Lizzard Loves Blue Sky Snow Covered Vail

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Friday Recap 12/14/18 - Christmas in the City, Birthdays, Surprise Engagement Party, Coffee for the Crossing Guard


'Tis the season for all things holly jolly, Christmasy, wintry and wonderful!! Let's do this team! I'm a day late because I went to bed at 7 last night........fighting a Christmas cold. That's about the only un-awesome thing about this time of year!

1. Christmas in the City - and by city I mean Chicago
Our little girl in the big city :)
The Bug was obsessed with the Serpentine Bridge!

Lulu & I met Chris downtown for some wonderful wintry traditions on Friday afternoon! Gluhwein at the Chriskindlmarket and Caroling at Cloudgate (aka Carols at the Bean) were the best kick off to the weekend a girl could ask for! The only way it would've been a more perfect day was if there was snow on the ground or snow falling! But it was delightful. 
Lulu & her DaDa enjoying all the sights

Gluwein, beer & my daughter inside the warm beer hall tent thing :) The yawn + hat askew make it seem like she was imbibing......she wasn't!
Love Christmas traditions!


So many people out & about enjoying the winter fun in the city. The Bug really liked watching the ice skaters at the Ribbon at Maggie Daley Park as well as the rink at Millennium Park. It was quite the thrill for her! Also - the serpentine bridge over Columbus Dr. was an unexpected hit with her - she thought it was pretty much the best thing since sliced bread! 



The city's Christmas tree in Millennium Park was beautiful & striking as always. It is just SO BIG. I think that's one thing that I am still awed by, despite being a grown up. Honestly though - to see all things Christmasy through the eyes of a child is the right was to see them. Something like the Bean that I know blew my mind the first time I saw it....no longer does. You grow accostumed to the beauty & wonder around you & then stop seeing it. But then you bring your 1 year old under the Bean & watch her head pretty much explode. She was running around looking at herself & us & all the other people reflected and it felt like we could see the little gears in her mind turning, trying to make sense of something so wonderful. There is so much wonder & joy around us everyday, but especially during the Christmas season. May we all approach this most awesome time with open arms & eyes!!


2. Birthdays celebrated on the same day!
Birthday FaceTime with PopPop

Lulu's PopPop's birthday is 1 day before that of our biggest little nephew man! This year we celebrated our nephew's birthday a day early - so we had some FaceTime with PopPop and a family birthday party with Lulu's BoBo, Bump, Aunt Tara, Uncle GR, and 4 of her cousins! 
Appetizers with BoBo & Bump

The oldest & youngest siblings :)

Happy 9th Birthday sweet little man!

Someone was enjoying the cake :)

Hooray for birthdays really anytime of the year.

3. Surprise Engagement Party 

Its not everyday that you are invited to a surprise engagement party for your best friend!! Chris & I were thrilled when an evite arrived from Stacey's (now fiance, then boyfriend) inviting us to a bar in Lincoln Park to celebrate the occasion of him proposing.
How hard it is to keep such a big secret for a WEEK!! At least our other best friend lives in San Diego - so I spent a lot of time talking to Cody about all things engagement in the intervening days!!

Now that both the future Mrs. & Mr. have posted to social media about the big news.......I can share it here!! 

Chris & I are simply so excited for Stacey & Bruce - they are a wonderful couple & will have an incredibly happy life together. We will be along for the ride ;)

4. Coffee for the Crossing Guard
So we have a pretty consistent morning routine that involves Lulu, Owenn & I walking Chris to his train and then doing a wide lap around the neighborhood, stopping at a couple of parks so Lulu can get her fix.

We occasionally pop into a local treat spot Beth's Little Bake Shop for a muffin, scone, croissant and/or coffee in conjunction with the train drop off. 

Lulu had (all week long) been saying "go" "go" "go" as we walked by Beth's, so I told her we could stop on Friday for a treat. We thought we'd be able to stop with Chris, but alas & alack -  the morning rush was for naught - Chris didn't have time to join us. Lulu & I let someone behind us go first so we could fully investigate all the treats in the case. We settled on a French Toast muffin, kind of has a bread pudding consistency under a crunchy, cinnamon sugar dome. Yum. We were happy to see one of the crossing guards in line behind us & got her coffee for her. It was foggy, damp & dreary outside and I guessed she could use a pick me up. It turned out she had forgotten her mug of coffee at home on the table :( Lulu & I are loving the reverse Advent Calendar idea - it is giving us license to do random acts of kindness every day (as if we need license - maybe reminder is a better choice of words!). 

I encourage you to buy the person in line behind you a coffee - it made everyone in the tiny little bakery seem a smidgen happier. You might be surprised how much tiny little niceties can have a bigger impact than you expect! I was surprised yesterday how nice I felt for the whole morning - knowing I had slightly improved someone's day. It put a tiny spring in my step! It was a real treat for us & hopefully for one of our crossing guards too.

No comments:

Post a Comment