I was prepared to be pooped by the time I got to the airport. I expected to sleep on the plane and wondered if I might fall asleep in the airport. As I approached the waiting area in Chicago I kept my eye peeled for a spot I could curl up in when a man in a fur hat wandered by with his son and I stopped dead in my tracks and tried not to appear bug-eyed. It was Jeff Tweedy! I don't know what Jeff Tweedy or Wilco means to you, but to me he/they are rock gods and hometown heroes. So um, I was a little excited. I ended up sitting near him and his family in the waiting area. No, I didn't talk to them, but I thoroughly enjoyed spying on him and his 2 rock n'roll sons. I sat there trying to think of who I could spill my excitement and realized I could only think of a few people who might be as geeked out about seeing Jeff Tweedy as I was.
The rest of my weekend went similarly. Filled with people who I was beside myself with excitement to see/hear and the friends I told excitedly about who I was seeing were all like, "um...who?" But no matter! Here are the hightlights:
- We talked about macrobiotics, vegetarianism, the power of WATER (very cool stuff)
- Andrea Beaman, alumni of IIN, former Top Chef competitor and funny presenter spoke about grains and curing herself 2x from thyroid disease
- Marion Nestle, 3x author and expert on how politics and money affect the messages we receive about nutrition
- We were supposed to hear from this dude, but it turned out his schedule was too busy!
- So instead we were suprised by celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz. Who was awesome and inspiring and funny and got a rockstar welcome from that bunch of nutrition junkies.
- And we rounded out the weekend with raw foods guru David Wolfe, or "Avocado", as it turns out he likes to be called. For real. I'm not sure I could call anyone Avocado, but it's not like we're hanging out...like me and Jeff Tweedy. He was funny and super exicted the entire time. Just about everything he spoke about was ultimately referred to as being the "BEST EVER". Raw foodies all seem to be similarly energetic and exciteable. Maybe there is something to all that live food energy.
- ALSO! I got to visit with an old friend from college, Joanne and her husband and their cute kiddo, Nico
- And of course another weekend with Ali and her boyfriend Greg. We tried to watch "A Might Heart", but we didn't realize that you could turn the subtitles on when they didn't appear automatically. I sat there through much of the movie thinking "I guess they trying to be all authentic with the language and we're on our own with the story. Damn you, Angelina Jolie" But then we figured it out.
The thing I haven't mentioned is that each week they give us books and other useful items. It feels like walking away with presents every month.
Yay for weekend trips and lots of good learning and getting to see personal heroes in person.
But now I am seriously tired.
