepy to try to go anywhere else! So we headed home. The 'itis got us and y'all know me, can't feed me without me getting sleepy!

Saturday morning rolled around and Felicia and I were trying to find a nail shop open so that she could get her eyebrows waxed. Our search was in vain. No nail shop in the immediate area was open on the 4th. We went back to the house to start getting ready for the bbq. The bbq was held at Derek's cousin's house and most of Derek's family was there. The food was good, especially the banana pudding, but one thing brought down the whole evening there. Derek's cousin trying to mack to me! Lord, I knew I shouldn't have worn that black maxi dress.
This man, who shall remain nameless (and faceless), was doting on me like I was the only chick there! At first I took it as being friendly and hospitable, but it wasn't until he asked for a picture together that it sunk in. Then, to add insult to injury, his sister comes over and basically busts him out saying that her brother wanted my number and yadda, yadda, yadda. I quickly scrambled together a story about California's economy being horrible and that I had no intentions of staying much longer, which is true. For the most part, anyway. I spent the next hour and a half avoiding eye contact and him in general. When Felicia finally suggest we get ready to leave I was ecstatic. I wanted to get the hell out of dodge before O'boy got the courage to ask for my number! We said our "good-byes" and "nice-meeting-yous" and left. I was glad to be rid of the doting older man! Seriously, he was probably old enough to be my dad.

On Sunday Felicia and I had tickets to see Crowns, a musical about the African-American tradition of wearing hats to church. It was the last show of the LA premiere at the Ebony Repertory Theatre and that seemed to have brought out a few stars. While standing in line for our e-tickets, Felicia sees Jackee Harry (227, Sister, Sister) and Marla Gibbs (who Felicia called Florence, I guess from some stint she did on Martin.) Felicia goes on over and asks Jackee and Marla for a picture and they happily obliged. A little while later Felicia glances over and sees Allen Payne (House of Payne, Jason's Lyric, New Jack City) and was like "Jasmine, isn't that the guy from Jason's Lyric?" When I confimed that it was him she told me to go over and ask for a picture. I told her I wasn't going over there! I couldn't even remember the man's name and neither could she! So I whip out the trusty Blackberry and googled Jason's Lyric and found that his name was Allen Payne. By the time we'd worked up the courage he was heading into the theatre. We get the tickets and start making our way into the theatre when we see Allen towards the end of the hallway looking like he was waiting for someone. I casually say "excuse me, are you Allen Payne?" when he said yes I said "Oh, okay, I just wanted to be sure" and we strolled on over to our seats, which happened to be not five feet away from where he was still standing. Felicia tries her best to get me to go ask for a picture. Shoot, I was nervous and a little star-struck! So she finally got up and asked him for a picture and I just piggy-backed on her request. The play was excellent, by the way.

After the play we had an early dinner at The Grand Luxe Cafe at the Beverly Center. I heeded Felicia's warning about the pasta and followed her lead and got a burger. We got dessert to go and called it a day.

It was an eventful trip to say the least, but it was also nice to just hang out with Felicia. Since we don't live nearby, I don't get to see Felicia and hang out as often as I'd like to.