The other day I went to a cafe with a couple of friends. The wine is on wine racks and you can pick out your bottle, the staff will open it and you can drink it with dinner. None of us know a whole lot about wine – I know to avoid certain kinds and labels, but don’t really know what’s good or not. So Alison decided on a cab/shiraz/merlot blend from Australia – not because she liked the brand or the wine inside, but because she liked the look of the label (shown on the right). I was slightly concerned. The wine was fine though. Sometimes judging a book by its cover doesn’t work, but sometimes it does.

Another time it worked out well was when I was shopping at Target. I don’t know what I was looking for, but a CD caught my eye. Normally I stick with musicians I know and like or were recommended to me. I’d been thinking a lot about my hometown in Illinois, so when I saw the title “Illinoise” in bright yellow letters I looked a little closer. The names of the songs were amusing and I felt like I needed a new CD anyway. So I bought it even though I’d never heard of the artist, Sufjan Stevens.

I played it when I got home and both my husband and his friend (from Illinois – and musician himself) immediately loved the songs on it. I did too. Our favorite, as a family, is probably his most famous so far – especially if you’ve seen Little Miss Sunshine. We sing along with it when we drive back to Illinois just as we enter Chicago.