Niffers

In Chicago I got to meet up with my oldest best friend - and by oldest I mean my youngest best friend whom I have actually known the longest. We've known each other since she moved next door when I was in the first grade. That is a long time. It's awesome to have friends you have known your whole life, but it makes you kind of glad that all of your friends don't know this much about you.

We spent Saturday morning eating brunch at the Bongo Room in a fun neighborhood (I have no idea what it is called). The food there was amazing. I had lemon coconut ricotta pancakes that were to die for. Clearly I cleaned my plate and then felt pretty disgusting for the next hour. Doesn't that always happen when you eat a rich brunch?

Niki is the pickiest eater I know (clearly the nickname Picky Niki came naturally for her). On the car ride home from the airport we were talking about food and she said "Isn't 'foodie' just a euphemism for 'food snob?'" haha. I like to think it's a little different!

Per my request, we went to Millennium Park (which maybe is also called Grant Park - I am clueless about Chicago). It's one of my favorite parts of Chicago.

Here I am in front of the "bean." It basically begs for a photo. As you can see, lots of other people gather at the bean for photos. Get out of my picture, people!

Here is Niki standing inside some weird sculpture/model thing. She doesn't like pictures, so snapping this one was an accomplishment.

At the park they have these really cool/bizarro faces plastered on giant rectangles with water trickling down them. And there's nothing like a fountain in a city to attract kids to play in the water.

Then occasionally the faces spit water on the kids waiting at the bottom. And some unsuspecting adults who don't know it's coming. Suckers!

Niki and I sat in the shade reminiscing while facing this horrible statue for a couple of hours. The reminiscing was great; the statute was scary. It was funny to see how our memories corresponded to one another. It seemed that whatever I remembered, she had no recollection of and vice versa. Mostly we were both just embarrassed by the things we did and games we played, but I guess that's how a lot of people feel about things they did when they were kids. Right?? Hopefully I will see her again soon and the reminiscing can continue!