Here fishy, fishy

Antique Reef Tank
Originally uploaded by nrcop102.

I decided that as Chair of the Advance group in Chicago, it was time to mix things up a bit and so I arranged for us to meet up for our bi-monthly networking drinks on the North Terrace at the Shedd Aquarium.

Unlike last week, tonight was absolutely stunning weather - if not a little warm before the sun set, but I have to tell you that watching the sun go down over the beautiful Chicago city skyline sure is a sight to behold.

Thursday nights at the Shedd is a jazz and cocktail spectacular. For $10 admission from 5pm, you can look all through the Shedd's exhibits (the Oceanarium is extra) and you can have cocktails and hors d'oeuvres - though I flirted shamlessly with the waiter and scored a double helping of jambalaya!

But I was the hostess of sorts and I had to behave myself other than that. So given that when I was outside on the Terrace, I was perched somewhat precariously on the Shedd barricade overlooking a sheer drop of about 20 feet, I figured I wouldn't have too many cosmos, and instead just had a couple of Coronas early on and enjoyed the great Puerto Rican jazz band.

It was great to see a number of new faces tonight too. It's hard because you find yourself asking the new people all the same questions: where are you from, what brought you to Chicago, when were you last home - that sort of thing. It doesn't make you sound very imaginative. I'll have to work on my conversational skills and mix THEM up a bit too.

I think everyone had a good time tonight; we had a lot of compliments on the location, not that I could take any credit for that. But it was important for me to showcase the best of Chicago, especially to our new arrivals, and I think we did that well. Our outdoor location gave us the best possible vantage point for the fireworks from Navy Pier too - just gorgeous and a wonderful end to the night.