Sub-Zero Temperature Dreaming

adminAddison, baseball season, Chicago, Chicago Cubs, CTA, Freezing, Spring, Uncategorized%s Comments

Hopped the Red Line to the Addison stop today for a meeting.

I must say, my adventures north to Wrigleyville have been primarily for baseball, brats and adult beverages to be enjoyed while wearing red, blue and white.

But even with snow on the ground and even though I was heading to a decidedly work-related round of caffeine, I couldn’t help but look at the above scene, subtract the snow and add in thousands of people milling around on an equally sunny day and multiply it by the buzz that is always in the air right before a Cubs game.  Which equals me starting to get very, very excited for spring.

How’s that for a sub-zero temperature distraction?

Ellen, Snow and Sweaters

admin12 Days of Giveaways, Caribou Coffee, Cloud Gate, Ellen, Festive Chicagoans, First Snow, Flag Sweater, Freezing, Ryan, The Bean, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Toes, Uncategorized%s Comments

Since last April, I have been an avid Tweeter (Twitterer?  Twittist?).  I follow my friends, random Broadway stars and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Today, Ellen tweeted this:

Ellen DeGeneres 

@TheEllenShow Ellen DeGeneres
“It’s on Chicago! Get over to The Bean with your most creative holiday sweater and Jeannie might have a huge surprise for you!”
I love Ellen, I love Chicago, I love that Ellen was showing Chicago some love and  I remembered that Ryan has an American Flag sweater shoved in a bin in our storage closet…why not go down to the Bean to see what was up?  So, I grabbed the sweater and my camera and headed to The Bean to see what was to be seen:

About 100 people, decked out in their holiday, err, finest.  Let’s just say that as fetching as I looked in a flag sweater that I pulled over the top of my winter coat, these people came stronger with their holiday sweaters.  And battery packs that powered actual lights strung on their bodies.  Ellen was taping her show in LA and came on to deliver a message to us about the contest she was holding:

Long story short, I did not win $10,000 tonight but I did see snow for the first time this year and I did get a Lite White Berry at Caribou when I could no longer feel my toes.  Oh and I got to hang out with some festive Chicagoans.  An entirely successful evening.

When these things go on in your backyard, you simply can’t not go see what the Ellen is going on.