Month: June 2016

When I booked my trip to see my daughter in the culmination show of her Second City Comedy program, I specifically chose to go on my birthday!  What a BETTER DAY than that to celebrate having such a wonderful child and watching her pursue her dreams!  Born in ’58, and turning 58, I knew it would be a great weekend, and I was more than right!

My 6:00 AM flight (yes, that is correct) took off on time, and 2 hours later, I awoke from a lovely nap, and it was only 7:00 AM in Chi-town.  Whoo hoo!!

Lulu seemed RARIN’ TO GO!!

A few hours later, however, Lulu was just too pooped to pop, and decided to have a nap at the hotel, skipping the day’s adventure.

Nighty-night, Lulu!

(OK, true confession … I COMPLETELY forgot to put Lulu back in my purse for the day after this photo.  Shhhhhhhh!!  Don’t tell her!)

Of the MANY things available to Joe Tourist in Chicago, I chose the Art Institute Museum … supposed to be one of the best in the world, and reputation did not disappoint!

My fabulous companions for the day at the Art Institute!!  Mary in the middle, flanked by her boyfriend, Mike, and her bestie, Alyssa, who I’ve known since their Freshman year at Five Towns College.  Such lovelies!

Some of the highlights of the Art Institute:

Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon …” (the painting upon which Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George” is based)

Andy Warhol’s “Elizabeth Taylor”

and Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”.  Very cool to see!

A quick battery charging for all of us, and a little bit of lunch, and we were off to see The Bean!!  For those who don’t know, this is an enormous stainless steel sculpture of a bean, that attracts people like moths to a flame.  We snapped several shots here, but I loved the one that became a natural “selfie” of Mary & I.  🙂

 Yes, we’re LOOKING AT OUR REFLECTIONS in the The Bean here! 🙂

 My fabulous birthday wrapped up at dinner with Mary & Mike!  My Mum always said, “There is no such thing as a coincidence”, which proved mighty true when Mike’s boss’ recommendation for dinner for us turned out to be a half a block away from my hotel.  IN ALL OF CHICAGO … my birthday dinner was located a few dozen steps away from where I was staying!!

After a DELICIOUS dinner of scallops (my favorite!!), it was back to the hotel for beddy-bye for me!  A PERFECT END to an OUTSTANDING BIRTHDAY!!!  Tomorrow I get to see Mary’s show!!  Yee haw!  🙂

Sunday in Chicago began at church!!  Turns out Masstimes.com was NOT correct in directing me to Wisconsin for the closest Catholic church (!!!????!!!?!), but rather (thank you, Days Inn Concierge) to St. Clement’s parish, which was only a few blocks from where I was staying.   ALSO turns out that St. Clement’s is an official historical sight in Chicago.  A gorgeous church, about to celebrate its’ 100th anniversary, built in the Byzantine style (and actually modeled after the Hagia Sofia!!)

Lulu enjoyed Mass, too! 🙂

Later that morning, it was time to hook up again with Mary & Mike.  I’m sure that they were very proud of ol’ Lolo & Lulu for catching the same train that they were riding, so they could head towards Downtown together.

Once Downtown, we all made our way to Lake Michigan and the Navy Pier.  Mary likes to call it the “Times Square of Chicago”, and that seems roughly accurate.  Mike & Mary were terrific tour guides!

We had several stops to make at Navy Pier … the Ferris Wheel, the Stained Glass Museum, and lunch!!  (There’s the Ferris Wheel in the background … brand new, and just opened a year ago!)

Wow!  The view from up in the Ferris Wheel was pretty great!  That’s the John Hancock Tower (2nd tallest building in Chicago) behind Lulu’s head!

We then headed further down the pier, toward the location of the Stained Glass Museum, but ::sad trombone:: it is no longer there!  We were stopped & asked for our tickets near the end of of the pier … tickets for what??  … turns out the reason for so many people wearing madras plaid and J. Crew on Navy Pier that day was, it was the America’s Cup race on Lake Michigan!

::Ahem::  The America’s Cup, SPONSORED by LOUIS VUITTON, excuse me very much.  And, no, we did NOT stay for the race!! LOL

Our next stop was lunch … Many options on the Pier, and we settled for a nice sandwich.  While waiting for the food to come out, I spied this slice of cake, and snapped a photo, in honor and in memory of those poor souls we’d just heard about in Orlando that morning.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love.  And sometimes,  rainbow colored cake. 😉

The best news of the afternoon was hearing from Gerry, who called while we were having lunch, letting us know that his plane landed, and that he was en route to the hotel.  Granted, MOST OF THE TIME there aren’t travel delays in excess of a few hours, but I didn’t want THIS to be the day he’d experience some, and risk missing the show.

But, he made it!!

We were all SO EXCITED to see our daughter (and “sister”!) in her Second City Comedy debut!!!

