Emphasis Added!

While I was in New York getting my Thanksgiving on, the remainder of my family was here in Chicago having a celebration of their own.

On Thursday morning, before hosting the extended family for a holiday meal- Mama, Papa, Hen, El & Dan ran the Chi-town Turkey Trot, a pre-pie 8K.

Mom shared her photos with me and they cracked me up [I mean, just look at those race shirts!]  Although I would have loved to be there to cross the finish line with my crew… there is always the Sleigh Bell Shuffle* to look forward to!

* Sleigh Bell Shuffle?  A totally made-up race that just popped into my head….that I am, no doubt, going to try and convince my family to run before our Christmas Dinner.  [Perhaps I should get Singlets made or something.  Make it more legit]

My Fam at the Start Line

Bro, Bro & Sis….doing their pre-race stretches.  Ironically, I hope.

Scenes from our scavenger hunt:

Our afternoon at the Met ended up being way more fun than one family ought to have in a museum….but we were all so invested in finding our piece and delivering top-notch presentations that it really turned the day into a sort of high-brow game of show & tell!

Here is my Husb looking all handsome-like in the Visible Storage area of the Met.

And this is Andrew delivering his  multi media presentation of Lady with Her Pets.  Thanks to the genius of Google he was able to tell us about Hathaway’s portrait in which he captures an 18th century animal hoarder displaying her pets like fashion accessories!

Mom picked a painting by Vermeer where you could actually see the outlines of the furniture that were painted over after he thought they made the room too cluttered and drew attention from his subject.

And Kevin opted for a Hopper piece.  His reasoning?  They recently picked up a lighthouse painting at an antique shop in the Hamptons and were hoping it might be an original…so he wanted to see a real one, for comparison sake

(Conclusion: Theirs was not a hopper. 

Probably not, at least)

I think Dad H won the award for the best presentation….then again, he has a slight advantage seeing as though he is a University Professor and all! 

He gave a stirring mini-lecture where he explained that this version of The Young Sailor was actually Matisse’s second drawing of the boy.  In this second version he sharpened the contours, defined the forms and reduced the colors to large, mostly flat areas of bright green, pink and blue.  He also drastically altered the sailor’s mood and expression.

And now you know!

I hope you all have a very productive online shopping day

& score lotsa super sweet deals!

I’ve watched it on television since…well, forever

The Macy’s Day Parade.

For the past several years it has played in the background while we are getting ready for the day’s festivities.  [Peel the potato.  Look at that balloon!  Boil the water.  I love the float!]

but that hasn’t always been the case…the Parade used to be the star of the day.

Ellie and I would sit anxiously in front of the television just waiting for the real santa to make his first cameo of the season [because even Santa knows that NY is the most magical place in all the land!]

This year we spent Thanksgiving in NYC with the H’s.

and since we were here, so very close, how were we not going to at least attempt to see the parade with our very own eyes!

And so, our alarms went off at the crack of dawn, and we made our way across the park [with hand-warmers & step-stools in tow] and secured our spot right along the parade route and took it all in!

I waved at celebrities riding floats [jimmy fallon!  jimmy fallon!  look over here!]

Cheered for marching bands playing fight songs I had never heard

and cheered with delight as confetti landed in my hair!

While this likely won’t become an annual tradition….I will forever get to say, I was part of the Macy’s Day Parade.  Thankful!

Alton Brown, Turkey Master

Brothers in their hats

Andrew, Em & Dad H

Spongebob

felted & wonderful!

[via Black Eiffel by way of Sweet Home Style]

I walked into the cafe this afternoon looking for an orange and walked out with a coconut macaroon.  Upgrade!

&

Sensing, perhaps, I could use a hand, my little girl keeps giving me high-kicks of encouragement from inside my tummy.  This is my favorite part of my day.

&

Every holiday, Good Job collects Christmas lists from underprivileged children and the employees each pick a list and become a sort of surrogate santa.  I picked out my child today and this year I get to buy for a 6 year old girl who’s list consists “clothes and princess stuff.”  [Clothes & Princess stuff?! Oh, I can do that!]

