Give My Regards to Kanye

I got back a little while ago from a whirlwind trip to Chicago- most of which was spent at gate E4 in O'Hare and in seat 24F in a plane on the O'Hare runway. It was a great trip, though, despite the travel time. I went to the BSM Media Mommy Blogger Monologues. I got to meet some wonderful people who gave me some great insight into the blogoshpere and Mommy Bloggers. Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing was nice enough to introduce me to Arianne and from there I got to meet each member of the panel one on one. Everyone was so nice and willing to share advice and tips. Ashlee, Jaymi, Julie, Amy, Emily, Jory and Kim were all really helpful and I'm looking forward to getting to know them all better.

There were a few highlights to my trip aside from the panel, especially considering that the panel was the shortest leg of my journey. Highlights are as follows:

- Seeing a group of overly enthusiastic youngish people accompanied by two or three harried baby boomers and trying to figure out from external clues who and what they were. My first guess was missionaries but after I heard several of them singing to themselves in that way that says "I'm just singing to myself because I like to sing but I know you're probably listening and really enjoying it so I'll just continue and pretend I don't notice that you're noticing" I decided they were more likely a high school choir group on their way to perform at a competition or sporting event or at the very least a 4-H Fair

- Turning around to look at one of the singing students/missionaries and her stopping as soon as she caught my eye. It made me feel kind of mean...but then I got over it

- Encountering a group of what appeared to be young military school... students- recruits- privates? Not sure what you call them but they were standing in three very straight lines while men in uniform instructed them to speak now if they were carrying any weapons or aerosol products. I had to walk past them to get to the exit and found myself giving them a very wide berth as though I was worried that if I got too close they'd pull me into their formation and I'd never be heard from again

- Getting into a cab for the 40 minute ride to the hotel (mostly high speed highway driving) and realizing as it pulled away from the curb that the window (which was all the way down) would not go up. The driver seemed to think that locking and unlocking the doors would solve this problem- as though engaging one button would make the other feel left out and thus compelled to do its job...it didn't work

- Being called "Ms. Greco" when I checked into the hotel and getting a sweet upgrade to a fancy room

- Sitting next to an older lady while waiting for my plane to arrive and listening to her talk on her cell phone with it held up to hear ear while it was on speaker

- Sitting next to a professional gentleman on the plane who looked very polished and slick but smelled distinctly of deli meat

Hopefully I'll get to go back to Chicago some time when I can spend a little more time there and see the city but for now I'm happy with my windy city adventure.