Santa's Little Elf

When she's not watching the snowflakes fall, she keeps an eye out for Santa's sleigh.

Sinus Rinse/ Netti Pot

I caught a cold a couple of days ago and last night, in the middle of the night, I woke to severe sinus pressure. All day today my ears have been plugged up, my nose is stuffed then runny then stuffed, and I'm sneezing constantly.

So I decided to do a sinus rinse, which my doctor recommended to me and which I've heard so much about. It's a little uncomfortable but not painful. And surprisingly, it really works! I can breathe thru both nostrils after I perform the rinse.

Basically, you pour warm salt water into one nostril, it flows through your sinuses and out the other nostril. If you're really stuffed up, it may come out your mouth. It sounds disgusting, but really isn't that bad. It just cleans you out. I've done it twice and am surprised and how good I feel after doing the rinse.

For those of you who haven't heard of this, here's a video:

Advent Conspiracy

Fugly

JT has seen better days.

Dress Rehearsal

I realized I hadn't posted photos from Sarah's dress rehearsal.
Sarah and Paddy met at a Halloween party and every year my friends love to get dressed up for Halloween. So their dress rehearsal, which fell on Halloween night, was a costume party!
Sarah went as a Bridezilla. Paddy went as Bob from What About Bob? Chris went as the Dread Pirate Roberts. I went in masquerade. It was so much fun!!

Soup

I can not get enough of the new Campbell's Select Soups! The label is printed with soy ink on recycled paper. There's no MSG or crazy additives. A full serving a veggies in every can and only 200 calories! My favorite is the Tomato Basil.

Mmm...mmm...good....

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

We got our first snowfall last night. I woke up this morning and everything had a 2 inch layer of white resting on top. I pulled my ice scraper out of the trunk of the car, where it retires to during warmer months, and chipped the ice off my windshield.

All the while, my feet were soooo warm in my Ugg boots! These things are amazing!

Can you believe it's December already? I know, I can't! I'm looking forward to the trip to the Bahamas at the end of this month. But I've got a million things to do between now and then...watch all my favorite Christmas movies, holiday baking this coming weekend with Chris' sister Jenn, caroling with my church, and just enjoying the festive season.

:)
'Tis the season, readers.

Economic Crisis

Last Friday my company laid 10% of our workers off. Michi's company also let people go last Friday. And we both know that we were lucky that it wasn't one of us that got laid off. Michi and I are both new to our companies and some companies are letting their newest associates go.

For the first time, this economic crisis is hitting my home...my friends...

I actually started planning for what I would do if I were to lose my job in the coming months. I work in design, in retail...no one's job is safe in my field of work.

Let's all pray that this gets better soon. And let's pray for those people who just lost their job. May they find work soon....

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Friday night, Chris and I saw Zack and Miri Make a Porno. It was HILARIOUS! Seth Rogan cracks me up and I love Elizabeth Banks' laugh. Afterwards we grabbed a pint at a new pub near Chris' home and while instead enjoying our tasty beverages, some punk egged Chris' car.

On a street packed with cars, a lone egg was thrown at Chris' windshield. It froze almost instantly. Boo....

YMCA

Michi and I joined the local YMCA last night. We joined so we can start swimming laps a few times a week. We did a 30 minute lap swim last night, which felt great! I love the water!
The Y is only 5 blocks from my apartment, so not even a 10 minute walk, which makes it super convenient. The lanes get a bit crowded, but Michi and I just share a lane so it's not too bad.

Twilight

In a span of 2 weeks I had 3 friends recommend this book to me. So I picked it up last weekend and COULD NOT put it down. I read all 500 pages in 3 days. I went ahead and picked up the sequel and started reading it last night.

If you're looking for an easy and fun book to read, I recommend Twilight.

I Made Pink Is The New Blog!

Holy Cow!!

Chicago is a New City

Thanks Michi for sending me this picture. All these signs are up around downtown Chicago.

Yes We Can!!!

Sarah and Paddy's Wedding

My best friend, Sarah, got married this weekend. I was filled with joy the entire day! And I was thankful that not only did I get to witness them exchanging vows but I was asked to be a part of the wedding as well, by being a bridesmaid. I took some photos of the bride getting dressed but ended up putting the camera down early on in order to help actually get the bride ready. :)

So I don't have a full photo of Sarah in her gown. She ended up with a beautiful purple sash tied around her waist and a beautiful necklace that reminded me of a snowflake.

Congratulations Sarah and Paddy. :)

VOTE!

In case you need one more reason to get out and vote tomorrow....if you go into any Starbucks tomorrow and tell them you voted, you get a free tall cup of coffee.

Starbucks

Vote!

Say it Ain't So, Joe!

It seems like people are shocked by the weird shoes that Katie Holmes sported around NYC this past weekend. To me, though, they're all missing the bigger picture.
She's wearing stirrup pants, folks. Sweet Lord, what is she thinking??

Ignore

I've had quite the busy and wonderful weekend but before I get to all of that I thought I would blog about my evening, last Thursday. I spent some of the evening volunteering at the Obama headquarters here in Chicago. Volunteers were asked to bring their own cellphone and we were given a list of names and phone numbers of local Obama supporters. We were to call those supporters and tell them about volunteer opportunities coming up as well as educate them on how and where to vote on November 4th.

No problem. I can carry on a 20 minute conversation with my cat Pua...calling a few strangers shouldn't be that difficult.

Well, about 8 calls into my list I realized that a lot of people were hitting "ignore" on their cell phone and sending me directly to voicemail. And that's fine, they probably just didn't know my phone number or something. So I began leaving voice mails. Lots of voicemails.

After about the 12th call I started to feel a bit annoyed; I mean come on...you don't even know why I'm calling!

Well then finally a lady picked up the phone and I said "Hello, my name is Olivia and I'm calling on behalf of the Obama campaign...." and got to read my whole schpeel to her. And she eagerly told me how she was volunteering over the weekend in Indiana to Get Out the Vote! I said "Fantastic!" and she said "I love that there is a McCain campaigning for Obama!"

And then I realized my last name was coming up on caller ID. And all those ignored phone calls began to make sense. I mean, I was calling a list of Obama supporters! :)

Working the Garden

Just some photos of the boys picking green beans out of my dad's garden, this past summer. :)

WTF on WFTV

Holy cow. This is the worst example of journalism that I've witnessed since the days of Geraldo Rivera.


(Thanks Lance for giving me the heads up on this interview.)