band party, softball, books, ribs, and face paint

that in one sentence summed up my weekend.

i joined this group called the chicago sport and social club when i signed up to play softball and kickball for the summer. kickball is NOT as much fun as it was when you are kids. the guys try to show off and pitch the ball so fast that you either a) air kick or b) kick an easy-out pop fly in the in-field. the girls join to meet guys, so girls outnumbered guys 2-1. not that i mind girls; i joined to meet people. but the girls on my team are not competitive; 1 girl actually watched the ball as it sailed over her head... she didn't even run! our team name is 'take out the catcher'; a name cleverly devised after we won the first game by 1 point when one of the guys ran into the catcher of the other team when she wouldn't move away from the plate.

softball IS fun! it's slow pitch, so you can easily look like a dork by swinging too fast. people with skills join softball, so there are only 3 girls on my team. the weird thing is that 4 people including myself lived in alabama. the softball team name is 'there's no crying in softball', a lil tribute to a great line from 'a league of their own.' we have a good team, won all games but 1 and are in first place. i did strike out once and totally pulled a buehrle (white sox player who let a space heater have it).

anyway, long background to the start of my weekend. the chicago sport and social club puts on social events in addition to sports events. this weekend they put on a band party (yes band party) on the fake boat at the north avenue beach. the band was a really rad 80's cover band, sixteen candles. it was a beautiful night, breezy and in the 70's.

the next morning, margaret and i got up bright and early to be at the softball fields for a 9am game. unfortunately, not enough players for the other team showed up so they had to forfeit. but we wanted to play! so we gave them 2 of our players and played a 9 on 8 game. we creamed 'em. afterwards, most of the team went out for unlimited brunch and $1 mimosas at this place in lincoln park.

i decided to skip kickball and take margaret to one of my favorite places in the city: printer's row. we took the 'L' there; i think she's getting used to it. there was a huge book fair this weekend, and all these booths were set up selling rare and used books, magazines, maps, and a few VHS tapes. i didn't get any. it was very crowded this past weekend, but normally, the place is quiet and there is a nice square with benches and a fountain where you can sit in peace and think for hours (if of course, that is what you wanted to do for hours).

ok, by this time we were hungry. so we headed up north to the lincoln, damen, irving park intersection (one of those crazy 6 way intersections i still haven't quite figured out) for ribfest chicago. yes my friends, a street of meat. and fried candy bars, root beer, regular beer, watermelon, and hummus (that's not normally included i don't think). i don't think the participating food vendors had to submit portfolios of meat before joining the ribfest line-up. we learned quickly that if there's no one standing in line for the food, it's probably not that good. we did try some awesome root beer and key lime pie. whenever chicago does a festival, there's always at least 2 stages with band line-ups. i only paid attention to one band, skybox, and i quite liked them.

ribfest, complete with tornado watch, ended in early evening (well that's when we left). i thought i would be up for dinner or drinks at the top of the john hancock building, but i passed out. it was a good day.

sunday was another early day. in order to get involved with this new church i'm trying out, i volunteered to help with this kids carnival they put on in wicker park. i signed margaret and myself up to run the face painting table. we were a huge success! non-stop face painting from 9:30am-12:30pm. margaret made a little girl cry when she realized she was not getting a pink unicorn but instead a pink blob with a purple line sticking out the top. kids have crazy imaginations; i got asked to paint a red bear, a submarine, a white horse with purple spots, a leopard (really?), and one girl asked me to write "killer" on her arm. i didn't question, just painted. we were supposed to paint until 3pm, but i guess the rain wasn't done unleashing its fury on chicago and we got completely drenched. another good day though.

having margaret in town is a lot of fun. we realized we must be on the same brainwave occasionally because we say the exact same thing at the exact same time often. it's fun.