first weekend

we had a good one. Saturday we got up early and made the trek to IKEA in Shaumberg, IL. It took about 30 or 45 minutes to get out there, which is about how far it took for us to get to the one in Frisco, too. I thought that our IKEA was enormous, but this one was super-gi-normous. three stories and a huge restaurant in the middle. Very overwhelming and as much as i love ikea, my energy drained about an hour in - before we had a chance to look at all we needed to look at. and if MY energy was drained, you KNOW that matt's energy was completely gone. we were in the market for a dining table, a kitchen island, a desk and a chair. we found several that we liked and took note, but only came home with a lamp and a couple of stools for the bar in the kitchen. We thought we'd head back out there next week to get the rest - we were back out that direction today...

last night we had the pleasure of experiencing what they tell us is a chicago icon - Margie's Ice Cream. I don't know if it's just open late or open all night, but it was pretty weird getting ice cream at 9:30 p.m. But we got a hot fudge sundae served in a giant shell-shaped bowl. Delish!

Our only goal today was to find, purchase and install a window air conditioner. Now, it's not been anything NEAR Texas hot, but has rained pretty much every day we've been here, which makes for some humidity and yesterday it got on up in the 80's, so we decided to take the plunge. We visited a WalMart out in the burbs yesterday and priced some (and should have just bought the one we saw) but we figured that there must be a WalMart closer. There was...sort of closer...and in a very different neighborhood. First of all the store was HUGE not as big as the IKEA, but much much bigger than SuperWalmarts in Texas and it was just a regular walmart. So we get back to the AC aisle and they were completely sold out! down to someone taking away the display as we walked past. So, we headed back out to the burbs and as we drove, the daily storm rolled in and it was a doozie. it took us about an hour to get out there and it was still pouring down when we ran into the store. got to the aisle and there was... one. left. we snatched it and ran. After a long trip home, we installed the AC being very careful not to drop it on passersby.


plugged it in and all the power in the whole house went out. (old wiring)




our super switched it back on about two hours later and we headed to Ribfest



our first experience of the Chicago street festival. pretty crowded, but pretty awesome ribs.




more later...