One more...

For a little comic relief!

Flashback...

I was going through some photos today, and I came across this one from our trip to the San Antonio Zoo over the summer. It was the very first picture of the day, and I love it.

Who can resist that face? And his hair...

I can't wait to see everyone in Texas next week. You know I'm missing y'all and now the end is in sight!

Fall in Millenium Park

First, I made this apple pie for my professor's birthday. Delicious!

Downtown Chicago has this giant park named Millenium Park. Right now it has the most gorgeous trees. Trudy and I visited it while she was here. It has this thing called "the bean".

This was at the Art Institute. That place was AMAZING! And it's free on Thursday nights, so I might just go back!

Six weeks left...

And I can't believe the time has gone by so fast. I'm still having a great time and really enjoying every day, even though it seems like we just keep getting busier! But since I last posted, a lot has happened. I'll try to recap some of the highlights here.

I went to the Harold Washington Library Center, which is like the biggest library in Chicago. It's one square block and eight stories tall. I was in heaven. This bookshelf holds only knitting and crocheting books.
I discovered the Art Here. Art Now. project. One of the artists involved creates sculptures using only recycled plastic bags and packaging.

I went to Union Station, hopped on a train and somehow got to Grandma's Girls, where I surprised Mom. This took a lot of help from Aunt Lisa.

I spent a day with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Penny. Grandpa took us for a ride to enjoy the fall foliage and picked me an apple to eat on the train back to Chicago.

I chopped off all my hair.

I went to a super fancy Target. It's even got an escalator for you AND you cart.

I had Thai food for the first (and second) time, and drank a delicious pomegranate martini.

I went to the northern suburbs of the city for a day with Amanda, another student in the program who lives in the suburbs. We attended a hilarious play, a charity event that included a cocktail hour afterward and a raffle. I won the raffle! (It was two tickets to an upcoming show, but I'll be back in CO then, sadly.) We then went out to eat with Amanda's family and basically just had a great time. Here's a shot of the fall foliage here.

Robert came to visit, and we checked out all the coolest museums, like the Field Museum. It was Rob's favorite.

We went to a 3D show.

We met Sue, the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever found.

We went to the Shedd Aquarium, where we saw a 4D show.

And this awesome octopus. We also got to see a tegu (think giant lizard) up close and personal and watcxh him eat some bugs.

I hosted an enchilada dinner for my program. Delicious!

Rob and I went up in the Sears (now Willis) Tower, to the sky decks. They were terrifying.

Here we are, 100+ floors above the street.

Pretty Chicago.

I made chicken and dumplings.

I made ranch cheddar burgers. I'm really getting good at this cooking thing. :)

I tried to be cute every day. It worked out occasionally. :)

I really have done so much more than just this but these are the basic highlights, not including school stuff. This at least gets me sort of caught up.

I'm planning another train ride soon, to Quincy again, so I can be in Missouri for Thanksgiving. The round trip ticket is only about $50, while a plane ticket home is $400. You know which one I'm choosing! Until then I'll just be working frantically on my Independent Study Project and trying to stay on top of all my school work. Wish me luck!

A busy week? More like a busy month.

And I don't have time for editing pictures, so what you see is what you get. Straight off my phone camera, my little camera, my big camera, or stolen off of Amanda's Facebook page. I have no shame. These first pictures are in a randome order and of random things...big events are clumped together towards the end.

My roommate Alyse with the stray cat we wanted to keep. He was so sweet, and would cry outside our window all day long. We think his owner must have found him, because he hasn't been around for a few days.
The view down the highway from the 47th Street Red Line Station. We don't generally take the train from Hyde Park to other parts of the city, but when we do, it's this station. It's easier to access Hyde Park by bus, but some places are very convenient to get to by train.

This is the kind of weather we've been having. Sunny, but cold. Jackets are necessary, closed toed shoes are not. Yet.

This morning after my interviews, all dressed up.

We attended a peace rally here. You may have heard of Derrion Albert, he was an honor roll student who was dragged into a fight and beated to death on his walk home from school last year. They held this rally on the anniversary of his death to try to stop youth violence.

The view down the Chicago River from the top of the giant Whole Foods in Lincoln Park.

Didn't someone say they wanted a picture of my hair blowing in the wind? Here you go. Believe me, it happens every day.

One of the last buildings left of Cabrini-Green, a notorious public housing development in Chicago.

The buildings going up right next door. Selling from the low 300s, the signs say. It's an ideal location close to downtown, and no one is talking about the tens of thousands of people in public housing displaced by this. Chicago is eliminating all of its high rise public housing, and replacing it with basically nothing.

A building in the process of destruction.

My birthday! A very cool lunch box I got from Trudy and her family.

A homemade friendship bracelet in my choice of colors by Amanda, another girl in the program who lives above me, planned my birthday, and was the director of a summer camp this past year.

My surprise from Robert.

Sooooo delicious! Everyone enjoyed them. I tried both flavors, but loved the spice cake the best.

Cupcakes and champagne before we went out to dinner, and everyone sang happy birthday.

Dinner at Dick's Last Resort. My hat kept falling off, and it almost caught fire when the waitress lit an entire book of matches in my sundae.

Meagan's birthday! She also lives above me, and turned 20 on the 27th. I made funfetti cupcakes with rainbow chip frosting.

I left frosting off of two because she doesn't like most frosting, but she liked this kind so I later frosted those two naked ones.

We had Giordano's deep dish cheese pizza for dinner. They're a big name in Chicago, and we demolished the pizza. Meagan enjoyed her cupcake.

She even meditated with it.

Alyse is interning for a new non-profit organization called Barrio Bonito, which is basically a career building group for at risk youth with artistic talents. They were having a fundraiser at the Crimson Lounge, with all kinds of spoken word poets and rap and hip-hop artists, including some youth artists. Some of us girls volunteered to help Alyse out, and it was a good thing we did, because we were basically the only people working the entire event. It was crazy and long and a ton of fun.

Me, Meagan, and Amanda.

Maureen, me, and Meagan, and some creepy guy in the back.

A youth artist who is part of the program working on a piece in the silent auction room.

As you can tell, it's crazy busy here right now, and it doesn't seem like it's going to let up, especially since I'm starting my internship next week. I interviewed at two places today, and have decided on a position working in a school health clinic. I'm excited to get started.