Well, it’s all over. I spent around 9 days in Chicago in the last two weeks and it was a trip to remember. It didn’t snow and stayed above 30 degrees! I decided to enjoy my break and I took limited pictures but here are a few highlights.

I arrived in Chicago a few days before Christmas. The first few days were filled with errand running (the orthodontist, because I’m secretly 13 years old), helping my Dad shop for my Mom (her big gift was a charitable donation but I helped with some smaller things and was happy to accompany him), and catching up with my friends.

My oldest friends and I had a “throwback” night: we went to one of our favorite restaurants from high school and then we bar hopped. The bar hopping wasn’t something we did in high school. I promise Mom.

You might remember Claire and Brenna from the marathon and Katherine came in town too. It was great to be back with my old crew. We had a lot to celebrate and, as usual, we had an awesome time.

Christmas Eve and Christmas were pretty typical of my family. What I Wore, Christmas Edition… for those of you who like to see my mother’s flawless decorations in the background (please ignore my disorganized clutter).

Black turtle neck from H&M, J Crew a-line red and white skirt with buttons, black patent leather heels and black gulp spanx. My mother let me borrow her spanx. I have been skeptical of spanx in the past. As a 24 year old size 4 I didn’t really see the need for it but I have to give it to these spanx. I was totally sucked in and it allowed me to button my skirt after my insanely indulgent meal.

Speaking of the meal, Christmas Eve consisted of an EPIC meal: prosciutto pizza, duck confeit with quince jam, filet minion with mushrooms and a twice baked potato and date cake. I actually had to unbutton my skirt in the car on the way to church #Don’tJudge. After dinner we went to church.

Christmas morning was mellow. We slept in, ate a fantastic French toast recipe that my Mom got from a friend who reads my blog (it was delicious!), amazing bacon and a blood orange salad. We also walked to Starbucks, watched Season 1 of Dallas with Dad (I’m hooked!) and had Barefoot’s Veggie provincial soup.

We also gave Wally, our golden retriever, his Christmas present: a gingerbread house.

It was total domination.

Then we went to my Grammy’s house for ham sandwiches, beans, a fantastic slaw my Mom made and vino- my selection was Layer Cake Malbec, one of my all time favorites. My cousins from Denver came into town on Christmas night and it was great catching up with them.

The rest of the trip was a total whirlwind! We went to Second City with my cousins, I went shopping and scored some major deals with my friend Hayley (who is a 1L! Yay law school students), participated in a family bocce ball tournament, had dinner in the city with a great friend (recap coming), and had breakfast with my god father! I feel like the second half of my trip went by in a minute.

I came back to the land of flip flops and palm trees yesterday afternoon and I was greeted with sunshine and 75 degree temperatures. It made me want to give Los Angeles a big hug. School doesn’t start for another 10 days and I plan of keeping it very chill. I’m still exhausted from traveling and I just want to read books & the New York Times, see movies, catch up on TV (I’ve become hopelessly addicted to Revenge), drink coffee, follow Iowa caucus coverage, cook, workout and blog. I have already roasted an eggplant over an open flame and bought a $15 piece of fish. Oh yes there are some amazing posts to come!

How was your Christmas?