City Sidewalks, Busy sidewalks.
Dressed in Holiday style.

In the air,
there's a feeling of
Christmas

Children laughing,
People passing,
Meeting smile after smile.


And on every street corner you'll hear

Silver Bells, silver bells
Its Christmas time in the city.
Ring a ling, hear them sing

Soon it will be Christmas day.

Strings of street lights
Even stop lights
Blink bright red and green
As the shoppers rush home

with their treasures

Hear the snow crunch
See the kids bunch
This is Santa's big scene

And above all this bustle
You'll hear...

Silver Bells
Silver Bells-
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring a ling...
Hear them ring

Soon, it will be Christmas day.

;-)

Oops-
forgot to place the "look book" link in case ya wanted to visit-



http://nymag.com/nymag/strategist/look/archive/

Brrrr...

So so so chilly. This past weekend was great, lots of fun. Actually felt like I made a good dent in the Christmas gift-shopping list. I feel a little bit better about it. Man, cannot believe that Christmas is just about next week, yup folks, next WEEK!
whoa....... Um, where did the time go? Seriously?
On Saturday, went over to my in-laws house and hung out with Carrie, my mom-in law. We have a tradition where we always go shopping on a Saturday in December, go out to dinner, watch Christmas movies, I guess it's our "girls Christmas day" you could call it. This year it was different though, we mixed it up a bit. This year, my family and hubby's family have all decided to draw names, oh man, THANK goodness. We have larger families, and every year it can get so expensive. So less things to buy this year. NICE> Much more economical. So, Carrie and I decided to stay warm inside, skip the shopping, listen to music, and bake Christmas cookies and treats all afternoon. It was SO much fun. We were totally awesome, made a TON, to give to neighbors and co-workers, etc (and some for our bellies, smile). Maybe I will post some pics soon, once I get em uploaded.
Otherwise, pretty nice weekend. Felt pretty accomplished. Cleaned. Shopped. Hung -w- Hubby. Cooked. Laughed. Rested. Good times.

This morning, woke up and it WAS SO ICKY cold!!!! Ugh. Ugh. Car was basically frozen solid. Grrrr, was a half hour late to work... grrrr. Man. Did I say I like this cold winter weather earlier in a post? Was I crazy? Did I forget how it can be every year??? Ice. Oh man, ice.


Anyway, as an additional side-note. Kinda random, I know. But wanted to post about it. When I was doing a bit of shopping around the city on Sunday, one of the things I always notice and love is how different everyone is, how the city always has such a mixture of people, looks, styles, clothes, personalities showing through. I love it. When ya think about it, everyone has their own unique personal style, whether they like it or not, can go from very toned down to exuberent in color texture. Ever wanted to just stop someone on the street and ask them who they are, what they do, what their background is?
It reminds me of a book that I read and just loved a while back called "The Look Book", there is the corresponding web-site that is always updated every week with a new photo. "New York" magazine published this book, and all of the updated weekly online photos are attributed to the online publication. What the photographers do is just go throughout New York neighborhoods, set up a white drop-cloth on the sidewalk, and just randomly take pictures of a certain person or group that catches their eye as they walk by. I think this would be so cool, what a cool job. They always have a small little series of about 4-5 questions from the person, and immediately you get a sense and history of the individual, a story, and that story always comes with their clothes too, these ordinary people and what they do to expand and create their looks, it's usually much deeper than the clothes. I LOVE this concept. LOVE it. Shows stories, I love stories, love individuality. Really appreciate the unique nature of every person. It's just this cool element that makes the world more colorful. Makes you think, why do you wear that specific pair of shoes, or why that hairstyle, why that ring, that jacket...
I know that this is for New York magazine, would be fun if there was one for Chicago, but for now... it's still entertaining to take a little peek into these individuals lives and "looks". You can check out the link here , it's so fun. like a little surprise every week. I've posted just a few of the hundreds taken over the past few years that I think are particularly interesting, entertaining, or unique. So as you go through this season, and about your day, remember one of the things that makes it so colorful is people, how they might celebrate, and their individual stories and unique style. So instead of maybe getting frustrated in the crowds when shopping, take a step back, people-watch and appreciate the mass individuality and stories surrounding around you. There is a reason behind everything...

All photos are Copyright to New York Magazine, most pics attributed to the talented photographer "Jake Chessum".

Oh man, hee hee hee hee... (as I chuckle to myself right now). What a funny evening Sunday was. So, the hubby and I have the day off, and we decide to decorate the Christmas tree on Sunday evening. Our fun little tradition time where we hang out, maybe open up a bottle of wine, set up our nice little fake 4 1/5 foot tree. The little tree we have been using for almost five years now. I think we bought it for like 20 bucks a long time ago. It has served us nicely. Looks really pretty when we are done, and is just the right size for our place.

