thursday funday in a culver way

date: thurs, the 18th of june
cubs game
participants: angie, nicole, me, darrell

angie had asked me to join her and her brother and his gf for the cross town classic at wrigley on thursday - the same day the culver guys were coming in to town. i, of course, said yes!! then her brother had to go out of town and so we were able to invite two others. we thought red and darrell would be fun, but red's flight didn't get in til later in the afternoon. darrell was getting in right about 1 which is when the game was starting, but he was dying to go b/c he'd never been to wrigley. so after talking about what to do with his bag... over and over... good lord. just bring it! and so then i invited nicole as she is jobless and i knew she'd have fun.

we met at murphy's bleachers for a pregame drink when i swear we almost got in to a fist fight. some large woman got mad that angie bumped in to her at a very crowded beer garden and started being a bitch. she then blew smoke in our faces and angie and nicole retorted verbally and then at one point, i think nicole called her fat (which she was) and then she got huffy and said she was a plus size model (uh, no way). and then she said something about fighting and nicole said her husband was a lawyer and to go ahead throw a punch b/c her husband is an attorney... and oh good grief... luckily the woman walked away and then it was time to go to the game. we dropped a ticket off for darrell at will call and headed to our seats. our fantastic seats - section 119 i think which was very close to the front and basically just behind the visiting team's bench. about the 4th inning, darrell made it and we all had beers and caught up over the game. it was such an exciting game... the cubs were losing almost the whole way thru, then tied it in the 8th and won it in the 9th! after the game we headed to captain morgan's bar that's basically partly an inside/outside space attached to wrigley. we enjoyed a drink there and then headed back to my house so angie and i could do a quick change and then go meet the rest of the culver crew out. of course, at my house we enjoyed a few more beers as well.

awesome seats!!


nicole, me, angie, darrell in our seats:


the culver crew: me, darrell, and angie


the ladies: nicole, me, angie:


had to get another angle of us culver folk:


we had to get a picture with the cubby bear! d's nickname has been bear cub since h.s.:


participants:
brad pick, bryce prosser, blake putnam, red, darrell, angie, zach hensley, matt murray, hank stepleton, anthony hadaway

bars:
celtic crown
chicago brauhaus
crabby kims
big shitty tap

we started off at the celtic crown where we met the rest of the gang... i had not met bryce, brad, or zach before as they were the class of 95 and graduated that spring before i got there in the fall. blake was also 95, but i'd met him before at my graduation where we ahem, hung out. ok, maybe there was some kissing going on, but everyone was drunk and that was 12 years ago, so i just assumed he wouldn't remember. matt, angie, anthony and hank (who met up with us at the brauhaus when his flight landed) were class of 96 and darrell and red were my year. so those are the characters.

from the celtic crown we walked to the brauhaus - all in lincoln square tho it was kind of a far walk, esp in heels... but as drunk as i was, whatever! we stayed at the brauhaus until we got kicked out at closing which must have been around one. we ended up getting the das boot - see pictures for explanation. ri-dic-ulous. and ate some german food. i didn't order anything but i managed to eat quite a bit as the guys all shared with me. come to think of it, i don't think i spent much if any money that night... hmmm. it's good being one of only two girls there... and angie was basically off talking with zach for most of the time.

no pics from celtic crown... but here are some from the brauhaus!

me and red (real name is john redington, but known as red to all) with das boot:


das boot making the rounds: here's anthony


my turn for das boot:


me and darrell:


anthony, red, me...someone said he looked like a 70s porn star in this pic. haha:


most of the culver guys: blake, darrell, hank, red, anthony, matt. not sure what happened to brad.


we left brauhaus and there was a fountain right outside, which someone dared red to get in, so he climbed up to the top and got right on in. my feet must have been hurting b/c my shoes are off and in red's hands for some reason he was carrying them. not sure why... from there we jumped in cabs and headed over to crabby kim's. it was basically empty but we could have cared less. we were our own party. hank still had his bag and his golf clubs as he'd gone straight to the bar from the airport. *digression on hank: a few years ago, he was the winner of a reality show called cupid. hilarious b/c i didn't know until i was flipping channels one night and saw him. of course i watched the whole crappy show*

my shoes, red, darell, and me:


oh no, here goes red:


red in the fountain:


at crabby kim's, red removes his shirt and i have no idea why or what the heck is going on in this picture!


i don't think zach and angie ever made it to crabby kim's, but once crabby kim's closed, we again got in taxis and decided to go to big city tap (which i affectionately refer to as big shitty tap). somehow we lost a cab and so it was just brad, darrell, blake, and matt that ended up at the bar. but i think zach showed up at this bar as angie decided to go home. we had some more drinks there as it is a late night place that stays open til 4. then the bar closed and the fun continued... it was pouring rain. and by pouring i mean like monsoon pouring and none of us had umbrellas. there was also thunder and lightening. safe! since big shitty is just over a block or two to myself, we all ran our asses off in ankle deep water back to my place. we were all completely soaked and laughing as it was actually kinda fun.

running in the downpour:


everyone trekking in the rain:


blake hanging out on my counter... the kitchen became the hang out spot:


at my house, i got everyone towels and drinks and we all stayed around and talked until 6am. darrell stayed at my house which we had been planned since the game and his stuff was at my place b/c we dropped it off before going out. the other guys took off and headed to wherever it was they were staying. i should probably mention that bryce, blake, and brad are all married. not sure about bryce, but i know blake has 3 kids and brad has a new baby. how they got their wives to give them a whole boys weekend who knows. anyways, all night blake is asking me questions to try and figure out how he knows me - as in are you sure you weren't there when we were... etc. he's like you just look so familiar. and then at some point, he asks me if i was partying after grad at the cove (i was - it's a condo/hotel by the schools and where everyone stays). and i said yes, and it clicked - he's all we hung out and smooched (well, i don't think he said it like that, but i don't remember his words)... why didn't you tell me?! to which i just said, i dunno... (umm, hello?! what was i supposed to say?!). brad was showing a picture of his cat after seeing otis. he's got 2 which i'll admit are very cute, so i took his iphone and flipped thru the pics. he calls them his dogs. he was calling otis a dog all night. otis is rather dog-like, but better b/c i don't have to take him out several times a day. he was mildly inappropriate, but a lot of fun. i take all those guys as harmlessly inappropriate b/c i know that's how they were in high school. even though i didn't know them, i know enough of their friends from my class to know how they all were. it's a fun banter.

so in the morning, matt picked darrell up in the monsoon that was still going on and i finished packing and went to the airport... and happily got on the plane for a good nap. it was a fantastic day/night.