Holiday Spirit, I Missed You So...

This weekend was THE definition of the holiday season, if ever there was one. It couldn't have come at a better time, considering I haven't been getting into the Christiemas spirit as much as would be typical for any given year. I'm not sure why... I mean, I'm following the standard protocol... you know, listening to Christiemas music, watching Christiemas movies, talking up Christiemas for all the world to hear...

Anyway! All better now! This weekend was just what I needed to kick my butt into holiday gear. First up? A holiday party. But not just any holiday party, folks... this holiday party was hosted by the one, the only...

PURVI MODY!!! (Weeeeee!!!! First blog post shout-out, by name!!!!! Congratulations!!! This is exactly what the holiday season is ABOUT!!!)

Purvi is one of those people that is simply MADE to host parties. She has a gorgeous apartment (complete with gorgeous views) and, quite frankly, her love for the holidays is actually quite comparable to mine. When she'd described her apartment's holiday decorations (complete with a tree and a Christiemas VILLAGE?!?!?), I KNEW I was not going to be disappointed by her holiday party. I'd been counting down the days since I got the invite (yes, it's been a full two weeks. But whatever.).

As soon as I arrived, I was in heaven. Any party that holds a Christiemas tree filled with cupcakes galore is MY KINDA PARTAY!


Clearly, the cupcake tree was quite the hot commodity of this holiday party. Of course, there were plenty of other delicious treats to be had throughout the night...


But of course, believe it or not, there was more to the party than the delectable treats (so I tend to lose focus pretty easily- sue me). I think the BEST thing about this holiday party was the widely varying groups of people that Purvi brought together... despite everyone's completely different personalities and backgrounds, the party was a huge hit! New friends were being made right and LEFT!



Sure, the open bar might've had something to do with it, but you know what? Whatever gets people in that holiday SPIRIT. In short, the evening totally emblemized what the holiday season was all about, in my opinion.

So, you would think Saturday night would have been plenty to satiate my holiday palate. But no, no, no. That was just the start. Sunday turned into a full day of holiday festivities as WELL!

First up, brunch. My favorite meal of the day... sigh. A few of us decided to try this new place in the South Loop called "Waffles". As soon as I entered this place, I was sold.


Please note the ginormous Christiemas tree hovering in the left corner of the shot... strategic, if you will. :) Waffles is a fairly new restaurant in the South Loop... while I always get super excited about new brunch spots, I have to say Waffles was just... okay. I mean, I'd go there again if needed, but it's definitely not a place that I would be seeking out on a regular basis.

Oh well. Brunch is brunch and you can't go wrong when you have good friends all around, right? Right.

After brunch, Urmi, Joyce and I ended up walking all the way up Michigan Avenue, with a slight pit stop filled with holiday merriment...


Gah!!! Sooooo cozyyyyy!!! I love, love, LOVE people watching at an ice rink! So many different kinds of people, so many different skating styles... good times.

After the brief pit stop, we kept on heading north up Michigan, and finally just ended up holing up at Grand Lux Cafe to warm up with some cozy beverages because, quite frankly, we were COLD.


Heaven. Pure heaven.

After loitering in Grand Lux for a solid couple of hours (it's amazing how some good old-fashioned gossiping can make the time magically FLY BY!), Urmi ended up meeting another friend to go shopping while Joyce and I headed to another friend's place for, of all things, a tree trimming party!!!!!

It was the first one I'd ever been to, so I didn't really know what to expect. Honestly, I figured it was just going to be a couple of hours, where people just hung around a tree, stuck a couple of ornaments on, and moved along their merry way.

Umm... I was so very wrong. This party was LE-GIT. First off, the tree that Vidhya had gotten was HUGE...


No wonder she needed a whole party to decorate this thing! But first things first...


Check out that SPREAD! If you think that holiday spread was going to go very long without being dug into, you are sadly mistaken. That dish that's totally front and center? No photographic mistake, my friends. Who knew beet dip could be so tasty and delicious? I swear, this stuff is like CRACK... and now totally one of my new favorite foods. Ever.

Anyway! After a fair amount of time just standing around chit-chatting and eating, we got right to work...



The final product?


Voila!! Holiday magic!!!!! lakdsjflkasjdflkajsdflkj! Come on, you have to admit- just LOOKING at that tree is enough to put any ol' Scrooge in the holiday spirit, RIGHT?! Right.

