Hello again,
The card under my door was right; The weather was beautiful today! Instead of taking a walking tour with the Chicago Architecture Foundation, I decided to take a self-guided walking tour of the city. Wandering around cities is one of my all time favorite activities, and Chicago is absolutely gorgeous, so it turned out to be a great day! Here are some photos I took in Millennium Park.
Frank Gehry's pavillion
The Bean
Freaky face fountain
Two cute kids playing in the water
More cute kids playing in the water
While I was wandering around the city, I stumbled upon two Filene's Basements, Loehman's, Marshalls, and Nordstrom RACK, and I realized that after living in Boston, with the Filene's Basement in Downtown Crossing and its automatic markdowns, it is highly unlikely that I will ever be satisfied with another discount retailer, and I just need to come to terms with that.
I also came across a great office supply store called Atlas Stationers. In case you weren't aware, independent office supply stores are my FAVORITE! Check out this funny magnet I saw there:
My favorite independent office supply store is Bob Slate in Cambridge, MA. There used to be some really great ones in the DC area when I was growing up, like Pace Office Supply in Potomac Village. There was also this other place and I can't remember the name, but it was in downtown Bethesda in the same shopping center as Baskin Robin's and Giant Pharmacy. If you can remember the name of the store, I'll give you $10. They also sold toys. I don't know if that helps. Now there's hardly any independent stores of any kind. I hate it. Of course I shop at Target, so I'm just part of the problem.
I had dinner tonight with a couple of my friends from grad school, Adam and Jen (they're married). Adam was one of the first people I met at Harvard and I instantly disliked him. I liked Jen right away, and I couldn't understand why she was dating Adam. I thought he was an arrogant, elitist, misogynist, and when we ended up in the same group for our year-long School Leadership field experience project, I was completely horrified. Of course once I actually got to know Adam, I realized he was one of the kindest, most intelligent, and thoughtful people I had ever met and I absolutely adore him now. I couldn't have been more wrong about him. I'm so grateful that I was forced to give him a second chance. Anyway, we had a great time. Before dinner, I got a chance to meet their hypo-allergenic dog, Otis, named after Otis Redding. He's about as hyper as Daisy. I think they'd be BFF ... or mortal enemies - one of the two. Here are some photos of Otis:
And here's a photo of where he pees. Adam is pointing to the spot.
Here's a video of Otis doing his unique doggy trick, "Back, back":
And here are some more of Otis's tricks:
We ate at The Galway Arms, which is down the street from where they live in Lincoln Park. What a cute neighborhood! It was really yummy. After dinner, like the white people we are, we got designer cupcakes.. They were delicious!
It's time for me to go to bed, so I'll write more tomorrow.
G'night!
Danielle :)
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