Christmas at my Dad's

El Bait

We found the dirtiest, smokiest, nastiest bar in DSM...and then we set up shop for a few hours. Beer tastes the same no matter where you are.

Elf on a Shelf

Christmas at my mom's was joyous, as always.
I learned how to play Catch Phrase and I am now ADDICTED to that game! We all took turns playing it and it's sooo much fun! Paddy, Sarah, Sean and I are for sure going to have to have a game night sometime soon. I plan on purchasing Catch Phrase this week. Thanks Lance and Courtney for bringing it along!

With

Last night's Christmas Eve service was beautiful. My mom sang, which is something I always anticipate and always love. My sister played the flute, which is so lovely to listen to. The boys hopped up and down off the pew, colored on my bulletin and crawled all over me playing with my scarf, jewelry, and whatever their candy-cane-sticky-fingers could touch. That is something I look forward to year round.
That was the second time I had heard the new pastor, Dave, preach. It is apparent why he has his doctorate from Harvard Divinity. He is an incredible writer and a powerful speaker and he has the rare talent of preaching without being preachy. Every time I've heard him speak, I end up spending the next few days pondering over the message.
Yesterday's message was about the word "with". God be "with" you. Not against you. When you are afraid, we are "with" you. You are not alone.

So this Christmas I would like to say to all of my readers, Peace be "with" you.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

*sunday morning's sermon was about Redemption and in the middle of the sermon, Dave asked where else we hear/see the word "redeem" or "redemption". He brought up redeeming a coupon at the grocery store. Or the place you take your old soda cans to be recycled and how that's referred to as a 'redemption center'. He said he thinks that is what church should be called, a 'redemption center'. Then he got a big grin on his face and yelled "So get your cans in here!" This man is brilliant... :)

Osteria Di Tramonto

Yesterday my boss took us out for lunch at Gale Gand's restaurant, Osteria di Tramonto. Fantastic food!
Here is a list of what we ate:
Appetizers: Steamed Mussels, Fried Calamari, Bruschetta, Fresh Mozzarella in a Rice Ball and Prosecco.
Main course: Rigatoni with Proscuitto and Leek in a Cream Sauce. To drink we had red wine (I don't know what kind of wine it was, my boss picked out the bottles).
Dessert: Hazelnut, Honey and Raspberry Gelato, Turtle Mi Su and Sour Cherry Italian Ice. Cappuccino. (Honey gelato is my new favorite dessert. Yum!)

Bon Appetit!!

The Best of 2007!

Here is my "Best of 2007" list. This one is for concerts.

10. Josh Rouse at Old Town School of Folk Music
9. M. Ward at Park West
8. Modest Mouse at Lollapalooza
7. Cloud Cult at The Knitting Factory
6. Band of Horses at The Metro
5. Mucca Pazza at The Double Door
4. The Frames at The Hideout Block Party
3. Cold War Kids at Lollapalooza
2. The Decemberists at Millenium Park
1. The Swell Season at The Vic


**Honorable Mention: Peter Bjorn and John at Lollapalooza, even though they lost power after only 4 songs**

Girls Night - Christmas Style

Tonight, Carisa, Michi and I celebrated Christmas by getting all dolled up and treating ourselves to a nice meal. We dined at Piazza Bella (Chicken Versuvio for those two, Tortellini w/ Pruscuitto for me) and then off to Volo for some delicious wine. Yum!
Merry Christmas, girls! Love you!!

Priscilla's Holiday Mail

I got my annual Sarah K. holiday card in the mail today! Yeah! It was properly addressed to Priscilla McCain (I will explain that story some other time) and it was signed by my best friend Sarah and her boy/future husband Paddy. Only Paddy signed it "Dr. Handsome B. Wonderful", so the return address is from Kahl and Wonderful.

Haha!

The card is "The 12 Daves of Christmas". Can you name all the Daves?

Pregnant 101

These Spears girls must be allergic to birth control or something. Jamie Lynn, who is the ripe old age of 16, has announced she's with child. What I find especially funny is that their mom was in the process of writing a book on parenting. I believe the mom's agent has released the statement that 'the book is on hold'.

Unbleeped

Thanks for hosting last night, Sean!

