10 on 10 { Dec 2014 }

Ten on Ten once again!!  Boy I have been a very bad blogger!  I just realized my last post was 10 on 10 LAST MONTH (eeks!).  I Must do better!  I am a solid month behind on posting my Fat Mum Slim challenge photos and have certainly taken photos of life happenings in the last month.  Oy! Anyhoo, I had a great time running around on Saturday snapping photos here and there along with some time at home getting the final touches of holiday to-dos done!  Oh how I just love the holidays!

Vintage sleds - just like I used to have as a kid - outside a great antiques shop here in e-town Beach grasses - it was cooooold and windy by the lake today too! Some evergreen at the most adorable tree stand near the firehouse on Chicago Ave El train details Rolling waters on the shore - many shades of gray in the winter (boo) Christmas cards - addressed and ready to hit the post The most lovely vintage pillow cover (never knew these existed) reading "Good Night" Stars on my gold tree (yes... I have a gold tree and I love it!) Sculpture on the Nature Boardwalk in Lincoln Park - met some instagrammers there for loads of photos Then headed off to Lincoln Park Zoo lights ... soooo many people in there!

welcome 2014

I don't know about you, but 2013 seemed to just fly by... so fast!  I am hoping 2014 has great things ahead in all aspects of life! I don't like to make resolutions - mostly because I know I'd never keep them - but I may set a few goals for the coming year.  Why not, right!?!  So here's to 2014:

• photograph more
• spend less
• move more
• stress less
• travel more
• boss less

I will try to remember to post at the end of the year to see how I did on each of these ... wish me luck!

sunday shopping

Shopping with Sloane is a hoot!  She dances through the aisles, tries on shoes that are way too big for her and kicks them off in all directions as she continues bare foot through the store.  She commands everyone's attention everywhere she goes - I mean come on, she is damn cute and almost always smiling. We wandered through Anthropologie and Sloane made herself at home, exploring every inch - window displays and all.  I spotted this little wooden ledge and had her sit down.  She cooperated for about 1 minute and then done.  Got an adorable shot of her though.  Wandered over to the Christkindlemarket (with about a zillion other people who had the same idea) and picked up a couple of adorable little Christmas decorations.  I haven't gone to the market in years, glad I did.  But... next year I will not go the Sunday before Christmas.  *wink*

holiday breakfast

Up early to catch breakfast at the Walnut Room in Macy's with the Pittmans.  We have made this a little holiday tradition and all look forward to it each year.  We had a great time despite the horrible food and the repeat of the tree decor.  We may have to look elsewhere for future years ... 

charlie brown christmas

Have I told you I am a huge Peanuts fan?  Well, I am.  When I was a kid they would have these 30  minute animated specials that would come on primetime TV - well before cable - and I would sit mesmerized. When VCRs came out, my dad recorded each and every one of those specials taking the extra time to remove commercials and everything.  I would come home and watch them after school over and over. In keeping with that them, my favorite animated holiday classics is A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I look forward to seeing it every single year!  I was so happy to catch it this past week!  And then I found this gem - flash mob Peanuts style!

secret santa

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I took part in a gift exchange sponsored by a blogger I have followed for some time.  It's a unique opportunity to get to know some new folks and test your gift giving abilities on a total stranger.  I loved the challenge of it all.  They kept it all anonymous by having us buy for someone different than we receive a gift.  I rather like this, but seems some people chose not to participate at all and that would leave someone empty handed.  When the pool of participants is over 300, you are bound to get a few scroudges. Anyhoo, I had a lovely girl named Janine who lives in Ireland!  I stalked her pinterest and instagram and was able to ask questions via a website called elfster and in a Facebook group that had been set up for the group.  It took me a little bit to come up with something I thought she'd enjoy.  One day she posted some papers on her instagram and said she wanted to start pen paling again - boom!  An idea was born!  That's a theme I could work with!  I got notecards & envelopes, the 7-year pen and a custom return address stamp & pad.  She also mentioned wanting something from the place where her secret santa was from, so I printed some of my photos via Artifact Uprising that she could frame, use as postcards or etc., Vosges chocolates and a Chicago coloring/story book for her little boy.  I wrapped everything in red - her favorite color.  Amazingly, she got the package in ten days vis the USPS!!  She loved everything and seemed very excited about the gift.  Yay!

Then there's my Santa - from Australia... My Santa didn't do very much stalking. Well ... I'd have to say none, really.  I am thankful that I got a gift, since some people did not, but wish she would have done just a little bit of digging... Ah well, I will give it a go again next year because I really enjoyed buying the gift!!

thankful : day 25

Today I am thankful the last piece of my gift for my secret santa gift arrived!  I was finally able to get it wrapped and ready to ship off across the sea!  I am participating in the Fat Mum Slim gift exchange with three hundred and something other folks! It has been fun and quite the challenge to find the perfect gift for a complete stranger and limiting it to only $30!  I really hope my little elf enjoys what I chose for her!  

32 to 35

Lucy loves to sit under the tree ... and I need to start wrapping the presents under the tree :)

My all time favorite - A Charlie Brown Christmas!

wedding photo research and tree light bokeh

morning tea - always

37 38 decorate

Now that Thanksgiving is done, time to start embracing the Christmas season.  I pulled out the decorations and decided to change things up this year.  I put the tree in a new place and decided to swag the garland from the mantle.  And I have to say... I kind of like it!

If only I could figure out how to hide the electrical cords...

this Christmas

Let me start this post by saying I love Christmas.  I love the traditions that are created around holidays - specifically Christmas.  When I was a kid we packed in a full day of family - having my father's parents over in the morning, opening gifts and having lunch together then in the afternoon we'd head to the farm to be with my mother's side of the family.  As I have gotten older, those traditions have changed - some family members don't make it back because they are with the "other side of the family," the next generation becomes host and that changes venues and menus, some grow ill and some even pass away.  Change is inevitable.  Maya Angelou said "life is a gift, and I try to respond with grace and courtesy."  It's quite fitting for where I am in life right now.  So many of my traditions have changed, making my 30's a little bit unstable.  I could not be more thankful for the 30+ years of family filled festivities, but I see change coming to my future.

That said .. I spent the month of December brunching, lunching and dining with friends and catching up on all the good times we've had this past year.  I made the trip back home to Kansas for a few days over the Christmas holiday where I got to spend time with my immediate family (minus one).  I met little Jackson (in green above) who will literally steel your heart - he just couldn't be more laid back.  He smiles about everything and at everyone and barely makes a peep!  Then there's Austin (in orange above) who is a boy's boy - rough and tumble and skeptical of everything, but once he decide's you're OK, a bunch of fun and so full of energy it's exhausting to watch him!  

Sadly, my grandmother took a turn for the worst and had to be put on oxygen and breathing treatments.  She was coughing so deep it sounded like it took every muscle in her body to produce. It was hard to see, but I am so glad she was able to celebrate another Christmas. At 92, she's had one good long life and is still with us after having a stroke 14 months ago.  That's an impressive will to live!  And God bless my mother for taking care of her all of those months!  I cannot imagine how difficult life has been for her, but my grandmother could not be in better hands.  

Life sometimes throws us tough times and I figure they only make us stronger.  I hope you were able to spend time celebrating the holiday with your family and friends!  All the best for a shiny new year!