Another great way to brighten up an otherwise dreary day is with some of the fantastic kid’s art murals hanging on the walls at Lillstreet.

So much color.
So much uninhibited creativity.
So much fun.
A great contrast to the grayness outside!

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Today was warmer… but still gray, gloomy, rainy & foggy. Not at all pretty. So maybe it’s a great chance for a sunrise flashback to one I never quite had time to post last September.

So here it is… the morning sunrise I’m jonesin’ for now in the middle of Winter!!!
Ahhh, warmer days…

After the bowl challenge, my Lillstreet Throwdown students moved on to matching cylinders. So they had five minutes to throw their own “perfect” cylinder. They thought that was it… but after setting their own standard, the “real” challenge was announced. They had an hour to throw as many matching cylinders to their own “perfect” prototype!

When that hour ended, they got points for the ones that matched, and the ones that didn’t match… SQUISH!!!

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So last night was the second night of The Great Lillstreet Throwdown!!!
My new class on Thursday nights “loosely” based… err, inspired by The Great Pottery Throwdown on BBC.

Last week their first challenge was to throw a 3-pound bowl in 20 minutes.
They could make it any size, any shape. Knowing that it was going to be judged & scored at the end. So they all put their best foot forward… err, on the pottery wheel foot pedal.

And then SURPRISE!!!
After they were all ranked & scored, the next surprise was laid down…
By each of them passing their freshly thrown bowl to the third person to their right.
The challenge was now to trim, finish and decorate their “new” bowl by the next class.

And that class just happened to be last night.
So they all brought in their greenware “finished” bowls for judging.
Here is a quick overview of the “finished” bowls… one week after the first throwing challenge!

And one last bowl entry… apparently straight from the reclaim bucket!!!
The student missed last week’s class but was in the process of discarding this bowl when one of the other students stopped her and pulled it out of the bucket so she would have in the challenge!!!

It was pretty obvious that a few of them were “playing the game” and quite possibly looking for a little advantage with their choices of design content. Did you notice the bike themed bowl???… or this little lovely…

Little did they know that I would NOT be the one judging their bowls.
So their “sucking up” wouldn’t work! Instead, I had my friend & fellow teacher Mike Skiersch stop by as our Guest Judge for the evening. He analyzed, lifted, touched and critiqued as he tried his best to rank them from best to worst.

And then it was on to the next challenge…

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Last night was only the second class of the new session for my Beginners…
and they’ve already thrown, trimmed and made mugs!!!!…
oh yeah, and a couple new stamps just for fun!

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It might be freezing outside, but a beautiful sunset like this makes it “feel” as though it might be a bit warmer outside than it really is.

After a whirlwind tour of New York for both work & play, it felt good to finally get back to Chicago O’Hare. I love New York… but home is pretty great too!!!

After a great matinee, we also found cheap seats for CHICAGO at the Ambassador Theater. My friend Tiffany got “day-of” discount seats for us… in the SIXTH ROW!!!

Another fun Broadway show…
followed by a late-night subway adventure down to Greenwich Village for pizza at Joe’s…
a New York culinary institution with celebrity photos all over the walls.

With a free day to play in New York, I zipped down quickly to TKTS to find some discount tickets. I scored a great seat for a matinee showing of KINKY BOOTS at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. It’s the new musical by Cyndi Lauper!!!

The lobby of the theater is a mini museum of Hirschfeld illustrations.

RANDOM HIRSCHFELD FACT : and my Summer Camp kids LOVE this one…
When Al Hirschfeld signed his illustrations, he always added a number next to his name. That number corresponds with the number fo times her hid his daughter’s name NINA into the illustration. Look closely at both sleeves to see a NINA in each of them!

The ceiling of the theater is incredible…

And the show was AMAZING too!!!

I even found myself leaving the theater when the stars were exiting the Stage Door…
and scored autographs from the two lead actors! Including Jake Shears, lead singer of the Scissor Sisters.

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When in New York… cheesecake is ALWAYS the answer.

And if you can’t decide, get two for lunch!!!…
and then a third slice for dinner before the show! So sue me.