Windy City Weekend

Well it's been way too long since I've written a post...Lots has happened since the last one!

Peter and Mom came to the city a few weekends ago to check out my new apartment and explore the city. Chris and I made a game plan to go to the Sears Tower Skydeck, the Bean, Buckingham Fountain, Michigan Avenue, and Navy Pier. We rode the train into the city which happened to be Peter's first real train ride. I think he loved it! He rode with Chris for part of the way on the upper level. We got to the city and walked to the Sears Tower (Luckily Chris is amazing and showed us the way!) We thought it would be too cloudy to go at all, but the clouds were just high enough so that when we got to the top you could see some of them wrapping around the tops of the other buildings like the Hancock Building. We took pictures on Skydeck, the glass deck that sticks out of the top floor of the building. If you look down, you can see the streets below and the cars driving around look like busy ants running all over the city. We all really enjoyed the Sears Tower and decided to remember the day with a Skydeck picture! Chris bought Pete a wax mini Sears Tower and Pete also got one of those pressed pennies.

After the Sears tower we headed towards Buckingham Fountain with a pitstop at Dunkin' Donuts. I almost got Chris run over by a bus as we were crossing the street but we all survived safely and got our coffee/chai/donut fix. I think Peter really enjoyed walking through the city. Chris was pointing out different landmarks to us as we made our way towards the fountain. I had never been to Buckingham fountain before. It's beautiful! We took some pictures in front of the fountain and then headed to Peter's "can't miss" Chicago destination....The Bean! I always love the Bean, it's so much fun to take pictures of people on the mirrored surface....though they never manage to turn out nicely. Self portraits on the Bean always make you look a little goofy, and out of it, and well, confused! While we were at the Bean, there was this Zombie Convention going on in Millenium Park and a Blues Festival so there were a TON of people. Not to mention multiple bridal parties taking pictures. One of the coolest ideas I saw that day was taking a picture of the bridal party in the reflection of the Bean. It looked cool!

After countless pictures at the Bean, we passed Grant Park and made our way up Michigan Avenue. We stopped at Nike Town to look at all the cool shoes and clothing. My Mom and I almost got trapped in an elevator, but we survived that too! Next we went to the Apple Store to look around. It was pretty much like any other Apple store....imagine that! As we walked up Michigan Avenue, we're pretty sure we spotted Rascal Flatts. (I think that's who we saw, it's been so long!) That was kinda neat. Next we headed towards Navy Pier. It was really windy and cool that day so we were all very excited to make our way into Navy Pier. We put a reservation in at Harry Caray's. The Ferris Wheel was our next stop! It was a bit chilly as we were raised over the city in our gondola but it was neat to see the skyline from that point of view. Mom got freaked out at one point thinking we were stuck at the top:

Mom: "Are we stopped?! I think we are! We're stuck!"

Chris: "Are you okay?"

Mom: "What if I said I wasn't?!"

Well, we made our way safely to the ground and went back to Harry Caray's where they were calling our name to be seated. Perfect timing! It was a delicious dinner and it ended with a surprise birthday cake treat! Yummy! By this time it was getting late so we caught a taxi back to OTC to catch the train. It happened to be Peter's first taxi ride EVER!

We were planning on getting some drinks and bringing them on the train....but the bar in OTC was closed so we had to wait until we got home. We were all exhausted and caught some shut-eye on the train. Once we got back to my apartment we had a mini birthday celebration. I got an awesome book from Chris with all of my posts from my other blog, Sea Call. It's AWESOME! He used lulu.com to make and publish the book. A purse from mom was also really exciting!

The next day, Sunday, Mom, Peter and I went to meet up with an old friend from when we lived in Crystal Lake. We had a delicious brunch together and then parted ways. Hopefully we'll see Julie sooner rather than later next time! We did a bunch of errands on the way back to Wheaton. That afternoon we met up with Chris and his parents and had dinner at Arrowhead Golf Course. It was a beautiful night to sit outside and watch the golfers as they came in on the 18th hole. What a perfect way to end a Windy City Weekend!

Take a Back Road

Here is a chunk of lyrics to a new-ish song by country singer Rodney Atkins. I love it so much because it reminds me of driving to the lake on back roads. My dad has been the one to instill a love of traveling on back country roads. It's so much more exciting than the boring and congested interstate!

