Cheesy Lights and Fancy French Food

Last week we had the Second Annual Cheesy Light Display & Fancy French Holiday Dinner Extravaganza with SACLDFFHD Chairman Steve and Jeremy, the H's and the Stierwalts. We started off at Lincoln Park Zoo for ZooLights. The zoo looked great--pretty lights with just the right amount of cheese. Jody had his trusty flask and, despite my germ concerns, the boys warmed up with some Woodford.

We then headed over to Mon Ami Gabi in the Belden-Stafford for a yummy French dinner of steak frites for Jody and me. I hadn't had steak since Valentine's Day (a.k.a. the night I went into labor), so that was a treat--but really I just wanted the frites! The building's lobby and the restaurant were all decorated for Christmas, which added to the whole night. Mon Ami Gabi is such a cozy and lively spot--perfect for hanging out with a larger group. We've all had a pretty eventful 2009, with three new babies and all, so I think we needed a good night out to just catch up and celebrate. It was a really nice night with good food, good wine and great friends!

Hanukkah Hat

Zoe's first Hanukkah started out in style with this rockin' new hat from Grandma. Now our little fashionista is a much happier and more stylish camper on our frigid Charlie walks every day!

Designer Duds on a Dime

Ever since losing the baby weight I have been having a major jeans crisis. None of my jeans look right on me and they just hang all wrong. So I finally bit the bullet and splurged on a pair of designer jeans. I headed to the Joe's Jeans boutique in Bucktown and spent way too much time and money finding the perfect pair. I was thrilled to finally have jeans that actually looked good.

The next day, however, I had some buyer's remorse. I could not believe that I dropped almost $200 on one pair of jeans. It didn't seem right. So I spent the next two days during Zoe's naps doing some serious internet surfing to find my new jeans for less. And all that time suckage paid off.

Enter HauteLook--a web site perfect for your inner recessionista. The site has daily sales on designer clothes, shoes, handbags, fragrances, makeup, etc. And the sales are unbelievable, offering anywhere from 30%-70% off of the different items. The day I stumbled on the site, they were having a sale on Joe's Jeans, so I was able to get my new jeans for a fraction of the cost (just $76). The jeans arrived this week and I'm even happier with them than before. My only complaint with HauteLook is that your color options are a bit limited, so I couldn't choose my first choice for the wash. But whatever for $76 I'll wear the darker wash proudly.

If you're interested in checking out HauteLook, click on the link above for an invitation to join and start getting sweet deals on designer goodies.

Giving Thanks

Cheerios and jammies party

We have so much to be thankful for, and even though we don't really need Thanksgiving to remind us of that, it is still my all-time favorite holiday. A lot of that has to do with the fact that it is usually the only time all year that my whole family is together. This year we all spent the longLabor Day weekend here in Chicago, so we were due to have two full family weekends for 2009. Unfortunately, Josh got really sick the day before Thanksgiving this year and didn't make it to Ann Arbor this year. It was so sad without him there and he was greatly missed. This is the first Thanksgiving that we haven't all been together in as long as I can remember.

Despite missing Josh, the long weekend up there was nice. I was a little nervous doing so much back-to-back travelling with Zoe. But, she was a champ. She loved being up there and surrounded by so many people. She was especially happy playing with Edin and Adam. She couldn't take her eyes off them--and seemed to want to do whatever they were doing. Watching the three of them together was awesome. It's so fun that they are all relatively close in age and will have lifelong play pals in each other. Edin and Adam were great with Zoe--so sweet and so funny!

Aside from the Turkey Trot and going to a movie one day (New Moon!), the weekend was pretty mellow--just the way I like it. Even though travelling with a baby is not the easiest thing in the world, my parents' house is still one of the only places that I truly relax.

Makaboo

Adorable baby stuff alert! My sister's friend, Cindy, just launched an awesome personalized baby business called Makaboo. She has a storefront in St. Louis, and she just set up her e-commerce site this week. Check it out at http://www.makaboo.com/.

We loved the personalized gifts we got when Zoe was born. There's something so sweet about seeing your new baby's name creatively embroidered on a little burpie cloth or blankie. So when Ean was born, I was eager to get Jason and Heather something personalized. I got in touch with Cindy and she helped me pick out a beautiful (and uber-soft) blue blankie. After I chose the thread color and the adorable winking monkey logo, we were good to go. (Check out baby model Ean snuggling up to his cuddly Makaboo blankie.)

Makaboo also has burp cloths, hoodies, pillows, onsies, lovies and more. So next time you're looking for a cute baby gift with a personal touch, try Makaboo.

Turkey Trot

This Thanksgiving my sister and I decided to do the Ann Arbor 5K Turkey Trot. Bonnie (Jody's aunt) told me that she was going to do a Turkey Trot in Palos this year and that inspired me to look into races in A2. I've never done a race before, so I figured a 5K would be a good way to start. Plus, doing it with my sister would be really fun.

The day before Thanksgiving I started getting a really bad sore throat and cough. But, Lisa convinced me to stay strong and promised that we'd just take it easy on the run. On race day, I felt a little better, and Lisa again assured me it was all good.

Anyway, long story short, my dear, sweet big sister totally ditched me. We had only gone like a half mile and she just slowly started creeping ahead of me. Didn't even warn me, just started running faster. She gave me a little smile and then, poof, she was gone. Who knew she was so competitive?! Anyway, I stopped being mad at her once I lost sight of her and enjoyed the race solo. I just wish I would have brought my iPod. There was an older woman dressed up as a turkey -- yellow tights with a brown leotard with feathers glued all over it -- running in front of me that kept me entertained and motivated. My whole goal was to beat the turkey lady, which I totally did.

I was pretty happy with my time: 29:28, a 9:29 mile pace. I placed 27th out of 67 in my age group. Even with her major betrayal, Lisa beat me by less than a minute. Her time: 28:41, a 9:14 mile pace. She placed 21st out of 67 in our age group. My own little victory? Next year, Lisa won't even be in my age group!

All in all, it was really fun to run in my first race, get the cute T-shirt and be able to eat a huge Thanksgiving dinner sans guilt. I think Lisa and I are going to make this an annual tradition. Next year, I'll just remember to bring my iPod.

Mazal Tov

The man of the hourAdam rockin' the finest plastic fedora on the dance floor

Us

Edin looking way cool in her party dress

Mona on the chair (so ladylike, with her legs crossed the whole time)

My mom and her siblings in their signature Ellis pose

The Klatsky crew

We've been totally MIA on the blog lately, so I'm going to try to catch up a bit. These past couple weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind with plenty of travel and loads of family time.

A couple weekends ago we headed to D.C. for my cousin Paul's Bar Mitzvah. It was a great trip. Paul was fantastic! So poised up there and chanting his Torah and Haftorah portion like a pro. We were all quite impressed. Mazal Tov, Paul! We're so proud of you.

The weekend went by way too fast and was such a good time. We stayed with the Lisa and her fam and it was awesome for Zoe to get to know her cousins. And, we got to catch up with our cousins, too. My mom's sister and her family (my three other cousins) all came in from New York/New Jersey for the festivities, and it was great to catch up with the Klatsky crew. I hadn't seen my cousins in ages, and Jody and Avi had never even met them before. My cousin Mike and his wife Marie are expecting their first baby next summer, so it was fun talking baby/pregancy with them and giving them a slight taste of what they're in for. It was so nice to see everyone. Hopefully we won't wait so many years before getting together again!