Pioneer Children Sang As They . . .

Walked, and walked, and walked, and walked . . .

That's pretty much all we did today! My poor feetsies are killin' me!

Early in the afternoon I had a job interview with Mark Shale--a clothing company--but we were late finishing up an episode of The Office on Hulu (hehe) so we had to haul on our bikes to get there on time! We were going so fast that Brock actually took a spill and bloodied his elbow. He also has a huge bump on his arm! It looks rad. (On a sidenote, that weird reaction he had to the cocoa butter lotion yesterday is gone. Phew!)

My interview went well. I think Greenpeace is more up my alley (working retail = BORING), but I would be stupid to turn down interviewing experience. The manager who I talked to, Jessica, was actually really nice and laid back (which I was definitely not expecting, seeing as how nothing in Mark Shale costs less than $150, and it's located in the ritziest mall on the Magnificent Mile). So that was a pleasant surprise! Hopefully she liked me as much as I liked her. The job pays a decent $9/hr and it looks like I could get great hours that coincide with what Brock is working. Between this job and Greenpeace, I bet I can find something that fits.

After my interview we set out to find Ann Sather's: a Swedish breakfast restaurant on the north side of Chicago that we heard had killer cinnamon rolls. Brock said he was tired of riding bikes, so we set out on foot (which we would come to regret much later!).

The walk was way longer than we anticipated! I couldn't believe it. In travel guides, they really should make bigger maps where a half-inch doesn't equal like 500 miles. Regardless of our tired feet, the walk was actually really pleasant. The north side of Chicago is super nice with lots of pretty houses and tons of cool places to eat! I would weigh 500 lbs. if I ever lived there because I must have said, "Ooh! That place looks good!" ten times per block.

About 45 minutes into our walk (oh, we were just getting started!) Brock and I started to have some rumblys in our tumblys. The security guard at Brock's work had been raving about the new angus burger at McDonalds, so we decided to give it a try. Honest opinion: it was straight up legit! The burger itself cost like $4, which you can't beat. I think McDonalds get some sort of sick pleasure from making their food cheaper than everybody else's. "A $6 angus burger at Carl's Jr? Psch. Watch this." "$5 iced mocha from Starbucks? Psch. Watch this." You can almost hear the board members cackling draconically as you chomp into your 2000-calorie gutfest.

The angus burger refueled us for the second part of our journey. We finally rolled into Ann Sather's at 3:15...AND THEY CLOSED AT 3PM! We couldn't believe it!! We'd actually been joking that that would happen during our walk/exodus out of Israel. Luckily, the manager bagged us up a couple of cinnamon rolls with icing....for free!! He was like "They're on me because you won't be able to sit down and enjoy them!" What a nice guy! Anybody who doesn't believe in the innate goodness of people needs to get out more :)

Let me just say: the cinnamon rolls were more than worth the walk to get them! Oh my word they were incredible. It's a good thing that Ann Sather's is so far away or else I would be going there every day (their cinnamon rolls are only $1.50!).

Then: the walk home. We had to stop every once in a while to sit down because man, it went on forever. But it was fun! You know, just moseying around, talking, cracking jokes, and seeing what there is to see. Sometimes a slow pace is the best pace.

It was dinner time by the time we got home, so we made some awesome pasta from a box mix that Macaroni Grill now sells at grocery stores. The kit is like $5 and comes with pasta, sauce, herbs and cheese, then you just add cut up chicken. The result is surprisingly delicious and fancy-tasting! (I hate feeling like white trash when I eat Hamburger Helper lol). We topped the meal of with some homemade gelato at Massa, which is an Italian cafe located right next to our building. Massa is also adjacent to a bookstore, so after eating dessert treat we tinkered around in there for a while and read books.

Tomorrow BROCK GETS TO GO TO WRIGLEY FIELD! He's going to get sound clips with the producers and get this: he gets to go IN THE CLUBHOUSE. As in, where all the players get ready. Sweeeet!