Christmas 2008

Yes, I know you've all been waiting with bated breath to hear all about our holidays, and I'm sorry I've been so slack. There's just so much to write that thinking about it makes me break out in a cold sweat. But, for you folks, that's something I'll just have to endure.

I'll try to make this as short and sweet as possible. We'll see how successful that is.

Tuesday before Christmas


We arrived in Chicago at about 8am, and were immediately hit with a few inches of snow. It was fun! When we left DC, the temperature had been fluctuating between upper-60's and mid to low-40's, so the cold and the snow helped to remind us that it is indeed winter. After picking up the rental car and heading home (Oswego, IL) to freshen up, we headed back towards Chicago to meet up with Jessie and Joci, and Jeremy's friend Nikki and her husband Corey. We drove around the city for a while, hopelessly looking for somewhere that was still serving brunch. At 3pm. On a Thursday. Not only did we not find anywhere for brunch, but we also did not find a single restaurant that was open for lunch. Seriously?! Finally we gave up and just headed to Starbucks for snack, and then it was off to get creative and paint some pottery. Yep - 5 adults decided the best way for us to spend our afternoon was painting pottery. As lame as that sounds, it was actually a lot of fun - we brought a couple bottles of wine and spent a few hours getting our creative juices flowing. Afterwards, we headed to Cafe Ba Ba Reeba for tapas and sangria, where I once again enjoyed a dish of grilled octopus (not calamari, octopus). Delicioso!

Ha! Look how miserably I failed at keeping it "short and sweet"!

Christmas Eve

Nothing. Jeremy and I ate lunch at Portillo's, went home to digest and finished wrapping gifts.

Christmas

Everyone woke up early to open gifts. Ok, maybe not that early, more like 9am. We all got spoiled rotten - THANK YOU!! It was completely unnecessary, but still very much appreciated. After gifts, we all got ready and headed to Jeremy's Uncle Jeff and Leny's house in Chicago for Christmas dinner. The food was wonderful, and it was great to catch up with all Jeremy's extended family who we hadn't seen in 2 years.

Friday after Christmas

Jeremy and I went to see Blue Man Group, which Jeremy had been trying to get me to see since we started dating. The premise of the show is based on how outsiders (in this case, blue aliens) might view and try to understand humans. I don't know...it's kind of weird. Jeremy had insisted that we sit up close in the "poncho" section - the first 4 rows of the theater, where everyone is given a plastic poncho to wear. I was a little apprehensive, but Jeremy insisted that the front rows were the best place to sit. All was well, until about halfway through the show when (CAUTION: Spoilers ahead!!) they shot some stinky goop out into the audience. Wow...gee thanks, boys. We didn't get too much of the goopy crap on us, but it was enough to gross me out and make me just wish the show was over. Anywho, goopy stuff aside, the show was ok. Definitely not my favorite, but entertaining nonetheless.

After Blue Man Group, we headed to Quartino where we were meeting up with the fam and Nikki and Corey for dinner. The food was wonderful, and we all got stinking drunk on chianti and some sweet-like-syrup orange after-dinner liqueur. Afterwards, Jeremy, Jessie, Nikki, Corey and I all headed over to Pop's for Champagne for more drinks (like we really needed it). After 2 bottles of champagne (at least I think it was two), we decided to head over to the Redhead Piano Bar for MORE drinks. Alas, I was deemed too intoxicated to get in (although I vehemently believe that my stumbling was a direct result of wearing 3.5 inch heels and trying to walk down an icey and snowy path), which one would think might deter us from continuing on, but instead we simply walked across the street to yet another bar. We sat down, complaining about the Redhead and their strict door policies, when the the guy sitting next to us chimed in with "Oh, I own that place!". What?! The owner of the bar we had just been rejected from was sitting next to us. His reason for not spending time at his own bar - he wasn't dressed according to their dress code. Ha! We had one drink there (at least I think it was only one), then decided to call it a night. I woke up at 7am the next morning, still wearing my clothes. It was a fun night.

Saturday

We had a slooooow day, being that we were all nursing hangovers. Then it was off to Jeremy's favorite Chicago-style pizza place, Lou Malnati's for dinner.

Sunday

Up at 5am to fly home. We had an exhausting but awesome time! Yay Chicago!

New Year's Eve

Nothing. Seriously, nothing. I made a dinner of sirloin steak, panko crusted crabcakes with roasted red pepper aioli, twice-baked potatoes and green beans tossed with chives and stone ground mustard. It was delicious. We drank a bottle of wine, and were sound asleep by 11pm. I woke up at 12:30 to the Pussycat Dolls performing at the New Years special on TV.

Yeap, we're just that cool.

And that's it. We're both back to the daily grind, laying low after a busy year and hopeful that 2009 will be as awesome as everyone wants it to be.

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas to all...

And to all, wish me luck as I head to the freaking freezing city of Chicago. Seriously. It's 1 degree Fahrenheit at the moment. What the heck??!

Seriously though, I hope that everyone has a fantastic Christmas and gets to spend much needed time with loved ones. I love you all, and I miss everyone bunches. I'll be thinking of you on Christmas morning.

Lots and lots of love and Christmas hugs!
Bec xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS - I've decided that this video of Nat King Cole should be the dictionary definition of "suave".

