The Heat (and Sweat) is On

I was in New York last week and it was freaking hot. That was until I landed in Chicago on Sunday and realized that it's fucking hot here. Not just regular hot. It's Fucking hot. I mean, it's just plain oppressive heat. Totally brutal. Heat indices in the hundreds every day for the last five days and about a day or two more of this. In weather like this all you can do is stay inside in the AC or submerge yourself in a pool. There really is no other option. Even the beach isn't that fun on days this hot because the sand is en fuego.

I hate weather like this and I don't think I am alone in this. Being hot, sticky, and sweaty is just so uncomfortable. (And not that attractive I might add.) And for someone who sweats as much as I do, it sucks. I walk outside and immediately I can feel the film of perspiration begin to form all over. I am glad my body's cool down system is working well, but sometimes (pretty much always!) its not a good look. I sweat through dresses (well, basically any clothing), my hair is more out of control and frizzy than usual, and the chafing that soon follows is unwelcome and awful. Ugh. This heat is the worst. Thanks Global Warming.

The Midwest in Me

Mom, I know you LOVE this pic so I made it extra big for you!

I am currently in Chicago right now which means that I am with my family and oh-so-happy! This also means that I am back to my roots and in my element more than ever surrounded by those who know and love me the most. Although I live and love New York, I am a true Chicagoan (and Midwesterner) at heart.

In two more years and I will officially be a New Yorker. Everyone says once you live here for 10 years you are considered a New Yorker. Well I have eight under my belt and I already feel like one. A couple years ago, How I Met Your Mother did an episode on what makes someone a New Yorker. They decided decided that you're not a real New Yorker until you have:

• Seen Woody Allen
• Stolen a cab from someone who needs it more than you
• Cried on the Subway and not given a damn what anyone thinks
• Killed a cockroach with your bare hand

There are tons of lists on what makes a real New Yorker and what doesn't. Some are pretty spot on and some are not. I do know that I see celebs quite frequently (but I do still get excited. Sue me.), I have cried on the subway without caring, yelled into my phone at someone on the street not giving a shit who can hear me, know bouncers at bars where I don't get carded when everyone else I am with does, get my extra salad dressing at the restaurant next door without even having to ask anymore, know exactly where to stand on the subway platform as to where the exit or the transfer is, and the list goes on. I mean, I love New York and am proud to live here.

Here or There?

School's out for the summer. Woohoo! I am going home to Chicago in a couple days and I absolutely cannot wait. When I tell people I am going home, they know I mean back to Chicago (or the suburbs, that is), to my parents house. But the reality is, although Chicago is and will always be home to me, I have set up quite a nice life for myself here in New York and this is my home for now. I've been here for eight great years now and I def know I am in it to win it here in the big city for at least for another three (I want to teach 10 years in the NYC school system and get my lifetime health benefits) and then I will take it from there and see if its time to move back home to Chicago or continue my life here. From the girl who expected to come out here for a year and head back home, its been quite the journey. I still can't believe I have been here for so long. I am super grateful to have such a great job, a solid group of friends, and I just re-signed my lease for another two years. Things have been going well. And I am happy. 

Here's the thing, although I LOVE going home, I don't really have any friends there anymore. When I go home, I hang out with my family 99% of the time. Things are different than when I would come home after my first year or two out here and I'd send out an email to my girlfriends and we'd all try to get together for dinner/drinks. That's doesn't happen anymore. We grew apart. There's no bad blood, the distance just caused the friendships to basically be non-existent now.  I don't reach out to them and they don't reach out to me. I am a firm believer that the phone (or email) works both ways so we are both at fault.

Also, my two closest friends from home moved away. My best friend from college (married and a mom now) lives in St. Louis and my high school best friend lives in Milwaukee (also married and with two kids) so they are not that convenient to see but we do make time if they are in town and I love seeing them. Although its still weird for me that they are someone's mother. Haha. And like I already said, almost all of my other college/high school friends that live in Chicago are all married with their own groups of friends and their own lives.

Take me out to the ball game...

I am a huge sports fan. Always have been and always will be. I love both playing and watching sports. I am super athletic and grew up playing all sorts of sports.  And doing it well if I must say so myself. Also, growing up, my brother wasn't really into sports so my dad and I would watch many games together. Bulls. Bears. Illini. YES! I was the son he never had in that sense. Until of course, my brother actually became interested in watching games with him also.

Since I love watching sports so much, I rarely turn down the opportunity of going to a game live. Whether it's football, basketball or baseball, going to a collegiate or professional sporting event is such a blast. I don't go that often, but when I do, I like to take it all in. The people. The food (and the beer). The athletes themselves. And the actual competition. There are just so many great things about going to a sporting event.

Let's Keep It Alive

Hola! That's hello in Spanish. You're very welcome for dropping that little piece of knowledge on you. I took 6 years of Spanish but can barely speak it conversationally. I do know many words and can put a sentence together if need be but should know a lot more than I do. I lost so much of it over time. Spanish is one of those language that everyone seems to use and will throw in Spanish or even Spanglish words in everyday convo here and there. But most people know when they are using these non-English words and use them on purpose. But there is another language that people also use quite often and don't even realize its not English. That language is Yiddish.

Does anyone speak Yiddish anymore? Anyone besides my grandparents, that is? They both still speak pretty fluent Yiddish and speak it around us when they don't want us to know what they are talking about. They will talk about us right in front of our faces and we will have no idea what they are saying. Even though that can be sometimes be annoying, the Yiddish language is becoming lost and it's a damn shame.