Merry Christmas!

Blake's sister Randall just sent this to us, so we thought we'd take advantage of the work already done and use it as our Christmas card.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  Enjoy:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/WOWwTefPvbOc5KYT6v1x

UPDATE:  I just found out that it was actually my niece, Sydney, that created this gem.  Makes it all the more hilarious.  Well done, Syd!

Miss Edna's Edibles

Miss Edna used to be our main switchboard operator here at the Law Center.  She also runs a catering company out of her home called Edna's Edibles.  And let me tell you, the Law Center goes crazy when Miss Edna does the catering.

Miss Edna retired over the summer, so now she runs her catering business full-time. 

Last year she did half of the sweets at the Christmas party. I got to the party 15 minutes late (it's a 2-hour party, so that seemed reasonable to me) and there wasn't even a crumb left. 

This year she did ALL of the sweets for the Christmas party.  I didn't know ahead of time, so I got to the party late again.  I decided to take a gamble and eat the savory foods first (I ended up with a whole plate of carbs: mac n'cheese, butternut squash raviolis, rice...oh well).  By the time I got in line for sweets the line was long and there was a murmur in the air that the last of Edna's 12 prized cheesecakes was being brought out.

I didn't want cheesecake.  I was in line for the cookies and red velvet cake.

But the lady behind me in the line didn't know that.  And she got very antsy as I was picking out my cookies and slowing down the line.  She stood so close she was touching me.  Elbow usage ensued.  Finally I turned around and politely said "You are welcome to go ahead of me in line...I'm not here for the cheesecake." 

She looked a little ashamed, but didn't butt in line (like I said, the Law Center takes Miss Edna's cheesecake VERY seriously), and instead continued to crowd me until I got bothered and left with what little I'd been able to scrounge.

If I hadn't been in such a Christmas-y mood I would have stayed in line and taken the last piece of cheesecake from right in front her.  Lucky for her the Christmas spirit won over my vindictive tendencies, and she got the prized last piece of cheesecake.  Merry Christmas, lady.

NYC Christmas

Blake and I have decided that we live a pretty lucky/posh life.  And we're pretty pleased with it.

This past weekend we went up to NYC with Blake's parents on a pre-Christmas excursion.  Blake and I took the bus up on Friday afternoon (Bolt bus = so convenient) and other than the long wait to get through the Holland tunnel, it was a very easy trip.

When we got into the city we headed straight for Rockafeller Center so that I could see the famed tree.  It's been on my list of things to do for several years now, and I was so excited to finally see it.  It did not disappoint.

For posterity's sake, here we are in front of the tree:

From there we walked up fifth avenue to see the store windows and then we headed over to Le Parker Meridien for the best burgers in the world.  I was especially pleased to see the line was much shorter than usual.  It only took us a few minutes to get through the line and snag a table where we could scope out Tina Fey's latest wall-signage (Birthday + Burger = Heaven).

We then met up with Blake's parents and made a couple more pit stops at more Fifth Avenue stores to see their window displays and then headed out to New Jersey where we were staying.

I woke up Saturday feeling crummy (thank you, Temp), but thanks to my in-laws hiring a driver for the day, I was able to see everything I wanted to see, but not get overwhelmingly tired.

With the convenience of a driver we were able to see in two days what would normally have taken a week to see:

The Met

The Polo Mansion, where we played "guess the price of that handbag"...Blake: "$600," Me: "At least a couple thousand," Actual price = $24,000. Whoops.

Lunch at Dos Caminos

The Chagall's at Lincoln Center

Bryant Park

The market at Columbus Circle

The Cloisters Museum

Lunch at Gramercy Tavern

Shopping in Soho

We were too busy have fun (and I was too busy having a bad hair day) to take many photos, but here is one of us drinking our deliciously thick hot chocolate in Central Park:

You can't see it in this picture as we're all bundled up, but Blake and I accidentally packed matching sweaters.  Nothing says "hey, we just got off the bus from DC" like matching argyle sweaters.

Good morning to you too, Friday.

I've got four sick colleagues.

A sick temp.

And a student threatening to jump out a window due to a failed exam.

I am so happy that it's Friday.

Weekend Rewind

The first weekend of December is always magical.  And busy.

Blake and I met up for a quick Potbelly dinner on Friday after work, then I headed over to the Nutcracker at the Warner with Destiny and the gals.  I've always wanted to go to a show at the Warner.  And although I worked next to it for over a year, it's taken me over three years to finally go to a show there.  It was worth the wait, though.

The Nutcracker was amazing.  I hadn't been to see the Nutcracker since the BYU production 8 years ago when my Dad referred to the Sugar Plum Fairies as the Sugar Plump Fairies.  He had a point.  Tee hee.

This one was different, too.  Everything was Washington DC-centered.  The Nutcracker was George Washington.  The Rat King was King George.  The rats were red coats, and the toy soldiers were patriots.  The Sugar Plum Fairies were instead Cherry Blossom Fairies.  I loved it.  I'm thinking of turning it into a yearly tradition.

Because the show got out fairly early, Blake and I rounded out the evening by watching Murder by Numbers.  Not exactly a Christmas movie (about as far from it as you can get, I guess), but definitely exciting.

Saturday we rewarded ourselves after getting the car emissions test done (whoops, we'd kinda forgotten about the notice we received until we received a final notice saying they were going to de-register our car unless we got it done that weekend...being an adult is hard!) by going to our local crotchety Christmas tree salesman and picking out the world's most perfect Christmas tree.  I'm telling you, it was like we turned a corner and there was a beacon of light shining down on this one.  It must have been genetically engineered to be the perfect shape and size for a Christmas tree. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon decorating the tree and putting up other Christmas decorations around the house.  Pictures forthcoming.  We also made good use of our Josh Groban and James Taylor Christmas CD's and the other compilations we've collected over the years.  And when the Charlie Brown song came on, I entertained Blake by doing the Peanuts run around the house.  You know, when they barely move their arms and their feet move so fast with so many tiny steps?  Yep, that one.  Merry Christmas, Blake, there's more where that came from.

Oh!  One of Saturday's most exciting moments came when we found out that our neighborhood Bear Dogs are actually called Chow Chows.  And that these particular Bear Dogs are actually famous.  These two dogs are our favorite in the neighborhood and we run to the front window shouting "bear dogs, bear dogs!" whenever they walk by.  So, I stopped their owner on the street and asked him about the breed etc.  What I got was a half-hour long conversation about the merits of these two particular Chow Chows and how they were famous and had a following on Youtube.  This, of course, prompted us to take a break from decorating and spend half an hour on Youtube watching pointless videos of really cute animals.

If you'd like to take a mental vacation and whittle your time away watching really cute animals on Youtube, I suggest you start by familiarizing yourself with our neighborhood bear dog- Dao, the Chow Chow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HCn20BN4qU.

Oh! Oh!  And lastly, to round out the weekend, we bought the most fantastic dining room chairs.  Does it make me old that dining room chairs excite me so much?  Yes, yes it does.  But you'd be excited too. 

It's hard to top a weekend like that.  But this upcoming one in NYC may give it a run for its money.

Fat Ap

I guess eating 5,000 calories a day over Thanksgiving is catching up with me.

Gobble gobble, as they say.