Feeling blessed

This weekend was a mix of all sorts of fun! Janine, Alison, Boyfriend Matt, Pearson, Maren and I headed to Mr. Wolverine on Friday night. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's basically an all-male law school pageant that rivals Keenan Revue for its humor. One of our friends won the competition; we celebrated at Oz afterwards. It seemed like the whole law school was there and it was fun to hang out with friends I don't see often enough!

Boyfriend Matt and I dragged ourselves out of bed late Saturday morning for a quick trip to the gym, after which we jumped in Harry the Honda and headed for Chicago. Our plan was to check out a possible apartment to sublet, hang out with Patrick for the night and meet up with Emily for breakfast the next morning.

The trip couldn't have gone more perfectly. When we got to the neighborhood where the apartment is located, it looked eerily familiar. (For those of you in the know, it's on Diversey between Sheridan and Clark - just a block away from Duffy's, the Michigan bar.) We found a parking spot and walked down the street, peering at numbers to find our destination. When we came upon it, it seemed to good to be true. It's a set of brownstone-like apartments in a U-shape, with a pretty courtyard in the middle. Last summer, Matt and I walked by this very apartment building and fell smitten with it. We wrote down the web address to the building and thought: "Maybe we'll live here someday". We had no clue the apartment we were going to see was in that set of buildings!

Gleeful, we rang the bell to the apartment. It was just about perfect. It's a huge place with a nice living room, a separate dining room, hardwood floors, tons of windows, etcetera. Directly across the street? A full fledged grocery store. Within two blocks? A dozen restaurants and bars, Starbucks, Panera and Borders. Within four blocks? The north end of Lincoln Park Zoo, the bike path and the lake. Needless to say, we decided to sublet the place for the summer. Come visit anytime! I think we both feel pretty lucky to have found such a great place, and I can't wait to share the apartment with him. It'll be the first time the two of us have really lived together (without having additional roommates) and I can't wait.

Boyfriend Matt and I wandered around our new neighborhood and had a delicious Chinese food dinner, then spent the evening hanging out with Patrick and his friends at a bar, where I downed way too many drinks. This morning we got up all too early and met Emily and Andrea at the Bongo Room, home of the best breakfast on earth. Seriously, if you are ever in Chicago, go there. Get there at 8:45 (just before it opens at nine) and you will get a great seat and amazing pancakes.

After partaking in the pumpkin-carrot cheesecake pancakes and the yellow corn and cranberry pancakes, we drove our hungover, content selves back to Ann Arbor. Adrienne and I embarked on a challenging but surprisingly fun five mile run, our longest yet. And now I'm feeling the effects of the weekend: I'm worn out and exhausted, but it's the kind of exhaustion you feel good about. A good night's sleep is all I need (I hope!) to start off another great week.