my thanksgiving break

My Thanksgiving Eve I spent frantically scanning my artwork onto my computer so that I would be able to apply for TA positions, then I ventured out into the dreary weather to have another cultural eating tour with my friends Esau and Mary-Claire.  Not quite as epic as last time, but we managed to eat many things, including: fried calamari, the flaming Greek cheese stuff (blanking on the name!), spinach-feta pie, roasted leg of lamb, and of course baklava!  There may have been some red wine involved. 

I awoke early the next morning to fly to New York, very excited to see my family!  My mother was sick the day before Thanksgiving, so I wasn't sure if her, my sister and father, would even be making an appearance since they had to drive the 6 hours from Vermont.  It truly would have been sad if they couldn't have made it, but luckily Mama G was feeling good on T-Day morning, and we all joined together at my cousins house to stuff our faces!  I wish I was so lucky to have a family that prepared most food from scratch, but unfortunately most of my dinner was store bought or ordered from a bakery.  I guess my cousin has an excuse because she's a full-time elementary school teacher and she has 2 1/2 year old twin boys....but I always like my deserts to be homemade personally.  Oh well.  Standouts of the day: my uncle cooked an amazing turkey, and his stuffing was outstanding as well.  I went back for seconds for both of those, and I honestly don't like turkey very much, so that's says a lot about the deliciousness.

The next day we went to a hockey game, and Saturday into the city.  My dad and I went to the MoMA, and yes, I took pictures of some art.  Kinda lame?  Probably.  I'll post some here eventually.

I was supposed to meet up with friends, but everyone bailed, so I ended up going back into the city on my own on Sunday afternoon.  My goal:  Top Shop.  Top Shop is a small present I make to myself once a year, because I don't generally spend as much money on clothes of their prices.  But it is Top Shop, it is British, and I love it.  I never bought a thing there when I was in London because all the prices were double our dollar anyways....so I guess I've been making up for lost...money?  It was a very successful Top Shop occasion.  After that I wandered over to Little Italy, which really is quite little, only about 3 blocks, smack in the middle of Chinatown, and got a mini cannoli.  Necessary after days of cheesecake, obviously.  Then I took the subway up to Bryant Park to check out the holiday shops.  It's behind the New York Public Library, and there was a skating rink packed with about 200 people skating in a circle. 

It was nice to visit another city, after being in Chicago for a few months.  And at moments I found myself comparing the two places...which do I like better?  Hmmmm.  However, I am very happy to be back in Chicago!