I'm a lame blogger

I'm sure I've had things to blog about but I just haven't really felt like it. I apologize to the 5 of you that there has not been a new post here in about 10 days. I'll understand if you never speak to me again.
Here's a recap of what I have done in the last several days (in chronological order as far as I remember).

I helped host our church Christmas party and it was a huge success! I was the bartender for the evening (yes people, we had wine at our church party!). There was karaoke. There were ugly sweaters. There was a ton of food.

I went to my very first fondue party! I ate myself silly and had a blast with my friends. If you are hosting a party of your own, I highly recommend serving goat cheese fondue. It was amazing!

I got to see all the kiddos in our church perform a few songs in front of everyone. They were adorable. I helped make sure that none of them decided to go stage diving.

I went on a trolley ride around the city. We stopped downtown at the Cristkindl Market (German holiday market) and at the zoo to see the lights. It's a good thing the lights finally came on before we left because I think that all the animals were hiding.

I helped out at a party for a transitional house that our church helps sponsor and got to meet some great people and help make their days just a little brighter.

I have so far managed to not get my car stuck in a mountain of snow and ice on the side streets. This could be considered a minor miracle and for that I am very grateful.

I have enjoyed dinner with friends and enjoyed catching up on their lives.

I called in sick and still have a nagging cough.

I got to practice my nail painting skills and help some lovely ladies get all gussied up for their big gala. More importantly, I got to hear all about their lives and learn a few nuggets of wisdom from some women who have been around much longer than I have.

I made some killer chili and brought it to game night with my Chicago 'family'. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. The girls almost won Trivial Pursuit but somehow the guys managed the win. We think they might have cheated.

I have never been so grateful to have a friend call and ask if I wanted a ride to church. I think I might have frozen in place half way in between if I had walked.

I have also never been so grateful for heat that works.

I had eggs benedict for the very first time. My compliments to chef Jimmzy who went against everything he knew to be right and scrambled my eggs instead of poaching them. He's a good friend like that. We also enjoyed man-mosas for brunch. It's a mimosa but involves a bigger glass, more OJ, more champagne and a splash of triple sec.

I actually sat in my apartment curled up with a book in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure when the last time I did that was.

I watched "The Holiday" and ate cookies with R. It's not Christmastime until you've watched that movie at least once!

I showed up at work on Monday morning and found out I wasn't going to be the only one in my department this week. Yippee for not having to be all alone in the office!

I wrapped some Christmas presents.

I've packed my bags and provided the snow isn't terrible I will be heading to Wisconsin tomorrow (Tuesday) after work to enjoy the next 5 days at my parent's house.

So, that's that. I've been busy. I'm looking forward to a few days of rest and time with family. If I don't see you before then, have a very Merry Christmas!!

A day for the history books

Just a few moments ago I sent in my very last car payment!!! I actually own my own car now! It's such a relief to be done with that payment each month. Woo Hoo!

So Yummy!

I know that I should be posting about my trip to NYC because you are all dying to hear all about it but I just discovered (ok, not just discovered. It's not even 10am yet and I'm at work) Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock!

I had seen an ad for it awhile ago and picked some up at the store last night. It was amazing! It's a very dark beer and reminded me a lot of Guinness. It's incredibly smooth and just plain yummy! If you like dark beer, this is definitely worth the money!

New York, New York!

