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This City

Usually I dread weekends when Matt has to work. This weekend was one of those weekends, but I think I really made the best of it, for myself and for Matt. It all started on Friday. Nick and I planned a surprise birthday party for Carlene. I left work a little early to get things ready for the party and ended up getting home right as Matt left for work. That was probably the worst part of the weekend. He was upset that he didn't get to see me more and I felt incredibly guilty for not being there sooner, since I got off work early anyway. Not fun.
The party was great though. Carlene was surprised and we had a good turnout thanks to Nick and his mad emailing skills. :) Poor Carlene...she had just gotten off a plane from a week long business trip in Phoenix and was probably exhausted.
Here are a couple pictures of the birthday girl...

When I got home from Carlene's on Friday, I was SO tired. I fell asleep until Matt got home at 10:45. He convinced me to get back up and go out to Old Chicago with some of his co-workers. Well I can never pass up Old Chicago, so I went but I probably looked like a walking zombie. We came home at 12:30 and the puppies did NOT want to go to bed, and I certainly can't blame them. We watched TV for an hour and finally got them calmed down. Luckily, they let us sleep in to an embarassing hour on Saturday morning.

Since we slept in so late, Matt and I didn't really get to do much together before he left for work. As he was leaving, we was going to run out and give him one last goodbye kiss, but as I opened the front door, I nearly screamed as my foot came inches from stepping on a dead baby rabbit that some neighborhood pet had left as a "gift" for us. Oh my, that was so gross. I promptly got it cleaned up and decided to go for a run. I also took my poor dogs to the dog park for the first time in at least a month and a half. I felt like I owed it to them after neglecting them on Friday, and they LOVED it. They were both exhausted when we got home.

So here's the funny part of the weekend. Saturday night was basically a repeat of Friday night for me. Carlene had invited me over to BBQ on Saturday for her birthday and I had accepted, to further the element of surprise on Friday. She said I could still come over if I wanted, and I decided to go as opposed to staying home by myself. This time the puppies got invited to come along, and they had fun exploring a new yard. Perdi even buried a bone behind a bush to prove she was greatful for getting to come along.

When Matt got home that night, we decided to go out to "our" Old Chicago. (When we meet up with his co-workers, we go to a different one that is more convenient for everyone, but not nearly as awesome.) "Our" Old Chicago is so great. Sometimes we sit at a table, and sometimes we sit at the bar because that is where our favorite waitors serve. Last night, we sat at the bar because Dave the bartender was back and we hadn't seen him in a few weeks.

I decided to get a half order of nachos but Dave convinced me to get the full order because they were cheaper with the happy hour special. I knew there was no way I could eat a whole order of nachos myself. (Matt got himself a pizza, so he was no help.) So I offered half of my nachos to Dave the bartender, who happened to be really hungry. He was so greatful for the food that he comped a couple of our drinks! It was also fun because the other waitor came up and talked to us some too, even though he wasn't our server. I love feeling like we "belong" there. I guess that could also be a sign that we go to Old Chicago too much...but it is nice to have a place to fit in, in this city.

Today was pretty mundane...cooked brunch for Matt and I, went in to work for a couple hours after he left, took the dogs to the dog park again, ran and cleaned. I definitely needed a day just to get stuff done after such a busy weekend. Now it's back to the daily grind for a few days, then we set off for a 4th of July visit to Kansas City!

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