As the last day of the month and of the year ticks away, I wanted to recap for all of you my events which helped to create the new tradition of "31 days of December" that I have decided to celebrate instead of Christmas. Overall, I think it was an enjoyable success.
Parties: Having not accepted (or receiving for that matter) any invitations, I felt it was necessary to crash a cocktail party in the Gold Coast where I only knew two people. The food was put away about 20 minutes after arriving and so basically it boiled down to a couple glasses of wine and a spectacular view of Lakeshore Drive and Lake Michigan at night. The other plus to choosing this particular party was the host had subscribed to HBO's De La Hoya - Pacquiao fight at the MGM. Good start.
Home cooking: In continuing with the tradition of Top Cheeeef Wednesday, my cohorts and I were able to squeeze in two viewings this month. In celebration of 31/Dec I prepared two homemade dinners for the girls. Always a good time.
Game night: A little competition gets the blood pumping during the frigid weather.
Christmas music: I want to see a performance at the Opera House but did not want to shell out upwards of $75 for a ticket during this month so I was fortunate to come across the Lyric's Chamber Choir Christmas program. I got to sit in the balcony and enjoy the beautiful singers that perform during many of the operas for half the cost of an opera. Also a co-worker of mine belongs to the Chicago Chamber Choir and they had a Christmas sing-along concert in a Chicago neighborhood church. Not only did I get to sing-along and laugh-along with Anne (a professional singer herself) I was also able to cross off "church" which I had on my list of things to do.
Volunteering: While I wasn't able to arrange wrapping or reading or cooking volunteering in the city somewhere, I was able to volunteer to babysit for Lil E and read her Christmas (bedtime) stories while her mom and dad went to the Bears vs Packers game at Soldier Field...great game, but I got the better deal.
Cookies: What's December without a sugar-high? I wasn't able to get to this until after the holiday--just when my co-workers thought it was safe to go back into the kitchen!
It's A Wonderful Life: If you've been following along you'll already know this was probably the "big" event for 31/Dec.
The rest of the activities were less noteworthy but included: Peeking in on houses with decorated trees, photographing lit-up holiday yard decor, staying up late and sleeping in, classic movies on TV (White Christmas, Home Alone, The Family Stone, Fred Clause.....), Christmas cards and holiday music.
I know that my 31/Dec will be continued (and improved) next year. I hope you enjoyed your holiday traditions and events and are looking forward to making the most of the new year ahead. My love to all of you and I hope for many great and surprising events for all of us in 09.
December 31, 2008
December 26, 2008
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la....leak
It's 11 o'clock PM and I am sitting here listening, not for sleigh bells, but to the drip-drip-drip of melting snow leaking onto my furnace. It's annoying.
For those of you out-of-towners that aren't aware, it's 53 degrees in Chicago tonight and all of our snow....the piles and piles.....is melting. Tonight and tomorrow we are going to get heavy thunderstorms and wind. Tomorrow night it's going to be 27 degrees. This is bulls#!&.
Oh, and here's a kick in the apples....my landlord moved to Colorado so she no longer lives downstairs, the upstairs neighbors are gone for the holiday and no one can get into their apartment to access their leak situation. I have this wonderful fear that when I wake up (at hour intervals all night to dump the containers) that the upstairs floor will have caved in and their furnace will be sitting in my hallway keeping my furnace company.
Good times.
For those of you out-of-towners that aren't aware, it's 53 degrees in Chicago tonight and all of our snow....the piles and piles.....is melting. Tonight and tomorrow we are going to get heavy thunderstorms and wind. Tomorrow night it's going to be 27 degrees. This is bulls#!&.
Oh, and here's a kick in the apples....my landlord moved to Colorado so she no longer lives downstairs, the upstairs neighbors are gone for the holiday and no one can get into their apartment to access their leak situation. I have this wonderful fear that when I wake up (at hour intervals all night to dump the containers) that the upstairs floor will have caved in and their furnace will be sitting in my hallway keeping my furnace company.
Good times.
December 24, 2008
About Last Night
I liked it. It was......dare I admit........somewhat "wonderful."
I have to add on some nostalgic points because I saw it at an olde time movie house, with a sold out audience, a drunk Santa leading sing-along accompanied by the organist and it was snowing outside.
