Lisa’s Travels

On November 29th, Grammy and Stellar Award nominated artists Kenny Lattimore and Chante’ Moore will perform a concert of their R&B and Gospel favorites. Net proceeds from this exciting evening will benefit Autism Speaks to support awareness, children, research, advocacy and community based programs.

Preferred seating tickets are now available for this concert fundraiser which will be held at the Park West in Chicago located at 322 W. Armitage Ave. (Showtime is 8 p.m.) Tickets are $150 each for individual preferred seating. In addition $600.00 preferred booth seating is available where an entire booth will be reserved in your name for a maximum of six people with exclusive preferred seating wait staff.

Each preferred seating ticket holder will receive four (4) raffle tickets for a chance to win the following:

• Two VIP wristbands to “meet & greet” Kenny & Chante’ at Darrell’s private birthday reception in the Park West VIP balcony immediately after the concert;
• One Gift Certificate for a complimentary two night stay for two at the Hilton Chicago;
• One Gift Certificate for a complimentary two night stay for two at the Palmer House – a Hilton Hotel; and
• Two personally autographed music CD’s: “Love the Woman” by Chante’ Moore & Kenny Lattimore’s upcoming Verve Records 2008 Solo project.

For more information, contact chicago@autismspeaks.org.

Don’t miss the first annual Autism Speaks Heroes Ball. Gary Fencik (from the 1985 Bears and sports reporter for WGN) will host the event. The VIP reception will include a meet and greet with Gary. This year’s bash will feature fantastic food, premium open bar, entertainment, raffle, silent auction and an intimate tour of the impressive automobile collection housed in the showroom at the Ravenswood Billboard Factory considered one of the finest displays of vintage and prestige sports cars in North America. Silent auction items include a week long ski trip to Aspen, VIP sports packages and rare autographed memoriabilia. Join other heroes who are uniting to find a cure for autism. All proceeds will benefit the Chicagoland Chapter of Autism Speaks, the nation’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for autism.

Date: November 14, 2008
Time: 8:30 pm- 12:30 am ( main event)
7:30 pm- 8:30 pm (VIP reception)
Location: Ravenswood Billboard Factory- Irving Park and Ravenswood-enter at 4043 N. Ravenswood Avenue.
Parking: FREE

Ticket cost $80 in advance $100 at the door $125 for VIP tickets (include exclusive VIP reception).  Advance tickets must be purchased by 11/10/08.

For more information contact the Chicagoland Chapter at chicago@autismspeaks.org or 224-567-8573.

If you have any soccer fans in your house, the Chicago Fire have a couple events they are going to be at.

On October 21 from 7:00 - 8:30 pm, Cuauhtemoc Blanco will be signing autographs at the Best Buy, 2100 N. Elston Ave in Chicago. Anybody who purchases the MLS Gamebreakers DVD will be guaranteed an autograph! A second line for those who have not purchased the DVD will receive autographs while supplies last.

Sparky will be at the Hispanic Festival featuring Ballet Folklorico Dancers, Salsa Dance Performance, Mariachi Band Performance, Authentic Latino Food, Authentic Latino art & crafts, and Face painting for the kids.  It is on November 23 from 12 - 4 pm at the Forest View Educational Center, 2121 S Goebbert Road in Arlington Heights.

If you live in the Chicagoland area and are hungry, @tweatingout is a site you have to check out.  You can find out the best restaurants and eateries to eat at.  Each restaurant they have listed is reviewed in 140 characters (yes, like Twitter) or less.  Basically, you get the gist of what each place is like and whether or not you should visit.  My only complaint is that I wish you could sort by location.  Go check it out and see where you are eating!

Bill and I had the pleasure of staying in the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center on Saturday night. This is one the better hotels Bill and I have stayed in (and we’ve stayed in many bad, bad, bad places).  When you first walk in, there is an escalator to get up to the hotel lobby.  The lower level of the hotel is the convention center.  The people behind the desk were extremely helpful and friendly.  The lobby was decorated with modern contemporary furniture.  They had some great sound proofing too.  Our room was on the third floor, but right over the lobby.  We never heard a thing from the lobby the entire time!   The rooms were fairly large, and the bathrooms had TVs in the mirrors.  The TV in the room was also HD, so my husband was in seventh heaven.  The bed was super comfortable too.  We also had a chase lounge chair in the rooms too!  If you are there for business, there was a desk to work on, and several plugins for all your business needs.  We also checked out the hotel bar, Gather, and that bar was very nice also.  We were there after the dinner we were there for.  The staff was awesome and made great drinks.  Again, the furniture was very contemporary but very comfortable.  My only complaint is that parking is quite a walk away from the hotel.  I lucked out that Bill dropped me off at the door, so I didn’t have to walk that far.

If you are in the Schaumberg area here in Illinois, this is definitely a hotel you should check out.