Loud-mouthed liberal feminist. Anarchist knitter. Tequila-drinking artsy-smartsy fat chick. Bluesy folk-rock singer-songwriter. Rebel with too many causes. Quirky eclectic pagan poet. Paradoxical intuitive smartass. Sarcastic brainiac insomniac. You know, for starters.

6.29.2004

I heart Chicago.

Some things I love about Chicago:

Eclecticity
This store ROCKS. They carry an amazing spread of (as you'd expect) eclectic merchandise, all of it really cool and totally reasonably priced...plus the owners are amazingly cool people.

vive la femme
This is another store that ROCKS...this time it's a fashion treasure for the big chicks. They have the - bar-none - cutest stuff for big-ass babes. And the decor is fab, too.

Chief O'Neill's Pub
This is a great little pub, a little off the beaten path and thus generally pretty quiet and not too crowded. The bartenders have cute accents, the drinks are reasonable and plentiful, and the decor is worth checking out all on its own.

Tribune Tower
A couple hours wandering around this building, looking at the pieces of various buildings and stones from around the world is part reminiscence, part history lesson, and all cool.

Celtic Fest
Pipes, kilts, and beer. What more could a girl want?

Craig's List
Okay, so I know this isn't specifically a Chicago thing, but I love it and I spent most of my time on the Chicago part of it at the moment, so whatever....craigslist rocks! I've found apartments, roommates, musical collaboraters, theater connections, parties, events, classes, and concerts...all on craigslist.

The Davis Theater
This theater is in the Lincoln Square neighborhood - one of my favorite areas in the city, gratis a fabu German restaurant, the Old Town School of Folk Music, Welles Park, an awesome Greek restaurant, and great shopping - Merz Apothecary, Gallimaufry Gallery, a neat used book store, and so many other cute little shops. The theater itself is really awesome, and you can still see a matinee for the unheard-of price of $5 a head. The link above is to a ladies' room review, which cracks me up - it's actually no longer accurate, as they've remodeled, but it's hilarious anyway. I had to share.

The CTA
The CTA catches a lot of hell for not being a very good mass transit system....but having experienced other cities' systems (including Atlanta, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York/Jersey, St. Louis, Miami, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Minneapolis/St. Paul), I feel like I can say (with a fair amount of conviction) that the CTA is pretty damn great. Just about anywhere in the city is pretty much accessible just about any time day or night, and the daytime service is actually really good. Service to suburbs isn't bad, and between trains and buses, you can get anywhere you need to go. The CTA lets me live car-free without being stuck at home. It's a beautiful thing.

The Chicago Reader
This pape is the grand-daddy of the free newsweekly. It's so mammoth that I don't know anyone who manages to read the thing in its entirety. Most folks I know read the classifieds and maybe the music/arts section...and even dedicated readers like myself typically only manage to get through two or three of the four sections included in this big boy.

So, those are a few of the things I love about Chicago. There are more, but these will do for now. I should write a guidebook or something.

So, lots of things going on lately. I'm putting together a band, which is exciting and really cool....I have a better idea of what I want and how to accomplish it this time, and also what to avoid, which gives me a good foundation. I'm putting together a voter registration drive for September, to further my personal mission of getting the Shrub out of the White House. I'm working on several website projects, which is fun and exciting and challenging. This weekend is the 4th of July, and my neice and nephew (along with their parents and my mom) are coming down for a few days, which will be great.

There's drama (when is there not?), but I feel confident that it will all work out for the best. Eventually.
I watched "Practical Magic" the other night with my new roomie. There's this one scene, in case you're not familiar, where Aidan Quinn and Sandra Bullock have this very dramatic makeout moment. My roomie goes nuts - "that's not how it happens!" he's saying, with clear derision at Hollywood's propogation of such mythical passion.

Meanwhile, I'm running through the number of similar experiences I've had. As it turns out, I've actually got a few screenworthy kisses under my belt. Go me. (I'd share, but I'm not the kind of girl who kisses and tells.)
Now if only I could translate previous conquests into current success.

Oy vey. I'm such a spinster.

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