Sit in that six-lane backed up traffic
Horns are honking, I've about had it
I'm looking for an exit sign
Gotta get out of here, get it all off my mind
And like a memory from your grandpa's attic
A song comes slippin' through the radio static
Changing my mood
A little George Strait 1982

And it makes me wanna take a back road
Makes me wanna take the long way home
Put a little gravel in my travel
Unwind, unravel all night long
Makes me wanna grab my honey
Tear down some two-lane country
Who knows
Get lost and get right with my soul
Makes me wanna take
Makes me wanna take a back road.

I've been cooked up, fried down, 'bout forgotten
What a field looks like, full of corn and cotton
If I'm gonna hit a traffic jam,
Well it better be a tractor man
So sick and tired of this interstate system
I need a curve and wide-a-twistin'
Dusty path to nowhere
With the wind blowing through my baby's hair

Full lyrics here

Train Observations

I've realized that lots of things happen on trains. There is so much to look at and observe on a train that it could literally occupy you (well me at least) for the entire ride and sometimes it does.

Metra has created this whole quiet car concept. At first I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Until schools unleashed their rowdy teenagers. And they have to get to the beach somehow with their other 15+ friends, so the Metra is their best bet. Consequently, they create noise. And lots of it. The quiet cars are the second car from each end. In these cars, you are not supposed to talk, listen to music loudly, or use any electronic that creates noise. Instead, you sit there quietly and read a book (Imagine THAT!) or just sit and relax. I must admit, in the morning this concept is perhaps useless, as 95% of passengers are either asleep, drinking coffee, or reading the newspaper. In the afternoon however, I can't imagine how nice the quiet cars would be. Usually I'm the lucky one sitting right in front of kids who are practically yelling to their friend who's sitting right next to them and trying to be the champion of who can use the word "like" as many times in one sentence. I'll tell you what, I am so relieved every afternoon when I get off the train. Maybe I should try the quiet cars....

Yesterday morning there was a huge storm. So huge that power lines decided to give up hanging between two poles and lay on the ground instead (they'd had enough!). Well this would be fine if they hadn't decided to lay across the railroad tracks. This created problems for the trains. We stopped right before them and waited for a half hour for the power company to show up. Another half hour was spent removing the lines. When we were finally moving again, I expected people to cheer, or a "woo-hoo!" or a FINALLY! But no....nothing. Apparently their used to these random delays around here. As we started up again the conductor warned us not to look at the bright lights because we could go blind and have spasms. Welp...nothing like a little electrocution with some blindness and spasms to jump start your morning!

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in front of a lady who was reading music. This always amazes me because I have no musical talent at all and reading music is just so foreign to me. She was flipping through her many pages and then she stopped on one. I looked over the seat to take a glimpse of this crazy literature and at the top of the page, I saw the song was named "Be Happy" (or something to do with happy...) It struck me so much that I wanted a picture and tried to snap a shot using my ipod Touch with no such luck. Listening to music always makes me happy and seeing the name of this song just made me even happier!

If you just take a little time to look around and enjoy the moment, you'll see SO many more things and enjoy more in the end. So slow down and take a look around for a bit.

Funny the Way it Is

The title of this post is probably my favorite Dave Matthews song. It makes you think about all the different things happening at the same time. I was reminded of this song as I sat on the train back from work one night this week. That morning it was predicted that it would be the hottest day in Chicago in five years; this time the weathermen were right. It was sweltering, even at 5 o'clock.

My train ride from the city goes through some interesting parts of Chicago. It passes through some stations which don't seem to be in very good areas. There are broken down houses with weeds sky high and mattresses on the streets. And then minutes later we are at a station where the "Salt & Pepper haired men" in their expensive suits are getting off the train. As I sat in my seat watching the world go by as we steadily chugged down the tracks to my destination, I peered out the window and caught a glimpse of something that made me smile. At this point into my nightly trip home, we had barely left the city and were still in a fairly run down area. But as I looked out the window, I saw a group of about eight children in their bathing suits running around in the streets and enjoying a fire hydrant that had been opened and was spewing water everywhere. The sight of these children, enjoying the little joys in life, was awesome.

