Being as though I'm in marketing and the economy is far below the acceptable line, you can imagine I hear a lot about stay-cations. The word itself has become a cliche.... and it's only been around about six months.And then today, I experienced my first day of my own stay-cation. And realized it's AMAZING. Caveot. I'm actually a huge fan of REAL vacations (if you haven't noticed my aversion to winter yet... I like getting away to sun and warmth)... This slip-up actually came about by mistake...
Monday, December 29, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
A Holiday Miracle
Family. The people in your life who you're closest to...the ones who get on your nerves the quickest. The ones who remind you of your most unattractive characteristics.... and who have the most dirt on you.The holidays can be hard for families. Every year brings different heartaches... divorces, deaths, diseases. Often the holidays can remind us of what we're missing; what's not the same as it used to be.It's easy to take your family for granted. And the holidays, although family-focused, are no...
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Delays?
I wonder if they can predict delays 8 hours ahead of time.... hmmm...Stalking Southwest.com all day. Anyone want to make a bet on how long I'm delayed?? I'm crossing my fingers not... I have my mom's birthday dinner to go to tonight!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!Anyone else going to be at Midway around 5i...
Monday, December 22, 2008
Real Ridic...
I'm not sure which is more ridiculous.... that I had to buy an $18 bottle of prescription toothpaste or that I risked death-by-possible frostbite by traveling all the way to Ravenswood after work to drop off keys so that my obese furball will get exactly 1/2 cup food each day while I'm gone.... or that both of these events happened in one night. Hmmm... Hoping mother nature takes a sedative tomorrow and ignores what could be another snow storm... which has the capability of causing me...
Notable Quotable
"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant. If we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."-Anne Bradstreet, p...
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Today was so cold that....
I woke up today to face -5 degree temperatures... and -40 degree wind chills. To put that in perspective, it was so cold that... I actually ran at one point, through the piles of frozen snow, like a crazy person to get closer to the warmth of my apartmentI suited up with two scarves... not oneMy eyelashes actually froze due to my eyes watering...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Back to You, Jim...
One of my favorite pastimes as a Chicagoan in the winter is following the track of pending storms and virtually befriending all the weathermen. I mean, seriously, during these weather reports, I feel like they should add in tunes from the Apollo 13 soundtrack... They have all the effects of a good movie...Suspense: 'Eleven inches of precipitation - a mix of freezing rain and snow - will begin to fall upon Chicago at approximately 11 p.m. this evening.'The Unknown: Is it going to pass?? Will our...
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Drew Peterson is engaged
I can't say there a lot of headlines that physically make me want to vomit. But when I found out that Drew Peterson was engaged again to a 23-year-old... I couldn't help but be stunned.Drew Peterson strikes again...Not as much stunned that he would propose to someone after four months of dating... but that someone 1) would be dating him and 2) that she would say yes. I don't want to judge, but this whole confusing situation raising a lot of questions... such as:Has this woman read the paper...
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Kiss N' Tell
As I said, definitely didn't make it to book club tonight... but here are a few interesting bits from our latest book, "Kiss & Tell" by Alain de Botton. After the first loooong couple chapters, it became interesting... but I'm still not convinced enough to recommend it. The author is long-winded and writes too much about the actual process of writing the book. Had we actually had our girls' night/book discussion I would have brought up these quotes for discussion. Think about them. Discuss....
Oh the weather outside is frightful...
There are certain circumstances when you can learn a lot about a person. Getting lost. Putting up Christmas lights. And waiting for the bus in the middle of a snow storm. I got to test out that third theory with about 200 strangers this afternoon.Old man winter paid the Windy City a visit today... dumping snow onto Michigan Avenue and the rest of Chicago...
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Riots at Chuck E. Cheese
Spotted. Parents around the country battling out their frustrations at each other at area Chuck E. Cheese restaurants. Apparently, the entertainment doesn't stop at the creepy dressed up mice and disease-infested ball play box.Check it out... "Chuck E. Cheese = Violence/Insanity"Yet another reason not to have kids and move to the Wisconsin suburbs....
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
It's Beginning to Feel a lot like a Recession or is it Depression?
December 9, 2008. Open a newspaper. Turn on the news. Check the Twitter logs. Read a few blogs. The news is bad... I mean seriously depressing.Beyond the usual layoffs, auto industry mayhem and miscellaneous negative economic news, here are some other uplifting headlines from sweet home Chicago just in the past week... "Blagojevich Arrested""Governor Threatened Tribune Over Criticism""Tribune Company Files for Bankruptcy""Talks Fail to End Sit-In at Closed Factory""Cubs Fans Denied""Bodies...
Monday, December 8, 2008
Lost Ipod = Lost mind
Everyone has those weekends where they actually look forward to Mondays. This was almost one of those weekends. Don't get me wrong, I would've probably offered to get a cavity drilled if it meant I could stay in bed for an extra four hours. What I mean is that I was looking forward to getting back to my weekly responsible schedule... stalking...
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Trials of Tree-Trimming
After a ridiculous weekend of over-celebrating the holiday season, I broke out my hidden domestic skills to pick up and decorate my first real Christmas tree. Despite Walmart selling me a set of 400 Christmas lights... only 200 of which actually lit... the day successfully put me in the holiday mood.The first hurdle was in the actual transportation....
