Christmas 2011

What an incredible Christmas we had this year....

Appetizers in front of a trimmed tree, can't beat that!

Our tradition when we are in Chicago on Christmas Eve is to go to Shaw's Crab House- great service, incredible food!

Mmmm...Shaw's....

After so much great food we needed to walk it off in the fresh air and city lights....

We dropped by The Peninsula to see all the decorations - so festive! 

The Watertower was lit up as always....

That's Kel being my "subject" walking in front of the water tower :-)

4th Pres was gorgeous as always - a wonderful sermon and carols!

                           

Mom was really excited about her new snowmobile helmet that has special technology so it won't fog up - now we need some snow!!!

On Christmas Day we went to Dan's Uncle Tim's for an amazing dinner.  They have a huge family and a tradition where you all draw numbers (1-12) out of a bowl and then get with your group to determine how you will sing your piece of the 12 Days of Christmas.  I got #1, thankfully Dan's dad and cousin were really into it so my voice was a little drown out!  Then back to my place for gift exchange with Dan!

 Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Birthday Elese!

For Elese's birthday Malinda, Jenna, Kevin and I took her to Prasino, a sustainable, environmentally conscious restaurant that uses fresh, local, organic, hormone-free ingredients to make delicious food!

 Elese and I both had the Caribbean salmon, fantastic!

It was a night filled with laughs and way too much information!

Happy Birthday Elese!!!

Christmas in the Big Apple!

While it is not particularly fun to go on a trip for work the week of Christmas, it is extremely fun to head to Manhattan for the night!

Especially with two guys who have never been to the Big Apple!!

 BB, Mike, and I took the train from NJ into Penn Station, walked through Times Square, and headed up to City Lobster at 49th and 6th Ave. We all got the price fix menu and stared our appetizers, entrees, and desserts.  BB got the angry lobster and it was fantastic!

 Love all the Christmas decorations scattered around the city!

A trip to NYC is not complete without heading to Rockefeller Center...especially at this time of year.

 Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Merry!

Rounding off the weekend of parties (mine, mom/dad's, and elese's) was Kelly's!  She did a recipe exchange with her friends and it was fantastic.  Is that a Royal Copenhagen dish on her table??  She must have been very good ;-)

All the girls did a fabulous job cooking/baking!

Kelly made us all recipe books as a "party favor" - can't wait to start trying all the new recipes!

Wine Night!

Elese hosted a wine tasting event this weekend...all of us were expecting a night of catching up over some wine, but Elese stepped it up a notch and had a representative from Wines for Humanity join us.  

Wines for Humanity is a company that hosts in-house wine events and part of the proceeds go to charity...to date almost $1million dollars donated.  Their "default" charity is PADS (a charity for homeless families) but you can also choose your own.

It was such a fun night - we all brought food and WFH supplied the wine, tasting tips, and pairing advice.  We had 3 whites, 3 reds, and a desert wine.....

...not to mention a lot of laughs!

Thanks for a great night Elese - cheers!

Oh...and of course we cannot forget to say thank you to Sabrina for sharing her home for the night!