Dine. Drift. Dream.

1.  Kayak.com

Kayak is my absolute favorite aggregate ticket site.  Even when Yahoo and the like stopped allowing flexible date international travel pricing, Kayak was there to save me.  I usually start checking Kayak 6 weeks out for continental US travel and around 3 months out for international travel— it allows me to see price fluctuations and know fairly quickly what a good price for the particular route I’m looking for will be.  I also think Tuesday is the best day to purchase, I may be making that up, but I swear it’s true.

2.  TripAdvisor.com

My favorite parts of TripAdvisor are the travel forums, they are a must-read prior to visiting a new destination.  Because the website is inherently a community of destination experts, the forums have a ton of information on every topic of potential interest for locations all over the world.  The site also has hotel, restaurant and activity ratings, think yelp.com only completely travel-centric.  I have gotten tons of valuable feedback regarding activities and have never been disappointed in a hotel recommendation from the site.   I don’t abide by their restaurant reviews.

3.  Chowhound.com

Chowhound is my favorite “foodie” website.  These people are passionate about their food and their recommendations are really the best a city has to offer.  For my upcoming trip to Madrid I posted a request for fantastic finds at a reasonable price, I am packing no less than 15 recommendations that I cannot wait to try.  I had great luck w/ the Buenos Aires recommendations I had a year ago, and they definitely have Chicago covered perfectly.  Highly recommended if food is the reason you travel.

I am not a runner, yet I would rather run 7 miles than even attempt to get back into my prior LSAT study routine. 

7 miles > LSAT

Who would have thought…

Chicago: 32 degrees Fahrenheit

Madrid: 57 degrees Fahrenheit

Marrakech: 75 degrees Fahrenheit

Get it together Chicago.

I’m amazed at how quickly I forgot the joys of an evening thunderstorm.  I love being home, warm… listening to the ebb and flow of the thunder.  An occasional flash of lightning and then the first drops of rain hitting against the windows.  First softly, then with purpose. 

And there goes my satellite.

Must be time for bed :)

I wake up to talk radio, when I was young my Mom would listen to morning shows in the AM and the habit has yet to die with me.

It’s very clear right away, even in the fog of those first moments I’m awake, if there’s been a catastrophe.  The normally light tone of the hosts is offset ever so slightly, you can sense the weight of something larger than a back up on the Eden’s expressway.  I remember waking up on Sept. 11 and knowing immediately in my haze that something truly awful had occurred.  And then again this morning, there was something off, and I knew.  But an 8.9 earthquake… unreal.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families, individuals and their loved ones impacted by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan.

I currently cannot move due to what I believe to be a fairly severe back spasm.  I have never had back issues in my life and I am pretty sure the culprit is a weight training class two weeks ago during which I made a mockery of a back exercise and didn’t realize until 15 reps in… it’s been bothering me off and on since.

So now I decide between Urgent Care for a potential muscle relaxer, or staying on the recliner with my ibuprofen and heating pad. I’m going to go for the latter as a vote for least potential movement… 

For once I actually WANT to get off my butt and have a productive day.  The irony. 

Moral of the story:  no more complaining about overbooked weekends, I’m going to enjoy my run, studying and endless errands tomorrow if I’m even halfway to better.

8am arrival in my inbox:

“In honor of Unofficial at U of I, my wife has made Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. (Guinness chocolate cupcakes with a Jameson ganache filling and Baileys frosting).  They are in the break room on 15. Help yourselves.”

And to think I was going to skip the most important meal of the day…

2011 is shaping up to be the year of:

my second LSAT,

my first marathon,

law school applications,

West Loop dining,

as much travel as my vacation time and bank account can afford… Madrid, Marrakesh, a San Fran to LA roadtrip, NYC, an all-inclusive somewhere (I’m a sucker for last minute deals),

friends, family, health, happiness

and blogging along way.