I can only remember one time in my childhood when a fire hydrant was opened in our street in the summer...it was a BLAST. Way better than those dinky little sprinklers that you set in your luscious lawn in your little suburban neighborhood. Of course I'm making very large assumptions- but perhaps those kids are not as fortunate as others yet I'm sure if any suburban kid saw this scene, they'd be very envious. This 5 second glimpse made me realize a few different things:

1. We're all very fortunate for very different things and for different reasons.

2. Life may be hard, but there is always a silver lining.

3. Be thankful for what you DO have.

4. Enjoy the little things in life, no matter how little they are!

Train People & Etiquette

The Metra train system is an impressive spiderweb of tracks that run all throughout the Chicago "Burbs". The reliable trains bring you into the heart of the city every morning and take you back to the suburban hustle and bustle after your 8-5 work life.

I love them.

And I love people-watching on them.

There's the Salt & Pepper haired men in their dry-cleaned suits with Burberry watches, expensive leather belts, wallets and shoes, and Apple products who's total value could feed a third world country for a year.

There's the "I Don't Care What People Think" people who look ridiculous. Plain and simple.

There's the young guy with the wrinkled button down who's just getting on his feet in the city.

The old couple who stand in the exact same spot everyday and hold hands.

The students who are on their way to business school, law school, art school, insert subject here school.

And the guy who talks on his phone, guy who watches movie on his iPad, woman cutting coupons, guy tilting and swerving in his seat as he tries not to die playing DoodleJump.

And many many others. I personally love the conductors who know which people have gotten on and off the train and who's tickets he needs to check. Each of them have their own punch so they know if they've come by or not. The best part is when they say "Tickets please," it make me feel like I'm riding the Polar Express.

Train Etiquette is an unspoken rule. As Americans, we like our space and we like to sit as far from strangers as possible.

1. Every train car is filled up with one person per seat.

2. If all seats have one person in them, then strangers are allowed to sit next to you. In fact, they have the right to wake you from your slumber if you've sprawled across the seat, and tell you to move over.

3. Once empty seats open up, and you're on the outside sitting next to a stranger, move to your own seat so you avoid the "excuse me this is my stop" situation when the blocked stranger needs to get out.

4. Single seats sit every other person, until the train gets super full and then you can sit next to people. This is when everyone scoots as far from each other as possible while still sitting right next to each other.

5. Don't talk on your phone during the morning commute. It's awkward to be the only one talking and it annoys others.

6. People may wake you up when you reach Ogilvy in the city. Thank them!

7. When opening the heavy doors to get to another train, check to make sure no one is behind you before letting it slam. They're really heavy and scary, and the person behind you will be thankful that they didn't lose their hand.

8. People may get emotional on the train and may even get up to cry in the spaces between the cars. It's sad and no one is quite sure what to do.

9. Be nice to the conductors.

10. Answer people's questions about what stop you're at. It could be you someday wondering if you need to get off.....or if you're even on the right train at all.

Welcome Aboard

"Welcome aboard!"

The last time I heard these words I was boarding a ship.

Now I'm walking around my new office meeting people.

I could say that I like the first sentence a lot better than the second. Secretly, I do. But I'm going to take the positive route and make a connection between the two:

Both are learning experiences

Both give me the opportunity to find out what I like/dislike & what I'm good and not so good at

Both allow me to meet new people

Both enhance my resume

Both teach me something new (almost) everyday

Both will allow me to look back on them and realize how much I grew from the experience

And to both I replied "Thank you!"

I was settled at my desk after meeting the ~20 employees and got started being "the intern". It's nice to have a connection at the company, not for perks or anything like that, but simply because I automatically feel ten times more comfortable than if I were to not know anyone at all.

In the first week I experienced a general meeting, web/phone conference and getting used to the corporate work environment in general. It's...interesting I can tell you that much. I had a break down at one point realizing that I go 8 hours a day without even seeing the outside world. I have no idea if it's raining, sunny, cloudy, hot, humid. Heck, there could be a tornado coming and I'd have no idea! I then realized that I would be doing this for the rest of my life. Ummm NO! Gross. Who does that?! Can I go back to the ship? Does anyone have a recipe to freeze life in it's place, or better yet, a Benjamin Button treatment? Count me in if you do. I'm not quite so sure about this whole growing up, on my own, putting on my "big girl pants" this summer. Where's the playground?! (No worries I've scoped that out already....there's one right near my building...the monkeybars look fantastic!) When is snacktime? (Oh that's at 9:30 in the morning when everyone stops to have some chips and there's endless amounts of soda in the fridge with about 10 different flavors to choose from) Ok. So maybe this internship isn't THAT bad. Maybe after I dip my feet in for a while I might like some aspects of it. We'll just have to wait and see.

