T Minus 12 Hours.

In 12 hours, a cab will pick us up and take us to the airport. My peds are cured, my sunblock bought, and bag mostly packed. It took longer than I thought to pack for this trip, mostly because while I think all I need are some dresses and a swimsuit, seeing my mom's bag made me think I was woefully underpacked. If things go smoothly -- fingers crossed as we have a tight connection -- this time tomorrow, we will have been in the Carribbean for three hours. People have warned me that there is nothing to do there. Nothing surrounded by warmth, sand and drinks sound perfect.

Can't wait.

Fated Frames.

I've loved having my mom in town this week but it has admittedly been a tad stressful just because I am used to doing things subject only to my own schedule. Today, I had a mental schedule of getting home early, by 6:00, in order to have a quick dinner of delicious mama-made grilled cheese and then head to Southern Italy wine tasting at Perman Wines.

At about 4:55, my mom called, telling me that her glasses had broken while she was leaving over a hot oven. The plastic lens was scooped up quickly enough that no real harm was done. BUT, her glasses were unwearable and without glasses my mama can't see. This was an emergency given that we are set to depart for the island at the pre-crack of dawn on Sunday.

I dropped what I was doing and headed home to pick mom up and take her to a vision place. While not perfect, thankfully, we were able to find a frame that works. And, a frame that was oddly reminiscent of glasses the my mom wore when she was a kid. Its totally retro and quite cute.

It almost appeared fated -- the only frame in the store that would fit her current lens was from Tommy Bahama. Its like Tommy knew that we needed him to get to our vacation.

Restaurant Week.

One of my favorite weeks to live in Chicago is Restaurant Week. Its an amazing deal for so many great restaurants in Chicago. For $22 at lunch, and $32 at dinner, you get a three (or four) course pre fixe meal.

This week is one of the reasons that I have my shame for my love of what I will going forward call The Place, as described in Secret Shame. I must admit that this week's restaurant agenda did include a chain (China Grill) but on a different level than The Place.

When I first learned the dates for the 2010 Restaurant Week, I called my mom and invited her out. She is much more of a foodie than I am and appreciates this week even more than I do. This week, we dined at China Grill (love, love, love their calamari salad), Le Colonial (delightful although dimly lit), and will complete the week at Hot Chocolate. We were lucky enough to be joined by Melissa and Grover for Le Colonial which made an already good dinner great and super-productive from a problem solving perspective.

Bon appetite!

Mom-Hugs.

My mom is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, assuming that the winter storm's predicted 8 inches of snow doesn't delay her. We have been planning on doing some Restaurant Week-ing, perhaps a bit of shopping, and going to the gym before we depart for Anguilla at the end of the week. However, this weekend was tainted by tragedy. One of my colleagues was killed in a random, faultless and entirely awful accident while on a department snowmobiling trip. He was only 29. After learning this sad news and spending the day with Missy who was on the snowmobiling trip as well, I requested that my mom be sure to pack her mom-hugs as they are much needed. Thankfully, she never comes to visit without them.

The Year of the Tiger.

Last night was Chinese New Year's Eve. To celebrate 2010's Year of the Tiger, Olivia and Jonathan hosted a dinner in Chinatown for 9 people. This dinner was something I've been looking forward to for a month and it more than exceeded my hopes. And, as my friend, Tony the Tiger would say, it was grrrrrrrrrreat.

It was Chinatown's busiest night. Because of that and the size of our group, the restaurant required Olivia and Jonathan to pre-order the menu a few days in advance. A choice between a western and Chinese menu confronted them. While they opted for the western menu, there was still chicken feet and sea cucumber served to us. We've decided that next year, we can take on the Chinese menu with its abalone and shark fin soup.

We arrived at 6:45 and left over four hours later, one of the last tables. That was in part because the owner intentionally sent our food out slowly so we could enjoy it and the company. Combine that with our Fischer Price-style game of making the sound of your Year and our table sounded like a bunch of barn yard animals (lots of horses and sheep, very few of anything else).

I learned that I was born in the Year of the Sheep. Per wikipedia, sheep are: Righteous, sincere, sympathetic, mild-mannered, shy, artistic, creative, gentle, compassionate, understanding, mothering, determined, peaceful, generous, seeks security. Can be moody, indecisive, over-passive, worrier, pessimistic, over-sensitive, complainer, weak-willed.

Many of those characteristics seem wrong (artistic? mothering? really?) but as it applies to everyone born between January 27, 1979 and February 15, 1980, its not surprising its a broad definition.

Gung hay fat choy!

Civilian Status.

Last night, I attended an event at the restaurant at Neiman Marcus, which was essentially a book signing for Bethenny Frankel, a Real Housewife of New York. I got there about an hour late -- I had to go to happy hour first -- which was perfect timing. It was just in time to hear the tail end of Bethenny's talk. I haven't watched all of the Real Housewives series on Bravo, but I have seen both New York and New Jersey. Bethenny struck me on the show and the event as a witty and motivated person. However, I really hate her tagline for her products, books, etc: Skinnygirl. Thankfully, they were serving bubbles in addition to her skinnygirl margarita.