Of COURSE, she was FABULOUS, FUNNY and WONDERFUL!!  Lulu especially loved the program art, and felt very close to the cupcake on the cover!!  Truly … Mary was outstanding!!!

Many, many attempt, but only a few SUCCEED in completing the Second City program.  We are SUCH proud parents of our girl!!!!

A wonderful end to a TERRIFIC day!

With another day and a half in the Windy City to go, we settled down after the EXCITEMENT of Mary’s Second City show to some “On Our Own” sight-seeing on the Hop On-Hop Off bus. Gerry posed with Lulu on the open air upper deck.  We started off at the Hard Rock Cafe!  And awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay we go!

Do you have any idea how it feels to look up towards the top of the tallest building in Chicago (and the 14th tallest building in the WORLD) when you’re only 6 inches high?? (My view from Lolo’s purse)  This is now called the Willis Tower, FYI, having been purchased by the Willis Group Holdings Ltd., and renamed in 2009 — although most people do STILL call it the Sears Tower.

We saw several sights, but decided to STOP at the Shedd Aquarium, located just beside Lake Michigan!

Lulu had loads of fun saying “Hello!” to the many creatures at the Aquarium.  It was “Free Illinois Resident Day”, so the place was mighty crowded, but we made the best of our time at the Shedd!!  🙂

We “hopped off” the bus for the last time at Water Tower Place, a vertical Mall!!  Once there we found an Art Gallery called “The Art of Dr. Seuss”!!!  A big fan, Lulu just HAD to pose with a drawing of “The Cat in the Hat”!

Shortly thereafter, we met up with Mike & Mary again, and ventured into the Chicago Sports Museum.  What FUN!!!

Here’s Lulu being wacky at three exhibits ….

Trying Refrigerator Perry’s Superbowl ring … on her LEG!  LOL

Comparing her “wingspan” to Scotty Pippin’s … !!!  NOT an exact match … 🙂

And posing wearing Michael Jordan’s Bull’s uniform!  Heehee … it was AMAZING adding 6 whole FEET to my height way up there!!

After a wonderful dinner at Harry Carey’s Restaurant, we ventured back to Mary’s apartment, but not before stopping off at Wrigley Field for a photo op with Mary, Mike & Gerry!

All in all, it was a WONDERFUL vacation … filled with so many happy memories!!  Certainly a fitting “final image” was the PHOTO OP stumbled upon by Lulu … the VERY SPOT where the final moment of the film “While You Were Sleeping” was filmed …

UNTIL NEXT TIME, CHICAGO!!  🙂

We are very fortunate to live so close to NYC, and have the culture and arts available in just a short jaunt.  (OK, so, ya, sometimes it could take an HOUR to drive those 6 miles, but still!!)

Broadway tickets are pretty expensive, so it’s not something I do very often, but when I do attend, I most certainly avail myself of one of the various opportunities to obtain discount tickets, usually the Theatre Development Fund’s TKTS booth (there are 3 … I’ve only ever visited  the one in Times Square, but they exist in both South Street Seaport and Brooklyn, as well).

I had my heart set on seeing Jessica Lange and Gabriel Byrne, who are currently starring in that madcap wacky comedy, Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Days Journey into Night” (I’m kidding … it’s a nearly 4 hour long serious Draaaaaaaahhhmaaaaa).  Many Tony nominations — and I know how this goes: Once the Tonys happen, ::POOF:: things will start closing left & right, depending upon how much more they can milk out of a win, IF they get one.   I know that these stars are not long for this production, and had heard wonderful things, so ………………………. the decision was made to try & see it on Sunday.

Got our tix (well … since Lulu lives in my pocketbook, only ONE ticket was needed ;-), and headed to the theatre.

Lulu looks kinda funny, juxtaposed next to the gloomy & serious playbill, but she doesn’t seem to mind.

Here is what matters most about my afternoon:

• Loved the performances, all 5 actors, but particularly Miss Jessica Lange
• Glad I went

And here … copied & pasted … is the Facebook post of the experience, which was somewhat LESS than savory:

From my Facebook, May 29, 2016

“Going to the theatre today was a bit of a “good news/bad news” situation. On the GOOD side, got to see the incredible (and incredibly LONG) Broadway revival production of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”, starring the phenomenal Gabriel Byrne, and the stunning-in-every-way, Jessica Lange as “Mary Tyrone.” I mean, she was everything I’d hoped she’d be in the role, and 10 times more. She’s won a bunch of other awards over the years, and this year, she’ll add “Tony Award” to her trophy case. 

LULU WAS _THRILLED_ TO ATTEND THE CONVOCATION OF JOHN M. DeMAN, AT MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF THE ARTS ON TUESDAY, MAY 24!!  CONGRATULATIONS, COLLEGE GRAD!!!  IT WAS FUN TO HEAR MELBA MOORE SING, TOO!!