We got married six months ago in Chicago. It was freezing cold. I was wearing a coat and gloves. This past weekend we celebrated our half-a-versary. It was ungodly hot. I was wearing humidity and sweat. We weathered the weather (also the name of our unauthorized biography) and had a great weekend celebrating our first six months together. There's some beautiful metaphor in there about marriage being a series of ups and downs and having to push through it all and make the most of everything, but honestly it just keeps streaming in my head as Hot N Cold lyrics. This is the best reason to be married. Because when you say crazy things like how your relationship is like a Katy Perry song the other person can't just walk away without doing a lot of paperwork.
We kicked off our half-a-versary weekend at Pitchfork Music Festival. The last time we ventured out to Union Park was in 2011 to see Neko Case. This year we were excited to see Jessica Pratt, CHVRCHES, The New Pornographers, Sleater-Kinney, and Courtney Barnett. And of course we were excited to people-watch the Converse Nation of teenagers and 20-something's sporting high waisted shorts and rompers in every color imaginable. Every festival season I always forget about just how many blind parents there are in Chicago and feel grateful that elevator companies still use Braille on the buttons.
Friday:
After being offered "ICE COLD WATER" for $1 about a million times we made our way into Union Park. I got my beloved veggie corn dog from the Chicago Diner and we walked over to the Blue Stage to see Jessica Pratt. What we could hear of Pratt's set was really good, but we left after a few songs. Unfortunately, the Blue Stage is arguably the worst stage at Pitchfork, especially with the bass from iLoveMakonnen's Green Stage set. I can't imagine how loud he is on a Tuesday.
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| Jessica Pratt on the Blue Stage |
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| The key to a happy marriage is love and support. Also have your husband grow a beard. It helps. |
Two more artists, a walk through the different vendors selling posters, and another corn dog later we were all set to see CHVRCHES. We stuck around to see Wilco for a few songs, but (please don't hate me) I'm not a huge fan so we left early to miss the crowds.
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| CHVRCHES on the Red Stage |
Saturday:
What's the best thing to do when it's 85 degrees with 80% humidity? Walk a mile and a half to go run an 8k! Guys, it's not a real race unless you're already sweating and out of breath when you walk to the start line. I honestly don't know how I finished this race. Actually, I do know. I literally sent Bryan a text that said, "Help me" after I passed mile 4 and he ran out to meet me with water (he had finished running days before me). Ask him to do an impression of the expression on my face when he found me. It's somewhere in between zombie and drug addict.
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| Please notice how there is no sweat on Bryan's face and I look like I was shoved into a pool. |
After showering and a much needed breakfast at George's, we made our way back to Union Park for Day Two of Pitchfork. We got there and it started raining. No problem. We're experienced festival-goers. Bryan handed me a poncho and umbrella, put our cell phones in a plastic Ziplock, and placed our backpack in a garbage bag to protect it from the rain. No muss, no fuss. We started listening to Ex Hex on the Red Stage for about 20 minutes and then were forced to evacuate the park with the rest of the festival due to weather/lightening concerns. After making it back home, the weather cleared up, and the festival opened again. By that time we were so tired we decided to take advantage of the live stream and watched the New Pornographers (sadly with no Neko Case), Future Islands' hilarious performance (please cancel our friendship if you actually like this band), and Sleater-Kinney.
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Taking advantage of the speaker rig and the air conditioning.
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Sunday:
After complaining about how much our legs hurt and laying around the apartment like champions, we made our way back to Union Park for the third and final day of Pitchfork. Our only goal was to see Courtney Barnett play.
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| Mission accomplished. |
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| Sweating through six months of marriage like a boss. You can also file this picture under Homeless Guy Towel. |
