Angela Gets a Shower

...A baby shower, that is. On the evening of the 27th, Aunt Carolyn hosted a family baby shower at her house for the mother-to-be. Quite a number of ladies arrived for the shindig, bearing gifts in exchange for good company, wine, Chinese food, cake, and - oh yeah - the joy of giving presents to the pregnant lady. Click here for pictures of the great time we had.

I can't believe in four short months Angela is going to have a son. Who would have thought? Even her mother is still in shock: in the middle of dinner out of nowhere, Maryann exclaimed, "Oh my God, Angela's going to have a baby!" We're just too excited.

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Christmastime Was Here

Yet another Christmas has come and gone. My house is messy and cluttered with new stuff waiting to be put away. My waistline is overflowing from ample feasting. I'm exhausted from Christmas shopping, wrapping, cleaning, traveling, packing, unpacking, and visiting with people. One would think I'd be happy this crazy holiday is over.

Instead, I feel much like I do every year: a little empty and lost. The anticipation and excitement is over. The pretty Christmas lights that break up the dark cold nights have already begun to disappear off of people's houses. Yes, the worrying over what to buy people has ended, but with that distraction gone just means the old important worries will return.

But, I suppose this just proves that we did have a wonderful Christmas, for if we hadn't I'd be happy it's all over. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with my family. On the evening of the 26th, Stephen's family came over for a gift exchange and dinner. We received many thoughtful gifts, but we mostly enjoyed getting to spend time with our families. I've posted our pictures here if you'd like to take a looksy.

In the meantime, I guess I'll just join Ella in the long, long wait for Christmastime to return.

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Merry Christmas!

Well...almost! I'm happy to report that the Christmas spirit has managed to find me, after all. It's now technically Christmas Eve, and I'm giddy to go home in a few hours and spend some quality time with my family, bonding together in overindulgence of pretty presents and food. As you can see from below, the kitties are even in dire anticipation over the arrival of Santa "Claws."

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!

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Bah Humbug!

I just can't believe Christmas is right around the corner - less than three days, to be exact. Everything is going great: I have most of the Christmas shopping completed, most of the gifts I have are wrapped, the house is clean, and the weather has been lovely all month - right now, it's 50 degrees and sunny. So what gives? Why do I feel so blah?

I've decided it must be due to all of the reasons listed above. It just doesn't feel like Christmas this year. For starters, 50 degrees and sunny, in my opinion, is not Christmas weather. It's supposed to be 30 degrees and snowy from Thanksgiving through Christmas! Yes, I'm complaining about mild weather, I'm totally ungrateful. But, living in Indiana, we usually do get the white Christmases, or at least some whiteness within the season. (Apparently, there is still a small chance for snow on the big day, but I'm not counting on it.) Then, there's the fact that most of my shopping and wrapping are taken care of. What on earth was I thinking?! Did I totally forget the fact that procrastination is the key element to the Christmas spirit in my warped world?! If I'm not completely stressed, how on earth am I supposed to enjoy this time of year? And, hello, a messy house, to me, is practically the symbol of Christmas, right behind the nativity scene and Santa Claus.

Christmas is about to arrive, but I'm not feeling any of the symptoms. If there have been a lot of Christmas movies on tv this season, I've managed to miss out on them. Sure, there have been a ton of Christmas commercials - excuse me, holiday commercials. This year the "controversy" over saying "Merry Christmas" seems to be at an all-time high. I don't think I've heard this familiar greeting once in a public setting this year. We went to the mall the other night and bought a few small gifts for some of my co-workers. At the store, I told the lady they were Christmas gifts, so she wrapped them up and gave me boxes. The greeting I received as she handed my bag to me? "Have a good one!" I do realize there is a huge push for being more generic in terms of greeting people for the holidays because heaven forbid we offend someone, but it seems people are even taking it one step further and ignoring the holiday season altogether. Maybe I'm just reading too much into things (the poor woman had probably said "Happy Holidays!!" a bazillion times and was just giving herself a break), but it further deflates my Christmas spirit. Just this afternoon while leaving the office, I told someone who works in my building to have a lovely Christmas. When he turned and walked away without saying much more than a grunt, instead of me feeling apalled at his rudeness for not offering a "you, too!" or "thanks!" or even a "take care!", I felt awful and even a little embarassed that I may have possibly offended him. It's so ridiculous that anyone should feel that way over their cheerful and warm wishes. I most certainly would not feel offended if someone said "Happy Hanukkah!" or even "Happy Kwanzaa!" to me. I'd think I'd feel flattered that I was being included in their festive cheer.

Anyway, while Stephen is working this evening, I think I'm going to put my flannel pjs on, make some hot chocolate, light some candles, and watch "A Christmas Story" or "It's a Wonderful Life." If that doesn't lift my spirits, I'm changing my name to Kimenezer Scrooge.

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Trip to Chicago Was a Memorable One

On Saturday evening we drove up to Chicago to spend a day with Angie. We were looking very forward to our trip, as (a) we love Chicago and (b) we love Angie. Angie lives downtown in Lincoln Park - her neighborhood is absolutely darling and complete with a bazillion things to do within walking distance. We went to a little authentic Mexican restaurant on her corner for dinner (which was muy delicioso), and afterwards we took a cab over to The Second City. I'm very sheltered - this was actually my first cab ride ever. (Gee, and it was just like riding in the back of a car, imagine that!) We were privileged enough to be seated in the theater right in front of the stage (we were sitting so close that Angie was literally using the stage as an armrest and the actors were only about 10 feet away from us). The show was hilarious. At the end of the performance, they announced they would perform some improv. As they started their first skit, without any notice or forewarning, Jim Belushi walked out on stage and began performing. It was so cool - of all the nights for us to be there! Mr. Belushi and his son, Robert, were the special guests of the evening (probably because Saturday was the theater's 47th anniversary), so they performed for 30-45 minutes with the cast. During one of the goofy skits, Mr. Belushi was acting like a horny dog and actually crawled onto our tiny, wobbly table and humped it! It was so hilarious, and we truly felt so honored.

