Today I ended up trying two new places.. Yorkshire Grill and later in the day coffee at Banquette. Walked around, checked out a bike shop on Main Street.
Yes there is a bike shop downtown!!! No excuses not to run over there and pick up a new or used bike! Good exercise for us over-indulging downtown dwelling folks (and a very out of shape Meeko!)
Then finished an errand or two and hung out at the Banquette Cafe on Main Street with some fun blogger folks, Urban Memo, Big City POZ (whom I met briefly once before) and of course View From a Loft's Ed Fuentes. He was actually the one who introduced me to Urban Memo, so thank you!
I had fun at Banquette and even though there were so many folks whose names I didn't catch they were all so very cool and nice. A good place to go and get a coffee for certain and a nice place to relax before the hike down the hill back to South Park. =)
I had a mostly good day yesterday taking pictures and hanging out in the Arts District & around there. I took a lot in B&W again and a lot of them weren't so good and some of them I was "wow!" happy with.
I had a wonderful lunch at Pitfire too and I owe someone for that, taking the time to show me around new places to take photos and listen to me ramble. It was all good.
Last night oth, wasn't so hot. I was having computer issues and (hopefully) the computer stuff won't get messed up again, and I think I may have said some weird stuff to people that I'm not so sure about and I wasn't feeling too hot. I didn't get to sleep til around 4am.
After all the good stuff, I think I got a little sick from being up so late. I had sniffles from my last long walk downtown, and while I wasn't exactly sneezing (I brought a packet of Kleenex so of course I didn't need it this time) the air has been really dry for me and I've been having issue processing food. I hope it wasn't something I ate. I'm sure I'll feel better in a couple hours. I was going to say my lunch at Pitfire was really freaking good. I'd go there again on my own that's how comfortable I got just being there. I'd have to bring a book or something though as I still feel odd eating alone. =)
Ok so about the not getting sleep. I tend to let things run through my head over & again whether I should or not. I don't sleep good in general then I worry about how I spent the day babbling like an idiot, or saying something dumb or ticking off the wrong people. Then there's the cats not getting along.
We have been getting them 'felaway' diffusers to plug in so calm them down. That and catnip actually calms our feral tabby down but the two of them still go at it. Last night was bad as someone above us was having a LOUD party til all hours. It ended soon after 330am when I called my husband to complain. He was up at 530am much more bright-eyed sounding than me. But someone was running around yelling something and it sounded like drums and guitar riffs were still going on for some time. Then I guess the party headed out with a lot more noise. Someone must of called the party off but not before I was feeling really woozy and cranky. Then Alexander starts up again when the paperguy shows up to throw the Friday paper on the mat. The cat goes off like a fire engine. "mrrrOWWWWWWW mrrOOWWW!!?? MROOOWWWWW!!!?" this is typical for him, then he starts scratching at the door or the Ikea cabinet. *scratch scratch* Time to get the paper and the cats fed. Seriously this usually does the trick. The cats get fed about the same time everyday and so it's a schedule I try to keep. So this is probably wayyyy more info than anyone need to know here.
Then there's the weather in Chicago. That's where the husband is coming home from this afternoon/evening. He's at the airport and the first flight (which had seats available) is delayed. That doesn't sound so good. Delays make the other flights delayed. *bleh* So hopefully his flight this afternoon will work out. So yeah I got about 2 1/2 hrs of sleep and it's no wonder I feel nauseated. (not to mention I didn't eat dinner last night because my lunch was so big).
Breakfast is a diet Sprite and a big tub of apologies to my cat Alexander for not only for receiving the brunt of my annoyance (I stepped on his tail by accident when he was playing "hide and attack" under one of the barstools) and then when I went to get the leftover cat food from the fridge, I didn't check for him to be sticking his head in the door. He does this quit often and I shut the door on his head.. He's sitting here on the desk in front of me, so he must not be too mad at me. Unlike our other cat, he's good at sitting on the desk and not blocking my monitor. Thus I can do stuff and still give him the attention he didn't get yesterday. He really is the best wedding gift I ever got. He keeps me company pretty good, when he's not making me crazy with the meows and the feet attacks. =) Not as good as people but alright.
I hope today is a better day. I hope things that were bad are better and that I don't make any sense it's because I don't know what to make of things either. Sometimes I wish I could go to square one and start the day over, more sleep, less babbling, more sun.. less cold. More calm. Better organized. A fresh start.. and no sneezing. =)
So the husband is out & about in Chicago,doing his thing this week. Me I need to find something to do and keep busy, not just sit inside on such a beautiful day. I had a secret wish I'd wander around and find someplace comfortable to have coffee or lunch, treat myself.
While I didn't find anywhere I wanted to stop on my own (I really need to get some kind of lunchtime friends or something.. when it's convenient. Unfortunately, there's just me). However, I did get some walking in, and while I'm not sure if I recall everywhere I walked, I didn't extend too far afield. I also took a couple dozen photos in what I could call faux B&W. Shannon from ShaInLA had shown me some tricks with my camera from the ShootDowntown photo meet back on the 12th, and so I thought I'd give it a go on my own taking photos in B&W.
I know the difference (or like to think I do) in the photo quality of real B&W and the kind you get from having actual print film. One of the things I liked to do when I lived in Germany or New Orleans was to, on occasion get a roll of B&W and shoot some stuff with it. While I'm no good at the stuff myself, and the film processing was a bit much, (expense-wise) the photos turned out better and lovlier than they may have in color.
So after my 3hr walk and a stop at Ralph's (having left empty-handed) I at least got some photo up on my flikr and am happy with some of the photos I shot. I'm not a professional. I just you know, like taking pictures. =) I guess next I'd like to figure out exactly how far my route took in distance (I double-backed a lot and covered some of the same blocks twice just to keep seeing what was there.
Maybe I'll have better luck at lunch or a coffeespot next time. =)
