... And we're off!

- Posted using Mobypicture.com

Regardless of how old I get I hope I will never tire of...

Top Ramen, Mac & Cheese and Chicken Pot (chicken pot) Pies. They always wash me with the most obscure memories.

Tonight, on this perfectly great Saturday night, I sit at home watching Mannequin [don't judge me] enjoying Marie Calendar's finest, remembering the games my brother and sister and I would play in the hay stack behind our farm house. Hours were spent on those old stacks... Laughing over antics, whining from the scratches and screaming at the site of the mice residing within. I miss those kids...

So many things turn and make a left in life and it saddens me... To my very core... This distance put between my siblings and I. I wish it merely miles that separated us, but truth is our lives are so drastically different and hurried, finding common ground proves troublesome too often.

Chicago is oh, so lovely and everything I dreamed it would be, but after spending the last week with my loved ones I'm finding myself hard to locate again now that I'm back in my comfort zone.

Perhaps its merely exhaustion showing its ugly self.

But... Perhaps its more.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

And yes... I ate the whole bag of gummy worms.

Saturday, the lovely @jrporter and I headed east, cameras in hand and giggle boxes turned over. This is a photoblog [aka large mass of pictures] from that journey.

@jrporter and I off to Chi City in search of random acts of greatness.

@jrporter is laughing at me. I know it. Its ok, though.

She's got a great smile.

 [picture via @jrporter]

"Oo... I have to tweet this!"

Just for a moment, you can imagine yourself in a far away country.

I wish this were a scratch & sniff picture.

I think the sidewalk artist saw me coming. {giggles}

Something about this picture reminds me of myself...

@jrporter getting her photog on.

[picture via @jrporter]

Initially, the drugstore had no problem with us shopping there.
We stopped for gummies, drinks... and shenanigans.

On our way to the Agora statue.

His shirt says "Weird Fish"... and I really want one.

Reason #528 that I love Chicago

Oh, Agora... how I love thee.

Have you seen these sculptures? I love art in motion... art that interacts with society and its surroundings. If you haven't been, I suggest you go. Take your time and look at the skylines from all angles.

To me, this represents those of us who wander through our daily existence, as if we were headless... never noticing the beauty in the simplicity around us. Or each other, for that matter. For me, the darkness of the sculptures represents sullenness and a sense of longing.

The sculptures were created by Magdalena Abakanowicz. The Polish sculptor explained the sculptures as this: "[Agora] must be like one body that represents so many different meanings," she said. "It's the self against the whole world." This is truly one of my favorite spots in Chicago. Click here to see more of Magdalena's work on Artsy.

The bus we waited for... that we never intended to ride.

Love this pic.. and the way we're both looking at something different...

which is exactly why we get along so well.

Shenanigans with @jrporter. "I'm alive and living in Houston."

Favorite headline of the day.

We closed this baby down.

I'm ending this adventure with my favorite little ditty, "Enthusiasm for life, by the way, is contagious." Thanks @jrporter for sharing your enthusiasm with me. You were the breath of fresh air that I needed and I can't wait until our next adventure... next time, no gummy worms.

We'll sit. We'll visit. We'll tie ourselves in knots.

I think we all know how much I love Chicago and immersing myself randomly in it whenever I can, so I won’t bore you, yet again, with the details on why. However, this Saturday, the lovely @jrporter and I will be taking a day trip to spend some time down there. Why you ask? In search of random acts of awesome and amazing. We have no agenda. We will only be armed with a train schedule, our cameras and the desire to shed some old skin.

Its been a while since I’ve done this… and planning this has reminded me of my more carefree days… days I would pack up and tool around until I found something, even if it was hours away, that caught my interest. I would stay long enough for it to make an impression and then leave.

Oh, how I love these days. Perhaps it is the romantic in me or that little blue-eyed girl, who sat on haystacks, dreaming of adventures she’d take, re-surfacing. When I was younger, I wanted to spend my twenty’s traveling Europe on a Vespa taking pictures of all my adventures while spinning romantic tales with oil paints.

