Friends, family, acquaintances, and random other readers of Carlie’s blog –

Do you ever type “carliecrash.com” into your browser to see if Carlie has updated her blog… and then you sadly realize that it’s still the same old post from 3 weeks ago?  Then, a couple of days later you think to yourself “she surely must’ve updated that blog by now…” and then you return to “carliecrash” only to be disappointed once again?  Yeah… me neither… 

Last Sunday while out with Carlie and Emily in Lincoln Square, I brought this very subject to Carlie’s attention.  She explained that she has been very busy with work lately and that she has big plans for the blog soon.  In the meantime, Emily suggested Carlie take on a guest blogger… and that’s how you ended up with yours truly!   No, I can’t compete with Carlie (or as I prefer to call her, CarB) and her genius, written comedic timing.  But I, at least, hope to satisfy some of you when you came to this page today, hoping that “Parade of Insanity” was no longer the latest post. 

Carlie and I first met back in college at Illinois Wesleyan.  We joined the same sorority, became roommates in Big Front (you know it, you love it), and now both reside in the great city of Chicago.  We also both have sisters named Shannon.  Sidenote: Our other friend, Kelly, also has a sister named Shannon.  I think we were all destined to be friends.  Okay, let’s get back on track here.  Last year, Carlie and I decided to do some neighborhood exploration in our great city.  There are so many neighborhoods you hear of and, yet, don’t know where they are or what you can do there.  Our first adventure last year was to Lincoln Square.  You can read about that outing here.

With the seasons changing and what we thought would be a crisp chill in the air, we decided to plan another outing and try to recreate some of the magic of that October day a year ago.  We added in a little SF (that’s Smallfry – our friend Emily – in case you didn’t know) and took the El up to Lincoln Square last Sunday.  Mother Nature had other plans for our day when we saw the forecast was a high of 70 and sunny.  Should’ve worn flip flops!

The outing began at Huettenbar with a window seat.  After a few Oktoberfest beers and several occasions of “prost”-ing (that means “cheers” for all you non-German speakers) and a hint of a sunburn (who knew you’d need sunscreen at the end of October!!??) we decided to stumble up the street to the next location. 

This brought us to the cutest little bakery/cafe called Cafe Selmarie.  I would highly recommend dining here if you are in the neighborhood.  I had the chicken pot pie while Carlie and SF both got buffalo mozzarella ravioli dish.  My sister has a huge problem with someone ordering the same thing as her at a restaurant.  (Shan, if you’re reading this – yeah…they both got the buffalo mozzarella ravioli.  I wonder what Carlie’s sister, Shan, would think of this?  I also wonder what Kelly’s sister, Shan, would think of this?  Maybe it’s a “Shan” thing?!?)  Topped off with some hard cider to drink and we left happy.  I would also highly recommend asking for Adam as your waiter.  I don’t think he was as amused by us as we were by us.  Ah, good times. 

The Chicago Brauhaus was next.  This place doesn’t disappoint.  If you’re looking for some authentic Germans and some crazy music, this is your place!  You can even drink das boot here!   They also have those pretzel rods in mason jars on the bar.  (Question: Does anybody really eat these?  I always question the cleanliness of anything that spends several hours at a bar counter – including slimy men.  I mean, I saw the bartender refilling them, so it does appear that someone MUST eat them.  But who?  Or am I the only OCD person paranoid of this type of thing…hmmm…must self-reflect on that later.)  We went for a “medium” sized Spaten which when we were served our beverages, could only be described as “large.” Only one more drink here.  We had to pull ourselves together…it was a school night, after all. 

As we contemplated heading back to the El to head home, we made the decision to head across the street to indulge in some gelato from Paciugo, It was just too impossible to resist!  Should you find yourself someday with this same battle, always choose gelato.  In fact, whenever given the choice between something and gelato.  Always choose gelato.   More specifically, always choose the banana and chocolate gelato combo.  You can thank me later. 

As we rode the El home reflecting upon our day and licking every last drop of our gelato containers, we couldn’t help but think about how sometimes when you set out to recreate a fabulous day from a year ago, you are simply setting yourself up for disappointment.  Not this time, people!  We are making this a yearly outing!  Stay tuned for Carlie’s post in October 2013 of our 3rd annual Lincoln Square outing!  And let’s hope that’s not the next post we see from her! 🙂

Thanks, CarB for letting me take over your blog for a day.  Maybe you can consider changing your website to “megancrash.com”?  No…that kinda sounds weird.   Okay, you can keep your blog title.  🙂