Heather Lauren
Kaimi: To SeekHeatherLauren
We shall not cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started, And know the place for the first time." -T.S. Elliot
I have a passion for traveling... experiencing new cultures, seeing amazing architecture and landscapes, and trying new food. I also like to learn from observing and listening to the people I meet along the way and hopefully make a few new friends.
2011: Back to Illinois, back to Orland Park. I've committed myself to a graduate program at St. Xavier, so it seems I'll be here for at least two years. I'm excited about the opportunities and the future I'm making for myself, but I must admit.... the wanderlust is doing its darnedest to pull me away!
2008-2010: Still in Colorado...must be a record for me, two years here!! It helps that I have a job I absolutely love, as Operations Manager of a Hawthorn Suites Hotel, with co-workers and a boss that makes it a pleasure to come to work every morning, I'm living with a fun roommate, and there's so much to see and experience here in Colorado!!
2008: Well, home from Europe, but still got that travel bug!!! I just recently moved to Colorado, and although I am BEYOND broke at the moment, you can still expect to see some ramblings from my new home state...and maybe even a couple of surprises, as well (that is, if the airlines suprise me with some super-low rates...sigh, how is miss Southwest's $29 airfares!!)
2007:
So here’s the plan: to seek and see as much of Western Europe as possible until my checking account is empty, pockets turned inside out, and my work visa has expired. I’m leaving at the end of May to move to Britain, where I have a 6 month work visa. Where I’ll work or where I’ll live is a mystery to all right now, and only my parents are worried about it!! I trust that everything will work out the way its supposed to in whatever way that means!!
I hope everyone I love and miss, can in a small way share my experience and stay in touch through this great site!
Travel Blog Posts
The Perfect Downtown Day
Published: February 21st 2012North America » United States » Illinois » Chicago
February 12th 2012
I love to read about free, cheap, or interesting things to do in downtown Chicago, but I'm afraid most of the time, I never get beyond the "oh, I'd love to check that out" phase. Sometimes it seems that life moves so fast I don't often have the chance to go downtown for the day. When Maureen asked if I'd like to go to the Contemporary Museum of Art with her, I jumped at the chance. I love spending time with Mo, I haven't seen her in forever, and I've never been to the Contemporary Museum before. The day ended up being better than I ever imagined! When Mo asked me to go, she also mentioned an exhibit at the Cultural Center that I had coincidentally just read about and was very interested in checking out. ... read more
Fall & Winter in Illinois
Published: February 23rd 2012North America » United States » Illinois » Orland Park
August 21st 2011
When I heard that the small town of Plano, Illinois, was being transformed into Smallville for the new Superman movie, I knew we had to check it out! This will probably be the only chance I get to see a movie set, and I thought it was pretty cool that it was in Illinois. Plano is a small town about 45minutes to the west of us, near Aurora. Dad likes to ride his bike out here sometimes in the summer, but I don't think I've ever been. I enlisted my mom on this adventure, and the two of us drove there on Sunday. There is a Main Street in historic Downtown Plano, which has been totally transformed for the movie. Superman is set to begin filming in a few days, so supposedly today is the last ... read more
In Enemy Territory (i.e. Wrigley Field)
Published: February 21st 2012North America » United States » Illinois » Chicago
July 10th 2011
Although I've tried to stay clear of Wrigley Field and Cubs fans in general for most of my life, I voluntarily decided to take spend the day taking a tour of Wrigley. I won runner up in a photography contest for WGN radio, and one of my generous gifts were two tickets to a tour at Wrigley. I couldn't allow them to go to waste, so I decided to go for purely historical reasons.... I mean, if nothing else, Wrigley is full of history and interesting anecdotes. So I dug around until I found the only Cubs fan that I call my friend, Colleen and brought her with me. It was really cool and fun to learn all the stories about Wrigley and its storied past. Unfortunately, since I waited seven months to put up this ... read more
June 30th 2011
