Picture #31 and a bonus

I live in an old building...hence, my horror movie basement - it took me over a month to do laundry at night - ha!

Pictures #28-30

Busy weekend with a friend in town - during Saturday's lunch, I took these two pics at Medici - a Hyde Park staple, especially among the U of C crowd. There is graffiti and writing all over the tables, booths, and walls. There is also lots of random statues and wall decorations:



Saturday night: Earth Hour - congrats to Chicago for leading the way with over 550 businesses and thousands of people blacking out from 8-9pm!!!

Picture #27

It's spring here in Chicago, right???

Pictures #21-26 (minus 25)

Pics from the weekend - from Chicago to Indy to Montezuma

Welcome Home

Yes, I realize I missed some days - I was in Indy with the fam for Easter and couldn't download pictures.

Tomorrow I will post several pics that I took over the weekend, but today I share with you a pic of who I came home to.

Earth Hour

I know to many of you, I have already sent an e-mail, but I wanted to post a special blog today to share info about an event coming up on March 29 from 8-9pm whatever your local time is. This event is Earth Hour, sponsored by the World Wildlife Federation. The entire event consists of turning all of the lights off in your apartment, business, etc., to show what just an hour of conservation can do! "Going green" is the term du jour, and we all can't commit to conservation in the same ways, but this is something easy and fun to do. Some people plan on getting together, others will still be at work. If you plan on participating, just hop on over here. This is my personal webpage for the event and if you sign up through here you get linked to my network - fun!

Take the Last Train to Clarksville

Taking the Amtrak home for Easter.

Packing up my trusty Kelty backpack and movin' on out. This backpack has survived the following countries: US (multiple states), England, Ireland, Germany, France, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, New Zealand, and Australia. I think I've gotten my money's worth.

Picture #19

Picture #18

This picture is probably not interesting to anyone else. But, after pretty much no water pressure for the last two weeks, my shower is finally fixed and I am back to my nightly achingly hot showers.

P.S. Those are very important to me.

P.P.S. No making fun.

Picture #17

More Pink Martini:

At the concert, their latest album was available as an LP - um, totes awesome, my friend.

So me and my vinyl-lovin' self snapped up copy and got the whole band to sign it.

Oh yeah.

Picture #16

Pink Martini Concert with my friends: DF and his fab GF

I love Pink Martini.

Love them, love them, love them.

They are AMAZING live (this is the second time I've seen them).


Have I mentioned that I love them?

A day to celebrate...but what?

They say on St. Patrick's Day, everyone in Chicago is Irish.

They should say on St. Patrick's Day, everyone in Chicago is drunk on green beer wearing MillerLite green foam leprechaun ears.

Let's be clear, my first St. Pat's Day in Chicago was a little disillusioning, and disheartening.

Like many people in the U.S., I can trace my ancestry back to Ireland. I attended Notre Dame - home of the Fighting Irish, and still wear a claddagh ring my mom gave me when I was in 7th grade. None of these things necessarily make me "Irish" but I have a love of the history and myth of the land.

So when I ended up in Wrigleyville today with a friend, I had a great time catching up with her and meeting other people, but I was really disappointed in what was around me.

Maybe because I'm not a big drinker, or because I have an old soul, but I was faintly disgusted by the behaviour of those around me: the drunkenness, the rudeness, the guy puking on the sidewalk, the guy yelling at every girl that he passed - "Show my your green boobs!", the MillerLite branded shamrock everything being worn and also tossed on the floor and the street and peoples' cars...well, let's just say not my thing.

For a holiday based on the life and spirit of a saint, for some reason it just bothered me. I'm not trying to come across as judgmental or superior, because I'm not, but the use of a holiday to act like a drunken idiot at 2:00pm just isn't right.

When the Starbucks guy his dreading all of the drunken customers around 6:00pm trying to sober up so they can start drinking again and then dreading is walk home because of all the puke on streets, that just doesn't seem right, either.

Maybe I just don't get it, or maybe I'm a party-pooper, but I think next year, I will be celebrating the holiday away from the crowds of wasted 20-somethings dressed in green.

