So in the madness that was November for me, I need to send out some shout-out's for those near and dear that celebrated milestones.
First of all, to my parents who celebrated their 33rd Anniversary. Wow!! Congrats, mom and dad!!
Birthday props to my cousins - Evie, Rebecca, Colin and Grace. I hope you celebrated in style!
More birthday wishes to fabulous friends - Chad, Kerry, Linda and Eric. And an anniversary shout out to Joe and Michelle!
I hope you all enjoyed your special day!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
What happened to November?
I really meant to keep up with this blogging, but November found me away from my new Chicago home. With traveling for work and personal reasons, along with the holidays approaching, I really haven't had much down time. But I'm still alive and kicking and doing fabulous!
I traveled to Detroit and NYC for work in the first two weeks of the month. Detroit - not much to say about it - but it was nice to meet some of my co-workers face to face. NYC was too short a trip, but again, I was able to meet some co-workers and also get out for a wonderful sushi meal and a few pints. Hopefully the next few months will find me in NYC a few more times.
Then I traveled to Orlando for 5 days for a wedding conference. It was so wonderful to see my MN wedding colleagues and to connect with new IL colleagues. There were some highlights from the conference, like meeting David Tutera and having a lot of laughs with friends, and the end result is that the conference has given me a push to kick the Chicago networking into gear. Unfortunately, this year's conference did not even compare to last year's conference. The hotel this year was affectionately referred to by everyone as Ghettoville, the customer service from the hotel staff was pathetic, and the conference content was lacking. It was quite a disappointment. This experience won't deter me from attending conference next year, but the association is definitely going to hear my point of view.
And my final travel of the month was back to MN for Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful long weekend with family and friends. I thank my Aunt Joan and Uncle Guy for hosting a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner, my parents for carting me between IA and MN, and to my second parents, Renee and Armand, for letting me crash with them the rest of the weekend. I hope you all were as blessed as I was to spend time with family and friends.
In case I did not talk with you beforehand, I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!
I traveled to Detroit and NYC for work in the first two weeks of the month. Detroit - not much to say about it - but it was nice to meet some of my co-workers face to face. NYC was too short a trip, but again, I was able to meet some co-workers and also get out for a wonderful sushi meal and a few pints. Hopefully the next few months will find me in NYC a few more times.
Then I traveled to Orlando for 5 days for a wedding conference. It was so wonderful to see my MN wedding colleagues and to connect with new IL colleagues. There were some highlights from the conference, like meeting David Tutera and having a lot of laughs with friends, and the end result is that the conference has given me a push to kick the Chicago networking into gear. Unfortunately, this year's conference did not even compare to last year's conference. The hotel this year was affectionately referred to by everyone as Ghettoville, the customer service from the hotel staff was pathetic, and the conference content was lacking. It was quite a disappointment. This experience won't deter me from attending conference next year, but the association is definitely going to hear my point of view.
And my final travel of the month was back to MN for Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful long weekend with family and friends. I thank my Aunt Joan and Uncle Guy for hosting a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner, my parents for carting me between IA and MN, and to my second parents, Renee and Armand, for letting me crash with them the rest of the weekend. I hope you all were as blessed as I was to spend time with family and friends.
In case I did not talk with you beforehand, I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Saturday, November 3, 2007
A Like and Dislike of Chicago
I thought about naming the title as "My Love and Hatred for Chicago", but thought that may be a little harsh. I just wanted to share one of the likes and dislikes I have of Chicago in my first month of living here.
LIKE - walking out of work in the evening and smelling the chocolate factories. I'm not even a chocolate lover, but it is such a nice and welcoming treat. For those chocolate lovers, I'm sure your mouths are watering, as it is quite an aroma around downtown Chicago. It is such a contrast to walk out to a brisk, windy evening and smell freshly baked brownies. It makes me want to curl up by a fire.
DISLIKE - this city does not recycle. Seriously!?! I have been recycling since I was 8 years old, and I cannot tell you how painful it is for me to throw glass bottles, plastic containers, etc. in with the rest of my garbage. I am still dumb-founded as to how a city this large has gotten away without a proper recycling program. They have tried in the past, but the recycling containers were picked up by city sanitation and ended up in the landfills. They are slowly and painfully rolling out a recycling program, but it does not include apartment and condo complexes. I am still speechless about this, but won't be for long. I plan on writing city officials - I'm taking after you, Michelle! But this is utterly ridiculous in this day and age to not recycle. I miss my "green" Minnesota!!!
LIKE - walking out of work in the evening and smelling the chocolate factories. I'm not even a chocolate lover, but it is such a nice and welcoming treat. For those chocolate lovers, I'm sure your mouths are watering, as it is quite an aroma around downtown Chicago. It is such a contrast to walk out to a brisk, windy evening and smell freshly baked brownies. It makes me want to curl up by a fire.
DISLIKE - this city does not recycle. Seriously!?! I have been recycling since I was 8 years old, and I cannot tell you how painful it is for me to throw glass bottles, plastic containers, etc. in with the rest of my garbage. I am still dumb-founded as to how a city this large has gotten away without a proper recycling program. They have tried in the past, but the recycling containers were picked up by city sanitation and ended up in the landfills. They are slowly and painfully rolling out a recycling program, but it does not include apartment and condo complexes. I am still speechless about this, but won't be for long. I plan on writing city officials - I'm taking after you, Michelle! But this is utterly ridiculous in this day and age to not recycle. I miss my "green" Minnesota!!!
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