Author: Lara

This author has written 820 articles

Lovely Things

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Yesterday afternoon I met my Texas-native, Shakespeare-lovin’, fashion-forward, margarita-drinkin’ Cincy friend Allyson for a Friday afternoon cupcake date (which must become a weekly tradition!) at The Bonbonerie in O’Bryonville, an amazing bakery in Cincinnati that bakes up the most delectable fine pastries, sweets, and afternoon tea that you could ever hope to experience. I was so overwhelmed by all the tasty and, really really pretty choices that I ordered two of the most delicious looking confections before I even knew what was happening. I had a freshly torched vanilla bean creme brulee and a salted caramel chocolate cupcake, and Allyson had a slice of the most epic opera cream chocolate cake I have ever laid eyes on. We were served on fancy china and we savored every bite while we dished about acting, Shakespeare, auditions, the hunt for theatre jobs, new years resolutions, our aspirations for the year, new apartments, swoon-worthy yet budget-friendly decorations, significant others, and other such lovely topics.

It. Was. Divine.

I could eat that creme brulee every day of my life. And I don’t think a cupcake and some solid, uplifting girl talk once a week would kill me either.

That same night Allyson brought her boyfriend Aaron over for some homemade margaritas, guacamole, pizza, and a friendly Wii gaming competition. She also brought me flowers, which melted my heart.

Creme brulee, salted caramel, margaritas, guacamole, and flowers all in one day?

I’m a lucky girl!

And my wonderful Christmas presents from Ted arrived this week! Do you want to know what I got!?

Yeah, amazing! I chose the awesome cute and comfy Pumas I wear every single day to run errands, teach dance, and basically live in, and this great leather ochre-colored Fossil crossbody purse to replace my current purse, which is in a horrific state of decay and needs to be retired ASAP. I love them both!!

And then Ted surprised me with one more unexpected gift…the pretty forest green leather Fossil wallet I’d also been eyeing! Best husband ever.

So lucky!

And I finally used that $50 museum gift shop certificate that I needed to deplete by the end of the month. Contrary to my silly musings, I did not clean the gift shop out of 75 rock candy sticks to make into a dazzling sugar-chandelier for New Years Eve – though that is a truly epic idea. I settled on two creative play/storytelling games that I can use as teaching aides when I’m coaching theatre classes or workshops, a coin robot building kit and a Titanic documentary DVD for Ted & I to enjoy on a geeky date night (Friend Olympics: Ted is a Titanic information fanatic and a coin collector), and of course, 5 rock candy sticks. Because you knew I wasn’t going to leave that gift shop without them.

This morning I helped out with two neat theatre classes for kids at this great old barn in Mariemont (one of our absolute favorite Cincinnati neighborhoods) that was renovated to become a sweet little cultural arts center, rental facility, and gallery space. The architecture of the building itself was a sight to behold and I love what they did with the renovation in terms of the flooring, the paint colors, and the track lighting. It was such a fun, unique, relaxing space to teach in! I could get used to teaching in a space like that. The classes we taught were very cool too. One was a science in theatre class where, using science and the three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas), the kids learned about how we do special effects in the theatre. We played with lab coats, beakers, dry ice, water, food coloring, a slinky, hangers, tambourines, and more to teach the kids about the states of matter and how we can use them to create different effects and moods onstage, and also a bit about sound waves and vibrations and creative ways to create sound effects depending on the states of matter. They finished off the class making up a scene to perform using their new science knowledge to create their own special effects. Not a bad way to spend a morning!

I love when I get to relish in pretty things, and tasty treats, and creativity!

What fun things have you done lately?

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On Wigs

You know you’re super impressed by my mad paper wig making skills.

Also, my husband brought me home a cake pop last night. The wig & makeup students at CCM were having a bake sale to raise funds so they can make a beautiful wig for a 15-year-old cancer patient (swoon!).

And someone contributed homemade cake pops (double swoon!).

And my husband brought one home for me (swoooooooon!).

‘Just because’ surprises are the best. So are good causes.

Mmmm.

