Flowers, Dining, and LOLing all weekend

What a fabulous weekend! Friday night we went to Qdoba with friends before heading to BINGO. I’ve been counting calories in order to lose weight, so I got a half naked burrito and half salad off their Craft 2 menu and was surprised by how tasty the salad was considering everything amounted to less than 800 calories. I didn’t win any money at BINGO, but we did win a coupon for a free game in March so that’s nice.

Saturday we were up early for our visit to Garfield Park Conservatory after I realized it had been years since we’ve been there. We intended to get there as soon as they opened at 9 am, but we had to make a pit-stop at my work first to retrieve something I left there by mistake in my haste to leave on Friday.

I love the conservatory because admission and parking are free. Plus it smells like Spring inside. It also reminds me of my grandparents’ house since they had a lot of vegetation near where they lived. I wish I could bottle that smell.

We spent about an hour and a half at the conservatory making sure we covered every square inch. By then it was getting pretty crowded anyway, so we decided to grab lunch. I consulted my Yelp app and found a place featured on Diners, Drive-In, and Dives that I had bookmarked last year. It’s called The Depot, and we scored parking right in front and only had to wait five minutes for a booth. We made it right before the lunch rush; once we were seated the front of the place quickly filled up with waiting diners. The food was delicious! You can read my review on Yelp.

After lunch we made a pit-stop at Target before going home to relax for a few hours before heading back out to meet a group of friends at Bahama Breeze. We ran into some of Joe’s coworkers at the bar while waiting for our group so we had some drinks and chatted until everyone arrived for dinner.

After dinner we headed to the Laugh Out Loud comedy theater. Joe and I thought it was pretty funny even though I don’t think everyone agreed. It’s definitely different than seeing a stand-up show since everything is improvised on the spot based on audience suggestions. But that’s what makes it so much fun – no two shows are the same. I’d like to go back for the later show since it’s adult only.

After the show we walked to the nearby Gameworks for more drinks and fun. And once we grew bored of that, we went back to Laugh Out Loud for their free audience participation show. One of the guys in our party ended up getting on stage to participate in a sketch. He then proceeded to try to get myself and another girl to go up there. No way, buddy! I cannot think on my feet like that. I give those improv comedians a lot of credit as they are very talented.

This morning we headed to Walmart for a few things and then saw Cop Out which wasn’t great, but wasn’t as terrible as the reviews made it sound. Seann William Scott’s character was hilarious. It probably would have been better if Kevin Smith had wrote it and not just directed it. Or maybe he’s just losing his touch. I didn’t think Zack and Miri Make A Porno was that good either. We did see some very interesting previous, however. I want to see all three movies they advertised, particularly the last two:

She’s Out Of My League
Hot Tub Time Machine
Kick-Ass

On the way home we swung by this restaurant called Omega to get some soup for lunch. They have the most amazing cream of chicken with rice soup. I used to eat it at their Downers Grove location years ago and found out through a friend that they had a Schaumburg location too, so I had to get some. You can’t beat the price either – $5.25 for a quart. It is well worth it.

And now I’m just pooped. I think all the running around finally caught up with me. Couch time!

Garfield Park Conservatory photos at Flickr