I AM FROM . .  .

Today, in an exercise with a peer advisory group I'm in, we had to write a paper in 10 minutes with the topic "I Am From . . ."  Here is what poured out without much thought, but rather from the heart:

I am from Randall and Mattie and grandparents I never knew.
I am from small towns in Arkansas, from which I could not wait to escape, but which provided the platform for me being able to try cases to jurors all across the socio-economic range and still be successful.
I am from a love of animals, especially dogs.  In that sense, I am from Bugle, Bud, Murphy, Sadie, Cooper, and Chloe.
I am from a childhood of days riding bikes, going to the swimming pool, hanging out with friends and not seeing my parents until dinner or bedtime, something my child has never known because of my worries for her safety.
I am from Moon Pies and RC Cola, when I could purchase each for a quarter.
I am from a world of growing up with no cell phones, no social media, and not being surrounded by televisions, for which I am grateful.  I am from a world of books.
I am from a family where conflict never occurred, and then married a man who beat me brutally one night and turned me into a single mom and sole parent.
I am from a childhood of Christianity, which frustrated me endlessly, and, after much studying and searching, have adopted Buddhism as my philosophy and practice.
I am from a place of endless curiosity in my mind about the world and places I have not seen, which makes commitment to a person or place challenging for me.                           I am from a place of many challenges, but from which I somehow manage to survive and grow.

 I have wanted to edit this ever since I wrote it, but feel I would somehow betray myself by doing so. It's what I felt at that time.  It's . . . where I'm from, I suppose.

Back to Sea Level

Wow . . . it's been over a year. And . . . I'm now . . . back to sea level. Unexpected? Completely. Lots of changes. In April, with the economic picture at my employer looking even gloomier, and with the construction industry tanking causing Robert to get laid off, we decided it was time to leave Colorado and make a new start . . . but we were never looking at Arkansas. I was a finalist for a job in North Carolina . . . that unfortunately went to the interim GC. Then Robert was offered a position in Toronto (but I couldn't practice law there and, with a child to still put through college, I need to practice law for several more years.) Then Robert started looking in Texas, and I started a long process for a position in the Pacific Northwest. Out of the blue, in September, a former colleague told me of a position coming open back home, that, truly, was the only position I could imagine that would take me back to a state I thought I had left for good. I applied and within 4 weeks was making plans to move back home. And would my Canadian ever consider moving to the American South? The first time he ever set foot in the state was the day he flew in to look at houses with me. It was a bumpy time in the relationship . . . big changes. His green card had yet to arrive and, as ICE made very clear, would not be forwarded. So, could he move? He had just started a new job in Denver a couple of weeks before I accepted the job back home. His soccer development business he started over the summer was going gangbusters. What right did I have to do this so suddenly? Love was put to the test. And, thankfully, love won out. Robert threw all caution (reason?) to the wind, quit his job, and moved with me and Bug to Arkansas. The packers were scheduled for Friday, November 5. The green card arrived one day before . . . it was fated.

The loaders arrived on the 6th and mistakenly packed all the bedding and pillows we intended to sleep on that night. So . . . we improvised . . . boy, did we improvise . . . we drove to Colorado Springs to say bye to Robert's daughter and treated ourselves WITH THE BOXERS to a night at The Broadmoor . . . it was FABULOUS . . . absolutely fabulous. And the dogs got a turn down service with beautiful dogs beds, ceramic bowls, gourmet cookies, and gold tags identifying them as "Guests of The Broadmoor". It was hysterical, but wonderful. Other guests' reactions to the Boxers the entire visit was very funny. (Rich doggies, more than 1 person whispered as we passed -- hardly) Bug's birthday was the next morning, so we had the famous Broadmoor Brunch with Robert's daughter. We ate way too much food, said our goodbyes, and made our way back to the room to see if the Boxers had been good or if they had been taken to the security office for unruliness (which the brochure had warned of) . . . We opened the door to the room and two bodies bounded off of the very expensive duvets on our beds (so much for the nice dog beds).

