Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Across the street from Dunkin’ Donuts and directly behind Popeyes Chicken, students faithfully gather at the Frog Temple to learn piloga from Randi Whitman. Whitman’s slim, toned body indicates that she hasn’t indulged in too many treats from either fast food joint.
Do the stars line up for a summer romance? Or have you been stuck with a dud rather than a stud? Will your love stick around? Or will you need to change your name/phone number? We certainly don’t have the insight (or advertising budget) of TV’s Miss Cleo, but with only a little summer left, we’ll try our best to assess your sextrology. (Note: No astrologists were harmed in the making of this chart.)
Standing about 5-feet tall and measuring 5-feet wide, the triangular giant baffled a team of curious researchers (OK, a photographer and me). We had seen these creatures before on grassy knolls, peaked mountains and even backyards. But we had never before seen them in such an incongruous location–the lakefront.
When Lilia Chacon and her good buddy Katie Carrillo ran into that rarity known as a photobooth, they knew what had to be done. ”We put our $3 into the machine, went in and mugged it up,” says Chacon, a reporter for Fox News Chicago. ”This was about 10 years ago when we were both single. It’s a carefree, fun reminder of who we were at that stage of our lives. We split the photo strip in half so we each have two shots.”
You haven’t had a date since Dubya’s dad was in the White House. The last time you went dancing, stonewashed jeans were in style. And your idea of a great evening is whining to anyone who’ll listen about the dearth of available men in Chicago. Wake up! It’s time to get back in the game. No matter how much women complain to the contrary, this city is full of eligible men.
The nose knows when it’s summer. For some, it’s the tangy smell of barbeque that clues them in. For others, it’s that telltale scent of chlorine in the swimming pool. Fact is, people smell better in the summer than in the winter. We’re not talking body odor here, but rather the olfactory senses.
You have met the man of your dreams. Besides being a walking, talking hottie, he’s smart, funny and well-educated. You look at him and can totally imagine making babies with him. Bad news, though. He only thinks of you as a p-a-l; you’ve got a great personality, but he’s not going to be asking you out anytime soon.
Admit it. You’ve fantasized about winning the lottery and what you would do with all that loot. You’d buy homes for your kids, hire a full-time chauffeur for your grandmother, donate to the United Negro College Fund, sail around the world on the QE2, and lose 25 pounds at the Canyon Ranch Spa. You’d be ecstatic 24/7. You’d be dead wrong.
Lara Davidson has never had to change a broken headlight. Nor put together an easy-to-assemble desk. Nor hook up her home entertainment center. She has always found someone to do it for her. What Davidson, 27, learned early on was that with a little negotiating, she could be more successful in her day-to-day maneuvering than her more meek pals, who were too intimidated to ask for special attention.
Bulletin to all former bridesmaids: Here’s your chance to give your dress to someone who can appreciate it. Among clothing items collected by the Hyde Park-based Caring Closet are seldom-worn party dresses that can be given to Chicago-area girls who cannot afford a new prom dress.
Betsy Lancefield knew early on that she didn’t want to live with a man before getting married. But then she fell in love with a man who wouldn’t consider marrying a woman he hadn’t already lived with. She was torn. So they compromised. “Six months into the relationship, we got engaged,” says Lancefield, 37. “He went to work in Indonesia for eight months, and when he returned, he moved in with me. My family and friends were excited when we got engaged, but then when they heard we hadn’t set a date, they were sort of let down.”
Imagine finding strangers sitting on your lawn chairs, drinking beer and scarfing down sandwiches on your deck. You’d ask them to leave, right? Now imagine them telling you where to go. “Rude goes way beyond slamming a door in someone’s face or flipping them off on the highway,” says 48-year-old Wrigleyville resident Mike Porcaro, whose property has often been besieged by rowdy Cubs fans. “I had to chain my barbecue pit on the deck because people felt compelled to open the lid to look inside, as if they were going to find the Holy Grail or a mini-Sammy Sosa.”
Disney is suffering a bad spell of congestion. The crush of holiday visitors forced Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., to suspend ticket sales Thursday for the third time this week. The park took the action in the morning, planning to resume sales. But sales still were halted at dusk.The amusement park also stopped selling tickets Wednesday and on Christmas Day, spokesman Tom Brocato said.This is the first time it has done this in four years.
Sure, everyone loves the holidays. But if the preparations and chores surrounding the season to be jolly make you want to spit out, “Bah humbug!” simmer down. There are plenty of people who’ll provide services to make your holiday that much easier. For a price, of course.
Forget about 1,000 points of light. Michigan Avenue will glow with a million holiday lights when the ninth annual Magnificent Lights Festival kicks into gear Saturday.
Each generation of college students has its own variation on back-to-school necessities.
It was a summer of fluctuating temperatures. But Chicagoans made the best of it. Even the city’s notorious humidity didn’t dampen our spirits, not when we could ensconce ourselves in a state-of-the-arthouse theater.
You think romance and you think of New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day, right? Fuggedaboudit. They’re long gone. But summertime’s here and that’s even better. Think about it. There’s no one pressure-cooker day on which to pin all your romantic hopes and dreams, and you don’t have to stroll arm-in-arm swaddled in down-stuffed outerwear. There are plenty of ways to spend an enchanted, summer evening in the Chicago area, whether it’s dining at a top-notch restaurant, gazing at the stars from the city’s most awesome vantage point or slow dancing with your sweetheart.
Go ahead. Feel sorry for single people. View them as less than, as the smug marrieds do in Bridget Jones’s Diary. But guess what? There’s a growing contingent of folks out there who are single by choice, and loving it. “There’s no question that the pendulum is swinging in a different direction,” says Xavier Amador, co-author of Being Single in a Couples’ World (Fireside, $12). “Singles are happy being single. It’s a different world we live in these days.
When Katie Brown turned 11, her parents didn’t take her to a toy store to pick out a present. They gave her a wallpaper book and some swatches of carpeting and let her redecorate her room. Small wonder, then, that she grew up to be Gen X’s answer to Martha Stewart, the hostess of the Lifetime Channel’s No. 1 show, “Next Door With Katie Brown.”