I got the chance to travel with my friends Annalies and Kristen and their family to California this summer. They travelled for a CCHS (Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome) conference and then were taking a couple days to experience Disneyland afterwards. The conference was in San Diego, at an absolutely gorgeous hotel called the Town and Country Resort. We stayed at a Residence Inn Hotel just a few blocks away. It was only a quick two minute drive to the Town and Country. Built in the 1950's, the Town and Country is a huge property, with beautiful flowers, walkways and gardens throughout the land. Annalies, Kristen and I took so many pictures walking all around! We also got to check out a little bit of San Diego. One day, Annalies, Kristen and I went to Mission Beach ... read more
February 27th 2011
Dad, mom and I drove down to St. Louis to spend the weekend with Brett and Megan. On the way there, close to the Missouri border, I saw some wild vintage memorabilia next to I-55. You know me and my love of kitsch!! On the way back, I begged to make a quick stop to check it all out and my parents indulged me. In the town of Livingston, there's a huge antique shop in what used to be the high school in town. I don't know if the town just doesn't have a high school anymore, or if they've built a newer building, but I thought it was a pretty good use for such a large building! Pink Elephant Antiques had a lot of interesting stuff on the lawn - of course, the namesake pink ... read more
Notre Dame Football
Published: March 27th 2011North America » United States » Indiana » South Bend » Notre Dame
November 12th 2010
Brett and Megan came up for the weekend and the whole family made the trip to South Bend to enjoy the day at Notre Dame and see the football game. I had been to South Bend before for my cousin Kevin's wedding at the Notre Dame chapel, but other than the chapel and the grotto, I hadn't seen much of campus. I couldn't wait to see the excitement that a game day brought to campus! It was really cool walking all around, seeing touchdown Jesus, the marching band, the grotto and chapel. We got to see the players coming out of the chapel, where they pray before every game. Tons of people are waiting outside to cheer them on. It was freezing cold and raining during the game, but it was still cool! ... read more
Visiting Brett & Megan
Published: October 30th 2011North America » United States » Missouri » St. Charles
October 23rd 2010
My parents wanted to celebrate Brett & Megan's engagement by going down to St. Louis and having an engagement dinner with both families. We walked around St. Charles on Saturday, which has one of the cutest downtown areas. On the way home, Dad took us through Louisiana, Missouri, a small town along the Mississippi river. Louisiana was settled back in 1817, and still has some cool Victorian houses. ... read more
September 26th 2010
As soon as the weather starts getting cooler, and the leaves start changing, I'm ready for fall with a vengeance! Apple picking, shopping for halloween costumes, all that good stuff! Carol called me Sunday to say that her brother, Paul had gotten six free tickets from his work to Konow's Corn Maze in Homer Glen. Free...my favorite word :) We went to go check it out, and there was a lot to do and see. Besides the corn maze (which we failed, by the way :) ) Carol went swimming in a pool of corn kernels, we went to the petting zoo and saw some cute llamas and baby piglets. Last weekend, Aunt Dawn, Becky and I drove down to Charleston to visit Juli for the weekend at EIU. Saturday we went to an apple orchard ... read more
August 9th 2010
On my road trip from Colorado home to Orland Park, my last leg of the trip was staying a couple days with Brett and Megan (and Jax, of course) in O'Fallon. Brett and Megan took me around to some of St. Louis' fun tourist attractions. We went on a brewery tour at Anheuser Busch, which is always fun. We also went to City Museum, which is definitely not your normal "museum!" It's interactive, part museum, part playground and fully odd! The building was once a shoe factory, and in homage, now makes and sells colorful shoelaces in one exhibit. There are vault door from an old bank. An underground 'cave.' There's a slide from the top floor to the bottom. On the roof, there's a small ferris wheel, and a large slide. All in all, ... read more
Tot: 0.094s; Tpl: 0.003s; cc: 13; qc: 94; dbt: 0.0639s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.61.183); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.9mb
