gnat hangs on to summer for dear life

today, for the first time in months, i had to throw a scarf in my bag on the way out of the house.

four days ago i was here:

i haven't talked at all about the beach, or the "beach" as i call it (complete with mocking finger-quotes, much to the chagrin of any native chicagoan in the near vicinity). i prefer instead to call it the lakeshore, though according to wikipedia's definition of a beach it qualifies. go ahead, call me a snob - i miss the sound of crashing waves and the smell of saltwater. in any case, it's a nice place to go read a book on warm days, and last thursday was no exception.

one thing i really enjoy about chicago's beaches is that they're so close to the rest of civilization. beaches in california tend to feel really far removed from city life. in chicago they're literally across the street from each other.

this picture was taken from north avenue beach, which is a little further from downtown, but at the oak street beach a few blocks north of my apartment the hancock tower and all of the buildings around it are literally looming right on top of you. it's a little bit surreal - to one side of you the expanse of lake michigan, to the other side a 96-story skyscraper. it makes for a very different beach experience than i'm used to.

anyway, on thursday i went to the beach. i didn't stay long, because it was uncomfortably hot and humid. today (monday) i took a scarf out with me and had to use it. it's labor day, which traditionally marks the end of the summer season, but i have my fingers crossed for a few more weeks of sun...

gnat and eileen's hipstamatic chicago afternoon

shortly after i posted today's blog entry, in which i complained about how miserable humidity is, my tutee cancelled our lesson for today leaving me with a free afternoon. i immediately enlisted eileen's aid in coming up with an exciting activity that was both free and air conditioned. without hesitation, she suggested the art institute. little did eileen know that i very recently (and by very recently i mean last night) finally jumped on the hipstamatic bandwagon and was itching to play with it, and a trip to the art institute was the perfect opportunity to do so.

(for those of you who, like me, are not well versed in the exciting world of iphone applications, hipstamatic is a program that takes vintage looking pictures with your phone's camera. it is shockingly addictive.)

what follows is a sample of the photographic results of our afternoon in the museum:

because we worked up quite an appetite at the museum we adjourned to devon seafood grill (also air conditioned) for happy hour. i have been obsessing about oysters since my visit to the publican last month (which i just realized i have yet to write about... this is awkward.) and have been intending to go to devon's happy hour for 75 cent oysters on the half shell for weeks.

eileen and i started with wine flights,

before receiving our oysters. (they were magnificent, and made even better by the fact that they are served with teeny tiny bottles of tabasco sauce that are now floating somewhere at the bottom of my purse.)

you can't have too much of a good thing, so we also tried their oyster shooters.

now, a dozen oysters is not actually that much food, so we supplemented them with an order of mussels. (i'm not kidding anyone. the real reason we got mussels is because we are a couple of fat kids. if you don't think so now, you will in a minute. i didn't even tell you about the smoked salmon flat bread, because i was so busy eating it that i forgot to take a picture.)

at the very last possible moment, five minutes before the end of happy hour, eileen and i decided that despite all the seafood we had already consumed, the deal on lobster (at cost) was just too damn good to pass up. so we did what any reasonable people in our situation would do - we ordered a lobster.

and it was the best idea ever. he was delicious. and cheap. but mostly delicious.

predictably, the meal ended in lobster carnage.

thoroughly stuffed with seafood, we braved the heat once more to return to our respective places of residence. as a result of our adventure i am feeling far less upset about the climate outside. if it means more air conditioned adventures, i say bring it on!

gnat learns the meaning of the word "humidity"

guys. seriously. guys.

it is miserable outside.

according to weather.com, it is 96 degrees out with 51% humidity. and this is an improvement over yesterday. AN IMPROVEMENT, PEOPLE. yesterday when i left the apartment it was 103 degrees with 83% humidity. how is that even possible?

in case you are, like i was before this week, not familiar with what 103 degrees and 83% humidity feels like, imagine that you are taking a shower wearing all your clothes. a very hot shower. and there's a ton of steam. and instead of being in the comfort of your own bathroom, you are outdoors and the sun is pounding on you, 103 degrees fahrenheit of pounding sun hitting you, surrounded by steam, in all your clothes, taking a very hot shower. that is what 103 degrees and 83% humidity feels like. and at the end of this hot, steamy, clothed, poundy sun shower, instead of being nice and clean you are sticky and drenched in sweat. disgusting. now imagine trying to breathe in that nonsense. it's enough to make a girl wish she had gills.

because i do NOT have gills, today i am staying holed up in my beautiful air conditioned apartment pretending to work. unfortunately i am experiencing intense writer's block, which is why i've been absent from blogging for several weeks despite having gone on many blogable chicago adventures. send me your writing vibes, internets.