My sister asked me if I were ever going to blog again. I’ve just been so busy attending and coordinating seminars hither and yon that every Sunday I’m either packing for the next one or recovering from the previous. I haven’t been to Toastmasters in several weeks and I’m going to miss another this week.
The seminar that I held was in Chicago. I never get seem to closer than Cicero when I go to Chicago, so since I was in charge, I booked the event downtown. Mark was able to join me after it was over and we walked all over the place, including two unsuccessful attempts at the Sears Tower (I called it the ‘Willis Tower’ when speaking to my Chicago-native officemate, and he pointedly said, “The what?” Now I really don’t know what to call it!).
I was surprised by how much I liked Chicago despite having to drag my cool-weather clothes back out of the closet and the fact that it’s impossible to have nice hair in the relentless wind. It’s clean and pretty, with flowers everywhere. If it weren’t for the whole winter thing, I think I could live there. I’ll definitely visit for leisure again.
Photo time!
I took that photo from the Navy Pier. The slogan for the Navy Pier is “Go a little overboard.” It should be “Great if you’re under eight.” Great views, but not much for adults except the beer garden and the boat tours.
More after…
We had to walk down to the Al Bundy fountain:
It’s pretty impressive when it’s on, but I only saw it on twice in my travels around the city for my seminar.
I was more taken with the fountains in the Chicago Art Institute’s South Garden. If I worked nearby, I would want to eat lunch here every day under the green canopy (except for the seven months of winter).
We moved on to Millennium Park, where we were surprised to find wall-to-wall flowers and a rabbit in the middle of a city. Mark’s uncle told us there are coyotes, too.
We visited the bean (I wonder if it annoys the artist that everyone calls it that):
And of course we took the mandatory reflection self-portrait:
I have some of Mark’s cell phone pics, too:
The end.
Stunning photos you have there. What a great date for you two. Spending time with each other doing the same passion. That’s wonderful! :)
Kate Smith´s last [type] ..Implementation Specialist
I always love reading your blog posts. Your pictures are amazing, Amber! Wow! Were you giving a seminar? What over? It’s great to keep practicing your Toastmasters skills, I guess, right?
I wanted to see how you were doing and wanted to know who is involved in scheduling speeches. I was thinking about coming to visit the club sometime when we visit Houston in July.
Hope all is well with you. Keep posting those amazing photos.
Rachel
Rachel´s last [type] ..A Winning Business is a FOUND Business
Thanks Rachel! I’m the organizer of some technical training we provide to marketers and internal people. I ran the meetings but mostly had other folks present the actual topics. It was fun — I brought timing cards and had to use them a couple times. ;)
Robert Reffell is still scheduling the roles. Send me an email if you need his address. It would be great to see you in July!
Thanks Amber. I will contact him. I forgot that Heights has yearly officers. It was a 6 month position in my old club. I know those timing cards have helped. I love that giant bean (don’t know the official name for it), and the pizza looked delicious! I think it’s great how you and your husband do a lot of traveling. I figure two people are meant to be together if they can go on a journey and not kill each other at the end of it. :) Ha! I speak from experience. It’s great stuff. Talk to you later.
Rachel~
Rachel´s last [type] ..How I Was Inspired by a Frightened Polar Bear