A.B.A. (Always Better with Abbotts) in Chicago!

Okay, so A.B.A. is actually the American Bar Association, which brought Ben's brother, Josh, to Chicago for their annual conference August 1st-4th.  We thought "what the heck, we have half our stuff unpacked, let's go to Chicago!"

We had a little hiccup when we arrived in Indianapolis to take the train and discovered parking is $22/day.  Who does Indianapolis think it is, Chicago?!  But after getting a surprising full refund on our tickets (I thought the policy was to get vouchers for future travel) the blow of having to drive up ourselves was softened and we continued on our way.

 A good omen that our trip would be FABULOUS!

Winning!

This week we went back to Chicago to claim our reward for winning a contest given by the Chicago Loop Alliance! 

The lights are now decked out for St. Patrick's Day - there's no music playing yet, but you can bet some great Irish music is in the works.

New Glasses in the Windy City

Just a forewarning that this is going to be a long post because this weekend we went on a trip to Chicago!  We go back and forth about what our objective was in going; Ben likes to joke that it was a long drive to get art supplies, but really, it was SO much more.  We are both a little in shock at all we were able to see and do during a brief two-day trip.

Chicago - a big entry for a big trip.

Last Friday, February 4th, Ben and I flew to Chicago to participate in the Unified/Resident Theatre Association (U/RTA) - in other words: Grad School portfolio reviews, interviews, and auditions.  Despite the huge storm the country experienced a few days before our travels, our flights were not effected by the weather - but only just barely.

This was the first time I spent this much time in this much snow and cold since I was about six - and even that I barely remember, so it was pretty exciting.

Saturday was my big presentation/interview day.  Each design candidate was given a table on which they created a portfolio display.  The set designers most often than not, were the most elaborate in their configuration - they had some creative displays!

Posing with my Portfolio Presentation