the weather outside is weather

Simone, Colin and I went to Lilly's last week, a bar north of Fullerton on Lincoln. One of my co-workers from the restaurant tends bar there on Wednesday nights, and I hadn't been there yet, so I roped my roommates into going.

It looks like a regular DePaul bar from the outside, but the inside more closely resembles an old dungeon with some furniture in it. The floor is uneven brick, rounded and smoothed over time and completely loose in several places. Concrete archways are scattered throughout, painted a dark blue, and the lighting is pretty low. There are a few mismatched tables with chairs and stools here and there, in no real arrangement, and seemingly purchased individually from thrift stores or taken from back alleys.

The bar itself is an old, "L" shaped wraparound, with the tap in the corner. The beer coolers consist of three different Rubbermaid tubs, half filled with ice sitting on the floor behind the bar. A selection of imports and domestics float inside, next to a lone bottle of Jaegermeister. A small sign above the register on the back wall reads, "cash only."

There was a band playing a mix of rock, bluegrass, and country on the small, raised wooden platform in the front of the bar, and when they were done playing, the bartender's ipod provided the musical entertainment.

Colin's eyes went all dreamy as Wilco, Modest Mouse, Spoon, and Kevin Drew poured out of the house speakers. There were fun conversations, Simone spoke in Spanish with a guy I work with from Guatemala, and we got a hefty discount when I paid the tab.

I'll be heading back, that's for sure.

how will you meet your end?

Yesterday was a day off, and for all intents and purposes, that's exactly how I treated it. I went to Ann Sathers for breakfast and had some of their amazing cinnamon buns, and eggs with tomatoes, onions, peppers, and avocado. Yum.

Afterward, I rode my bike for a while doing some errands. New toothbrush, mouthwash, stopped to look at some shirts. There's so many toothbrushes out there! I fought the urge to get one with a dinosaur on it and went with a slick new sonic one with a tongue scrubber. Weird, yet cool.

I got back, and walked around our park, checking on the progress of the new running track and tot lot. Construction workers were putting in the base layer of gravel for the track, leveling and smoothing as they went along. I think it's supposed to be an even half-mile, and has a nice winding flow through the trees and bushes. The playground itself is actually going to be a slightly recessed area containing several abstract sculptures for kids to play around, parents to sit on, or more likely, hipsters to gather around and drink PBR.

I went with Colin and Simone to El Cid for dinner and margaritas and eventually everyone on the patio was serenaded by the mariachis. Simone's friend Karyn met up with us, and Colin ordered more margaritas.

I was in kind of a mood yesterday. Quiet, observant, introspective. It was still really nice out when we got home, so I put some music on and we sat on the porch with some wine and just listened. It was a nice evening, and I really liked the mix of everything that was going on. Two girls and a guy in the park, playing ball with their dog. Low, strumming music coming from our front room through the windows. Conversation from upstairs that just blended into the background. The occasional rapid click, click, click, click, click, shuffling of cards coming from the same windows upstairs. And followed shortly by the quiet clinking of chips being bet.

It was nice to just sit outside on the porch, have some wine, and soak it all in.