49 degrees

What a completely miserable day here in Chicago today.  It's a whopping 49 degrees (40 degrees colder than just two days ago) and raining and foggy and blech!  

But I had very good reason to venture out today ... we had to pick up our tickets... 

Yep, it's 100% official we're going to the Oprah Show.  I am so excited and so were all of these people standing in line ~ f r e e z i n g ~ for over an hour to pick up their tickets.  They were chatting and cheering and you could actually feel the love.  So, as you can see, we are in the nosebleed section.  But you know what?  I am just damn happy to finally cross off one of those 'bucket list' items!!  I will take my opera glasses so I can see.  : )

Then it was off to pick up some goodies and have lunch at the French Market.  I like going, but find it frustrating that there are so many vendors who come and go.  You can never really count on something being there - a few vendors seem to stand the test of time, but others are there one time and then you never see them again.  It's a shame really.  We had crepes and Belgian frites and real Coke (the kind made with Sugar not high fructose .. ) and picked up French macarons and chocolates.  

And as we were waiting in line to pay for the chocolate, I took a photo of the display.  Shortly after I was approached by the security guard who said I needed to ask permission to take photos.  

Let's pause here for commentary - I do not understand the scrutiny on taking photos in public places.  It is nothing more than free promotion for these businesses.  The number of photographers who actually take photos in places like this with the intention to 'sell' the photos has got to be slim.  And, if that were the case then I would most certainly expect them to ask permission prior.  

So I believe I was stopped only because I was shooting with a 'professional looking' camera.  I fully believe that if I had a little point and shoot or iPhone, this man would not have even bothered with me.

So back to the story ... I asked with whom I should ask permission and he showed me to the management office.  I met the guy in the office and explained that I wanted to take some photos with my friends and why would that be a problem.  He stated that the French Market is a copyrighted entity and that snapshots are OK as long as you ask the vendor, but if you're just shooting the Market, you'd have to ask.  OK, so he said I was cool to take photos and we moved on.  

We moved on to the hall that is between the Market and the CTA Metra station - this area is apparently owned by someone different and I was once again approached by the same security guard.  "I'm going to have to tell you again about taking photos, because the CTA police might come by..." and so what if they do?  Are they going to haul me off to jail?  WTF?  So we had a bit more of a debate and he ended up walking off - I finished taking the photos that I wanted.  

Then he came back by a THIRD time and tossed out something to the effect of "Oh and by the way I understand why you would want to take photos of your friend, she's beautiful."  Oh brother... So that's it.  He just wanted to get close to be able to get a real peek at us.  As we were picking up our last goods, I spotted him discussing the situation with the sanitation guy ... what a creep! 

Oh and I did a little guest post over on Sel's blog about fashion.  Check it out.