I don't know why...

I don't know why I let people upset me the way I do. I don't want to have the "my life sucks" attitude, but I do. People make me feel bad about myself, make me feel inadequate, make me feel all alone. Sometimes I really wish I could just pick up and go away. Stop telling me I can, because I can't and those few of you that always tell me "we all love you", stop. Seriously. Actions speak louder than words. I dislike myself right now, no matter what anyone else says. And there are certain people that just make me feel worse and worse about myself. I feel gross, and fat, and ugly, and because of all of that, unloved. Even if someone was interested in me, I don't think I would allow myself, in the state I am in, to get involved. It's a double-edged sword. I don't know how to explain it. I just needed to get this off my chest. I wish I knew how to fix it. I am sure I will have more to write later, but for now I need to go do something else.

Chicago Day 2

Living on the Ledge! This morning Jen and I got up and went to the Willis Tower. This of course used to be the Sears Tower. This was a really cool experience. We were scared to death to go out into this window box thing. We were holding hands we were so freaked out. You can see it in the picture though.

After the Willis tower we headed to The Magnificent Mile, AKA Michigan Avenue. Seriously, we could have spent the entire trip there. Garrett Popcorn was amazing! If we had found it earlier, we would have been eating it the whole time. This was a fabulous day. We stopped at a place called Big Bowl. Super Yum!

To be continued...

Chicago!

Chicago day 1...

We were staying at the Hampton Inn and they had some breakfast items I could made do with, along with my box of Chex cereal I was good to go. After breakfast we headed to Navy Pier. It was kind of a let down. First of all, it was over 90 degrees that day and we were dying, secondly, there was an overabundance of biting flies. OK, so I was the only one they were attacking, and I can't figure out why, but I was kind of annoyed. We walked and walked and walked forever. Did I mention that it was like a bazillion degrees? Oh well, lunch redeemed the day. We went to the Webber Grill. It was amazing. They had a great gluten free menu. I had a fancy version of a bacon cheese burger and fantastic mashed potatoes and cole slaw! Super yum! It even came on a gluten free bun. I was super excited.

After lunch we wandered around some more. We walked over to the Hard Rock because Jen desperately wanted a tank top.

This was going to be the night we all went to Uno’s for their famous Chicago Stuffed pizza and because they have a gluten free menu. PEOPLE… DO NOT GO THERE. I was sadly disappointed and super glad we called ahead. Even though their website clearly states that they have the gluten free menu, they do NOT. I even called their Due restaurant and they did not have it either. They are the only two locations that do not have the gluten free menu.Seriously?The original store does not carry the full menu. Whatever! I was hot, and pissed, and I nearly seriously injured myself tripping on some sidewalk, I grabbed the iron gate and just jacked up my hand. Goodie, I am ever the klutz. Anyway, while walking back to the hotel to figure out what I was going to eat for dinner, while everyone would be enjoying their fancy pizza, I passed a place that I recognized from the glutenfreeregistry.com called Ben Pao. It as decent, their lettuce wraps don’t even compare to P.F. Chang’s.

After dinner we went on our river/lake architecture tour, which was amazing! We hoofed it over to the dock and hopped on our boat. What a cool experience. We got the low down on all the buildings and saw some beautiful sights. J

I was really upset that my camera wasn’t working correctly. When the boat docked we headed back towards the hotel and stopped at this (really crappy) bar next door. We ended up leaving there and just going back to the hotels breakfast room and drinking what we had in the cooler. Turned out to be an OK day in Chi-town!

Chicago, here I come!

Sunday Jen and Sean went to Indianapolis for a NASCAR race, which was the original reason we went on this crazy adventure. They left at like 5:30 in the morning. Stacey and I slept in a little bit and headed out to the 100 Bomber Club for a friends baby shower. I only know them because I have been up there so much. After the shower we headed out to Chicago. We got stuck in traffic when we got there because Sir Paul McCartney was playing that night. I say it was because I was driving. Seriously, the entire trip, every time I drove there was bad weather, traffic, accidents, etc. When Jen drove, smooth sailing. Oh well.

We somehow managed to meet up at almost the same time. We took Tracy and Stacey to the Westin where their conference was and we finally made it to the Hampton where we would be staying. I was completely frazzled by that point. The traffic coming into Chicago was awful and we had like no gas left and it was late, and of course Murphy's Law kicked in and the GPS stopped working. Needless to say I just needed to park the car and be done with it. We all went to P.F. Chang's for dinner. It was right downtown. Any opportunity to have the Chang's, I jump at it. We wandered around a little while after dinner and headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

The day of days...

Saturday morning we strangely woke up early. We had no more than 4 hours of sleep the last few nights, but we were ready to go. I don't know what happened, but I was sick. I got glutened somewhere, but I just don't know where. After I got it together, we went to Cuyahoga Falls Metroparks to see the Brandywine Falls. This just happens to be the site where my friend works. It was beautiful. My fear of heights was however, getting the best of me.

We also stopped at the ski lift, because how funny is it to see a ski lift in the middle of summer? Yes, this is us pretending to ski. I know, I know... dorks.

After the Parks we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Downtown Cleveland.

The traveling exhibit was Women Who Rock. We also got to go into Johnny Cash's tour bus. That was pretty cool. They also had Lady Gaga's Raw Meat Dress. That was actually pretty gross. It looked like bloody human flesh. Apparently, it had been taken, immediately after she wore it, to a taxidermist. it was dipped in some chemicals to preserve it.

After the Rock Hall we went to the Cleveland Indians game at Progressive Field. I was excited to see what the gluten free offerings would be. I was able to eat dinner, which was good since we were starving. Here is what I found...

Party time, excellent!!!

This was party night. Stacey and Sean invited a bunch of friends and family over for a mid-summer night's party. This is always a good time including a lot of laughs. We ordered pizza from Tommy's pizza and chicken. This is, by far, my favorite of the gluten free pizza. If you ever make it to Strongsville, Ohio, you don't want to miss this.