Cupcake and painting parties

It's a charmed life I lead.

Friday evening I put down the books and focused on the less tangible journalistic skills -- swapping stories and meeting characters at a local bar. Then headed into town for a book reading followed by cupcake party for a friend's mentor's book.

Chick-lit is not my thing, but amazing river views and swanky hors d'oeuvres spreads are.

The place was amazing, but we were exhausted and by far the youngest guests there and kept mostly to ourselves until some bored, middle-age-and-then-some husbands came to mingle.

I don't remember much, but I must have said something about religion reporting because before I knew it I was being whisked over to a woman sitting cross-legged in a beautiful black party dress on the leather sofa.

Who turned out to be a Harvard-lecturer religion and human rights reporter. Better yet, she was clearly looking for an excuse to leave the conversation she was in.

Well then.

The next day I had to get a video story. My last one was a bit of a disaster so I decided to make it easy on myself and cover a neighborhood mural painting. Not exactly hard news, but pretty and active and formulaic enough.

But -- who knew? -- there turned out to be an amazing story behind the mural (tragedy, community, hope, all the classics).

Just as I was finished interviewing a neighborhood teen a woman came over to ask what I was doing.

And who might she have been? Why, the very friendly president of the Chicago women journalists organization. And she seems to want nothing more than to introduce me to all the right people!

Not a bad weekend, I'd say.