Of Wonderfully Relaxing Weekends

It seems like I'm a weekend warrior when it comes to this blog ... and to life in general. My weeks tick by, slow and uninteresting, and it's up to my weekends to add something spectacular to my life. Of course, most weekends, I'm actually stuck in a cafe, trying to catch up on all the work I didn't manage to get done during the week, so like as not, there's nothing to post about then either.

However, this weekend, I was feeling more adventurous. Or rather - lazy. It's finally sunny around here. This morning, I did a pre-dawn run at Old Port and it was WARM. (I posted about it on facebook and got a ton of responses about the 'predawn' part - but honestly, with the daylight savings time, it was dark even though it was roughly 6:45am when I left the house ...).

• 6.2 miles in 56:23 minutes, a nice 9:06 pace

Beautiful run, although my toe was feeling sprain-y from miles 4-5 and my calves got super tight at the end. Not sure how I'll run this marathon in May, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
In any case, it was sunny and warm by the time rehearsal finished this morning, and I was not feeling all the work I had to do. So ... I ditched it, plain and simple. Instead, I met up with my friend Jill and we had a lovely sun filled afternoon strolling through Westmount and the Lachine Canal.

Oh and of course I took the opportunity to dress up! Puh-lease - as soon as it's warm enough, my summer dresses are all coming out of hibernation - and I'm not kidding when I say that they constitute roughly half of my entire wardrobe (this also means that during the winter months, I end up wearing the same five long sleeve shirts under the same puffy winter jacket ... fun times).

It was nice to windowshop and stroll around (and I even spotted a nice table lamp I might come back for) and to be NORMAL instead of in student-mode. Although I'm not sure my wallet appreciated being taken out of student mode.

Now we walked a fair lot and I have to say, I have blisters ALL OVER my feet. It's definitely a great idea to wear new-ish sandals on a long walk for the first time in a year (NOT). After we left Jill's neighbourhood, we had to walk a bit through Sketchtown (all the way down Sketchy Street - replete with under-the-bridge-tunnels and hobos and such) but we finally made it to Atwater Market (which is this covered marketplace with lots of stalls with cool food) ... just in time to see it close. Disappointed, we rewarded ourselves with some macarons (which by the way I realized is the food of GODS, because they are amazingly delish!) while sitting by the canal.

The sun, the warm air ... well, I totally zoned out for a bit. All I wanted to do was nap. (Which is precisely what I did once I got home - what, naps at 6pm are TOTALLY legit!). But being that I have to blog about exciting things, we also did a mini photoshoot by the canal as well.

 

 Two total babes rocking it out!

Of Chicago - Best City Ever!

I have found my place. I had that same gut reaction to it as I did when I visited London ... it just felt right. Let me preface this by saying that what may have added to my experience (besides the architecture, layout, etc) are the PEOPLE. I don't know why there's a general belief that Canadians are the nice ones, because Chicagoans are BY FAR the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of interacting with. At the airport, at the hotel, in the stores and the cafes - everyone is so NICE! They smile, they ask about your day, they chat ... Even the TSA agents. That's right. And as soon as I was passing through Canadian customs (with Canadian workers), the change was so abrupt, it was kinda ridiculous. Gone were the smiles and the jokes and back were the abrupt "move along Ma'am" and such. But that's just my two cents ...

In any case, we started out our day in Evanston ... Now my original plan was to walk to Chicago downtown, because on the map, it all looked so close! My new friends quickly disabused me of the notion however, and we hopped on the metro.

Good to know that if I run out of cash, I can just pay my way with kisses!

 The train runs above ground and it was really great to be able to see the surrounding areas. I was pretty jazzed about the day ...

It may have been the coffee.
Just maybe.

I was also lucky enough to be visiting during the warmest and sunniest weekend in recent history, so there was that as well.

The one thing I do have to say about the trains ... well, I prefer Boston`s T. Which is saying a lot. Thankfully I was chilling with my new friends and didn`t mind, but this thing took forever and a day. It was also quite jostl-y. On the way back, I had to stand and I felt like I was on a rollercoaster ride.

