This is a four-week series to help attendees explore Chicago. Please also visit Walking Tour One, Walking Tour Two and Walking Tour Three. If you haven't checked out the Chicago Walking Tours yet, and are looking forward to getting to know Chicago a bit, we suggest you look into them now. They're chock-full of history, architectural facts, hidden Chicago gems and some of the greatest shopping in the city. BlogHer community member Cynthia Clampitt created three tours, plus put together these tips and fun facts, and we couldn’t wait to share them with you. Read on for a great city guide about the city’s architectural history, expansive public parks, tips for keeping your bearings, and what to do near the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers.

This is the third in a four-week series to help attendees explore Chicago. Please also visit Walking Tour One and Walking Tour Two. My favorite way to explore a city is on foot. I think it has something to do with the experience of using all five of my senses in a way that driving (or boat-riding) tours just can’t match. (Not to mention that walking is good for Earth, good for you and good for your wallet. Well, potentially good for you and your wallet. I suppose that depends on your discipline when in such close proximity to Garrett Popcorn Shops.) This tour takes you throughout The Loop. So if you’ve planned a little extra time before or after BlogHer ’09, and were hoping to see a little bit of the city (believe me: there’s plenty to see), then I’ve got a juicy tidbit for you: Chicago walking tours.

This is the second in a four-week series to help BlogHer '09 attendees explore Chicago. Please also visit Walking Tour One.My favorite way to explore a city is on foot. I think it has something to do with the experience of using all five of my senses in a way that driving (or boat-riding) tours just can’t match. (Not to mention that walking is good for Earth, good for you and good for your wallet. Well, potentially good for you and your wallet. I suppose that depends on your discipline when in such close proximity to Garrett Popcorn Shops. Plus, this tour takes you right down the Magnificent Mile - home to hundreds of shops and boutiques.) So if you’ve planned a little extra time before or after BlogHer ’09, and were hoping to see a little bit of the city (believe me: there’s plenty to see), then I’ve got a juicy tidbit for you: Chicago walking tours.

As this year's BlogHer annual conference approaches, many conference goers have found or are still looking for roommates. (If you are looking check the room share forum) Every year after the conference, blogs abound with tales of new friendships formed through the serendipity of room sharing.

This is the first in a four-week series to help BlogHer '09 attendees explore Chicago.My favorite way to explore a city is on foot. I think it has something to do with the experience of using all five of my senses in a way that driving (or boat-riding) tours just can’t match. (Not to mention that walking is good for Earth, good for you and good for your wallet. Well, potentially good for you and your wallet. I suppose that depends on your discipline when in such close proximity to Garrett Popcorn Shops.) So if you’ve planned a little extra time before or after BlogHer ’09, and were hoping to see a little bit of the city (believe me: there’s plenty to see), then I’ve got a juicy tidbit for you: Chicago walking tours.

Aside from attending BlogHer in Chicago this year (getting more and more excited!) I'll be spending my vacation this summer at home, playing with my kitties, blogging, seeing a movie or two with my husband, and hopefully harvesting a few tomatoes from my sad little front yard garden.  Basically, the same things I do every weekend.  Unless I can come up with some creative ideas.  Can you help?

Two friends joined us on our recent trip to Hawaii. We're all under-employed, we've all known each other for some time, and when we started talking Hawaii, one of them had this to say: If I don't get a beach vacation soon, I'm going to have to kill someone. (The someone was very specific, and he did make himself available for the beach vacation, saving everyone from character references and prison time and claims of insanity.

When my pals M&A were getting ready to leave Austria after they'd spent their winter vacation with us (this was in my expat days), they spent a good deal of time poking around the supermarket to find things to bring home to their kids. Their choices seemed comical at the time -- toothpaste, bath salts, maybe even a box of cereal, items that you could absolutely get at home -- but they weren't off the mark. The foreign language, the new tastes and smells, the exotic packaging, this was stuff that was useful but came very clearly from Somewhere Else. The kids went nuts.

In preparation for an upcoming road trip, I find myself taking inventory of our camping gear. Our kitchen kit is in good shape, though it would be nice to have a better setup for making good coffee. Our sleeping bags are in fine condition and we picked up some of those nice silk sleeping bag liners when we went to Vietnam. Our tent, however, is oh so tired, used beyond its lifespan. It's a sturdy little Coleman number, we used it for weeks at a stretch in all kinds of weather and it kept us protected from the elements. Still, it's done, the seams are pulling apart; it's time for a new one.

We've been here for six weeks now, six weeks of adjusting, of figuring out the cheapest markets and how to make my own bread. Finding a balance and a almost comfort level not only for myself but for my child. I wash clothes nearly by hand and hang them on a line. We compost everything and use dry beans for cooking, a process I'm slowly figuring out mostly because I need to plan ahead. We don't have a TV and I have to travel into town and pay to use the internet to write this post.

Funny story: When I registered at the conference hotel for BlogHer '08, the tax on the room was more than I paid for my entire stay at the HI Chicago in '07. And don't get me wrong, the Westin St. Francis was shiny. But the HI Chicago is an awesome low cost alternative this year, if that's what you're looking for.

Economic news is grim, there's no sugar coating it. And I confess, we decided not to book a five day junket to Hawaii because I'm not bringing home the bacon right now. It's more like rice and beans around our place - not that I object, it's just that as much as 600US for five nights plus airfare to Honolulu is indeed a screaming deal, 600US also translates to more mundane things like, oh, health insurance and groceries. We're sucking it up and sticking close to home. We're not alone.