Well last Sunday began my almost week-long Christmas concert trip to the Chicago-Land area. You know what's funny is I think that only people from Chicago say "Chicago-Land area" when referring to the suburbs surrounding Chicago. Anyhoo....we stayed at the Comfort Inn also formerly known as the Drury Inn. This lovely hotel is nestled right across the street from a fabulous movie theatre, about a mile or two from IKEA and 10 minutes (on foot) from the glorious WOODFIELD MALL! During our 3 full days there, I shopped. The only time I wasn't shopping, I was asleep or at one of our concerts. The shopping was all for a good cause though....it's Christmas you know??!! LOL! In two of my three trips to the Woodfield Mall, I ate at this incredible Sushi joint called TODAI. Get this, it's an all you can eat Sushi Bar! Only in America can you take something as non-fattening as sushi and turn it into a gorge-fest! It was great! LOL....While in Schaumberg, we had a little baby snow storm. It wasn't that much snow, but compared to what we've gotten here in southern IL, it was a blizzard. It was nice to see....especially since I didn't have to drive! The night of the "storm" was also the night that I got to see my Mom and Pops. They came out to the Aurora show which also happened to pay tribute to our Veteran's prior to the start of our show. It was a nice evening and it was so nice to see some family in the audience! Thanks for coming Mom and Pops! Thursday as we prepared to load the busses to head back, I found myself trying to figure out how I was gonna get all of my packages on the bus, plus my suitcase, laptop, purse and all of the other fixins.....I decided to start with my purchases. I grabbed up everything and headed downstairs to load em up. Well....I nearly fell down in the snow....trying to get in the bus....it was comedy people. I looked ridiculous, but had to laugh at myself. I got everything into the bus just fine but when I got back to the base and made my two trips to and from my car with my purchases, I was about to pull off and realized that my suitcase was still in the bus! DUH! Again I had to laugh at myself.

So Friday was an off day for me and I didn't do much of anything except for OH!!!! take my Biology exam. I hope that I did well. I should know by the end of next week. Wish me luck y'all! Yesterday was a great day for Jas and I. He and I went to the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

The Rockettes must have done about 1000 high kicks! They were awesome! Jamie, you would have loved it!! It was SO Christmas. Santa narrated nearly the entire show. He sang and took us through a winter wonderland, his workshop, and of course Christmas in NY. But the thing that stood out the most to me in the show was while they celebrated the secular and fun side of Christmas, they paid tribute to our Lord....who is the reason for the season. Kudos to the Radio City Peeps! After the show, we went across the street and ate at a 'joint' called the Best Steakhouse. It was a little dive, but it was good. And the best part was the guy behind the counter SHOUTING NEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXTTTTTTTTTTTTT as loud as he could after you'd placed your order with the short order cook. It was priceless! After the Steakhouse, we decided to head to the Galleria mall to see if we could finalize our Christmas shopping. Well the only thing we ended up getting was some handsoap from B&B Works. It was a nice walk around though. So several hours later, and soap in tow....we rode the Metro back to the station where we left our car and decided to get some dinner. We ate out again! Two times in one day is a rarity. Sometimes we don't get two in one week, so it was a treat and weird at the sametime. We decided to go to a Mexican place Casa Gallrado. It was good! While there, we were serenaded by a group of heavily umm....."hydrated" gentlemen seated in the bar area. We figured it was a Christmas party but we found out that they are a group of 2nd generation "carolers" who bop around restaurants/bars spreading holiday cheer just as their fathers/mothers did years ago. I thought it was pretty cool. One guy made Jas and I laugh BIG-TIME! We said he was the lost Village Person. He had the craziest Freddy Mercury mustache and he had on his girlfriend/wife's Christmas vest on with no shirt on underneath! It was funny! I wish I could have gotten a picture with him.