Vacation in Chicago!

Dan and I took a quick trip to Chicago this weekend. I've been to Chicago several times, but I've never done the quintessential tourist things that the city offers. So, when I heard the New Kids on the Block were playing in the city, we piled in the car and decided to make a weekend out of it.

Of course, we had to listen to them the whole ride there.

 

I hadn't seen the New Kids since they toured two years ago, and I was more than eager to get back to my loves! This time, they were on tour with Paula Abdul and Boyz II Men. Unfortunately, Paula got injured a few days prior and wasn't able to play the show with them. But, Boyz II Men, who became the opening act, were fantastic! They did their old standards, including their cover of "In the Still of the Night," which I've always loved. At one point, they strapped on guitars and did a Lenny Kravitz medley.

And then, New Kids came out! They put on a phenomenal show...as they always do. Not only did they play a lot of their hits (and a few songs from their new album), but they also did a "best of" section that included songs from all of their albums that they don't usually play. They even played a couple of selections from "Face the Music" and their first album. I was in heaven.

Not sure if Dan was, but I think he still secretly liked it. 

The next day, we made our way into downtown. We ate at Native Foods for lunch, and it was absolutely delicious! We had the Thai chili Brussels sprouts, native chicken run ranch, and BBQ pulled jackfruit. And I had a lavender lemonade that was also quite refreshing.

And what would a blog post of mine be without some food pics? So, here ya go:

After filling our bellies, we headed to the Willis Tower to be tourists. The views of the city were lovely, and I (surprisingly) wasn't even that scared when I stopped on the glass observation deck.

Of course we had to hit up Millennium Park and the Bean (which, I learned is actually named Cloud Gate), too.



We were completely lame on Friday night, and instead of going out, we just had drinks at our hotel's bar (along with some killer bruschetta) before going to bed early. Are we old or what?

On Saturday, we woke up bright and early to hit up the outlet malls. I didn't take any pictures, but take my word for it, we got some steals! Though in an effort to make our new clothes not fit, we drove to the Chicago Diner for some food immediately after.

I had to get their chocolate chip cookie dough milkshake, which is one of my all-time favorites.

Totes worth the $7.

Another one to admire its beauty.

 Dan got the BLT, mac & cheese, and the peanut butter chocolate cookie dessert (sadly, no pictures of that).

Farewell, my friend. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Since we hadn't shopped the entire day, we decided, "hey, why not hit up the biggest store we can think of that also happens to be like a maze and that guarantees we'll be in there for at least three hours?"

So, onto IKEA, we went!

No pictures there either (there's only so many creative ways one can pose with a Lack), but we totally cleaned up! New kitchen fixtures, picture frames, decorative plants, and some other odds and ends we've been needing for a while.

I'm pretty sure I gained five pounds this weekend alone, and my bank account might be hurting from the full day of shopping, but we had so much fun in Chicago. Until next time...

Well, it's official

I am now officially an attorney! After passing Michigan's February bar exam, I was sworn into the State Bar yesterday.

The ceremony was something I will remember for the rest of my life. In order to get sworn in, a licensed Michigan lawyer must make a motion in open court. I was so honored that one of my mentors (and also a dear friend) was able to motion on my behalf. I was also fortunate enough to have a family friend, who also sits as a Circuit Court judge, perform my ceremony. They both made it so personal, and at one point, I was brought to tears.

I've never worked harder for anything in my life. Going to law school full-time while also trying to be a full-time stand-up comic and working two other jobs did not leave a lot of time for sleep. It also made me pretty unpleasant to be around, so my apologies to anyone in my life who has actually had to deal with me over the last four years. After I graduated, I had to not only study for the bar exam, but also take the darn thing (a process that made sticking a fork in my own eye seem preferable).

But, today made it worth it! I truly believe the legal system is one of the best mechanisms we have for social change, and yesterday reaffirmed that commitment. I was so proud to take the oath, which includes the following provision:
"I will never reject, from any consideration personal to myself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed, or delay any cause for lucre or malice."

I am also so incredibly thankful to my friends and family who supported me during my law school and bar exam journey. I certainly could not have done it alone!

Flying back to the US

Today was a long, long travel day! Note to self: if you can, try to avoid a 12 hour flight followed by an 8 hour lay-over, followed by two more flights.

