A Day in the Life of a Soul Star...

After a loooooooooong 11 months, I have finally finished my first year of graduate school. Thank God!! I've been looking forward to the summer for the past...3 months! No more feeling guilty to go out on the weekends because I know that I should be studying. No more 1 drink limits. No more spending all Sunday glued to my couch writing a paper (at the last minute). Sure, I know I'll have to return to that life in September. But for now? I'm free!!!! Chicago is the perfect place to be in the summer (minus the extreme heat and humidity). There are events going on throughout the city at all times. I went to the Blues Festival a couple of weeks ago. Next week is the Taste of Chicago. I just moved right off of Lake Shore Drive, so I'm looking forward to spending plenty of time by the lake and at the beach. My summer officially starts riiiiight.....NOW. Stay tuned for my summer adventures...!

This winter was a record-breaking winter--literally!! We saw more subzero days and suffered through more inches of snow than this city has seen in decades...I wish I had more winter pictures, but 1) Unfortunately, most of my pictures were irretrievably deleted by my phone (major sad face) and 2) I was too cold most of the time to pull out my camera and take pictures.  Nevertheless, here are a few that I compiled throughout the season. I think this was the first time I saw a subzero temperature...this was way back in November, I think. Before it was officially winter! My job made sure that our sidewalks were always shoveled (thank you for that!), but that snow began to pile up... A subzero day in Chicago is NO JOKE. Not only is the physical temperature less than zero, but the wind chill will decrease the temperature by another 20- 30 degrees. There's no such thing as being cute in this weather. You're trying to stay alive! Thermals, Ugg boots, hand warm...

Today is the first day of spring. Yay! But as I've discovered, this city doesn't follow the rules of the season. Tomorrow is supposed to reach 60 degrees and I'm STOKED. But then it's getting back down to the 30s for the weekend... This snow/ cold weather has been a bummer, but I was able to capture this gorgeous picture on my way to work on March 12th.... Isn't it GORGEOUS?