Christmas Eve

My Mom and Mike (aka Bijou Sparkly-Toes and Tinker Bubba-Louie)

Kristen, Keathen, Izzy, and their Baby GIRL!!! (aka The Smicklefigus's- I can't remember their first names)

Steve and I (aka Sparky Spirit-Fingers and Pinky Sparkly-Toes)

Since I finally downloaded the pictures off of my camera to email my mom, I just thought that I would share some pictures from our Christmas Eve at my mom's house and our annual matching pajama tradition complete with elf names compliments of some website I found. Thanks to Steve we officially named the tradition the "Retarded Christmas Pajama Cult". He's not a big fan of the tradition :) Kristen and Keathen announced too on Christmas Eve that they're having a girl!!! They wrapped up a pink bear that they made at Build-A-Bear Workshop and gave it to my mom as a gift- they even had the baby's heartbeat recorded inside the bear so that when you push it's paw you can hear it. Yes, my mom cried!

Well, I'd better go now so that I can enjoy New Year's Eve with Steve and his mom!

Rules to Live By...

THE RULES OF CHOCOLATE
1. If you've got melted chocolate all over your hand, you're eating it too slowly.

2. Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices & strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.

3. The problem: How to get 2 lbs. of chocolate home from the store in a hot car. The solution: Eat it in the parking lot.

4. Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge of your appetite and you'll eat less.

5. A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Isn't that handy?

6. If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you?

7. If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves.

8. If I eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet? Don't they actually counteract each other?

9. Money talks. Chocolate sings!

10. Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger.

11. Q. Why is there no such organization as Chocoholics Anonymous?A. Because no one wants to quit.

12. If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control-top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated.

13. Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done!

Now, I think that I may just go get one of the yummy looking chocolate covered strawberries that are in our break room here at work today!

AMEN!!!

Twas the month before Christmas

When all through our land,

Not a Christian was praying

Nor taking a stand.

Why the Politically Correct Police had taken away

The reason for Christmas - no one could say.

The children were told by their schools not to sing,

About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.

It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say,

December 25th is just a 'Holiday'.

Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks, and credit

Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!

CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod

Something was changing, something quite odd!

Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa

In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.

As Targets were hanging their trees upside down,

At Lowe's, the word Christmas - was nowhere to be found.

At K-Mart and Staples and Penney's and Sears

You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.

Inclusive, Sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty

Are words that were used to intimidate me.

Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen

On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!

At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter

To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.

And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith,

Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.

The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded

The reason for the season, stopped before it started.

So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'

Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.

Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS,
not Happy Holiday!

Farewell to my 20's

Yes, I've left them behind and moved on to a new decade. I'm actually not sad about it at all and truly looking forward to this next year... The birth of my first niece or nephew, planning and preparing for my wedding, and then actually marrying the man of my dreams! (I Love You Honey!!!).

So, to celebrate my birthday, my mom attempted to throw me a surprise party on Saturday the 3rd of November. She was supposed to be having a candle party at 3pm that day, but in order to not have me get there early she had Kristen convince me to go shopping with her before the party. Well, Friday afternoon my mom called me to tell me that the candle party was cancelled at the last minute, but maybe Kristen, her, and I could all go see a movie together instead.

My plans for Saturday were to go get my driver's license renewed in the morning, go shopping with Kristen, and then maybe a movie later that afternoon. I went online Friday afternoon at work to see where the driver's license place was and realized that it was closed on Saturday, so I rushed out of the office to go to a different one Friday before they closed. I was successful and decided that I would stop by my mom's house to say hi before I headed home... I walked in the garage door and heard her yelling from the kitchen- "Why are you here, you shouldn't be here!!" She was cooking up a storm for my surprise party that was happening on Saturday (there never was a cande party- it's actually this weekend instead). So I ruined the surprise less than 24 hours before it was supposed to happen. She wasn't very happy with me, but I played along and didn't let on that I knew until after I arrived at the party. I know there was video taken, but not too many pictures. The only picture that I have is of my cake that my future mother-in-law made- it was soooo cute!

Then for my actual birthday Steve and I went downtown Chicago for dinner and to see Phantom of The Opera on Friday night! Dinner was yummy- we went to one of our favorite places Miller's Pub, but the performance of Phantom wasn't as good as I would have hoped- the auctioneer actually messed up his lines in the first scene. We had a good time anyways and got to see the windows all decorated for Christmas at Macy's on State Street!

I Ate This Stuff???

Soo… I was in Newark, NJ last week for another training and I decided to venture out to dinner with 5 other people that were in my class. We went into New York City, Soho to be exact and ate at this restaurant called Kittichai. We decided to all try the tasting menu for the bargain price of $65 each. Here’s what our 5 courses were:

Appetizer Course 1:
-Fish Cakes with Cucumber and Red Onion Chutney
-Crispy Jasmine Rice Crackers with Coconut and Organic Chicken Relish
-Sashimi of Hamachi, Squid Ink Salt, Red Holland Pepper Dressing (Yes, this was raw fish!!!!)

Appetizer Course 2:
-Northern Thai Beef Salad, Chinese Long Beans and Roasted Sticky Rice Powder
-Chocolate Baby Back Ribs with Thai Spices
-Banana Blossom and Artichoke Salad, Roasted Cashew Nuts and Chili Jam

Main Course 1:
-Baked Chilean Sea Bass marinated in Yellow Salted Beans with Morning Glory
-Wok-seared Tiger Prawns with Garlic Pepper Sauce and Green Beans
-Sauteed Gai-lan with Garlic and Ginger (this was a vegetable- VERY YUMMY!)

Main Course 2:
-Spice Rubbed Organic Chicken with Shishito Peppers and Lime Coconut Sauce
-Pineapple Braised Short Ribs in Green Curry, Thai Eggplant and Sweet Basil
-Wok-fried Morning Glory with Salted Yellow Beans and Chili (another yummy vegetable)

Desserts:
-Flourless Valrhona Chocolate Cake with Fresh Cream
-Banana Spring Rolls with Burnt Honey Ice Cream


Total bill for 6 of us… $800!!!!! Split evenly $134 per person- thank goodness for an expense account. We shared 3 bottles of wine and then each had an after dinner drink…

I actually tried it all and liked most of it- not too fond of the Tiger Prawn (It still had it’s head- yuck!). I actually really liked the Raw Fish appetizer- who would have thought?

What am I doing you ask?

Yes, today is November 2nd and I am sitting here at work listnening to CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! I LOVE IT!

Ok, so I am kind of a freak, but I know that Amanda will be just as excited to hear that 93.9 in Chicago is already playing Christmas music 24/7 through Christmas Day (maybe even New Years)! And to think that I was just thinking that I needed to find my Christmas Cd's- now I don't have to yet... Woo Hoo!!!!

Punkin' Carvin'

Just thought I'd share our beautifully carved pumpkins with everyone! We're such the artists! Hmm... can you tell which one is mine and which one is Steve's???