VEGAS BABY

This week definitely ticks the something new box, in more ways than one. And what an awesome place Vegas is. I really had no idea of what it would be like before going, with my only references being Oceans 11, 12, 13… and the Hangover….and it was all I could have hoped for and more.

Vicks and I flew out the Saturday morning and joined Paolo and Paul (aka Gloria, and the Pope) and we had an absolute blast. Sunning ourselves in 90 degree heat drinking cocktails and people watching like none-other (gosh these girls are seriously hot…and a few were definitely men, now more lady like….but still amazing)

We went for dinner and drinks at Aria – one of the new hotels on the strip. Where Paul and Paolo got a giant piece of meat for dinner….

We had cocktails and dinner at Cosmopolitan where they served food in a shoe…..(secretly by far my favourite Vegas hotel and I totally want to stay there next time). We were staying in the Playboy mansion with work (The Palms)….which was absolutely hilarious. There were even 10 condoms in my room….just in case.

On the Saturday night Gloria hooked us up (some dude, who knew some dude, who he vaguely knew) and we managed to get VIP at Hays the new night club in Aria….it was AWESOME. A total Hollywood moment where there are 100’s of beautiful people in a line waiting to get in and we just got whisked by and sent through the red carpet and straight pass all of them. All I needed was sunnies and small dog of some sort. We then proceeded to get free drinks all night (I still don’t really know why) and we mingled in various VIP lounges. Unfortunately by 3am, the wine, excitement and general Vegasness got the better of me and when I was politely asked not to sleep in the VIP lounge I knew it was hometime. Gloria nearly died when he saw me asleep!

On Sunday I had to do a bit of work and then we did loads of touristy stuff. Belagio Fountains, Caesars Palace, The Mirage, Venice, Paris….all awesome.

The conference Monday through to Wednesday was also great fun.

The work laugh came out a lot. I drank a lot of wine and cosmos (because I had to). Talked utter rubbish and learnt how to play Craps. Ghost bar in our hotel was fantastic for the view – overlooking the strip it was a spectacular sight, although after a few cosmos I was convinced the moon in Vegas wasn’t real. Very much a Nicky ruffie moment I think!

One of the cool things about the Palms, was that we got to see where the Real World was filmed. For the English amongst us, this is a spin-off Big Brother type show, so Gloria and I were shown around and we were like kids. They had the diary room, where people cry on the phone to their mum, 7 beds, Jacuzzi bath (that's what we are in in the photo), pool table, communal showers…and just general opulence. And you can hire this suite for a mere $10,0000 a night. Cheap as chips.

As we all know, the rule of what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas will always stick. So many funny stories, so much laughter – it was brilliant. Paul Corporate and Gloria Estafan are friends for life. Those boys are brilliant (albeit they do block some…… ;-))

I'm coming home, I'm coming home - tell the world I'm coming home....

Well, it’s been an awesome nearly 2 years in the US, but I’ve decided to hang up my Stars and Stripes dress, to head to London for a new adventure.

It’s been a tough decision and I’m excited, scared, sad, happy all rolled in to one – but all in all it’s the right decision and I actually think I’m ready to be a Dizzy Badger back in Blighty - and maybe even settle down (don’t quite buy a hat yet though).

Without getting emotional (not really my style, as we know I’m practically dead inside) – but I needed to do the US thing to find myself a bit. And I’ve totally done that and more and I think my dad would be super proud. I hope so anyway…

But man I’m going to miss my Chicago Friends….but I’m hoping they will visit lots and they will always be friends for life. And you never know…I may be back again some day.

Westbrook's last weekend in Chi...

