It's Almost Christmas!

This past weekend, Mr and I celebrated with our own little Christmas tradition. The Saturday before Christmas, we go to the matinee performance of The Joffrey's The Nutcracker and then have dinner at Morton's on Wacker. Mr claims he likes the music, but really he goes because I love ballet and Morton's is a pretty good reward for his patience.

I love the Nutcracker. I love the families with the little girls in pretty dresses, and the little boys in tiny ties and sport coats. Of course, I love the ballet itself, though the arabian coffee piece always puts me to sleep and their Mother Ginger puppet sort of freaks me out. I can't find a picture of it, but traditionally, Mother Ginger is played by a man on stilts. The little ponchinelles run out of her skirt, and it has sort of a clown-car effect. You can't tell how many kids are in there. It's fun. The Joffrey has a massive puppet with a person inside operating it. Her head turns and her hands move, but it is very weird. Plus, her skirt is super light and doesn't quite touch the stage, so you can see that there are more kids waiting to run out. It's really bizarre and a little disturbing.

All in all, I love it. This year was a tad disappointing, because at our performance Willy Shives was Herr Drosselmyer and Calvin Kitten was the Nephew/Nutcracker prince. Kitten was good, but he's a little on the short side and just not as handsome as Shives. Shives is the Assistant Ballet Master at the Joffrey, so he's basically their star. He's the one you see in their posters for The Nutcracker, and he's just amazing. When he's the Nutcracker Prince, it is a lot easier to get swept up in the magic of the play. Kitten, aside from having a goofy name that is either unfortunate or a poor choice of stage names, just doesn't have the presence that Shives does. Also, I think maybe he's not really used to partnering. It looked to me like the Sugar Plum Fairy was having to work a lot harder than she should have. Although, it is nice for her that he got the shot - most ballerinas are tall because they have to be proportionate to their partners. Men are few and far between in the dance world, so ballerinas get chosen from those who are the right height for the guy. Most short girls get stuck in the Corps.

Morton's, obviously, was fantastic. I don't know what they do to make that steak taste so freaking good, but ... there literally aren't words. Mr is also a fan of Gibsons, who are not shabby, but I just don't think anything can compare to Morton's. It is literally the most satisfying meal I have all year. I eat as slowly as possible when we're there, just to savor the steak as long as I can.

So, now that we've done our Christmas tradition, it is starting to feel real to me. The construction is wrapping up on our house - the floor got the final seal yesterday and the siding guys are out there now capping off our windows and doors. We didn't get to put up the tree, so I have a tiny silver tree from Urban Outfitters on the end table and our presents underneath. Our stockings are up, which I love. I even have a tiny one for Hank.

Up next: we have to find a dining room table. We're having a hard time, as it seems difficult to find anything less than $3,000, which we don't really have. Wickes, Harlem, Ashley, and every other place we looked were a bust. We're currently looking at a table from Crate & Barrel. The table itself isn't too expensive, but the chairs are, and you can't really get a wood-finish table and then find cheaper chairs at another store -there's no way the finishes will match. We have pretty traditional tastes, nothing modern, nothing ornate. Just a basic table. Any suggestions are much appreciated. This is the table we like from C&B.

I Love Winter

You know what's worse than not having enough warm layers on a long walk from the train to work? Having too many.

I had to walk a little farther today since I needed to pick up some pastries for my floor holiday party, and I tend to walk with purpose. There is no moseying along for me. Overheating in the winter sucks because you can't just take off your coat and cool down. So, you sweat, while your face is freezing.

You know what else is awesome? Doing all of that the day after you decide to switch to plain deodorant with no antiperspirant.

I smell like a zoo.

I got to my desk, took off my many layers and went to the ladies' room. I also took off my sweater, so that I could cool off sooner. Not only am I a little damp, but my back is basically wet. Like, I can see a big circle on the back of my blouse, which now looks like I picked it up off the floor instead of having recently washed and ironed it. I honestly considered losing the blouse and just wearing the sweater except my sweater is white and kind of thin, so that isn't really an option. I just hope it is enough to cover my now-wrinkled shirt so that no one wonders when I showered last (this morning, if you're wondering).

Who Knew?

I had no idea that Christina Aguilera is so freaking funny. Seriously, check this out.

It's all Coming Together

We've got a solid roof! The holes in our main roof have been patched on a more permanent basis, and we got new shingles. The gigantic hole in our small roof is now gone, on the outside, and replaced by a whole new roof. We had just shy of 3/4 of the siding replaced on the house. All that's left on the outside is new gutters and putting the lights back up on our back porch (and while we were at Lowes this weekend, we picked out new, prettier lights. Woo!).

Today, they should be putting up those gutters, and they are starting work on the inside of our house - tearing out the floor the drywall and the ceiling of the addition where the tree fell through. They will replace all of that, paint the addition, patch and paint the kitchen, patch and paint my office, replace three windows, replace the sliding glass door (which wasn't damaged in the storm, but has no lock and is rotting), and replace our other back door (which also wasn't damaged but doesn't have a deadbolt. It has like a weird bar-type thingy that works like a chain lock. We're replacing the door with one with a deadbolt [and no window, which is why the current door can't get a deadbolt] so that we can both lock our home securely AND get in from the back). While they're at it, they are also painting our living, foyer (about five square feet), the staircase and the upstairs hallway. So, shortly before Christmas our house should be back in one piece and better than ever. Sadly, this means our Christmas decorations are minimal.

It's going to get worse before it gets better, but I am very excited that it is all underway. We took everything off of our kitchen counters in anticipation of the dust, but I'm sure we didn't think of something. I hate living with construction, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I can't wait.

NaBloPoMo - we broke up

Clearly, NaBloPoMo is not for me. Such is life.

the holidays are upon us. How did that happen so fast? Mr & I are going to his grandparents' for Thanksgiving and having Christmas at home. Our home. We don't have to go anywhere or see anyone, and it really makes me happy. I love having my own tree, and waking up in my house and opening presents with Mr.

This year was supposed to be Christmas at my parents' house. I haven't been for two years because we were trying to get on the same schedule as my brother and sister-in-law, who is on a schedule with her married siblings. Finally, we were on-track. But, they're not going for a myriad of reasons, and when I politely asked if it was ok to bring Hank with us, my mom said that she and dad had discussed it and decided that dogs are for "short, quiet visits."

Hank is banned.

So, because we sent him to Mr's parents during the honeymoon and recently boarded him for a weekend we said we can't do that to him again. So, we're staying home. I was upset, because I don't understand her issue with dogs in the house, but I respect her decision. If I don't want someone/something in my house, I expect others to abide by my rules, so I have to do the same for her. We handled it well, I think. No major drama, but both of us stood firm and didn't want to hurt the other's feelings. Once it was clear that we were both ok with it, there was a noticeable drop in tension.

I blame it on my brother and my sister, really. He would show up at their house with his two large dogs (I would guess about 80lbs), one of whom often peed on the houseplants. My sister has a reasonably well-behaved (at least in comparison) jack-rat who weighs about 5lbs. So, you can understand why my mom associates big dogs with bad dogs. It's no use trying to change her mind. But, seriously, how could you not love this guy?