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!

Bear Down, Chicago Bears!

Dean surprised me today by calling and offering me a free ticket to the Bears game! I have never been to a professional football game before and it was so much fun! We tailgated in the cold and rain for a couple of hours, taking shelter under the trunk door of Dean's Ford Explorer, but once we started walking towards the stadium the rain stopped and it stayed dry for the entire game!
The Bears lost but I still had such a good time!! I met Dean's friend, Brandon, and that guy is flippin' hilarious! He had me laughing so hard my face hurt! And Lisa was there too. It was her first Bears game as well, and she and I sipped hot cocoa together for most of the game.
I must say, even though I loved the game, I have never felt less feminine in my life. I had about 5 layers of pants on, 3 pairs of socks, 4 t-shirts, 2 sweatshirts, 1 stocking hat, 1 winter coat and 1 plastic poncho. I felt like the stay puff marshmallow man. But I stayed warm the entire time, which anyone who knows me knows that I am always cold. So all I cared about was keeping warm. And it worked!

Thanks Sean for forcing me to accept the tickets. You're my new good luck charm! :)

How Crate Does Holidays

The Truth Can be Adjusted

Last night Sean and I took in the film Michael Clayton. It was pretty good but not as impressive as I had hoped it would be. Then again, the more thought I give it the more I like it. Go figure.
Afterwards, I introduced Sean to The Hungry Brain where we chatted over a great jukebox and their finest bottles of Miller Lite. I love sharing stories with friends! Break a leg on final exams, Sean! beginning the 15th...we celebrate being halfway thru law school!!