December 18

Tonight I got my gag gift for the white elephant gift exchange.... guess what it is?
It's a cocktail shaker in the shape of a penguin, I think it's hilarious!

December 17

Today Mike and I went to get our driver's licenses updated. This pic is of the inside of the Thompson center.... kinda cool.

December 16

Oh NOES we're snowed in!!! Send lava cakes! ;c)

December 15

Em and I pose before heading out for the night.

December 14

Tonight was Beth's birthday party

I lift up the birthday girl

The PwC crew (and me!)
Joey Kull comma Jr. clowns!

December 13

Ohhhhhh yeah, molten lava cake and ice cream. Wonder why those pants aren't fitting so well anymore?

December 12

New polka dot shoes!!!

December 11

Today I went to Target to pick up some decorations for the bedroom. This is the mirror for above the dresser.

December 10

Guess what is up and running - our security system! Makes me feel very good.

December 9

No pic today!

November 8

Today I had an outing with Gracie at the early time of 8AM in the morning!

Then I hit up Kirkwood with my sorority gals and my friend Stacy to watch the IU game! IU whooped Kentucky!

December 7

Tonight we hit up my holiday party at the Hyatt...

And then went to Mike's at the Navy Pier Grand Ballroom

We saw Gorman, and we had tons of fun!

December 6

Last night we went to the store to get baking soda to put in the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies instead of baking powder. Oy, was that an unfortunate-tasting mistake.

As a completely random aside, this is the third time this week alone I have used my awesome mixer. I used it to make a meatloaf on Saturday and it was AWESOME. A) my hands didn't get all cold and hurty mixing the cold meat, and B) My hands didn't get all meaty! It was the bomb. Thanks for the mixer, Brett and Meghan!

December 5

Today we were walking back from lunch and a big, perfectly-shaped snowflake landed on my coworker's shoulder and I tried to take a picture of it... however it didn't so much work out!

Oh, and have you seen my dustbuster? Because a magic dustbuster-stealing fairy must have made off with it. I NEED IT!

December 4

Tonight we went to Gracie's school Christmas play. It was held at this huge lovely old church in Oak Park. It was so beautiful.

December 3

Decorated the Christmas tree and hung our stockings tonight! Yay!

Random bloggy fun

Today this post from Miss Doxie has me in stitches.... here is the excerpt that is cracking me up:

Planet Unicorn is a series of five little animated videos, each of which is about 3 or 4 minutes long, and...well, actually, I am not going to try to summarize all the complicated plot devices and meticulous character development involved therein. No. Because that has already been DONE, and you can pretty much learn all you need to know about the subtle nuances of the show by reading the spoken-word intro that precedes the theme song:

In the year 2118, an 8-year-old gay boy named Shannon found a magic lamp. He was granted three wishes. The first, a fur jacket. The second, a flying car. The third was a planet full of unicorns. This is the story of that planet.

Okay, now. PEOPLE. Are y'all still with me? Did you get all that? Because: LET'S REVIEW.

This is a show about a gay unicorn planet. In the future. That was wished into existence by an eight year old gay boy. Now, y'all...I ask you. WHAT ABOUT THAT IS NOT AWESOME. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO TELL ME.

And, oh. Oh, you guys, it only gets better. For example, did you know that the three unicorns who inhabit Planet Unicorn are named Feathers:

Cadillac:

and Tom Cruise?

Seriously? The fact that the last unicorn is named Tom Cruise was soooo funny to me for some reason. I literally cracked up in my cube reading that. I also think it's hysterical that later in the post she photoshops pictures of her daschunds so they look like the unicorns. Classic.

December 2

Tonight Mike and I went to Menard's to get our tree! I am so excited about it... it will look great in our new home right by the big windows!

December 1

Busy busy day! Today we woke up and went to breakfast with some family friends, Ange and George, at The Bongo Room It was so good, this is a pic of Mike's chocolate french toast.
After breakfast, Mike dropped me by Emily's where I sat and chatted with everyone else while they had brunch, and then we went shopping! I picked up an awesome holiday party dress at Loehmann's and then met back up with Emily and her mom and sister-in-law for more fun. We checked out the Christmas tree in the Walnut Room, which is gorgeous....
Then we stomped around Michigan Avenue taking pictures for Emily's Christmas cards.....
After that, I caught a cab home! Later that night Jay came by and we gave the Wii a good workout. Here he is getting down with some guitar hero.
After some Wii, we hit a houseparty and then went to a bar to dance to some awesome late 90's early 00's rap! Check out Jay and Kim getting down ;c)

November 30

Tonight we headed over to Tracy's for some birthday fun. She had a Trivial Pursuit party, it was so fun! Happy Birthday, Tracy!!

