Talk about world-class smoked seafood. For lunch today we headed all the way down to 95th St. and the Calumet river (think the Blues Brothers' bridge jumping scene) to try out Calumet Fisheries. This humble smoked fish shack is the winner of a James Beard Award, has been featured on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations show, etc.

If you like smoked salmon, trout, catfish, you name it (even smoked shrimp), this is the place. We chatted with one of the owners for a while and, next thing we know, we're talking about his place in Ocala/The Villages, FL. Small world. So much history to this little place.

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Can you imagine a place, known for its convenience and prescription medications now selling sushi?  Now imagine, this same place having fresh fruit, a ton of prepared foods, new and unique product displays, manicures, and super-high end wine.  Believe it or now, I'm talking about Walgreens!  On Tuesday, a new Walgreens opened at State and Randolph (about 12 blocks from our house).  Matt and I both read the stories about this new flagship store, so of course we had to check it out and went Tuesday night.  We were not disappointed (even the window view of the Chicago theater is amazing!). 

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I had a great experience this week attending the Business Journalism Professors fellowship program hosted by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism in the Cronkite School at Arizona State University.

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We had a great time visiting the Kristkindle Market at Daley Plaza earlier this week. I can see this turning into a new tradition for us.

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We're celebrating Matt's birthday with a DePaul men's basketball game tonight . Funny enough, they are playing Ole Miss. Hoping for a Blue Demons win. Will keep you posted.

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A few weekends ago, we took a weekend trip to Las Vegas to see our friends Rich and Meghan tie the knot at Caesar's Palace.

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Matt and I continue to take advantage of Chicago and the many things the city has to offer.  On a tour to promote his new book, Tom Brokaw made a stop at the Harold Washington Library tonight and we were lucky enough (tickets were sold out, but we grabbed seats a few weeks ago!)  to have the chance to listen to his talk.  Last year we saw Anthony Bourdain, when he came to town.  We certainly get some awesome people come to town. 

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Back home from Baltimore after our national conference.  We had our Board of Directors dinner on the Inner Harbor.  Had fun meeting lots of new people and seeing months of work come to fruition, but happy to be back home too!  

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I just returned from my first visit to Austin in maybe seven or eight years. I attended a conference at the University of Texas at Austin this past Friday and Saturday with two of my colleagues, Jason Martin (on the left) and Hai Tran (on the right).

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Today is opening day at our new Trader Joe's and I was lucky enough to see the ribbon cutting, hear our alderman talk, check out the new store and grab some chili spiced mango (all before 8 am)! No more Jewel for us!! Yay!

ps I also think I was the first person to check out. :)

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