Thursday, December 31, 2009

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. 

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

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!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

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.

Monday, December 28, 2009

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! 

Sunday, December 27, 2009

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!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

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.

Friday, December 25, 2009

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.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

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. 

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

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.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

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.

Monday, December 21, 2009

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.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

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.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

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.

Friday, December 18, 2009

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.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Day 112: Yummy


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

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

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...

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

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.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Day 109: Presents have been wrapped


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

Sunday, December 13, 2009

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.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

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.

Friday, December 11, 2009

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!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

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.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

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.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

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.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Day 102: Dinner


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

Sunday, December 6, 2009

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.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Day 100: Hello there!


Our new MacBook Pro!  Very cool.

Friday, December 4, 2009

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!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

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.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

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.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

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!