Day 28 The Half Way Point

    It's early on Sunday morning and right now I'm in Lisle.  Since this is the first day of July this is the half way point in "The Summer of Brick" and it's making me a little melancholy.  I've been thinking about next month when it's the first day of August and we no longer have the apartment and how that is going to feel a little bit weird to not have the option of staying downtown.  But I still have a month so I'll not be the pessimist that sees the calendar as half empty but rather the optimist that sees it as half full.

The Grand Hall at Union Station

     Thursday was a walking day.  I had no destination in mind, just a time goal.  I wanted to stay outside and moving for three hours.  So I didn't really venture too far in any one direction.  I spent time walking in Streeterville, along the lakefront, in Grant Park, and in the Loop.  I tried to slow my pace and just take in the sights and sounds of the city, but that is really difficult to do when everyone around you is walking fast and with purpose.  It was a very enjoyable walk, but it convinced me that it's time to buy some new shoes.  My dogs were barking by the time I got back to the apartment.  I fixed some pasta and salad for dinner after TWIK got off from work and we spent a quiet evening watching television.

I love this picture.  Our building is in the center
with the diamond pattern.  This was taken from
the Signature Room.

     Friday was a day that I wished I owned a bicycle because I would really have loved to go for a ride in the rain.  It has been unseasonably dry so far.  I can only remember it raining twice, but Friday we got a light drizzle and I didn't feel like walking much anyway so I opted for swimming.  I am a self-taught swimmer and that is to say I'm not very good at it.  I actually had a job as a life guard in high school but that was more about who I knew rather than what I knew.  So I've been trying hard to learn how to swim laps properly.  So far it is not pretty.  After swimming I had been contacted earlier by a former student that asked if he could take me to lunch sometime since we were both living downtown.  I said I would love that and he took me to the Signature Room which is located on the 95th floor of the Hancock Building.  It was great catching up with him and the lunch buffet was really good, 5 out of 5 bricks since I didn't have to pay so I'll go on the quality of the food alone for my rating.  The rest of the day was telling everyone I talked to about how cool lunch had been.

Ty's cupcake cake.  It did not survive the evening.

     Friday night we came back to Lisle to get ready for Ty's graduation party on Saturday.  We had made plans several years ago to have a joint party with our best friends the K's.  Our families have been friends ever since our sons meet playing baseball together back in second grade.  Saturday afternoon was a day of running to buy ice, picking up food and other party related supplies and the occasional jump in the pool to cool off.  The party went great and it was nice to see so many people there.  Although my evening consisted mostly of sitting, talking, and eating, the K's and TWIK outdid themselves in putting together a great event and if the comments that I heard were truthful then everyone had a good time.  We watched the Eyes to the Skies fireworks to top off party.  Today should prove uneventful.  We need to go help in the cleanup and then we are headed back downtown.  We did set up a couple of dinner dates for the coming weeks.

     And so at the half way point I'm going to declare "The Summer of Brick" a huge success.  Here is to hoping it continues.  

10 point bonus: where would you find this or several other inlays stating the same message?