Schuldt Drive

When December rolls around each year, it's time to start thinking about Christmas gifts for the family.  We had ideas for most of our family, but were having a tough time coming up with something for Eric's mom.  Eric had once done a google search to see if a "Schuldt Street" existed (fyi - Schuldt is our last name) and sure enough, a "Schuldt Drive" did indeed exist AND it was in Illinois!  So we had the idea to go to this Schuldt Drive and take a photo and frame it for his mom.  So one Sunday morning, we got up super early and drove 45 minutes to Lake Zurich, Illinois.  I took about 50 photos from all sorts of angles in hopes that we would find one we loved.  We printed the photo and got it framed just in time for Christmas.  We hope she liked it, pretty crazy that we were able to find this street.  Schuldt isn't the most common name in the world.  Now if we could only find Marcouiller Drive...

View from the South Loop

View of the Trump Tower from the South Loop.  Gorgeous December morning!

C&K's Tree

Kyle and Christina's beautiful Christmas tree - 

Pot Luck Time!

Oh the joys of working in the nonprofit world... instead of a holiday party at the Museum of Science & Industry... you get to have a POT LUCK!  Ha, lucky me, I know.  But it did give me a good excuse to try out another pinterest find. 

Beautiful Macy's

Gorgeous display I would LOVE in my house.

The Walnut Room Christmas Tree.

Deck the Halls

I love working in downtown Chicago, especially during the holidays.  My work building does an amazing job with their holiday decor. This makes it a little bit easier to be working during the holiday season.

Third Rail Bar

Third Rail Tavern - West Loop - Chicago, IL

Go Pack Go

Watching and celebrating a Packer game at Wills... there is absolutely nothing like it.  It is the only Packer bar in Chicago and BOY is it a Packer bar.  Anyone who comes in with Bears gear on, gets immediately booed.  My kind of place.  

I love being amongst so many Packer fans... I feel right at home!  One week I went without any Packer gear on and I got accused of not being a true Packer fan, I will never make this mistake again, ha.  After the first Packers score, cheese and crackers are passed around the bar.  At halftime, numerous door prizes are given away ranging from Packer helmets, shirts, hats and gloves, coolers - you name it.  One weekend, they even gave away an autographed Aaron Rodgers jersey.  You have to arrive at least an hour early to even get a seat and after every Packers touchdown, they play "Bang on the Drum All Day" - aka the Packers touchdown song.
Now if I could only get to a game at Lambeau... but in the meantime, this is the next best thing!

Christkindlmarket

Another successful visit to Christkindlmarket is in the books!  Christkindlmarket is a traditional German holiday market in downtown Chicago during the month of December.   Beautiful ornaments and German Christmas decorations are for sale along with hot chocolate in boots, beer and food - German of course, toys, chocolate candies, and much much more!  We have started a tradition of buying an ornament each year for our tree.  This year, we found one of the Golden Gate bridge to symbolize our week long trip to San Francisco earlier this year.

Brew & View at the Vic

Eric & I finally made it to Brew & View at the Vic!  The Vic is normally a live music venue, but a couple nights each week it transforms to a large movie house!  We saw three movies, yes, you read that right, THREE in a row.  To see a double or triple feature, it is only $5!  But since I am a groupon junkie, I got both of us in the door + 2 popcorns for only $6!  Thank you groupon!

They let you order in food (we tried Cheesies for the first time) and of course, drink - hence, the name.  They change the movies each week, but we just so happen to see: What's Your Number (not so great), Killer Elite (total guy movie), and 50/50 (absolutely amazing and highly suggest).  

Look forward to hopefully getting back to the Vic for a concert in the future.

Just a Parking Garage

Who is lucky enough to have these kind of views from their Best Buy parking garage?  So pretty... I love this city.

December in Chicago?

Is it really December in Chicago?  I can't believe this weather.  When do you ever see Christmas lights on trees with leaves still on them?  You would think it was still October!  

I'm crossing my fingers we aren't in for a rough January, February, March, April...

Trump Christmas

The Trump Tower gets into the Christmas season by lighting up their parking garage in red and green!

(Wrigley Clocktower is in the back)

Work Holiday Party

Eric's work party was held at the Museum of Science and Industry again this year, but we were excited to see the big tree nonetheless.  This year, they have a Grinch theme because they have a Dr. Seuss exhibit going on right now.  The decorations were beautiful, the exhibits were open to walk through, they had a great band playing, and the food and drink were amazing (highlights: potato bar and s'mores!).  There were 50 smaller Christmas trees from around the world (decorated how that country would decorate their trees and their various holiday traditions explained - very cool).  They do a great job with this event.  Excited to see where it will be next year!

 

PS - You won't be seeing photos from my Holiday work party because it was a pot luck lunch!  Ha, got to love the difference between the non-profit and for-porfit worlds...

Christmas in the City

Hotel 71 gets in the holiday spirit.

Marina City residents light up their balconies!

Earlier this month, many of the buildings were lit up pink.  Why pink in December you ask?  Well, sadly, former Mayor Daley's wife Maggie passed away from breast cancer.  It was beautiful to see the city switch from Christmas colors to pink in her memory.

There is this "lightscape" display on State Street right now, these bulbs light up different colors and sing Christmas music, it's kind of wonderful.

Macy's Christmas Trumpets - 

 

Macy's Windows - 

Christkindlmarket Tree on Daley Plaza

Lots of the downtown buildings really get into the spirit with lots of decorations -

This isn't even half of it!  More to come!

First Christmas Tree

So... living in small one bedroom apartments and always headed to Iowa for Christmas... Eric and I have yet to get a Christmas tree of our own... UNTIL THIS YEAR!  We are I am SO EXCITED!  We went to a lot, picked out a good one, threw it in the jeep and headed home.  

Step 1

Step 2 (unshown): Massive trip to Targeto

Step 3: Lights!

Step 4: Garland, Bulbs, and Snowflakes

Still working on finding a perfect ruffle skirt (think I am actually going to try to make one - stepping outside of my box here) and of course the tree top (I've seen about 20 and I still haven't found one I like - any suggestions?)