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Runners' Rage...
As a runner, I've done a lot of crazy things. I trained for my first 1/2 marathon on Saturday mornings in January and hurdled puddles in the pouring summer rain. I spent months meeting my running buddy at 5:30 a.m. before work to get in training runs.... and I ran 20 miles of my first marathon in humid, 85 degree heat....while taking pictures (see...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
New York Times: Top 10 List
Top 10 Books of 2008! Just in time for the holiday lists...
Monday, December 1, 2008
Backin it Up Hip Hop-Style...
MTV Hip Hop II: An intermediate Hip Hop class for those who have danced before.... Tons of fun and cool choreography like you would see in music videos.When I was five, my dad's friend nicknamed me, "Colleen the Dancing Machine" for breaking it down by the campfire to his guitar rendition of "Wild Thing." For eight years, from 5th to 12th...
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Notable Quotables..."Vanishing Acts"
With the extra holiday time off, and eight hour drive to Akron, I was able to finish "Vanishing Acts" by Jodi Piccoult. She's one of my favorite authors... so obviously I highly recommend it to everyone. Here's a few Notable Quotables from the book..."Memories aren't stored in the heart or the head or even the soul, if you ask me, but in the spaces between any given two people.""If it had been easy for Romeo to get Juliet, nobody would have cared. Same goes for Cyrano and Don Quixote and Gatsby...
Friday, November 28, 2008
Let the Parties Begin...
Holidays in Chicago: A whole month of reasons to party... Thanksgiving has come and gone. Most of the turkey and leftovers have been eaten. You have both buyers remorse and/or shouldn't-have-eaten-that-last-piece-of-pie remorse. And you're currently hungover or drunk. Congrats... the holiday season can officially begin. I love this time of year. If...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Snaps for the Snapshot...
Woohoo!!! Happy Thanksgiving!! (Click on the Life t...
Monday, November 24, 2008
Dried Up Dry Cleaning
Dry Cleaning: The best excuse not to spend hours running up and down three flights of stairs doing laundry. I'm a big fan of dry cleaning. Like nail salons in the city, a dry cleaner is guaranteed to be within a block of your apartment. Given the competition, this means they practically pay you to hand them a pile of wrinkled, cat-haired-covered...
Notable Quotables
Quote of the Day: To find the right words to describe a situation or to convey feelings is an art form; and one that myself and others in the communication/media biz try to perfect everyday. To celebrate that art, and to recognize those who truly achieve it (even if only for one/two sentences), I'd like to start a regular posting called, 'notable quotables.'...
Friday, November 21, 2008
Yep, that's about right...
The Orange Line: Confirmed as the friendliest/most elated train in the city. Just hours after posting my judgments (eh, observations) of Chicago's Transit Authority, I had quite possibly the weirdest experience ever in route to Midway.I had just boarded the Orange line at Roosevelt when the train came to an abrupt stop. The familiar CTA voice...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
CTA Culture
CTA Culture: the personality that accompanies a certain bus or train route; undefined by maps and redefined by each season, time of day, bus schedule, etc.Like the different neighborhoods of the city, each bus or train has a personality. Although I'm not sure it's as cut-and-dry as labeling an area like Old Town, Southport or Wrigleyville.From my experiences,...
Something about Southwest...
Southwest Airlines: A Chicagoans SUV; the CTA of the skies... In preparation for my trip tomorrow to Kansas City, I signed on to southwest.com exactly 24 hours (to the minute) prior to my flight to get my boarding pass.How then, am I still 46th in line?? I have a new respect for the 45 other people in this world who clearly click faster than me......
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Grilled Cheese, Please
Grilled Cheese: The scrumptious combination of two of my greatest loves... carbs and cheese...which plummeted down the list of items I could easily cook on the stove from scratch without a fire, stomach-wrenching disease or just immense disappointment. I used to consider grilled cheese as part of my golden five staple go-to dinners along...
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Winter Woes...
Winter in Chicago: The closest comparison I have for purgatory; an eight-to-ten month waiting period until you can walk out of your apartment without five pounds of extra clothes and warming accessories. I've never been one to embrace the chills of winter. Some Midwesterners get excited to break out the sweaters, to see their breath when they walk...
Monday, November 17, 2008
A book about the Big #2...
Poop: Apparently the next biggest thing since blogging...This morning, TimeOut Chicago brought to my attention that an author recently took on the big #2 in a new book entitled, "The Big Necessity." Even the title makes me giggle like a second grader.Check out the review below...http://www.timeout.com/chicago/articles/books/68668/the-big-necessityI...
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Sunday Funday
Sunday Funday: an excuse for 20-something Chicagoans to continue partying, even though it's Sunday... and they should be doing something, anything more responsible. Occurances increase as the good weather decrease. Other excuses include: Bears games, bar crawls, birthdays, anniversaries, boredom, etc.After spending a productive Saturday catching up...
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The First Sip
A sip: 1) to drink a little at a time; take small tastes of 2) to take in, absorbEvery city has its highlights and its quirks, and most importantly, every city has a personality. Is the personality defined by the people or the city? That's up for discussion.One thing is certain: Webster and his dictionary could never define a city's personality...
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