So this last week has been a crazy week. I have traveled a lot, seen a lot, laughed my a$$ off, met a really hot guy, began planning a move back to the east coast and still somehow had some time to actually sit back and relax. So here is everything in a nutshell of what went on this last week (I still can’t believe I survived it lol).
The week started out like any other week, except it was pride in Chicago and holy crap was it obvious it was pride. I went to the grocery store and in the liquor displays, they replaced all of the regular absolute vodka bottles with rainbow colored gay pride absolute vodka bottles.

gay pride rainbow absolute vodka bottles
Now this was pretty cool considering the grocery store isn’t actually in boystown, however they still sold rainbow gay pride absolute vodka bottles and not only that, they sold gay pride tshirts, flags and a heck of a lot more. I know it was to capitalize off of the gay community and us celebrating pride (our version of the 4th of July) or celebrating our freedom to be who we are, love who we love and be free to walk around with our lovers without caring what others think or fear that someone will attack us. However it is also amazing for me to see grocery stores carrying gay pride merchandise as you would have never seen that 20 years ago, heck even ten years ago. It shows how far the gay community has come.
So anyways, I was walking down broadway and although the bar in the picture (I actually removed this picture as I am using a ton of server space with all the pictures in the main gayweddinggear.com site) is a mixed gay/straight crowd, I did notice one thing, even the straight bars had signs saying got pride and the drunken straight men who I am normally afraid of at some of the Broadway bars were cheering on the gays and celebrating with us. It was amazing to see.
Sooo….anyways, before I got to have fun at Gay Pride in Chicago 2009, I ended up having to take a last minute trip to interview with a potential Client. So, although I had really wanted to party in Boystown I did get to do some other fun things.
The first thing is I saw one of the newer episodes of Kathy Griffin My Life on The D List (I know I am becoming obsessed) where Kathy gets to meet the fabuloud Divine Ms. M (i.e. for straight people Bette Midler) and in the beginning of the episode Kathy is havig repairs and remodeling done to her house so she needs a hotel to stay in since the noise is driving her crazy.

Bacon, Eggs and Muffins at the Holiday Inn Express in Florida

breakfast cinnamon buns at the H I E Kathy Griffin
Now unlike most other celebrities, well unlike the A listers to be exact, when Kathy Griffin has to stay in a hotel while her condo or house is being worked on, she stays at the H I E, or the Holiday Inn Express in LA. As Kathy calls it the HIE, and although it’s not The Beverly Hills Hotel or the Ritz or The Four Seasons, as Kathy points out, at least it comes with a free breakfast and apparently her favorite choice for breakfast at the H I E is the cinnamon bun. Yup, Kathy Griffin, the skinny B*tch eats cinnamon buns,,,well then again not really, you don’t see her eating it and when she gets up it looked like only a couple bits had been taken. Maybe that’s why the b*tch is soo skinny,,,,you know this b*tch ate the whole damn thing, then some bacon, then some eggs, then I realized I ate breakfast at the freaking H I E and,,,well,,, at least Kathy Griffin did too. BTW, I forgot to mention that that is the hotel that my Client’s fabulous assistant booked me in,,,,can I just say that the Client’s assistant is amazing,,,professional, punctual, smart and funny. He is a serious asset to any executive and I am sure anyone would be lucky to have him. (On a side note, my Client is straight, just gay friendly). Soo anyways, I actually loved staying at the H I E but only because of Kathy Griffin, I brought huge sun glasses, went for the celebrity entrance and definitely hid from the Papparazzi spies….love you Kathy and thank you for making it ok to stay at an H I E and be able to admit to it.
Ok, Anyways, back to Gay Pride Chicago Illinois 2009. It was an amazing time. I danced, I met a man, I had drinks with friends, got sunburned, got laid (by those necklaces,,,,ohh and a hot man) and got to see some fabulous floats at the Gay Pride Parade Chicago and danced my ass off in the bars on Halstead and even went to Big Chix and Cattle Call in Andersonville. The only thing that actually sucked during pride was going to a dissapointment of a bar called the Lucky Horseshoe…I used to recommend it as a friendly happy place to visit with friendly staff, if you ignore the gogo boys, however now I encourage everyone to stay away. After what I saw and the way the bartenders were treating guests, run like the plauge because guess what, if you step foot inside The Lucky Horseshoe in Chicago Illinois at Belmont and Halstead, chances are you will catch the plauge. Screw that place!
Soooo….it was an amazing week where we saw Deborah Gibson, Crystal Waters, Thelma Houston, Inaya Day, I think Martha Walsh was here and a ton more. Tens of thousands of queers screaming and singing, everyone drinking and dancing and everyone there to have an amazing time and to celebrate pride.
Ayways, the following pictures are all from pride and a few that I wanted to share with you. If I get permission from my Client’s assistant to share his picture with you all, I will completely show you a fun picture I took of him in Florida.

Crystal Waters Performing at The Chicago Gay Pride Festival

Flamingo Float at the Chicago Gay Pride Parade

Giant gay pride flag outside of spin nightclub in chicago

group of people marching in the Chicago gay pride parade promoting and supporting gay marriage

really cool Egyption float in the Chicago Gay Pride Parade

Sidetracks float in the Gay Pride Parade in Chicago
















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