Oh Chicago
Today is exactly the kinda day I have wanted and needed for so very very long.
Met Canadian amiga D (who left JET a year before me but I don't hold it against her) in Evanston for brunch at my faaaaaverit cafe there. Our server had a Japanese t-shirt and a hot European accent. There are stores in town now that sell books and CDs by the pound. I have just managed to get rid of over 140 books, so was not looking to undo all that effort so soon. But the CDs were kind of too great an impulse buy to pass up and the store clerk was sweet and friendly.
We headed in to the North Side, lunched at Clarke's, wandered about a bit, and wound up at Ragstock where we'd agreed to meet A, a friend of mine from high school. While in Ragstock D and I decided 'twould be a most excellent idea to go through the racks of prom dresses, buy the most ridiculous ones we could find, and wear them immediately.
The first of the four dressed I picked out as likely candidates was absolutely fabulous; it really swept me off my feet:
D's couture of choice ended up being a much more Disney version of mine, sans lace, +5,000 to the poofy-ness of the poof-sleeves, and the pinkest of pinks. By that time A had joined us. She decided to buy & wear a kimono out with us in a show of moral support / equally questionable sanity. Shout-outs must go to the two guys working the register / bag check at Ragstock today, who were very supportive of our silliness and let us document it with my camera. We effected our glorious transformation in the bathroom of Starbucks, and were thus reborn as emissaries of high fashion and good feelings.
A eventually had to leave for home, and D & I had just time enough to grab a small evening meal (we ate so much throughout the course of the day, I'm honestly surprised I managed a dinner salad). As we walked down North Halstead, a man, woman, and child passed us on the sidewalk. Judging by the look on the little girl's face, we totally made her day.
We snagged the last outdoor table at Nookie's where our waitress repeatedly complimented both the dresses themselves and our decision to wear them out, and Dino the night manager, originally from Tennessee, told us he hadn't seen anybody lookin' so elegant in quite a while ( u w u) Both of us decided to wear our dresses all the way back to our respective base camps, D south to downtown & me north to up-here-where-I-am-now. Hands down best $20 I have spent all summer.
Some quotes from the day:
"Charlie's Angels be out in style today!" -area man on bike
"It's not child labor - he thinks he's an astronaut!" -A
"OK, bag check for the Princess, the Witch and the Wardrobe." -store clerk
"I take umbrage with your chicken-butt hat." -me
Met Canadian amiga D (who left JET a year before me but I don't hold it against her) in Evanston for brunch at my faaaaaverit cafe there. Our server had a Japanese t-shirt and a hot European accent. There are stores in town now that sell books and CDs by the pound. I have just managed to get rid of over 140 books, so was not looking to undo all that effort so soon. But the CDs were kind of too great an impulse buy to pass up and the store clerk was sweet and friendly.
We headed in to the North Side, lunched at Clarke's, wandered about a bit, and wound up at Ragstock where we'd agreed to meet A, a friend of mine from high school. While in Ragstock D and I decided 'twould be a most excellent idea to go through the racks of prom dresses, buy the most ridiculous ones we could find, and wear them immediately.
The first of the four dressed I picked out as likely candidates was absolutely fabulous; it really swept me off my feet:
D's couture of choice ended up being a much more Disney version of mine, sans lace, +5,000 to the poofy-ness of the poof-sleeves, and the pinkest of pinks. By that time A had joined us. She decided to buy & wear a kimono out with us in a show of moral support / equally questionable sanity. Shout-outs must go to the two guys working the register / bag check at Ragstock today, who were very supportive of our silliness and let us document it with my camera. We effected our glorious transformation in the bathroom of Starbucks, and were thus reborn as emissaries of high fashion and good feelings.
A eventually had to leave for home, and D & I had just time enough to grab a small evening meal (we ate so much throughout the course of the day, I'm honestly surprised I managed a dinner salad). As we walked down North Halstead, a man, woman, and child passed us on the sidewalk. Judging by the look on the little girl's face, we totally made her day.
We snagged the last outdoor table at Nookie's where our waitress repeatedly complimented both the dresses themselves and our decision to wear them out, and Dino the night manager, originally from Tennessee, told us he hadn't seen anybody lookin' so elegant in quite a while ( u w u) Both of us decided to wear our dresses all the way back to our respective base camps, D south to downtown & me north to up-here-where-I-am-now. Hands down best $20 I have spent all summer.
Some quotes from the day:
"Charlie's Angels be out in style today!" -area man on bike
"It's not child labor - he thinks he's an astronaut!" -A
"OK, bag check for the Princess, the Witch and the Wardrobe." -store clerk
"I take umbrage with your chicken-butt hat." -me