My New Crush…

…is not a person or a product.  It’s a place.

I ♥ Chicago!

BlogHer09 was fun, there’s not denying that.  But just plain old Chicago was fun, too.

The short version of BlogHer is:

• I shared a late-night Chicago-style pizza with Casey and Emily.

• I had mah hairs did by Luke O’Connor but didn’t know that he’s Debra Messing’s former (award-winning) hair stylist until after I’d talked to him about cows and Walmart. And did I remember to take a picture of my spectacular hair? No. Seriously? I take pictures of everything…WHY didn’t I remember to take a picture of my amazingly beautiful hair??

• I went to a photography “master class” done by Erin Manning, and learned a lot on the photo walk we that 4 of us went on with her.

• Took myself on a wonderfully quiet and relaxing photo walk of Chicago.  Did you know there were spots like this in downtown Chicago?

• Went shopping and didn’t buy a thing.  (Mainly because I didn’t want to have to carry it the rest of the day!)

• Met Chris Mann.  Heard him sing. Got a picture of me(dorky looking) and Chris Mann(not dorky looking at all).  See?

• Went to the Navy Pier and rode on the Ferris Wheel at midnight.  The city was GORGEOUS at night.  Nearly as gorgeous as Chris Mann.  See?

• Went to a private Ann Taylor fall preview and tried on the perfect dress, but didn’t buy it because I couldn’t justify spending that much on a dress when I have very few occasions to actually wear it. (Ignore the obscene amount of arm fat, please.)

• Enjoyed spending time with some old high school friends who now live in Chicago.

• Saw The Bean

• Saw a movie that made me regret mentioning the word “bean”, although I do not regret seeing the movie because it made me laugh a lot!
• Went to the art museum where I saw Renoir’s, vanGogh’s, Monet’s and Seurat’s, which was fabulous and beautiful.  I would love to go spend days at this museum!  It was humongous and surreal and wonderfully overwhelming.

• Walked by the lake and enjoyed the windy weather and the stunning water view.

• Laughed a lot.  Cried a little.
• Decided that I my kids would love Chicago as much as I did.  Chicago?  Get prepared.  We’ll be there sometime in the next few years with all of our usual chaos.
• And oh, yeah, I went to some conference sessions, too.