Miss Universe

Boyfriend Matt and I are watching the Miss Universe pageant. It is so tacky, especially by comparison to something like the Miss USA pageant. Matt thinks it has to do with Donald Trump. He says, "This pageant is to the pageant world what the Trump's giant gold building is to New York." Agreed. Who would have thought either of us would have opinions on this?

Also, the judges have little to no reason for being there except for minor fame. Santino from Project Runway, Sean from the Apprentice, Emmitt Smith, Tom Green... Tom Green?! I know. Nonsensical. All of it. Yet, I'm still watching.

Winding up

It's hard to believe that the summer in Chicago is nearing its end. This weekend was wonderful and relaxing, despite the heat. Saturday was filled with movies and wine tasting with my friend Heather. On Sunday, I went to church, then the beach, and spent the afternoon and evening cleaning house, doing laundry and working on a couple of projects.

Today, I realized I only have three weeks left in Chicago, which seems absurd. I haven't done most of the things that I planned to do. However, over the next three weeks, I'll get to do a lot of fun things: the architechure tour, Grandma's retirement party, a Russian dinner, Mike and Maren's wedding, wine with old colleagues and maybe even a baseball game!

Boyfriend Matt takes the bar in a week and is surprisingly calm. I know that a year from now, I'll be in a panic over the same exam. I guess that's why we work well together - I can get him psyched up when it's the right time, and he is definitely wonderful at calming me down when I get too crazy. Ah, love.

Chicken?

Boyfriend Matt and I took a road trip to Pollo Campero today. It's a fast food chicken place with its roots in South America. Matt had heard great things about the restaurant, which recently opened locations here in the U.S. (in particular California, Texas, New York, DC, and one here in Chicago). We finally went today. Matt had a three piece chicken meal with beans, rice and a biscuit. I got chicken strips with sweet plantains and sour cream. If you're near any of the locations, I highly recommend giving it a try. It's still fast food, of course, but it's a big step up from KFC!

Weekend fun

This has been the weekend of getting things done. I spent Friday and most of yesterday participating in my firm's mock trial program. The case centered around an exploded propane gas grill. I served as the client for one side; the girl whose legs were terribly burned. The case was tried in front of a seven member jury. The firm even arranged for a court reporter, a videographer and a judge. My team lost to the company who manufactured the propane tank valve, but that was okay - two other teams tried the case and the defendants won in those cases, too. I had fun practicing my answers and getting quite emotional. The rest of the weekend has been both relaxing and productive.

On Friday night, Boyfriend Matt and I ordered a pizza and settled in for four hours of watching Gone With the Wind. GWTW is one of my favorite books, but I had never seen the movie. I loved it! Saturday evening, we grabbed some Thai food, hung out and watched Coupling with one of my fellow summer associates. Today was the busy day: laundry, grocery shopping, wedding gift shopping, baking, resume-updating, etc. Boyfriend Matt is off at his bar review course, and will be home just in time for us to have dinner with friends Claire and Dan tonight.

Also, Matt's sister Carrie had her baby! Baby Nate was born at 8 lb., 11 oz., and absolutely adorable.

Oops

Do you know what's horrifying? It's looking down at your citrus-flavored Herbal Essences shampoo after two months and realizing that it is "volumizing." Do you know how much volume my hair has on its own? This was a terrible discovery. No wonder I am walking around all of the time, looking like I have a giant mushroom head. Sheesh!