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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Windy City

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I have the world's smallest family. Alright maybe that's an exaggeration but really I have one brother and only 4 cousins on my mom's side. I do have one cousin on my dad's side, but she's much older and I've only met her a couple times. The good news is that since I only have a few cousins on my mom's side, I have a good relationship with them. The bad news is that if one of us doesn't show up for a family event for one of the cousins, we're down a fifth of the guests. Alright that obviously doesn't take into account the aunts and uncles, but you get the point.

I really wanted to go in for my cousin's shower this past weekend in Chicago. I was able to find a decent priced flight and the Big Giraffe was able to take a couple days off of work to be with the boys.

I arrived Friday evening after a super fun flight through thunder storms. Are you catching my sarcasm? I'm not a huge fan of flying. I did order a glass of wine right when I got on board. It was that or seeing my doctor for some happy pills and I just never got around to going to my doctor. If you're flying on Southwest, my advice would be to go for the fun drinks. I ended sipping only about an 1/8 or the glass while peering around to see if I could spot the box it surely must have come from because it tasted awful.

My plane actually arrived pretty early and my aunt was in line at Bobak's which for those of you non-Chicago folks is a Polish deli that my family likes. It's right by where my grandmother used to live. Yes, we are Polish.

We headed back to my aunt's house and my uncle had Al's roast beef sandwiches waiting for us when we got there. I have say as much as I enjoy Chicago pizza, a visit to Chicago just isn't the same without Al's. Then my cousin who's getting married and her fiance came over to join us. We stayed up past midnight catching up and laughing. We also drank wine that was from a bottle.

Saturday I went running. This is probably going to sound weird, but as much as I'm always talking about how there's a lack of sidewalks and fences around here, I forgot just how many people have fully fenced in yards. It was neat to see all the dogs louging around in the yards and then running along side the fence as I was running. Except the mastiff. That one did scare me mostly because I didn't see him until I was eye level with him.

When I got back we began our test run of the Panera Turkey Artichoke Panini that my aunt was serving at the shower. Everyone was pleased with how they turned out. I decided I definitely want a panini press/griddle like my cousin has. I also decided that people should really have ten year anniversary showers because then they know exactly what they need, in my case a panini press, not to mention their towels are thinning. Then my cousin and I put together the party favors while my aunt cleaned.

The day flew by and it was time to get ready for my aunt's no-longer-a-surprise dinner. It was just her, my uncle, their two daughters and her good friend from high school and that friend's son. My other cousin and I were quite pleased with the martini selection. My uncle order a couple bottles of wine for the table. After dinner I called the Big Giraffe to check in and tell him that I thought we should get a panini press. While I could be wrong, his questioning of the martini I drank leads me to believe that he thought I was tipsy. I could tell he wasn't taking me seriously.

Afterwards I went back to my cousin's house because I hadn't seen it yet. It's gorgeous. I also got to meet their cute cat who was so much fun. The boys are definitely going to enjoy playing with him when we go in for their wedding.

Sunday morning I went running again. Then I came back to meet up with my cousin and her finance and prepare the food. We made a fruit salad and a citrus sald and of course the paninis. My future cousin-in-law referred to it as Cynthia's Sweat Shop or the CSS. We had a great time though. Shortly after the CSS closed down, the guests arrived. The shower was wonderful. My aunt had made homemade chicken noodle soup, homemade lemonade and homemade ice tea. She also made a simple syrup so that people could sweeten their drinks without the sugar falling to the bottom of the glass. My other cousin brought cakes and cookies from a really good bakery.

The shower went really well. It was fun catching up with everyone. Afterwards we went to the boats and spent about an hour on the slot machines. Then we came back and joined my cousin and future cousin in law. My aunt made everyone strawberry mojitos. Seriously, this is probably more than I normally drink in a whole year! They were really good though and we used the leftover simple syrup to sweeten them. Then we stayed up talking.

Yesterday it was time to go. My aunt and I went to a restaurant called the Pancake Cafe which is very similar to Walker Brother's. She suggested I order two sets of pancakes and get one to go. At first I said, no, but then the more I thought about it I decided it would be a good idea. After saying goodbye and checking in, I called the Big Giraffe to tell him I had a Dutch Baby and 49ers with me. I think he thought I had been hitting the martinis again and I could have sworn he mentioned the panini press. Really it's just that he's only a Chicagoian by association and so once I explained that they were pancakes he seemed relieved. He did post on Facebook though that either I was bringing home two orders of pancakes or an infant and football players. For the record, security didn't even bat an eye at my pancakes. If if anything, they made it sound like people brought pancakes through all the time. Maybe they do.

On the flight back I talked with a nurse from my kids' pediatrician's office who just happened to be on my flight. I've never seen her around our town before, but yet I happen to run into her at an airport in Chicago. I am now known as the "mother of the child with the tick under his eye". The boys and the Big Giraffe picked me up at the airport. It was so good to see them! We went to our favorite restaurant in Providence, Gregg's, and then headed home. It was a great trip.

posted by Alex Elliot @ 8:12 AM

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Name:	Alex Elliot
Home:	MA, United States
About Me:	Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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