mary

Q: What is the most important room in your home?  A: In reality, it’s the spare bedroom closet because that is where we hide all the junk. But, I love our balcony. We have comfy chairs to spend time together and a beautiful view of the Chicago Skyline. It’s very peaceful.  

Q: If you could go back in time to change one thing, what would it be? A: I’m not sure I want to mess with the timeline…I love a good time travel show/book but am not convinced that trying to change things in the past actually helps. I would definitely be open to traveling back through history though to see what life was like, for a day…I’m not hardy enough to last much longer without modern conveniences.

Q: What did you want to be when you were small? A: I went through many phases, schoolteacher, dance teacher, very busy office lady, anything with a cash register and/or scanner. I was all about the supplies, and my parents were gracious enough to humor me. How many 7 year olds had overhead projectors, real cash registers and old-school manual credit card machines? I had quite the empire starting in that basement!  

Q: What’s your favorite family tradition? A: Our Christmas Day is actually the most laid back, so that is probably my favorite. My mom and I have a quiet morning and get to be pretty lazy until the rest of the family comes over later that afternoon for dinner and silly games. Everyone wears some sort of Santa hat, and we just eat, drink, and hang out! 

Q: What is the best gift you have been given? A: I’m a sucker for a great card or note! The cards and drawings my nieces have made over the years are always keepers and I love looking back at notes from my grandparents. One I continue to go back to is a card my grandpa (Papoo) gave me when I was a sophomore in high school. In it, he included a clipping from Investor’s Business Daily (his favorite newspaper) that listed IBD’s 10 Secrets to Success (pictured). I can still hear his voice reading through the list with gusto, and there is no better gift than that!

Q: If you had a warning label, what would yours say? A: No warning label needed, I’m a delight! 😊

Q: What’s the most fun you’ve had this week? A: Going back a couple of weeks, my partner, Michael, mapped out a smashburger bike crawl where we biked around the city on a Saturday trying out different smashburgers. Surprisingly, I think my favorite thing we ate that day was the chicken sandwich at Leavitt Street Inn!

Q: What’s the last movie you went to see? A: My Old Ass. I ventured out to AMC’s Screen Unseen showing a couple of weeks ago and this was the mystery movie shown. It was SO sweet, and not something I would have chosen for myself, so very happy to have stumbled across it!  

Q: What childhood activity do you wish you could still do now? A: Run outside after dinner for an impromptu game of capture the flag with my friends/neighbors!  

Q: Would you rather explore a new planet or the deepest parts of the ocean and why? A: Oof, both sound scary but I’ll go with explore a new planet. Deep water terrifies me and floating in outer space terrifies me less?