Welcome to 2014! It's a new year and so far (9 days in) it's shaping up to be a good one so here are a few of the things I've loved since you last heard from me.
My Christmas trip home - For my first week of vacation, I spent a week back in Champaign. Most of my week involved lots of family and food but I did also get to grab drinks with Chris, see the Abe Froman Project, sing karaoke with Matt Fear, go to Friendsmas at Eric and Martha's, and attend my mom's annual holiday party. Thanks to mom for all of the awesome food (especially our Christmas Eve dinner of standing rib roast, red wine reduction sauce, fingerling and purple potatoes, carrots and parsley root, pearl onions, and rosemary bread). Loved playing Cards Against Humanity with my family, getting to spend boatloads of time with Alysia and Heather, and having drinks with Katie and Jason. Also, my Christmas swag was pretty awesome this year. While many of my friends bragged of iPads and Kindles, I was super thrilled with new scarves, the Hyperbole and a Half book, Wizard of Oz Monopoly, monkey socks, body lotion, gift cards, and creepy clown dolls. My family truly gets me.
Sushi and kitty snuggles - As soon as I returned back to my lovely Chicago, I had a visit from little miss Ivy who came over to meet my animals. Penelope did not exactly know what to do with a little person and barked until we left but Ivy put both arms around my Buttercup and used her as a pillow for a large amount of the time she was there. I then returned to Hyde Park and enjoyed a wonderful sushi dinner with Sarah, Tim, Ivy, Erin, Craig, and Adam.
A visit from my BFF - Early in the hours of NYE day, my dearest Heather showed up on my doorstep for three whole days of cousin time. We ate all of the things that were bad for us and went to the movies with even more family and partied till it was 2014. I could get used to having her around. Anyone know any job openings in Chicago for an International Business major who is fluent in Spanish?
Great movies - Over my break I got to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and American Hustle. While I will be the first one to admit that 3D was a bad choice for The Hobbit, overall I loved the movie and thought it was beautifully done. Also, I want to be Tauriel. American Hustle was obviously a completely different movie-going experience. I literally knew nothing about it going in and was truly impressed by everyone involved. I could not guess where the plot was going next, Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of crazy was terrifying, Christian Bale had the absolute best/worst make-up I have ever seen, and I want every single outfit that Amy Adams wore. Get your tails out there and catch it before it's gone.
Margaritas with lovely ladies - New Year's Day, Heather, Katie, and I had maybe a three-hour lunch at Cesar's. We laughed, we spilled our guts, and we drank ALL of the margaritas.
Doctor Who - I finally got around to watching the Christmas Special once I had the house back to myself and I cried like a baby. Matt Smith had what I think is one of the best regenerations I've seen so far. I really enjoyed the story and was not sad to see Clara miss out on most of the episode.
Words of encouragement - My best present of the New Year was from my friend, Amelia. She pulled me aside before I left our party and really built me up. Not going to lie, it made me a little teary that other people see how hard I try and love me for it.
Low-key baby showers - My dear Elise is now mere weeks away from popping out baby ? Mark. Many friends gathered around their home with books in hand and enjoyed an afternoon of catching up and creating our own pages to go in Baby ?'s book.
Emotional LARPs - Sanaa is a stone cold ice queen and it takes a lot to ruffle her scale-y feathers but, holy damn, those STs screwed with me all night long and I was emotionally drained when I got home in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Well played, friends, well played.
Frozen tundra days - I refuse to call them snow days. I was here for snow-mageddon and this was nothing like that. However, having two days of canceled work/classes and therefore two extra days of vacation due to the ridiculous below-zero temps was welcome and I am grateful that NU did not make me get frostbite in order to keep my job.
Recognition - On a work-related note, I got a bit of recognition today. In our staff meeting, I was presented with a Service Excellence Award. No, there is no bonus check or raise, just a pretty new coffee mug, lapel pin, certificate, and an invitation to a fancy award luncheon in April. And it's all I needed to get a bit verklempt. I work very hard and take great pride in my job and it was nice that someone actually noticed and nominated me for recognition.
Judo! - I'm starting back at my dojo on Monday. I'm most excited because our class is going to be a mix of physically disabled, visually impaired, and able bodied students who have mostly been doing judo less than 2 years. This program that they do is one of the reasons I love them so much and I'm very excited to be a part of it.
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