Last weekend was chicken oriental! It was Sarah (as in Sarah and Fi's) final weekend in Chi before heading to Brissle, so we had to make it super special. Sarah and Fi have been my family out in Chicago - seriously, they feed me, listen to me talk crap, drink wine with me and are just generally bloody brilliant. They moved out to Chi a month after me, so it really was the end of era. Old Gloria (aka Paolo Decannio) flew in from Colorado and it was general debauchery from the outset. There was lots of drinking (I can still taste the tequila....10 years I have been dry of that stuff and there is a reason)....dancing (Kwiec dancing was legendary....and the shirt taking off was errrr Nicky's fault). Lots of eating -a giant pizza at work Friday and Yolk breakfast on the Sunday was lush - smoked salmon eggs Benedict....ummmmmm. And lots and lots of laughter. We met fake barristers, some dude with a sweaty hat and there were lemon drops.... On the Sunday night, it was March madness (big college basket tourny) - so we went to watch U of I play and have a quiet few beers. Unfortunately a quiet few beers turned into a fish bowl that we won in the raffle, so we all got nicely fuzzy and had a fun evening. To finish we had a Skillet Cookie, which was the giant pudding that consisted of anything full of sugar. All in all a brilliant weekend and Chi won't be the same without the wee family. But Bristol will be bingo bongo and we the wedding to look forward to! Friends for life x o x o.

St. Paddy's Weekend Celebrations in Chi

This weekend in Chi was St. Paddy's Day Celebrations. Not quite sure why it was the weekend before real St. Paddy's Day - but saying that the whole city celebrates and not one single person I met was chuffing Irish! Any reason to party in Chicago.

So a big thing for the city is turning the River totally green. The River runs through the city and is beautiful with the sky-line and el (train) surrounding it - so turning it green was pretty special. Me and the pups (Ruwe, Ferrick, Schoolyard, Bobby, Westbrook) headed down to Lizzie's on the river and as per true Chicago tradition had a drink at errrr 9.00am! The black velvets went down a treat.

We had an absolute blast throughout the day...drinking, Irish dancing, a party (the Wagners) and there was beer pong and green beer, more bars and I finally called it a night at 1am! Not bad for a little pup drinking black velvets all night - who would have thought it.

Wooooow we're half way there....

Wednesday this week saw my first Rock concert and crumbs was I not ready for the stone washed jeans! Sarah found some cheeky tickets for 9 bucks to see Bon Jovi at the Uniter Centre (where the Bulls play) so I thought I'd go for a bit of a laugh. Now, for those that know me - I love music, but I'm notorious for never knowing the right words to songs and also never knowing who sings what. So at one stage I thought I was seeing Guns and Roses and also U2.

The concert was loads of fun and we met a serious die-hard fan. Some dude that had seen old Bon Jovi 16 times and he even had the tat to prove it. He loved the old Brits for some reason, although he was disappointed we hadn't seem them in Europe!

Old Jon opened with Living on a prayer (or is it Deliver our prayer...I never know) and the girls went wild. So it was lots of fun and definitelty hits the new list (and all in all a good 9 clams well spent!)

Anyone for a game of Bags....

I’ve got 10 months left in Chicago (mrrrrrr) so the new rule is that each week, I have to do something new. If that something new is ultra Americano – then brilliant. But it just has to be something new.

So, this week there have been a few new things. I tried to mount a giant moose in a beer garden at Mountain’s birthday drinks….that was an interesting experience, particularly as I don’t like heights, nor animals (whether real or not) and the frozen ice really didn’t help with the proceedings. Thankfully, I had Schoolyard one side and Dusty the other to catch me if I fell……what was I thinking.


This week also saw Nicole and I entering a 'bags' tournament. Now for the English among us, bags (or cornhole as it’s sometimes called) is a very Chicago thing. It’s basically two boards with a hole and you’ve got to get your 4 bean bags either ideally in the hole (3 points) or on the board (1 point). Now there’s not a massive amount of skill involved and you don’t need to be a Sri Lanken spin bowler to achieve such a task. So when I saw a chance to play, in a bar, drink beer….and win tickets to the baseball – it seemed like a no-brainer. The ‘Bollockers’ as we had named ourselves were for sure going to win. (brilliant that bollocks isn't used at all in the states).

