monster in the closet

it was time to put away the christmas tree, but our closet was already quite full. i was kind of amazed at how much stuff we had accumulated over a year. in particular, the number of bags i had recycled…it really didn’t look that way inside the closet.

tokidoki man

hello i am the little man on ms. sherwin’s tokidoki bag. mr. joe brought me from hong kong. do you like me?

end of an era

our local grocery store is closing. we’ve had a love-hate relationship with it; the Hyde Park Co-op Market, aka the Co-op, had served Hyde Park for over 70 years and at one point had three stores. we’ve relied on it for all our meats and non-produce goods, while fresh produce was always too expensive (luckily read more »

it’s a new year

for new year’s day, we fulfilled our snow shoveling duties for church. unfortunately the snow blower wasn’t working so we had to do it the old-fashioned way, but at least it was good exercise!

day in indiana

we all drove down to indiana for the day to visit my aunt, cousin and family. they have the most awesome collection of leggo, including an extensive star wars collection. can you see jar jar binks?… then we had a nice dinner together…it’s always good to spend time with family!

boxing day in chicago

for christmas day, we took a walk by the lake in the sunny but crisp weather. then we drove to oak park to bring my dad on the walking tour of Frank Lloyd Wright houses. on the tour, we saw a life-sized manger scene involving various mannequins, which was both impressive and a bit scary read more »

merry christmas!

merry christmas everyone! here we are in front of the Macy’s centennial tree. we also love our own first christmas tree and all our new ornaments, including some which were knit by joe’s mom.

christmas eve in chicago

yesterday we spent christmas eve in downtown and went to the art institute. here’s mom in front of “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” by George Seurat, and “The Red Armchair” by Pablo Picasso. then we went to Macy’s where the Martha Stewart inspired decorations were out as well as their Nutcracker window displays.

shopping spree

day one with my family was spent at the chicago premium outlet…they had fun taking advantage of the strong canadian dollar. well i guess the girls had a bit more fun than the boys, but it ended up being a productive day for everybody. after a long day, we had dinner at a mexican seafood read more »

my office party

i felt like an excited school girl today anticipating the end of the work day and the start of my christmas vacation! first we had our office christmas party where we also said goodbye to one of our secretaries, and then finally joe came with my family straight from the airport.