That day and the next were LOOOOOONNNNGGGG days of driving before we finally arrived at our new hometown. Although we arrived on a Monday, we weren't taking possession of the house until Friday. So our very first home (again with the Boxers) was the Embassy Suites. It was a fast week, moved in over the weekend, and I started my new job on Monday (big mistake . . . huge). From then to now, it's been a whirlwind. On Thanksgiving night, Robert and I finally married . . . in our beautiful gardens that came with the house, under an arch he covered in twinkle lights, next to our waterfall that leads to our koi pond. It had rained all day, but quit raining 20 minutes before the Justice of the Peace showed up, and stayed dry until she left after the ceremony at which point the rains flowed again. Again, fated. It was a beautiful, quiet ceremony, attended by Bug and . . . of course, the Boxers.

Here we are in May, and things have not settled down in the time we've been here. Bug and I have both had some fairly serious issues with our spines, oddly enough. Robert worked non-stop on the house and its "projects" for a full 2 months before starting a job that has been difficult, to say the least. My job has been much more challenging than I expected. Bug is trying to make her way through new teachers, new and old friends, and new curriculum. We've had record snowstorms, tornadoes, and flooding, and some days it's really tough to remember why we ever thought we should leave Colorado. But, here I am . . . back at sea level . . . and anxious to see what the future holds.

The Tree at the Labyrinth

Yesterday, the two groups going through the spirituality training I've been engaged in since January were carpooled to a sanctuary near Sedalia, Colorado, for a day of meditation and inner work. The sanctuary was the brain child of a woman who lost her daughter and was guided by her spirit to build a labyrinth to allow people to heal, and two attorneys who cashed in their 401K's to buy the land, build the sanctuary, and the various meditation areas that you find when you explore the paths on the land. The sanctuary is also supported by Douglas County and numerous individuals. Inside the actual sanctuary, there are bookshelves filled with books donated by people from all walks of life and all religions -- it's open to everyone, irrespective of personal beliefs, as a place to heal. It was an amazing day . . . in addition to the large group work, we spent about 5 hours in meditation utilizing different techniques in different small group sessions during the day: Nature, Qigong, Sanctuary, Labyrinth, and Writing. The time in the sanctuary, going through a cleansing and healing meditation, was the most powerful for me. I think I floated out of the Sanctuary down to the Labyrinth to go on a walking meditation. At the center of the Labyrinth, I received the answer to a question I'd been seeking. At the end of the day, before the groups met up again, I had my writing session where we were given two assignments: one, write about the experience of the day to be read by my main teacher and the other, to write from the perspective of an inanimate object that you had come in contact during the day. I wrote from the perspective of . . . .

The Tree at the Labyrinth
. . . . . I was here . . . waiting on you to lean on me. I saw you look around at the other trees, trying to decide which was "the best", but you were drawn to me, even with the curve in my trunk. You fell back against me, almost in exhaustion. The sanctuary experience was tough on you. It's hard for you to let go or release. It's hard for you to let someone see you vulnerable. It's hard for you to let people put their hands on you and not pull back --- you're so scared that when they touch you, they will see through your carefully constructed facade that you're strong, tough, independent, and don't need anyone else in the world . . . when, actually, you don't feel like you're any of those things at times and that you do need people. So, I was glad to be here for you today. I was glad you leaned on me and felt my sturdiness. You need to recognize your roots are as strong as mine.

I can't wait to return to the Sanctuary with Robert and Mattie and show them my beautiful tree. The one that supported me when I needed it so.

Creating A Vision Board

Busy, busy past month . . . and haven't wanted to write much since Kayla crossed over. Our entire family, dogs included, have been in mourning and a bit out of sync. But, on January 23rd, I began a very personal journey of further developing my spirituality and beliefs. Not a fan of religious dogma, I'm studying under two gifted and wise teachers, and I'm on this journey with a group of 25 others. For the next nine months, we're going to engage in some butt-kicking, gut-wrenching introspective work. My first assignment was to create a "vision board". A vision board, in and of itself, is a simple concept: take a poster board, glue onto it pictures or words that represent what you want out of life, and consistently view it so that you begin to manifest those things in your life. There is a scientfic principal behind it --at the base of the human brain stem, in between the medulla oblongata and the mesencephalon, there is a small finger-sized control center called the reticular activating system (RAS) that sorts and evaluates the huge amount of incoming information your brain receives. Your RAS filters that massive amount of incoming data and also acts as receiver for information that is tagged as "important". According to one university researcher, your RAS can’t distinguish what is a real event and one you contrive, and, therefore, you can exploit this weakness to program it to seek out things in our environment that resonate with our personal goals, i.e., through the use of a vision board. For me, however, that science stuff just sucks all the fun and mystery out of it --- I prefer to just refer to it as the "law of attraction" that has received so much media attention over the past several years with the popularity of "The Secret". Anyway, I made my vision board, pasting onto it the things I desire most in my life --- my relationships, city I want to live in, places I want to travel to, wealth, healthy living, music, words that I want to frame my life, yada yada yada. I'm not sure, though, that I might not revise it. For example, I put on it a picture of a black 7 series, BMW (I once was given one for a weekend to enjoy -- ooh la la, what a ride), but, after reflection, I really don't want a $100,000 car ---- it, in no way, resonates with who I am. So, I think my "vision" might need revisions, but I've made a great start. I even put my board into the transparency cover on the front of my class notebook so that I see it every day and am, hopefully, manipulating my RAS to make this stuff my reality. Time will tell . . .

