Oh business trips :)

Haha, it still feels kind of funny to say that I went on a business trip....sounds so grown up, especially for a girl who still feels 16 at times :). In any event, my first business trip was an all around success. I have to say that I am pretty darn lucky to have such a wonderful boss. It was wonderful to spend one on one time with her, talking about ideas for work, life, love and everything else you can imagine. She is probably about 25 years older than me, however, despite the age difference, spending time with her never felt awkward. Ever since I was first hired a year and 4 months ago (who's counting :)) I have felt this familiar connection with her and I can't count the number of times I have thanked my lucky stars to be working for a woman who so graciously shares her knowledge of the publishing industry and who also shares a lot of the life wisdom with me.
I have been kind of lucky in my life with the different women role models I have had and Jennifer is definitely one of them.

We spent a total of about 6.5 days in Chicago --- 4 of which we were participating in the American Library Association Conference and the other 2.5 were filled with meetings at the University of Chicago Press - Journals Division and the Chicago Distribution Center. (We are out sourcing a lot of our work to these places.) We made some really great connections for the Press and got to know the folks at the University of Chicago a bit better -- they have so much expertise to offer our little press!

In our spare time we managed to get to the Art Institute, have dinner at a great French American Bistro called Gage, mingle around Millenium Park, take jump pics in front of the bean, walk through the city staring in awe of the amazing architecture, have a girls night with one of Jennifer's best friends and her co-worker from Nolo Press at Ralph Lauren's restaurant, had pizza in Wicker Park, and dropped a couple hundred dollars on the most fabulous dinner of our trip at Rick Bayless's restaurant Topolombopo.

And I have to say that my fav. thing about business trips is being able to just expense things. If you know me, you know that I tend to stress (probably WAY too much) about money and for the first time in my life, I felt completely care free about the money I was spending and it was one the most liberating things I have every experienced. It's amazing the amount of energy that stressing about money can drain out of you!

In no particular order (sorry for the blogging laziness, between un-packing, re-packing for Vegas and trying to blog, I'm not being very detail oriented tonight) enjoy a few more scenes from Chicago.


Millenium Park.

One of the many beautiful shots of the skyline.

The Trump Tower.

Tompolobombo - Rick Bayless Restaurant.

Just being silly :)

Crepes in raspberry and chocolate sauce.

Deelish guacamole.

Kaleidescope view in the bean.

This sign made me happy to just be visiting.

Check out the air on this one!

The lovely Chicago Art Institute.

A yummy beer.



Lemon Bluebery Tart with a crystallized Lemon.

Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta with chocolate crumbles. I love pretty desserts!

Marina Twin Towers on the Chicago River.

Good ol' Barak eating at the very deli that we had our first lunch at. Yummy corned beef sandwiches, root beer and cherry pie!