Oh how I could be so so wrong. There were 6 teams including us (and then maybe another 2 last minute teams…randoms from the bar) and the 5 main teams you could tell play weekly. They were like professionals. They literally made a 3 pointer every shot and it was only when the pressure was closing in at around the 19 mark, did you see these dudes faulter. So Nicole and I reverted to the only tactic we had left. Flirt like hell, get them drunk and hope they take pity on us. It worked (in the short term) and a few times I swear they missed the board on purpose….but in the end the Bollockers came second from last and unfortunately did not win the legendary Cubs tickets (thankfully we weren’t the worst team, who were some dudes from somewhere miles away….and they really did have the touch of a …..)

So my career as a bags shark was short lived...if lived at all. But it was a bubble and we did gain a few new fans thanks to Nicky (or is it Niki?) Val you know what I mean.

This weekend has also seen one other new first….that I’m not really sure is bloggable. I can’t wait for gno and talking about this one….Shreadles will hate it!

Is it summer yet....errrr no!

Well it's still bloomin cold in Chi-town (I cannot explain how the ski jacket and layers still don't seem enough some mornings waiting for the el) but on the one nice day we did have, I made Wang plays tennis with me. It was still chilly-willy and we were the only fools (apart from two lads) to actually venture onto the tennis courts, but is was fun never the less. The sun shone, it was bitter cold and old Wang moaned like a girl - because he wore chuffing shorts! And I came back from being 2-0 down, to winning....brilliant.

We then hit the pub with Sarah and Fi and crew (Dan, Dust, Jo, Finks, Ruwe) to celebrate Sarah and Fi's engagement and how can you go wrong with $2 mimosas and pasta (with peas I might add). Bingo Bongo....roll on the summer and Oz Park...softball, tennis and the beach. It has to be around the corner now.....

DCx

A family wedding.....holla

Well it's been a rather crazy weekend (and very exciting too). It involved steak at the best Argentinian steak restaurant in Chi (which is BYOB so we are always pretty merry by the time the steak arrives) and from which, I then proceeded to leave behind my left-overs in a taxi like a wally....I'm sure that taxi now smells errrrr beefy pits. Drinks for both Heather and Lauren's birthday (sports GF) and a spot of driving range action in the snow. The weather is rather odd at the moment and it's gone to being all nice and mild....but I think old Jack is just around the corner again and winter definitely isn't over yet.

But the most exciting news is that my sis (Chants) and Simon got engaged on Sunday evening and we have the first family wedding to plan. It's going to brilliant and I can't wait, as knowing them both it will be anything but traditional. I'm thinking PX90 over skype for sure and maybe a rat to give me some hair!

It now just means there's only me, Cousin Neal and Cousin Bills left.....crumbs chief is all I can say! Thank goodness I don't need a green card....it could be man down!

The blizzard, moving and the Superbowl

Well it's been a rather busy month for the badger in Chi. Christmas saw a quick trip back to blighty which was slightly put on ice because of the dreaded snow at doggy Heathrow. Saying hello and good-bye again to old friends, Katie and SP getting hitched, a quick visit from Santa (and Thomas the tank engine to Sen bobs) and a good-bye to Field End and Fiddlers Hill in preparation for Ads moving in January. Then it was a flight back to Chi and another flight out to Vail for a spot of swosh, swosh, swosh and lots of beer for NYE.

Then it was moving time. Mus and I had decided to give up the Brit pad to be a bit more froogle (I know, that place was ace) - so I was house hunting to find something for little old me. In the end I landed a cool little pad in Lincoln Park (right in the hub of the University action) - so I feel a bit like I did when I arrived at Colston Street back in Bristol all those years ago - apart from it's not so much like prison and there isn't as many pigeons!

Moving in the snow was errrr interesting and since then, we've had nothing but snow. The week before in NYC we got hit by some crazy snow...I'd never seen NY like it and then last week saw my first proper storm in Chi-town and it was all quite exciting (and a little bit scary too). Apparently it's the worst storm in 5 years (or something like that) and the thundersnow was pretty dramatic - I'm still not entirely sure what thundersnow is, but it sounds good none-the-less. Thankfully Westbrook let me huddle up in her pad on the 46th Floor of her building overlooking the Lake and Oak Street Beach and the views were amazing (only did the building sway a couple of times during the storm....so not bad going at all!)