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Leap Year

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As we tuned in on NYE to watch the New York ball drop, a commercial from Walt Disney Resorts reminded me that 2012 is a leap year. It was a two part commercial. Part one (aired a few minutes prior to the new year) announced that 2012 would be a leap year and that viewers should stay tuned because Disney had a big announcement to make (and, you know, that whole ball drop thing was coming up too). Part two (aired a few minutes into the new year) was the announcement, something about the DisneyWorld and DisneyLand resorts being open 24-hours on February 29, leap day.

The premise of the commercial was “what would you do if you had one more day?” Of course, Disney’s hope with their commercial and subsequent “One More Disney Day” campaign is that if you were given the gift of just one more day, you’d spend it at one of the Disney resorts making magic with your loved ones. While it is highly unlikely that Ted and I will be scrounging together the bucks to spend a day making magic waiting in long-ass lines at Disney this year, the commercial did get me thinking.

“What would I do if I were given just one more day?”

I thought about the things that are most important to me in this life. The list is short and simple: My husband, my family, my friends, love, laughter, adventure, great food, seeing and appreciating all the incredible places and astounding, miraculous beauty the world has to offer, and sharing it all with others. Everything else is filler.

So I dreamed up two scenarios. The first being a limitless, no-holds-barred, time-and-money-are-no-obstacle, leap day of my dreams and the second being a little more realistic of a leap day plan.

Here’s what I came up with:

Dream Leap Day – I’d invite all of my nearest and dearest friends and family and even some random person who has been struggling and could really use a break to vacation with me at some truly wondrous locale (Machu Picchu, the pyramids in Egypt, a castle and gardens in Germany, the baths in Budapest, the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, a private island in the tropics, the snowy igloos and aurora borealis of the Lapland in Sweden, the blue waters of Greece, the vineyards of Italy, the Great Wall of China, a palace in Poland or Russia, the rice fields of Bali…you get where I’m going with this) where we’d dine on an endless smorgasbord of exceptionally divine food and drink, and we’d love and laugh and adventure and explore and spend this one day together, doing something truly magical and appreciating every second of it.

Realistic Leap Day – Since I only work from 2:30-5:00 p.m. on Wednesdays I would treat myself to a little something special that morning – maybe a long mid-day nap, or tea, a cupcake  and a good book at a sweet little cafe, or a luxurious massage, or a walk through one of Cincy’s pretty parks. I would call my family just to check in, say hello and tell them that I love them. I would try to give my kids a really fun day at work. I would give some money to that homeless person on the street corner. Then after work I would treat my husband to an awesome dinner out at a little restaurant with phenomenal eats. Perhaps we’d meet some friends afterward for a night out on the town or for some good old fashioned fun – bowling, movie, board or video games, a sporting event, or an evening at the comedy club or even just watching the world go by from the top of Mt. Adams. I would spend time with the people I care about, and treat them to a little something nice if finances allowed, and appreciate one extra day to laugh and love.

This year, that age-old wish of all the things I could do if I had “just one more day” is a reality because we are all being given the gift of one more day. One more day to hold your husband tight. One more day to tell your parents that you appreciate them. One more day to celebrate friendship. One more day for that dream vacation to see the world if you’re that lucky. One more day to help out someone in need. I encourage you all to take just five minutes to think about the things that mean the most to you. If you were given just one more day, how would you spend it? Who would you spend it with? What would you do? What would you treat yourself and others to? What would you appreciate? What have you always wanted to see or do? Would you volunteer to feed the homeless, or finally adopt a pet, or make peace with someone, or spend it doing your favorite hobby?

I know that leap day falls on a Wednesday this year, so most of us will be working and unable to take that day off to spend galavanting at an amusement park, or curled up in the arms of our family, or to embark on that world-class, exotic vacation, but I urge you to think about what you can do with the gift of one more day this year. It doesn’t have to be costly or extravagant. It doesn’t have to require a whole lot of time or effort.

Think of one or two little things you can do to celebrate that one extra day this year, and go out there and be thankful and enjoy it!

What are you going to try to do on February 29?

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I sympathize with Poor Ormie…

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…because, sometimes, this is how I feel about trying to find a full-time job in theatre.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=FrTbnczYAd4&feature=player_embedded]

I’d like to thank my dad for sending me this hilarious video. Ted and I had a good laugh over it. Love that pig!

