Travelin' time.

Happy holidays, everyone! I'm sorry I haven't had time to do a proper post all week. I've been busy last-minute gift shopping (because I'm a world-class procrastinator), cleaning (because the apartment desperately needs it), and freezing my butt off (unfortunately not literally).

I'm going to Iowa today! Jon and I are staying with my aunt and uncle in Bettendorf. I'm really looking forward to seeing my cousin, Katie, who spent her summer in Germany and I'm sure has a million pictures to show and stories to tell. My uncle, the one that lives in Minnesota? Michigan? I can never remember...will also be there, as will my grandpa (who lives in Cedar Rapids).

I have one thing I've been meaning to say. I usually dread shopping over the holidays, but this year, it actually wasn't that bad! My personal highlight: the retail employees who helped me out. I have extreme gift anxiety. It's really bad. No matter what I get for people, I panic that they'll hate it or already have it, etc. The people at Macy's were really helpful and sweet, and I kind of enjoyed it for once. A favorite moment happened at Lush, where the salespeople are ALWAYS really...persistent. Especially over the holidays. This 25 year-old guy kept following me around telling me exactly what a 16-year-old girl (Katie) would enjoy using. He held up this one bar of soap and said, "Smell this! It's so good, isn't it? This is what I imagine Hanna Montana would smell like if she was soap!" I didn't buy that particular soap, unfortunately, but opted for a gift basket instead. I currently have gift anxiety over it.

Ok, well, Happy Holidays everyone! Enjoy your time with family and friends, stay safe and warm, and I'll talk to you (at you) when I get back. :)

Off to pack, pack, pack...

Catch up time!

Last night, I got off of work and went straight to the boyfriend's place of employment to dooooooo this:

That's right, we made a gingerbread house! But it's not just any gingerbread house...no sir. It's a LEED Platinum certified gingerbread house, and it was his company's entry for Gingerbuild 2008, a charity event where it was auctioned off tonight. I'm not taking credit for much of it. I'm no good with constructing anything, and the other people there (5 of us in all) are all architects and interior designers and such, so...yeah...I left it to the professionals. I helped with signage and ideas mostly. It was a lot of fun to be part of the whole thing, though. It our first time doing anything like it (all of us). I was pretty proud of everyone.

You want to know the best part? It WON! I didn't see the other entries, but I heard they were good and we still won. Cool, right? I don't know how much it went for in the auction, but I'll probably hear about it tomorrow. Yay!

Anyway, we were there pretty late and I didn't even get home until after 10:30. I was absolutely exhasted. Probably went to bed around 12:15. I don't think I've slept more than 5 hours any night this week. Barely even got the 5, so tonight, I plan on getting to bed waaaay earlier. I'm catching up on my Top Chef at the moment, so I'll probably pass out right when it's over (and catch up on my sleep). Is the title of the post starting to make more sense now?

I am SO so so so excited about tomorrow. I think I mentioned a couple of posts ago that my work holiday party is this week...well, it's tomorrow. But I'm not going anymore. Yeah, I double-booked myself and didn't realize it. Instead, tomorrow I am going to see Oasis and Ryan Adams! Oh, and Matt Costa, which I guess might be exciting if I knew anything about him. I know the name. Does that count?

Right, so I've seen Oasis a few times. They canceled on me twice in my teens, I finally got to see them in West Palm Beach when I was 16 or 17. I saw them again in Atlanta once and in their home city of Manchester when I was in England. That was by far the craziest concert I think I've ever been to, but those stories can wait for another day. Let's just say I was dodging flying cups of pee from drunken football hooligan types all night. Fun, though!!!

Anyway, I have never seen Ryan Adams live, so I'm sort of more excited about that. In case you haven't noticed from my post on here or my Last.fm page, I've been kind of obsessed with his new album. I always do that when he puts out new tunes. I just can't stop listening! It will just be a great show, I think. It's half of my Christmas present from Jon, the other half being The Killers concert in February. I love going to a good show. Yep. I'd take a concert or two over pretty much every other present in the world. He's getting Guitar Hero World Tour in return (don't worry, he already knows...and probably doesn't read my blog, ha!).

So, no work party for Alissa, but it's probably for the best. I can listen to the stories on Monday and know for sure that there are no bad ones about me. Win-win, you see. :)

Ok, that's it. I HAVE to get some shut-eye. Night!