Love Actually

I stayed in last night to finish wrapping presents while watching Love Actually.
This is one of my all-time favorite films and it just makes me feel all warm inside whenever I see it.
Here's one of my favorite clips:


and for the past couple of days i can not stop thinking about how he has noticed the way my eyes look when i'm laughing...and that makes me feel all warm inside, as well...

Decision 2007

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do for NYE. Here are the options so far:
1. Manno's annual NYE bash. Lots of people will be there and I know I would have fun but it's $100 for the night.
2. Carisa and some ladies are seeing The Dirty Dozen Brass Band at The Abbey Pub. $25 cover.
3. Josh mentioned flying in from L.A. to hang out. But his schedule is so busy I have a feeling this won't happen.

Is it a sign that I'm old when really all I feel like doing is staying in, having some beers, listening to music and staying sorta low-key?

Style

Marrying a wack-job really has done wonders for Katie's look. I don't care what people say, this girl is gorgeous. Granted, she looks about 10 years older than her actual age but who cares?
I LOVE her hair and I love everything about the shot in the black dress: the strap, the collar bone, the hands on the hips. Everything. I pretty much want that dress now.

Eddie

Mike and I hung out at a pub last night discussing the usual bar topics: mining on the moon, Bottlerocket, ravens, etc. And of course the discussion of ravens brought up Edgar Allen Poe (i.e. Eddie). So I thought I would post one of my favorite poems by him. (And if you think I'm posting The Raven you are dead wrong. The poem is waaaay to long to post on a blog, so I'm opting for Annabelle Lee instead.)


It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Vosges

Yesterday I also got a chance to stop into Vosges gourmet chocolate shop, down near Michigan Avenue. I bought 4 exotic chocolate bars as a surprise for my date last night, but the date didn't happen so instead Sean took a study break to come over and eat the chocolates with me. Here's what I bought:
Gianduja: Almonds, Hazelnuts, Deep Milk Chocolate
Mo's Bacon Bar: Applewood smoked bacon, Alder smoked salt, deep milk chocolate
Red Fire: Mexican Ancho and chipotle chili peppers, Ceylon cinnamon, and dark chocolate
Woolloomooloo: Roasted and salted Macademia nuts, Indonesian coconut, hemp seed and deep milk chocolate





Sean and I both thought the Mo's Bacon Chocolate bar was the best; a perfect combination of salty and sweet. I was surprised that I also liked the Red Fire bar. It had some heat to it but it was more a warm cinnamon than a spicy pepper. The chocolate on that bar wasn't too bitter either. Yum! Flights of chocolate (and red wine) are fun! Thanks Sean!

Watch Out

I went to the Alessi store down by Michigan Avenue today and bought myself a new watch. Isn't the design awesome?! I wasn't even looking for watches but I saw this and fell in love immediately.
Those Italians sure know how to do accessories.

All is Calm, All is Bright

My church back in Iowa finally got a new pastor. His name is Dave Clark and I'm pretty sure I've already shared his story with most of you.

Anyway, thanks to Josh's encouragement, I sent Dave an email last week to introduce myself. I explained my affiliation with Ankeny Christian Church as well as my current frustration with every church in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. He was very understanding as to why I haven't been to church in 2 years (except when I'm home for the holidays). :)

I have heard from a couple of people that Dave is not only an amazing writer but a powerful public speaker. I asked if he would be willing to email me his sermons every week and, to my delight, he agreed!

So I got the first sermon yesterday. It's titled "All is Calm, All is Bright". It was a very quick read, quite poignant, interesting and laugh-out-loud hilarious. I opted to read it at work and my co-workers were wondering what was causing me to snicker at 11:20am on a Monday.

Anyway, let me know if any of you want me to email you a copy. I recommend giving it a read. :)

oh yeah, one last thing...this past Sunday the little kids in the church put on a Christmas play. Gavin was a shepard. He was using his walking stick to play swords with another shepard. And then he would randomly stick his tongue out at different people in the congregation. That kid cracks me up!

Paul Potts

Every time I see this video I get goosebumps. Despite the weird editing and the cheesy Aerosmith song, this is still an amazing clip. I've never been to the Lyric Opera in Chicago, but this makes me think I should looking into getting some tickets.

