A Moment for Whimsy

I'm feeling a bit whimsical today, so I have no choice but to blog in that spirit. On my recent trip to Chicago, I found myself getting a little camera-happy. I kept running into things that struck me as interesting. So, let this post be a photo essay of my recent wanderings:

I'm pretty fond of these little stone wolves. Especially the reader! I walked through a small park and spotted these guys just hanging out.

You've gotta love a hotel room that comes without a Bible in the top drawer, but with a paperback Oxford English Dictionary on the shelf. A writer's dream.



The height of decadence: red velvet french toast. I am not kidding. It is some sort of madness: slices of red velvet cake, batter-dipped and grilled like french toast. So wrong, but so delicious.





Who knew you could recycle your flag? This cracked me up. Seriously--if you have a flag, why wouldn't you want to keep it? If you don't like it, why do you even have it the first place? And if you've abused your flag to the point it needs to be replaced, are you really going to remember to bring it to the library for proper disposal?



A cocktail called a "treetini." Apparently, for each one of these sold, the restaurant/hotel donates money to plant a tree in some rainforest. I'm all for having a drink for a good cause!



I wasn't sure I could come up with a nice, cohesive way to wrap up this morning's randomness, but how's this: I'm grateful to have taken the time to slow down and pay attention to small details in the world around me. I got a lot of pleasure this week from things I don't always do, like studying public art and reading a whole menu before jumping to my old standby choices.

What small things have you noticed lately?