&

The note we received from a big boss encouraging us to “unplug” and enjoy our holiday away from work.  That likely won’t happen, but it sure was a sweet gesture.

&

I gave a particularly helpful coworker a peer bonus.  Saying thank you is one thing…but thanking someone in a way that includes management recognition and cash money just rules.

&

We had a lunch meeting for the ladies in my office.  Our salads were served on china plates.  It was sort of elegant and totally delightful.

&

Praise Jesus for no dress code.  In anticipation of a long hours at the office, I came to work wrapped in leggings & cashmere.  Sometimes looking pretty is motivating.  But sometimes so is being comfortable!

….with black friday right around the corner, things couldn’t be crazier here, but it is nice to know that even with the flood of client requests, publisher calls and disaster zone that is my inbox, we are taking care of each other here at work [in life] and getting the proverbial job done!

Giving Thanks!

Last Saturday:

We got to the ballpark early.  [a couple of hours prior to kick-off, as indicated by the game clock countdown on the scoreboard.]

This was a great decision.  We wanted to take in all the sights. 

I have never been to a football game in a baseball stadium…

or an Irish game played after dark….

or a college game that serves beer…

It was every much as grand as I had hoped.

We watched our team practice in their warm-up gear

Enjoyed Offense, Defense & Hot Chocolate Galore

and cheered our Irish to a 27-3 victory!

So much awesomeness crammed into one little weekend.

Foam fingers up!

Another late night at the office…

During moments of high work stress, you really have to take any little win you can get.  So when one of my all time favorite Christmas Carols [Put One Foot In Front Of The Other] came on my Pandora Station for the first time of the season, I almost jumped out of my seat.

I got so excited that I immediately wanted to share it with you all, but when I went to do a screen capture of my player, I accidentally hit next, skipping my holiday jam.

Nooooooooooo!  Hot tears may or may not have flooded my face, as shook my fists with a fury that would have impressed even the Meisterburger

On the bright side, I have 32 days until Christmas to hopefully hear my song again…I just wonder how many Harry Connick Jr. carols I am going to have to endure to get there?  

36 hours in the city

for one very big game

Irish vs. Army played in Yankee Stadium

I like to think I house a whole lotta team spirit in this little body of mine, but even I was no match for the overwhelming IRISHNESS that filled the streets of NYC this weekend.

We walked down to Times Square and joined thousands of ND fans for the marching band’s concert in times square.

It was a madhouse, in the best sense of the word.

Mom & Dad H, Simon and I took our perch on the steps above the TKTS booth and took it all in…the fight songs, the patriotic songs, the city-themed songs!

(Funny, Times Square typically makes me want to run 2 avenues west….but this was honestly awesome!)

look at all those fans!

Mother & Daughter Pride!

for my pitiful lack of posts over the past few days:

I work in online advertising & our Q4 is pretty much like a finals week that lasts for 3 months….

with the week before Black Friday/Cyber Monday being a sort of culmination of all the madness!

[think Santa’s Workshop for marketers and instead of making toys, we are making the internet rain with seriously awesome promotions. er something.]

Certainly not complaining. To be honest, I am having a darn riot…and I can’t wait to roll my clients’ holiday offers out to the world

but in the meantime, please know I love you all

and wish you a merry Friday.

[oh my lord, it’s friday!]

hautelikecouture:

Just enough sparkle.

Just enough shock.

Just enough whimsy.

Just enough edge.

All in all, a total chickdin.

[view it all at Phillip Lim]

20. Jerry Reinsdorf

19. Mary Zimmerman 

The wildly inventive theatre director has “collaborated” with some timeless talents—Leonardo da Vinci, Ovid, Homer, Proust, and Voltaire, among others—and garnered an armload of awards (including a 2002 Tony for Metamorphoses and a 1998 MacArthur “genius grant”) as she reimagined a wide variety of seemingly unstageable works for the stage.

18. Barack Obama

Yup, that would be my girl  MZ named as one of Chicago’s Top 40 Visionaries by Chicago Magazine…Ranked just one spot below the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.  

Read entire list here.

Thanks to “anonymous” for pointing this out and to my friend Mary for just being awesome!

Mary in rehearsals for Candide at the Goodman  

[photo credit]