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Eventfully Uneventful

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The holidays are over and we’re returning to reality, the responsibilities of work, managing finances, and keeping up with our home life. It’s been a lovely vacation! We spent the week before Christmas in Texas, New Years vegging at home, and in the past few weeks we’ve had over 10 glorious days off together. Perfection! Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been productive too: going to work, cat-sitting for a friend, and hashing out our accounts, insurances and budgets for the year. To round off our last few days of relaxation and holiday merriment we’ve watched countless episodes of our favorite Irish TV series Ballykissangel curled up in our pajamas by the lights of our Christmas tree and electric fireplace, rented two great flicks from Redbox, drank mugs of steaming hot cocoa and glasses of champagne, watched the Packers football game, challenged each other to lots of Mario Kart, Guinness World Records, and Party games on the Wii, mowed down on plenty of tasty eats, played some board games, slept in, and enjoyed our first legit snowfall of the season! We also finally got to go ice skating at Fountain Square (bonus: while it was snowing!) which was so much fun, and then we had the pleasure of driving through an absolute white-out of a snow storm in Northern Kentucky where the highway all but disappeared, visibility was literally reduced to the nose of your own vehicle, the roads were a sheet of ice, nobody drove in a lane because there were no lanes to be seen, everyone went less than 20 mph, and after we got through it there was a 15-car pile up on the bridge and they closed the highway. At least it was exciting!

It’s been so awesome to have these days off together to do nothing but what our little hearts desire! It’s been so awesome to relax, catch up on sleep, wear our pajamas all day, and exercise our brains with funny Irish humor and lots of games. We still have to put away our Christmas decorations, clean the house, do laundry, go grocery shopping, catch up on work commitments that have accumulated over the holidays, and countless other things. But we’ve had a great time, and to us it’s really important to cherish our down time together while we have it – because come next week, we’re both back to working 7 days a week, oh joy! Boy, is it going to be tough to get back to hunkering down and working hard after so much vegging, but if we want good changes to come our way in 2012, we have to work for them. So here we go!

Hope you enjoyed the rest of your holiday vacation and that the ease back into your regular routine is gentle and stress-free!

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NYE

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Our New Years Eve was spent just the way we like it – simply.

Because I had to work, this was the first NYE that we haven’t spent in Milwaukee, though we were still able to honor our annual NYE traditions. After reading about all the fun-sounding New Years celebrations Cincy has to offer (ice skating downtown at Fountain Square with live music, food, drinks, a ball drop, and fireworks!), I’m thinking that it might be fun to branch out a bit next year – wear something sparkly, go out on the town, perhaps meet up with some friends earlier in the evening? I don’t know. We love our low-key NYE tradition and always look forward to how fun and relaxing it is, but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to change it up a bit once or twice a decade.  Or at least combine forces and go out earlier in the night and then come home and tuck ourselves away for a night of movies and games. We’ll see what next year brings!

Yesterday I worked and we had some excitement when a fire started in the kitchen and the building had to be evacuated. Luckily we weren’t too busy yet so getting everyone out was easy enough. Because it’s a huge historical landmark three fire trucks showed up immediately, though the fire was already out. It took over an hour for firefighters to get the smoke out and the building smelled awful for the rest of the day, but since nobody was hurt (thankfully) and there was no major damage I can say that I appreciated the mid-morning year-end excitement…and I also kind of didn’t mind getting paid time and a half to stand outside for over an hour to watch the madness unfold. After work, I went to work again, this time to strike a show at the theatre. Spent a few hours unscrewing hinges, ripping apart wood, and tearing down arches before I was able to retire at home and ring in 2012 with the Ted.