This weekend saw a trip to Grand Rapids for some Festivus on Ice at Kacey's mansion (and it really is a mansion). Grand Rapids is ace (although I didn't see any rapids) and is about a 3 hour drive around the lake going into Michigan. We had a bit a road-trip with poor old Wang being stuck with 4 girls in the car, but I think he quite enjoyed it (apart from the nakedness he thought he saw that night....which he is still very upset about...I think it was the mushrooms or maybe the 15 cans of Miller Lite in about 4 hours...) So at Kacey's we ate (I think there were at least 10 crock-pots bubbling away) drank....and played winter sports on the frozen pond. Highlights were bowling on the ice and of course human curling.

Finally, to round of the weekend was the Superbowl. Now I did lose slight interest, as I was convinced the Bears were going to make it, but thankfully my good friend Ferrick who is from the old Pittsburgh, helped to put the magic back in the game by being the biggest steelers fan EVER. She decked me out in a top, which I think was of Ben no. 7...who has had a shadey past...think touch of a xxxxxx (fill in the blanks) - so that made for some interesting abuse in the pub. There was singing, the polka, towel waving and I even drank pittsburgh beer. Unfortunately for Ferrick the Steelers didn't quite do it - although they did have a great comeback - so the Green Bay stole the thunder on the night. But all in all, a great Superbowl and I actually think I now understand the game - and I even cheered at the right times. This is immense progress (although I still struggle with the word offence...it's just wrong).

So close to being a yank and then yet so far....10 months should help.

This is my road (Belden and Lincoln) during the Great Chicago Blizzard of 2011.

My first year in the US

Well I can't quite believe tomorrow officially marks my first year in the US. It was a year ago that I got off my flight...went through immigration (which took an age with a lot of grilling), jumped in a cab with my giant suitcase not really remembering where I lived and then I trecked up the stairs to our lovely Brit pad - where all the Lincoln Park group jumped out as a surprise and a glass of red wine was waiting! I should have known the group would prove to be every bit as brilliant over the next 12 months, just from this alone.

(This photo is of the group hiding behind the worktop in our new apartment).

The last year State-side has been awesome - sooo many happy memories which I will always treasure and hopefully I will continue to tell these stories for many years to come.....It's been a year of firsts....My first Super Bowl party, my first Cubs game with many of you, my first American wedding, my first Miller Lite (yuk!) and my first Irish car bomb, my first college basket team OH IO, my first college football team MSU, my first Festivus, my first thanks-giving with the Valiers, my first potato tot, my first trolley for Shreadles birthday, my first marathon, my first 'You've been iced', my first 8 hour road trip to St. Louis (never had I sat for 8 hours in a car), my first attempt at roller skating in a bar, my first game of flip cup, my first game of beer pong, my first pool party (where I was called Natalie for the day...) my first Fire game, my first Bears match and tailgating. My first American Halloween, my first Brides maid bar crawl, my first dodgeball team, my first Sunday Funday, my first singles softball team (dear lord!)....I could go on....

It's been a blast. I hope this next year doesn't go quite as quickly as the thought of heading home this time next year is a mixed one. Happy to get back to the family, but I will miss my new American family lots.

But I've still got a year and soooo much to do and see in Chi-town AND so much to see across the US (and a lot of Starbucks mugs to collect on the way too).

Thanks to all for making it what it has been. Here's to a brilliant 2011.

Dizzlepop x

Bears V's Eagles....Best Day Ever!

November saw my first Bears game and what a day! For those that haven't been tailgating in the US, I can honestly it's something you have to do - it's seriously the best thing ever.

People rock up at 8.00am - set up camp before the game, and grill out, play games, serve you drinks, share their food - it's crazy. Think Ascot races, but a bit more ghetto. Fi, Sarah and Me went tailgating with some of my softball friends - BP, Monkey, E.Bail and Zac and it was immense. We had eggs and ham, chilli, chicken wings, rum and coke, beer, baileys the lot.