Goodbye, Sweet Kayla

Today is a very sad day for our family. The matriarch of our canines, Kayla, crossed over this morning. What a beautiful soul . . . she would have been 16 years old in May. Robert got her when he was living in British Columbia, and she's been through a lot with him over the years. Always faithful, always loving. I've never seen a dog as crazy about food. She did this happy dance every time we would feed her . . . . bouncing back and forth between the 2 back legs and the 2 front legs, then twisting, and, if you weren't fast enough with the food bowl, barking at you to speed things up. And she had an amazing internal clock that, if we happened to be home, exactly at 5:00 p.m., she would come find you so that you could fill that food bowl. The Boxers, who previous to our family merger had been "pick at the bowl all day long" eaters, learned quickly to eat their food or it would be gone.

Over the holidays, we knew something was up because she stopped doing the happy dance. She stopped eating her food at one point, but we bought her a different food which she seemed to love, so we hoped she had just tired of the old food. However, a few days ago, she stopped showing interest in that food . . . then we found some soiled spots on the carpet . . . something was definitely not right. Friday night, when Mattie and I came home, Robert was on the floor with her . . . he said she had stumbled coming down the stairs and just stayed where she fell. She wouldn't eat or drink. Later that night, though, Robert's daughter came over . . . we were going to go skiing the next day, so she was going to spend the night with us. Kayla perked up a little when she arrived. The next morning, she even ate her breakfast and went outside with the other dogs . . . we thought maybe the previous evening had just been a sore muscle or hip. We had neighbors check on her throughout the day, and she seemed okay Saturday night when we returned from skiing. However, on Sunday, she barely moved the entire day. Wouldn't eat . . . even when I cooked her chicken, which she loved. Wouldn't eat her cookies. Wouldn't play. At one point, I tried to take her out to use the bathroom, and she collapsed at the edge of the patio. I got a blanket and put on the floor and carried her back inside. She didn't move all night and only drank a little water, no food. So, this morning, we called the vet first thing. No appointments available, but they said they could work us in on a walk-in basis. At 10:30, they called us back. The vet took her history from us, checked her heart and her kidneys and told us it was time. Her kidneys were hard and very small . . . and with the lack of output over the course of the weekend, signaled failure. Her heart was very slow and breathing labored. . . . She was suffering, which a grand lady like her should not have to do.

I've never had to do anything like that before.

My first dog, Bugle, went without my knowledge . . . my dad took him to the vet without me even knowing . . . and came home without him. I still struggle with that today . . . the never-getting-to-say-goodbye to my first best friend. My second dog, Bud, was living with my parents when I was at college . . . I came home for the weekend, and my dad told me that Bud was ready to die and that he had just let him out of the pen to go do it on his terms. I was dumbfounded and furious. My brother and I spent the entire day . . . until nightfall . . . looking for his body . . . never found it. My third dog, Murphy, my beloved Basset Hound, was staying with my first husband at the time he crosssed over because I had suspected my second husband, who I was married to at the time, was being abusive to him when I was not around --- this same husband is the one who beat me to a pulp one night for turning down the volume on our TV after putting Bug to bed. So I was not with Murphy either . . . he was 14 though and had lived a great life. My first husband very sweetly took him back to his parents' property in Mena and buried him there. The night my second husband beat me, he also kicked our Great Dane, Sadie, in the mouth as he crossed the room to take me out. So, when I left home to live on the road with Bug (my ex was threatening to kill me), we sheltered Sadie with a vet friend of mine so she wouldn't be hurt by him. Devastated and trying to live as a single parent with a 4-year-old, paying all the bills without any support, I found a couple in Northwest Arkansas who had Sadie's sibling and some other Great Danes . . . I gave her to them to raise while I picked up the pieces of a broken life. They loved her dearly, and I could never bring myself to ask for her back after I got back on my feet a couple of years later. She, too, crossed over before I moved to Colorado, but I wasn't there.

