ramblings

I love Panera Bread and always get the same thing.
I rarely go there in Nashville, but I love going there when I am traveling for work.
Life on the road would not be nearly as happy for me without it.

Today for the first time ever, I had it for lunch and dinner, and I am good with that. Tomato soup/greek salad for lunch in Louisville. Tomato soup/greek salad for dinner in Lexington.

I almost always get it to go.
I do a lot of things by myself, but I don't like to eat at Panera by myself.

Sometimes they get a little mixed up and make a greek salad with no tomotoes and no olives (chicago) or they give me 2 spoons and no fork (tonight). It doesn't change the way I feel. I would eat it more often if there were locations in more places.

And, it is always great to know you can depend on Panera when you need to get online !

And, I love big cities.

While I was in Chicago, I stumbled upon a Loehmanns while visiting a Nordstrom Rack. LOEHMANN'S. NO WAY! I thought they went out of business several years ago. There was one in Mobile when I was in middle school and I remember going there with my still "cool" friend Philicia who had just moved to Mobile from Slidell, LA. L's is known for their "backroom," as in uno grande fitting room. They now offer the backroom and standard ones. But there is no limit to how many items you may have in "the backroom."

AND, they were having a 60 percent off sale...
AND there was a TCBY RIGHT NEXT DOOR!!!! with 5 flavors I love. Just so you know, I sometimes leave because there are no flavors of interest. A TCBY sandwiched between NR and L's. Man, Chicago sure is a great place to visit.

My previous and first trip to Chi town was during the month of May, and it was pretty cold. This year in March, it snowed the first 2 days and was in the 60's by the end of the week!

I got a pretty darn fantabulous hotel room in downtown at an affordable rate and worth every penny of the add'l 37 dollars a day they charged to park the car. Hey, I had in and out priveleges, and it was 100 percent valet. People who are oh so lucky enough to live in the area park here too, for a large sum I am sure. They know the valets, who by the way seem have been working in this garage for 25 plus years. I think it's entirely possible. I sat at the bar of at a little d'town restaurant, and the bartender had been there since the 70's. Oh, the big city life. Oh, Chicago.

Onto other news ultimately related to my trip, I like to order one caramel AND one hot fudge sundae at McDonald's and eat both! So, I did just that on my lovely walk back to the hotel after a fun night of exploring. And I found out that McD's can be a crazy late night place filled with up-to-no-good'ers. I was a little scared in a healthy way! But it was all good. There were also homeless people congregating and peddling. I don't mind that though. While there, I met a sweet little girl who showed me her unopened box of farm peeps, as in marshmallow peeps. Her mom didn't want her to bother me, but I was pretty touched that she picked me out of the crowd. So, her mom warmed up to me at the soda station and let her show me. I explained that I work in the field of education and love the little ones.

I heard a whole lot of people speaking French while I was there, and I thought that was pretty random.

Ahhh, Chicago.