Pink of Perfection Project: April

You may have taken the opportunity to explore the links I have listed over on the right there... I hope you have, and I hope you have gotten to spend some time with the gem that is Pink of Perfection, written by my college friend Sarah. It's full of delightful ideas and musings on food, creativity, and life's small pleasures. Beginning this April she challenged her readers to complete and share a monthly project. This month: Take Yourself Out On A Date. Last Tuesday was gorgeous and I had my morning free, so I grabbed Ben's little camera and took myself out to the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Chicago.

I thought hard about what to wear on my date. As it was an unseasonably warm spring morning, I was excited to bust out my standard summer uniform of a favorite tank top, rolled up jeans and sneakers. I was going to just throw on my clothes and head out the door, but I knew I wouldn't feel date-worthy with unshaven legs. Many people scoff at me when I talk about dealing with my basically invisible leg hair (not to mention the eyebrow wax I spent money on a few weeks ago), and I'm lucky to not have to deal with it that often, but sometimes taking a little time to make yourself feel smooth and put together is worth it. It felt fairly indulgent and seemed like a good way to make sure this was a date and not just a lazy morning.



Ahh, nice and pasty. Sometimes I wish I could cultivate a Victorian skin tone, porcelain white and well pampered. Although the idea of carrying a parasol has its points, I always remember that ultimately I'm not too big on gracefulness and am a lot happier knocking around carelessly. So my scalp gets burned, my face gets ruddy, my body gets sweaty, my clothes refuse to look new for more than one day. Thus, many of my favorite looks are a little ripped up, and I was going for kind of a bike messenger enjoying her city. It's a look I feel good in.

Observe-- springtime for Lindsay and Chicago:



I am extremely proud of my bikey musculature in this picture, and also of the scar left by the teeth of a gear ring. Yess!!



Speaking of extremely proud, this is Roxy, my new bike. She's a babe. I rode her down Milwaukee Avenue to Chicago Avenue, which I took almost all the way down to the lake before locking her up outside the MCA. I saw some neat exhibits-- Gordon Matta-Clark's holes cut in buildings, Karen Kilimnik's Pink Panther stuffed animals having a picnic in Antarctica, high school bathroom murals. I observed and was irritated by some other patrons and their loud know-it-all voices. I hoped I looked artsy and cool like other young people I eyed. You're not allowed to take pictures of stuff there, but I snuck one in the rest room:



Ooh, I'm like, so hip and unaffected. Yeah I'm probably an art student. I browsed the gift shop. I took my time. It was fun.

No date is complete without a little something tasty, so I stopped at Lovely on my way home. It is my most favorite coffee shop. If Sarah from Pink of Perfection came to visit it is the first place I would take her.



They're not actually so blurry there. Apart from the comfortable atmosphere, good music I've never heard, friendly staff, and excellent reading material, they also have yummy food. I got a fancy little tuna sandwich.



***UPDATE*** Upon remembering this part of the date, I can't believe I ever forgot about it: After my sandwich I bought a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. They served it on a tiny plate. I forgot to take a picture of it because I was so eager to have a taste. It was beautiful, soft, chewy, and balanced the peanut butter and chocolate just so. Rest assured, it was the perfect offering to my sweet tooth.

And I also decided to buy my date (me) a little present. I had a new hat that needed some decoration:



That was my date. It was cheap and felt special. It reminded me of the Artist Dates from when I was doing the Artist's Way, which I remembered fondly as time to reconnect with myself. Thanks for the suggestion, POP Projects!