Tracy's husband, Tojy, got her this rocking Dairy Queen Blizzard ice cream cake. It was delicious. Well played, Tojy, well played!

November 28 and 29

Gah, keep forgetting the pics

November 27

Tonight Mike and I went to Stanley's to get some fresh fruit and veggies.

November 26

Such a slacker, no pic today

November 25

My friend Jill got us this awesome wine book for the wedding and tonight I pulled the wine labels from that bottle of Bella and put them in the book. I thought this was really cool because the winery is small and family-owned and they dedicate their wine to their children. The labels are art from the kids, and on the back of this one was a poem to their son.

November 24

Tonight we went to Indy to hang out with Jay.

Hubs voices his displeasure at the picture-taking

Jay and I pose with the leg lamp

November 23

Today we hung out in Logansport, stopping off at Mr. Happy Burger for lunch. Seriously one of the best tenderloins that I have ever had. Oh, and they have a giant cow outside the restaurant.

Dade holds baby Odin. After I took the picture, he said "Did you take a picture of my baby? Is the picture of my baby and me together?" So cute!

November 22

Today was Thanksgiving and I totally forgot to take a picture.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I am thankful for:

• My wonderful family. Dad, Mom, Katie and Jay - you are so very important to me and I am so happy to have you in my life
• My extended and new family. I am so very blessed to have warm and loving extended family; both original and married-into families.
• My husband - he is my foundation, my best friend, and confidante. I love him and love that he was made specially for me. I also love that he will execute bullet points on a honey-do list such as shampooing the carpets. And he is quick to volunteer for those projects which I really do not want to do, such as shampooing the carpets!
• All my friends.... it means alot to have such great homies
• I'm thankful for so much more!

November 21

Tonight my best-friend-from-high-school-and-freshman-roommate Jill and her husband Chris came into the city and had dinner with us (Her hubs is from Naperville, just outside of Chi and they came into town to visit the in-laws.....). This is the bottle of wine we had, a bottle that I have been looking forward to drinking since August - a bottle of Bella Pinot Noir..... so good!

November 20

no pic today, nothing interesting....

November 19

Today I got my NEW! PINK! LAPTOP!

November 18

No pic today... Sundays are wayyyyyyyy boring, as a rule.

November 17

Today we bought a gnome. And we named him Herman G. Wells. And that's all I have to say about that.

November 16

This weekend we headed to Bloomington for the annual IU-Purdue faceoff. Here is the pic of me and the boys with our AMFs at the Upstairs!

Sunday, November 11-Thursday, November

Like I said, I was on Sabbatical this week, but I did take a few pictures when I happened to be out in Oak Park

November 10

Tonight we went to the Black and White Ball - it's a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club that is SO MUCH FUN! They have this great cover band called Maggie Speaks that is great, and the event is catered by China Grill. We had a great time last year and got together a big group to go this year, including my parents. Here Mike and I pose like we're going to the prom or something!
Mom and Dad dance to "Stayin' Alive"! I had so much fun with them, and am soooooo glad they came up for the birthday weekend. It was one of the most fun weekends I have had.

November 9

Tomorrow is my birthday, but today we had a birthday dinner! Chicken noodles and my some of my favorite gals... nothing could be better.

November 8

Tonight I made all the noodles and sat out all the fixin's for the dinner on Friday night. I couldn't get over the fact that we not only have this condo, but that all of our family and friends were so kind to give us all this cool stuff! The crockpot Jay got me for Christmas a few years ago (I think the quote was "this thing is the Mercedes of Crockpots") but the rest is all wedding gifts!

November 7

Tonight I started the preparations for the birthday dinner we are hosting for my birthday on Friday. Our close friends are coming over and we are having chicken and noodles, the traditional "April Birthday Dinner".... this is a pic of my boiling the potatoes, I boiled and mashed two bags of potatoes tonight!