Christmas CD • 12.23.09
here’s what i’m listening to this christmas season. you can click the picture (playlist) below to download a zip file of all the songs.
Christmas Playlist
chicago trip winter ’09 • 12.13.09
lil and i headed out west, er midwest for her christmas party in chicago. it’s an interesting affair. my personal highlight from the party, someone saying “i thought he should be a good guy. i met him at a meeting of chicago supporters of the republican party.” that had followups that i am unwilling to print online, but needless to say, it got pretty surreal. anyway, we had a good time at the party and then set out to enjoy the weekend. now is a good time to mention that i got to eat at potbelly’s. i love potbelly’s. i did not, however, get to eat at either Giordano’s or Geno’s East.
anyway, back to the posting. so we stopped by the building formerly known as the sears tower. i knew sears wasn’t selling as many kenmores as they once did, and that they old sears catalogue building is a delapidated gov’t building on ponce, but i hadn’t realized they had pawned the tallest building in america.
when we went by the building, it was on our way to lou mitchell’s. FABULOUS breakfast place. light fluffy pancakes and omelets and fresh squeezed oj that reminded me of spain. good stuff. it’s out just a bit south of the river if anyone cares.
i refuse to call a national landmark the “willis tower”, as the only willis i’ve ever known was related to arnold and mr drummond. so, i decided to make it the lillis tower…..see below.
here’s what salvador dali would think chicago looks like.
so, lillis insisted on getting a pic of me on the way into the nutcracker. joffrey ballet by the way. very impressive.
here lillis looks at one of the window displays in the marshall fields building – yes, i know they’ve changed the name, but i refuse to acknowledge it. they had a great big tree and some giant dangly ornaments inside.
this was either a sundial or a prop from an x-men movie. not sure. regardless, this pic is from the planetarium, looking back at the city.
being in other cities makes me reflect on just how much i really love cities, and specifically, living in the city. i love walking outside and being presented with parks and restaurants and stores and such. it feels vibrant. i remember from my early years at andersen consulting, the first time i got to experience living in “real” city areas. san francisco or dc or any number of other places where you could walk to so many neat things. it felt like something that i had never known that i really wanted. that feeling has become a nostalgia of sorts over the last couple of months as lillis and i have begun to consider taking advantage of interest rates to go ahead and buy a house that we could raise kids in. for the last 9 years i have had 20 restaurants within 1/2 mile of my house. my backyard is one of the largest city parks in the US. i have 2 theaters, a concert hall, the botanical gardens and a major museum all less than a 5 minute walk away. i can hop on a train and go anywhere. we have green markets and concerts and festivals just outside our door. i really do love our life, and it will be very difficult (whenever it is) to leave that behind.
after walking down to the end of the promontory and back, we ducked into the shedd acquarium. really great acquarium with a ton of really neat stuff. here lillis kisses an eel.
no worse than what she has to kiss on any other normal day 🙂
we did have a really great time this trip. one of the highlights for sure was eating at mercat a la planxa. tremendous tapas place at the south end of the north loop. we ate there before heading to the jazz showcase (which was a very good, relaxed jazz club). couldn’t recommend it enough! it really made me feel like i was back in barcelona
the next day we got delayed a little bit coming home, but still got back in time to get some pizza with my volleyball team that i’ll be coaching this winter/spring. it was a long weekend, but a very very fun one. we hadn’t gotten to take any trips in quite a while, so it was really great to “get out.” one thing i will say, though, is that while chicago is a great city, i don’t see any way that it compares to nyc at christmas time. lil and i haven’t been up to new york together in a couple of years. we need to make that happen next year.
and so this is christmas • 12.24.08
hello and merry christmas from the breland family; currently consisting of charles, lillis and a stuffed elephant named “big al.” it has been an amazing year. since the last dec 25, lillis and i got to spend 3 days in nyc together
we went skiing in park city,
i had the guys in for a weekend to watch baseball and be goofy, lil and i took another trip to costa rica,
we went to texas for a week after the engagement
and then i got to go to southeast asia for 2 1/2 weeks
and nyc with brad a week after that.
we each did our bachelor/bachelorette weekends in key largo
and then we had a wonderful wedding here
and got to go to st lucia for our honeymoon
and chicago the next weekend. all fabulous stuff.
the year was not without difficulty, however. volleyball was MUCH more demanding this year. counting the out of town tournaments (which had me in indianapolis, minneapolis, birmingham, and huntsville, and chattanooga) i spent in excess of 400 hours with my team between jan 1 and the end of may. throw in small group on mondays, pre-marital counseling, and a few other things, and lillis and i got to just “spend time” together maybe twice every 10 days. it was a little overwhelming (at one point, i had a trip 11 out of 13 weekends in a row), but we persevered.
in may, our schedules lightened up and we buckled down with our pre-engagement counseling (which was a wonderful growth experience for us) and on july 5th (after i had dragged her a mile back into the blue ridge woods and got her shoes muddy and subjected her to attack by yellow flies) she said “YES!”
i subsequently left the country and we tried to plan a wedding over skype with me in asia. she started a new job the day before i returned and i found out that i would be out of a job at choicepoint with the merger about a week later. SOOOO, after 8 weeks of EXTREME stress with us planning a wedding, lil having to move her belongings TWICE, studying for the series 65 (which was certainly a shadow on lil for the past 3 months), brad and i shooting our first wedding and me looking for work; i landed at OfficeArrow. since the return from the honeymoon, we’ve been focused on work, getting ready for the holidays and getting lillis past the exam (WHICH SHE PASSED ON MONDAY!!!!). now, we’re just ready for ’09 and beginning to figure out what “normal” married life looks like. i know, those who have been married for a while say “there’s no such thing,” but i can’t think of any scenario where this year isn’t a more relaxed one than last….if nothing else, at least i shouldn’t have to plan any more weddings.
thank you all for the gifts that you have been to both of us (and i am especially appreciative of how many of you have embraced and encouraged lillis) and we wish you every happiness in the coming year. we are blessed to have so many wonderful friends who care so deeply for us. and again, without further adieu, the christmas card.