But then we arrived in the downtown area of Chicago, and all that was forgotten. I was in love! The city is just so grand, and so clean and so white! The sense of space (due to the large side walks) but also depth (due to the extremely tall skyscrapers) was extremely pleasing. 

And the thing about the downtown area is that it`s BIG and stretches out for more than just a few blocks (which is the case in all Canadian cities I`ve visited). It`s not just - oh hey, a couple of towers and then we`re back to the suburbs. Nope, it was a veritable city.

After a short stroll, we grabbed some food and headed in the direction of Millenium Park.

Can you tell I was jazzed about getting Chipotle? And my friend Angela was equally jazzed about photobombing me ... In any case, it was my first time at this fine establishment and so I asked for the salad and the extra guac, thinking I'd get a nice little scoop on the side. Nope. The lady shovelled what seemed to be the equivalent of two whole avocados worth of guacamole on top of the lettuce. Needless to say I was full pretty much the entire day.

Eating our lunch outside, picnic-style in Millenium Park was great. The park is so big! And it's not heavily wooded or anything, so you really get the sense of space from how it stretches out between all the tall buildings. And the lake ... ah, the lake. I have determined that wherever I end up living HAS to be in close proximity to water and preferably a lake or an ocean rather than a river. I need to feel the vast expanse, man!

Oh, and as we were eating lunch, we were of course people-watching (because duh, that's what you do in parks, right?) and guess what we saw ...

What, they don't do segway tours in your city? Pity.

I was mega jealous, of course. The only thing that prevented me from rushing out for my very own segway was my equally intense desire not to wear those little yellow helmets in public. Also, they screw up your hair.

Now on the far side of the park is the infamous Bean.

Pretty cool, but I've already seen something similar when I visited some scienc-y museum in Paris. Still, it was pretty darn cool!

Of course from the inside, the bean looks like something ... very very naughty. I of course possess the dirtiest mind in existence and could not help myself from giggling like a five year old.

After passing by a skating rink (right in the middle of the city and everything!) and a couple of drumming bands (seriously, just groups of kids busking on street corners by playing on the backs of buckets and such ... reminded me very much of the fine film Drumline), we stopped by the Chicago Cultural Center to tick off our cultural visit of the day. (Too lazy and cheap to go to actual legit museums).

Therein, we inadvertently stumbled upon another rather inappropriate exhibition (which we of course examined with gusto, and which I will go into more detail on in a future Culture Shock post). Having done our requisite artsy visit, it was onto the Michigan Mile!

God, it was beautiful. I was just having intense I-want-to-move-here-immediately-please-someone-marry-me-and-give-me-a-green-card thoughts. Almost jumped random pedestrians and everything. (On a side note, while I would rank the city as a whole a whopping 10000000 out of 10, the quality of its men was closer to a 2/10. I don't know if all the good looking ones were hiding or something, but man, there were slim pickings!).

And the river, oh wow, the river!

Just ... the colour, and the bridges and EVERYTHING!

However, while I was snapping away tons of photos of the buildings and the river and such (my poor poor new friends, manhandled into being my photographers for the day ...), every male over the age of five was snapping photos elsewhere.

Why yes, that IS a giant status of Marilyn Monroe, and OF COURSE every male in the surrounding area wanted to take a photo standing between her legs. Looking up. Keeping it classy, Chicago!

Walking up Michigan Avenue gave me an insane urge to shop, of course, but I kept my dolla bills close to pay off the hotel for all the room service and mini bar snackage that I had managed to accomplish in my short stay.

So basically, in summary - looking for potential rich future Chicago-residing husband/sugar daddy who would like to finance my move there.

Also -

It's true. They don't call it the Windy City for nothing!

Of Campus Touristry

Despite crashing WAY TOO LATE (11:30pm ... yes, I am a Grandma) and tipsy, my brain still somehow woke me up at 6am (I love travelling westward ... the time difference is soooo pleasant!). So I was a little ball of nerves for a good 3 hours while trying simultaneously to study up on my interviewers and watching Charmed on TV. I LOVE 6am television - it's all the things I never get to watch otherwise!

All dressed up and ready to go!