The game was brilliant. We were sat up in the gods, block 400 and Soldier Field is a mighty impressive stadium. Having been to see the US Soccer Team (sorry football!) I knew the Stadium was awesome, but it was crazy to see so many Bears Fans. I smuggled in my hip flask (my 21st Birthday present from Jade Brain!) and added the contents to our hot chocolates to keep us toasty. The Bears played well and won convincingly and I donned my Fridge Top, so was awfully proud (and it's such a good talking point). I also had a little play on one of the drumming band's drums before the game....brilliant!

Can't wait to go again and I'm already excited about Super Bowl. Only disappointment....The Bears have no cheer-leaders. Shame....I will just have to stick to watching the Robinettes at SWFC to see that!

And this photo is with me and Giant stuffed bear.....strapped to the top of some dude's car. It looked like a dead gentle Ben!

Stuck in Chi town!

Well, it's been an interesting few days. I was supposed to fly home for Christmas with the family on Saturday and poor old Blighty has been hit by snow, so Heathrow is shut - absolute disaster. So it's now Monday and I'm hoping to fly tonight or Tuesday night, so I can get back home for at least a few days. It's Stu Parkes' wedding on Wednesday, so fingers crossed I can at least make that. I do feel like I'm Kevin from Home Alone right now - waiting for a bus and brass band (and John Candy) to rescue me.

Fingers, toes and badger claws crossed....never have I wanted to be somewhere more!

The coffin

And finally...here's a photo of the coffin on Halloween that Suzy and decided to climb into at the end of the night...that had, I might add been on the streets for over a month outside our Pizza restaurant - Dags. All I can think about is dead people and homeless people.....gross!

Halloweeeeeeen....part 1 and part 2

Well, it was my first 'proper' halloween in the US of A as an american resident. For the last two years I'd managed to time well planned business trips, so I have actually been in Chi-town for the last two celebrations and I therefore knew the epic nature of such a weekend and it totally lived up to expectations!

On the Friday night - Mussy and I had a halloween party at the Brit-pad and it was awesome. We spent the week preparing, decorating the flat, hanging the creepy witch, getting the nasty shots ready with eye balls floating around and making bats and ghosts! We were in our creative element. The flat looked brilliant.

Now as many will know Halloween in the US means you can dress up as absolutely bloody anything and the array of costumes were brrrrrrrilliant. We had Fred Flinstone (Bart), a giant pengiun (Fire-crotch), a male Pamela Anderson (which did slightly disturb me with the double d's), A mexican (Dust), Lady Gaga (Mussy) and I was the little mermaid. Highlightable costumes were a giant penis (and the jokes were endless) Inspector gadget (nice job schoolyard), Woody from Toy Story (Westbrick), A boy scout (Harty) and Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons (aka The Queen and Amy Winehouse for those that remember the Brit part) - hilarious and the high kicks and lunges did not stop all evening.

Everyone had a blast and the apple bobbing was hilarious. The guy throwing-up off the balcony was a low light, but we will brush over that part (sorry people that live on Southport). The arrival of a million Argentinians was also very funny, especially when they said this was the first American house party they had been to - Suzy and I didn't have the heart to reveal we were indeed not yank!

The night came to an end when we blew up the sound system (I blame Best Buy) - but all in all, it was probably timely (at around 1am) and we all rolled to the pub for a very swift drink. The final part to the night was lying in a coffin outside Dags - well who wouldn't!

Halloween Part 2 - was hitting a bar and doing an all you can drink special. The costume for that night - a real American, including sequin dress (which was rather heavy) long locks, and a tiara....oh and a Green Card!

We had a ace night and went to Harry Carey's with Joe K and friends (who were a crazy rock band), and the girls and boys and got sozzled on wine. Highlights - surveying the bar to find out if the girls statistic of the US male population is indeed true. And I would like to confirm that 85% is probably right - Good work girls.

Funny lights - Becoming a band groupy and Mus having a ruck over a cab with some douche....just wish I could remember that part!

Great weekend - can't wait for next year already! Oh and July 4th so I can wear the dress again.

Dip, Duck, Dive and Dodge….

Well I can honestly say this sport...if you class dodgeball as one (which I now do) is both the worst and best sport I have ever played. On one hand it’s the most un-coordinated, un-natural, fight all your natural instincts and you will probably do well type sport and yet, at the same time you get to hurtle balls at people all at once – throwing a fairly solid ball as hard as you can. And by george some throws were like rockets. And it somehow requires skill....although I haven't quite worked out what that is.

