January 29th--On the El

This is the view on the Red Line on my way home from Truman College.

January 28th--Dosa Day!

Neeraja invited us over for Dosa Day! Here she is with Avik cooking up our treats! She could be the next Martha Stewart!

January 27th--Hanging out with Nordine

Nordine and I went to see "The Painted Veil." Then we hung out at his place.

January 26th--Blogging with Class

On Friday we had a Professional Development Day. I led a

workshop on creating blogs. Suzanne and Ted are busy creating their own blogs!

January 25th--The Kitchen

This is my kitchen. I am planning to change the cabinets and knock down the wall between the kitchen and living room. It might be awhile till my dream comes true!

January 24th--My Treasures

These are some of my favorite treasures. This is a wooden girl from Krakow, a painting from Syria, a samovar from Oman and a cabinet from India. This is what I see each morning when I wake up.

January 23rd--Nordine

Nordine and I went out to dinner at Cousin's on Broadway. Yum!

January 22nd--Truman College

I started taking a Dreamweaver Class at Truman College. This is a mural in one of the stairwells.

January 21st--Nice

Jyoti, Venu and I went for tea at the Ritz to celebrate Venu's birthday in December. We had a great time and the word of the day was "nice."

January 20th--Out to Lunch

I met up with Pat and Ethan at Joy Yee Noodle in Evanston. We had the Pad Thai and the Korean Chap Chae Noodles. Delicious!

January 19th--Happy Birthday Tiffany!

Here is Tiffany at her birthday celebration! She turns 29 tomorrow!

January 18th--Lunch Time

Lori and Therese are busy at lunchtime.

January 17th--Hats

Here is a sampling of the hats in my international hat collection. On view are hats from Thailand, Poland, Estonia, Lebanon, Greece, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Oman. And that's only a small portion of my collection! Thanks to everyone who has donated oatmeal containers for display stands. I still need about 30 more containers, so eat up!

January 16th--Checking Out

Trudy is checking out from work.

January 15th--Grading Papers

Most of the day was spent grading papers! At least I've made some progress.

January 14th--Baby Pictures

Dimple, Neeraja, and Venu pose with Avik. Isn't he cute!

January 13th--At the Fat Man

Shelly and I were having lunch at the Fat Man in Waukegan. We were on a mission to visit a Mexican backroom chiropractor. That should have been the picture of the day, but of course, I forgot to take out the camera!

January 12th--Deep in Discussion

Venu and Jyoti are deep in discussion about God. We went to dinner at Semiramis, and then to Hot Chocolate for dessert.

January 11th--Attendance and Bagels

Ms. Nora is busy tabulating her attendance while enjoying Thursday morning bagels.

January 10th--On the Phone

I'm on the phone with Venu. It's a good thing she can't see me! I look scary!

January 9th--Tea Corner

Here it is...another picture of my apartment! This is the tea corner. I bought the furniture at the Indian Furniture Store in Kuwait and I sewed the cushions myself! I did take some great pictures of students brainstorming for their personal narratives, but I can't publish them here!

January 8th--Office Ennui

I have got to start taking better pictures! There are only so many angle I can take of my office. The most interesting part of my day is working with students, but I can't post their pictures on my blog! I also don't want this to be a series of portraits of my co-workers. I'll have to think of something creative!

January 7th--Cozy in my Office

Even though the temperatures are higher than normal it is still pretty cold outside. I went biking along the lakefront and I was freezing when I got home. Here I am cozying up with a cup of tea and getting ready to do school work.

January 6th--The Party's Over

I'm getting ready to go back to school and coloring my hair! Exciting Saturday night! I probably shouldn't every show anyone this picture!

January 5th--Indie Thai

Yee, Jody and Mark are getting ready to eat lunch at Indie Thai, my favorite Thai restaurant in the city! Even though Yee and Mark are visiting from Bangkok, Jody and I managed to drag them out for Thai food. Yee gave all the dishes her offical approval, although there was some miscommunication as they made her lunch extra spicy instead of mild, like she requested.

January 4th--Family Wall

The home improvement continues! I finally added hooks and wires to all of the family portraits. This is Busia and Dziadzia on the left and my grammy and grandpa on the left. The dictionaries on the stand are from my grandpa. He left $1000 filed under "M" for money!

January 3rd--Lunch at Jane's

Nora, Carol, Tiffany and Chris enjoy lunch at Jane's. Jane is a wonderful host and she invites a group of teachers to feast twice a year. Here we are ready to get stuffed.

January 2nd--Children of Men

Venu and I went to see the movie "Children of Men," which is based on a P.D. James novel. In the movie women are infertile and the world is falling apart. Ultimately the movie is hopefully, but everything is really gloomy along the way. Both Venu and I recommend the movie.

January 1st--Home Improvement

I spent the first day of the new year working on my office. I am stenciling a pattern onto the ceiling. I was inspired by the design in the Massolit Bookstore and Cafe in Krakow. My neck was hurting from looking up for so long, so I took a break and went for a walk. The picture for today is of my building (the high rise.) My apartment is on the fourth floor.

Getting Started!

Picture of the Day was a project I first worked on in 1991. I don't remember what inspired me, but I decided to take one picture a day for the entire year. That is in the day of old-fashioned cameras and taking film to the store to be developed. Each photo was mounted on a separate page in a two-volume photo album. After the year was over I had a detailed record of my year which included a summer in Alaska and studying in Spain. One of the best parts of the project was that my friends became involved and were always on the lookout for a great picture. The downside was that by the end of the year I couldn't stand taking pictures!

Well now, sixteen years later I'm taking on the project again. My mom and dad gave me a great new camera for Christmas. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) The current technology of computers, blogs and digital cameras should make the process much easier. I'm interested to see the differences in my life from then and now. Some of the people in the pictures will be the same, but there are lots of new people in my life. What places will I visit this year? Where will I be at the end of the year?

Here goes...I know from experience that this is a long project. But I also know that I can make it!