 After breakfast, I (despite having some issues with getting lost ... I think I walked past the people I was supposed to meet up with at least twice before I realized where I was supposed to be ... whoops!), finally managed to start my campus tour. The grad students I met up with were absolutely lovely and friendly and definitely added to the experience. 

Well, what can I say? The campus was beautiful! The weather was mild and perfectly sunny and the campus was so peaceful, I just wanted to sit on a bench and enjoy the breeze. (Which by the way was definitely ever-present ... so Windy City does deserve its name!).

I loved the beautiful stonework on most of the buildings (and the rest were quite structurally attractive concrete). I think that it was a study week before exams so there weren't many people about, which definitely added to the relaxed air.

The department was (as always) housed in ... less than impressive quarters. That is, the faculty offices themselves were in a delightful old three story house - replete with a tower and creaky spiral staircases and little nooks and crannies. But the labs were across the street in the basement (absolutely typical of my major at most universities) and that was less than stellar.

They were also shared with the Psychology department. Of course. Also, please note my absolutely terrific posing. Clearly, I need to be on the cover of Vogue, right now.

The best part though? The university is right on the lake.

Look, it's Chicago in the distance!

Basically, the sand was white, the water was beautiful, and if it wasn't just a teeny bit windy (whoops, understatement) and chilly, I would have been out there tanning and swimming in a second.

I roped some poor grad student into taking photos of me all day ... No shame. I also took a lot of blurry pictures of random buildings and trees, but I'll spare you from my awe-inspiring photography.

I also encountered another university-specific phenomenon ...

The painted rock. What is it with university students and spray painting weird objects? I know for a fact there's a similar thing going on at my hometown university as well. I never got it. I've taken painting lessons from a young age and I can tell you, painting on rock does not result in the best of paintings. 

And doing my due diligence as a good tourist, I also took a couple of pictures of the city outside of the campus as well.

 By that point, it was 5pm and I was WIPED. Too much talking and listening and people time and walking around (hence my less than stellar photography of Evanston proper). I literally collapsed back on bed on the hotel and vegged out to Law and Order for the rest of the night.

Oh and I may have ordered absolutely delicious room service. This BLT sandwich was heaven in my mouth. I just ... no words.

Of Fancy Breakfasts

So the main reason for my being in the Chicago area was to visit the campus of Northwestern University. Well, my brain being the bizarre thing that it is, I woke up at 6am (despite crashing, slightly tipsy, at 11:30pm the night before ... 6.5hrs of sleep is NOT my idea of a good night). Waking up in a comfy Queen bed ... at a hotel ... with the sun shining through your windows? Well, it was perfect :)

Of course sleeping is great and all, but the best part of the day is always (and will always be) breakfast.

 
Starting off with coffee of course. The first of many ... (and yes, even though it was brewed coffee, it was delicious - smooth and without that bitter aftertaste that bad brewed coffee has). Cup 1/5.

I wanted to kidnaps these cute jam jars. I love cute tiny things (re: my obsession with travel sized accessories). I love jars. So obviously I spent a good 10 minutes photographing these little jars of jam. I bet the waiters thought I was cray cray.

I had my usual oatmeal, but I swear, everything tastes better when it's fancified. I also bet they didn't make it in the microwave like I do. I keep telling myself that eventually I'll make proper stove-top oats with milk at home, but then I get lazy just thinking about all that work and pop them babies in the microwave with some tap water. I am one classy lady.

Of the Hilton Hotel

I was lucky enough to be housed at the super swanky Hilton Orrington in Evanston during my visit to the United States.

It was ... amaze-balls. I mean, I think my new thing will be to just spend one night a month just sleeping at a swanky hotel back home. Because nothing can compare to the comfort of a clean, turned down and amazingly soft hotel bed.

Or two. I had a double suite but no one to share it with. So I alternated lazing around first on one bed, then the other. Can I just reiterate how amazing these beds are? It's like sleeping on a cloud, with pillows made of more clouds and a cloud covering you as you dream.

The huge desk and the giant TV alternatively made me want to work and not work in equal measure. I particularly loved the giant mirror above the desk - because who doesn't love being distracted by their awesome face every time they look up from their work? (No one, that's who.) I definitely erred heavily on the non-working side, what with the TV and the self-reflection (oh haha, get it?).

