Christmas Photos

I wanted to get more photos of the family during the holiday. However I was often met with these facial reactions

Why the camera? faces

Holiday break is ...



Naps on the couches

Holiday baking and holiday dish cleaning

Candy. Lots and lots of candy



Bouncing around the kitchen with the very old dog underneath your feet.



Seasons Greetings from the Burrow

Just some shots from life back at the Burrow.

Made about 20 so oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Took the photo, went to put the camera away and only two were still on the pan. Three months away and I've forgotten how quickly food goes in the Burrow.
(Read: the boys snatched up about 18 cookies between them in under five minutes)

 

At some point, when we, the kids, got old enough that mom trusted we wouldn't smash nice decorations, she bought a bunch of nice glass ornaments.
Some of those ornaments happen to be Santa heads. Which strikes me as odd.



Dad at work. I think he's a cool guy.



Non-Santa head ornaments, just to prove not all of them are Santa heads.



Happy Holidays

Macro of a Good Time

Bought a little macro lens accessory.

LOVE it.

Don't really know what I'm doing yet. But this is awesome.

Flying home

On the way home today, saw this business man put down his blackberry

and set aside the Tribune,

to watch the plane take off, pull away from the the ground.

It's nice to take a break,

remember what its like to be amazed by the ordinary again.

While the boys are away ...

the girls watch the game in the comfort of a warm house.

Sandy and Gee enjoying the Patriots dominance



Sarbear predicting some post-season amazing from the Patriots



Game Day

The boys are in town for the Bears-Pats game.

Wind chill is sitting somewhere below zero.

I'm a girl and wasn't invited to the game.

I'm not complaining.

Christkindl Market: In the Holiday Spirit

Snuck out today for a quick visit to the Christkindl Market.

Going back for some more tomorrow.

Mostly for the mulled wine.

Sheababay's story about the Market.

From the news desk today

We're cramming to get everything done before the close of the quarter.

The newsroom hasn't been this quiet since mid-September.

Deadlines galore.

Nerd off

We got together to work on the final project for our interactive.

And Shealagh brought out her Microsoft. And Kevin Sue went full on tech help.

It was glorious.

Thumbs up for wifi at coffee places in Evanston.

Where the gold at?

Our portfolio for seminar earned the most over the quarter.

Hell yes.

Our trophy. Coasties with the Mosties, ftw.

Thank you, Josh.

The final week

Barrett was not excited about the final this morning.

Second time he's made a blog appearence. Both related to studying. Both times he was less than thrilled.

Is it December 10th yet?

First Snow

A few days behind the first snow back east, Chicago got its first decent amount of snow today.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Ms. Hall is excited about the winter weather.

Brosef's bracing for the cold

There may or may not have been a slight sprinkling of snow today. Which has sent a few of the warm weather people into a tizzy.

Kevin 'Brosef' Danna hails from San Jose. Today he wore his first pair of boots. Ever.

It may be hard to read but his hat, says Nor Cal.
The Chicago winter is going to be interesting for the West Coast sissy.

He also had an unfortunate case of hat hair.

You must begin ...

... the way you intend to finish. I decided I'm going to take a stab a street photography after the break.

So here's my first attempt at street photography. Quiet on the platform.

Art in the Newsroom

This face greeted us today when walking into the newsroom. One of the perks of being around interesting artistic people.

Wrapped Up

The quarter is winding down as the temperature drops. Both make me want to curl up on the couch with a good book and some tea.

Giselle of the Bartlett household, enjoying her Sunday

Chicago Sights

One of my favorite views of the city

Thankgiving tradition

Christmas decorations at Navy Pier

My favorite Thanksgiving tradition happens the day after the feast. A few years ago, after dinner my mother was talking about the impending decorating.

"Thanksgiving is over. I'm ready for Christmas. Ready to just wake up tomorrow and just have everything be Christmas," she said.

So that's what I did. As is my habit (I'm a night owl by nature), I stayed up to the wee hours, putting up the decorations. When the family got up the next morning, the house was full-blown winter wonderland.

It has become my favorite thing to do. Everyone goes to sleep, well-fed and content. Then its just me (and the dog), some music, and our beloved holiday decorations.

Last year was tough, for a boat load of sad reasons. And for the most part, we're infinitely better this year than last.

But I'm not there to stay up late Thursday night, jamming to Bing Crosby and Elvis Christmas tunes, lining up the little houses my mom loves, hanging the bulbs my brothers have to be so careful of, or busting out the Noel plates on which my father will enjoy his Christmas brunch.

Which is a bummer, in some respects.

This year, I got to eat with my Bartlett family, witness the carving of a Turducen, and cheer on the Pats in a non-hostile environment.

A different Thanksgiving, but a good one.

Got the Blues

Missed last Tourist Tuesday, despite having a tremendous adventure to post about. It will get done. Eventually. Here's a taste of a night at Kingston Mines

Friday Morning Fun

Trying to remember as much about international trade organizations and types of economies.

Friday morning, 8:30 a.m.

Party like a j-student.

Thursday Night Craziness

Watched The Office with a bunch of friends last night.

Chocolate milk and laughs.

Party like a journalist.

Checking out for a second

There are no words.

J-school wins again.

Let the countdown begin

Needed a photo of some Christmas decorations in a store. The Macys in Chicago was the perfect spot.

I guess it's official. Let the shopping season begin.

Tourist Thursday (... ?): Millennium Park

Bad blogger. Missed last Tuesday.  It's been a busy week in class, so I didn't get to do a honest to goodness touristy thing last week. But here are some photos from Millennium Park, the Bean (it's technical name is "Cloud Gate") and Pritzker Pavilion.

Despite how young the Park is (2006, 4 years after it was supposed to open), it appears to have become a symbol of Chicago, as the natives have told me.

It's a quick, free tourist thing. It's generally busy (there were three wedding photo shoots while we were there) but its a must.

Lay/sit down for a photo at your own risk. It's a cool photo opp but its still laying down on a sidewalk. Ew

Bleh face

This represents the newsroom's sentiment Thursday night as we struggle through some more homework.

Tourist Tuesday: the Art Institute of Chicago Museum

It’s only fitting that, given the movie which started this endeavor, the Museum of the Art Institute is featured on Tourist Tuesday.

I had planned on going during the free hours on Thursday, but then got the tip that it would be crazy busy so decided to go during paying business hours. Friday afternoon wasn't too busy, which was nice.

It's a good sized museum with a lot of different options, but the Museum offers a quick hit of the twelve things to see in under an hour, like Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, van Gogh's The Bedroom, Seated Buddha, and Wood's American Gothic.

I saw most of the sites but ended up taking photos of things that grabbed me. And like a bad tourist, I didn't get the names of most of what I got.

My suggestion is to try to hit the big things but take the time to linger where you can. Also, if at all possible, channel your inner Bueller, like Cam and his family.

The late great John Huges offers a much better tour of the museum.

Free Hugs

Caught this scene outside of the art institute. Check out the Hug Project here.

The world could always use some more hugs.