Long story to say that I was not prepared for today. But the vet was incredible. He's the same one who diagnosed Cooper with Addison's Disease, and he was compassionate, competent, and answered all of our questions before we could even ask. He shaved a little area of her beautiful golden leg and inserted the IV. Robert and I held her the entire time . . . . looking into those beautiful, loving brown eyes . . . telling her what a good dog she had been . . . how she had always done everything right . . . how much love and joy she had brought to everyone . . . how we were so thankful she wouldn't have to hurt or struggle anymore. We held her until the very end . . . one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do . . . watch the life go out of a living creature . . . one of our cherished family members.

Goodby, sweet Kayla . . . . we miss you so . . . .

Future You or Past You . . . which one would you rather talk to?

Robert’s daughter gave me a book for Christmas entitled “What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self”. It is a collection of letters written by prominent, successful women and edited by Ellyn Spragins. The writers include Maya Angelou, Cokie Roberts, Olympia Dukakis, Madeleine Albright, Picabo Street, and other wonderful women, and with each letter, the author writes to herself at a younger age . . . giving her younger self a piece of information or advice that she wishes she had known “then” or the encouragement to get through a coming hurdle. The book stuck with me long after I had finished reading it because of the concept. . . . I have had numerous turning points in my life where I would have liked to have had the wisdom of my future. Times when I could have used the older, wiser me to let me know things were going to be okay. The proverbial “this, too, shall pass” might have meant more coming from “future me” as opposed to well-meaning friends. I loved the idea of the letter . . . it seems therapeutic. I loved the idea so much that I sent the idea to my dear friend who is chairing the literary festival in my former state. What if . . . you got women who are successful role models in the state and community to write those letters and read them at a public forum with teen-aged and college-aged women in attendance? . . . could it provide encouragement? . . . could it give them a tool in their war chests to use when life comes at them full force? When I was younger, I never had an ounce of appreciation for the real lives of the women I viewed as successful. To me, their lives seemed charmed. They, obviously, did not wear their trials and tribulations on their sleeves for the rest of us to see, so I assumed the absence of difficulties. So many times, when I was struggling over the years, I considered myself such a “failure” because I was dealing with real-life problems instead of having the carefree life I assumed came with success. As I’ve grown older and seen the challenges me and my friends have overcome, I know now that behind EVERY successful woman is a trail of difficulties she’s encountered and overcome . . . life’s little tests that have made her stronger and brought her to the success that everyone admires.

Shortly after finishing the book, I came across another concept. A local radio DJ found a website at www.futureme.org. With this website, you pick a date in the future to have an email delivered to you . . . it can be one week, one year, twenty years . . . it’s your decision . . . and then you write an email to yourself and have it delivered on that date. (Of course, if you’re picking a date far out in the future, you need to make sure you are going to have the same email address . . . and, of course, hopefully, you’ll still be on planet Earth at your chosen time. ) In any event, I think it has the potential to offer a similar benefit. . . . .

So, who would you rather write to? Your former self or your future self? Try it!

I'm Baaaaaack . . . . .

One year and one month later, I'm finally making this blog a priority once again. I've missed it . . . not sure if anyone else has . . . but, as I looked back at it recently, I realized what a wonderful history of my time in Colorado it provided when I was writing. With my mother having died from an Alzheimer's-related complication, and having shown symptoms in her early sixties, my memories have become increasingly precious to me. Last year has to have been one of the best of my life, and I was so busy living that I didn't really record . . . well . . . anything. I have pictures from our travels, but outside of documenting in a journal one trip to Nanaimo for Robert's dad's funeral, I have nothing. So, while I originally started this blog so that my beloved friends and family in Arkansas would have a window into my life out west, the driving force behind my re-entry into the blogging world is to capture my own life in a format I can return to should the memories begin to fade.