So... We do a bunch of stuff during the day, go out to dinner, and hop on over to Target to get our annual "1 new ornament a piece" each year before heading home to decorate. I guess this is a tradition that the hubby did when he was a little boy, they would go out and the kids would pick a big special (usually star wars, etc.) type special ornaments. So... as my hubby is wandering the Target aisles, I guess she gets hit by the Clark Griswald-massive Christmas-feeling bug. He decides that the tree we have been using for so many years is icky, bad, small, and just not Christmas massive enough.
My in laws last year had offered to give us this 2nd tree they didn't want anymore, it was pretty expensive I guess. (my pop-in law thought that it was too big, too bright... hmmm). I politely turned them down last year. So... I'm sure you know where this is heading. Justin (my hubby) decides he WANTS this big massive tree now from his parents for our 2008 Christmas. Oh he wants the Festivity-land-Santa's village in our home... now.

So, we get the tree. OH MY GOSH. First of all, couldn't even fit it into the car. Then, we bring it home.
Whoa.
This thing has 2,000 lights on it. Every "branch" wrapped. It is WIDE. Fat. And 8 feet tall. Oh my. We have high ceilings at our place. But um, we don't have this massive large house in the city. Our living room is a good size, but not THAT big. I think this would work in someone else's house that was actually LARGER. Like an actual HOUSE. Not a city-2 flat.

So, we finally figure out where it works. and place it there, decorate it (which was fun, really fun). I've posted some pics of "Justin ornaments" and "Courtney ornaments" ha! Its pretty, it's all decorated.

Then... we turn off the lights... turn on the tree WHhoooho!!!!!! Man. This thing is bright. I could catch a tan. We seriously don't need much more lights turned on in our house, when you go on over to the kitchen, or even the office, ya still catch the glow.

So, it's pretty. It really is. I'm just being funny, it's not horrible or anything. Very pretty, It's just MASSIVE. The tree is definitely it's own "little" creature residing in our home for the month of December. If I get home, and nobody is there, I look at the tree and don't really fully feel alone, ha ha ha. Almost like it's become it's own person. I say, "Hello Mr. pet Tree, how was your day, did ya have a nice day?" I feel short next to it.

So, I have a happy husband. That fills me with joy. He is feeling the Christmas joy. And so am I. Reminds me of how grateful I am that I have such a fun, sweet, spontaneous, and creative hubby. Such a great person in my life that wanted to put up this tree. And that I get to spend another rich Christmas season with him.
It is nice, I am getting used to it. Very bright. Pretty. And pretty... large.

Hope your holidays are treating you well!!!

Yeah!!
So as I wrote in a previous post about a month ago, I was a little knitting newbie. Just starting and trying it out. There is something so relaxing about it, it's weird. Kinda lulling. I know, some people equate this stuff with maybe your grandma's knitting club, or make fun of it. My mom even kinda laughed at me. but ya know what... so what!? I fell in love. Once ya get it down, its so easy... And you can watch a movie, talk to buddies and just work on your knitting. You en up getting a product that ya might have paid some good moola for in the end. I was a bit intimidated at first, but now I so excited to try again. Maybe make a warm grey striped scarf for the hubby to walk to and from the train.
So, no matter what your view on knitting is... I am so excited that I actually finished. And I now have a big squishy plumb scarf to keep me warm this winter. sweet..

Oh,and yeah, I know some of these pics are kinda silly. Just realized how tired I look in them. But so what, I'm giddy that I actually finished.

: )

Ok, maybe it's my preferred layout. But for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to post captions below pics. As you can see from my pics below, people probably have no idea what is going on. ugh!!! Does anyone know how to post captions, well.. duh, you do most likely. It just will not work for me, I feel so dumb...

So it has been quite a bit since I have actually gotten the chance to blog. I miss it.

It has been a very jam-packed week. Thanksgiving break was wonderful, weekend time with hubby was great. I actually got sick right before Thanksgiving. And work has just been insane. Very busy.
So, I know there are a lot, sorry. but wanted to post a few pics over the past week or so posted.
1.(pics 1) Thanksgiving was at my wonderful inlaws. So much fun. My mother in law is the coolest, well so is my pappa-in law too! I totally lucked out. It was my brothers-in law my brother, and my brother-in law- Jimmy's lovely and super funny girlfriend. So mcuh to be thankful for this year. seriously. Every year Carrie (my momma-in law) and I do the table, it's kinda a tradition, and we have a lot of fun with it. Always a different color, different theme. I usually design little note-cards with quotes or jokes in them. The colors were teals, gold, and purples this year. As always, we ate so much food, cooked our hearts away and laughed hard. I just realized in these pictures my hubby's second brother Jon is not in any of them, sneaky sneaky man... he got away from the camera. Oh well,the funny guy was there.

2. (pics 2) Also, posted a couple of date pics that hubby and I have been on. We got lots of down-time and fun time. Good to break away and do this when life gets busy and you work so hard. We spent a lot of time downtown. walked, talked a lot. Saw a bit of the Mag mile light parade, grabbed dinner and martini's at the sooo yummy Ostaria Via Stratto. Justin knows the GM at ESPN zone on Michigan/ohio ave. so we got to play games for free (a 12 hour play card!!! for each of us! nice) and he set aside a private sports room for us to just hang out in whenever we wanted. It was Great! & free!!! Nothing like acting like a couple of kids and playing some games, eh?

So anyways. Yup. Lots to be thankful for this year. So much. What a rich life experience we are all blessed with.
Have a good one! It's good to be back at the blogging land.