A few weeks ago, I was invited to the 50th birthday party for a dear friend of mine. We met when we were just 5 years old and were certified BFFs—meaning, we had the charms that proved it. My immediate response to the invitation was “YES!” and I’m so excited for the upcoming adventure.
To prepare for the trip, I’ve been spending a lot of time walking down memory lane.
Read MoreMy grandfather, TAG, was larger than life. He was a very serious and successful businessman who, in some ways, ran his family a little like a company. Beneath the stern exterior, there was evidence, sometimes subtly, of a big teddy bear. In my memories, TAG (which is an acronym for his name, Thomas A. Gannon) was an uncompromisingly ethical and faithful man who extolled the importance of education, hard work and family. My grandmother, Gran, was the heart of the operation.
Read MoreA little over a year ago, I was contacted by an editor asking if I’d be interested in reviewing hotels in Chicago for The Telegraph in the UK. It didn’t take too much thought to respond with a giddy yes. I’d previously visited dozens of Chicago’s hotels when writing the Frommer’s EasyGuide to Chicago, and I was eager to return to some that I’d been to before and also visit the dozen-plus new ones that opened since writing the guidebook (the hotel scene in Chicago is booming!).
Read MoreFor about six years, I worked at home as a freelance writer, using my home office, or a couch or a chair and sometimes even the bed as I pecked away on my laptop. Then, about three years ago, my sister opened her own consulting business and began renting an office. Her space was located at the top of a winding staircase a floor above a friend/financial planner’s office. I got office envy, and ended up renting the desk next to her. It’s changed my life.
Read MoreThe offbeat travel site Atlas Obscura (which seems to pop up everywhere these days, have you noticed that, too?) has named April 16 Obscura Day, and is publishing guides to events/places in 31 different states in 26 different countries.The site’s Chicago guide has some intriguing options, including a class on “Grave Robbing 101” at the Chicago History Museum, tours of Graceland Cemetery, a pedway adventure and more.
Read MoreEvery so often, as a journalist, a rare and beautiful opportunity comes across the ol’ transom. Like an invitation to spend a day at Butterball University.Butterball University. Heard of it? That’s where the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line operators–who number nearly 50–are trained each season, so that they can answer the millions of, yes, fowl calls from consumers.
Read MoreThe task was serious: Judge the Pizza Wars competition in Northern Indiana and select a winner for the Critic’s Choice award. The competition is the brainchild of the Northern Indiana Tourism Development Commission, and the goal is to drive tourism to each of the seven counties it represents.
Read MoreYou know the old saying about the bear and the woods? Well the same idea applies across a lot of proverbial forests. If you put on the world’s most scintillating event, or plan the most awe-inspiring meeting, and no one shows up, where does that leave you? With a whole lot of swag bags.
Read MoreA few months ago, I wrote a piece on Chicago’s creative taco scene for Chicago Sun-Times, and, in the process, got to speak with taco historian (well, technically food historian, but when else will I ever get a chance to say taco historian?) Jeffrey Pilcher, who literally wrote the book on tacos when he penned Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food.
Read MoreLast winter, as the polar vortex froze lids to lashes, I was walking miles and miles to eight, 10, sometimes 12 spots a day—hotels, restaurants, shops, museums—in my research for the new Frommer’s EasyGuide to Chicago. Seriously, my pen regularly froze if I tried to write outside, and I learned to embrace hotel lobbies as a free place to sit and work for an hour or so, unnoticed.
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