It was a growth year, that's for sure. Robert and I moved in together on December 17, 2008, and started our journey as a family with Bug, 2 Boxers (Cooper and Chloe), and a Golden Retriever (Kayla). In that short time, an awful lot happened. We lost Robert's father to colon cancer in January. In February, Robert started a new job, and we bought a new car (one which I'm still trying to learn to like). Bug finished elementary school and started middle school. Robert suffered a torn plantaris tendon in his men's soccer championship game, two days before we were to leave for California for him to play in a long-anticipated hockey tournament with his former Canadian hockey buddies -- so our summer plans of tennis, hiking the mountains, and biking were over with a nasty slide tackle. In August, we started a soccer team - - - Robert became the coach of Bug's team, while continuing to coach a boys' premier competitive team out of Westminster. I (naively) took on the roles of team manager and fitness trainer. In September and October, Robert patiently nursed me through surgery and the yucky recovery thereafter. Over the course of the year, we traveled to Canada four times, Seattle once, and made lots of weekend jaunts to the ski resorts. We've had to deal with immigration issues, an "ex", and agonizing decisions over where, in the metro area, we want to live.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it all . . . but, it was an incredible year. I have the life partner and relationship I've dreamed about since I was a little girl . . . the one I could never find until I learned some really hard . . . life lessons. Bug. . . . . . finally . . . . . has the father and male role model that has never existed in her life. She has a smart, beautiful, and wonderfully talented "older sister" in Robert's 25-year-old daughter. She has a loving, athletic, fun "older brother" in Robert's 28-year-old son, who has a beautiful, sweet wife, from China, and the most adorable daughter, who just turned 2. We are a twenty-first century, multi-cultural, multi-national family. Robert and I successfully merged dogs, dishes, and lots of furniture. We triumphed over those inevitable first-year challenges . . . and there were some challenges considering our collective baggage of failed marriages . . . two each . . . (and, for each of us, our "second spouses" were real doozies). Yet, I've never felt so incredibly blessed in my life. I feel like I've found the yin to my yang (or is he the yang to my yin . . .?), anyway, it's the best. I have a peace about me that I'm not sure I've ever felt. Robert has said the exact same thing to me. My daughter has blossomed in ways I could not have imagined. So . . . a resolution for 2010 was to not let it get by me without recording some of these terrific life events . . . the triumphs and the tragedies. :) Make no mistake . . . I'm still in search of that "high altitude attitude" . . . I hope you enjoy the journey with me to find it.

Avs beat Canucks 5--4 in an overtime shootout . . .

. . . and someone wasn't happy about it!!! LOL The Colorado Avalanche took on the Vancouver Canucks last night at the Pepsi Center. The Canucks are ranked first in the division, and, apparently, there is quite the rivalry between the two teams. Robert, being from Vancouver Island, is quite the Canucks fan. So off to the game we went . . . in opposing jerseys.





We received lots of looks and comments at the game since we were holding hands and obviously a couple. Other fans found it very amusing to see obvious rivalry in the relationship! Anytime a side would score, people would watch our reactions to each other. The Canadians in the stands were particularly outspoken and very friendly. Luckily for Robert, there were several Canucks fans behind us. One of them took this picture of us while we were still playing "nice", although he told me he cut me out of the picture completely since I was "wearing the wrong jersey."

One very cute thing that happened during the game. Bug (who recently has become the text messaging and emailing QUEEN) watched the game at home with the babysitter and . . . even though Robert and I were AT the game, thought she should email me the score everytime someone made a goal. After the first couple of times she did this, she texted "I will update you everytime the score changes." Again, WE WERE AT THE GAME!! LOL LOL I thought that was one of the cutest, funniest things ever . . . and, by gosh, everytime a goal was scored, I could see the red light going off on my phone. At one point, when we were tied 4-4, she even took a picture of the television screen showing the scoreboard and emailed it to me. With that kind of enthusiasm, Robert and I are committed to taking her with us to the games from now on.

And . . . Robert was selected to play with a Canadian team at an invitational hockey tournament in Santa Rosa in July. And he's invited Bug and I to go with him. So she'll get to see him play. He's supposed to be the "goalie extraordinaire" . . . . I saw one email someone sent out describing him as having "the reflexes of a cat" in goal. Whoo hoo! Can't wait to see that!

All in all, it was a very fun evening . . . although someone never did quite get over the loss . . .

