New Landscapes

 Okay, these pictures are from Thanksgiving but I don't care! I still wanted to post them!

I was so lucky this year to spend Thanksgiving in Arizona with my mom's side of the family. My Aunt Maureen and Uncle Bill had their hands full with 11 guests and 4 dogs. Amazing! We did a lot of hanging out around the house and just spending time together. It is not very often that we're in one place on the holidays.

Here is my beautiful little sister, Olivia:

And Grandpa with his apple pie skillz..

We went for a little hike/walk around the neighborhood- totally different from Colorado! My little brother Jimmy wanted to find some "specimens" to take home, hence the plastic glove. You never know what you're gonna find out there:

My awesome Aunt Maureen! She is the hostess with the most-ess and an amazing cook!

Aunt Sarah came all the way from Minnesota to hang out with us! Love her!

Oh and did I mention there was a pool? Definitely not used to going swimming on Thanksgiving but I'll take it! This is where we spent the majority of our time.

Sitting around the table with family is the best. Jimmy came up with these crazy games every night at dinner. The first night, we did eenie meenie minie moe around the table and if Jimmy landed on us, that meant we got to put a napkin on our head- signifying that we would not be going to hell (idk). My sister Rachael was the one who ended up without the napkin on her head- very sad.

On Thanksgiving, we all got a little show when each of the kids sat on Uncle Bill's lap as he acted as a ventriloquist and the kids were the puppets. I broke out some black eye-liner for the occasion. Jimmy even wrote the scripts: 

Oh, and Bill and Maureen have Yorkies! Meet Dixie! Stella's cousin :)

Thanks Olivia :)

Fancy Pants

This year was our second annual tradition of high tea with Grandma! What can I say? We like to be fancy and the Brown Palace is one of the fanciest places in Denver. It made us feel rich.

Rachael and Grandma- who looks thrilled to be there!

Grandma and I

I know it doesn't look like much but they give you as many three tiered plates of goodies as you can possibly consume in one sitting. The bottom plate has warm and fresh scones that you put lemon curd, cream, and jam on. The middle plate is filled with teeny tiny sandwiches with the crusts cut off! Yes! The top plate has itty bitty desserts which I didn't get a decent picture of because the thing was so freakin' tall.

I highly recommend it!

Gloomy Skies and Fun Times

 I swear this is the last post on Chicago. I bet you're all thinking, "Enough already! I'm sick of it! SICK OF IT" 

Well, too bad. I've got a few more up my sleeve so here you go:

The saucy Marilyn Monroe. Who played on air vents and didn't get in trouble.

 Don't ask

The chips that I later gave to a homeless man and the Chicago dog that was delicious.



We had a few extra hours to kill so we stopped in the Art Institute for a little while and I'm so glad we did! Not only am I still getting away with using my student ID for discounts, I also got to see some great works of art I never thought I would in real life.

Seurat's  A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

Van Vogh's Self Portrait (the 1887 one... in case you were wondering)

Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles

Monet!

I kept thinking "Who is this man? His beard is very sensual." I can't remember the artist, but if you want to zoom in and find out that's fine with me. I would prefer it to be a mystery.

A model by the architect, Bertrand Goldberg, of my favorite buildings in Chicago, Marina City. You can LIVE there! Who wouldn't want to?! (Not actually there- what is that? A city for ants? No, there's actual buildings)
I got in trouble for taking this picture so I hope you appreciate it.

The end.

Chicago in the Fall

Chicago continued!

Several weeks later!

We got to spend a whole day just walking around the city. Here's a little preview:


The autumn colors

Dad and I were lured in by the "free art" at the Art Institute. Sadly, this is all we found.

The beautiful skyline

This is the "Chicago of the Future" club.

Native grasses of Illinois

But it looks fun!

There was a lot of cabbage and kale used as decoration which I thought was lovely and edible. I wondered why all of the homeless people didn't just eat that, it has a lot of vitamins, right? I did lay an uneaten bag of potato chips by a sleeping homeless man though. Just doing my part.

Looks fun and cold at the same time.

Wha?!? Really? Back in the day I guess.

They all look bronze-ish to me...