last night we attended a concert at Rockefeller Chapel; Handel’s Messiah was presented by the university chorus and symphony, plus some special guest soloists. although they couldn’t include the entire oratorio, it still lasted an hour and a half. it’s amazing to think that music written almost 300 years ago can still attract and move read more »

my plans for post-thanksgiving black friday shopping fell through (due to illness), and so i had to settle for the next best thing which was post-thanksgiving weekend shopping (felt much better). on my way up michigan avenue to meet with grace (who’s in town for a conference), i bumped into the nutcracker. even HE has read more »

the longer i live here in the states, the more i realize how different canada is from its neighbour. first of all, i’ve noticed that americans say AMERICA, while we tend to use THE STATES. last winter i learned that a “toque” is a canadian thing after realizing my friend had no idea what i read more »

this isn’t meant to be a free advertisement, but i received my martha stewart living magazine for december today. december? i just got my november edition last week! i’m constantly being reminded of christmas already; on my drive home from work this week, i’ve noticed one particular radio station that is playing ALL christmas songs read more »

it was a bit gusty today, living up to chicago’s nickname ‘the windy city’. this is us while waiting for the bus. my head was feeling very buzzy by the end of the afternoon.

tell the loved women in your life to get their mammogram if they’re 40 years old or older. and if you’re not 40 yet, it never hurts to check yourself. for more information, click here or here.

as part of my conference, we got a couple of free tickets to watch ‘Wicked’ the musical at the Oriental theatre, which was a very nice perk. it was a lot of fun, despite some changes from the book by Gregory Maguire which i got to read last year.

there was some live music by a jazz band in the neighbourhood today. i saw it on my way home from the grocery store so i stopped to listen. audience members were really getting into it – black people really do have rhythm. the best part was when an old black guy started doing tai read more »

no bird, just a couple F-16′s. i saw them flying around during a practice for the chicago air show this past weekend. i saw one F-16 climb vertically up and up, then (it seemed like) free fall vertically down and down before levelling out again. nope, not for me…i get nauseous on a swing.

today is our first wedding anniversary! we celebrated by exchanging cards… then we went to the suburb of Oak Park and did a walking tour in the neighbourhood of various homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, including the architect’s own home and studio. this house is called the Winslow house, and was built in 1893. read more »