65 degrees and sunny. In Chicago. At the end of March. Wow.
Luna Bell has been nestled in the window sill since I opened the window this morning. Being able to feel a breeze and stare down cars, dogs and kids going by outside…let’s just say, LB is beside herself.
I’m going to go enjoy this before it starts snowing again.
High Five of the Day: The weatherman.
Oh you know, just sitting here, drinking some coffee, enjoying a sunny Saturday morning, reveling in a Spartan win last night that advances us to the Elite 8! Personally, I don’t love March, I think it’s an unnecessarily long winter month, but Tom Izzo loves March. And I love Tom Izzo. And I love being a Spartan. So, in turn. I guess that means March and I are making peace.
There are tons of Spartan alumni in Chicago. When I wear something Michigan State, 9 times out of 10, I will hear a “Go Green!” shouted from across the street. And I dutifully follow up with a “Go White.” Yes, my knuckles are pretty much permanently white from every single basketball and football game I’ve ever watched. Yes, entire days have been ruined when my team blows a massive lead (I still can’t talk about Notre Dame ’06). But nothing feels better than watching the team you love, watching the school you love get the W. Spartan Pride is unlike anything I’ve ever seen and I’m so proud to be a part of that tradition.
Go Green, indeed.
The neighborhood of Bucktown is growing on me. I say “growing on me” because the first time I went there, it took me an hour and a half via bus and it’s only 1.5 miles away from my apartment. I was late for a meeting and cursed Bucktown for not having a good, fast, public transportation way to get there. This time, I took cabs and I must say, the absence of struggle to get there really improved my opinion of this charming area.
Bucktown is just east of the Kennedy Expressway and apparently, gets its name from the many goats that were raised there in the early 19th century. While I did not see any goats during my 3 days in Bucktown, I did see lots of high end shopping, eclectic art galleries, gourmet groceries, cool bars and trendy restaurants. A colleague brought me to Olivia’s Market where I was greeted by this:
These fresh cut flowers were just as fragrant as they were visually beautiful. Olivia’s Market was wonderful little specialty food store, filled with a great wine selection, made-to-order sandwiches, cheese, an olive bar AND 10 cent candy. Everyone working in the store knew my co-worker which reminded me of what it was like to go to the market in Italy, where everyone knows each other and it’s just a big social event. I left with a 7-grain salad, guava Kombucha, 2 Swedish Fish, a peanut butter cup and very, very happy.
Mid-afternoon, I was in dire need of caffeine so I schlepped across the street (which technically brought me into Wicker Park, just so no one tries to beat me up for saying it’s still Bucktown) to Buzz: Killer Espresso. I don’t claim to be a coffee connoisseur but if I was, Buzz: Killer Espresso would be my regular haunt. Everything is custom made (i.e. no coffee poured from a vat that has been sitting there for hours) and I had the most lovely chat with owner Stefan about the book “Pour Your Heart Into It” and to be really great in business, you need to figure out what is it you do best in the world. I can’t wait to come back in the summer when the outside patio is open–I envision lots of lattes and people watching. 1644 N. Damen–check it out.
Finally, I checked out Coast Sushi Bar.
I have been hearing about this place since I moved to Chicago and I must say, it did not disappoint. BYOB, minimalistic but lively atmosphere, and the quality of the sashimi and make rolls were excellent. The White Dragon Roll was amazing! Being there with co-workers I can also call my friends didn’t hurt either. Did I mention it was BYOB? Can’t wait to go back.
High Five of the Day: Waking up to Luna Bell asleep on my stomach. She is such a sweet kitty, I don’t know what people without pets do. If you don’t have one, I suggest immediately going to PAWS Chicago to get one. Awesome organization and really, how can you say no to this little face?
This past Sunday, I ran the Shamrock Shuffle, an 8k that starts in Grant Park and weaves its way around the loop. The Shamrock Shuffle is the kick-off to running reason in Chicago and the annual rite of spring. The “rite of spring” part I don’t believe because last year, it snowed on the day of the Shuffle and this year, it was 34 degrees. In any case, Ryan and I dragged our behinds out of bed in time to get to the Blackstone Hotel to meet up with the Imerman Angel folks (the charity we were running for–check them out, it is an amazing organization) before heading to the start line for a brisk 5 mile run. I snapped this pic a few seconds before the race began.