And the cherry on top of the ice cream?

A full length mirror. Of the non-fattening variety. If there was any way to stow it in my luggage back to Canada, I would, because man, I need this baby in my life. It might be just a TAD oversize though ...

And this being the Hilton, even the toilets were fancy.

My favorite part? All the little free sample-size toiletries! You can be sure I'll be carrying these lovely little shower thingies and body lotion majiggers home with me. Because who doesn't love free bath extras?

All in all - I was mightily pleased with my accommodations. Man, I guess I have to finally give Paris Hilton a point ... for being the daughter of the guy who owns these ultra faboosh hotels!

Of the Best Airline Experience … Ever

(Disclaimer: No, I wasn’t paid for this – but my experience was SO great, that I have to put this out there.)

My trip started with some … questionable packing. My suitcase was (for once) not overweight, but the same couldn’t be said for my shoulder bag. I also felt sorry for the sole remaining banana in my kitchen, so I managed to stick it in there …

Oh yea, and I had 4 hard boiled eggs in my 21st-century brown paper bag. I like to have snacks.
I also like to be early for my flights. This time though, I was just a little overeager … I was at my gate 3 hours before the boarding time. Yep, you could say I jumped the gun on that one. Solution – read up on my interviewers tomorrow and …

Tim’s COFFEE! (I didn’t win anything though … sadness).

In any case, 3 hours later, we were boarding the plane. First of all, they also had an option where you could gate-check your carryon, which I’ve never known about. This is VERY convenient, I find, because when you get off the plane, the bag is just sitting there, ready for you to pick up.

Porter Airlines does smaller flights (domestic mostly, although they also apparently fly to Chicago). So the airplane had two seats on one side and two on the other.

People, I’m 5’11’’. I have sat in way too many cramped airplane seats (pretty much all of them … *cough* Air Canada *cough* WestJet *cough* British Airlines *cough*). But but but HERE, I wasn’t a first class passenger and yet I could actually *gasp* move my legs around!

But the best is yet to come!

Free booze! (times 2 … whoops).

Free food (in a cute box!). There was a cute little sandwich and a cute little container of yogurt with a cute little piece of chocolate. I’m saving these for when I get hungry in Chicago. Instead, I ate my packed salad (mainly because I really didn’t want it to go bad …)

Lettuce, chicken, eggs, yum. Also onions – lucky person sitting beside me!

We landed in Toronto City Airport (tiny airport, right downtown too – so when you land, you get to fly by all the skyscrapers!) and I was just a TAD concerned about making my 7:40pm flight when we had landed at 7pm. As seen above, I like to be there EARLY. But not to fear. Seriously, this was the easiest connection I have ever done. It took all of 5 minutes. Oh and then you get to go to the lounge, where they have:

Free water! (If you saw the giant 2L bottle of water I brought on the first flight, you KNOW I need me some H20. Constantly).

And …

Free tea! Of the Tazo variety to boot! There was also free coffee and I think cereal? In any case, the lounge was great, and before I knew it, we were boarding the next flight.

The thing I have to say about these smaller planes – you can really talk to the person next to you. You guys aren't squished together like sardines in a can (like on some other flights), which I feel facilitates actual conversation, instead of the awkward you’re-sitting-on-my-arm and your-giant-duffel-is-taking-up-all-of-the-floor-space glares you usually send on commercial flights (what, just me with the glares?). I had an absolutely amazing conversation with a gentleman who happened to be sitting beside me – and he was a President of a communications company to boot! I really enjoyed learning about his life story and seeing how he ended up where he did – so much so that I did not even notice the 2 hour flight from Toronto to Chicago.

All in all, it was an amazing flight. The only issue I would say is that this is a small airline. Which means the aircraft is small. Which means landing and takeoff are … a little bumpy. Not for the faint of heart. But hey, that’s probably why they serve copious amounts of free booze. (Let me tell you, it definitely helps!).

And now I’m in Evanston, chilling at the Hilton and trying to calm my nerves about speaking to the professors tomorrow. I’ll do a full review of the place tomorrow, but man, it is FIIIIIINE.