Chicago

Our Chicago weekend flew by and we had some good fun. Our first stop was Ikea. I had my eye on some stools on their website but the shipping was outrageous. We decided to take the opportunity to just pick them up. I couldn't believe how big that place was! From the scant amount of items on their website I couldn't imagine that it was a three-level shop the size of a small mall. There we met my sister and her friend from Madison, WI, Carrie.

That night we went to see what will probably be one of the last performances of Throwing Muses. David the drummer is calling it quits and Kristin and Bernard are reforming as 50'~ (Fifty Foot Wave). We ate dinner at the Abbey Pub until the doors opened and then staked our claim at the front of the stage. It's funny how no matter where you see Throwing Muses there is many of the same people. We saw Jason and Christine Mitchell and the annoying Jon Lovitz lookalike that was in San Fransico in 2001.

The show got started at about 10PM. The opening bands were ho-hum; but how could they compete with our favorite band in the world? The Throwing Muses show was killer. Musically the band was so strong and Kristin's voice was awesome. Rebekah was really dying for them to play her favorite, Mania. She got it during the 2nd encore. So she was happy. The show concluded at about 1:30AM. We left satisfied but a little sad that we probably wouldn't get to see them again.

So it was back to the hotel. Our hotel was screwed up so that they didn't have two double beds that we requested on booking. The idea of sleeping four of us on a king size was not an option so I grabbed the floor. I was so tired that it didn't even matter and it wasn't the first time I had fallen asleep on a hotel floor (it was however the first time sober). I woke up under the desk and I was glad that I didn't jump up instantly in the morning or I would've been in for a serious concussion.

The next day we just spent shoe shopping at some of the stores along Halstead street and the surrounding area and headed home.