January 2010

January--probably one of the coldest months of my life. *Sigh* When you learn the phrase "Snot-freezes-in-your-nose cold", it makes you start to question whether the thin blood you brought from Georgia is going to be enough to survive. This is when I purchased the coat that goes ALL the way to my ankles. Totally. Worth. It.

I also started sucking it up, getting out, and learning more about my new home. We discovered that the Brookfield Zoo makes January and February "free admission days", since most people don't really dig the zoo in the winter. We like free. We like zoos. Why not? It was actually a better day than we expected: not terribly cold, no crowds, and pretty active animals.

We also went to the Aquarium during one of its free days (to see a list of Free Days at the Shedd this year, go to http://www.sheddaquarium.org/discounts.html). Upon walking up, we saw a tent covering the entryway and a line. Ugh. Surprise! The line moved remarkably quick and we spent the day wanding among the exhibits and finding all sorts of incredible animals. If you've never been, there's a very cool central tank just as you enter the aquarium and there is a sea turtle I follow all the time. Her name is Nickel, and she swims a constant circle around the circular tank. Her story is a pretty cool one: she was struck by a boat propeller, cut so deep that she was unable to paddle her back feet. She made her way to the Shedd and, upon doing a physical exam, they found a 1975 nickel in her esophagus, thus her name.

My birthday is also in January, so we had a fun day planned: we got tickets to the Oprah show ON MY ACTUAL birthday, which was super-cool, and our show was an interview was Denise Richards. I also got invited to the academic reception held for all of DePaul's athletes at the Allstate Arena, where we got to attend the Blue Demons' men's basketball game. Really, really good day :)