After yet another long absence, I am back. I’ve been sick for awhile, so rather than post all of the disgusting and humiliating experiences that go along with chronic illness, I decided to maintain radio silence (so to speak).

Though I would like to give a big shout-out to the docs at Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group/Lakeview office. I get great treatment there, I rarely wait more than ten minutes for my appointment and they even fought with my insurance company for me and won!

So now I’m feeling better and ready to take on the Christmas shopping season in Chicago. I went to Woodfield Mall and Ikea at the end of last week and surprisingly, it was pretty dead. Perhaps it was just a little too early to be expecting crowds, but for two nights in a row, we were able to park in the first spot by The Cheesecake Factory. That doesn’t even happen on regular nights, much less the holiday season. What’s going on here?

Even after such magnificent parking luck, I didn’t have much luck buying gifts. Instead, I ended up wandering around H & M for hours, trying to convince my husband that he needed to start dressing a little more 2005. Oh well, at least I got some great inexpensive accessories out of the trip.