But when I did make it home for the night, boy was it wonderful! We ordered the most savory carry-out burgers and seasoned waffle fries from a restaurant we’ve been wanting to try, and they were big, messy, and delicious! Ted got a mushroom Swiss and I went with the southwestern, topped with onion straws and jalapenos. We ate them on the floor of our living room, wearing our pajamas and wrapped in blankets while we watched The Change Up, which kept us laughing the whole night. And I may or may not have eaten an entire pint of Graeter’s black raspberry chip ice cream. Which was also insanely delicious. We took a break to connect our Wii to the wifi network so we could play Mario Kart against Ted’s sister and nephew in Milwaukee, turned on the New York City ball drop and count down (of course Lady Gaga would dress up as the ball), and celebrated the new year with a midnight kiss and glasses of Door County Sparkle cherry wine champagne before retuning to our Wii Party game. Totally glorious night! It was so relaxing, and funny, and tasty, and just all around perfect!

I hope your NYE was just as wonderful! How did you ring in the new year? Please share!

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Our 2011 in Review

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In January I began working part-time at job #1, the museum, after a bittersweet 4-month employment hiatus due to our wedding and subsequent move to Cincinnati. We got our nice new TV, and Ted’s parents came to visit us in Cincinnati for a long weekend.

In February we enjoyed a solid Packers Superbowl win. We watched the game at the home of some of our friends, who happened to be Steelers fans.

In March Ted had and recovered from knee surgery, we explored the town of Milford, celebrated St. Patrick’s day in style with green eggs and ham and beer-batter pancakes for breakfast, and I bought my awesome bike, Carmela.

In April we went to our first Cincinnati Reds baseball game and Ted’s parents came to visit us again. Cincinnati also nearly broke the rainiest month on record statistic. So much rain!!

In May my sister, brother-in-law, and nephews drove in from Chicago to spend a few days with us in Cincinnati. We showed them all our great city has to offer, including the Taste of Cincy festival, and we checked out a couple race horse farms and museums in Kentucky, including Churchill Downs. I started working part-time at job # 2 as the education outreach director for a neat Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky based dance company.

In June I flew home to Texas for a visit with my family, friends, and kitty. I gorged myself on heat and Mexican food and it was wonderful. Meanwhile Ted spent that week in Green Bay finishing up a road case building gig. I also drove to Chicago for a night to celebrate the birthday of my cousin Tammy.

In July Ted’s sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and niece came to visit us in Cincinnati over the 4th of July weekend. We took it easy, played Wii, and went to Coney Island for some rides, games, and fireworks.

In August we selected and put a deposit down on our new apartment and I started working part-time at job #3 (a professional theatre company). I turned 25 and Ted turned 32, and we cruised to Alaska for our long-awaited honeymoon!

In September I got a stylish update with new Coach glasses, we drove to Green Bay for the Packers home opener game against the Saints, and then to Door County for a perfect fall weekend together to celebrate our 1-year wedding anniversary (a little early!) in the place where we got married. I also started part-time at job #4, teaching musical theatre, and my new niece Halle Grace was born in Virginia.

In October we left behind our beloved first home and moved to our great new apartment. We spent much of the month moving, cleaning, unpacking, and organizing. We also celebrated our official 1-year wedding anniversary on the 22nd with a bottle of our wedding wine, the top layer of our wedding cake, and a sweet dance to our first dance song.

In November I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner for just Ted and I. It was really nice to spend Thanksgiving together, just the two of us, and to start our own traditions. We watched the Packer game, relaxed at home, gave thanks for all our blessings, and enjoyed each other’s company. We also finished the long design process for our three wedding albums. They turned out amazing!

In December my musical theatre kiddos rocked out their final performance, we spent a glorious Christmas in Texas with my parents and sister’s family, and a little excitement rounded out my year when there was a small fire and subsequent mid-morning evacuation at job #1 on New Year’s Eve (everything was okay). Fun stuff!

And that was our 2011! It was a good year for us, and for this we are very thankful. I’m excited to usher in 2012, but will leave 2011 behind with fond memories of our first full year in Cincinnati as husband and wife. We’re hoping 2012 brings me one full-time theatre job that I’ll love, happiness in Ted’s job, more travel opportunities, and most importantly, the blessings of good health, prosperity, happiness, and appreciation for our many blessings for both ourselves and our dear families and friends.

What are you wishing for in 2012?

Happy NYE!

