Christmas at my house

The Christmas holiday has come and gone and that makes me sad. I got some pretty neato gifts. I got some clothes, the Dark Knight DVD, and a cool book!!! We spent Chirstmas at my uncle's house and ate a lot of delicious food. My grandma made my fave strawberry pretzel salad that I ate a lot of. It was delic! I also went to see the Curios Case of Benjamin Button. All in all it was a lovely day.
Otherwise I have spent my time in Princeton catching up with old friends I have not seen in years as well as spending time with the fam. I am really glad that I got to come home for the holidays. Thinking about getting on a plane one week from today makes me want to vom all over the place.
Oh well onto happier things. I will be back in that magical place Chicago on Tuesday. I got guilted into staying an extra day. Oh well I am just going to have the best week ever. So yes!

It's A Wonderful Life

Oh man I feel like I have so much to catch up on. Well some highlights. I got sick last week, went to Princeton to my aunt's annual holiday party (which was not as fun as usual, i was not nearly drunk enough). The party was Friday, and then I went back to Chicago on Saturday with my cousin April and my sister. Satruday night was spent making merry at Stephanie O'Brien's apartment with Warren Wilke, Nishanth, Julie Bychowski, Omar, K Cole, and Rosemary. IT WAS A DELIGHT. On Sunday Stephanie and I braved the EXTREME cold and went downtown to Christkindlmarket. It was so fucking cold let me tell you. Oh my god it was too cold to even die in a fire. Oh my god but I did find my favorite candy that I fell in love with in Spain. I ate the box of them that night because I had such a stressful day of shopping and then trying to get my cousin's car out of the ice and snow to take Stephanie to Union Station. It was awful. But two very kind strangers stopped to help which was nice.
Monday I braved the cold to again do more Christmas shopping because of course I could not buy anything for my sister when she was with me. I went downtown with Warren and his sister to do some shopping on Michigan Ave. That was nice and I got to eat some DELICIOUS PORTILLOS! OMG I die just thinking about it. I may have to eat it everyday when I go back to the city next week! So, that evening Warren, Kevin Cole and I ventured out to the suburbs of beautiful Naperv[thr]ille, IL. We met other Knoxians which included Rosemary Ibis, Victor Mui, Paul Albertine, Kevin Wickman and... ZACK LAZAR!!! at The Foundry, a beyond absurd sports bar, to watch the Chicago Bears take on the Green Bay Packers. It was quite fun.
Today was spent making my way back to Princeton, IL for the holidays. Its nice to be sleeping in my big bed again.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

So I have been back in the Midwest now since Saturday. Erica and Kristin picked me up from the airport that night. Traveling was not too bad, O'Hare was delayed so I had to wait in San Jose extra long. Oh well.
So basically I have been hanging out in the city and enjoying every minute of it. I am just so glad to be back here, even if it is winter and snowy. At least it is pretty from the inside of buildings. I have been completing a goal that I set out for myself when coming back to the Midwest, which is too eat a lot of delicious food! And I am winning at this task! Pizza tonight will be muy delicioso.
Tomorrow I am going to head downtown to finish up my Christmas shopping. I am just too finicky of a shopper and did not find anything while out shopping with Neill and Alisha. This will have to be it. And then Friday it is down to Princeton for my aunt's Christmas party extravaganza. Always a fun time. Then on Saturday back to the city. I am hoping that my family will be okay with the fact that I am not spending too much time in Princeton for the holidays. Oh well.

think the time is right for a palace revolution

What is up with Rod Blagojevich? I mean I am in no way surprised because he has been pretty worthless, but come on, really? Oh well. I mean this is also not surprising because, didn't he pay people off to get tickets for Hannah Montana? I did also hear that from the voice of Chicago radio 720- WGN. And they were always critical of him (which is so easy to do).

Tonight we are having an AmeriCorps potluck with the out-of-towners. I am making a lovely green bean casserole. I think I am going to bring it to the Staff lunch in tomorrow too. I am feeling loose with my food stamps this month considering I will not have to buy many groceries once I get back to Illinois. Which is on Saturday. By the way.

It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow

Not much is going on. I went to see a performance of White Christmas yesterday in Santa Maria. It is hard to believe that I was once in musicals. I dunno maybe I am just too cynical or something now but it is hard for me to imagine myself in a show that had as much campy style as this production did. So that was yesterday.

Today I was going to make a long shopping trip out and about in Monterey and Carmel. Well I am now leaving so Carmel is most definitely out of the picture. Anthropologie was not that important of a stop anyway. And I would not have been able to afford anything in Tiffany's. Yeah that is the shopping in Carmel. Cra cra stuff. It would have been fun to possibly have a celebrity siting but whatever. I feel a little bad for celebrities now after watching "For the Record."

This week. I am going home on Saturday. The end.

i did it all for you this christmas

it is time to bring on the christmas tunes. i am currently listening to last year's favorite: twist of the magi by shedaisy. pretty exciting stuff. and so begins the holiday season. I have to buy some new clothes/shoes for my stint in the midwest. Because obviously I no longer live there and do not have the appropriate attire to brave the winter weather. Oh well spending more money that I do not have on clothes. Oh and buying presents too for the fam. Guh I need to get on that! I think it would be really funny if I bought my mom a snuggie because she has an affinity for blankets.

But when it truly comes down to it, I am so glad to be able to go home for three weeks and spend time with the people i love, because I know that not everyone has that luxury. So even though I am poor, I will still be where I belong during the holidays. Holla!

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade/The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

I had a lovely time up north in Santa Rosa. It was exactly what I needed. Scotty and I went to the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park on Saturday which was pretty neat. I kind of wish we had paid the ten extra dollars to see the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit, but I mean it is going to be open till like April. I really loved wine country/San Francisco. It is definitely cool and I cannot wait to do some more exploring.

First day back today. Two more weeks. Woah. So today my favorite teacher asked me to judge the Spelling Bee. Which I was excited to do as a former Spelling Bee Winner. The excitement wore off when I left the school at 9:45 pm. That right. I was at school from 8 am til 9:45 pm. It was absolutely bananas. I missed Gossip Girl which is upsetting, but I will watch it tomorrow I suppose. OH well. Tomorrow is another day at school...