2009

2009 will be a great year. Here are my wishes for 2009:

• Get a cat. Adam got a book about cats from my parents for Christmas. He now thinks we should have 2 cats instead of 1. Woohoo!!!!!
• Adam will finally make his move to Chicago
• Take a vacation to some place we have never been before
• Throw a big party to welcome Adam home to Chicago
• Witness my brother marry his best friend
• Rock The Pier this summer now that I finally know how this weird location actually works

What are your hopes for 2009? :-)

Tonight

It is going to be a rough night tonight. The Pier is open until midnight and I am the lucky one to get to work that late. I just found out that our dear friends The Dunne's and Kiley's will be having dinner at The Pier tonight, so at least I will get some visitors. It sucks that Adam and I can't ring in the New Year together, but I will see him sometime around 1:30am. He hasn't been to Chicago for almost two weeks. I got to see him in Indiana for Christmas. It will be nice to have him home for a few days.

Happy New Year

It is hard to believe that 2008 is almost over. It was a very eventful year. Here are some highlights.

• Adam and I took our annual trip to Aspen to visit his family and enjoy some much needed R&R. We were lucky enough to have lunch in the same restaurant as Bill Murray. He even held the door open for Adam's mom.
• Build-A-Bear decided I was good enough to run the Navy Pier store. Adam and I decided this was the time to make our move to Chicago. It has been a very bumpy road, but we are glad we did it.
• We took a very long road trip to Colorado to visit Adam's parents again and enjoy some more R&R. The best part of this trip was the winery tour and the great conversations we had in the car.
• There were some scary medical moments in both our families. My mom was diagnosed with skin cancer, my dad had some heart problems and was in and out of the hospital and Adam's dad had his hip replaced. Everyone is doing great now and we hope to not have anymore moments like this in 2009.
• Adam and I got to witness two great friends get married. Al and Kylee threw a great party and we were honored to be a part of it.
• My brother FINALLY asked his girlfriend of 7 years to marry him. August 29th, 2009 will be a great day.

That is all I can think of for now. I am sure I forgot a few things. I hope all of you have a great New Year and I hope you are looking forward to 2009 as much as I am.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Pictures

I really want to upload some pictures from our two days of baking, but I can't find the cord that goes with my camera.  GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!  As soon as I find the camera, I will share the photos.  If I never see powdered sugar or sugar cookies again, I will be ok.  :-)

To Do List

I have a few things to get done before I head to Indiana tomorrow. Of course I have to work today and tomorrow. I need the get everything done this morning because I have to leave for work at 6am tomorrow morning because we are getting a shipment at 7:30.
-Tidy the apartment
-Do some laundry
-Pack up some clothes

All I want to do right now is sit on the couch under this warm blanket and go back to sleep.

Shopping

Adam called me Saturday night on his way to Mishawaka to go Christmas shopping. He always waits until the last minute. He is so silly. He kept asking me questions, trying to get me to tell him exactly what I wanted. We have been together for almost 5 years. Shouldn't he know this stuff by now? :-)

I have a few last minute gifts to get on Christmas Eve. I did most of my shopping online and had everything shipped to my parents house since that is where I will be for Christmas.

Business

Business at Build-A-Bear has been pretty good this holiday season. My company wanted to make the holidays more affordable than ever before so we are offering a lot of value pricing this time of year. I think it is working. When I woke up Saturday morning, I was kind of dreading going to work. We are usually VERY busy the Saturday before Christmas. I always seem to have people call in sick on these busy days. I was pleasantly surprised that we had a great day. We were very busy, but all the customers were understanding that they had to wait in line. This was the first Saturday in a long time that I have had enough people to work. It was awesome.

Bitter Coldness

It is so cold in Chicago right now. Yesterday I wore long underwear, wool socks, pants, 3 shirts, my big puffy coat, a hat, scarf and gloves. It was freezing. Today doesn't look much better. It is also a little chilly in my apartment. I am not looking forward to going outside in 3 hours.

Quick Update

Adam and I have today and tomorrow off work. This is a rare treat!!! We plan to spend the next two days cooking and baking. Right now we are getting ready to go to Costco. We are trying to get all our errands done before it starts to snow.

