(no subject)

I woke up this morning and wondered why I couldn't move my arms properly. Had I slept wrong? Was I sick?

OH NO, I just took a cramp after moving a bajillion boxes yesterday. :D

We spent the evening in, watching Holstein decide that my shirt sleeves were evil and mocking the evening news. I also discovered that I left ALL THE PRESENTS I bought for people in my flat, so at some point today or tomorrow we have to go back to my flat, BRAVING THE THREE PERILOUS INCHES OF SNOW, to get my gifts for everyone.

In our family it's been a tradition since I was tiny that on Christmas eve you get to open two gifts, which are invariably a book and a pair of pyjamas, so you can read yourself to sleep waiting for Santa, and on Christmas morning you're in nice new pjs for present-opening. Last night, despite it not quite being Christmas, Mum gave me fancy new flannel pyjamas, and instead of a book I got a stuffed sock monkey.

Oh family. Never change.

(no subject)

Still alive!

I have managed to get my family in a cab, through the Art Institute Museum including the Apostles Of Beauty exhibit, into Terzo Piano (the super-swank Art Institute Museum restaurant), out of the museum, back into a cab, through the line at Starbucks, and back to the hotel without breaking anything. I WIN.

My parents have no clue how to cope with the winter-mix of snow and rain we're getting. To be fair, they're not exactly used to it.

Mum: Well, we're from Texas.
Cabdriver: I bet when it snows like this in Texas, the whole city shuts down.
Me: When it snows like this in Texas, the end is nigh.

I had what I think can only be called a MEAT SAMPLER, at Terzo Piano. It's a trio of small burgers, served with fries, but the burgers vary: one is shrimp with some kind of spice sauce, one is lamb with feta cheese, and one is beef with Wisconsin cheddar. It's a surprising amount of meat, and ridiculously delicious.

We're off to get some culture in us tonight, and then tomorrow we'll be building a Christmas Tree from cookies, possibly buzzing my place to pick up the presents I left there, and generally goofing off. It should be AWESOME.

(no subject)

I don't know why my mum lighted on The Nutcracker as something I needed early childhood exposure to. Possibly it was the only ballet she could tolerate. At any rate, every year, no matter where we lived, no matter that I have never seen another ballet and have no interest in any other, she would find a production of the Nutcracker and take me (and eventually my siblings) to see it at Christmas.

Tonight we saw the Joffrey Ballet do The Nutcracker in Chicago, and it is still FUCKING AWESOME.

I am not a huge ballet fan, but The Nutcracker is hardcore and you can't convince me otherwise. I love Drosselmeyer and the Russian dancers and the Rat King and MADAM GINGER.

I got the awesomest souvenir ever, too; we have several nutcrackers from previous years, but I've never seen one like this before.



HOW COOL IS THAT? I'm going to hang him on my computer at work or something.