2008 in photographs

I stumbled across a link to Boston.com's Big Picture section, which is currently running a 3 part series of photographs called "2008 in Photographs". The pictures are absolutely incredible - beautiful, chilling, breathtaking, inspiring. I think it's incredible that, with all the crap that's been going on in the US this year (namely the election and the economic slump), I had absolutely no idea what was going on in the rest of the world. Seriously. And I'm sure that there are many, many other's who are the same. We're so wrapped up in what's happening here, we have no clue as to what the rest of the world is going through. And, apparently, I've missed a lot. Here are my favorites...I'll put a link to the rest of the photos at the bottom.

2008 in Photographs (Part 1)

2008 in Photographs (Part 2)

2008 in Photographs (Part 3)

New hair

Look!!  After growing my hair to probably the longest it's been since I was 5, I've cut it all off to probably the shortest it's been since I had that bad short haircut when I was 13.  Woohoo!!

Is it Christmas yet?

Seriously, is it? We've been bombarded with tinsel and bells and little plastic Santa's for so long, I'm beginning to think that maybe Christmas just passed us all by while we were busy looking for the perfect gifts. It's been almost 2 months since decorations first started to appear, and I really wish that Christmas would just hurry up and arrive already. I'm ready to stuff my face full of turkey and then sit around, moaning about how I might explode. I'm ready to sit around on Christmas morning, listen to Nat King Cole, and hand out gifts in my pajamas. I'm ready to sit at a giant table, drinking wine and trying to comprehend just one of the 36 different stories that are being told at the same time. I really am dreaming of a white Christmas...and it looks like we might be in luck for that this year. And I really can't wait to hang out with family - as much as I love my husband, it does get a little lonely sometimes with just the two of us, and it will be wonderful to spend time with everyone.

In preparation for the holidays, Jeremy and I have been laying low for the last few weeks. Last Saturday we headed over to a friends house to drink some wine, eat some Christmas cookies and play some games. It was a fun night! We played a round of Cranium, and I discovered that I do NOT know the theme song to James Bond. In fact, I didn't even know that it really had a theme song - I thought it was just some random song and then he shoots at that tunnel thingy and blood comes down...I thought THAT was the theme song. So I failed miserably at Cranium's instructions to hum the theme to James Bond - I ended up humming the theme to Get Smart instead. Oh well. At least I could spell hippopotamus and broccoli. If I ever play Cranium with any of you, be sure to deflect all the yellow spelling questions to me - I'm pretty much the queen of the yellow cards.

And that's about all we've been up to. We've just been hanging around, saving our pennies for our trip back to Chicago next week. Jeremy's sick at the moment, which means that I most likely will be sick right on Christmas day. Thanks, honey.

Oh, and speaking of Christmas...I've just finished reading an article that helps to put things in a little perspective at a time when so many people are caught up with the whole "spend, spend, SPEND" at Christmas time mentality. Enjoy!

Stuff is not Salvation

Oh, and I almost forgot...I don't think I had ever seen or heard this gem from David Bowie and Bing Crosby before. It's beautiful, and I love it!!

A little ray of sunshine

While wasting time on Runner's World, a topic posted on the Discussion boards caught my eye - "What do you love about being married?". One person replied with a poem (actually, it's an excerpt from a novel that was later republished as a poem) that I think is absolutely beautiful. Enjoy!

Oh, the comfort --

The inexpressible comfort of feeling

safe with a person,

Having neither to weigh thoughts,

Nor measure words -- but pouring them

All right out -- just as they are --

Chaff and grain together --

Certain that a faithful hand will

Take and sift them --

Keep what is worth keeping --

and with the breath of kindness

Blow the rest away.

By Dinah Maria Mulock Craik - A Life For A Life (1859)

What is the world coming too?

Britney's new CD is actually really good. Really, REALLY good! Like, it's so good I may just listen to it repeatedly all night. Or at least until Jeremy kicks me out.

If you live in the NoVA area, you might be getting a call from me. Just be sure to have some speakers handy so I can keep Britney alive.

At the moment

Random things I'm thinking about

- Kids movies. In the last week I've curled up on the couch to watch: Enchanted, The Incredibles, Over The Hedge, Wall-E, and Bee Movie. Seriously. There must be something in the air.


- Speaking of something being in the air, we know three couples who are expecting! How awesome is that?! Eric & Shannon are pregnant with their second, Mark & Lauren will be the proud parents of baby twins on December 11th, and Bill & Kathleen are due in April. Awesome, awesome and awesome!


- This weekend we're putting up our Christmas decorations! Yesssss! I'm debating whether or not I should buy a bunch of glittery Christmas banners and string them up in everyone's office before they get in to work. Doing so would either result in lots of smiles, or lots of people complaining about the political correctness of Christmas banners. I'm seriously considering doing it. Maybe under the cover of night, so those scrooges who go around saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" won't know who to blame.


- Total Wine is having a Total Tasting Extravaganza! Free admission - check! Tasty, bite-sized appetizers - check! So many wine and beer samples that I may leave the store a little more than just tipsy - check!


- Quicken Online. Could they make my life any easier?! Using Excel to keep track of finances is for suckers, and I'm a sucker no more.


- Why oh why does hot air have to rise?! I mean, I understand the physics behind it, but sheesh! Our bedroom is about 20 degrees warmer than the rest of our house, and our lower level is about 20 degrees colder. It's kind of annoying and it makes it hard for me to sleep at night.


- When is it going to snow already?

- Will someone please send me these? I'm a 7.5, which they appear to be sold out of so you'll have to do some serious searching. I'm not really in the position to spend $600 on a pair of booties, but I figure maybe the cyber-gods will take pity on my lack of funds. Maybe.