Last night we saw Porgy and Bess at the Chicago Lyric Opera House. It was a great performance. I'll have another post soon about that. I have a funny story to share.

We both worked all weekend. The shoppers are finally coming out of hiding and spending some money.

I will try to take pictures while we are baking Christmas cookies. It should be an interesting two days. :-)

Presents

Christmas is quickly approaching. My brother is the hardest person to buy for. I never know what to get him. He is so picky and particular about everything. My mom and Adam are probably the easiest to buy for. My mom always tells me just what she wants. I spend so much time with Adam that I can figure out what he wants just by being around him.

This year I am making Christmas presents for my assistant managers and my Bear Builders. This will happen next Tuesday and Wednesday with the help of Adam.

Our Fine Governor

The Governor of my new state, Illinois, was arrested in his home this morning by the FBI. He was arrested on corruption charges stemming from the vacated senate seat by President Elect Barack Obama. From what I have read, he was trying to sell the senate seat. WHAT IN THE WORLD???? HOW STUPID CAN ONE PERSON BE???? Check out CNN for the whole story.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/09/illinois.govenor/index.html

BRRRRRRRR

It has been a little chilly in the Windy City this week. Thursday and Friday I was outside for a total of 20 minutes so the cold didn't really affect it. Today will be my first day going to work in the really cold weather. I am very lucky to have lots of stuff to layer with. Since I am a skier, I have lots of long underwear and really cute ski gear.

I was VERY lucky to find a Eddie Bauer Goose Down Full Length jacket at a consignment shop last week. My mom and I spent the day before Thanksgiving running errands and shopping. She took me to this consignment shop in Syracuse and I found the coat. I had been looking online for a coat like this and they were pretty expense. I got my coat for a whopping $30. I was so excited. Adam was a little annoyed because he was going to get me a coat like this for Christmas. I guess he will have to find something else for me.

Coffee

I love coffee. It wasn't until this year that I really started enjoying it. I would not have been able to get through the crazy summer at Navy Pier if it would not have been for coffee. I love the smell when you first open a new bag. Adam laughed at me this morning when I did this. Time to go get a cup of yummy coffee. :-)

Oh Christmas Tree

While Adam and I were driving around trying to find a laundromat today we drove past several places that were selling Christmas trees. For some reason Adam is always a Scrooge when it comes to buying trees. Last year I was not in the holiday spirit and we didn't get a tree. I was so bummed on Christmas Eve that we did not have a tree. I really want to get one this year. I just have to wait until the right moment to get Adam to help me go get one.

Laundry Day

Today was a much needed laundry day. Adam and I were down to practically no clothes. Our apartment building has 1 washer and 1 dryer. If we would have done our laundry here, it would have taken FOREVER. We decided to venture out into the cold and go to a laundry mat. We had so much laundry.

We drove around for a while to find just the right place. We needed a place that wasn't too cramped or dirty looking. After driving around for 30 minutes we finally found the place. It looked clean and had lots of washers and dryers.

We washed and dried 8 very large loads of laundry. I only took us about 2 hours. It is so nice to have lots of clean clothes to wear. When we got home, I made sure to put everything away.

Black Friday

Black Friday has come and gone. I know I should have posted this earlier, but I didn't. For the last 3 years, I have had to be at the mall by 5am to open my store. Since Navy Pier is not your typical mall, we don't really have holiday hours. We opened at our normal time of 10am. I felt like I might get in trouble because I wasn't at work SUPER early. It was so weird!

We had a decent day. My bosses boss was in town and came to help out for the day. This was a little intimidating because I wasn't sure if he was there to help or observe. He arrived at 10am and left around 5. It was nice having the extra person working. It was neat seeing him interact with all the guests.

Saturday was even busier than Friday. I had all 4 stuffers and all 3 registers going at once and we still had a line out the door. It was awesome. My entire staff was happy and having fun. The guests were nice too. They didn't complain about the lines too much.

I am anxious to see how the rest of the holiday season pans out. People seem to be shopping. Personally, I am waiting for the big deals that I think will come when we get closer to Christmas