Francophile in the West

In addition to representing the four chemicals in DNA (Adenine, Guanine, Thymine, and Cytosine), AGTC is the acronym I've adopted for my roommate and my girls' weekend in Chicago at the end of March. :) We certainly took Chicago by storm. What a fantastic trip, and what an amazing city! So much to see and enjoy, so much incredibly delicious food and drink, and such good memories with my awesome roomie!! After a massive snow storm in Denver on Wednesday kept both of us working from home, we were able to make it to the airport on Thursday morning with no issues, and off we went. We arrived in Chicago and cruised into town on the "L" before checking into the fabulous  Freehand Chicago hostel (no joke, this was the best hostel at which either of us had ever stayed, and that's saying something) and then we headed up the street for a 20:00 reservation at Quartino , a bustling local Italian restaurant. Holy cow, the food... Linguini with clams, Porcini and Truffle R...

Kon'nichiwa! /  Annyeonghaseyo! / Greetings! I'm recently back from a nine-day trip to Tokyo, Japan and Seoul, South Korea. What a whirlwind, but what a blast! I was there for a traveling conference (one day in each city) and to also visit clients in their offices in each city. I had one day to explore Tokyo and just one evening to explore Seoul. Needless to say, I only got a glimpse of both cities, but I sure liked what I saw. I learned a lot about my clients and about the markets in both places, and I really appreciated the quick exposure that I had to the culture and beauty of both countries. Here are some photos from the trip:  Hello, Japan! Tokyo, Japan I arrived in Japan on a Saturday evening, after a successful 10-hour flight spent watching spy movies and even enjoying a free dram of Single Malt Scotch - international travel is so classy these days! ;) After catching the express train from the Narita airport into the Shinjuku neighborhood, I...