Day 65: Happy Halloween!

We had loads of trick or treaters...we actually ran out of candy!  Luckily we still had some when our friends rocked up with this huge puppet-like creature they'd created. 

Day 64: Bicycle

We have been taking a different shuttle in the morning, and on the way to the stop, I noticed a cool bike parked on the porch of one of our neighbors.  S told me he thinks the owner of the Devil's Gear Bike Shop lives there.  I like how they have a mini verson above the mailbox too!

Day 63: Getting ready

The houses in our neighborhood are getting ready for the big day!  I am really excited to see all the little ones dressed up in their costumes.

Day 62: Dentist visit

Finally made it to the dentist.  All is well with the teeth.

Day 61: My fledgling mug collection

When I was in London, I saw they had London mugs at a big coffee chain (starts with s and ends with -tarbucks) and I decided to start collecting.  I'm up to three in the past two weeks!  I'm really disappointed I didn't think of this when I was in Paris, because the Paris one is really cute.  Oh, well, I guess I'll have to be satisfied with Philadelphia next week.

Day 60: Public Garden

A lovely fall day in Boston!

Day 59: Massachusetts State House

Boston!

Day 58: Hooray!

Although I made the last payment a few weeks ago, it's a great feeling to get the title as it means the car is really ours!

Day 57: Chitra Natyam

We went to a dance performance on campus and it was really interesting.  The dancer was performing kuchipudi which is a South Indian dance form.  She saved the most interesting dance for last, which was the chitra natyam, or picture dance.  A plastic sheet was taped down on the ground, and brown powder was spread out on the sheet.  Then a frame with a canvas stretched across it was set down on top of the sheet.  The dancer then performed the dance, all the while using her feet to create the image.  At the end, she then stepped off the canvas and the frame was lifted to reveal the picture.  Fascinating! 

Day 56: Fall colors

This is just down the street from our house...lovely colors.  I'm so glad we hadn't missed them all when we were in the UK!

Day 55: The daily visit

Nearly every day, this woman waits by the side of the street outside my office until a police car pulls up.  She chats with the officer inside for a few minutes and usually she gets a coffee from him.  Then he leaves.  We suspect he is her husband.

Day 54: New cafe

Cafe Romeo has finally opened!  It's about six blocks down from our house, and we have been waiting all year to see when it would open up.  I guess the grand opening was this weekend.  We might stop in on Saturday to check it out.

Day 53: Back to that same old place

Sweet home, Chicago.  Looking south on LaSalle towards the Board of Trade.

Day 52: Shooting Into the Corner

We went to see the Anish Kapoor exhibit at the Royal Academy.  I highly recommend seeing it...it was incredible.  We waited in line to see Shooting Into the Corner, which was basically a cannon shooting red wax through a doorway onto a wall.  It was really lovely in a visceral and violent sort of way.

Day 51: Happy Diwali

Diwali happened to fall during our visit and we celebrated at home in Harrow with fireworks, food, and family.

Day 50: Friends

The big girls' night out!  We had such fun.  I miss you all already!

Day 49: Tea

I love tea, and I especially love cream tea such as you get at St. Paul's.

Day 48: Visiting Mindy at the shop

Stacey, S and I went to the college to visit Mindy at the shop.  Mindy was busy catching shoplifters and didn't have much time to hang out with us.

Day 47: Another view of La Seine

Another gloriously sunny day in Paris.  Couldn't ask for more!

Day 46: And hello to you too

Ah, Paris.  I do think I could live here. 

Day 45: Karine's trophies

As there were very few places available to stay in Saint-Cannat, the organizers of the festival offered me a place at the home of one of the dance instructors.  It was very generous of her to host me and another girl who came from Brussels.  This is her dance studio.

Day 44: The dance floor is packed

In general, whenever there is a live band playing at swing dancing, you will always get a big turnout.  Tonight was no exception.  The dancing was quite good as a lot of extra people turned out who weren't attending the classes during the day.

Day 43: The dancing begins

Today I traveled from London to Paris to Aix-en-Provence to Saint-Cannat.  I am attending the Provence Swing Festival.  Needless to say, there is a lot of dancing going on.

Day 42: Well, hello there

It's nice to be back.

Day 41: One for my dad

Or alternatively, procrastinate much?  See, Dad, I did it! 

Day 40: NH Transit

I was running late for work today (story of my life, really) and was waiting ages for the shuttle when a public bus pulled up.  So I took it.  It was actually even better than the shuttle because it was a more direct route and dropped me off closer to my office.  Totally worth the $1.25.

Day 39: My kind of town

Au revoir, Chicago!  I will miss you.  Until next time...

Day 38: The big dance

A completely wonderful night of dancing here at the Willowbrook Ballroom.  I had never been to the Willowbrook before, but it's been around for over 85 years and is still going strong.  It's a totally cool old-style ballroom with a 6,000-square foot maple dance floor.  Absolutely gorgeous.  I'm totally thrilled to think that I've now danced at a place where Count Basie, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Jimmy Dorsey, and Chubby Checker have all played!

Day 37: WCLX begins

I was a day late, but I did eventually make it to the Saturday night dance for Windy City Lindy Exchange.  I was a volunteer as well, so I sat behind the table checking registrations for a couple hours.  Following the big dance, we headed up to an art gallery/performance space for dancing until 3AM.  Fun!

Day 36: Party

I decided we should host a party.  Before I left for the UK and Chicago.  Which meant the only possible day was the Friday before I left for Chicago.  A bit crazy, but that's how I roll.  So we did.  It was a very fun party...I think we ended up having about 30 people all told.  My only complaint is that people didn't drink enough so now I have all this leftover wine and beer.  Oh wait, that's not a complaint.  Okay, I have no complaints.

Day 35: Best. Day. Ever!

The Cupcake Truck is totally great.  But how does the Cupcake Truck become even better?  By parking right outside our office!!  Based on the huge line that formed 15 minutes before they even arrived, I'm guessing they'll be back to our neighborhood soon.