Archive for 2012
Last Thursday I met up with Laura from the blog ScoutandLo for pizza at Fred’s. I’d seen her at a few events and we’d always gotten along really well. Over lunch we realized it’s because of our Southern upbringings (I’m from Arkansas and she’s from Mississippi). Notice how I always downplay my Arkansas heritage on this blog… now I’m playing the “Southern” card!
We talked about how there’s a certain… gentility that comes from living in the South. There’s a level of grace observed during social situations that is often missing in the North. Descendents of Southerners who live in Chicago still have this grace, although it’s not just about saying “yes ma’am, no ma’am” as I was taught to do in elementary school. It’s about having respect and being polite. Generally, I think a lot of people could benefit from being more graceful in public. This is very hard to explain with words, but Southerners who’ve visited Northern cities like Chicago or New York know what I’m talking about. Laura and I are both thriving in Chicago, but there’s a certain sensibility that we both understood immediately. It’s funny how instant connections like that are made, and it wasn’t until halfway through the meal that we realized why we’d always gotten along so well!
Check out Laura’s blog, ScoutandLo. She’s going to be revamping it over the next few months so stay tuned. For now, enjoy reading about the things she covets and who she’s inspired by!
Photo © Dan Rest
Last fall, Lyric Opera of Chicago was kind enough to invite me and a friend to be special guests at the final night of the Lucia di Lammermoor. My friend Maryhelen’s birthday was around the same date so I thought, why not take her out to the opera to celebrate!? Neither one of us had ever been to the opera.
Valets singing the countdown to curtain time
We arrived early with time to kill, so we hung out outside listening to the valets sing and people watching (no I did not take any street style photos, I was off-duty). We got a kick out of the valets’ enthusiasm, which in turn made us really excited for the show. When I entered the theater house I felt engulfed by wealth. Even the ceiling looked to be gilded with gold-leaf. I also felt a wave of intense civic pride to be a citizen of Chicago. Working at both the trust & estate law firm and at the Chaddick Institute taught me that civic engagement and philanthropy have long been hallmarks of Chicago’s aristocracy, who continually invest in public works like Millennium Park. The Lyric Opera House was another example of how Chicago’s wealthy invest in our cultural heritage as a city. The opera is a strange but enchanting art, as I would find out that evening.
Every time I saw Miroslava Duma at New York fashion week in September she was impeccably dressed. Here’s to hoping I spot more of the stylish Russian fashion editor next week!
