The Dirty Thirty Edition - Saturday Pre-Party

Saturday morning was tenuous, but only briefly. A couple of ibuprofen and a Prilosec did the trick; and Moroccan food/The Violet Hour (see previous blog post) narrowly escaped becoming bad decisions. Honestly, by the time Sister (Erin) had the coffee brewing, I felt like a million bucks. As if a little medicine and a caffeine bolus weren't enough of a high, my parents and Mandy showed up late morning with a BIG Texas surprise. At around 11AM, none other than Clark Brodie Turner walked through my front door yelling some East Texas gibberish at me that I only barely understood. I was COMPLETELY surprised.


A little background. Clark is one of my best friends from Texas, and I do not throw that around loosely. The guy is solid gold. We met the first day of freshman orientation at UT while standing in line for dorm registration. We ended up being roommates for the week (and later our sophomore year) and the rest is history. Wendy, my fam, and Clark had kept the secret of him coming to Chicago for two months, which is unbelievable (especially if you know that my family and secrets are bitter enemies). I could not have been happier or more excited to see the Big Guy.

After catching up a little with Clark and a round of mimosas, we headed up to Franks 'n' Dawgs in Lincoln Park for lunch. This is a specialty hot dog place that I've mentioned on facebook as an amazing lunch spot. The majority of people in Chicago think that Hot Doug's is the only game in town when it comes to eclectic dogs, but this place is serving them up in a big way! (And you don't have to stand in line with your thumb up your ass for two hours) Our selections included a Chinese 5-spice duck sausage dog, a Thai dog with wild boar sausage, a Polish dog (potato cakes included), a brat with portobellas and smoked gouda, and, of course The Chicago Dog. Oh, and how bout three orders of Triple Truffle (oil, butter, & salt) Fries to wash down those dogs. Done. What a meal.

Dessert Dog - Sweet Home Chicago (On the house)

From there we hopped in a cab to show the family Wrigley Field (since that's what tourists do) and to get Mandy a Cubs shirt. I was only mildly okay with this, but I suppose I get the fact that unless you're making a rap video Cubs apparel is probably cooler looking than the Sox black-and-white. We also stopped by Strange Cargo, which is an awesome specialty t-shirt and vintage clothing store in Wrigleyville. Erin got a Chicago flag shirt, I went with a Magnum PI shirt, and Clark got a Bayside High shirt--all solid choices. Apparently, Clark's fiance, Krystyl, is an avid watcher of the Golden Girls, so Clark had one of these shirts made for her. Awesomeness.

After braving a little downpour we all hopped in cabs to head back to the hotel and condo, respectively. This was a huge fail on Wendy and my part, as we were actually just a block away from the Addison Red Line station which would have taken both parties directly back to our destinations. Instead, we were negotiating terrible traffic (Rain + Bears Game + Northalsted Market Days = Badness) and it took us forever to get back to the house. I pretty much hate cab drivers at baseline. Add to that the fact that I'm projecting all over this cab driver due to being disgusted with myself for not taking the train, and you can imagine my disposition in the back seat. We ultimately got over that and, after a quick pit stop at Jewel to pick up the cake and a nice "Birthday Boy" balloon, we made it back to the condo with plenty of time before the big par-tay.....