I know it is Wednesday, and I really ought to have gotten around to posting about last weekend sooner, but work busyness jumped up and smacked me in the face. Life goes on.
But this weekend! Oh, this weekend. YOU GUYS. It. Was. Awesome. Let me back up.
A few weeks ago ModernMatriarch asked on Twitter for Chicago pizza recommendations, and because people in Chicago are positively CRAZY about pizza preferences I added my two cents. I also asked if she happened to be coming to Chicago for some reason, because why else would she be looking for Chicago pizza recommendations? (I am a GENIUS at reading context clues, I tell you.) Anyway, she checked out my blog and decided I wasn't actually a serial killer and invited me along to a gathering of blogger types here in Chicago. Not a BlogHer size gathering, just a small group of online people (ten, including me). I accepted, and then proceeded to worry about it for two weeks because HELLO, I am a worrier with social anxiety. It is what I am best at.
Despite my advance fretting and worrying, I had an absolute blast. I could give you a step-by-step account of everything we did, but I suspect that would be less fun to read than it was to live, so I will just bring out the highlights.
- Tapas at Cafe Iberico. I don't remember all of what we ate (see: alcohol), but I do remember a lot of garlic and mayo on some potatoes, and something involving goat cheese that was so good I wanted to marry it.
- Polenta fries, cheese fondu, and all manner of good food at Quartino. Pseudostoops ordered for the table and I think I need to hire her as my personal food-orderer at restaurants, because OH MY WORD.
- Much alcohol consumed at four different bars. Fado, Butch McGuires, The Hunt Club, and The Hang Uppe. There were Irish Car Bombs, there was dancing, and ModernMatriarch beat some poor 21 year old boy from Milwaukee in a chugging contest in front of his friends.
- Shared-cab rides both Friday and Saturday night with SaraBellePlane (and Saturday with Pseudostoops), both rides full of easy, comfortable conversation.
- An hour or two of post-bar conversation one of their hotel rooms.
- Cass. Cass deserves her own highlight point here, and not only because she considered making out with me. That woman is outgoing and flirtatious and hilarious and I'm pretty sure I hired her to take pictures of me/T when we (SOMEDAY) get pregnant. But all of those things are not why she gets her own highlight point in this post. No. She gets that because she aquired a sculpted cake for us that was delivered at the end of dinner at Quartino.
Yes, that is a cake sculpted to look like balls. BALLS. I missed the part of the day that was the source of the quote, but I believe that came from ModernMatriarch.
I really have nothing that can follow the ball cake. How can anything be better than a ball cake? Really.
These ladies? All awesome. I wish I could have brought them all home with me and kept them here.
Belle Plaine Living (Who lives close enough for me to stalk be IRL friends with, I hope!)
Cass. Just Curious. (Who I will see at BlogHer! I SO wish she lived closer, if only so we could order ball cakes all the time. What?)
Chez Rougie (Made me laugh probably more than the rest of the group combined)
Harmzie (I liked her enough to lend her my iPhone for half the night. THAT'S friendship, y'all. Also, I stole the pictures in this post from her, because I didn't bring a camera.)
lilsaej (Who is so cute I wanted to put her in my pocket and take her home with me.)
ModernMatriarch (Who reminds me so much of my friend Tina it is terrifying[ly awesome])
McMama's Musings (Pink hair! What's not to love?)
Pseudostoops (Best. Food. Picker. Ever.)
Back To Me (Even cooler in person than online, and I didn't think that would be possible.)