I will say that I was doubly (is that a word....even I am questioning it) entertained because the cult followers of this tradition have included sound effects like hissing whenever Potter talks, clapping and cheering when each new character is introduced and ringing bells during random scenes -- I never did quite figure out the rhyme or reason to the bell, I mean I get the whole Angel thing but it sometimes didn't coincide with any Angel reference. Guess that's the more advanced viewer status. There was also the thing about the hot dog. I don't care how much of a die-hard Wonderful-fan you are, leave the processed meat at home.
All in all I think that finally seeing this was a good thing. I am glad I waited until this year so that I could appreciate it for what it is and not because it was someone else's tradition.
God Bless us one and al---wait, that's a different movie. Maybe I'll see that one next year.
I have to add on some nostalgic points because I saw it at an olde time movie house, with a sold out audience, a drunk Santa leading sing-along accompanied by the organist and it was snowing outside.
I will say that I was doubly (is that a word....even I am questioning it) entertained because the cult followers of this tradition have included sound effects like hissing whenever Potter talks, clapping and cheering when each new character is introduced and ringing bells during random scenes -- I never did quite figure out the rhyme or reason to the bell, I mean I get the whole Angel thing but it sometimes didn't coincide with any Angel reference. Guess that's the more advanced viewer status. There was also the thing about the hot dog. I don't care how much of a die-hard Wonderful-fan you are, leave the processed meat at home.
All in all I think that finally seeing this was a good thing. I am glad I waited until this year so that I could appreciate it for what it is and not because it was someone else's tradition.
God Bless us one and al---wait, that's a different movie. Maybe I'll see that one next year.
December 23, 2008
Only 3 1/2 hours to go...
As part of the "31 days of December" project I have a ticket to see "It's a Wonderful Life" at the Music Box on Southport tonight. Makes sense, right? I have been told repeatedly that it is the holiday of all holiday movies.
But I wouldn't know. I haven't seen it. Ever.
I may be one of the last (of my age at least) to see this film. I didn't set out with this as a goal, but when the umpteenth person raved and tearfully told me I didn't know what I was missing....I decided to go right along missing it. Until now.
With this attempt at trying to bring new traditions to my holidays, I have decided this could be one of them. The jury's waiting to see if this Jimmy guy can win me over.
But I wouldn't know. I haven't seen it. Ever.
I may be one of the last (of my age at least) to see this film. I didn't set out with this as a goal, but when the umpteenth person raved and tearfully told me I didn't know what I was missing....I decided to go right along missing it. Until now.
With this attempt at trying to bring new traditions to my holidays, I have decided this could be one of them. The jury's waiting to see if this Jimmy guy can win me over.
December 22, 2008
Welcome
It's good to have you here. I'm glad you could join me. I hope you like what I have to share. It's mostly mundane and it's not entirely unique, but sometimes when it's happening to someone else you either feel better about your situation or you see a solution to try for yourself that wasn't apparent before.
I promise as much wit, sarcasm and insight as this blog can possibly create. Please drop by often or even daily -- but I doubt you'll miss anything life changing if you stop by once a week. And I'll try my damn, I mean darn, hardest to watch the colorful language. Though sometimes the best way to paint the picture is to dip your brush into some foul language and paint. I'll just apologize now.
Oh, and I should get this on the table before we venture any further.....Perfect is overrated. There are only so many mistakes I can catch before posting. I will probably spell words incorrectly, use the wrong grammar or punctuation and will most definitely make so many wrong choices in my daily decisions that I lose count. Please feel free to make a drinking game out of the latter.
As for the spelling and word choices...just follow my lead, I'll get you to where we are headed eventually.
Thank you for stopping by and reading this new blog page. I know you have many blog choices these days and I truly appreciate that you chose mine for reading.
I promise as much wit, sarcasm and insight as this blog can possibly create. Please drop by often or even daily -- but I doubt you'll miss anything life changing if you stop by once a week. And I'll try my damn, I mean darn, hardest to watch the colorful language. Though sometimes the best way to paint the picture is to dip your brush into some foul language and paint. I'll just apologize now.
Oh, and I should get this on the table before we venture any further.....Perfect is overrated. There are only so many mistakes I can catch before posting. I will probably spell words incorrectly, use the wrong grammar or punctuation and will most definitely make so many wrong choices in my daily decisions that I lose count. Please feel free to make a drinking game out of the latter.
As for the spelling and word choices...just follow my lead, I'll get you to where we are headed eventually.
Thank you for stopping by and reading this new blog page. I know you have many blog choices these days and I truly appreciate that you chose mine for reading.
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