The venue was a ropey old school gym and I really did think I was going to have spanners and wrenches thrown at me, like in the film.

My team is a bunch of individual players, so all very nice and in a similar boat to me – we’ve got a Canadian on the team (good player) a girl called Molly with a fierce right arm and 2 dudes called Craig and John who look like they murder people for a living – and were bloody awesome!

Somehow I obtained the name Oxford rather quickly and the referee just kept on shouting Oxford when I did things wrong (which was throughout most of the games). Oxford it is.

Result 6 games a piece – so a tie. Not a bad start to the dodgeball career for Oxford. I won't be giving up work quite yet, to compete professional, but a spot of DB-Boot-Camp will commence this weekend.

Duck it,
Dizzle x

The Brits take over Chi-town!

Blonde Jo and Blonde Claire came for a wee Holiday to Chi-town and we had the best week and it was so lush having them to stay. They loved the roof top and we made the most of it, having dinner, drinks and sunbathing lots up there.

The weather was a bit crazy at times, and one day it was scorching, so we hit the beach all day, the next day I think we had a mini tornado and Jo Jo wanted to go Tornado chasing!

We had lunch at Ralph Lauren with bubbles - loved being ladies that lunch! We had mani-pedi's - which was hilarious. Jo and I were so busy chatting the girl scrubbing the badger claws asked what language we were speaking - and she was positive it was Spanish.....errrr no love, Bristolian I think you mean!

Jo did feel slightly violated by her first pedicure...glad it wasn't just me that found it creepy when they start massaging your shoulders!

We did a boat trip (yes just looking at buildings) ate giant ice creams and had cocktails up the Hancock tower which was lush (and one of the best views of the city) Shame the couple practically having sex on their table were right in our eye line!

We also went to a Cubs match and the girls loved it and the Cubs won - whoop! They got hats and t-shirts and giant foam hand (we were the only people in the stadium to have such a thing, but they wanted to go all out!) We saw people with mullets and eating nachos that looked like someone had thrown up in a bucket. It's all about the toxic cheese....yummmmm!

And this picture I just had to post and we saw it as we taking a stroll and this is seriously someone's number plate....it's just not right!

Miss the girls already and I can't wait to see them in August...I wonder if another wedding will be on the cards soon.....Sorry Mendez!

Dust's Birthday

Dust's Birthday weekend involved....karaoke at Trader Todds - funniest bar with a beach concept and a shower curtain as a toilet door! We didn't get to sing (there were 27 songs infront of us) but we did get to go on a boat in the bar and I Smirnoff Iced Dust royally!

This photo just makes me giggle!

Such a funny evening...thanks our Dust. Although that shot-ski was pure agony....

England...2 kegs, flip cup, plastic cheese and a whistle

So Saturday was the big game the world cup opener - England V's The US of A and Suze and I decided to have a bit of a world cup themed party. On the Friday, we were in party prep mode...making home made burger, pasta salad and planting plants for our roof deck...we were like Desperate Housewives, just without the picket fence.

On Saturday morning we were up early doors as it was the start of our marathon training. We ran 6 miles at 6.30am and then home to shower, change and get on the footy attire.

The kegs were delivered (2 giant barrels of beer) - the grill was fired up and everyone arrived in time for the big game. It was a brilliant day and despite the absolutely rubbish performance, we all had a great time. We had England V's USA at Flip Cup (unfortunately the Brits lost, but then we are novices and it was only my third competitive game...I've now improved muchly!) We had bags on the roof, dancing, cheese throwing (thanks Kwiec) plant hugging (thanks Kwiec) and pouring beer into people's mouths from the top roof to the second balcony - pure genius Jake and Alex!

Some of the party had red and yellow cards so we could card people for bad behaviour. Yellow card and you had to down your drink, sending off resulted in a shot - mainly vodka tea in a teacup. Oh and of course there was 'You've been iced' - Brits for those that don't know about this - check it out on Youtube...best game ever and I got iced in a friggin saucepan!

