The Windy City + Flirty Sundress = Thank God for Bike Shorts!

The Opposite of how I Looked!

So yesterday I was feeling a little cheeky, the weather was perfect, I was wearing a new flirty sun dress, my hair is newly dyed and looked amazing.  Now anyone that knows me will quickly tell you that I'm more often neurotic than overly confident, but when the planets align properly you just have one of those days and you can't help but walk with a spring in your step and a bounce in your curls.  So I decided that during my lunch hour I would go out and enjoy the weather, watch some tourists, and generally bounce around being all that and a bag of reasonably priced chips.  With my big sunnies on I stepped out onto Michigan Avenue with a very Mary Tyler Moore attitude and with perfect timing Mother Nature decided to show me just how sarcastic she can be by blowing my fabulously flirty new sun dress up around my ears!  Nope...it was not a coy Marilyn moment, it was more Lucille Ball.  Frantically I turned in circles while batting and grabbing at my errant dress desperately trying to bring it back to knee level, all the while thanking the heavens that I had the forethought this morning to wear bike shorts therefore saving all the innocent tourists from their very first flasher moment.  Once my dress was back under control and my dignity was clutched fervently to the side of my leg I continued, albeit with a little less bounce, to enjoy the remainder of my lunch break.  Of course by then the wind that caused my frantic dress dance was no longer blowing,  Mother Nature was too busy gasping and clutching her side laughing.  Once clear of witnesses the bounce returned to my step because one is so resilient when having a great hair day!

Lost without GPS

This evening I found myself slightly distracted driving to my Mother's house, which lead me to turn down the wrong road.  Quickly I found myself in unfamiliar territory, which I shrugged off as I had grown up in the area and really how much could it have changed in the last 11 years.  I soon was figuratively smacking myself in the head as I was surrounded by new housing developments.  Belting out the theme song to Weeds (little boxes on a hillside...ticky tacky and they all look just the same) I happily decided to just wander until I either ran into a main road I recognized or gave up and turned on my GPS.  In fact Caroline and I had actually made getting lost into an art form; created on a bored Sunday afternoon we hopped into my car and just drove with a general direction in mind, all the while knowing that GPS would always lead us home.  Each adventure always lead to laughs, ridiculous arguments, food, further confirmation that if you take the lake away from me I'm rubbish at directions, and a great day out.


Soon my stomach reminded me that I didn't have time to dawdle and it threatened to begin eating itself if I did not feed it quickly.  "Simmer down now" I scolded my stomach and reached for my phone, only to realize that I had killed the battery by playing Angry Birds (I can't be blamed...it's like crack for fingers)!  [insert classic horror scream here] What was formally a classic suburban night suddenly turned into a setting for a creepy Hitchcock film.  From darkened houses seeped a sinister yellowish glow warning passersby to approach with caution...thick evergreens hugged the street's sharp curves concealing prying eyes!  Gulp!


What was a technology geek like myself supposed to do!  I continued to turn down random roads while searching my brain for a way out of the situation I found myself in.  I had already considered and discarded the idea of backtracking, I was pretty sure I was moving in the general direction I needed to go in and the stubborn German in me wouldn't allow me to turn back.  Suddenly I thought..."What would Sherlock do?"  Smoke a pipe?  Call for Watson (ack...my Watson was unavailable and so was google)?  Play the violin?  Logic!!!!  Just then a car pulled away from one of the many creepy houses that lined the block and I quickly made the decision to "Follow that car"!  I reasoned that any car pulling out of a driveway had a good chance of heading for a main road.  Hoping desperately that they were not dumping a body or anything equally horrific I followed.  And followed.  Now I was beginning to feel like a creep as I continued to follow.  I then began to practice my police tailing moves, then switched it up to creepy mimic car, just around the time I ran out of ways to amuse myself my unknowing friend lead to me a street I was very familiar with and I soon found myself in my Mom's driveway.


In hindsight, getting lost without my trusty tech to lead me home, was an even greater adventure.  Perhaps on the next bored Sunday afternoon I'll leave the tech at home, get lost, and let the universe lead me home.

What's your favorite lost story?  Do you have any great tips for getting your bearings when lost?  Leave your response in the comment section below.

Can't wait for more?  Then check out my Weekly Blog:  Veggie Girl Eats Out for my review of Sweet Art in St. Louis, MO.  Click here to view Veggie Girl Eats Out! 

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WebMD Needs to be Banned from my Reality!

I am a chronic googler, I freely admit this, in fact I'm proud of my quest for knowledge and thrilled that I can gain it with a few keystrokes.  There are times though that too much information is NOT a good thing, at least when it comes to me and googling a medical condition.  It starts off all innocent, "oh, I'm just curious on what exactly is the reason behind eye twitching", and ends up with me on WebMD convinced that my eye is going to fall out any second or that the constant twitching is going to short out my neural synapses leaving me drooling over a bowl of Captain Crunch, or something equally ridiculous and far removed from my actual issue.  Luckily this overblown panic is reserved to my own mind and voiced to a few good friends with excellent rational minds.  Today though...you almost got me WebMD...almost!  In fact...you almost gave me a heart attack by making me think I was having a heart attack!  


Today after lunch I had numbness and tingling in my left arm along with some other symptoms so I went googling to find some information on why and what I could do to alleviate the issue.  Well of course I ended up on that infernal, son of the devil WebMD and this is what they returned to me (my responses are in purple)...

Symptoms of a Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction or MI)

Symptoms of a heart attack can include:

• Discomfort, pressure, heaviness, or pain in the chest, arm, or below the breastbone
• Yes...yes I did have a slight pressure on my chest and I am finding my response to this discomforting
• Discomfort radiating to the back, jaw, throat, or arm
• Ummm...see above...why are you telling me again.  Why do you keep using discomfort, call it what it is PAIN!!!
• Fullness, indigestion, or choking feeling (may feel like heartburn)
• Yes...I am feeling too full (my logical side later realized that I just finished lunch)
• Sweating, nausea, vomiting, or dizziness
• "Gulp, Erp"...yes, I'm going to vomit right now!  (logical self:  you ate something last night that your stomach doesn't like...you expected to feel slightly off today)
• Extreme weakness, anxiety, or shortness of breath
• Well..yes, I have anxiety now since so many boxes have been ticked!
• Rapid or irregular heartbeats
• Yes WebMD you have now elevated my heartbeats from calm to rapid with your checklist of doom!

After about 20 minutes of panic I did realize that I wasn't having a heart attack, but rather I most likely slept on my arm wrong the night before, my IBS is kicking up again, and I'm tired from staying up late the night before.  It really had me convinced for a while that I was facing imminent death...it almost gave me a heart attack.  Now I do believe sites like this have a purpose and have helped people prepare for Doctor's appointments, and educated them on their diagnosed disease, but for those out there like me...it's a booby trap.  So...as of today I am imposing on myself a lifetime ban from WebMD and sites of that nature.  If I absolutely must know why my bellybutton feels like it's being stabbed with an icepick I will allow one of my sane friends to do the googling for me.  Friends...you have been warned!  :)

Tell me your WebMD horror story?  Leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below.  

You can also find me at  Veggie Girl Eats Out:  http://veggiegirleatsout.blogspot.com/