Day 126: Fantasy of Lights!

We had an early dinner at our local fromagerie and then took a drive over to Lighthouse Point to see the Fantasy of Lights display.  This is a local event that is put on every holiday season to raise money for charity.  It was basically a number of light displays set in the park that's on the waterfront. 

Day 125: The tiniest Christmas card ever!

In the mail today, we received what must be the tiniest Christmas card ever.  I tried to illustrate how small it was versus a regular-sized card, but it's really even smaller than it looks here.  There was barely enough room for a stamp and the address!  Thanks, Helena!

Day 124: Coooooold

This was not what I wanted to see when I started my car up after work.  It's been so cold that I've been driving to work this week.

Day 123: Best day ever!

I was looking up the hours of our local cheese shop when lo and behold!  We are getting a CHEESE TRUCK! 

Day 122: Travel advisory

Our early morning flight back to Connecticut was cancelled straightaway thanks to the snow we've been receiving for the past few days.  The next flight we could get on was a full 12 hours later.  So we enjoyed another half-day at home before starting out for the airport in the hopes we'd get on the flight.  All was fine!

Day 121: Peggy!

Despite the snowy weather, we drove up to have lunch with Peggy!  Here she is looking at clothes in a shop on Devon.

Day 120: Could it be?

Yes, it's a genuine Zhu Zhu pet!  My nieces and nephew were lucky enough to get one hamster each for Christmas (two from Santa and one from Aunt Gigi).  They also got the hamster house and a carrier.  This is Chunk, who is being fed a piece of bread by my sister.

Day 119: Oplatek

One Polish tradition we have on Christmas eve is sharing the oplatek.  The oplatek is a thin wafer that you break into pieces and share with the people around the table at dinner.  My mother luckily found one that she had left over that we used tonight. 

Day 118: Cooking

Today S and I decided to make dinner for my parents.  We made sauteed kale, rice, and lentils.  Nothing fancy but it turned out pretty nicely.

Day 117: Lunch at the Med

Medici is one of the places at which I spent a lot of time while in college.  It's a Hyde Park institution.  We used to walk over there after a late night studying session at the library, and we'd have coffee, quesadillas, and fries.  My sister and I went downtown for massages and S needed to be down in Hyde Park so we stopped for lunch at the Med.  It was just as I remembered it and my spinach and goat cheese pizza was fabulous.

Day 116: Downtown

My sister, S and I took the kids to the Rainforest Cafe and then to the Shedd Aquarium.  We had a great time!  Personally I think the best part was finding street parking and not having to pay $12 and $19, respectively, for official parking at each place.  Here they are on the way back to the car.

Day 115: Lazy Sunday

Other than going to church, the day was spent sitting on the couch and watching TV.  Perfect day for me!  They have loads of old sitcoms on On Demand.

Day 114: Chicago weather

We escaped the New England storm but not the Chicago one.  This is the view from the airplane while we sat on the tarmac in Chicago waiting for a plane to be de-iced so that we could pull into the gate.

Day 113: Christmas lunch

We had our team Christmas lunch on Friday.  Here is my cool boss and George tryng to avoid being in the picture.

Day 112: Yummy

I think my chocolate chip cookies were a hit at the office.

Day 111: I'll be home for Christmas

This is a holiday card we received at work.  I was all excited because it depicts Chi-town!  I'll be there very soon...

Day 110: New Haven's flip board

One of the nicest things about the New Haven train station is its flip board.  This is a rare sight in today's automated world and I was pleasantly surprised the first time I entered the station and saw it for myself.  I just read online that they are going to be replacing it with two LED boards.  How terrible!  There is a public outcry but as these things usually go, I am expecting we will see a new board in 2010.  Sad.  I was on my way back from New York when I snapped this.

Day 109: Presents have been wrapped

The out-of-town presents have been wrapped and sent!  I feel so accomplished.

Day 108: Seen at church

We went to mass at St. Thomas More rather than our usual St. Mary's.  St. Thomas More is the Catholic center at Yale.  Last time we were there, I noticed these interesting light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.  This time I was able to snap a photo surreptitiously.

Day 107: More Santas

We were driving to the store when we saw this while stopped at a red light.  Santas walking down the street in our neighborhood.  We think they were going to a pub crawl or something like it.

Day 106: Lunch with Santa

We had our department holiday lunch today at a really good Italian restaurant.  There was a surprise visit from Santa!

Day 105: Lunch out

Despite the freezing cold, S and I had lunch at Claire's.  They had some lovely flowers out that brightened up the day.

Day 104: First real snowfall

We woke up to our first proper snowfall of the year.  It was also raining this morning, so S drove me to the office and parked near his office.  The weather was too inclement to trudge out to the bus.

Day 103: Enjoying the tree

For once I actually made and served dinner before 8:00 PM, so afterwards we spent some time on the couch enjoying our Christmas tree.

Day 102: Dinner

Nothing interesting today, just a quick shot of our dinner.

Day 101: Pressure cooker calamity

We purchased a new pressure cooker last weekend and we've been slowly experimenting with it.  Today we decided to try to cook two containers worth of beets.  It went well except at the very end when we opened it too early which resulted in the violent-looking scene you see here.

Day 100: Hello there!

