My Sweet Mandy B and Indy

Yesterday was a highlight of my time in Chicago. I finally got to do what I was arguably most excited about! You see, there is a cupcake shop in Chicago called "Sweet Mandy B's", and I know a very sweet (and often sassy) Amanda Belscamper.

So, I'd been waiting to take my sweet Mandy B's to the Sweet Mandy B's since I heard about it. Now, unfortunately, there were some technical difficulties and I don't have any pictures of Mandy in front of Sweet Mandy B's and for this I am very sad, but I did get cake, and that makes things better!

Before cake, however, there was pizza! We went to Pequod's Pizza for lunch. It was on The List, but it would have been nice if the list had told us that it was going to be a 50 minute wait from the time we ordered to when our food was on the table because if we'd known that, we would have gotten an appetizer! It was good though. Apparently they're the "best pizza in the universe" and have a famous caramelized crust. It was good pizza, that's for sure. We enjoyed it and it was nice for us to get to sit and talk because there was not nearly enough time for that this past week. It's ok though, because I will be back!

After that, it was cupcake time. The cupcake was really good! I got a chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting. Mandy and I took our cupcakes to the playground and sat on the swings because sugar goes perfectly with childhood pastimes.

After that, Mandy and I went to Cloud Gate which is the real name of "the Bean." That was pretty cool. After that, we bummed around a bit before going to "Saco Saturday." Mandy and her friends in Chicago (who include another former TAD who I knew before this week) wanted to have a weekly Taco Tuesday dinner when they moved to the city, but Tuesday didn't work for any of them, so when it moved to Saturday, it became Saco Saturday. We didn't eat tacos though, we went out for Thai food. After dinner, we tried to fix Mandy's friend's flat tire. It was a very exciting night!

Even though that doesn't seem like the most insane night ever, it did solidify my desire to come back. Technically, I will be back in March when I have a residency in Western Springs, but I mean my desire to move to Chicago in the fall. Fingers crossed!!!

This morning, I had to say goodbye. The visit was farrr too short. Mandy made me pancakes for breakfast and then I was on my way. One good thing about this upcoming residency is that it is in Indianapolis, IN, so I'm leaving civilization for more civilization, instead of saying goodbye to my best friend and saying hello to somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

Excited to find out that Indy is on EST!

I met Jas at O'Hare and we were on our way. On our drive, we talked about birds, what we'd done on our break and figured out that we're on the same flight to Minneapolis on our way to our respective spring break destinations -- no joke -- great tour partners think alike apparently.

Also on our drive, I saw a billboard for a Hampton Inn that said "the road to comfort is right this way" which led to me saying "Well, I'm on the way to the Marriott, b*tch!" I've been very excited about this Marriott. We stay a lot of different places but I just knew deep down that this place would be good.

I. Was. Right! We got a classy hotel because we are classy people (Jas is working on his Boston accent, so we say the word "classy" a lot, plus, I am legitimately a classy broad). We need to swipe our keys just to get to our floor of the hotel! That is class. Seriously. There is also a concierge lounge on our floor and we had hors d'oeuvre (pronounced by us as "horse doovres") for dinner. Plus a pool and fitness center! So, that's Indianapolis for now. Jas has been making fun of me because I needed to watch Grease: Live but I regret nothing (because our classy hotel obviously has a large screen TV and cable!!!).