Seems like it was only yesterday that my little family was enjoying the Beijing Olympics 2008 Opening Ceremonies over a Dinner of Olympic Proportions. Well, time flies when you’re having fun, kids. After watching hour upon hour of excitement: one fantastic swimmer getting a record 8 golds, beach volleyball, a Redeem Team who won more than the game, a cute-as-a-button powerhouse American gymnast (I’m currently trying to find one of her on Amazon because my sister would like to have one to carry in her pocket), a strikingly beautiful Russian-American gymnast with a gold medal pedigree (and now a couple of her own), a Gold-medal Diving Australian guy, a 41-year-old…
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The Best Thing Ever When You’re At Home For Breakfast, Eatin’ Sausage and Syrupy Things
The other day I mentioned that our mall Dippin’ Dots has gone the way of so many Orange Julius mall locations (CLOSED!). After thinking about it, I suppose that Orange Julius was not ever in every single mall in the country; rather, I probably thought that because there was one in each of the few malls I frequented when I was a kid/teen. (Which weren’t many, actually; I’m pretty certain that a mall as we know it today was a pretty new thing in the ’70s anyway! My first mall? Lincoln Mall in Matteson, Illinois: opened in 1973!) My mention of Orange Julius locations being fewer and far between sent…
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A Dinner of Olympic Proportions
I am a diehard Olympic fan. I love the drama. I love the stories about the athletes, and I love the fanfare. I was overjoyed when, years ago, it was decided that they would make an adjustment so that we only had to wait two years between Winter and Summer Olympics, instead of waiting four years and having them both in the same year like the olden days. (1992 was the last year in which both Summer and Winter Olympics were held the same year.) In the Winter Olympics, my all-time favorite athletes were Grinkov and Gordeeva (I read her book “My Sergei”: WHAT a love story!), and I rooted…
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Chicago…My Kind of Town (Part 2)
Oh, hi there. Welcome to Part 2 of Melisa’s Excellent Adventure. What? You didn’t read Part 1? Well, slow down Mister. You’ve got to do that first. Click here. Okay, now you’re caught up. On to Part 2… After the CAF River Cruise, I headed across the Michigan Avenue bridge to the Tribune Tower. I was on my way to the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum. As I approached the building, I saw something that caught my eye. The outside walls of the building were dotted with elements of different shapes and colors. Now, I have passed this building countless times on countless trips downtown over the years and never noticed…
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Chicago…My Kind of Town (Part 1)
If you follow me on Twitter (you DID know that I’m on Twitter, right? It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump from where your eyes are right now. Look at the left-hand column of this page. NO: Your other left! Ah, there it is.), you had an inkling yesterday that I was in the city. I have so much to share that I’m going to have to split it up into 3 posts! And by the way, I really want to put mass quantities of hyperlinks into these posts so you can do some more reading, but I’m not going to because it takes lots of time to type…