Erin got a new job and she works from home now. Since her home is a 5 minute walk from my home, on Thursday we made plans to lunch on salads from Robey’s while sitting outside in the sun. Nice time. Erin had her bike in at Roscoe Village Bikes and while we were waiting for it to get done we shopped around a bit at Roscoe Village stores. While in the bike shop I talked to them about my bike and what sorts of cruiser bikes they have. RVB doesn’t sell Electra bikes but told me about some other brands I could look into. I made note of them and thought I’d looked them up online, but ended up not doing it. I’d like to support RVB, but they didn’t have any of the bikes in stock and would have to special order what I wanted and I was afraid I wouldn’t like it or how it rides.

Hamlin Park, Lakeview, Chicago

After lunch I went and sat at our neighborhood pool for a while. It was pretty packed! I couldn’t get a lounge chair so I just laid my towel out on the cement and enjoyed the weather.

On Friday I went to the bike shop where Dallas and I originally bought our bikes, On The Route. I talked to John there a lot about replacing my Electra Townie and realized something I didn’t know before. I had a 7-speed bike and the 2008 models of the 7-speed bike don’t have all the bells and whistles my bike had, which is why my bike was so much more expensive than the 7-speeds available now. I had the internal hub shifting and a shock system and fenders, all things that the 2008 model 7-speeds don’t have. So, to get those things I’d have to downgrade to a 3-speed or upgrade to the 8-speed. I decided to upgrade. It was more expensive, but the money I’m getting from insurance will take a bite out of the price. OTR had to order my bike, which I wasn’t nervous about since John told me that the seat and the body of the bike haven’t changed so it should ride just like my old bike. The bike will arrive in a week or two and this is what it will look like:

Friday night we had a barbecue at our house. A lot of people came, about 15 or so. It was fun and I’ll admit I drank too much of the Summer of Rachelle official drink. On Saturday I was SO sick. I mean, I don’t even think it was hangover sick. I maybe was coincidentally having the stomach flu? I was still getting sick at 9 p.m. last night. There’s no way that was still a hangover. I couldn’t even take a sip of water. What a waste of a day. I don’t know what happened, but I missed Colleen and Justin’s going away party, Margaret’s Golden 26th birthday and a chance to see an afternoon showing of the Dark Knight at the IMAX with Liz and Killian. I need to remind myself that I’m almost 33, not 23.