party on!!

one of my best friends (from the mission), kelly madsen, came to visit me last weekend in chi! we had a ball going around the city, eating dessert at the Hancock tower, shopping, attending a film festival and dressing up for the YSA Halloween dance as Garth and Wayne!

i am not a tree

You know that feeling when you are listening to your ipod on 'shuffle' and a song comes on--that song that makes you question your temporary sanity when you purchased it (probably without listening to the sample of it) or mistaking it for a completely different song that you thought you heard on a commercial. yeah, that song. anyways, it comes on and maybe you're in the middle of doing something else and you realize that your mood suddenly drops and you think, "man, i really wish someone would stop playing that awful song so i could feel better." wait. that someone is me. you. whoever's ipod it is on shuffle. i have complete control over what songs go through my Lady Gaga headphones and into my ears that will ultimately dictate at least part of my current mood. me! what a concept. i came across this on my great vice (Pinterest) the other day, and i think it says it all. i have the power to make myself happier, more successful, more competitive, more talented, more...anything. it is all up to me. i can change and move and progress and be better than i have been and move forward into a beautiful future life. i am not a tree.

le moi

the weather in chicago really is like a woman--she loves changing her mind every 5 minutes. after a brief flirtation with spring, we're back to the dulldrums of sub-zero temps, 1,000 mph winds and rain drops the size of _________. so, quell this, i decided to go here with a few friends:

which got me on kind of a french-kick, so i decided to buy a ticket here and visit claire in june!

i'm excited, really. but right now, this is my reality:

115 days till paris, gerard depardieu (or "bum nose" as my family affectionately calls him), "maurice, the baguettes!" and counting...

Burning the floor in -10

despite the sub-zero temps this weekend, i decided to "burn the floor." for those of you who don't know, there was an LDS couple on SYTYCD a few years ago who made it pretty far--ashleigh and ryan di lello. they are in this touring ballroom show and were in chicago last weekend. i went with my friend merrill (and two of his dance pupils) to see the show and meet the di lellos afterward! so fun. highly reccommend it to anyone.

great weekend.

weekend exploring

it feels like most of my days consist of waking up, walking to work, work, then coming home at night when it's already dark, leaving little time for exploring as a coed. (i should probably mention that i get approached by more homeless people than i can shake a stick at, despite the weather), so i'm usually not too enthused to venture out on my own, alone at night. weekends were created for my wandering. today, i went to see this man in concert:

in this room: (where, incidentally, my parents met for the first time. you might say, if there had been no cultural center rotunda, there may have been no charlotte!)

topped the night off with a charity benefit auction at the Field Museum, courtesy of PWC, with these lovely people (Brooke and Bob):

full-circle

gut feelings. you can't shake 'em, and they have a way of prodding you until you finally pay a little attention to them. that was me last summer in new york. like "baby," i most definitely was not put in a corner and i had the time of my life! so when this little gut-prodding feeling that i should reconsider the life-long haynie girl dream of making it big on madison avenue in new york post-graduation, and instead move to chicago, i was a little less than thrilled. what could "the windy city" possibly hold for me? (insert doris day solo here). so, after a fortuitous job hunt, a B in my final math class (ever!) and diploma nearly in-hand, i packed my bags and headed east. now, as a junior copywriter for Leo Burnett, living in some swanky (albeit, temporary) digs in the loop, this is my home. my career. my new life. you might be interested to know that my parents met here. oh yeah, AND i was born here. so coming here is a little like coming home for me. seattle has always been my home, then provo, then on my mission it was ohio, and for however fleeting and blissful it was, new york. we'll see how this compares.