Chicago, Chicago

GEEZ i have so much to write...Did a bunch of reading and writing in my journal this past weekend...I went to Chicago for Easter...here are some pictures. I got in Thursday night, and had an authentic Gyro at one of my favorite places growing up...Yorky's. There was greece and Cucumber sauce "dripping down my neck." I love it. Yorky's is right across the street from my Grandma's. If you didn't know, I was born in Elmhurst, IL, moved to Tulsa, lived there til I was 13, then moved to Kansas, now I live in Pittsburgh, PA. So, The house you see in the picture here, where my grandma has lived for the past 30 years, is pretty much what I think about when I think about my youth...and the places around it, because I've been there probably 100 times I kid you not. . My other favorite spots are Nancy's Pizza(stuffed baby) and "the Spot," where you can get vienna beef hot dogs, and Itallian Beef Sandwiches, with juice dripping down your neck. Heck, they have CHIPOTLE there, and I didn't even THINK about going...and if you know how much I love Chipotle, then you can figure out how much I love these other things. CHicago isn't the 2nd fattest city in America for nothing!

Friday I went downtown to my sister's place. Yes, I have a sister if you didn't know, her name is Michelle. The guy here is her fiance, Dom, who is the man. The other guys are some of his friends. They scored us some free tickets to the White sox game, 3rd row right behind home plate. They're getting married over Labor Day...and are having their reception in the VIP lounge AT the stadium...we went up there after the game and there is a picture below of the view...I can't wait! Despite my dislike for the white sox, being as I am a cubs fan, I still had a great time. I got a Beef sandwich there, and when ordering actually told the guy making me the sandwich to dip the whole thing in the beef broth, so I would be ensured to have some juice dripping down my neck! Dom was pissed off in the last picture..the sox got beat 13-7 I think? THere were around 7 home runs. I was watching the Cubs score on the scoreboard the whole game so I wasn't sure. And the guy on the left here had a cross on his chest...so I talked to him for about a half hour about it...then he had four more beers and started yelling at everybody - may have been the funniest thing I've ever seen.

On Saturday we went downtown and checked out millenium park, which I havent seen yet because it is new. If you've never been to Chi-town, you have to go, its amazing. We met my mom, grandma and cousin Erin at what I like to call "The Bean." THe big giant metallic Bean looking thing. I'll never understand art. Good weather always helps of course. From the park you can see the Art Institute, which posseses many famous paintings including Van Gogh's "Starry Night." Growing up my favorite museum in Chicago to go to was the Museum of Science and Industry. Oh, and of course, we got lunch - Dom and I split a stuffed pizza, which, of course, involved sauce dripping down our necks. The Sears tower, The Library, The lake, all trademarks of the Windy City. I took a few pics because I never really have!

On Sunday, BUFFET time. My grandma, mother, COusin and her Fiance, Brian, all went to Drury Lane, a historically famous place in Oak Park, to a $30 a person Easter dinner, after Catholic mass of course(My grandma is a devout Catholic, and probably the sweetest woman you could ever meet). I took pictures of it, that's how amazing it was - and there were LOTS of sauces for dripping...and of course, my grandma bribed the Easter bunny $5 to come over and hang out with us...yea, I'm "that guy" giving the Easter bunny Bunny ears...get it? Random Thought: Did you guys ever have that saying that if you gave somebody bunny ears when you were a kid it meant you liked them, or had to kiss them, or something like that? Anyways just ignore me .

ANd last but not least, the Culhane(mom's maiden name...obviously the "Rabi" family Bible would be a Quran...Yes, they're a little "different" than the typical Americans, being from Palestine and all). This was really neat though...its from the 1800s, and lists births, deaths, and marriages of those in our family. It was great. I didn't even know it existed!

Alright next time I promise I'll get into the more important things that happened to me spiritually and mentally on my trip...in fact at one point I was sitting in an airport, just watching people, writing about a few things...kinda crazy what was going through my mind...Ya know? EVERY person walking through there had a life of their own, a couple parents, somebody that loved them...just sort of made me feel small. Oh, and At one point I was dancing around some water singing Frank Sinatra too...so I'll stop there.