Wow! I feel like I have been away from my computer for a long time. I apologize for missing my weekly blog, but honestly I did not have access to a computer for a few days while on spring break and this week has been crazy busy with master’s project data collection (more on that in the next blog)…

CHRISTIE’S SPRING BREAK ‘08 ITINERARY:

Thursday, March 13: Chicago, Illinois
Last minute I decided to join a friend and head to good ol’ chi-town. What usually is a 6.5 hour trip, turned out to be close to an 8 hour car ride due to St. Patty’s Day traffic! She and I stayed at a childhood friend’s home in Lakeview for 3 nights and celebrated a wild St. Patrick’s Day Saturday night at a local Irish pub. Sunday, I had lunch with four college friends (and their significant others) who happened to be my roommates back in the day—we actually lived in a sextet in the stadium (yes, under the bleachers) at Carleton our sophomore year!

Sunday, March 16: Westmont, Illinois
Later that day, I drove 45 minutes southwest of Chicago to spend a few days with a dear friend and her husband. I learned how to make pizza using Trader Joe’s pizza crust and watched a great Iranian movie that I highly recommend: Children of Heaven. We were also lucky to see another college friend for dinner and catch up on married life and life with babies!

Tuesday, March 18: Wauwasota, Wisconsin
Speaking of babies, on my way home from Chicago, I drove through Milwaukee and saw another two friends from college, one of whom has the most adorable new baby girl! I have known my friend since kindergarten and graduated high school and college with him, so it was interesting to see him as a father! Congratulations to him and his wife!

Of all the big cities near Minneapolis/St. Paul, I would have to say that Chicago is one of my favorites. I have a ton of friends from both high school and college there and so I usually take an annual trip! If you buy at the right time, flights are cheap (around $100-200) and it takes only an hour to get there. Otherwise, if you like to drive like I do, you can get there in about 7 hours! And if you haven’t yet seen a green river, I suggest you try to make it out there next year to celebrate St. Patty’s!

For Chicago’s official visitor’s site, go to: http://www.choosechicago.com/Pages/default.aspx