I was too cold to be nervous for running a distance I haven’t even come close to in nearly 6 months but I was pleasantly surprised to see that I still had it. We made great time! Ryan and I made a fun game out of weaving in and out of the crowd of 25,000 + people and before I knew it, I had 5 miles under my belt and a beer in my hand. Ahhhh, running season in Chicago…
I kind of feel like signing up for the marathon wasn’t a terrible idea now. I had so much fun on Sunday, despite the frigid temperature, that I think I want to run at least a 5k race every month leading up to the marathon to remind me of how fun it is to have my feet pounding the pavement with several thousand other people. Plus, I’ll get a bunch of free shirts.
What are your recommendations? Any favorites that I NEED to sign up for?
High Five of the Day: 
Trader Joe’s Chocolatey Cat Cookies. I am usually a sucker for the vegan, organic animal crackers but I veered of the path of security and tried the Chocolate Cat Cookies. They are my favorite thing of the week and I can’t help but smile and feel like I’m 7 when I pull one out and see a little cat smiling back at me…before I chomp its head off.
I have signed up for the marathon. The Chicago Marathon, that is. Sure, I’ve run a half marathon but that was, like, 4 years ago and these legs have not logged any serious mileage since then. I have been dragging my feet (both figuratively and literally) about signing up for the marathon for a few weeks now but I said it was one of my 2010 goals and I’m lucky enough to have people in my life (ahem, lulu Lindsey) to hold me accountable for such things so…it’s official. Come 10/10/10, I will be one of these people:
Signing up to schlep through 26.2 miles was something that scared me so if you’re really supposed to do one thing a day that scares you, I totally did mine for the day.
High Five of the Day: The Weather. It was 55ish degrees and slightly sunny in Chicago today. For those of us who live in the Midwest, even the slightest break from sub 30 degrees is a huge freaking deal.
I moved to Chicago a year ago this Friday. In this past year, I have learned lots of things about this fair city of mine. I’ve learned the difference between Lou Malnati’s, Giordano’s and Gino’s and taken a stance in that debate (Lou Malnati’s deep dish, for sure). It’s come to my attention that distance is best measured in minutes, not miles), that corruption is to be expected in local politics and, despite all bets from my parents, I have also learned that wearing comfortable footwear is a must (I didn’t go down without a fight though–my cute heels went everywhere with me until I realized that being suicidal at the end of a trip to Border’s was just not necessary).
Last Sunday, Ryan and I went for a walk alllll over the city. For 3 hours, we walked around, grabbed coffee, peeked in cute little boutiques, (Barker and Meowsky: A Paw Firm was a fav) and ran errands. At the end of the day, we were cold, bogged down with shopping bags and couldn’t figure out why we were so compelled to spend our day outside. It’s March, for crying outloud–not exactly the time to be outdoorsy (yes, I consider window shopping an outdoorsy activity). Then it hit us. The temperature was over 30 degrees–we had to be outside. That doesn’t happen often, no matter what month it is, we had to enjoy it! You know you live in Chicago when anything over 30 degrees is considered “good” weather.
Fortunately, when you realize that 30 degrees isn’t warm and you live in Chicago, there are a million cabs that are more than happy to deliver you to your doorstep. Our cabbie on that particular day had a special trick up his sleeve to make the jolting stop and go’s at stop signs more enjoyable–he could tell us the day of the week we were born on just from our birth dates. And fix a Rubix cube. You know you live in Chicago when riding in a cab is an experience in itself.
You know you live in Chicago when…
I was at a meeting the other day where the ice-breaker posed the question: “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?“. I was kind of taken aback because someone asked me this a few months ago and I never came up with an answer. I mean, if I couldn’t fail? Without regard to my personal skill or past or abilities? I have my goals and things I am working toward but is that what I would do if I knew I couldn’t fail? No, those are things I’m going to try for anyways. If I could not fail…
The answers from the group really got me thinking big. I mean, talk about standing in a place of nothing’ness and creating whatever you want. Because if you could not fail, you could do anything. Some of my favorites: “travel and not come back”, “be a Madonna’esque rockstar”, and “be in the Winter Olympics…as a bobsledder”. Someone even said that they would be the President of the United States. Right away, my reaction was “Ugh, what a terrible idea!” but it’s what you would do if you could not fail. If I couldn’t fail, being the President would be amazing! I would be able to fix our international relationships, end the war, get Iran and North Korea to voluntarily give up their nuclear weapons, rebuild American companies so there are actual jobs based in actual America, find a cure for AIDS and cancer, bring the fine arts back to public schools AND end bi-partisanship by requiring that the Senate get weekly mani-pedis together. So, I finally got it, this if you could not fail thing.
I would move to Italy and devote my time to all things pleasurable.