The book signing was hosted by one of the social magazines here. As a result, the place was full of socialite-types, PR girls, and writers and editors for various publications around the city. One of the PR girls was the host of a Halloween party the Spice Girls attended. We chatted most of the event, during the course of which, she described me as a civilian. I am going to adopt that terminology for whenever you throw a poor little lamb into the wolves of a certain industry. I always feel badly when you bring a civilian into a room of lawyers. That said, being a civilian in a room full of socialites and that industry is nothing but comedy. You will always find some beautiful clothes and some curiously timeless faces. And, if you're lucky enough to have friends who know the backstories behind the various people, its a fun time.

When Life Gives You a Fork . . .

Today I came to a fork in the professional road. While delightful utensils, forks are never particuarly fun to confront. This particular fork threw my entire day off. I suspect it will be a rather anxious week ahead as I determine the route. If only I had a GPS.

However, in the late afternoon, one of my friends stopped by my office to discuss the potential paths. That alone was a much-appreciated gesture. We ended the conversation with her offering to buy me a drink. I originally said, "thanks but no thanks." Twenty minutes later, I changed my mind. I mean, what was I thinking? Silly me.

We were quickly joined by another friend for a drink and a snack at a nearby bar. As they told me, one of the best parts of having girl friends is always having someone there who is willing to raise a glass with you, either to celebrate or commiserate. While we generally specialize in good times -- lord knows, we enjoy raising a glass -- my girls were wonderful today. And, it doesn't hurt that we all enjoy the bubbles. The three of us brainstormed regarding the fork and came up with a plan. Shortly thereafter, they had to depart for other tasks.

I headed over to the gym, talking to my mom on the way who was impressed by how bubbly made things better for my mood AND plan. Once at the gym, I realized I wasn't super motivated to workout and decided to do a quick recon for another friend who usually could be found at the gym around that time. And, luckily, I found not one but two friends as soon as I stepped out of the locker room. We soon reconvened at the bar, discussing my fork, along with other topics. Not long after, I was lucky enough to have a fifth friend join us. And, in abundance of support, a sixth friend offered me her ear and counsel on Sunday when she gets back in town.

Long story short: my friends are awesome especially when life is less so.

Secret Shame.

I live in Chicago. There are so many wonderful, unique restaurants here. Yet, tonight, I ate at a chain restaurant. And, to compound my offense, I have to say that it was perfect. In my defense, I was in a weakened state following the receipt of some foreboding information. Further, said chain had Veuve on the wine list.

I will not speak of it again. But, I surely will eat there again, in secret shame.

Snow Day.

It has been snowing literally all day long -- before the sun came up and continues well after it set. This is the most snow Chicago has seen in at least a year, maybe more. And, it could not be more perfectly timed for me.

My work load is pretty light right now so I did about four hours of work in the morning, had lunch with a friend, and decided at 2:00 pm to leave before the snow and roads were supposed to get worse. I did not miss a single call (I know because I forwarded my phone just in case), or even a non-spam email during "work hours." In addition, its really quite lovely outside right now and will be for about the next 12 hours until the dirt of the city turns everything grey.

Those are my pluses to an adult version of a snow day. On the minus column, my rheumy sure isn't loving it. Can't win 'em all. Assuming the weather clears out as forecasted, I'll be back to normal aches and pains by Thursday afternoon. I (finally. . .hopefully) will be done with my review, and will look forward to attending an event on Friday evening with one of the more annoying Real Housewives of New York, and celebrating the Year of the Tiger in Chinatown on Saturday.

They Say Its My Birthday.

31 years and about 8 hours ago, I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to a wonderful family.

Today, to mark the date -- or, as my mom likes to point out, the start of my 32nd year of life -- my parents sent me a huge bouquet of sunflowers at work. (Sunflowers are one of those symbolic flowers for me. When I graduated from law school, our graduation ceremony was called the Sunflower Ceremony. For me, the sunflower will always be tied to the law.) They followed that up with an actual mailed birthday card. So rare these days, but so nice.

My brother and his boyfriend also sent me flowers today. They are the one gift I will ever let my brother give me -- not too expensive, never a bad fit, and always, always brightens my days as long as the flowers last. This year, he gave me a bright bunch that are opening nicely, and cheering my desk right up. My birthday of flowers (which I love) actually started last week with my good friend sending me an early delivery that brightened up my whole weekend. At this rate, it might be my birthday month with some beautiful flowers surrounding me. :)

Tonight, despite that fact that it was my 31st birthday -- a nothing birthday really -- and a school night Monday, a bunch of my friends met me for a drink. We had the backroom at my favorite bar, a bunch of bubbly, some food, and lots of laughs. I've said it before but I am really lucky to have the interesting, intelligent, caring, diverse group of friends that I do.

My family of friends and family of family really made my birthday wonderful. Thank you, all.