Yay Chicago!

The Blackhawks did it! They won the Stanley Cup. I’m so proud to be from Chicago right now. I may not be a huge sports person of any kind. I don’t know team players or coaches names. I have a very basic understanding of the rules. However, when my city has a team that’s doing well I am all about sports. This year it was hockey which happens to be my favorite sport.

The energy after they won the game was amazing. Walking down the street you could hear people yelling and cheering. People were honking their horns and waving out their car windows. It was an incredibly exciting thing to be a part of.

So happy, so proud. Yay Blackhawks!!!!

Totally Spoiled

A friend of Joel’s is getting married and as a wedding gift was given use of a skybox for the White Sox game tonight. We were part of the lucky bunch invited along. I’m not really a Sox fan (go Cubs!) but when you’re VIP who cares! I’m now completely spoiled because a skybox? Is the only way to watch a baseball game. For reals.

We like each other, we really do. We were standing far apart to get the US Cellular Field board in the background. Didn’t end up showing up very well (stupid old camera) but oh well.

Here’s the happy couple watching the game. Thanks again for inviting us guys!

Anyway, the game was fine. Around the second inning we saw a little boy get nailed right in the head with a foul ball. And I mean hit hard. He was in the second row, just to the left of home plate and we could actually hear it hit his little head. Poor kid couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6. He went down and his dad was holding him. Last I saw the medics were looking at him. I couldn’t tell if it knocked him out but I wouldn’t have been surprised. It makes me cringe just thinking about it. I looked a couple times but didn’t see them again so I assume they left to get him looked at. As long as he’s ok he is going to be so proud of the awesome black eye he’s sure to have in a day or two.

As far as I know no other children or adults were injured during the game.

The Sox managed to hit a couple home runs which meant fireworks!

But they couldn’t pull it together for a win. ::shrug::

By far the most entertaining thing that happened the entire game? One of the guys in our box spotted a girl two boxes over (red arrow) and wrote her a note which he held up to the window until it finally got her attention.

The note said:

Cute right?

The girl thought so and they texted back and forth for most of the rest of the game. Obviously they’re not picking out china patterns just yet but what an adorable how-did-you-meet story if they do end up together. I’m all oohs and aws over here.

It was great company and fun watching the game with free food, free drinks and a roof so when there was a downpour in the middle of the game we stayed warm and dry and watched the common folk run for cover. ::evil laugh:: We also had the Blackhawks game on in the box so we were able to watch them lose too. So not an awesome sports day for Chicago.

What was great was all the extremely nice people I met. I mentioned before I am now completely spoiled and will only be able to attend baseball games if it is in a skybox*. So, who wants to give me a skybox at Wrigley? Be your best friend. ::wink::

*lies

Go Cubs Go!

One of the girls that I met in my book club invited me and a couple other girls to a Cubs game. Her dad has season tickets and since he wasn’t going to use them this evening he let her have them. They were great seats. I’ve been to several Cubs games but never nearly this close. The players actually have faces. Who knew?!

The seats were great but the real reason I go to baseball games is for the company.

Good times.

Notice the sweaters? It’s May. I don’t think Chicago got the memo though. It was pretty chilly but that sweater I had on is super warm and I was very comfortable the whole evening. Poor Carrie is from California though and was freezing. We checked out the gift shop but, as expected, sweatshirts and jackets were $75-$100, a blanket or t-shirt was $50. I love the Cubs but really? No thanks. Anyway, I’m glad I didn’t haul my coat around like I was considering because I stayed very comfortable without it. Win!

Speaking of win, the Cubs actually won tonight! Just the icing on a really great night.

Little bits of happiness

Life can be so stressful. Right now we’re in the process of me (hopefully) starting a new job soon. We’re trying to find a new place to live. Trying to pay off some credit cards. We had to replace a headlight on our car… you know, just life. However, amid the stressful things life inevitably throws at us there are always the simple little things that make days bright and happy.

This weekend was full of those little things:

-Watching my family gather together in support of my mom

-Getting to see my sister and nephew in from California

-Seeing my Oma from Kansas City and Aunt from Florida

-Spending the entire day today with my mom and Oma. Seriously, my mom and I could talk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and never run out of things to talk about.

-Finding a gift card from Starbucks in my wallet that had $18 on it. That’s like free money!

-One of the girls from my book club invited me to a Cubs game tomorrow. Third freakin’ row seats. Mind = blown. I’m so excited.

My poor sister sat standby at the airport (on literally no sleep) all day long and didn’t get out. She’s spending the night here and is going to try again tomorrow. The flights don’t look a whole lot better and since her car is parked in San Fransisco she can’t fly in anywhere else. Say a prayer, cross your fingers and hop on one foot that she gets out because spending two long days at airport sucks. Spending two long days at an airport with a five year old (even one that is really well behaved) while your husband just got in from a deployment sucks way worse. She will accept any extra plane tickets to SFO just in case anyone has one laying around. Just saying.

Aside from feeling bad for my sister I’m just so happy. I’m so blessed in so many ways. I have a wonderful life and it’s fun to look back and list things that make my life as great as it is. Optimism for the win!

Tourists

One of my favorite things about having out of town guest over is being able to roam around Chicago like a tourist. Chicago is such a spectacular city but I think sometimes I forget how cool it actually is. Today we hit a bunch of the major tourists spot, took a bunch of pictures and had a blast.

Here’s the group of us in The Bean.

There are a lot more pictures but I’m exhausted. I’ll post more from the concert and our day around the city over the next couple of days.