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An Innovative Solution

As a holiday “bonus” I received a free $50 gift certificate to the gift shop at the museum where I work on weekends to supplement my theatre income. I appreciate free as much as the next person, and I certainly don’t mean to sound ungrateful for a free gift, but Ted and I have had this thing for well over a month and we’re having a heck of a time finding something to spend it on. We have three gifts shops in the museum and we’ve each been in them all twice to try to figure out how we want to spend it. We’ve had no luck.

You see, we’re not “stuff” people. We don’t like to accumulate random clutter, ornaments, figurines, or other junk that we don’t need and will only takes up room in our apartment. We much prefer to live simply and spend our money on experiences, events, outings, destinations, necessities, or things we really do want.

The gift shops all have very nice stuff, but none of it is anything we particularly need. Lots of books, IMAX DVDs, science kits for kids, games, rocks and gemstones, jewelry and vases, t-shirts, etc. So, here we find ourselves, with $50 that must be spent by mid-January and nothing we’re aching to have, even if it is free.

As I see it, this leaves me with two options. I can spend it on fun/educational future birthday and Christmas gifts for our young nieces and nephews, or I can buy 75 prettily-colored rock candy sticks, hang them from our ceiling, and use them as an innovate decoration with which to fancy the heck out of our apartment for New Years Eve…the likes of this:

(via)

They’re a pretty, innovative decoration and classy NYE bauble, easily accessible for a sugary snack fix, and they’ll look glamorous both hanging on a chandelier and jazzing up my glass of NYE bubbly. Then once 2012 has been properly rung in, they’ll make a tasty addition to my nightly dessert

I haven’t yet decided if I’m kidding or not.

Thoughts?

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Reasons to Smile

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Here’s what’s made me smile this week:

  • Sweet Siku, who I need to hold right now. Gah! His cute little tongue kills me every time!!
  • I’ve watched Bert the Cat multiple times on repeat. So funny.
  • The wedding album we designed and gave to our parents for Christmas turned out amazing and were absolutely loved by their recipients. Preview – or even buy if you’re feeling overwhelmed with awe and generosity! – our wedding album, wedding weekend album, or honeymoon album on Blurb. They’re even available in iBook format!
  • On Monday night we drove to Florence, Kentucky and treated ourselves to a feast of Famous Dave’s BBQ (mmm brisket…) and sweet tea. It was just about the best meal ever. Hit the spot after my long, insanely busy day at work! We even witnessed some excitement on the way there when a car and trailer carrying race horses collided at the intersection right in front of us. Horses and people, though shaken up, were all okay.
  • I won a wicked game of Monopoly (except it was the catopoly version, obviously) against Ted. This is huge because I never, ever win board or Wii games against the man, but this time I clobbered him! HA.
  • Reading everyone’s Christmas cards that arrived while we were in Texas. I love opening and enjoying lots of pretty cards and well-wishes all at once! It’s like wedding part 2!
  • Christmas presies! We are so appreciative of all the goodies from our sweet friends and family. I’ve already worn these amazing, comfortable, warm, and super handsome Sorel rain shoes that my parents got me for living in rainy Cincinnati. Love them. Ted gave me the choice of any two items off my wish list, and now I just have to decide which two I want the most! We’ve been marathon watching Ballykissangel, a hilarious 1990s Irish TV series, gifted to us from my sister and her family, and we’re both psyched to use our new biking water bottles when we make a bike trip this spring, among other awesome presents from the rest of our fam. And Ted finally got his nice authentic Packers jersey – a throwback uniform Charles Woodson one from me, and an engraved pocket knife from my parents. But the gift we enjoyed the most was spending Christmas in Texas with the people we love!
  • Saturday is New Years Eve, which means our tradition of staying in with lots of tasty eats, funny movies, a festive celebratory drink, and epic battles of Wii Party in our pajamas is ON, even if we’re in Cincinnati and our annual NYE dates (Ted’s sister and family) are in Milwaukee. That’s the joy of Wii – it connects over the internet so we can still play against each other and make it happen!
  • My sparkly blush and silver New Years Eve nails! I did them myself and they don’t look like someone gave a donkey glitter. It’s the small things in life :-)

  • We’re incredibly blessed to be warm, safe, dry, fed, employed, and loved this holiday season. And we all have each other. What better reason to smile?

What are you smiling about this week?

