Sunday, November 30, 2008

london

a friend, jj, and i went to london this november to visit our friend erin. she left atlanta as well, in search of something new. though she had to work some of the time, we still managed to navigate the city and see a few things.

things i always had on hand:

  • tube map
  • map of the city
  • an idea of 3-5 things i wanted to accomplish that day
  • camera
the trip actually started with an escape to cambridge, england. it is about an hour's train ride north of the city; we departed from king's cross station.

we toured the college and a few local pubs:
















back in london, jj followed me around while i made sure we saw the typical and not to typical sites:


we celebrated thanksgiving with a variety of marks & spencer food stuffs and a theatre showing of avenue q.

london is very gray as you would imagine:














i left on a saturday so i could have a day to recover before heading back to work. i was so upset when i landed and called my sister to find out that georgia tech had beaten georgia for the first time in 9 years. the first game in 9 years i missed!

for more photos: flickr: london set

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

2-8

well it's here. my birthday. i was wondering how i would cope, considering the last few birthdays i've been celebrating the way i like: out of the country.

my last birthday was in greece. i was supposed to be on the beautiful island of santorini, but the pilot thought the winds were too strong to land the plane on a small island, so the trip was cancelled. instead, my friend and i spent the day in athens: shopping, sunset & champagne on top of lycabettus hill, dinner at villa mercedes.

the birthday before was in cancun. at a jewelry shop at 8am, i shared a tequila shot with the owner and my sister. snorkeling and canoeing and margaritas and dancing. i might have had a little too much fun though, ask my sister.

so this year, i ran out of vacation days and was resigned to spending my birthday alone in a new city. however, the weekend before, friends came in town. and sunday, my dad's birthday present came: he flew my sister up for the weekend! and then i had a standing dinner date on monday with a friend from work and her husband at trattoria roma. the best prosciutto pizza and red wine and tiramisu. my sister and i topped off the night with champagne cocktails at pops for champagne. on tuesday, my actual birthday, i woke to my sister making cupcakes. so we had cupcakes and coffee for breakfast and watched you've got mail (one of my all time favorites).

i arrived at work and there were cards on my desk from the few people who knew it was my birthday. and another colleague will plan a happy hour...cause we really do need an excuse for one ;) and another friend comes in town on thursday to string the birthday celebration along. and later i'm off to london to visit the queen!

so the big 2-8. no longer mid-twenties. closer to 30. not in a foreign country on a fabulous vacation, but a great birthday in spite of that. i still go to be with my family, taken to dinner, and still got a cake!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

hotel cafe tour

last night i went to singer-songwriter show called the hotel cafe tour. well, it was more like a 5-singer-songwriter show. held at the park west in lincoln park, the show had a 4 man band and 5 rotating lead singers, all performing their own songs. all happened to be girls.

mustic is one of the great things about chicago. a lot comes from here and a lot comes to here. the performances last night:
  • meiko (from georgia, suprising singing voice, makes john mayer faces)
  • jaymay (from nyc, quirky lyrics, amazing voice)
  • alice russell (from the uk, kind-of 70's disco feeling, deep strong voice)
  • rachel yamagata (from chicago, beautifully soulful songs, sultry/sweet voice)
  • thao nyugen (punky, dances while playing, shouts the chorus, energetic)

all but one of the performers played guitar or piano, all were enthusiastic and energeteic, and all had simply amazing voices. it's hard to decide a favorite, but that was the great part about the show: basically 5 concerts in one, and the musical types varied throughout the evening.

the park west is a great venue as well. intimate, tables and chairs, a bar, open floor in front of the performers, clean bathrooms.

if you have the opportunity to see the show or any of the individual artists, i highly recommend it.

indian summer

i take back my earlier post; it's been in the high 60s-mid 70s this whole week. no coats required. makes me think if it can stay like this through mid-november, then i just might be able to make it through 5 months of winter...