Little Hometown to a Big Old City

Between April 24th and May 9th, my days were packed TIGHT. Another wedding weekend, followed by a trip to Oxford to hand over my apparently precious computer cord to Miami's IT department, to meeting up with friends, and cleaning out a closet resulting in 8 garbage bags full of donations, time goes by fast. Many changes happened in my life while going around the world, so its been somewhat of an adjustment trying to wrap my head around all of it. Luckily I have many awesome people in my life to be there every step of the way.

Sometimes I feel like I'm some piece of product moving through a supply chain, back and forth from Mom to Chris, back to Mom and back to Chris. We make detailed and lengthy plans that have to correspond with every ones schedules. Mom is the super duper supply chain manager who figures out the easiest way for me to get from point A to B with as little difficulty as possible (thanks Mom!) Usually this ends up involving a trip to the lake, Chicago, or somewhere in between.

I only had two weekends between getting home and then moving to Chicago. One of those weekends was spent in Chicago....Mom made it very easy for me (as she tries her hardest to do) by letting me drive the car to Wheaton. This was all great until the car battery died. Strike out number one.

The next weekend I was transported from Mom to Chris via the lake. It was a great 12 hours as I hadn't seen the lake in forever. A great weekend until I realized after driving with Chris from Culver to Wheaton (a 2.5 hour drive) that I had Mom's only set of car keys in my purse. And it was Sunday. And UPS doesn't deliver on Sundays. "F***" is what I said to the poor Indian man behind the counter as I stormed out of UPS with tears pouring out of my eyes. Chris asked the man if he knew if Fed Ex delivered on Sundays. "No" he replied. (FYI, they do.) Strike out number two.

Win number one occurred when my Mom realized some of our lake friends would be at O'Hare Airport and then going on to the lake. Our task was to get in touch with them and transfer keys. Piece of cake right? No. Well...yes once Facebook became involved. After calling the husbands office, where we were given his phone number, we called him. Phone is dead. FACEBOOK. The stalking machine. We happened to find one of the son's phone numbers and who answers but the husband which we con into meeting us. So Sunday morning we do a switch-a-roo and by Sunday afternoon Mom has her keys and is on her way home. Technology...isn't it great? (and creepy too...)

So after solving that stressful puzzle Chris helps me move into my new apartment which happens to be literally right across the street from the train station. It's perfect and I love it. We then hop on the train which takes us to the city. Chris helps me map out my new route to work and we do a "dry-run." Excited and scared are the two battling feelings in my mind. Summer is really beginning. And I'm starting my first internship in a big, unknown city. Bring it on.

Trading Sea Legs for Land Life

Oh summer. The days you thought about as you sat in your fourth grade classroom daydreaming about the lake, popsicles, firefly catching, fireworks, hot dogs, baseball games, sleepover marathons and popcorn-filled late late nights.

Too bad I'm still not in fourth grade....

Traveling abroad with Semester at Sea from January 2011 to April 2011 was the first time in my life where I didn't want summer to come so fast. I knew that this summer was going to be all about growing up and well....maybe even putting my "big girl pants on" and figuring things out for myself. Come April 23 (a day before I got off the M.V Explorer with Semester at Sea) I was so NOT ready to turn in my sea-legs for land life. It just seemed like it would be so....boring compared to the past four months. Don't get me wrong. Everyone who knows me well heard me say that I was ready to be back in the U.S. and I definitely was...I'm still very much enjoying being able to see all of my friends and family without having to come up with major, multi-step, processes for getting in touch with them for a mere 15 minute phone convo. But that was somewhat of a thrill for those weeks at sea. Now phone conversations, texting and skype don't feel as rewarding. That's land life I guess.

Between April 24th and now, I've gone from debarking a ship in San Diego that went around the world, to squeezing the life out of Chris who met me at the gate in SD and who has really helped me acclimate back into this crazy world, to sitting at a makeshift desk in an office building in the middle of Chicago and living on my own-ish in the suburbs.

Even though I'm not in fourth grade anymore....and summer days aren't spent tromping around outside for hours on end....I can still daydream about what I'm going to squeeze into every minute of my coveted summer weekends.

Life comes at ya fast.