A sign from the Auckland airport...wondering if they really want me to comment about my irritable bowel syndrome using emojis.

The first leg (Auckland to LA) wasn't terrible, although I was seated next to a woman who informed me that she had a hip injury and would need to be getting out of the aisle (requiring me to let her out) every hour. Luckily, she was quite nice. But, there was definitely no sleep to be had on that flight.

Once in the US, I got through customs rather quickly, although I'm pretty sure if I'm ever wanted for a crime, this is the photo that'll be blasted all over the news to show my guilt.



The lay-over in LA seemed to take forever, and then the flight from LA to Denver was sold-out. So, my hopes of having a row to myself to sleep were quickly crushed.

I met up with Keith again in Denver (we were on different flights for the previous two), and we slap-happily recalled many of the newly created memories from our trip. We alternated between falling asleep sitting up and maniacally giggling from the lack of sleep. For some reason, the jet-lag and inability to sleep seemed much worse on the way home than it did on the way there.

This trip was so very worth it though, and I already vowed to return one day!

Last day in New Zealand

We spent our last full day in New Zealand at Hobbiton, AKA the set where the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies were filmed. Despite never having seen the movies (does falling asleep during the first Lord of the Rings count?), I figured we had to check it out since it was recommended in all of our tourist books.




Upon entering, I instantly fell in love with the area where the hobbits live! I just couldn't get over how cute it was, the amount of work it took to create, or the attention to detail! For example, some of the trees are fake, and apparently it took months just to add all of the fake leaves to them. If the trees even saw film time (a lot of them ended up on the cutting room floor), it was maybe for two seconds.



After the tour, which actually made me want to watch the films, we went to the Green Dragon Inn, where we had drinks. The Green Dragon Inn was absolutely charming! It was decorated in the same old-timey way as the Hobbit holes, and it featured multiple fireplaces. It was the epitome of cozy (as the cat below is so adorably demonstrating). Since the Green Dragon Inn is available for rent, I immediately envisioned having a wedding or prom there. Not that I would attend the prom in my thirties as I'm not quite that creepy (close though).




We drove back to Auckland after Hobbiton. Keith found a comedy open mic, so we decided to head there. It was very much like an American open mic: majority comics and in the back room of a bar that didn't seem to care too much about it. In fact, we later found out, this was the open mic's last night because the bar was cancelling it.

The MC, Scott Long, was hilarious, and he even agreed to let Keith go up at the last minute. Keith killed it, although he mistakenly called Hobbiton "Hobbitville," for which Scott hilariously took him to task. "You, sir, did not have the gall to come to our country and call it Hobbitville. It's HobbitTON! And that's our capital!"

All of the comics were so kind and welcoming (and funny, too!). It was interesting to see which topics were universal amongst comics: self-loathing and being lazy seemed to rank pretty high.

Keith on stage.

We left smiling as we had both been having some comedy withdrawals while we were gone. We headed back to our airport hotel, where we completed our nightly ritual of watching Snapped (because, honestly, if watching people go off the deep-end and become deranged murderers won't put you to sleep, then nothing will).

Tomorrow, we head home.

Craters of the Moon, Huka Falls, and Napier

We started today by going to McDonald's. Considering McDonald's uses animal flesh in their french fries and also has really cruel slaughter methods, I never thought I'd say that. Please note that I didn't actually buy anything from McDonald's (as not to support the company), but I did go in to get a look at the plane.

The Taupo McDonald's is home to a decommissioned Douglas DC3 aircraft, which was built in 1943 and was one of three used by South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand from 1961 to 1966.




After pretending we were circa 1940s pilots, we decided to go to the Craters of the Moon. This is an area with a lot of geothermal activity, meaning parts of the earth bubble and release steam. Honestly, I think the craters we saw in Iceland were a lot more impressive, but these were still pretty cool and other world-looking.



We then swung by Huka Falls, which was gorgeous! In the photos below, the color of the water is real, and the only filter applied was the one to my under-eye circles.


After the falls, we decided to take a break from nature and go to a city. So, we headed to Napier, a cute seaport city with art deco-style architecture. It was pretty rainy by this point, so we didn't do too much other than grabbing some vegan hot chocolate and trying to dodge the rain under our umbrellas.

The town was adorable though!