Party tiiiiime!

My first of two office holiday parties is tonight. Jon's place of employment celebrates in Darien (a suburb of Chicago and where the company originated) at a golf course clubhouse or something like it. It was at the same place last year. Drinks for the first hour, then food and presentations. It was a good time, but seriously...on a THURSDAY? Why? I know why. They don't want us to hang around all night and drink and get rowdy because there is work the next day. Bottom line, understandable, but kinda Scroogey, right?

My holiday party is coming up in just over a week. Now THAT will be a rowdy one if last year is any indication. Unlimited free drinks and a dance floor. Yeah. My goal is to not stay out until 5am this time, though.

Nothing else to really say. Just wanted to do this because I have this theory that posting might not be as daunting if it's habitual.

Oh, and if you're wondering what I'm doing for New Years Eve this year, I've bought tickets for Jon and I to go to this. I've the Dandys twice already and they were great. Met them a couple of times, and they were kinda douchey (except Zia who was super sweet), but I don't mind a douchey rock star. It's part of the charm, innit?


Ok, bye!

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Well, the forecast said snow, and today didn't disappoint. The first real snowfall of the year always seems magical in a way. Waking up, looking out the window to see everything -- buildings, cars, trees -- dusted with white...it looks just like a Christmas (or some other wintry-type holiday) card!

And then you go out in it. Your feet slip on the pavement, your pant legs become encrusted with dried salt from the sidewalks, the bus speeds by you while you're waiting to cross the street, splashing muddy slush all over your white shoes. Ah, the joys and the hazards of winter in Chicago. It sure is pretty for a little while, though.

(The view from our window tonight -- Sears Tower and WaMu lit in red & green)

The difference between the breezy, sunny 75 degrees it was when I left Florida on Saturday and the wet, grey 23 it is here right now couldn't be any clearer. For some reason, I still choose to return to Chicago (for now). But don't get me wrong, Florida has its charms.

For the record, I had a wonderful vacation. The wedding was spectacular, as predicted.

I've uploaded a bunch of pictures to Facebook and there are more of the reception here if you're at all interested....the best part was the wild techno music and crazy dancing, of course. Unfortunately, I didn't partake due to nerves over the possibility of re-injuring my leg. I'm still not 100% about it and thought booze and jumping around like a mad woman was probably a high-risk combo. Instead, I stuck to the picture taking, which proved to be fun in itself. And as a bonus, there are no embarassing pictures of me floating around from that night (I'm sure there are embarassing pics of me somewhere from some time in my life, but if I don't have to see them, they don't exist, right?).

Speaking of embarassing...my mom showed up last Sunday with her new husband (they eloped last year, because that's totally normal for moms to do, right?) wearing this:

Yes, I got to spend the entire day with Thing 1 and Thing 2. In public places. It was fun. We ate, we shopped, we mini-golfed, we walked around Downtown Disney, we ate some more...it was all good in the end. Pics up here.

Monday and Tuesday were spent with Dan, who came over from Tampa. More shopping, more eating, drinking, saw Bolt in 3D (must've been drinking when I agreed to see a movie with Miley Cyrus in it, eh?), lots of Starbucks and interesting conversations with strangers, etc. You get the picture.

Thanksgiving with Jon's family - do I need to describe the eating? Lots of yummy vegan foods. Nuff said.

Went to Animal Kingdom on Friday which was just beyond cool. If you've gone, you get it. If you ever have the chance to go, take it. I love animals, and this felt a lot more animal-friendly than a zoo. Interesting fact about the park: Jon told me last night that the entire Magic Kingdom would fit inside of the one safari ride at Animal Kingdom.

We waited in line for about 30 minutes and the ride lasted 18 more. Now that's what I call time well spent! Everest was good as well, though far too short if you ask me. Finding Nemo show was great too.

I thought it would be really busy, considering that it was the day after Thanksgiving, but it wasn't at all. I'm guessing everyone was shopping? Or sleeping off the turkey? Or conserving money? Well, whatever the case, it worked out well for us! Pics up here.

That's it for tonight. This took way too long to write/post...which is why I give up on blogging I think. No attention span. Mad props to Walt for posting something every single day in November. I don't think I would have something to say each day, so color me impressed!

And as I write this, Jon is setting up his new 42" TV in the bedroom. It's OBSCENE. I just had a look at it. No one needs a TV that big, I'm sure of it.