I’m a fairly simple girl… one who still daydreams of retiring among lavender fields, gets swept away in melodies, leaves anonymous love notes in homeless books, and is moved to tears at the sight of old couples grocery shopping, hand in hand.

A family of butterflies has taken up residency in my stomach… I can’t wait to spend some time with my dear friend while taking some time out to… just be.

Where was I? Right... cavities and skeletons.

The Gentleman recently suggested I like holding onto old skeletons. It knocked something loose and I can’t stop thinking about these circles I seem to keep moving in between. I’ve never done much of a background on any of the names I keep dropping, so I’m taking the opportunity to not only give you the 411 on the men who’ve been keeping my senses engaged this past year, but to hopefully clarify the role each plays and why they are so important in my life.

The Candy Man: Part 2

I met The Candy Man via MySpace last year exactly a week after another crack in my universe appeared. He was awesome and helped me through so much… and not just as a distraction. We actually talked… well, mostly I talked and he listened, but he always inserted the right advice and support exactly when I needed it. He’d been through a similarly emotionally devastating break-up only a few months before and our conversations served as therapy for both of us it seemed. We talked for hours on the phone those first weeks. We didn’t see each other often because of schedules and my living situation at the time.

The first time I met him he picked me up at my office and took me downtown. I was so nervous I didn’t say anything for the first thirty minutes. We walked around Lakeview, his old neighborhood, laughing and strolling through a few of his favorite shops. We ate at a French restaurant, drank white wine, I walked barefoot to his favorite bar in Chicago and then he took me home. That night will always rank high in my favorites of nights.

The next time I saw him, we went to the drive-in and while sitting in the back of his Tahoe he asked if he could put his arm around me. He stayed the night with me in Chicago once, shared a bed with me and never left his side of the bed… even after a pretty heavy make out session. He holds doors, listens to R Kelly, watches Scooby Doo, drinks Capri Sun, likes antique stores and owns his own business. He still runs in the same circle of friends from elementary school and he takes care of his family every chance he gets.

He is a trip and to this day one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. He makes me laugh like no one I’ve ever met before and deep down, under the funny hardass persona he presents, he’s got a great heart and is one of the sweetest men you’ll ever meet.

I didn’t get to see much of that the last time we were together. We were both different…distracted. A few of my friends have met him, but haven’t been able to spend the time getting to know him. It’s too bad really. I missed this man… the way he bounces on his heels when he’s nervous, the sparkle in his eye when he’s laughing, the goofy grin he used to get when he’d see me. The way he always tells me he hears Jason Mraz and can’t help but think of me, his incredibly abnormal and all too familiar sense of humor… our numerous inside jokes.

Regardless of what has or hasn’t happened, I’ve no ill feelings towards him. I’m happy we’re talking again and I’m looking forward to getting to know him again, without all the expectations, the distractions and obstacles.

I’m also glad I can listen to this song again and not feel like something is missing. Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours will always remind me of good times with The Candy Man.

Not to be confused with That Guy...

Friday night I went to the big city to spend some time with Carl. I look forward to these days... they are my escape from my reality in a way. Its my 24 hours of re-fueling.

This weekend, we made a spontaneous trip to the Sears Tower. Due to my inability to ever make it to the train station on time, we were left in Chicago with a couple hours to kill and what better place to spend it in? Carl grew up in Chicagoland, yet even though he claims otherwise, he's kind of new to the city... and had never been to the Tower!


We stood at the top and looked out over the city telling stories of the different places and times we've encountered downtown, tried to find his apartment and goofed around like school kids in the photo booth afterward. I've been to the Sears Tower 7 times now. This was one of my favorite times. There was a different perspective, a different atmosphere... a different kind of appreciation.

Carl is one of my favorite people. I've experienced pieces of him before in others, but to have someone to talk to openly, share with openly and trust completely... you don't find that everyday. I wanted to document this day, because even now, 32 hours later, I still have a smile on my face. More on this later... {grin}