it's here!

where does the time go? has anyone else felt like december has flown by? we never even put up a tree (i know! awful), my box of christmas decorations that i got out in NOVEMBER is still sitting on the table, i still have some shopping to do, and we leave at the crack of dawn on christmas eve to follow the sun to california (if our flight can get out of this chicago snow). enough of this cold business.
i just made a huge batch of christmas treats, only to realize that most of the people we want to deliver them to have already left for the holidays. great timing, jess. we're not trying to be grinchy, but we've been preoccupied with other things like....hmm, having no hot water at random times? awesome. so, we're moving. more on that later.
our kids will thank us in the future. by saving all of this christmas decorating energy this year, i'll have tons saved up for the coming years and will decorate ten times better.

nate came to my school's christmas program last week. i was so pleased that he could finally see the chaos that i work in. now maybe he'll listen to my daily report of each child in my class instead of nodding while steathily crusing espn.com. just kidding. he only does that sometimes :)
my class performed "up on the housetop." little D danced in the front the whole time, shouting the song. you know his mom loved it.

even with all the commercialized madness of this season, it's been good to reflect on why we really get together with our families, and act out nativities, and give to others, and try to live the best way we can. i love this time of year.

happy christmas to all.

twelve days of office supplies

sometimes i wonder what nate really does at work all day. he works with a cool group of people who play pranks on each other all the time. that's what i hear about. the pranks. today nate showed me a witty email he sent out to the office when they were asked to email in requests for necessary office supplies for an upcoming order...here was his request:

12 - Sheets of paper
11 - Stapling Staplers
10 - Folders a Folding
9 - Post It Notes
8 - Wireless headsets
7 - Uniball Pens
6 - White boards
5 - VACATION DAYS
4 - Small binder clips
3 - Pranks on Shortleaf (his co-worker)
2 - Bulls Box Tickets
And a Successful EGOC! (end of quarter report with the CEOs of the company)

cute, nate. i wouldn't mind the vacation days and bulls tickets either.

skating

i met up with some friends to go skate in millennium park. it was a chilly -2 with the wind chill, but i didn't even mind. i think i built up the cold in my head, but i'm not dying of frostbite yet. i kind of like bundling up.

the song silver bells came on at the ice rink...and the line it's christmas time in the city was a reality to me. it's so beautiful here! i love the lights and the snow we got last week. it's pretty sad though that there are no mountains or even hills anywhere around here. i already miss ski season!

happy holidays!

i really thought about sending out christmas cards. i even put a list of addresses together. but, let's be honest...i didn't get around to it and we don't have any cute kids to be front and center for the picture. we might be moving next week to a different apartment, so before things get too busy, i give you our e-christmas card:

Merry Christmas from Us!

this is so me

in a perfect world, i think santa would put one of these under the tree for me.

i've felt this way every december since 2005

remember this? it's that time of year again...here i am doing a major major project the night before. and all i want to do right now is make brownies or lay in my bed or think about christmas. the only detail this time is that i actually have to be at work tomorrow and do a good job since i am being observed by teach for america...oh, lovely.

happy finals to all, and to all a good night.
and by good night i mean all-nighter.

cloud gate

one perk of hanging out with my brother over thanksgiving weekend was photography lessons. i am kind of an idiot when it comes to understanding cameras, so chan gave me pointers and let me play with his camera, lenses, and flash (the flash! who knew a flash could do so much?)

i love the cloud gate sculpture in the park by where we live. chan and i got up early one morning and almost had the bean to ourselves. his pictures are a thousand times better than mine, but here are some shots i got...