I would spend my days practicing yoga in fields of sunflowers and olive trees and in vineyards. I would go to the market to buy copious amounts of fresh basil, vegetables and cheese, and have those perfect kind of meals that last for hours and are conversation and wine-filled. Every night. I’d make friends from around the globe to do all these things with in between the times when my friends and family were flying out (on my private jet-I don’t want to inconvenience anyone, after all) to join me in my pleasure-filled life. And I’d read book after book after book–The Divine Comedies, Atlas Shrugged, finally finish Pride and Prejudice, every single chick-lit on the planet, the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible…everything. For fun, I would consult world leaders on the above listed presidential stuff and when Madonna needed some support, I’d put my years of hairbrush singing to use and join her on tour.
What would you do if you could not fail?
My friend and co-worker Rebecca invited me to see her dance in a lunchtime program called “Eat to the Beat” today. In her email, she said that she sees us all every day but doesn’t feel people can really know her until they see her dance. Umm, I get it now. I was absolutely BLOWN away by her amazingness, how talented her company was and I am so happy to know that incredibly talented side of her now.
After another fabulous Yoga Booty Ballet class at Indigo Studio, I scooted over to the Harris Theatre with my lunch so I could literally eat to the beat. I sat and I ate along with 300 other patrons of the arts as DanceWorks treated me to a phenomenal 45 minute performance. Broken up into 3 dances, the show was so stylistically diverse that I was wildly entertained the entire time. Modern and classical dance, mixed with great beats (one by Illinois Institute of Art student Christopher Perricelli who snuck out of his midterms to see DanceWorks perform to his music) and even some comedy–the last piece, title “Dance Sport”, was a classical piece set to commentary, like figure skating or basketball, complete with instant replays and fast forwards! “Eat to the Beat” was over much too soon, just like my lunch. I must say, however, that I am looking forward to my next DanceWorks experience much more than my next almond-butter and jelly sandwich.
High Five of the Day: Rebecca. Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic show with me! You and your fellow dancers are incredible!
It’s Restaurant Week in Chicago, which means that for $34 you can try a 3-course meal at some of the top restaurants in the city. Reservations fill up quickly so I snagged a 9pm at Japonais, a japanese/euro fusion restaurant. I’ve been wanting to go to Japonais since I moved to the city so I was really excited for Saturday night. After a fashion consult from my friends Jillian (who told me point blank what I would wear) and Laura (who informed me that black denim is definitely in), Ryan and I cabbed it to this River North hotspot.
After checking in with the hostess, we went downstairs to a lounge-y area to have a drink. Their signature Floating Orchid martini was fantastic and our table was ready in no time. We took advantage of the Restaurant Week menu so we samples things we may not have tried otherwise. My crab cakes and tuna/eel roll was amazing and Ryan loved his rib-like thing and kobe beef carpaccio. We don’t usually order dessert out but the marscapone-chocolate cake thing was just sinful. Sushi. steak and martinis…right up our alley.
We really had a great time and I definitely want to go back to order off their regular menu. The only drawback for me was our waiter. He reminded me of the pool boy from “The Bird Cage”, which is fine because I loved that movie but I didn’t love his demeanor. Not very accommodating and a little too attitude-y for me. All in all though, it was an excellent date night and introduction to Restaurant Week.
I am loving the Olympics this year. All of these athletes who have geared their entire lives to 30+ seconds of performance…unreal. Yesterday was the biggest day in Winter Olympic history for Team USA. They won 6 medals, 3 gold. I love hearing all the background, heart string pulling stories NBC loves giving me (I definitely cried when Alexandre Bilodeau won the gold for Canada) and seeing all the pretty outfits these athletes at the top of their game choose to make their world statement in.
But what I really love is how quickly I become an expert on every single Olympic event I happen to catch on tv. I watched about 3 minutes of the men’s mogul event on Sunday before I was able to point out where mistakes were made, cheer along with the athletes when they completed what was obviously a successful run and discuss why the sport is so amazing. To be clear: I know nothing about moguls–I keep to the blue and green hills when I am skiing. But there’s something about the Olympics that make the events so accessible to people even thousands of miles away. Same with Men’s Snowboarding last night–the closest I have gotten to snowboarding is looking at my friend Liz’s board that she helped design. But even I could appreciate that Team USA is badass. Now I can’t wait to watch to watch Women’s Figure Skating and impress Ryan with my expertise gained from rollerblading in my basement as a kid, coming up with “programs” I forced my mom to watch and then score. To the soundtrack of “Evita”.
High Five of the Day: The nice man at Trader Joe’s who pointed me to “the best” almond butter at Trader Joe’s. Without him, I would have gone home with the same Almond Butter that always goes on my sandwiches but now, I saves a buck and have Almond Butter with FLAXSEED in it. Thank you, informed grocery shopper.
