March

March has been a good month. The weather has been amazing - consistently in the high 40s and mid 50s, with a random day of snow last weekend. I had a great birthday with friends I've made here in Chicago. Here's a photo of us playing poker:

Will's out of town for a spring break trip. Being apart is getting harder! I was ok with it last summer but now even a couple of days seems weird.

I'm trying to do more photography again. Possibly even considering making it my career. Is that crazy?

Wanna Be

I started reading Alicia's Silverstone book The Kind Diet a couple of weeks ago when I picked it up from the library. Unfortunately, I only read a couple chapters of it before I had to return it to the library. But it did get me thinking about food and the food industry in the U.S. It was some pretty disturbing stuff, which I won't go into detail here.

Anyways, I don't think I could become vegetarian or vegan, but I have begun to eat less meat when I can. This week I ate at an Indian vegetarian restaurant, a vegetarian sandwich at Potbelly's, a vegetarian bowl at Chipotle, and a vegetarian stir-fry at the work cafeteria (I don't usually eat out this much, but we fell off the cooking bandwagon this week). You know, I hardly noticed it. And also most of the Korean food we make at home is vegetarian.

So...

I'm having a bit of a downer of a week, for no big reason. I think it's the combination of:

- the end of the Olympics

- gimping around after getting a mole removed from the bottom of my foot (i know, i'm such a wimp)

- one of those weeks at work

- my birthday coming up and missing my LA friends; wish i could celebrate with them

- the impending transition

Chicago Favorites: Signature Lounge

The Signature Lounge sits on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Center, overlooking the city and the lake. The great thing about it, like most things in the city, is how easy it is to get to, unlike the LA equivalent, Bonaventure. And because of that, I've been there many times during my one year here and have some great memories with friends. I've taken almost every visitor I've had in Chicago to the lounge.

The above photo was taken from the ladies' restroom by my friend Allison during her visit last week. They say the best view in the lounge is from the ladies' restroom, where there are floor to ceiling windows. It's pretty awesome at night. Now that I think of it, I've never actually been there during the day, which I'm sure is just as good. And I've always been lucky and gotten seated by the window (it gets busy weekend evenings and there's a line).

I can't say much for the drinks and desserts there. They are overpriced and not very good. I recommend saving your money and getting a beer - just go for the view.

4 months left...

V-day

Happy belated Valentines! Didn't it seem like there were so many holidays/events going on this week? Valentines, Presidents' Day, Lunar New Year, Ash Wednesday, and the Olympics.

Anyways, we kept with our tradition of eating at home on V-day. Here was our meal this year. Will made garlic chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli soup. He also got a zinfandel that was pink. :)

Tulips for me...

A card I made for him. Actually, I downloaded the image, printed it, and then wrote on the back.

Hope you enjoyed the day with loved ones.

Office

My mom gets withdrawals if I don't update the blog, so the show must go on. I thought I'd share some pics of the office. Not that it's super exciting...

A view from my floor (Grant Park and the lake behind it):

The view from my row:

The view from my cube:

That's a poster all marathon participants were given. It adds a nice touch of color to an otherwise drab space.

A Revelation

We discovered the amazingness that is 21st century domestic bliss - the dishwashing machine.

I know, it's like I'm from the dark ages, right? Will and I have been handwashing our dishes and using the dishwasher as a drying rack for the last year. When we returned from LA this January, we ran the dishwasher. And since then we've gotten addicted to it and the days of handwashing dishes are over.