Vida

I've been traveling (mostly for work, some fun) since the election and I've been thinking and crying and planning and thinking the entire time.  It's almost hard to believe it's only been a week.  Last night was my first night at home and Mike & I watched John Oliver, like we do every week.  He was serious and also making jokes (because that's his stick).  I couldn't laugh.  Then I cried for an hour after.  It all really hit me....again.  I also watched the Saturday Night Live intro and cried. It's hard not to feel like our country is so deeply rooted in racism after those results.  It seems Trump's campaign was solely based on racism.  He didn't have any plans.  He just said racist things...and won. Electoral college.  Personally I find this antiquated.  I signed a petition to end it.  Yet, since we have it, I'm going to give letter writing a try.  Do I think it will happen?  Probably not, but at leas...

I'm going to assume you are voting, if you live in the United States.   I voted a couple weeks ago and I did quite a bit of research as I completed my ballot.   One issue that I always consider is climate change.  I watched the documentary "Before the Flood" and I guess I didn't realize there were so many people still denying climate change.  I was quite shocked.   And, gosh, our government can be depressing.  So.  Do what you can do and vote! We can even see climate change here in Chicago in several ways.  Even Lake Michigan is rising.  I notice as I run on the lakefront.  I had no idea what's going on in Florida. If you'd like to watch the documentary, it's free through Sunday.

Gooey Butter. Ever heard of it? How about candy corn with peanuts? I'm gathering these are regional food items.   Gooey butter seems to be specifically a St. Louis treat.  My mom grew up in St. Louis and we would have gooey butter growing up.  Our friends weren't familiar with the treat.  As we grew older we found out St. Louisians were familiar.  Yet, I grew up 60 miles away from St. Louis and it wasn't common. At a Halloween party I shared the idea of mixing peanuts and candy corn.  This is not something I grew up with and is definitely an idea I picked up in the last few years in Chicago.  I was chatting with all transplants (which most of Chicago is, whether you've been here for 5, 10 or 15 years, most people didn't grow up in Chicago).  No one had heard of it.   So it's a mystery because I definitely can't remember who shared the mixture idea with me.  Although I am grateful because candy corn is just to much sweet. Th...

If you are very upset about the Starbucks cups, I know what you can do to control the cup you drink out of. Bring your own. Note: you can do this all the time and it actually has other benefits too!