We even had a few yankee doodles in England tops! Nice work Lindsay!

My new party trick now appears to be trying to get into my suitcase. And you are probably wondering why we have a suitcase on the roof.

Well this isn't a normal American thing (I promise) but for some reason we borrowed a table with 3 legs and so some clever sod's idea was to use my suitcase as the fourth leg. Well after a few beers I think Sara and Dust said to try climbing into the suitcase...and being me I did exactly that. I'm determined to fit in and travel somewhere...

And this is Jake pouring beer into Alex's mouth! BRrrrrrrrrilliant!

Birthday weekend….bingo bongo

My Birthday weekend in Chi-town was aces and thanks to all those that made it so so special – you really are a bloody brilliant bunch. The festivities started on the Thursday night with Ferrick’s Birthday. We went to this great place called the Violet Hour which is a bar set in the prohibition times. There’s a hidden door in a big green wall – no signage and you have to knock to be let in (a bit like the Caz Bar on the Cowley Road in Oxford). You then go through a curtain into an uber cool bar. Here the girls and I had a few cocktails, followed by a couple more drinks and then I joined the softball lot for a cheeky drink….which turned errrrr messy.

Friday’s fun included some driving range action (I hit them ok….my friend, errrr not so much….sorry Joe!) and then off to the hairdressers to try and look remotely nice for the big night out.


Now for the Brits among us, the Blackhawks (Ice Hockey Team) are in the final of the Stanley Cup, which is a really big deal. The final consists of 7 games and who ever wins the best of, wins the cup. So Friday was game 4 and Chicago was buzzing. So we changed the plans slightly to engineer watch the Hawks and went to Piece in Wicker Park to watch the game and it was brilliant. The bar ended up giving us the pit and we had a giant screen to watch the match – Suzy and Dust got me a Hawks t-shirt which I love – so I wore that for the night. (Unfortunately the Hawks lost that game - but it’s not over until the fat lady sings).

We then ended up at a bar called Innjoy where there were slippery nipples, dancing, shoulder snogging (not me I hasten to add) drinks being spilt into poor boys laps and just general chaos – it was much fun. On the way home, our neighbours in our building were having a party, so we called in to consume a bit more wine (because clearly you can never have too much wine). I don’t remember a lot of that party but Suzy reckons there was a man swimming in goggles….I wish I could have seen that!

On Saturday – the Birthday marathon continued in true Carpenter fashion and Suzy and Dusty and I had Birthday breakfast. I then skyped the family and we had Internet present opening (man skype really is the best thing ever) – the only down side being that you could blatantly tell if I didn’t like a present (sorry Mum!) But Ads (my mum) excelled herself this year – two lovely tops from old Ted – so I was so happy as I do miss Ted – jewellery and an England whistle! And C-bass and Simon got me the best England Shirt ever ready for the big game next week. Suze also got me spaghetti hoops ready for spagehetti hoops on toast with HP sauce – I’m so excited.

After that Suze and I had a bumble and had our nails done, had a cheeky mimosa and then we all went off to Alex and Lindsay's BBQ just down the road. They’ve just moved in together so it was a celebratory BBQ (with little birthday cup cakes, that were delicious!) AND It was an absolutely RIOT! There were so many games but highlights we’re ‘You’ve Been Iced’ (which unfortunately I did within about 2 minutes of arriving) flip cup, slapping the sack, dance offs, knee slides, crunk, shower curtains being pulled down by mistake). Hilarious.

Sunday Funday then involved softball – which was fun. We lost 9-10 but had a good come back in the last couple of innings. A few beers in the pub (and a fish bowl…don’t ask!) then a game of bags (another great game) and a cheeky beer and then off to Schoolyard to watch the Hawks and YESSSSS it was a bloody brilliant game and we totally won. So know it’s all down to Wednesday’s game and I’m in California, which I’m excited about, but I did also want to be in Chi for the Hockey.

Bring on the trophy….it you like a lot of trophies in your cabinet join our club (sang to the theme tune of the Club chocolate bar advert…for those in the know!)