Picture #14

This guy has traveled many places with me, and thanks to my lifelong love of lions - always has a place of honor in my bedroom.

Picture # 13

I was messing with different exposures on my tiny Coolpix camera, and ended up really liking this one even though it's blurry. Actually, without my glasses, this is kind of how it might look...haha. It's a view from the Wacker area off of Michigan Ave at about 11:30pm tonight.

Pictpuuuurrr #12

So, I wasn't going to post another Sugar picture right away, but he kept trying to sniff the camera while I was messing with it, and this is actually the best picture I got tonight - isn't he photogenic?

Pictpuuuurrr #11

Sugar loves him some Birkenstocks.

Bonus Post!

A couple of pics with my new camera - obviously I only have a vague idea of what I'm doing - hahaha!

Picture #10

My New Baby


...It's so easy to fall in love...

Picture #9

Under the Metra on a Sunday

Picture #8

This past Wednesday and today, I spent a few hours acting as a judge at the Chicago Metro History Fair. This contest, started a managed by an independent non-profit provides a history contest for Chicago-area students in order to encourage the research and production of works about Chicago history. This is a really great organization and I had a fun time judging. While at times, I admit, I feared for our education system, I met three really great students today who put together an awesome project about the Chicago Seven and in the space of 3 minutes managed to discuss apathy of today's youth, the need for independent thinking, and the use of historical events as a resource on how to analyze current events. It made my ex-history major heart go pitter-patter.

Today's judging took place at the University of Illinois at Chicago - this campus is huge!

Picture #7

Books to fall asleep to.

Picture #6

The best thing after a long, stressful day - Flogging Molly's "Drunken Lullabies" on LP - rockin' old school.



So, I love the pic in b&w, but I would like to point out that the record is actually bright green!!

Pictpuuuurrrr #5

Yep, I only lasted 4 days before posting a Sugar picture. Here he is "bonding" with a stuffed tiger I received after making a donation to the World Wildlife Fund....not sure how he feels about it:)

Picture #4

Two times a week I hang out in the Alliance Francaise for a couple of hours between work and class. It's a great time to veg out, prepare for class, or read my latest book. So, today, I share with you my view from my favorite comfy chair...

O'Picture #3

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever.

~Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

Picture #2

I spend a lot of time standing underneath this sign - the #6 is mine.

March 1st everybody!!!!

The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
~Abraham Lincoln

Alright kids, it's a new month and time to report back on how my February goal. Truth be told, unlike January, I was not as wildly successful.

To remind everyone, I was supposed to write a card a day to friends a family. And yes, 29 cards did go out. And yes, they did go to friends and family. Did one go out each day? Er, not so much. More like a few here and a few more there. I blame the post office, however, for not allowing me to send one out on President's Day - I had to work - why didn't they? But yes, the other 28 days (curse you leap year) were difficult. The first week went really well, but the next three were a mixture of laziness, business, and inability to find a mailbox that had a collection time that wasn't 10am...I see now why e-mail caught on.

HOWEVER, I really, really enjoyed the experience. I sent cards to family members that I hadn't seen in a long time, and many told my mom that it was so much fun to get a card. I wrote to family and friends in Washington, Arizona, Missouri, Kentucky, Michigan, Washington DC, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Indiana, right here in Illinois, and a few other places. It's so great how everyone is so spread out, but really they're only $0.41 away. It was fun, and I'm glad it was my official February goal.

But now, onto March. I can't give anything else up this month as it is Lent and I don't know if I have it in me to give up something in addition to bread.

So, in the anticipation, that I hopefully will soon be upgrading my camera (more news on that later), I am going to take a picture everyday ( I know...groan...I'm not sure about this "a day" thing). Okay, fine, I'm going to take a total of 31 pictures during the month and will share them with you when I feel like it - there, I'm being honest:) These pics will give a little look into my life - be it at work, at home, or at 12 at night when I remember that I was supposed to take a picture. If and when I get a new camera this month, please excuse any blurriness, crookedness, or the occasional inappropriate use of sepia - I'll be learning.

Alright, here we go!

Picture #1

I love to antique and I LOVE books. Antique books? All mine!