Our new MacBook Pro!  Very cool.

Day 99: Birthday week continues

I had a meeting in New York so we decided to spend the evening in the city.  We went to tea at the St. Regis and then to a Broadway show.  Great day!

Day 98: Scary!

New Haven had its Christmas tree lighting today on the green.  We walked through before going home, and to our dismay we spotted this frightening 'ride' for the kids.  It's animatronic reindeers, tigers, and other animals that kids get up on and 'ride' around the fountain in the center of the green.  We watched in horror for a while but had to leave when they got up close to us.

Day 97: More Christmas trees

A blurry photo of the trees across the street from my office.  The Christmas season in New Haven has begun.

Day 96: Our Christmas tree has arrived

Sorry it's so dark and kind of on an angle.  But our Christmas tree is here!  We have put lights on but no ornaments so far.  It's great!

Day 95: Happy birthday to me

I have received so many lovely birthday cards!  I am thankful to have such great friends and family.

Day 94: Driving home

The George Washington bridge as seen from our sunroof on the way home from PA.

Day 93: Jackpot

We took the parents and my aunt to the Sands Casino here in Bethlehem.  I wasn't going to play any games but I did decide to take a chance on a 5-cent machine.  After a few turns, it got stuck...the reels would not stop spinning!  We had to wait for an employee to come and fix it.  After that, I won a bonus and made $12!  So I quit there and took my winnings home.

Day 92: Fixing the dishwasher

The big project of the day was trying to fix my aunt's dishwasher.  This was really needed yesterday, when we had 20 people over for Thanksgiving dinner, but we just didn't have time to get to it.  My cousin, uncle, dad, and S all had to assist in this task and there was a trip to a home improvement store as well, but it did get fixed in the end!

Day 91: The brothers

My dad and my uncle at Thanksgiving.

Day 90: Surprise lunch

S took the car in for servicing and I suggested he take it to work afterwards and then pick me up for a lunch at yummy Mamoun's.  They have the best falafel in town.  Soooo good!

Day 89: PIE

Today was pie day!  We walked over to another building where we picked up the pies we were given for Thanksgiving.  This is George's blueberry, which is what I also requested.  I can't wait to try it on Thursday!

Day 88: Doctor's appointment

I was meant to have a doctor's appointment on the 24th, but I got a call from the office at the last minute asking if I could come in today instead.  Sure!  It was a good appointment but I had another case of high blood pressure this time round.  Hope it clears up by the next time.

Day 87: Chorale concert

Our landlord sings in the New Haven Chorale so we went for a concert in the afternoon.  The performance was of Handel's Alexander's Feast.

Day 86: The Game

Mira and Joe had come to see us, of course, but also came to see The Game...Yale vs. Harvard.  It was quite a sight...the tailgating was something else.  Sadly our Bulldogs came up short and lost 10-14.  But it was still a fun day!

Day 85: Our visitors

Mira and Joe arrived after fighting the traffic on I-95.  We took them to our local Archie Moore's and then out to see the New Haven nightlife.

Day 84: Good samaritans

We were walking home from work when we heard a familiar sound...a person driving with a flat tire.  The woman who was driving this car realized it just when we did and pulled over at the corner.  We asked her if she needed help and she did, so S changed the tire for her!  Added a bit more time to our walk home but at least we've built up some good karma.

Day 83: Impromptu lunch out

The guys decided they wanted a nice lunch today, so we went to this place down the street that we'd been to last year.  I had this!  Vegetable paella is hidden down in the little pastry bird's nest.

Day 82: Boston at dusk

I took a quick trip to Boston today and was walking back towards South Station when I snapped this photo of the Federal Reserve building.  It's amazing how early it gets dark now.

Day 81: Vultures

I got a ride to work this morning (thanks, S!) and what did we see but police officers standing in the street and along the sidewalk.  This is a sting!  They were waving people over if they were seen committing a violation - talking on their cell phone, driving without seat belts, driving without a license plate.  This is how I got a ticket last December.  Jerks!  I hate when they do this! New Haven has real crime going on; they should be out doing some good, not trying to make money off of tickets.

Day 80: Mrs Delany

We decided to walk down to campus and visit the Yale Center for British Art, which had an exhibit that I wanted to see about Mrs. Delany.  Mrs. Delany was an English woman who lived in the 1700s and created mosaics of flowers and plants made out of paper.  Many of her works can be seen in the British Museum, and the Center here decided to have an exhibition with some of those pieces as well as other items such as paintings of her and her contemporaries.  This was a display of the materials she would have used to create the mosaics.

Day 79: Party

I mainly took this photo to prove I can stay awake past midnight!  After we got back from NYC, we had a quick dinner at home and then went to our friend Tariq's party (he of the blue sweater). We were just saying our goodbyes at this point.

Day 78: Circus

For S's birthday, I took him to the Big Apple Circus in Lincoln Center.  We had gone to this circus a long time ago, so it was a special treat to come back again.  We really enjoyed it!

Day 77: Birthday

S's birthday and we went out to dinner and then to Libby's in Little Italy (yes, New Haven has a Little Italy) for pastries.  S had cake (I was good and just had a small bite of his) but don't the cannoli look amazing?  I will have to come back and have one sometime!