Oh The Humanity!

The May 1 march to Chicago's Federal Plaza caused quite the stir downtown, and while we didn't exactly have front seat to the action, the view from the 16th floor was pretty interesting. The news the next day said that the rally was significantly smaller than in years past, but the cheering and chanting passed our offices for more than 30 minutes, so I'm thinking the marchers were still able to make a point.

Here's the parade as it made its way down Jackson Boulevard:

Charretteabration!

Hello my darlings! I know I have been gone a while, but really, I was having too much fun.

Since I posted last I went to the zoo, went to the conservatory, went to another zoo, went to a concert, went bowling, got my haircut, and um... other things that are too trivial/embarrassing to discuss.

I've also been slaving away at work trying to help out with the big conference going down in Detroit next week: I am one of the experts for the design charrette. It is going to be fabutastic. We are totally pushing the limits of time, space, and the ability of little groups of people brainstorming together to cleanup and redevelop brownfields with green practices all the while accounting for onsite stormwater management and public health. Trust me when I say that this is a very. big. deal.

We will also be very excited to be done with it come next Tuesday at 12:30 EST, but in the mean time, we have converted the party closet (my old cube/office/old storage closet that I shared with Aimee) into charretteabration central. Tonight, I bought leis. That's how excited we are about this thing.
Phew.

So that's about all I had to share.
Since I don't have a photo of anything I've discussed in this post, perhaps you will accept a pic from my birthday? Here's me and Sara before the big show:

I Felt The Earth Move Under My Feet

An hour ago, I was shaken awake by an EARTHQUAKE! A 5.4 out of SE Illinois, it was definitely no big deal by the time it got to Chicago... but really? Of all the places that I have lived, I feel an earthquake in Chicago.

Weird, but I'll take it!

Museum Day Part II

Last Friday, Dax and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry. The special exhibit was all about glass and featured sculptures by Dale Chihuly, who is now my favorite glass-sculpture-artist.

Just in case you were wondering.

The giant German submarine in the basement was cool too, but... I liked the glass better. Dax thinks I am such a girl.

Consequences, Shmonsequences

One of my favorite people, (and bad influences) Jaci, came to visit me this weekend. Here she is looking windblown and lovely on our walk along the Lake after lunching in Hyde Park:

Jaci is my all-things girly-girl connection and somehow every time we go shopping, I end up buying something I never knew I needed. This time, we ventured into the makeup mecca Sephora, where I stumbled into some lady's makeup chair, got a makeover, signed up for the VIP club, and $95 later, I walked out with moisturizer, eyeshadow and red mascara. Red mascara. Who buys that?

Apparently I do. Now, pardon me while I go learn to use it.

Field Trip

Last Friday I went on a field trip with Dax to the Field Museum (of Marshall Field's department store, which will never ever ever be called Macy's here in Chicago no matter how hard they try). He gets extra credit for class by checking out the science museums, and I get someone willing to fight the Disneyland-like lines in order to let me geek out at all the sciencey goodness.

That's Sue the T-Rex and... some elephants. I guess I forgot to check them out. Nevertheless, I was quite happy with our day exploring and since there are still two more museums to see, I'm sure I'll be helping Dax with his grades a few more times this semester.

Progress!

The wee little green nubs that I got a couple of weeks ago have sprouted into beautiful (tall!) spring flowers. AND I saw quite a few little nubs peeking out of the brown while on a walk around Chicagoland this weekend. Soon Chicago will have some spring flowers of its own!