New Year's Eve eve

For New Year's Eve eve I went out to dinner with Dan and Jeremy.  After dinner we figured we mind as well get ice cream too!  As you can see, we enjoyed it.  Then we picked out a movie and did not wander around in the video store for an hour (like last time).  Dan and I have both wanted to see this so it was a quick pick.  Some other friends stopped by and we watched youtube videos filled with Lord of the Rings humor and Black Keys music videos before starting V.  The movie got done at midnight, but Adele, Dan, Jeremy and I stayed up talking til around four.  I love them- I'm lucky to have such great friends. 

Zoo lights

Brookfield Zoo magically lit up at around 4.  We had walked the entire vicinity at this point so we decided to take a ride on the Jingle Bell Tram (normally the Motor Safari).  While waiting in line for tickets, a woman came up to us, handed us four tickets and said, "Merry Christmas!" 

A holiday miracle? I think so!

Around Roosevelt Fountain the corporation trees "danced" to music with synchronized lights.

We got off the tram to see a laser show at 5:30.

After the laser show, we walked around for a little bit more before calling it a day.  Overall, the lights were beautiful!  As Adele said while on the tram, "This is such a holiday thing to do."  That it was.  We had a jam-packed day!

It's all happening at the zoo

Today I took a small trip with Becca and Adele to Brookfield Zoo to see zoo lights.  We made a day of it and got there early so we could tour and see the animals in daylight as well as the lights later on.

The camel was the first to greet us.

African wild dog and giraffe

Adele and a friend (he was from the New York World's Fair impressively enough.)

My favorite the penguins

You can't tell from this picture, but this little monkey resembled a kitten!  We wanted to hold him!

Rafiki?

Porcupine and meerkats

We actually got to hear this guy roar!

Christmas I

I thought it was way too cute how my mom wrapped up my sweaters.  We really enjoyed ourselves Christmas morning- laughing a lot and simply having fun.  Plus, I think everyone was happy with what they received, not that Christmas is about the presents,... but good gifts always help, right? ;) 

Also, something fun about our presents is that we try to be environmentally friendly with the wrapping.

We encourage you to try it too!  There are a lot of great reusable bags and boxes.  And if you still feel the need to "wrap" the gift, newspaper is a fun and funky option.  Plus, you can still recycle it after opening the gift.  I recommend using the comics section or if there's a section covering the holidays.

Merry Christmas

Eggnog with the Griswolds

A glass of eggnog and "Christmas Vacation"

are just as good the day after Christmas

as they are leading up to Christmas.

(Is anyone else not quite ready to stop celebrating Christmas

or is it just me?)

Here's to ridiculous humor and a great night!

Christmas Eve

Today I celebrate Christmas with Spenser and my dad's side of the family.  Here's Spenser opening his present: (I've already opened mine!)

I always try to pick out fun cards...

And this was what I made him:

I started out with a plain black frame from Wal-mart, attached the hawkeye pieces collage-like, and then I finished it off by putting a heavy lacquer on it.  There were a few more steps, but that's the basic run-down. :)

Merry Christmas Eve!

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

Tonight after a full day of Christmas shopping, my mom and I drove around looking at everyone's holiday lights.  It's a tradition of ours- we get in the car, turn the radio on to a Christmas station, and drive around admiring all the lights.  In past years it's been kind of a funny coincidence, everytime we'd get in the car John Lennon's "Happy Christmas" would come on the radio.  It didn't this year, but that's not to say it won't catch us driving around in the coming week.  This is one of my favorite Christmastime traditions. 

Birthday!

It's Laura's birthday!

She turns the big 2-0 today!

I hope she is wonderstruck with joy as she celebrates.

Happy birthday, Laura!

All Nighter Anyone?

Last night Spenser hosted an all-nighter, which is exactly how it sounds; they stay up all night watching funny stuff on youtube, playing video games, snacking and the like.  I didn't stay the whole time, but here is a taste of what goes on.  :)

better than christmas

Last night I was talking to Spenser and the conversation went something like this,

"So how are your finals?

and yours?....

I really miss you!

I miss you too!.......

(fill in with other Spenser-Chelsea talk)

                                                                S: I have a surprise for youuu.
                                                                C: Okay, thanks ahead of time I guess?
                                                                S: Do you want it?
                                                                C: You can give it to me over the phone?
                                                                S: Yeah, but I need you to do me a favor first.
                                                                C: What's the favor?
                                                                S: Come outside and get me!"

Talk about a surprise! I was so excited! I was not expecting him to come visit, but the not expecting made it oh-so-much better!

And when I got outside, he was holding a red box-my Christmas present.  He wanted to give it to me right now so that I could start using it, which was beyond sweet.  We've been playing with it ever since...here's the result:

I couldn't have asked for a better surprise.

All University Orchestra

On Sunday afternoon, I attended Spenser's winter orchestra concert.  They played some beautiful pieces-I would love to share the recordings, but like I said in the Nutcracker post Google isn't letting me upload much.  Spenser needed to a do a review on an orchestra concert that he was not in, so we stayed for the concert that directly followed.  I always love going to Spenser's concerts and I always love going to orchestra concerts, so needless to say it was a nice afternoon.

Gala

After The Nutcracker, we high-tailed it over to the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia gala.
On the left is Mike and Danielle, the same friends we had sushi with the other night.

Once there, I got to meet some of the new inductees.

And of course, there was lots of random singing

including their traditional serenade to the girls.

I love the Sinfonians.

These are some goofy outtakes from the night.

Thanks to Danielle for taking them. :)

Also, credit for the film frame can be found here.

The Nutcracker

Here are some snippets of The Nutcracker performed by The Nolte Academy of Dance at The Englert Theatre on the December 3, 7:30 pm performance. 

The scenes are as follows:

The Land of Snow

Clara Arives in the Land of Sweets:

-Arabian Coffee

-Marzipan Candies

Waltz of the Flowers

For some reason, google doesn't want me to upload the video. I shall work on this. Hrmpf! Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures!

Check out how close our seats were! They were considered "obstructed view", which made Spenser and I call to mind a pillar or column, when really it turned out to be the percussionist for the orchestra.  Her name was Jamie and she was quite the friendly obstruction.