Christmas in Chicago

As stated previously, I'm a Christmas nut. So to jump right into the holiday season, a few friends from out of town drove in to Chicago to start enjoying the holidays. We had big plans for the day. We were going to start by getting peppermint hot chocolate and go ice skating in Millennium Park. Unfortunately, thanks to the fickle Midwestern weather, it was raining instead of snowing... in December! We still tried to find other ways to begin the holiday season: Christmas flavored coffee drinks, shopping on Michigan Avenue, perusing the window displays at Macy's, enjoying the twinkling lights on Christmas trees... And when the disappointment of the crappy, non-Christmas weather hit us, about 20 or more Santa's ran down Michigan Ave. That was enough to bring a smile to even the grumpiest face. I had a great time. Nothing says holidays like spending time with loved ones.

So little time, so much to do.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I absolutely love everything about it: decorations, cheer, giving, egg nog flavored everything. It's fantastic. To ensure that I don't miss any joyous part of the holiday season, I've made a little checklist. I hope I do everything on this list and more. 

Hunger Games

Recently, I asked all of my Facebook friends for book suggestions. I got a wide range of responses, but overwhelmingly the vote was for Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I'm not a big Sci-Fi fan so I wasn't going to read it, but since so many people recommended it to me, I thought "why not." Turns out, it was fantastic. I mean, it's definitely a youth literature book aimed and middle and high schoolers, but the story is completely original and interesting. The book takes place in a post-apocalyptic world with 12 districts called Panem, formerly the United States, and revolves around 16 year old Katniss. Every year two "tributes," aged 12 to 18, from each district are forced to fight to the death in the televised Hunger Games. Sounds morbid, and it is a bit, but it's really good! 

I even picked up the second and third books of the series. I can't wait to finally have time to read them. I heard that they're actually just as good as the first, which rarely happens. The movie also comes out in March: 

Christmas playlist

It's that time of the year when it is officially acceptable to listen to Christmas music again. {I've actually been doing this since about October, but now I don't have to in private.} Lately, I've picked up a few new Christmas albums, but to be honest, recent creations don't really compare to the classics. I already made my Christmas playlist on iTunes... and listened to it several times through already. {There are many more than just 14.}

But of course, the greatest Christmas song ever recorded...

German Christmas cookies

You know what's been on my mind lately? Cookies. But not just any cookies. I've been thinking, daydreaming, drooling over these German cinnamon star cookies that my brother-in-law used to make every year. They are quite possibly the best cookie I've ever had. They light and flavorful, but not too sweet. Christmas cookies always tend to be a bit too sweet, don't they? Now that Patrick is out in California, I guess it's up to me to make the cookies. 

I found a recipe for the cookies here. I doubt they'll ever be as good at Patrick's grandmother, but I'm going to try. The recipe seems a bit complicated though so I'll have to wait until Christmas break.

Thanksgiving with the Green Bay Packers

This Thanksgiving, instead of sitting around a table with family, eating delicious food, I cheered on my Green Bay Packers as they played the Lions in Detroit. I was sad at first that I would have to skip out on our family tradition... but, boy was it worth it. We drove out to Detroit on Wednesday night to make sure that we'd have plenty of time to tailgate before the game on Thursday. BUT it turned out to be a bit too cold to tailgate too long. {We could have stuck it out, but Detroit doesn't really seem like much of a tailgating town.} When we were tailgating, however, we did see the best thing ever: a man dressed as Clay Matthews, complete with a belt and Lombardi trophy. He was AWESOME. Since the Packers were playing to continue their undefeated streak, and not making any spectacular plays, I was a bit more nervous than usual. However, I should know better than betting against Aaron Rodgers, James Jones, Charles Woodson, Clay Matthews or any of the rest of them because they WON. We were cheering so hard my throat hurt. Most of the Lions fans had left by mid-way through the fourth quarter so it was easy to her the GO PACK GO chant echo through Ford Field.

After the game, we headed down to the field where FOX was filming their post-game show. My friend's Dad started chanting, "Go Pack Go! 11 and 0!" and it caught on. As we were heading back to our car, we happened to see the Packers boarding their buses for the airport, too. It was an amazing day! I can't wait for my next Packers game.

a little thankful list.

happy thanksgiving! today is the day we're supposed to take a minute and think of all the things we're thankful for {most of which we take for granted every other day of the year}. i am thankful for so much and am sad that i don't acknowledge it more throughout the year. i'm so wrapped up in what needs to be done, what i need, what i want, that i don't take enough time to simply be thankful for what i already have. 

so here's my little random list of things i'm thankful for...

cat naps {or in this case, puppy}

good coffee {the only way to wake up in the morning} 

my friends & family {who are always so supportive and encouraging}

a warm home to come home to every day

ice cream

mini vacations with friends

sunshiney days

smiles

books you can't put down

christmas lights

pumpkin pie

news podcasts

cuddly cats {even if i am allergic}

phone calls with friends

a job i love going to every day {well, most days}

my warm bed

Creative advent calendars

Typically, every year for Christmas I buy one of those cheap advent calendars that has a small bite of waxy chocolate behind every day. This year, I want to try something different. I'm not sure if making it myself and eating each goody myself is a bit of a waste, but it still looks like such a treat. Eventually, I'd like to come up with a creative way of doing this for my children {when I have them}. I found this blog that had a few fun, creative ideas I'm considering now. I especially love the coffee travel cup one! 

Jazz, wine and pottery

Last week, my friend Nikki and I went to a little art shop downtown {Alpaca Art}. Every few weeks the shop hosts a wine and pottery night. We brought a bottle of wine and a few glasses, they provided the hors d'oeuvres, pottery and a jazz band. It was a very nice, very grown-up night. You could pick whatever piece of pottery you wanted to paint and so I, the coffee addict I am, chose to first paint a coffee mug. It had an interesting shape so I was fairly excited about it. Problem was, I had no idea what to paint! And I had never painted pottery before so I doubted that I could do anything intricate. {I was right about that.} Instead, I picked two colors that I've been obsessed with lately, mustard yellow and gray, and painted a random design of squares and rectangles. It took me a while to finish painting my mug, but when I finished, my friend was still working on hers so I painted a few tiles and a circle pendant that I'm going to turn into a necklace for my big sister. 

Overall, for my first time out, I'm happy with how they all turned out. I'm excited to do this again, on wine night, of course. It was so much fun!

Marcel is back

This is the cutest shell I've ever seen. "Guess why I smile? Because it's worth it." You have to watch this.