Freezing in Denver

Something not to do today in Denver . . . . it's 16 degrees and supposed to drop to 8. Has been snowing all day and expected to get up to 4 inches. I just want to go home, put on sweats, and snuggle with my Sweetie. But, being this is Colorado, everyone is in full work mode. No delayed school starts, no work closings . . . just business as usual. To top it off, our University president is having his holiday party outside at the zoo tonight!!! Snowing and 8 degrees . . . with an outside party. Granted, dinner is in a pavilion, but still. Trying to think of a way to graciously back out, but nothing's coming to me. . . . . Will make sure not to stick my tongue on any poles. :)

Birthday Weekend in Chicago

Trying to find time to update my blog is difficult these days . . . but that's a good thing because life is filled up with some pretty wonderful times . . . for a change. LOL Anyway, we had an incredible birthday weekend in Chicago on November 7 - 9. Bug's birthday was the 7th . . . can't believe she is 11 years old . . . . for her special day, she wanted to go to Chicago, have her birthday dinner at American Girl Place, see Wicked before it closes there in January, and see her friend Emily who is her friend and our former neighbor in Cherry Creek.


We started off the day with presents at home, then off to the airport. Robert was 2 days off of crutches and in a walking cast. Luckily, Southwest let him pre-board and Bug went with him, so we got decent seats and all together.


We arrived to a chilly, gray Chicago. When you live in Denver, it is EXTREMELY rare to have a gray day. So rare that we were happy to see gray skies for a change. The city still had a tremendous energy from the election 3 days prior to our arrival and, in fact, Obama was speaking on the day we arrived. Our cab took us right by Grant Park where he accepted the presidency.


We stayed at the Millineum Knickerbocker Hotel on East Walton Place, just steps from the Mag Mile. The hotel was great. I especially loved our bathroom and now know what I want in my shower if I ever get to build a house. Shower heads everywhere! It was great! After checking in, we headed to the 900 Shops for lunch and shopping. We dined on antipasto, cheese pizza, and the "famous" chopped salad at Frankie's 5th Floor Pizzeria . . .






Afterwards, we shopped at Bloomingdale's where Robert found some really nice Armani jeans on sale and where, unfortunately, the sales person AND Bug overheard me commenting on how nice his "bootie" looked in them as he was walking away from me after he tried them on. The sales person found it very amusing . . . and continued to talk about it through the checkout process . . . and Bug found it very embarrassing and told me I was never to make those comments in public again. I thought I was making a private comment . . . but nonetheless, I was scolded harshly by my daughter. And Robert, well . . . he seemed to enjoy it all and apparently he thought he looked pretty darn good himself . . . LOL! (And he did!)


After shopping, we went back to the hotel for a short rest before hitting American Girl Place, which has moved from its Chicago Avenue location to the Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue, only 2 1/2 blocks from our hotel . . . entirely too close as we went there 2 days in a row for loooooooonnnnnnggg periods of time, but I digress. Robert had never . . . . um . . . experienced . . . an American Girl Place before, so he was a bit overwhelmed as we walked through the door. Bug, however, was on a mission. She had been studying a catalog we received in the mail for a good 3 days, so she was off and running, armed with a purse full of her money and anticipating Mom would cough up some birthday goods as well. She bought clothes and a dog for Samantha, one of the dolls that's about to be archived for who knows how long (apparently taking a marketing ploy from Walt Disney). She tried on a number of clothes for herself . . . rejecting ALL of the clothes I liked, but "loving" the ones Robert picked out for her to try . . . hmmmmm. Then she bought another doll, Mia, bringing her total doll count to 6. And she bought the matching outfit for Mia that I had purchased for her, a very cute skating sweater, skirt, and tights. Next, off to the Bitty Baby store, where we bought Robert's granddaughter, Kalynn, her very first American Girl. It is so sweet! And we got Kalynn and her doll matching red velvet and lace Christmas dresses. Before dinner (and almost an hour and a half after entering the store), we went to the doll hair salon where Annalisa, Bug's "look-alike" American Girl, had her ears pierced and her hair styled . . . the doll, not Bug. Although the cost is very similar. :( At the hair salon is where Robert's eyes really started to glaze over and he began repeatedly asking for beer and chicken wings (which, of course, are not available at American Girl Place). So we quickly ushered him towards the cafe, where we had dinner reservations. I had ordered the birthday package, so Bug and Annalisa received birthday crowns, a birthday sticker for Bug, and goody bags for the 3 of us. Annalisa received her own chair at the table.