Sigh. As I was cabbing back to my place, mentally preparing for the work week ahead of me, I couldn't help but think about how HAPPY this weekend just made me. This is what the holiday season is all ABOUT!!! It is, after all, the most wonderful time of year...

Alright! Now that my spirit is back, I'm totally off to start writing this year's rendition of 'Twere the Weeks Before Christiemas...

Welcome back, holiday spirit, welcome BACK!

spanx and fried chicken

with a title like that, you KNOW that im only like the most dainty and ladylike person ever. now i know what you all must be thinking... what in the WORLD could those two things possibly have in common?

easy peasy. they are only two of my most favorite things. ever.

and that is probably the ONLY thing that those two things have in common. haha.

this idea for a post came up earlier this week, when my team at work and i went out for lunch at grand lux (which is basically the same thing as cheesecake factory... a TON of options and HUMONGOUS portions). anyway, it had been a while since i had been out for a big lunch so why NOT go all out? and i'd never had the fried chicken platter at grand lux before and GOD, for some reason, fried chicken sounded so tempting that day. how was i supposed to know that they were going to be bringing out like a whole bucket of chicken... plus mashed potatoes... plus cole slaw? this is not my problem. it's not like i ASKED them for six sizable pieces of chicken plus enough mashed potatoes to feed a small family plus cole slaw (which i don't eat anyway... it's vegetables, isn't it?). anyway, i was quite excited to dig right in. but i could only get so far as 1.5 pieces of the fried chicken and a couple of bites of mashed potatoes. okay, granted i have a small appetite. but i really think that, typically, fried chicken would fall into the exception to that rule category. not that day, though. why not? because that day, my dear friends, that day... i'd decided to wear my spanx to the office.

now, don't get me wrong. i dont wear my spanx on an everyday basis. they are much too constricting for regular use. but that day, i'd decided to wear the spanx to the office, to suck in my stomach after a big lunch just the day before. sigh. oh the science behind the spanx, really. anyway, MAN. it was all very disappointing just how restrictive the spanx turned out to be for my fried chicken feast. i just couldn't FIT the fried chicken anywhere between the sucking in of the spanx.

so. spanx + fried chicken + me? really? are you surprised? many are when they first find out, actually. however...

okay, the spanx we'll get to in a second. let's start with the fried chicken bit. GOD I LOVE FRIED CHICKEN. hahahah. i guess you guys were expecting something a little bit more substantive than that. oh well. what're you going to do? here's the thing- it's not like i eat fried chicken everyDAY or anything. in fact, i probably eat it like once or twice a year, if that. however, it's one of those things that i truly do relish on the rare occasions that i consume it. and yes, i'm DEFINITELY one of those people who would just eat the skin if i could because, i mean, really, the meat part of the fried chicken is just not that exciting to me... not like the breaded, deep fried goodness that only the skin could provide... yum, im salivating just thinking of it. haha.

next, let's discuss the wonders and glories of SPANX. have you heard of these things? if you are a woman, you most definitely should have heard of it by now. if you are a guy... well, ive tried to do my part to educate some of the guys i know about the wonders and glories of this invention, but i think they simply get uncomfortable. haha. sigh. it's that whole inability to develop a filter that really gets me, sometimes. but whatever. openness and honesty and all that, right? right. anyway, spanx are basically this garment that kind of looks like pantyhose but is SO much more magical than pantyhose. they literally hit at your ribcage and go to mid-thigh and literally suck you in to a model-like form. well, kind of, but whatever you get the idea. did you know that beyonce wears TWO layers of spanx at LEAST when she's performing? and oprah wears spanx everyDAY?! okay, granted i dont go that far (i cant AFFORD multiple layers of spanx... it's expensive for magical undergarments... and i cant even imagine feeling that constricted on a daily basis, let's be honest), but i must admit that the times i do wear the spanx, i have this restored confidence in myself. haha. oh who am i kidding? im fairly self-confident as it is. but i think for me, the most magical part of the spanx is that it really helps with my posture, for some reason. i dont think they're designed to do so, but i do find myself sitting up straighter, more "naturally" throwing my shoulders back... haha well, whatever. ill stop providing way too much detail.

anyway, there you have it, my friends. just another day, just another blog post, just another divulge of way too much information... welcome to the maliyacular at. its. finest.