Sunday, we met Angie's friend, Becky, at a local cafe for brunch. Again, I couldn't help but feel a little jealous at how cool her neighborhood is - brimming with people, little shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. Then we made the trek to Bolingbrook to go to IKEA and Chevy's Fresh Mex restaurant, because to us, a trip up there just isn't complete without going to IKEA and Chevy's (since we don't have either in Indiana).

To sum it up - we had a fabulous time. It's too bad Stephen has to work weekends so we couldn't spend more time up there, but on the other hand, had we been able to spend more time there, we possibly may have never came back!

Unfortunately, we only took a handful of pictures. You can click here if you wish to see them.

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Oh Boy, We're Getting a Nephew!

We found out yesterday from their blog that Jeff and Angela are having a boy. It's crazy how just knowing the gender makes it seem so much more real - like, before it was just a thing, but now it's a real person growing in there. I guess this is probably because we can start referring to him as a "he" instead of as an "it," which just made it sound like she's pregnant with a robot or alien. (Of course, it doesn't help that Jeff likes to refer to the baby by the names of "Cylon" and, most commonly, "Tiberius.")

We are so very excited for them, but we're also excited for us. Stephen is looking very forward to finally getting to venture out of the little girls' department, where I seem to have spent a lot of time over the past three years for Ella. I'm a sucker for tiny baby dresses, but I think I can have fun picking out khakis, button-down shirts and sweater vests, too.

It seemed wrong for me to post their ultrasound picture on here, but they have it posted on their blog if you would like to see our unborn nephew!

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Birthday Wishes to Angie

Angie, I hope you're having a great day. I hope Will was well-behaved, I hope Sarah made you some delicious chocolate cake, and I hope you received lots of birthday cards and not just lame shout-outs on people's blogs! I can't wait to visit you in Chicago this weekend. I know your biggest birthday wish is to go shopping at IKEA with us, and gosh darnit, it'll be my top priority to make your wish come true! Happy birthday!

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Rick, Give Aaron His Voice Back!

This evening while flipping through the vast wasteland that is Indianapolis radio, we stumbled upon a Rick Astley song. (In case you are curious, "Never Gonna Give You Up.") Stephen made the usual comment that he makes whenever we hear Rick Astley (which seems to happen fairly frequently, for some strange reason): "That's the biggest voice coming out of the wieniest man." I retorted, "Yeah, kinda like how Aaron Neville is the biggest man with the wieniest voice." Ding! (See lightbulb flash above my head.) Like babies who are mixed up in hospitals, Aaron Neville's & Rick Astley's voices must have been swapped during some freak accident of nature. I always found it a little creepy that their voices didn't "match" their appearances; who knows, had they been able to switch voices, maybe their careers would have continued to flourish. Sure, in my opinion, they'd still have sucked, but at least they wouldn't have looked so freakish in doing so. Anyway, that's just our random deep thought for the evening.

(www.liveconcertphotos.com & www.rockstar.it)

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Why We Can't Get Anything Done: Part III

Our cat, Sam, has recently developed a taste for water directly out of the faucet. At first, it was really cute, watching him methodically position his head before lapping at the stream of water with his bubblegum pink tongue, and occasionally batting at the water, flinging it everywhere. But now...let's just say I think he's become an addict. Every time I set foot in the bathroom, he somehow senses it and comes in, jumps up on the sink and waits. This wouldn't bother me much, except for the fact that much of the time I go in the bathroom it's because I need to do something at the sink - wash my hands, my face, brush my teeth. It's gotten to the point where I literally have to push him out of the way, and then he tries to push me right back out of his way.

On top of this new attitude he's dishing out, the other two cats have found his addiction to be very intriguing. This leaves me wrestling all three cats just to use the sink for a minute.


We have a dual vanity sink, so you'd think I could use Stephen's, right? Ah, but no - that's the sink Charlie likes to lay in. My life has become so pathetic.

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Girls Gone Hog Wild

Laurie, Therese, and Angie were sweet enough to come over on Saturday evening for a girls' night of dorky fun. Stephen pampered us by fixing dinner and dessert (though Mr. Barr was too good to eat with us). After much wine, we played a dirty board game, at which time we again tried to include Stephen - we named him our official x-rated terminology looker-upper. We learned what a "Hot Carl" is and what "Snowballing" means - the evening turned out to be as educational as it was entertaining! (And by the way, if you don't know what those terms mean, you don't want to know...unfortunately, Stephen found out there are often surprise video clips lurking along with such definitions.) The highlight of the evening had to be the singing stuffed pig Angie brought with her, which was a birthday gift given to her by her parents. She brought it as a joke; little did she know Therese and I would spend the rest of the evening compromising the pig's integrity.

Four girls + Five bottles of wine = Really bad gang signs (Angie & I appear to be members of the Love Gang?)...

...And sweet pig lovin'.

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Happy Birthday, Angela Brown!

Angela's turning the big 21! Or...something like that. I hope you're having a great day, Angela, and I hope "Tiberius" lets you eat lots of cake! Mmm...birthday cake...

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