2011, a sunday

Slept in, Christmas day at Aunt Pat and Uncle Denny’s. Unfortunately, the cold or whatever that’s been chasing me all week kind of caught up to me this morning and I was really tired and maybe a little feverish. Napped a little during presents, round 2. Ate so many mini cream puffs. Home for the Bears game by the fire.

2010, a saturday

christmas day! over to uncle denny and aunt pat’s by 1, then spent the whole day doing presents, eating, playing games, more eating, more eating. home, exhausted, did not even make it through my cup of tea before I passed out on the couch.

2009, a friday

worked out. it started snowing! headed to my aunt and uncle’s for christmas with my mom’s side of the family. lots of food, my male cousins got a wii, so we played some sports resort, and I read some books to my female cousins. went home a bit earlier than usual due to the weather. opened the rest of my presents. ate some leftovers with my mom and watched some more ‘john adams’.

2011, a saturday

Yoga, relaxed, saw ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ with Mom and Dad – it was really good! Home, spaghetti dinner and presents with Grandma, ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘the Fifth Element’ on TV, read some more ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

2010, a friday

yoga, went to lunch at shanghai with mom and grandma. spent the afternoon making more banana pudding, helping mom with the soup, talking to grandma and watching the tng marathon on syfy. christmas eve dinner – chicken corn chowder, brie en croute, red pepper and onion relish. delicious! whitey’s peppermint ice cream with homemade fudge sauce for dessert.

2009, a thursday

got a hair cut from tiffany, made the last batch of christmas cookies. had my grandma and aunt and uncle over for christmas eve goulash, cookies, and bailey’s by the fire. had christmas with mom and dad and grandma then watched the rest of ‘it’s a wonderful life’ with my dad.

2011, a friday

Up early, helped Mom finish the soups and hors d’oeuvres. My mom’s side of the family arrived at about 5:30 and we spent the rest of the night corralling kids, eating too much soup (they were both really good) and opening presents. The desserts – pumpkin dump cake and peppermint-ginger ale-Bailey’s – were both really good too! After everyone left, started reading ‘How the States Got Their Shapes’ and was totally engrossed until I fell asleep and the book fell on my face.

2010, a thursday

dentist, ‘true grit’ with my parents (mattie ross is my new hero!), dinner at applebee’s.

2009, a wednesday

worked out, made more christmas cookies. caught ‘avatar’ in 3D with my parents and it was awesome. made more christmas cookies. had a nice dinner and spent the night watching tv cuddled on the couch with my parents.

2011, a thursday

Yoga, made the mistake of calculating the ‘nutritional’ info for the coconut pie. Almost 1000 calories per slice. Yyyyyyyyeaaaahhh. No wonder it was so good. Spent the day making soups (cozido and basil tomato parmesan) and hors d’oeuvres for tomorrow. Watched some ‘American Horror Story’. Dinner, ‘A League of Their Own’ (“Let’s make like a bread truck and haul buns, ladies!”).

2010, a wednesday

slept in, spent the day snuggled up on the couch watching netflix. at night, got a pizza joynt pizza (so good I couldn’t stop eating it) and watched ‘heist’ and ‘hidalgo’ with mom.

2009, a tuesday

slept in, went christmas shopping with mom then made cookies and peanut clusters. went to city limits for taco tuesday then came home, had some cookies, and watched the first two eps of ‘john adams’ plus the david mccullough documentary (i must now read all of his books).

2011, a wednesday

Went to Grandma’s so Mom could do some bookwork. Went to lunch at Shanghai (so good!) then took Grandma for her B12 shot. Split the coconut pie and gave Grandma half. Went grocery shopping for Christmas Eve Eve. Back home 5 hours after we left. Dinner, coconut pie (ZOMG AMAAAAAAAZING), tv.

2010, a tuesday

yoga, breakfast, hooked up mom and dad’s new tivo and re-networked. set up tivo and connected my netflix account. went to grandma’s and made chex mix and hung out (massages for everyone!) while mom went to get her hair cut. home, made cookies, out to city limits for dinner with family friends. home, patrick stewart ‘a christmas carol’ on cable.

2009, a monday

woke up early and worked out, started packing, hit the post office, cleaned up the apartment. maria took me to the airport and i flew back to illinois. mom and dad picked me up, we stopped at the pilot in minooka on the way home.

2011, a tuesday

Spent all day making cookies with Mom (and a French coconut pie for Grandma and me). Took a break for lunch then kept baking until dinnertime (photos here). Watched ‘Love Actually’ (part of it anyway – fell asleep for the middle bit).

2010, a monday

yoga, started working on transferring info from mom’s old imac to her new macbook and migrating her email to imap. finished mike carey’s ‘the devil you know’ which I LOVED. happy to find out there are four more books in the series! made dinner with mom; introduced the parents to quinoa. bailey’s, 2-hour ‘castle’ repeat episode. stayed up to see the lunar eclipse, thwarted by heavy cloud cover. :(

update: I posted someone’s time-lapse of the eclipse here.

