Christmas Eve was playing with Dylan.
Dylan playing with my cell phone.
Stefanie and Joe coming by.
Bagels and pierogis.
Cookies and kolachkis.
2 dogs running amok.
Ordering pizza.
Watching He's Just Not That Into You (which was a movie that basically went against everything in the book...)
Christmas was playing with Dylan.
Going to see Sherlock Holmes (I wasn't that impressed).
Opening presents.
Dylan getting a camera and cell phone of his own.
Pasta because it was the only thing I could think to make that everyone would eat.
1. My coworker dressed up as Santa Claus and hit the street on his bike.
2. I crashed the ticketing department party for some food...and then later some wine...
3. Our holiday party was smaller scale, but thankfully still on this year. I think I managed to drink 6 glasses of wine before leaving...and then we hit up the after party for more...I kind of wanted to call in sick with a hangover the next day.
And, of course, we had fun with Ron's action figures afterwards...
1. Chelsa and I went to see Pontypool at midnight at Music Box. I had seen the ending at Music Box Massacre but had missed the beginning because I was at Jen's bachelorette party. It was a pretty awesome movie. But seeing the beginning didn't necessarily make the ending make any more sense :-)
2. Eric was in a play! It was called Alone Together and was in someone's condo. It was cool and odd because the guy converted his apartment into a theater and used his living room and kitchen as the set. Eric didn't suck.
3. Chelsa and I went to see Bruckner 9 at CSO. It was my first time at CSO and it was beautiful. Afterwards we went to Rhapsody and got the "special" on some wine from a bartender who is friends with Mat. Although his friend thought I was a total lightweight and crazy because I was pretty much drunk after two glasses of wine...
4. Brian called me because he was wandering the streets of Chicago and was pretty much outside my apartment. So we went to the Starbucks on the corner and caught up a bit and he got hot chocolate and I got a carmel brulee latte.
5. Chelsa made chicken noodle soup and we watched Year 1...which was pretty awful. The movie. Not the soup.
6. I went to Renegade Craft Fair to do a little holiday shopping. It was fun and I got a few things but the problem is that everything that is really nice is way expensive and there are a lot of not so good crafts. I texted Mat because it was right near where he lives and he came over and met me. We walked around a bit and then left and went back to his place to watch some Three Stooges and play Mario Kart. I came in second!...on the first game...then I sucked it up on the rest of the rounds and mostly didn't finish.
7. Heather and I like to get Guatemalan food and get pitchers or half pitchers of margaritas. Delicious.
8. I went to a wine tasting at WineStyles for the first time in forever. Then we went back to MK's to watch Top Gear but I fell asleep.
9. Chelsa and some others and I went to see midnight Star Trek improv at the io. We got Ians first and I had my favorite steak and bbq sauce and french fry pizza. Star Trek improv was good but not amazing. One guy kept laughing at everything he was saying. It was a different form of improv than most of the stuff they do there because they all had characters that they all played and improved a Star Trek episode based on their characters.
10. Plecki and Andrew were in town so they met up at my place (along with Alina and JoeJoe and Glen) and we headed to Frasca for some dinner and then the Moon for drinks. There we discovered the amazing wonder that is Crispin cider. Seriously, best bottled drink ever. Ever.
11. Mat came by and he brought some wine and I made him a quesadilla that he said tasted like a grilled cheese sandwich. I gave him his Christmas present and he asked why I didn't bring myself one from beneath my tree and I said they were all for other people. He said "Even the purple one?" and I didn't know what he meant but then he had hidden a present for me under my tree! So I told him that I then felt bad because I didn't think he'd get me anything so I didn't get him anything good :) But he got me a travel journal which is very pretty and nice and it's kind of like a blog but made out of paper. And he liked the bicycle bell I got for him :-) And then we watched Pirates of the Caribbean because I had never seen it and its one of his favorite movies. Actually we started to watch Repo! The Genetic Opera but neither of us could get into it. So we watched Pirates instead.
2. I am so incredibly behind on blogging. INCREDIBLY BEHIND! Prepare for massive updates ahead...
3. I am currently on day three of a much needed twelve-day weekend.
4. Jack Bauer interrogates Santa:
5. My oatmeal recommends I make it with breast milk. I made it with milk from a cow instead.
6. I love wrapping presents. I absolutely love wrapping presents!
7. My credit card may or may not have been compromised so my card was cancelled a few weeks ago and I finally got it back. I learned that I can't function without one...but will have the absolute lowest credit card bill in a long, long time since I couldn't charge anything for two weeks!
8. Dear reality shows, taking a ten minute pause before announcing that the group of young people who can sing are moving on over the boring old ladies is not suspense, it's just annoying. P.S. I was totally addicted to Sing Off (the reality version of Glee) but it was only a week long show. I liked the Beelzebubs better. Oh, and the live Boys 2 Men reunion totally made the entire competition worth watching.
9. Dear reality shows, taking a ten minute pause before announcing that you are going to shop for fabric is neither surprising nor interesting. P.S. I have been watching Bravo's "I'm Not Project Runway" because I am bored. It sucks.
10. I have determined that I can never go vegan...a) I like meat. b) I like cheese. c) I like my bakery to not taste like banana. I am not saying vegan baking is bad. I'm just saying it doesn't taste like non-vegan baking. P.S. Bleeding Heart Bakery's s'mores brownies are utterly fantastically delicious.
11. After freezing because our windows won't stay shut, risking our lives by weighting it down with a jar of preserves, and scaring us to death every time the window would pop open out of nowhere...I finally figured out that there is a mechanism built into our window that make them stay closed...
12. I'm just a Canon girl looking for a Canon guy...
13. I apologize to anyone who ever eats my cooking; you will probably find a hair of mine in it.
14. I apologize to anyone who ever opens a present I wrapped, you will probably find a hair of mine taped to it.
15. Eric has managed many times now to compare me to the kids his brother used to teach in special ed. :(
16. Did I always have Travel Channel? I swore I didn't but I do??? I can watch Man vs. Food now?!?!?!
17.
Mat: Finished at La Pasadita, now bedtime.
Val: What's that?
Mat: When you're done for the day and you lie in bed.
18. Really, what motivates someone to reply "STOP SENDING ME THIS SHIT!" to a marketing email instead of just clicking "unsubscribe"?
19. I want to dye my hair red. But then I do not.
20. Major League Eating was on Cake Boss. It was awesome.
21. I told my financial panther that I'd sleep with him if he got my mutual funds back to the point where they were when I started by the end of the year... he has a week to make me $1046.46...
