O Christmas Tree....

So...after no deliberation at all, Alli and I went and picked out our REAL Christmas tree this weekend. A lot of our friends have fake ones...BLAH! Anyway, even though we got it at Home Depot instead of a New England tree farm, it was lots of fun:-)

Now seeing as how we both have dad's with trucks, we have never had to do this whole tie-down thing. It was a new experience, but the tree made it the one-mile drive down the road with no problems.

Now...our eventful day did not end with picking out the tree and driving it home. We obviously did not have a tree stand and apparently the first three stores we went to didn't either! Here is our first stop (Home Depot) where I may have been distracted by this really creepy looking Santa. Two more stores and then we finally found one at Lowes...$20! You may say "Not bad", but being two girls that have always just been able to walk down into the basement and get the FREE tree stand that their parents purchased years ago, it was a little shock.

Here I am...being handy:-) Just like Dad taught me!

Lights!!!

Ornaments!!

Ta-Da!!!!!!!!

Miracle on State Street!

My first concert in the city! My friend Steve and I went to "Miracle on State Street"...a concert put on by one of the city's radio stations. We saw Mat Kearney, KT Tunstall, OAR, and Goo Goo Dolls. Great seats too!! Steve...what a guy! Tons of fun:-)
Something must have been pretty funny here on the train...but for some reason don't completely recall what it was :-/
Steve's reaction to a certain conversation that we will leave on the brown line train :-)

Mat Kearney was really good but sadly only played 3 songs.

Somehow I lost my hat, my gloves AND an earring by the end of the night...but I wasn't the only one...Steve lost a scarf. So needless to say it was a cold walk back from the 'L' but still a good time:-)

Welcome to Winter!

So...Monday night my favorite Floridian told me that he has been missing the snow and wintery weather that he grew to love living in Connecticut. So Alli was nice enough to take some pictures of me enjoying the snow and lights in the neighborhood ...and I sent them straight over to him. He appreciated the little glimpse of winter but I'm sure he's glad that he hasn't been waking up to 9 degree mornings :-) Happy winter Vic!

Zoo Lights!

Marit introduced me to the Lincoln Zoo Lights on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It was a perfect night to check them out too...cool enough for me to want a hat but warm enough that I didn't need to wear my snowsuit. We went with Marit's sister Lisa and her Aunt Sig. We kicked the night off by doing something a little crazy...got tattoos!

You didn't let me finish....I got a penguin and Marit got a gingerbread man...and yes, they were temporary:-)

I took a picture of just the ice sculpture (which is of the Chicago skyline) first but Marit said I needed have someone in the picture pointing to the subject. This one did not quite work out all that well though...the subject of this picture is NOT that girl's head:-)

Gym beauties

Alli and I joined Galter Last week and felt we needed a before shot. I know...it's hard to believe these two beauties feel they need to work out....but it's true:-)

These of course were NOT taken on one of the days that we decided to work out BEFORE work. We aren't so pretty OR pleasant at that time...but it does make my day seem to go better:-)

Fun in Wisconsin...

Marit and I decided we needed to take advantage of the gorgeous day it was on Thanksgiving and take a walk. We hung around at the house for awhile and played some frisbee with Andrew (Marit's brother) then we headed out to explore Saukville, WI.

First stop...a house that had a snowmobile for sale. We got some weird looks from the people that were inside the house watching us, but whatever....Marit was interested in making a purchase and wanted to try it out first. Is that a problem? We saw this bar on the way into town the night before and thought it was such a clever name...."Why Be Dry Saloon". Sadly, it was closed that day :-( Maybe we'll take another trip up there soon to visit the friendly neighborhood bar.
Uhhhh....we're not doing anything.We thought that this nativity scene needed a little more life ;-)

You would think that a church would be sure to include an angel here...but apparently not...Marit's just helping them out.No, she is NOT trying to steal Him....what kind of young people do you think we are?!

It was just asking to be sat on.

Thanksgiving with the Newlins

The Newlins were kind enough to invite me to spend Thanksgiving with them this year:-) We had so much fun and it really made me realize just how much I value Marit's friendship. They were so welcoming and FUN! Both Marit and I have been taught that the cook doesn't do the dishes...so obviously we didn't do any cooking that weekend:-) We spent Thanksgiving Day eating....ALL day! Everything was delicious...much like dinner at home except with some

new-to-me Norweigan traditions added :-)

Good food...great company!

Some quality mother-daughter time:-)