I hadn’t seen Cinnamonsince September, so she and I met up on Sunday at Vella Cafe under the Western Blue Line stop. I’d been there one time before, but it was about a year ago. Happy to say the food was delicious and I really like the space. Not only is it conveniently located one train stop from my house, but it’s nice and open and bright inside. So bright that I felt like wearing sunglasses in my seat for a while and my photo is all harsh light. I had the sausage frittata panino with caramelized onions, ajvar mayo, butterkase cheese and smashers on the side. Cinnamon had a ham crepe that she was happy to report tasted as good as I thought it looked.
I was still getting over a bad cold and though I felt better, I was losing my voice. Cinnamon and I had a lot of catching up to do so by the end I was sounding pretty bad. Whatever. Worth it! Hopefully Cinnamon and I can get back on track and meet up monthly again.. and hopefully we can convince Erin to come back out with us next time.
On another note, it seems like I will go months without going out for brunch and then I’ll find myself brunching every day of a weekend. This weekend I also went with Dallas and Kristin for brunch at Flo on Saturday. I don’t know why I’d never been to Flo before – it’s not far from where I lived in East Ukrainian Village. I wasn’t in love with my food (breakfast burrito – onions, tomatoes, veggies were all raw inside and the cheese wasn’t melted) but Dallas and Kristin loved what they got. Dallas got the smoked turkey hash with potato, onion, green pepper, squash and smokey chipotle crema, grilled and topped with two poached eggs, served with fresh fruit and wheat toast. Kristin got brioche toast with grilled smoked turkey, and fresh spinach, topped w/ two poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and asiago cheese. I definitely was in love with the latte I ordered. Perfect amount of foam and soo tasty. And it felt great on my sore throat. I definitely do want to go back to Flo and try what Kristin ordered.
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.
Yesterday, through a series of blog links, I discovered Estelle, a British hip-hop artist, singer and producer. I listened to a lot of her music on Hype Machine. This song she did with Kanye West called American Boys (video above) was a big hit in the UK.
While I’m not laying in bed with a 102 degree fever like I was the week before last, my cold is still lingering around. I wish it would just go away already.
I had dinner with Cinnamon and Erin last night, which was a great, relaxing time. I’ve known Erin for years, but we don’t get together enough. I’ve known of Cinnamon for years and have had quite a few online interactions with her, but this was one of the first times we hung out. I think there will be more times. We had tasty Thai food and lots and lots of girly talk that spanned from technology to careers to boys. All the good stuff.
And speaking of boys, mine is finally coming home tonight after being in Vancouver, Seattle and Calgary since a week before last Monday. Home for one night then he’s off to Puerto Rico til May 5. World traveler, he is. I miss him!