Redwalls

Here's how last night went down:
1. The cabbie who drove me to The Gingerman serenades me with a Cowboy song.
2. Mike and I drink pints at The Gingerman where he runs into an old friend from high school.
3. We head next door to The Metro to see The Redwalls. Great show.
4. I lose a bet on the number of encores they will perform.
5. Back to the Gingerman where Mike and I proceed to run the pool table for a couple of hours.
6. Cheeseburger. www.seemychicago.blogspot.com
7. On the cab ride home we make a brief stop at a 7-11. Mike steps into the gas station while I wait in the cab. A car then hits the cab and peels out of the convenient store parking lot. Cabbie and I jump out and he begins to chase the car down. Cabbie runs back to cab, hops in and begins to drive away. I walk into 7-11 and tell Mike I was just in a car accident. Police show up and I proceed to give a report on the accident.
8. I never pay up on the lost bet. I still owe Mike a beer.

I was one of those nights when the journey was just as interesting as the destination.

Happy Festivus

Last night, Sean and I hit up Mike's annual Festivus celebration. We had prime seats at the bar too! Woot!
And what a wonderful surprise when Carisa, Michi and Christina showed up!! I couldn't have asked for a better Festivus celebration. It consisted of us hanging out, eating food, drinking beer and making each other laugh so hard that our sides hurt. :)
I love that Brandon and Lindsey set up shop at the buffet table. Most people graze the buffet table but those two, they each pulled up a chair!

And I met some incredible people last night too! I'm looking forward to hitting up Sean's cottage this summer and hanging with everyone again.

I think the best way to sum up the evening is how it ended: Sean and I in the vesituble of a bank. He's commenting about how polite the ATM machine is "May I please issue you a receipt" and I'm dancing to the 80's music that's being piped in thru cheap speakers. Happy Festivus!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer...

...is singing loud for all the hear

Last night we had our annual viewing of Elf. Ashley, Andrea, Mandy, Maria, Sarah and I ordered up some pizza, drank some beer/wine and laughed hysterically thru the entire film.

You stink. You smell like beef and cheese.
I just like to smile! Smiling's my favorite!

Razor Sharp

Last night Sarah and I got together to watch the 2 hour episode of Battlestar Galactica "Razor". Oh. My. God. Fantastic! And it made me realize that I need to rewatch the last season, or perhaps the last 2 seasons, in order to refresh my memory of the show. Sarah and I were both a little confused on the timeline and had to keep hitting pause to recount who was who as well as reconstructing the past plotlines. Thank goodness for DVR.
This episode told the story of the Pegasus ship's downfall. It touched briefly on the war (and apparent cloning/experimentation) that began 40 years prior. (40 years anyone??....come on, that's a huge Biblical reference)

Anyway, the two main political themes were on the following:
1. The leader of the Pegasus, named Cain (another Biblical reference, I believe) is greedy for power. She needs to be right at all times and will kill her own people if they challenge her authority. (enter in the charcter of Saddam Hussein) And she's a lesbian...which I find very interesting.
2. Cain captures a prisoner of war, a woman, and tells her Commanding Officer to interrogate the prisoner. She recommends he humiliate her, hurt her, etc. This X.O. begins to beat and rape this prisoner of war and then justifies it by saying he was following orders and it is all part of the interrogation procedure. (Guantanamo, anyone?)

I can not get over how sharp and smart this show is. The rest of the season begins in March so I think I will take the next few months to rewatch some episodes.
And can I say that I love watch BSG on Paddy's ginormous television. :)

The Night is a Dark Time for Me

Mike and I had another date last night. We ordered in Thai food and watched Blades of Glory. That movie is flippin' hilarious! I got a bad case of the giggles after I heard the line "The night is a dark time for me..." I seriously could not stop laughing.
I also liked when we took movie breaks to walk over to the windows and peer out at the snowfall. The neighborhoods looked beautiful last night, even if Mike claims his neighbors are the Griswolds. Which now that I think about it, his neighbors have got nothing compared to Sarah and Paddy's old neighbors. I think I will repost pics for Mike to see what a real Griswold house looks like:

The White City

We had our first real snowfall last night. I snapped these photos this morning, looking out my living room window. I love how a blanket of fresh snow muffles all sound and makes the city grow still.

Straight Up Now Tell Me

I just got a call from my dentist and my first set of Invisilign molds are in! I am going over at 1pm to pick them up. Although many friends of mine have been kind enough to say that my teeth look straight and my smile is fine, I know that my teeth are crooked and it drives me crazy. It's the one part of my body I'm self conscious about. But in about 5-6 months my teeth will be perfect! Yeah!