I may have mentioned to a few of you that I was going on a trip to New York City last weekend. Well, I did and it was wonderful! It all started when I was in California and friends of mine mentioned that they were going to NYC to see a former classmate and friend of ours perform as Elphba in Wicked on Broadway. Needless to say, I got a little excited about this and decided immediately that I would try and join them on the trip. I cashed in a lot of hotel and credit card points and managed to get free lodging and a free airline ticket and I was off!
This was my first trip ever flying with Jet Blue airlines and I must say that I kind of love them. The jets were clean and more roomy than others and I was able to watch the Food Network while eating my free snacks all the way to NYC. I met up with Jeff and Clara in Jet Blue's fancy new terminal in JFK and we hoped in a cab and headed to the city.
After freshening up quickly we headed out with the masses and took a peak at the tree in Rockefeller Center.
We walked past the windows at Macy's in Herald Square. They were decorated to tell the story of Miracle on 34th Street.
And we walked through Times Square where we stood in awe of the millions of lights.
It was then time for our first subway ride. We hopped on and headed to Grenwich Village to meet up with our lovely friend Amber. She and her friend Tony took us to a little English place called Tea and Sympathy. It seats approximately 23 people in a space smaller than my living room.
They had great decorations up for Christmas...
They served tea in fun pots...
And had the best macaroni and cheese I have ever had in my life!
Tony then took us on a little tour of the Upper West Side. He knew the secret knock to get us into our own private room in this little underground/Moroccan/speakeasy/early prohibition/dungeon place where we enjoyed drinks and good conversation.
Jeff and Clara... Amber and Tony...
Clara and I...
The next morning we took a walk to get some bagels and coffee and wandered past 30 Rock.
After breakfast we went and visited Ground Zero and the church across the street from it that served as a sort of base during the days following the attack.
We had a quick lunch and headed to our first show of the weekend. The fantastic Patti LuPone staring in Gypsy. SO GOOD!
That evening Jeff and Clara were heading to Connecticut to see a friend of their's so I bought a last minute ticket and enjoyed a few laughs at Spamalot where I sat next to a lovely woman from Wales and had a few giggles at the expense of Clay Aikens really bad hair.
Sunday morning found us wandering around Central Park.
Jeff had to run back to the hotel so Clara and I decided to give our feet a rest and enjoyed a carriage ride. Our driver was a lovely Irish man who was looking really good for his age!
We then walked past the windows at Bergdorf Goodman's and I think I drooled a little over them. They were fantastic!

Sunday afternoon finally brought us to the reason for the entire trip! Outside the box office we were greeted by this poster that gave us all chills. It was so exciting to see Marcie's name on the poster!
We headed to the stage door of the Wicked theater and were met by the lovely woman who helps out our friend Marcie during the show. We had to wait a bit outside the dressing room while Marcie finished her warm ups.
We sat and chatted in her dressing room while she 'went green'.
I have seen Wicked one other time but I have to say, this was so much better! It was amazing to see someone I knew up on the stage. I had always known that Marcie was talented but she blew me away. I had chills the entire time. We got to say goodbye to her after the show and were able to walk across the stage and out the stage door with her.
Me and 'Elphba' after she had been de-greenified.
Then it was on to Serendipity III for dinner and frozen hot chocolate!
For my last night, I was fortunate enough to have a room at the Hilton in Times Square.
It was fancy, they even had bathrobes in the rooms!
I took the subway to the airport on Monday morning, boarded the Jet Blue plane, watched some more Food Network while eating free snacks and arrived safe and sound in Chicago just in time for a snow storm!
I have to say, this was one of the best trips that I have ever taken. I really don't ever get the chance to take spur of the moment trips and this is one I will remember for a long time. It was a great chance to catch up with some old friends that I forget how much I miss and to meet some new friends to add to the list of people to miss and look forward to seeing again.

I'm Home

I landed safely in Chicago this afternoon and even made it to my work Christmas party tonight. It's bittersweet to be home as I had such a fabulous weekend in New York City! Pictures to come tomorrow!

I have arrived!

I am currently sitting in the new JetBlue terminal at JFK airport. I arrived 30 minutes early after a lovely flight of watching the Food Network on my very own personal TV and enjoying my choice of several different snacks that I didn't have to pay for. I was going to just take the cheap subway from the airport to my hotel but I have decided to wait for my friends' flight to arrive so that we can all share a cab and I can actually see some of the city (instead of just seeing under it). I found a little lunch and am now enjoying the free internet in this lovely JetBlue terminal. Do you get the impression that I like JetBlue? Well, I do. This was my first time flying with them and I am sold! If only they actually flew to more places I tend to visit. Oh well.
More updates to come!

It's the little things

Sometimes it's the little things in life that make me really happy (ok, not sometimes, most of the time). While in California I stopped in an Anthropologie store to do a little browsing. Anyone that has ever been in Anthropologie knows that this is dangerous because they have really cute things that are WAY over priced. Well, I talked myself into buying an over priced shirt. Thankfully, I never took the tags off. Deep down inside, I knew it was a bad choice to buy. Last night I decided to walk over to my local Anthropologie to return the over priced shirt. It was really cute and I didn't want to return it and I tried to tell myself that I would wear it a lot and so it was worth the money. But my better senses won and I decided to take it back. I walked into the store and it didn't take me long to notice that they had the exact same shirt on sale for a very reduced price! I walked up to the counter and told the woman that I wanted to return my shirt but that I noticed they had them on sale and if I could get it at the sale price, I would keep it. They have a policy that they will do the price adjustments if you had bought the item in the last 14 days. I had bought my shirt 15 days ago! The lovely woman at the counter said she'd do it anyway and I walked out of the store with more money than I walked in with and was still in possession of the shirt!
That made me happy.