ev-an-ston, revisited.

i spent the weekend with buz relaxing in evanston. we had big plants to visit the jelly belly factory and go outlet shopping, but got sidetracked. ( :

on friday night we went to the bean at cloud gate, and then tried out a tapas restaurant, cafe iberico on the north side, that apparently everyone and their brother wanted to go to! the food was typical spanish tapas, nothing extraordinarily exciting and creative, but not super pricey either. we split an entire pitcher of sangria, which i drank way too much of before eating ( ;

saturday was spent shopping & relaxing. we spent nearly 3 hours at the mexican shop, a little boutique with everything from jewelry to small home decor from the cheapy cheapy to moderately priced. they don't have a website, but they do have some write-ups on yelp.com. the people who own it spend half the year traveling the globe aquiring their treasures. i can't help myself at ayla's bead shop either!

after a quick lunch at my favorite evanston restaurant, blind faith cafe (i got amazing eggs mornay), we got facials from students at the local beauty school, pivot point. my facial was amazing (i had erica), and with a coupon from the internet (50% off), i spent a whopping $17. then i was convinced to buy some of their products, the twice daily bar from bioelements (definitely worth it)!!

we took an afternoon nap & then did a little bar hopping in downtown evanston. first to prairie moon where we had some shitake quesadillas & specialty beer (scrimshaw pilsner-excellent), then to buz's favorite, tommy nevin's, an irish pub where they were STILL serving green miller lites!

sunday morning was brunch w/ all of buz's local friends at golden olympic... she has met some really cool people here! we got lazy because of the rain and decided to forgo any exciting plans we had to visit museums and travel, and go see 17 again. this was followed by at least an hour of oggling over zac efron's pictures online. disclaimer: he is 21 years old. it's not that bad, right?

then i had my second catholic mass experience. living in italy, i've spent more collective hours in catholic churches than any other places of worship combined. but my first full mass (i passed out during one when i was 15) was with buz and her family last christmas. buz's friends were getting confirmed at a beautiful church, madonna della strada, at loyola university on sunday night, so we all went. i really enjoy the mass- especially the beautiful singing & the organ!

...and now i'm off to pennsylvania for a few days before heading to north carolina and back to richmond at the end of the week! bon voyage!