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Christmas Recapped

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed a warm, safe and blessed Christmas with your loved ones and are all geared up to welcome in 2012!

So, I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged – 9 days – which is officially the longest length of time between posts since I started our little blog over 13 months ago.  Though I love blogging, I love spending quality time with my family and friends more. We so rarely have the opportunity to all be together relaxing, adventuring, or simply catching up on chatter and hugs that I cherish those moments when I can get my hands on them. Frankly, as soon as Texas for Christmas was on the agenda, blogging over Christmas was off the agenda.

But I’m back, and with plenty of pictures to share! As always, click to enlarge the photos.

We had a deliciously wonderful time in Texas. It was utterly relaxing and fun and full of love and appreciation and it gave us the warm-fuzzies all over.  Our family doctor gave Ted a steroid to help keep his Sancho allergy at bay, so he was able to actually enjoy his time in Texas with us instead of living in sniffly, sneezy, headachy, nose-blowing misery. My sister, brother-in-law, and two nephews made the drive down to San Antonio from Chicago for the week and we all loved being home with my parents for Christmas. Here were the highlights:

  • Going out to PoPo’s for a big, long, down-home family dinner together on our first night in Texas.
  • Lovin’ on and playing with my kitty.
  • Catching up with my girlfriends.
  • Scrabble marathons.
  • Sleeping in and luxurious mid-day naps.
  • Browsing the sweet little antiquey main street shops of Boerne with Ted and indulging in delicious FroYo.
  • Mowing down on Texas BBQ (the only BBQ worth eating) and a magnificent lunch of sandwich croissants and creme puffs at French Sandwich, my all-time favorite lunch eatery in San Antonio.
  • Introducing Ted to God’s gift to Texans – the almighty breakfast taco. It was a beautiful moment.
  • Christmas morning breakfast of cheese grits, eggs, sausage, bacon, breakfast tacos, french toast, biscuits and gravy, pastries, orange juice, coffee, and more at The Hungry Horse in Boerne – our annual Christmas morning tradition where proceeds benefits the Boerne EMS, fire department and other emergency services.
  • Mom’s home cooking – tortilla soup, French onion soup, white chili, queso dip, kiss cookies, guacamole, lasagna, broccoli cheese casserole, homemade meatballs and sausage, and lemon meringue pie made with lemons from mom’s lemon tree!
  • A scorpion under the Christmas tree. Ted’s Christmas wish was to see a real, live Texas scorpion. Wish = granted. That scorp knew a thing or two about great timing and opportune placement. The sneak was hiding beneath the tree, under the last present.
  • Our annual German firebowl party whereby our friends and family gather round for food and merriment while ladles full 100 proof southern comfort are set ablaze, poured over a cone of pure sugar, drizzled into a bowl of hot red wine mulled with oranges and cinnamon sticks, and served in sugar-rimmed glasses. Yeah, it really is just as awesome as it sounds.
  • Getting in the Christmas spirit with old vintage children’s toys and classic model trains at an eagle rescue sanctuary in the Texas hill country before heading deep into the heart of Old San Antone to enjoy the lights on the ever-beautiful River Walk and pay our respects to the Alamo.
  • Building a fire outside in the chiminea while downing mugs of hot mulled wine and watching Ted bound around the backyard with our neighbor’s long-legged, high-jumping, spirited, lab puppy Felix.
  • Ted and my dad reconstructing a part of my dad’s old HO-scale childhood model train set. Those trains haven’t run in over 50 years, so it was really incredible to see them pulling the boxes down from the attic, sitting on the floor taking apart the engines to check the motors, cleaning the tracks with steel wool, hooking up the wires, and watching those trains take their first chugs in half a century. Our favorite was the train car that shoots a helicopter into the air!
  • My mom and my nephew Lochlan baking Christmas cookies.
  • Decorating the tree and the house for Christmas with dad.
  • Christmas Eve mass.

 

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

    

Hope your Christmas was just as special!

In other news our upstairs neighbor was, apparently, gifted a BB gun for Christmas because he’s taken to hanging cheap silver ball ornaments from the bare trees outside and shooting at them and then not cleaning up the remnants. Super classy.

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