What does an orchid have to do with Chicago in winter? Well it's white like new snow, duh, and, at least for me, a bit exotic.  I've traveled to foreign countries and across the good old USA, but never to Chicago, unless you count getting stuck in the airport overnight.  So, when my friend got a sweet new gig in Chicago I had to look into some awesome things the internet tells me I can do when I come visit/ can share with her when she moves.  Of course, this is purely a relay of information based on what I can find from the google searches and I am in no way trying to say I am correct in my assumptions.  Chicago residents or past residents or heavily vacationed Chicago fans, please feel free to add helpful comments!

First off and looking ahead to next fall: THERE IS A SANDWICH FAIR.  What?!  Yep.  That's a thing.  People go there.  There's a sweet countdown clock and my friend's favorite food is a sandwich.  Chicago for a win.  Sadly I can't find a list of the sandwich offerings, but there are some interesting competitions. Would be worth checking out over next Labor Day.

Well back to winter and the obligatory lists of awesome things to do:
TripAdvisor has a wonderful list of things to do for Free- Now most of them are outside, but there are some indoor/ sheltered areas that can get through that Illinois winter-
1. Millennium Park home of the silver bean and Facebook photo opportunities abound.  It also houses free ice skating at the McCormick Tribune Ice Rink and Caroling at Cloud Gate every Friday at 6pm from November 29th- December 20th.   
2. Lincoln Park Zoo- has an adorable new baby rhino and is set to open a Japanese macaque for it's "snow monkeys" (they put it in quotes, so I did too!)  There is also Zoo Lights coming up from November 29th- January 5th, which looks beautiful.  
 3. Garfield Park Conservatory- which is noted for being mostly indoors- looks incredibly peaceful and full of live, green plants.  It's like going on a vacation and not having to wait through flying somewhere. Voices of the Season is on Saturday, December 7th fro m 1-4pm and has holiday sing-a-longs and "tasty holiday treats" and is of course in the gorgeous conservatory. 
4. National Museum of Mexican Art is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 5pm and houses the largest collection of Mexican art and cultural artifacts in the United States.  All those vibrant colors could really warm up a cold Chicago day.
5. Chicago Cultural Center was completed in 1897 and is an ornate building, which houses a Tiffany dome (the world's largest) and a 40-foot-diameter Healy & Millet dome.  Just in case you don't want to spend all day looking up (though the building itself looks to be worth the trip) there are multiple events there every week and many of them are free.   
6. Chicago Greeter has to be one of the coolest ideas for visiting a city or getting introduced to it for the first time.  The service pairs a knowledgeable local with the visitor for a 2 to 4 our orientation that introduces the neighborhoods and how easy Chicago is to get around. On TripAdvisor it has 558 Excellent/ Very Good reviews as opposed to the 5 poor/ terrible review.  Yeah, I'll take that average and wonder why every other big city doesn't do this!  

Things that aren't free but look like a wonderful way to spend a cold day inside-
1. The overall theater scene is booming and  some amazing talent.  There are so many wonderful shows opening all the time. Of course there is the Chicago Theater and it looks to have a collection of different offerings. Including a Holiday concert starring "The Head and The Heart" who are amazing.
2. The Driehaus Museum of Decorative Arts is off of Chicago's Magnificant Mile and exhibits the decadence of America's Gilded Age.  My only concern is I might want to decorate my house with some of these items.  Pretty sure the grandeur of it all won't fit in my tiny apartment, but that's besides the point.   
3-7. The John Hancock Center/ Observatory is $18 by itself or $35 with the FastPass OR you can get the Chicago City PASS for $89 and gets you admission to: "John Hancock Observatory FastPass admission, Shedd Aquarium, Skydeck Chicago, The Field Museum, Adler Planetarium or Art institute of Chicago".  OR there is the Go Chicago Pass that includes admission to 25 attractions after getting the pass.  You can get a the largest package, a 5 Day Pass, for $170, but it has to be used in consecutive days.  It's on sale now and doesn't get activated until you use it.  If it's anything like the Paris pass then it's the best money you can spend.  Sounds like something I would buy when coming to visit.  Be warned.    

Well that's at least a start. I feel like now all I want to do is go to Chicago and visit! 

So, I have to admit that I have a small problem with needing to know what's going to happen.  If something seems out of balance in my life I go into full on protection mode.  I find myself running around, clutching my cell phone in case I need to make an emergency call, and googling how to solve each of life's problems.  Everything from a person coughing across a restaurant to a mysterious, itchy bump can make me teeter on the edge of unhinged and overly invested.  In my years of adulthood I have used all of those collegiate research skills to really hone my ability to over-react.

1. If there is a mysterious bump, the first reaction should not be to look on the CDC website for the most recent outbreak in the US for Dengue Fever.  But really, why should this concern just stop with the US when people and wayward mosquitoes could be transported by planes here?   So that leads to the important questions of, "When was the last time I sat next to someone who just came from any part of coastal Brazil or Mumbai, Maharastra, India?" to "Wait, I have a headache, my shoulders ache (which is obviously a muscle ache), and my eyes are hurting, so does that mean I have Dengue Fever?"  Well, the first question is answered with a simple, "not since you moved from DC 4 years ago", and the second is answered with, "no, you've been staring at the computer screen for far, far too long". So probably Dengue Free in 2013... probably.  

2. I have an overwhelming desire to spam everyone during Cold and Flu season to get their shots and cover their mouths with the crook of an elbow.  Lets be honest here, I don't have the time nor inclination to deal with lazy butts and I especially don't have the time to deal with their inabilities to keep snot off of door handles.  So, if you would like to aid in this effort, please feel free to send out the following PDF to everyone you feel needs it (note: you are obviously not an inconsiderate, snot handler if I have shared this with you.  Thank you for your efforts!) I can't promise it will make you popular or snag a date with the looker across the office, but at least it should make people think twice before high-fiving you after taking a nice juicy cough into their hands.  

3. The Mayo Clinic has the best  symptom checker, some of which you might even have before convincing yourself that you have them.  "You" is used loosely here, as it stands for anyone who commonly googles symptoms before a regular doctor's office is open.  Which leads to...

4. Cost analysis of going to obtain a medical degree vs. continuing to pay for sick visits to a doctor's office should probably not be worthy of an Excel Spreadsheet.  But really, wouldn't one year of science courses, followed by a year of studying for the MCAT and medical school applications, then up-routing the family, spending four years in medical school, then moving again, then 5 or more years in residency and then hopefully getting a job, be worth not having to wonder about my symptoms at 4:15am?  Yeah, I came up with a no to that when I was 19 after realizing I didn't actually want to be a doctor, but, still at 4:15am I wonder if I made a wrong turn in my youth.  

5.  It counts as more constructive if I share it online right?  I mean if I am googling for a friend or a colleague or someone I barely know, but they asked me a questions, then it's alright, right? 

Fine, I admit that I like a good symptom google.  I like to use the government webpages to back up my concerns.  Information is power and the CDC and NIH keep my medical curiosity fully charged.