Holiday Happenings

Hey everyone! We hope you all had great a holiday; we sure did! Ben and I started our Christmas celebration a couple of weekends ago with an overnight trip at the newly opened Trump Hotel. It was spectacular! On Saturday we checked into our room and I got a massage at the beautiful Trump Spa. Luckily, The Trump Himself wasn't my masseuse. I have to say, the Trump is the most luxurious hotel we've been to and the service is amazing. Plus, their bath and body products are the best; seriously, I want to buy them!

Our room at the Trump.

Later that day, we got into the holiday spirit by wandering around the annual Christkindle Market in the Loop (a German festival) and up and down State Street to check out the store windows all decked out with holiday displays. There were huge snowflakes falling and lights everywhere, so we really got into the Christmas mood.

German dancers at the Christkindle Market

Outside of Macy's

That night, we met Ben's coworkers for drinks at Rebar, which overlooks the Chicago River in the Trump Tower, and then had a fabulous seafood meal at a Hawaiian restaurant called Roy's, followed by drinks at Martini Park. Ben was still feelin' the vacation love for Tom Collins, and he ordered them everywhere we went, but none were quite the same as back at the beach bar in Puerto Plata.

Ben and I stayed here in Chicago this Christmas instead of making the trek back to Iowa, since we had seen everyone several times this fall and winter. It has been really nice just to relax at home, and I think it was a good idea not to drive in the crazy weather, but we do really miss everyone. Staying home allowed for us to try and implement a couple of our own "family" traditions, and so on Christmas Eve, I made an Italian-style chili (and yes, the recipe is from Esquire men's magazine, ha ha!) and we watched movies.

On Christmas Day we opened our gifts and I made another gluttonous meal for lunch/dinner (Sangria ham, horseradish scalloped potatoes, homeade creamed corn and rolls), with leftovers that will last a week. We also went to a movie. (Anyone noticing a theme here? Do we see movies very often? Can Ben call it "research" for his job? Definitely!) So far over break we've seen "Happy-Go-Lucky", "Four Christmases", "The Wrestler", "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", and "Doubt". I also watched a rerun of "Dirty Dancing" on TV, and it was better (in a cheesy way) than I remember, although I did love it back in the day! You can be sure that we'll be adding more movies to the list as the week progresses.

We were also lucky to have Ben's friend Adam, who lives in Texas, visit us this weekend. While I hit up the post-Christmas sales, the guys spent some quality time bonding over their love for UNI's hometown guy, Kurt Warner (aka The Sultan of Stubble), watching him play for the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Mullen's in Wrigleyville. We also had a pretty fun night out on the town Saturday at Kuma's Corner (check out their insane burger creations) and Stanley's. The guys talked some sense into me and we called it a night before I could talk them into going to Cafe Bong Ho (classy, right?), an old school crazy karaoke hole-in-the-wall place just down the street from our apartment. That could've ended in disaster. Read the reviews to get a clear idea of this place!

Adam, Ben, and Katy

Now I've got the whole week in front of us until I go back to work on January 5th. We accomplished one of my goals for the break, which was to try Vietnamese food. We live somewhat close to an area with a large Vietnamese population, and so I've been wanting to try one of the restaurants there for awhile. It was really good. Ben and I both ordered pho, which is a broth-based soup, to which you add a bunch of fresh vegetables on top. My new cold winter fave.

Pho sure!

Our friends Jenny and Bill are also coming down from Milwaukee to ring in the New Year with us. Ben and I have never really gone all out for NYE, but we've decided this is the year for something exciting. We'll be celebrating at a German place called DANK Haus, with a wild night of live music by a punk-rock polka band, The Polkaholics. Hmm...interesting!

Happy New Year! Behave yourselves!