2009, a sunday

got up and hustled to get ready and out before our check-out time. had lunch at jj’s boulangerie in paris then went up the eiffel tower to watch the bellagio fountain show. took some photos in front of the paris fountain then hit the road. on the way back to LA, elaine and i stopped at the target in pasadena to check out the new rodarte collection. elaine dropped me off, and i promptly realized there was no way i was going to make it to this party tonight, so instead am going to eat and go to bed; i have an early morning tomorrow before i fly to chicago in the afternoon.

2011, a monday

Yoga, caught up with the internet. Went shopping with Mom and had a dentist appointment (no cavities!). Sacked out on the couch for awhile and watched some ‘Firefly’. Mom made dinner, then she and I watched ‘the Holiday’. I talked Dad into making some popcorn. So full of popcorn.

2010, a sunday

went to see/hear my cousin sing with the moline boys’ choir. dinner afterwards with family at la flama. extremely cold outside.

2009, a saturday

slept in, went to the flamingo for their brunch buffet. visited the flamingos in the garden, then drove out to hoover dam. we got there at sunset and got some great photos. drove back, did some quick shopping at the miracle mile shops so maria and i could get dresses for our second night out. had dinner at the buffet in paris, then went in a food coma for awhile. got ready, went to the bank in bellagio. got in fine, but some bouncer douchery led to us deciding to go somewhere else, so we went to tao at the venetian. tao was RIDICULOUS – crowded, hot, great music, go go dancers, real snow falling on the dance floor. after tao we went to the venetian casino floor to the slots, where we met some nice but kind of odd guys from the LA area. went back to paris, changed, and elaine and i went down to the blackjack tables. met some more nice people, then managed to get into bed around 5:30am.

2011, a sunday

Cecile and I met Aaron, Jeanine and Ruby at Kanela Breakfast Club and had a really delicious brunch. I got the omelette filled with spicy whipped feta (omg), Cecile got steak and eggs with chimichurri, Aaron got a portobello benedict, Jeanine ordered the fluffiest, lightest blueberry pancakes, and Ruby dug into a Greek yogurt with granola, honey and fruit. And we got an order of practically orgasmic monkey bread for the table. Great conversation, and so great to see Aaron and Jeanine – and to meet Ruby for the first time! She’s freaking ADORABLE – so cute and little and sweet that I wanted to steal her, and said so. Mom and Dad picked me up around 2pm, and we drove out to almost-Oak-Park to visit with my cousins. Lisa made chicken tikka masala for dinner (amazing, of course – she’s a really good cook!) and Mom, Brad, Harry and I played Ticket to Ride before dinner. Got home after 10pm, went right to bed.

something new: Kanela Breakfast Club

2010, a saturday

yoga, saw ‘black swan’ with mom, bought stuff to make megan’s dad’s banana pudding. made the pudding. it was freaking delicious.

2009, a friday

elaine’s birthday! got up, checked out of the trump. elaine and i did some very productive shopping at fashion show mall – macy’s and neiman marcus, then got discounted tickets for the flavors buffet at harrah’s. lost track of time and had to rush out since we were overdue to pick up maria, but snagged some delicious ice cream cones and cotton candy on the way out. picked up maria, checked into paris, then hit the outlet mall. had dinner at le burger brasserie, then rested a bit in the room. megan arrived and we got ourselves ready to go out. went to pure and made friends with some guys in the VIP area with bottle service (the guest of honor in that group had the same exact birthdate as elaine, and the guys in the adjacent banquette were from chicago – one was from davenport!). had an awesome night, then stumbled back to paris and played some slots before going to bed.

2011, a saturday

Slept in, had a snack, then Cecile and I stopped at Discovery for cheap party clothes (I picked up a white ‘satin’ blazer that will work well for NYE). We went down town to the Christkindlmarket and stood in line for amazing bratwurst (mine with sauerkraut), roasted almonds, soft pretzels and apple cider. Then we hit all of the major stores in the area. I picked up a couple cheap dresses for NYE that I think will work great, except I didn’t pack any of the right undergarments to wear with them (I was planning on an all-black ensemble, and my new outfit is all white and peach. oops). Back to Cecile’s for clothes try-on before Matt picked us up for dinner. The three of us met up with Jon, Lindsay and Ellen at Yusho. We each picked two dishes to order, plus an order of ramen for the table. We also got fancy drinks, and ordered more of our favorite dishes. We ordered a couple desserts and three hours later, were finally done with our meal. Jon, Cecile and I went to the California Clipper for Cecile’s friends’ birthday party and we ended up staying for quite awhile.

something new: Yusho

soft serve with crystallized ginger, buckwheat caramel and black sesame

2010, a friday

up early for breakfast with mark, then mom and dad picked me up. we hung out with my cousins for a bit, then made the drive home. dinner, ‘elf’ on cable, read, sleep.

2009, a thursday

worked out, packed, and elaine picked me up to go to vegas! we made great time and met maria at the trump international. we went to hard rock for dinner at pink taco, where elaine kicked off the weekend with tequila shots. elaine and maria gambled for awhile, then we went back to the trump and watched tv for a bit before going to bed early, since maria had to work a little the next morning.

