Merry Christmas Weekend!

I hope everyone had a happy Christmas Weekend!! We enjoyed a lovely, quiet, and cozy 4 day weekend here in Chicago. Friday we both took the day off of work and headed downtown for a little Christkindling and holiday shopping in the Windy City. We were hoping that the Christkindle Market wouldn't be crazy crowded like last year, but alas, we were wrong. We were also disappointed to learn that they ran out of their famous "boot mugs" about a week earlier. So we had to enjoy our Glühwein from styrofoam cups. We still had a good time and enjoyed some yummy German brats.
We wandered down to Macy's and did a little spontaneous shopping. Tom got two...wait for it....black hoodies and I bought a couple long sweaters and a shirt for work. On the walk home from the train, we decided to carry on the German theme of the day and stopped in at Mirabell, a local bar that we've passed a million times but have never been to. We loved it! It was cozy and Christmasy and everything in it was very German. We drank some Zwick'l and enjoyed the holiday spirit.
Speaking of Christmas Spirit, I had volunteered to work on Saturday (Christmas Eve) for my friend/coworker who is 8 months pregnant (but who has been having contractions on and off for the past 2 weeks). I was dreading going into work, but I knew if I were in her situation, I would be dying for someone to volunteer to work for me. Everything actually worked out perfect, because another therapist was asigned to work as well, and she said she could really use the money (and there was only one kiddo who needed to be seen - everyone does their best to get as many kids out of the hospital at Christmastime as possible), so long story short, I didn't have to work! Saturday we got caught up on some stuff around the house and went for our 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Walk to the park with Bailey. Unfortunately it wasn't covered in snow like last year, but we still had a good time. (I love that our shadows make us look like giants ;) Christmas Eve we enjoyed eggnog and a cheesy ABC Family Christmas movie (LOVE LOVE LOVE cheesy Christmas movies!!!). We were dying to open up some presents, and it just so happened that a package arrived from my parents while we were on our walk, so we opened a few presents while sipping our eggnog. My favorite? Beer and wine soap!!
On Christmas Day we enjoyed some yummy coffee (DD and Starbucks were on super sale during the weeks leading up to Christmas) while we opened presents. Bailey had a blast opening her presents. Her favorites were her racoon (see below) and the bone she got from Jackie and John Thomas. We thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas day, and topped off the holiday by watching Christmas Vacation (which was finally on tv Christmas night!)

Monday I did some post-Christmas shopping and scored some good deals! I finally found some Christmas stockings that I like, and just our luck they had an "A" and a "T" embroidered on the front of them. I also got some new clothes for work, a Christmas wreath, some completely teeny-bopper slipper boots (that I love!), and some clearance Yankee candles.

Bake Fest 2011

So last Sunday I spent the entire afternoon baking tons and tons of goodies for Tom's lab. I'm most excited about my chocolate dipped pretzel rods with candy cane sprinkles! I was pretty sure I was going to mess it up, so I googled a few different recipes and followed the instructions from good ol' ehow.

Other goodies included:

• Best Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
  


• My Grandma Borys's sugar cookies
  


• Carnation Famous Fudge
  


• Peanut Butter Fudge (same recipe except I used 1 cup of PB and omitted the chocolate chips)
  


• Mom's no-bake cookies

I had thought I would try to plan ahead and whip up a batch of the sugar cookie dough and chocolate chip cookie dough a week in advance, freeze it, and then just bake it on Sunday.
Well, the sugar cookie dough made it through the week, but the chocolate chip cookie dough somehow disappeared a little bit each day from the freezer....oops. I didn't even care about the risk of salmonella from the raw eggs. It was so good it was worth it!!

So a few hours and 10 pounds later, I officially declared Bakefest 2011 a success :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas......

We've had a busy/fun/holiday filled past few days. Last Thursday night we went to Glascott's, a bar near work because they were having a huge Toys for Tots drive (with free drinks if you brought a $20 toy). Everyone from work goes every year because my co-worker's husband has always been in charge of organizing it, but this year was extra special because it doubled as a Going Away party for our co-worker Neal, who is leaving Children's (sad). It was packed to the brim, so much that I began to have claustrophobia and I wondered how on earth I ever liked to go out when places were so packed. Regardless of my personal space issues, it was a good time, complete with a little person who dressed up as an elf and threw candy to everyone from atop the bar.
Saturday night our friend Jess had a Tree Decorating party at her house. She said she got "inspiration" from my holiday party. Whatever, she took my "idea" of labeling things and, as Tom said, made it a million times better! (I had 2 things labeled "Wine" and "Beer is outside.") Jess even had little drink recipes printed out and placed on the bar!! Too cute! We had a great time and enjoyed hanging out with people we've met through Jess.
Here is our attempt at a "family photo," except Miss Bailey seemed to be more interested in sniffing my boots than smiling for the camera.
Today I spent the afternoon baking for Tom's lab (more on that later) and filling out Christmas cards. Next year we are definitely just snapping a photo and stuffing it in the envelope...way easier!

Happy 3rd "Birthday" to Bailey!

Well, she's technically 3 and a halfish but 3 years ago today we adopted Bailey from the shelter! She got to celebrate by spending the entire day on the couch yesterday because Someone forgot to put the pillows down. Oops!

The cutest tights in the world

Last weekend I went to a baby shower for a friend from work. It's fun hanging out with the work crew outside of work, and there is never a dull moment. It was at a country club in one of the suburbs so it was all decorated for Christmas and was so cozy. The food was really good and Jen got a lot of great gifts. My favorite part, however, was when my coworker's baby, Liv, decided to pee through her diaper and ruin her Christmas dress. Why was that my favorite part?


Because she got to wear her back-up Santa tights!


Look at that belt!!!! Hhahahahaha. Too adorable. Also, Bailey now thinks that anytime there is a wrapped present around, it's for her. I guess that's what we get for letting her open her own Christmas presents every year ;)

Happy (Belated) Holiday Weekend

The first weekend is December is traditionally our Holiday Weekend and kicks off our holiday season. This year we had a small Holiday Party at our place and invited a few friends from work, our neighbors, and the few friends we have in Chicago (which is about to shrink as one of my friends from college is getting ready to move to California with her husband).


Anyways, we started the day by getting our Christmas tree, because what would a holiday party be without a Christmas tree?! I decorated it while Tom went to meet our friend Brian and his crew for a few drinks (they were in Chi-town for the day for Brian's 30th birthday). Although it was a small gathering, we had a really good time and Bailey LOVED all of the attention. I'm looking forward to the rest of the holiday festivities this year!!