A Trip Home: Part 2

As I was going to sleep on Thursday night/very early Friday morning I realized I had completely forgotten to blog! I had been planning on posting my packing post that day but I completely forgot! This was a first for my blog--the first time I completely forgot to have a post ready to go on a Tuesday or Thursday (I usually try to have my posts ready by or scheduled for noon in what ever time zone I am in and I've had some "late" posts in the past). So I apologize to my readers.

The flamingos in the snow.

Friday was exciting! My mom and I headed into the City after work and met my college friends and their mother/mother-in-law at the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was warm! And by that I mean it was above freezing. The cold weather bears (like the polar bear) were inside when we arrived. You'd think the polar bear would love Chi-beria this time of year but apparently not. The flamingos were out for part of the day thought.

If you recall from my T-Give trip home, Hubs and I went to this same Zoo with the same college friends. So, I was kind of underwhelmed because I had seen the same animals a few months ago. I'm also not terribly excited by animals. But it was good to spend time with friends and we went some place I had never gone before--the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Prepare for so many pictures of plants!

My dad joined us for dinner at my friends' apartment. Their mother/mother-in-law is a wonderful cook, as is our male friend. They were in charge of dinner and it was delicious.

Saturday was a taxing. My dad owned my car.^* We were going to assign the title to me while I was home so that I would own the car and so that I could register it in Maine (my dad had forgotten to reregister the car in Illinois in 2012 and I didn't notice until I took the car in for repairs and the repair person looked at the registration). I had forgotten to record the exact milage on the car before I left it and I could not figure out how to transfer title from an Illinois resident to an out of state resident! So I was grumpy and snappy at my parents because they just wanted me to estimate the milage even thought the title assignment form required "exact milage." I gave up and let my dad take me to the currency exchange, the lady who works there is an expert on these things.

But before we did that we went to lunch at my mom's favorite hibachi restaurant, Kegon, on the way there my parents grilled me about my small business plans. They want to fund my law office. I just want to be a grown up who doesn't get hand outs and bail outs from Mom & Dad anymore. (I will totally still accept help paying off my student loans from them though since school seems like a fair thing to get help with.)

A photo of ice on the Lake to break up the text.

They also don't understand the practice of law so they suggested that I do several things that may or may not violate the rules of professional responsibility. For example, they were like "so what if you are disciplined by the board of overseers of the bar." So what? My name shows up as a disciplined attorney on their website which would likely show up if people googled my name. Would you want an attorney who was disciplined by the bar even if it was just for something kind of negligent instead of fraudulent?

I love them and I know they just want to help me but they can be so frustrating because I feel like they're ignoring what I am saying and then keep suggesting the same things that stress me out. I try to tell them clearly how I feel and how what they say makes me feel but it seems like they just keep saying the same things to me over and over again. Plus this trip was already stressful, see my previous post.

A Belated Wedding Present from my Friend who was
in Korea and couldn't make it my my wedding.

Saturday night I hung out with my high school friends. We hit Steak n Shake. I had the most delicious garlic cheese burger and their fries are delicious! I am sad there are none in Maine. We wandered around Target and then went to Menchies for froyo where wee played Uno with very dirty sticky looking Uno cards. I am so grateful to have such dependable friends. When I get together with them it's like we're in high school again, less the drama.

On Sunday, I had lunch with my high school friends at a Thai restaurant and afterwards we went to a local aquarium supply store where they had tons of fish! Including two in a small pond that would swim up to you and beg for food, hop out of the water a bit, and spit at you. I should have gotten pictures.

The Crème Brûlée!

Then I had dinner with my parents at a delightful little French restaurant in Etown, Bistro Bordeaux. My mom and I shared a cheese plate my dad doesn't eat cheese because he doesn't eat added salt and cheese is usually pretty salty. I had the Salade de Betterave, the Steak Pommes Frites Bistro Bordeaux, and the Crème Brulée du Jour. So good! I love beets! I love french fries (they severe them with mayonnaise and I ate them with a fork but no mayo)! The crème brûlée was delicious as well. So if you want to blow half of this month's food budget in one go, I'd recommend it. I hope that maybe my mom will take me there for their Sunday Brunch next time I'm home.

Monday, I was heading home. My mom and I went to Eggsperience for breakfast. I don't like it quite as much as Walker Bros. but they do eggs better which made my mom happy. After lunch we walked around the Glen because it was so warm. We hadn't changed our clocks for daylight savings time so we thought all the shops were closed. They were actually open so we could have looked for some new shoes in my favorite department store--Von Maur. We stopped at Jewel on the way home. I wanted to get some Krispy Kreme doughnuts to bring home with me as an "I'm sorry your dog died here are some doughnuts to help you forget" for Hubs and his family. There are no Krispy Kreme doughnuts in Maine and they are so good.

The mugs arrived yesterday and one was
impressed into service this morning.

My dad took me to the airport and we stopped at every Dunkin in between my house and O'Hare looking for a Chicago runs on Dunkin mug. I didn't find one. But my dad checked all the Dunkins in between O'Hare and his office and he found two on Touhy and sent them to me. (I love my parents but this is a great example of how they listen to me but don't: I said they had them on line but I didn't want to pay shipping so I said they should keep an eye out for one and leave it in my bedroom and I said Hubs didn't need one but I ended up with two delivered to my door.) I do in fact have the best parents!

My flight to Boston was uneventful but I was so fortunate! I needed to catch the bus from Logan to Maine. The bus comes pretty much every hour at 35 after the hour. We were scheduled to land at 6:35. We got in about ten minutes early. Our gate was close to the baggage claim. I busted out of the plane and the airport so fast! I got to the bus stop at 6:34 and the bus came at 6:38. I am so glad that I didn't have to wait for the 7:35 bus. It meant that I got home around 9:30, a pretty reasonable time, instead of 10:30.

That trip and the lead up to it was so incredibly exhausting! I am so happy to be back and I've almost caught up with reading other people's blogs and responding to comments on this one! I am also working on building up a reserve of draft posts so that I don't accidentally forget to blog again.



^*I'm a spoiled brat. My parents bought me a little VW Cabrio when I turned 16 so that I could drive my sisters to swim practice and take E2 to and from school with me in the mornings after I got a parking space as a senior. I took the car with me to college and E2 got a car. When I started law school my mom was so worried about me driving my tiny Cabrio on Maine highways in the snowy winter so my dad bought a AWD Ford Escape for me. I am grateful for their concern because the Escape is perfect for driving in the snow whereas the Cabrio couldn't drive up hills in the snow because it was so light it would just start sliding back down them.