2011, a friday

Up early, finished packing. Brianna dropped me off at the bus station. The bus…did not come. Finally someone waiting called RTD and they commissioned a special bus for an airport express. Got to the airport in plenty of time, spent a few hours IMing with Jon and Eric and enjoying my bagel + schmear. Flight was uneventful – we made up our delay (and then some). Got to Cecile’s where we ate BBQ from Pork Shoppe and watched ‘Grimm’. Devin and Mark came over and we nerded out over ‘Willow’. Devin made his special popcorn and by the time they left I was so full I was almost comatose. A fantastic night!

the luggage pile in the back of the bus

2010, a thursday

up early to pack, finished gathering maria and clayton’s stuff. they picked me up and drove me to the airport and I flew back to illinois and stayed with cecile for the night. she ordered irazu delivery (yay!) gave me an awesome stegosaurus necklace for christmas, and we gorged ourselves and watched ‘prince of persia’.

2009, a wednesday

worked out, drove to culver city and had a nice lunch with paula. we hadn’t seen each other since college so there was plenty to talk about! went to westside pavilion afterwards to make a return, then made a post office run. came home, had a snack, promptly passed out for an hour. went to terry’s where she made us spaghetti and meatballs and we watched tv and ate her mom’s insanely good peanut brittle until midnight.

2011, a wednesday

Yoga, studied for my astronomy final. Finally 7:30pm rolled around I got to take my astronomy final. Ate junk food in celebration of the end of my first semester at CU. Fell asleep on the couch watching DS9. It was far more satisfying that I’m making it sound. Had a crazy dream that Lora and I were eating an amazing meal where everything, including the booze, was garnished with bacon.

2010, a tuesday

up early for math final. math final was grueling, to say the least. had to rush to finish, and afterwards talked to some girls from my class in the hall and we all agreed the test was way too long and totally ridiculous. we’ll see how I did, since I wasn’t able to check my arithmetic and had to skip some problems due to time. drove home, exhausted, got panda express as reward, brain hurt, unable to concentrate on anything for at least four hours. studied for chemistry final. took chemistry final; first part was rough, second part I flew through and left early. home now, and it’s only 10 and I’m ready to pass out.

2009, a monday

took it easy – had leftovers and read comics for most of the day, then i took eric to barnsdall park to see the frank lloyd wright house there – hollyhock house. we drove to venice and checked out the james jean installation at the hint mint popup store (i bought a set of his diptych tins and a shag holiday tin). then we went to small world books on the venice boardwalk – i like this store a lot and plan to go back once i have pared down my stack of books-to-read. we went to the library alehouse for dinner (fish tacos with mango salsa and an anchor christmas ale!) then found out eric’s flight was delayed, so killed some time at a starbucks near lax. i dropped eric off, then drove home in record time. had some of the christmas baklava terry made me and posted up two new high scores in cubello.

2011, a tuesday

Studied, took my earth history final. Studied for astronomy, watched some ‘Justified’.

2010, a monday

yoga, studied, last chemistry lab (professor announced he’d just become a grandfather!). early to bed to be up early for my 8am final.

2009, a sunday

eric and i went to brunch at griddle café and gorged ourselves on pumpkin pancakes and green chile scramble. then i took eric to golden apple and meltdown and we bought some comics. we spent the rest of the afternoon reading comics and drinking tea until it was time to go to maria and clayton’s. maria made a ton of awesome korean food and we, plus elaine and megan, ate until we could barely move. after dinner, clayton, eric and i played new super mario bros on the wii and elaine and maria played scrabble. eric and i came home and i…played some more wii.

2011, a monday

Studied for my calculus final, took my calculus final. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t great. Definitely didn’t get an A, hopefully got a B? Home, tried to study but my brain had had it for the day. Watched ‘Nikita’ and ate and generally lazed about, using my brain as little as possible.

2010, a sunday

went to meghan and josh’s to study. sat in the sun, petted the dog, meghan treated me to in-n-out. feel like I got a lot accomplished, and came straight home and did more practice problems. ate a lot of spicy pumpkin soup and put on ‘firefly’ for my study break, which is turning into a study-stoppage, because my brain is starting to hurt.

2009, a saturday

it poured all day, which kind of reduced eric and my options of what to do in LA. we went for lunch at the artisan cheese gallery then tried to hit the tokidoki store opening, but the line was crazy and we didn’t want to wait in the rain. while waiting to turn back onto melrose we witnessed an accident happen right in front of us! we drove to westside pavillion but there was no parking, so after a half hour of fruitless parking garage circling we drove back up to the grove. got lotería, saw ‘up in the air’. came home, changed, went to elaine’s housewarming and amanda’s wine and cheese party.

2011, a sunday

Yoga, studied for calculus, studied for earth history. Went to an astronomy review session, home and studied for calculus. Watched some ‘Nikita’ (Shane West, anyone?) then had terrible dreams about not being able to finish my calculus final in time.

2010, a saturday

math homework, math studying.

2009, a friday

cleaned all day, got groceries, picked up eric at the airport. picked up pizza at cruzer’s (got a free pizza!) and watched both ghostbusters movies while eating pizza. i had also bought a bunch of sweets at trader joe’s so we ate some awesome cookies and toffee too.