Happy Thanksgiving!

I am seriously shocked that I have less than two weeks left in Chicago, and I’m even more shocked that I am graduating in that same time period. It all seems very unreal, but I’m so excited to see what’s going to happen from there! I still don’t know for sure what I’m doing upon graduation, but I’m getting there slowly. You probably won’t get a big announcement in this blog as to what I’ll be doing, but I’m sure most of you will hear fairly soon after I make my decision!

I have many upcoming things to do, but I’ve done quite a bit recently as well. There’s something to be said for going back to the beginning and allowing yourself to be a tourist again. :) Last Friday night, Jen, Mandi, and I went to Millennium Park to see the skating rink. I felt like I was in a movie—like the new version of Miracle on 34th Street where they watch the skaters on the ice rink. It’s all very holiday and wintry. The girls and I took quite a few pictures and also attempted to take pictures of “the bean”. I’m not actually sure what this giant figure is, but it really does look like a shiny bean. Mandi wanted to make sure she had a picture of it before she left Chicago! After awhile, we realized how cold we were. My hands were in pain, and Mandi couldn’t feel hers at that point; we decided that was probably our cue to get inside somewhere.

The Lights Festival was also last weekend on Michigan Avenue. My friend, Emily, and I were supposed to volunteer for this. However, we couldn’t find our block captain, and we looked everywhere. It was kind of a bizarre situation, so we’re sorry that we weren’t there to volunteer! It was really cool walking up and down Michigan Avenue and seeing all the lights. I went back later for the parade and got to see Santa at the end. :) All the kids were so excited; it made me feel like a kid again. I guess between being a tourist and a child this past weekend, I was just a whole new person!
I only had a couple days of work this week and no class, which is great. My parents are coming for the weekend, so I’m definitely looking forward to showing them around Chicago. At least it isn’t supposed to snow or anything—should be a beautiful weekend! When they leave, they’re taking all my stuff, so I’ll be back to living out of a suitcase. I think I can probably handle that for a week. :) My Holiday Party for work is next week as well, so things are winding up fast. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone—enjoy the turkey!

Winter Has Arrived

I should’ve known that there was no way my time would get less crazy here. Things have been really good and busy though. I have a ton to look forward to, but I’ve been having a great time as well. I won’t claim that everything’s perfect as work because that would be a lie, but it’s like a real job, so at least I’m getting real experience. Not everything always goes as it should, but once again, that’s real life. We’ve been really busy with finishing up the directory, getting ready for our Holiday Party as well as our monthly mixer. On top of that I’ve been working on the newsletter and have everything to the graphic designer. We were on a really tight time schedule for that, but I managed to get everything together on time. The people I needed things from were extremely helpful, and I was excited that I sold as much advertising as I did!

My weekends have been mellow so far, but I think that will change. Last weekend I hung out with Jennifer and went to Cheesecake Factory because we were both craving something sweet. We figured it was the best place to go for dessert (well, I’m sure there are a lot of good places in Chicago—this is probably relatively cheap!). Instead of hanging out and watching a movie the rest of the night as planned, I went to the Dugout instead to catch up with friends. It could be about the last time that I see a lot of them since I have so many things going on. This weekend I’m volunteering for the Michigan Avenue Lights Festival with my friend, Em, from Concierge Preferred. What can I say? She talked me into it. I’m sure more things will come up as the weekend gets closer, but I know that’s going to take quite a bit of my Saturday but should be fun! Em’s birthday party was last weekend, but I’m sad to say I missed the majority of it. We plan to make up for it in the next few weeks!


Winter has arrived in Chicago, and we have seen snowflakes but none sticking to the ground thus far, and I’m hoping it stays that way. I do a ton of walking in the city, so the idea of ice is not appealing. Amy and I celebrated winter by cutting snowflakes one night and hanging them in our room. I said they could stay inside the room as long as no snow was falling outside. I really can’t tell you how much I dislike winter! Still, I do like the holidays, so I’m excited to see Chicago all decked out for Christmas. The tree has arrived in front of the Hancock building, but as far as I’ve seen it’s not decorated yet.


As I’ve said, there’s a lot to look forward to yet here as well as when I get home. My parents are coming in a week, which will be great. I plan to show them as much of the city as I can in a few days. I also have the Holiday Party for work, which will be fun and then my good-bye lunch at work (my restaurant choice!). Oddly, I have things planned for when I get home as well, so hopefully the weather will be agreeable to get all this done! The time is going by so quickly!

And the blogs are back!

Several of you have gotten e-mail updates from me the past couple weeks as my blog hadn’t been updated in quite some time. I blame Annie and the fact that she thought she had to get married and take off for her honeymoon. :) But we’re so glad to have her back!

I don’t even know where to start with everything, so I might leave out some things unintentionally. I’ll back up to Halloween because it seems like a good place to start. I had a fantastic weekend out with friends from Chicago. My friend had a party at his bar, so I ended up hanging out there all night. I did dress up, believe it or not. I went as a flapper—a classy flapper to be clear! It was actually a really fun costume, but I have to say Chicago makes Halloween into a huge event. The El was packed with people in costume, and everyone was having a great time. I even went to a parade on Halsted and saw some very interesting costumes and characters—that’s the nicest way I can put it! It was a very fun night though.

More recently I have been swamped with work and can’t believe I have less than four weeks left in Chicago. I actually have less work time than that since I’ll get some days off for Thanksgiving. I’m very excited for my parents to come during Thanksgiving and check out the city. I even have a list started because I know as soon as they get here I’ll forget what I wanted to show them and then regret missing out on something. One of the highlights of that will be going to see Dirty Dancing the musical. Mom told me the other day she watched the movie to familiarize herself, once again, with the entire story. I have very high expectations for it!

Our last art event is this week, but I have to say I was a huge fan of last week’s opera, Margaret Garner. It was written by Toni Morrison, and it was nice actually being familiar with her work. I’ve read different things by her back in my literature classes at Central College. I know a lot people weren’t huge fans of this production, but I loved it, despite its disturbing story. It will be nice to be done with these events just for time purposes. The weather has definitely changed, so if I don’t have to get dressed up and travel to an event on Thursday night, I will be okay with that. Plus, I have plenty of events coming up for work anyway. I’m missing the State of the Ward event this Thursday, but next Wednesday is our monthly mixer at Stretch Run. Then the first week of December we have our Holiday Party, which I’m very excited for. My life will be a little less frenzied after the next few weeks are over. I have many deadlines to meet, but as I keep telling myself, it’s great experience.

I can’t believe I forgot to mention that I went to see the Bulls play last Friday night! They even won, and as I understand it, they aren’t necessarily the greatest team this year—sorry Chicago fans. Still, it was really cool seeing a NBA game since I can’t really say that I’ve seen one before. I ended up leaving a few minutes early due to the fact that I worked on Saturday morning, but it was still well worth the tickets! Once again, it’s just great saying that I’ve gotten to do all these things. I still wish I could have seen Wicked while I was here, but I think I’m about out of time. It seems like I’m booked the rest of the time that I’m here. That’s okay though because time flies when you’re having fun!

That’s pretty much what my life is like right now and what has been going on. I’m definitely looking forward to the next few weeks here but also looking forward to seeing people back home! I’ll keep things updated from now until the end. Hopefully no snow will fall until that time has passed. :)