Monday, February 25, 2008

You've Got to Be Kidding Me


Yes, that's snow in the photo. I hear we're supposed to get four inches. Fantastic. Not sure how much more we can take...

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Jesus Christ Superstar!

Last night John and I went to see my favorite musical, Jesus Christ Superstar at the Cadillac Palace Theater here in Chicago. I've seen JC Superstar several times, and I have to say this was my least favorite production. I guess each producer or director puts his or her personal spin on the show, and this one just wasn't my cup of tea. Herod was awful, and it was a much scaled down, minimalist production. We still enjoyed it, even though the guy next to me was furiously taking digital pictures of the stage and the fat ladies behind us were singing along.
Ted Neeley, the original "Jesus" from the 1971 movie, played Jesus and was awesome! I think he definitely made the show.

Movie Marathon


Today John dragged me to an all-day movie marathon showing all five Best Picture nominees. I thought it would be a complete nerdfest, but it was actually pretty fun! The whole thing is 11 hours, but luckily we'd already seen the last two movies, so we only had to sit through three. It was only $30 per person, and they throw in a free large popcorn (with free refills). I'm pretty sure I don't want to eat popcorn again for a really long while.
Aside from Juno, none of the best picture nominees are particularly uplifting, that's why I'm hoping Juno wins tomorrow night. All in all, it was a fun day. Unfortunately, this happened to be the only sunny and mild (30 degrees) day we've had in awhile, so it was a bummer to stay in all day.

Friday, February 22, 2008

A New Favorite: Southport Grocery


Back to our favorite things about Chicago, or in this instance it's Megan's favorite things, since John hasn't had the opportunity to eat at the yummy Southport Grocery. Part high-end grocery store, part restaurant, this place is fabulous! I've only been for brunch, but I'm already sold.
SG is famous for its cupcakes. I consider myself a bit of a cake connoisseur, since it's my favorite food and all, and the SG cupcakes do not disappoint. I think they're touted as best in Chicago, which is saying a lot in a city full of trendy cupcake places. They even have cupcake pancakes (which are awesome, by the way).
Their brunch menu has something for everyone. I went there with my brunch group one morning, we each got something different, and everyone loved what they ordered. The grocery part of the store is really neat, too. They have a little prepared foods counter, as well as a pastry section where you can get those to-die-for cupcakes.
Unfortunately we don't make it to this cute little area too often because the nearest el stop is closed for construction and parking is rather difficult. As soon as the stop re-opens, we plan to become regulars!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Music Direct Commercial

Check out the commercial that American Express made with my boss! Keep an eye out for it on TV!

Monday, February 18, 2008

Second City



We decided to be tourists again and went to the Second City Comedy Club. It was totally full, which says a lot about a place on Sunday night. The six comedians do skit after skit in a rapid fire presentation, each skit lasting anywhere from 1 minute to 10 minutes. They make the skits by making it all up and refining it performance after performance again until it's really funny. Tons of famous comedians honed their skills at the Second City including Harold Ramis, John Belushi, John Candy, Bill Murray, Dan Castellaneta, Bonnie Hunt, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Steve Carell, Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, just to name a few! As you can see, a lot of them go on to Saturday Night Live and beyond. Below is a movie about the theater group and the TV show it inspired in the 70's and 80's. Needless to say, it was hilarious!

Friday, February 15, 2008

82 Days and Counting!

Maybe it's the fact that it's freezing outside, or possibly it could be the huge snow storm we're supposed to get this weekend, but our vacation can't seem to get here quickly enough! It will probably be warm here in Chicago by the time we leave, but it still leaves us something to look forward to -- a light at the end of the dark tunnel that is winter in Chicago.

We've decided to go to a resort in Mexico. We've been to Mexico before, on our honeymoon actually, so we know we will have a great time and it will be a nice escape from the city. Can't wait!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Here Comes the Sun!


What's the significance of the above picture, you say? Well, it's a sunny day, something we Chicagoans haven't experienced in what seems like forever! I even had to close the drapes in my office because it felt like I was getting a sunburn. Too bad it doesn't feel as good as it looks outside: it's only around 20 degrees. A big improvement from the last couple of days, though, since we got several inches of snow yesterday. For those of you in nicer climates, please send some sunshine our way!
P.S. My building is the dark brown one on the very left of the pic. If you look really close, you might be able to see me waving at John from my window.

Monday, February 11, 2008

More Snow?!

After braving arctic temps yesterday (I don't think it got above zero degrees), I am looking out my office window and seeing snow flurries. Apparently we're supposed to get a couple of inches tonight and around four inches tomorrow. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. I like winter, but this has been a bit excessive. Pretty sure everyone in Chicago has Seasonal Affective Disorder - I sure feel like I do.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Tourists for a Day

We played tourists today and visited the Shedd Aquarium and shopped on Michigan Avenue. We usually stick around our neighborhood on the weekends and avoid all the craziness that is downtown, but it was nice to be among all the hustle and bustle.
The Aquarium was super fun! We saw lots of neat little creatures, and we took a picture of the door lettering John created when he temped in their design department. We had so much fun that we decided we will try to do touristy things more often, just not until it warms up a bit. As you can see in the picture, there's still a good amount of snow on the ground, and tomorrow the high is supposed to be a whopping 3 degrees!



Thursday, February 7, 2008

Rats!

Today is the first day of the first month of the Lunar New Year. Apparently this is the Year of the Rat. We're nervous about what this might mean for all the rats that live in our dumpster. Hopefully there won't be more of them!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Super Fat Tuesday



Today is Super Tuesday, so John and I got up early and headed to the polls. Today is also Fat Tuesday, meaning we have to think of something to give up for Lent. John has decided to give up desserts, and I've decided to do the same for moral support. I've also committed to five days of exercise each week. Hopefully these next 40 days will help make these new habits stick.

I hope everyone got out there to vote - we're so fortunate to be able to so fully participate in the democratic process.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Early Spring Cleaning

Getting organized is one of those continuing projects around our house. Today we tackled the three junk drawers in the kitchen and were quite successful, if we say so ourselves. The Container Store (a.k.a. mecca for anal retentive types like Megan) had just the drawer organizers we needed. So, in case any of you care, we've posted pics of our new well-organized drawers. I also did my underwear drawer but didn't feel like sharing it with the internet. Oh yeah, and here's a bonus picture of Simon, doing what he does best - acting silly.