Thanksgiving Staycation

Yes, stay-cation is a totally lame, played-out buzzword. Regardless, that was the goal for the last 4.5 days for Hannah and I. Having been to St. Louis twice in the last month, plus a weekend at the Wisconsin Dells, there was little interest or motivation in another journey down south for Thanksgiving. Couple that with the fact that I haven't had 4 days of true down time in Chicago and you can understand why I was so excited about this local R & R. I kept track of most everything we did using my iPhone camera. Here's how it went down...

Wednesday night: Kid Sister w/ Flosstradamus show at House Of Blues. Super fun all around, although I wish the crowd would have been bigger and the show later. All in time, I'm sure.

Here's Genevieve and Marah sporting their light-up pro nails. They got a shout out from the stage for those.

A rainy and cold Chicago night on a lit-up Michigan Ave.

Matt, Steve, Hannah and I hit Boston Blackies for a late dinner (their burgers live up to the hype) and some stupid fun with our phones.

Thursday: Slept in for the first of many days. The only thing on the docket was Thanksgiving dinner at Julie's parents' house in Joliet. The day had all the right pieces in place: great food, mild family tension, wacky grandma, gossip about the neighbors, naps. It was a lovely evening and we were glad to be included. Thanks Julie!

Julie decided to take an old painting from Joliet to Chicago in the back of her pick-up. After a few minutes on the highway we noticed it was catching the wind and close to flying out on to traffic, so we pulled off to a gas station to better secure it. It was quite a little MacGyver operation, but the painting didn't fly out the rest of the way home, so I guess it was a success.

Friday: That afternoon we checked out a new coffee shop in our hood. It's called Global Coffee and Cargo. They are a non-profit affiliated with the "church"/A.A. support group/halfway house upstairs. They serve cheap, good coffee (Intelligentsia), a pretty full food menu, it's comfortable enough, they have decent hours and it's quiet as can be. No one seems to know the place exists, probably because they have essentially zero online presence. Hopefully that will change and they'll stick around. I couldn't even find a Google Maps listing. Anyway, check it out if you live in the square. On Armitage just east of Humboldt.

Since Hannah didn't have work that day and didn't have to get to her Schubas shift until late, we decided to find out what Critical Mass is like on a chilly night. Turns out it's pretty great. There are probably a tenth of the number of bikers you'd see on a summer ride, so we pissed off drivers less than usual (they didn't have to wait long for us to pass by). Since it was "Black Friday" we had plenty of shoppers downtown to high-five and wave to. It was Hannah's first Critical Mass and a particularly unique one for me, so I'm happy we decided to brave the cold. Fun stuff. Happy Friday.

Later on I went up to Lincoln Hall to meet some friends and check the the Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros show. It was sold out and, in my opinion, the best show yet at Lincoln Hall.

There are eleven people in the band and the main dude looks like a mix between my friend Jason and Russell Brand. It was kind of cultish in the best way possible. They all went into the audience and the crowd was singing along. The album is excellent and so is the live show.

"Party Boy" Dave, Matt, Hannah and I met later at Smartbar where LA Riots were DJing. I saw a fight almost happen on the street between two guys coming out of another bar. They looked like the grown up version of these guys. It was hilarious.

Saturday: Brunch at Lula. Always a guaranteed great meal, be it brunch or dinner. Kristen's BF, Steve, was cooking. I had an omelet full of braised duck, dates, arugula, and feta.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning house and reorganizing.

Around 10, Fauzia came over for a couple hours before the three of us went out dancing. Here she is fixing up Hannah's nail-polishing attempt.

Hideout dance party was awesome. LDW with DJ sets from Bald E, Mother Hubbard and Sparkletone (who killed it - so much fun). On the way home I got an excellent Chicago style hotdog from the cleanest, most organized street vendor. This at 3 AM, no less. Thanks for all the driving Fauzia!

Sunday: Very productive. Grocery pickup at Trader Joes.

I put in some serious bathroom cleaning time. It's sparkling.

Hannah did some more cleanup/organizing and the place looks awesome.

Moved this thing into the other bedroom.

Now that we have a dinning room table (chairs coming soon) we had a proper meal consisting of Hannah's turkey chili and half a baked potato.

All in all, the long weekend was a total success. I'm very well rested and fed, got a decent amount done and I'm enjoying our home more than ever. Sorry for the cheesy "Tim and Hannah" post, but that's how it went down this weekend. She's on the couch next to me crying to an awful romantic comedy (Bride Wars), although I'm ashamed to say how much I'm enjoying it too. I missed my usual family Thanksgiving in St Louis, but we definitely made the right choice staying in town.

So, how was YOUR weekend?