Shivery Shopping

Decorated rafters at the Pulaski Field House

My boyfriend Mike is definitely not a shopper, but he’s always willing to indulge me one weekend a year, when we make a day of it and go to the Renegade Craft Fair (last year’s visit depicted here) and somewhere new for lunch. Usually, I can even talk him into making a few extra stops to help round out some of the gifts that I’m slowly starting to put together for family and friends. While out, we hit zero degrees with the wind chill, so by the time we finished up the last errand, I was happy to head home and settle in to watch the snow fall and the (digital) fire crackle from the comfort of my couch. 

Chalk art wall at Hoosier Mama Pie Co.

Browsing at the Spice House in anticipation of holiday baking....more on that tomorrow

Quick peek through the blinds at one of the first real snows of the season

Pretending our TV is a fireplace with the crackling "Yule Log" recording

November No Longer

Early morning drive into Indiana

The four-day Thanksgiving weekend is a work of genius. It’s just enough time to allow you to fully indulge and then get back on track. And, it serves as a nice and slow intro to the holiday season. Having learned a number of traffic nightmare-related lessons in years past, we held off on driving from Chicago until early Thanksgiving morning, at which point the highways were blissfully free of panicked drivers.

We got into Cincinnati with plenty of time to make festive cocktails before family arrived, and later we feasted on turkey with all of the trimmings and played a few rounds of our new favorite board game. Friday entailed a good deal of lounging around the house, and then a spontaneous trip to see the Bearcats play in the afternoon. By the time we got back into Chicago on Saturday, we had just enough energy left to unpack a few Christmas decorations and start sprucing up the condo. 

Fresh cranberries for muddling in our "Old Fashioned Thanksgivings"

Our up-close view from the Student Section 

An afternoon drive through Clifton that culminated in this view of Eden Park

The newest addition to our tinsel tree collection

Vault Disney

The entry to the Hall of World Holiday Trees at the Museum of Science and Industry

My family used to road-trip down to Florida every Thanksgiving as I was growing up, and a visit to Disney World was always a priority. My boyfriend and I recently checked out the “Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives” exhibit at the Museum of Scienceand Industry, and although the indoor camera-phone quality of these pictures isn’t the greatest, I thought they made for a fitting post on the day that we head down to Cincinnati for the holiday to spend time with family.

A creepy prop from my favorite Halloween movie: the Hocus Pocus Book of Spells

This "It's a Small World" doll is much creepier than I remember

The intricate railway exhibit always reminds me of a similar one at the Cincinnati Museum Center

Braving the start of holiday traffic on the Magnificent Mile

Happy Halloween!

We don’t usually get many costumed kids knocking on doors in my condo complex on Halloween, so I plan to take to the streets tonight to enjoy the spooky decorations on some of the old Victorian homes around the block. As you can see, I’ve already taken steps to ensure that my evening will be filled with delicious and festive treats, not tricks.

Holiday Hiatus

A sweet early morning surprise for my boyfriend

This Easter, we strayed from our normal family-oriented holiday routine and took advantage of the emptied-out city to accomplish a few things that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do. We’ve been meaning to check out Stephanie Izard’s The Girl and the Goat ever since we received a gift certificate over a year ago, but getting reservations seemed impossible. After much strategizing, and with no reservations in hand, we decided to take our chances and boldly wander in on Sunday afternoon after the Book of Mormon show concluded.  We were immediately seated and treated to a rustic series of dishes that truly lived up to the hype that the restaurant has so clearly earned. Other highlights of the holiday weekend included…

Lunch visit to Quonset, the best pizza shop in the northern suburbs

Clever advertising in the entryway at Bank of America Theater

Party favors for an opening day game party

Lusting after chicken wire-clad pendant lamps at Jayson Home & Garden