Holiday Tea(ish) at the Walnut Room

This year was my sixth annual holiday tea with Mom and Carol. We rotate each year--whoever picks, pays!--and it was Mom's turn to pick this year. She picked the Walnut Room at Macy's on State Street. The tree is always very beautiful and I've softened the chip on my shoulder from the Marshall Field's situation enough to enjoy going to the Walnut Room again.

The reason the tea was an (ish) this year was that we found out, once we got seated, that they don't offer tea service during the holidays! Oops, who knew?! So we had a late lunch and ordered fancy tea-alternative nogs and ciders. Of course the fantastic company made up for missing the tea and traditional three tiers of finger sandwiches and treats.

Holiday-ing: Thanksgiving, Lion-wreathing, and Decorating

We had a terrific Thanksgiving weekend last month, keeping with some of our favorite holiday traditions.

Thanksgiving at Our House
We had a great group of some of our favorite people at our house for Thanksgiving again this year: my parents, Matt's parents, my Grandma, Aunt Leila and Grandma's cousin Midge. Mom brought all the yummy pre-meal snacks, Matt cooked everything for the big meal, and John brought his amazing sweet potato and pecan pies. We had a great and relaxing afternoon and evening watching football and eating too much awesome food.



Wreathing of the Lions at the Art Institute of Chicago
The morning after Thanksgiving we got up early and headed downtown to see the Art Institute Lions receive their wreaths. This year's wreaths are made of individual bubbles that hold wishes for the world, as written by Chicago schoolchildren.






Of course I had to get my annual snuggle from Artie. . .


After the wreathing, we headed in and saw a new stairway installation that had been installed in September. The words are from a speech about religious tolerance that was originally given on the Art Institute site on September 11, 1893.
We also went to see a few old favorites, including the Chagall windows, which had just been reinstalled after several years in storage. They had to be relocated when the Art Institue built the Modern Wing, and now they are the stars of their new home. Gorgeous!



Trimming our Home
Over the weekend, we also got our Christmas tree up, much to the delight of Harper (curious, subdued, respectful) and Ollie (fearless, mischevious, destructive). We also were excited to put up an ornament we received from Carol and John at Christmas 2009, as it perfectly commemorates everything that was done to our house this year, from work on the roof to painting the outside white with red trim! Getting our house painted was a gift from Carol and John, so it was a perfect full-circle moment! Thank you, Mom and Dad Knoepke!!!

A Correction: STAR WARS CHARACTER MIS-IDENTIFIED!!!

I wrote a post a few weeks back about fun at the Hot Chocolate 5K run and some adventures downtown afterwards with Matt, Mom and my cousin Ryan. I talked to Ryan today, who let me know that I had--for shame!--mis-identified R2D2 as C3PO. I remember being unsure and I went with the wrong robot! So, in the picture below, please note that Ryan is hanging with R2D2, not his droid companion, C3PO.

NU v. Illinois at Wrigley Field

This past weekend was the much-anticipated first football game at Wrigley Field since the Bears left in 1970, a Northwestern home game v. University of Illinois, one of our key rivalries. It was an amazing experience and Matt, John, Dad and I are all very glad we went. Who knows, with all the craziness that surrounded the game, if it will happen again in our lifetime?

Getting There
John and Dad arrived at our house around 8:15, and after we got all our gear together, we headed to the Metra station to wait for the train. After the Metra ride, we hopped on the El to Wrigley.




Pre-game Show
We spent the next couple of hours checking out the scene. We were there in time to get a long-distance view of the ESPN College Gameday set and we spent time at Wildcat Way, the NU-sponsored tailgate. We also picked up seat cushions from sponsor Valspar, which were key to our relative comfort later in the day as it was darn chilly in the stadium. Valspar was also credited with the special "wildcat purple" color the famous Wrigley marquee was painted just for the event! We were very lucky to run into our friends Kelly (left, with her aunt) and Dustin before we went into the game.










The Big Game
So the game was pretty crazy and the outcome was far from what we'd hoped. But our seats were pretty great. They got infinitely better when the announcement came out on Friday that they would only be using one end zone due to safety concerns. Our seats gave us a great view above that end zone, and there was a lot of activity coming our way. We loved seeing the famous Wrigley scoreboard transformed for football. The only thing that would have made it better is if they could have hoisted a purple "W" flag at the end!





Our seats are somewhere in this frame--if you want to play "Where's Waldo?" you can try to find Matt, Dad or John.

This was the women's bathroom line. It wasn't as bad as it looked, but it was definitely the most snarky place I'd been all day!

Hot Chocolate 5K and More Chicago Fun (11/6-7/10)

A couple weeks back, we had a fun (and brisk) November weekend. We kicked off Saturday morning with the Hot Chocolate 5K/15K. I was originally planning on doing the 15K, but when I realized the gap between such ambition and my actual preparation, I switched to the 5K. A friend of mine works for the race organizer and hooked us up with VIP passes so we enjoyed the abundant signature treats--hot chocolate, chocolate fondue and all the dippables--in a heated private tent! Mom and Ryan met us after the race so we could all join in the fun, which included Ronald McDonald and crazy balloon animals, swords and hats!








LEGOs!
After stuffing ourselves with the very rich Ghirardelli-provided chocolate, we headed up Michigan Avenue to the Lego store, a surprise for Ryan. In front of the Wrigley Building, a living statue was posing for pictures. Ryan was pretty entertained by it but afraid to sit too close. And while he wasn't sure he wanted to keep walking, his tune changed once he got to the surprise destination. A couple minutes after walking in and looking around he hilariously said, "I just can't think. There's too much." It was very cute and summed up how exciting the store is for kids (of all ages).

Ryan is not too sure about the living statue.

Ryan poses with a Lego C3PO.

Matt with a Lego version of the John Hancock building. We just signed up for the full climb for February's Hustle Up the Hancock, which will be a considerably larger effort than climbing something this size.

Back at the ranch, while Mom and Ryan sorted out his Legos, Harper was a very good cat and only watched, despite the overwhelming temptation to bat the little pieces around.

Day at the Museum (Wish it was a Month like Kate!)
The next day, we headed to the Museum of Science & Industry to check out the Jim Henson/Muppets exhibit and see if we could get a glimpse of Kate, the NU grad who lived at the museum for 30 days and got to have all sorts of experiences we'd love to have--sleeping in the submarine, helping with experiments, having breakfast with Jim Lovell, etc., etc.

I tried out what it feels like to be a hamster. More fun than the treadmill...

Matt as hamster.

We did get to briefly chat with Kate--she was very nice as she passed out "Month at the Museum" buttons to everyone clammering to meet her. We were there on Day 19, as her shirt indicates. Her wardrobe was a different orange shirt for each day. Very cool. So jealous!

Ollie, Cat Bug Hunter

Right around Halloween, Ollie became possessed, as he sometimes does, with a bug on the ceiling. This time, the offending insect was on the basement ceiling. Here's the progression as he tried to figure a way to get at the bug.

On the kitty condo, one of the higher spots in the basement.

Hmmm...the molding on the pillars is a little higher. . .

Where else? Where else?

I really want that bug.

The bug bested me. I am not a happy camper, and will be pouting for at least as long as I'm awake.