A trip to Chicago and reflection on the South

This is Jake writing - We have now been in Alabama for almost two months and I thought it was time for me to chime in on this matter (since I'm the one who brought us all out here). You know the feeling you get when you are coming home from a road trip and you get off the freeway exit to your house. I'm talking about that sigh of relief when you turn the corner to your house. When you get in your bed and every worry goes away because you're at home. Well I just got those feelings when we came back to Birmingham from a trip to Chicago.

I've decided that I think we have a pretty sweet place in Birmingham and that I like living here. Here are some amusing anecdotes since we have been here.
1. Here is a picture of Sophie yelling/crying at us because we picked her up to go down some stairs in front of a Museum. I believe she was yelling, "Mommy, never take me. Never, never, never take me mommy." I think that family in the background is laughing - I imagine they may have had a similar experience at some point in their lives. Right after this Sophie kept saying, "I have a hard life."

2. Sophie is now potty training and it has kept us on our toes. Last Sunday we were making Chinese food to celebrate Valentine's day and Chinese new year. I just spilled water into a pan with lots of grease and it exploded everywhere and made a huge mess, when Sophie had an accident in the computer chair. Jenn took Sophie to the toilet really quickly, and just then I heard the weird noise that Skype makes when somebody is calling you. I ran over to the computer chair to answer the Skype call and realized I sat where Sophie just had an accident. Fortunately it wasn't too bad. A few days before that, Sophie was on Jenn's lap and wet through both of their pants, so I guess we're even.

3. I've been riding the bus to school and the lady who drives the bus in the morning is the grumpiest lady I've ever come across. My morning rides are torn between trying to break through her hard shell, studying anatomy or whatever the subject of the week is, and listening to my beloved podcasts. I thought everybody in Alabama was supposed to be happy because they eat grits and fried chicken.Here is Sophie admiring a Monet and the Chicago Art Institute.

4. I have come to the realization that I will never be a classy eater. Spending over thirty five dollars on a meal for two blows my mind. We went to a classy restaurant in Chicago called Quartino's and I realized there was a part of my brain that was different when compared to the rest of the clientele there. I can't really describe it. Maybe I have an extra part in my brain that tells me I'm not cooler by spending extra amounts of money to eat small portions of average food. That doesn't mean that I never leave a restaurant feeling cooler than other people. When I go to a cheap pizza buffet (like Cici's or Pizza Doc's) and use a coupon, I leave feeling 10 times cooler than all of those people in Quartino's. I just fed my family for 12 bucks (I say to myself with a prideful puffed out chest) - we got salad, drink and dessert, and I got to watch basketball. You Quartino's people just dropped 12 bucks to fill up your little wine glass, so suck on my big thick wallet, you hoity toity losers. (There is a good deal of irony here - my wallet only contains money from student loans and it is thick because I fill it with coupons and buy 10 get 1 free cards.)