Quick, Call Land's End!

Saturday, September 4 2010......The first day we were COLD! The week had been quite warm--Monday was in the low 90's and I was getting pretty cranky....Chicago had betrayed me with promises of a cool lake breeze and reasonable summer temps. Then, we moved here and have had the hottest summer on record for decades. Atlanta had been cooler than Chicago by 6 - 10 degrees for the first part of the week. I really should not have Chicago and Atlanta weather side by side at my weather.com home page......

We headed over to Grant Park Saturday around 4:30 with a picnic to enjoy a part of the weekend Jazz Festival. We grabbed our jackets because it was cooler than usual that day and if we stayed into the evening, we would probably want them. By 6:00, we all had our outerwear on. I had a white denim jacket and it did not get the job done. Sarah had her warmest NorthFace type coat and Dick had a fleece. I checked weather while we were there (on my Blackberry---aren't I a techie?) and....get this...it was 62 degrees!!! That's it! We are SO gonna freeze up here.....

My coat wardrobe consists of the above mentioned denim and a thin fleece. I got home and went out to lands end and ordered what EVERY woman that I've talked to said I needed. It's a black, down Michelin-man (I'm sure) long coat with a fur trimmed hood. Fashionable? I think not! LE description says it's good down to 40 below. I also ordered Sarah a real winter coat and snow pants. Dick has been instructed to get out to LE and order some stuff as well...

But, the good news is daytime temps of mid to high 60's are delightful. Our Sunday trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden couldn't have been nicer weather. Today is sunny with a high of 77 and very windy. I'm OK with that....

What just happened.....?

Here's one for the record books.....Last Thursday, Sarah and I were walking home from ballet and saw a big street sign advertising the musical Shrek, which is in town for about another month. She's asked several times about seeing it, but I didn't really want to pay full price, so I've just been waiting. I've gotten some Broadway in Chicago emails with specials, but they weren't all that special. Then, a friend mentioned that her friend had gotten $25 Shrek tickets on the day of performance at the theater box office. Now, that was a price I was willing to pay......

So, we turned around and walked down to the theater box office. I asked about the $25 tics and he had two....and told me they were on the main floor, with a partially obstructed view (in this case, no pole, just far off to the side) and that the guy next to me paid $90. Such a deal! So I paid for the tics and we headed home for the afternoon. About 7pm, Sarah and I hailed a cab (theater was close, but shoes were not walkers) and glancing at the envelope front, told the cabbie to go to the Cadillac Palace theater. As we neared the theater that I had been to earlier that day, the cab didn't slow. And then I saw....I had been in the Oriental Theater, and in spite of the ENORMOUS signs and the detailed marquee advertising, I realized I had bought two tics to BILLY ELLIOT! Checking my tickets confirmed that I had indeed purchased tickets for the wrong show at a completely different theater! How in the world did I miss that I was in the theater showcasing Billy Elliot??? So the cabbie, after studying me for a minute, circled the block and pulled in at Billy Elliot. So, we saw Billy Elliot.

And Sarah is still asking about Shrek.

Running Errands--City Style!

Yesterday was my errands day.....city style means no car....so I set out with Sarah about 9am and headed to ballet camp. It takes us about 15 minutes or so to walk over and once she was dropped off I backtracked a block to catch the brown line up to my new chiropractor. I'm still not as confident as I will be at navigating the transportation here and usually have a few post-its with details as well as my little laminated maps in my purse. My goal is to be like the majority of the commuters: reading a book while listening to their ipod/cellphone and magically knowing when their stop is approaching. Then, being able to swiftly move to the door without losing or dropping anything would be the icing on the cake!

Once I exited the train, I had another 15 - 20 minute walk to the office. Such an interesting walk though! In one block I saw a peach tree, a Starbucks, an Iglesia Christiano, a double decker bike (two frames, one on top of the other) being ridden by a guy with purple spikey hair and two moms pushing their toddlers in strollers. Some of the little courtyard gardens were lovely....and some were not. Mixed zoning at it's finest. It is also interesting to note that with cell phone headsets, it is difficult now to tell the Probably Crazies apart from the Could Be Crazies----everyone (except me!) is talking to themselves! But it did occur to me that this walk might not be so interesting in the dead of winter so I'm gonna try the bus next time and see if that reduces the walking.

After my chiropractor, I took the brown line back into the Loop and got off at the Library stop. Headed for the Barnes and Noble to get a couple things for school and then met up with Dick for a quick Thai lunch. I continued on to another appt and Dick went up to ballet and walked Sarah home. As I walked home thru Millenium Park, the filming helicopter was very busy getting shots of the Lake, river and park again. Honestly, those guys never stop. We see them multiple times each day.....and often so close to our windows that we can see the guys IN the copter. They're still blowing things up a couple of blocks over at Michigan and the river so booms and smoke are part of the background up here in the clouds!

Here's our only pic from LaSalle street which Dick shot before we found out they are CRAZY serious about no pics on their set.......note Pritzker Pavilion in the background.....

We found out that Transformers 3 is in town shooting, and this past weekend, they were in my backyard! We were up and out at 7am hanging around the park across the street waiting for helicopters and parachuters. Apparently, alien robots are coming to a theater near you, but they start out life as (crazy) big guys in black jumping from helicopters in very narrow spaces among the downtown high rises. We saw the five jump and steer through the neighbor buildings and land in our park. They then dragged their chutes to the fenced playground and re folded them in the middle of the swings. Pretty cool...though making movies seems to involve alot of sitting and waiting and then some fast action.....the guys in black will be digitally erased and replaced with the bad robots. I'll have to bone up on this Transformer stuff....

After the parachuting, we headed to the Loop where LaSalle and several cross streets were completely closed. Large concrete debris, burned out cars, smoldering piles covered LaSalle. But, they're all made of foam! Well, the cars are real...some with and some without engines....We saw them shoot an explosion from a block away (that was as close as we could get, and believe me, I tried). They shouted "Fire in the hole!", and we covered our ears. Big, loud bangs, small fireworks, two flipped cars and a VERY low flying helicopter (probably 2 - 3 stories above ground) filming it all....we clapped and cheered, and I made a mental note to see Transformer 1...or whatever the first one is called.

On our way back, we cut through Millenium Park where the Chinese American Museum was hosting the family activities in the Target Family Tent. Sarah completed a dragon craft, and had her name written in Chinese calligraphy.

Is this a GREAT city, or what!!!!

Wow....they're making a movie in my backyard!

painted forest

In our walks around town we've come across these groves of orange and yellow painted trees. It was so pretty and eye catching, but puzzling! Hitting google told us that it's a joint project between the Chicago Park District and their landscape firm. It was installed late last fall to provide color and they used over 100 dead trees sourced from area nurseries. I think it's a great way to add color and use dead trees!