Week at Home - Update!
I'm home! I've actually been here the better part of a week, but as busy doesn't begin to describe it, I haven't had the chance to post.
My flight arrived Saturday afternoon without incident, which is exactly how I like things. The hour in the security line at LAX was not unexpected, and therefore not altogether infuriating or anything. I met some nice folks on the flight who gave me their number "just in case," since my family is not in California with me. We also watched The Notebook, which I enjoyed as much as the first time I saw it. I cried. Again.
Saturday night was the annual collective birthday party, this time at Meg's. I felt bad in not really helping with much of the planning (basically just showed up...), but Em and Meg did a wonderful job and it was much fun. We went dancing at the Living Room, which was almost a wedding-reception-like atmosphere (old people gettin' down!). Good times were had in boogying to the oldies. Then some of us went to Fox and Hound for drinks, where we avoided being picked up by a group of young punks. Silly boys.
Sunday was filled with doing things around the house, and then Finding Neverland with Tammy. Great movie. I laughed, I cried, and I was amazed once again by the depth of Johnny Depp's acting abilities. Love.
Sunday night, I finally gave in to the exhaustion caused by four hours of sleep, followed by a late night partying, followed closely by housework and movies and I fell asleep about 8pm, to awake at 10 am the next morning. Fourteen hours, baby!
On Monday, Mom and I went to meet my godmother at Oakbrook for lunch and a bit 'o shopping. How cruel is it to take someone acclimated to a southern California climate and drop them into an outdoor mall in Chicago during winter? Brrrr. Got home from shopping (and arguing my Sprint bill... finally, finally got that taken care of!) and headed back out to the mall, this time with Dad. He needed some guidance on an appropriate gift for Mom.
Tuesday was a bright and early morning, during which I went to Naperville to visit the old coworkers at the bank. I had business to do, too, in changing my address and closing my old checking account. I visited with people for about an hour and a half, and then pointed my (borrowed) car toward Addison and Theresa's. We went for lunch at the Indian place (I loved it; she did not), and then back to her house for a bit. Went back home for about an hour before Meghan picked me up and we made our way to Milwaukee to see Em.
The three of us, Meg, Em and I, had dinner at a yummy Italian place called Louise's. We then went back to Em's apartment (way cute!), where we met up with Frank and headed out to a bar for some drinks. We went to an Irish pub that had live music played by a lovely Irishman. I was hoping I could find him online to see if he had some sort of CD (he mostly covered familiar songs, but there was one Irish song he snuck into his second set that gave me hope of an outside recording), but I was unsuccessful. Boo. After the bar, Meg and I headed back home to good old Illinois.
Wednesday was really the day of housework! I got up early and went to not one, but two grocery stores. I came home and cooked, cleaned, and watched the rain turn to snow before my very eyes. I thought for sure it wouldn't stick, but as the afternoon wore on, I began to realize that the world was turning white. Poor Jessica's usually-three-hour drive home from school was stretched to more than six hours. Mom and I decided to meet her in the Woodfield area for dinner, as it would cut at least 20 minutes from her trip. It took us an hour to get there. An hour to Woodfield! It's usually no more than 15 minutes. Crazy! We ate, and then Jessica and I went into the mall to purchase birthday gifts for Dad. Made it in under the wire this time.
Today, Thanksgiving, was quite nice. One family of relatives didn't make it out of Kansas City (they were to be driving, but the weather got in the way... boo!), and another family was delayed many hours. Instead of a 9:30 arrival last night, they finally rolled in about 2am this morning. Yikes.
Aside from the family stuck in Missouri, all of my "immediate" relatives were here. We had people in from Wisconsin, Texas, New York, Kansas, and, of course, Illinois. And me, from California. That's weird to think about. The day was nice, dinner was delicious, and the company was grand.
Tomorrow, we're braving the madness and heading downtown to eat under the Christmas tree at Marshall Field's. I hope it's not too too crazy. Meep. Saturday is decorating Grandma's for Christmas, and the big family birthday celebration (covering the five birthdays that occur in a week's time), and Sunday I'll go home.
The week is going by so fast. I haven't been able to slow down or relax, and there are SO many people I wanted to see that I won't be able to. It makes me sad. :( The next trip I make (not counting Christmas, as that will be measured in the number of hours I spend in Illinois) will be more comprehensive, friend-wise.
But my kitty, my sweet, sweet cat, is doing well with his three legs. I miss him so much when I'm not here. I didn't realize how much I love just watching TV with him curled up next to me, and how much I miss it. *sniff*
And now that my nails are dry from my little manicure, I can go to bed.