After appetizers of warm cinnamon buns and cheese, fruits, and meats, we had dinner . . . . tilapia for me and chicken pot pie for Bug and Robert. The adults enjoyed some champagne while Bug enjoyed AG's famous pink lemonade. After dinner, a number of singing waiters arrived with a birthday cake and peppermint ice cream . . . YUM!!




We stuck the daisies that were in our individual ice cream servings behind our ears for this picture. . . because at that point, the estrogen had completely overtaken poor Robert.

The next morning, we slept late and then met Bug's friend Emily and her mother Beth at L'Appetito in the John Hancock Plaza for breakfast. It was great to see our friends. Bug and Emily didn't skip a beat in getting to "girl talk".

And after breakfast, guess where the girls wanted to shop first . . . yes, American Girl Place. (sigh) I was tired of it after the evening before, but it was Bug's weekend so we headed back out to AGP.

Fortunately, the girls didn't spend too much time there and we were able to shop other stores in the Water Tower Place. We introduced Robert to Frango Mints. And Bug got some really cute clothes at Abercrombie (not Abercrombie & Fitch) and Aeropostle. Unfortunately, Beth lost both her parking ticket AND her keys that morning, so we spent an inordinate amount of time looking for both, but eventually they were found and we grabbed a cab and headed to the theater district for our 2:00 matinee performance of Wicked. Thankfully, we were able to get a snack of Garrett's popcorn right before heading into the theater.

Wicked was SPECTACULAR . . . as always. My third time to see it in the past 2 years, and I think I could see it every month and never get bored. The songs, the clever script, the costumes . . . just one of my favorite productions of all time. It was Robert's first time to see it, and he thought it was great. And . . . he liked the beer they served at the theater! LOL

After Wicked, we got Beth's car out of the parking garage and headed to a little French restaurant called Kiki's. The food was so incredibly delicious. Bug's roasted chicken came with a huge amount of "pomme frites", so all 5 of us snacked off of her plate during the meal! And the desserts . . . magnifique! My mouse chocolatte was tres bonne!

The next morning, Sunday, started out with Robert and Bug going on a sugar high. While I was showering, they got into the very rich truffles we had purchased at the candy store the day before, as well as Robert going after some gummy bears and both Robert and Bug opening the Frango Mints and Caramels. That pretty much set the tone for bad eating for the remainder of the day. :) As we set out on our last day in Chicago, the first stop was L'Appetito again for some coffee and . . . (sigh) cookies. (And it gets worse.) Next stop, the Hancock Observatory. 94th floor, please. (whew) Here is the picture taken of us before we got on the elevator.

The views at the top were fantastic. 360 degrees. We were given headphones and audio boxes (narrated by Chicago's own David Schwimmer of "Friends") to enhance our tour. We saw Lake Michigan and Navy Pier, great views of the city, and it even started to snow while we were there. And the snow was inverted because of the heat from all the surrounding buildings, so it was snowing upwards!

On one side of the building, there is a window washing display where you can take pictures. Robert and Bug got really silly . . . which one tends to do when one has ingested nothing but large amounts of sugar and caffeine.




After a very fun morning at the Hancock Observatory, we decided we needed to consume some of Chicago's finest hot dogs . . . so off we went to Portillo's, located at Clark and Ontario.

The hot dogs were awesome! (as you can tell by the happy, stuffed faces)

Not content with our stomachs being filled only with candy, cookies, hot dogs, and french fries, we next headed back to the Mag Mile for Ghiradelli ice cream. Sundaes for all! Bug got a little overwhelmed with hers . . . see the glazed eyes?


After some"guy" shopping at Nike Town and a few other stores, we decided to go on a Chicago Trolleys Tour. It was a lot of fun. We toured the Gold Coast, saw Oprah's street, visited the Mag Mile, financial district, and theater district. Got caught in some Bears game traffic, but it was okay. Was able to stop at one of the trolley stops and get some more Garrett's pop corn (as if we had not consumed enough junk food for one day already). But boy was I happy to get some Chicago mix . . . cheese and caramel. Robert opted for cheese corn, and Bug went with the traditional butter.

Finally, it was time to head back to the airport. A quick pic on the way back in front of the very beautiful Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue, the oldest surviving structure on the Mag Mile.

It was a great weekend in Chicago! One we'll remember for a very long time. We're already looking forward to a return trip . . . when it's warm, so that we can spend time on Lake Michigan and at Navy Pier.