Archive for January 2008

26 January 2008

Day o’indulgence

By: Jessica B.

I love family visits. It gives you a free pass to act like a tourist without any twinges of guilt. Today my dad and stepmom visited the city and we took Michigan Avenue by storm! Lunch at Nordstroms, window shopping, dinner at the Gage! It was a tour de force.

Fortunately we didn’t have too many freak encounters, minus the homeless woman on Monroe and Wabash who stared lustfully at my stepmom’s fur and muttered that my stepmom had somehow stolen this homeless woman’s coat (very untrue). Oh, well there was also the fur protest next to the Apple store too, and trust me, those men and women looked like red paint was just hanging out in their pockets, ready to go. I’m glad to say that we avoided them – I didn’t want to have to beat one of them to death with my stepmom’s cane if they damaged that beloved coat.

I also successfully launched my “2008 trench coat hunt,” giving my “girl” at Nordstroms the heads up to be on the watch for a traditional, double-breasted khaki or off-white one for me. And of course, I got my usual praise from her of “you look so great” (thank you, I do), “your hair looks great” (it does), “your make-up looks great” (again thank you, it does). This may sound conceited, but sometimes, it’s just nice to hear someone say these things, even if they do get seven percent of your sale and their compliments are not necessarily true.

Now I’m blissfully enjoying my Christmas gift to myself and prepping for an exciting Tory Burch shoe fashion show in the comfort of my apartment. Tomorrow is Anne and my pilgrimage to Wisconsin – cannot wait!

25 January 2008

TGIF!

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Random, work
Woo hoo! Happy Friday! Unfortunately, there is nothing exciting to report for today, but I thought some might enjoy the below photo. Sadly this is not for me at all (honest) – it’s for a work gift bag, but it has definitely generated a lot of questions and chatter around my desk.

Liz and Sarah highly recommend this mixed with Coca-Cola. I’ll take their word for it.

24 January 2008

Still cold – that’s nothing new

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Chicago, family

Today was a kind of cold that I have not felt in…well about three days, since the weekend. It was the kind of cold that made my teeth (minus the crowned one) and my jaw hurt. The walk from the gym to the bus stop was beyond painful.

In other news – I’ve placed my bridesmaid dress for Andy’s wedding. Now it’s hitting the gym four times a week (plus walking on Sundays when the weather warms up) to make sure that dress looks as good as possible. Might be time to dust off the charcoal gray strappy heels :)

The news today about economic stimulus checks sent another ripple through the office. A few people IM’ed me about what they would do with $300-$600 on top of a tax refund. I’mdreaming of a Macbook or a Macbook Pro Christmas…in summer!

23 January 2008

A sign of winter weather in Chicago

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Chicago

So it’s still cold in Chicago, but to help keep me “warm,” I find interest in simple signs of the season in the city (try saying that four times fast.)

No this does not include finding joy in other people walking quickly down the sidewalks, bundled up. It’s other things, like watching the lake and river steam from the cold air or watching the snow fall from the sky so lightly over Michigan Avenue late at night, when amazingly there isn’t the sound of car horns and buses flying down the street. This may sound crazy, but I’m sure a few of you know what I mean.

During this weekend’s most recent cold spell, I was walking across one of the downtown bridges en route to a movie when I looked at the river and was surprised to see it frozen in almost mosaic-like triangle tiles. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me (darnit!) but today when I got off the 135 near Columbus, I was pleased to see that the ice was melting, yet the “tiles” stuck around. I thought I’d even share a photo with you all to show you what I mean.

Just another reason that I love this city, even though I’m freezing my butt off.

22 January 2008

Dipping a toe into Chicago’s online dating pool

By: Jessica B.

That’s right. I’ve finally put my toe in the shallow end of the pool to test the waters. On Sunday night, after drinking a lot of Chardonnay to drown my sorrows of the Packers/Giants game, I posted an ad on Craigslist. Now this is something my friend Sarah has begged me to do for a while and I figured, why not, especially when she would e-mail me guys posting, looking for true love, and pointing out that I should respond to them.

What I received was overwhelming, over 20 e-mails in an hour of guys e-mailing me telling me that I’m their kind of girl. For someone who has lived in the dating desert, having multiple men clamoring for your attention at once is a lot to take. But, taking a step back, I really read some of the entries and had a good laugh.

For example, read below an e-mail I received tonight from a smitten suitor, “did you know … there are 20 angels in the earth, 10 are playing, 9 are sleeping, and 1 is reading this sweet messages.”

For those who know me, they know that in the correct place and time, cheesy lines like this will actually work! Yes they will! It will make me laugh and win you men an opportunity to buy me a drink, but this…made me throw up a bit in my mouth, before snorting and pressing the “delete” button. I was also shocked to receive multiple e-mails from guys who were “21 going on 27″ (that still sounds like jail bait to me) and from many guys who think after reading my posting that “hey girl” in the opening line will work (it won’t.)

Unfortunately, some of the more promising possible suitors have withdrawn from the race (apparently my picture wasn’t their “cup of tea”) but hey no hard feelings, time to try another angle. But thank you to my 20 e-mail senders for the flattering self-esteem boost.