Gonzalez Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday!

Our festivities started on Wednesday night, we went to see Verdi's A Masked Ball at Lyric. It is a more traditional opera, and we really enjoyed the voices of the cast. During the performance I had a moment. I am so proud to be working for an arts organization who creates such great art. I love being able to see some of the details that I have contributed to the overall effect.

For example, I have found a great resource that makes custom confetti for us. Like what we used in the photo above.

The arts and theater scene is the reason why Ruben and I came to Chicago. It feels good that my work is contributing to the amazing art that is in our community.

The next morning we slept in and had a snuggle with the dogs.

I was in the kitchen first to get the baking started.

I started with making the dough for the rolls, then the dough for the pumpkin spice cookies.

Using the bread machine was an easy and clean way to get the dough going for the rolls. I love our bread machine!

The pumpkin cookies were so easy and really tasty!

Here's a pic of the rolls as they sit to rise.

Ruben stepped into the kitchen and made a veggie soup and roasted a chicken.


He found this awesome stand that roasts a chicken upright. Looks good, doesn't it!? :)

After he was done, I baked the rolls, made some mashed potatoes and green beans. Our feast was complete! We ate around 4:30pm, and really enjoyed our meals. Before we ate we both stated what we were thankful for. We both decided that 2010 has been a really wonderful year!

YUM!

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband, and two sweet dogs!

Who, were eager to get a bit of our chicken! Ha!

The day was easy, fun, and ended with great food and company! Hope everyone had a wonderful day as well! Here's to a festive Holiday Season!!

Fall Fun!

Ruben and I have had a great month. We are mostly settled in our new apartment and busy with our work and play schedules.

Here's my office at the opera house, where I spend my days.
This is the Goodman Theatre's telemarketing calling station, where I'm at 2 nights a week.

In the meantime, Ruben has been gigging and teaching and bar tending. This month he performed with The New Philharmonic, in Glenellen, IL. This is a pic of the ensemble as they are about to perform.



They are a great ensemble! Very professional and a wonderful sound comes from these musicians. Ruben was second chair for this performance!

One of the fun things about these concerts is the free cookies given to the audience after the performance. You have to hurry, cause they go quickly.

(In fact you can see that they are almost all gone!)

Here's Ruben and I after the performance.

We have also had the opportunity to see some opera this month. Last weekend we went to see Lyrics performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream. The Shakespearean play was adapted into an opera by Benjamin Britten. I thought it was really fantastic!

Ruben and I took the train downtown to see the performance.

There we met our friends, Jessica & Justin. We had great seats, thanks to my boss, Peter, who got the tickets for me. He's the best!

This is a picture of Midsummer from Lyrics website. I thought it was visually stunning, and loved the production!

Tonight, on the eve of Thanksgiving, Ruben and I are planning on attending A Masked Ball, at Lyric tonight. Then tomorrow, we have plans to make a Thanksgiving Feast for Two, and enjoy our day off, and each other. We both have to work on Friday, and Ruben has to work through out the whole weekend at the restaurant. Then on Sunday, we have tickets to see the opening night performance of A Christmas Carol at the Goodman. I'm looking forward to our busy weekend, and to the opportunity to see some performances as well as spend some quality time with Ruben.

Pictures of our Thanksgiving festivities to come!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed holiday! Wish I lived closer to family, but I know they know I love them very much!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Halloween Fun

Adventures of Boo & Hoo!

At least that's what Momma called us once she saw a picture of Ruben and I in our Halloween costumes. :)

This year, I dressed as an Owl. I found this cute idea to make a little girls costume and adapted it for grown ups. I used scrape brown fabric from the wardrobe department. Then traced and cut out the feathers. I pulled out and used my new sewing machine at first, then decided it would be easier to attach the feathers with hot glue instead. (My new sewing machine is really awesome!) The shirt I found at Target on sale, and thought the colors were perfect. I also used thin craft foam to make some wings.

Here is a picture of the beginning of the process.

Ruben did not put very much effort in his costume this year, and decided to go as a ghost. He went to a thrift store and bought, not a sheet, but a bed ruffle. He asked me to cut eye holes for him, but I screwed up. So, hilariously to me, he was a lop sided ruffled ghost. I was laughing so hard, that the pictures kept coming out blurry. :)

Our neighbors John, and January hosted a great party on Saturday night. Here they are below, a very injured man and his ghostly nurse.

We had a great time hanging out and meeting some other neighbors from the hood.

January is good friends with a couple of Ruben's friends from Oklahoma, Matt and Russ. Russ is not pictured here, but Matt is the devil with Ruben the ghost. It was so fun to hang out with them, as we haven't seem them in forever!

Here's Ruben with Russ and Matt.

Here I am toward the end of the evening, with a Long Tall Texan behind me. I'm playing with one of my feathers. I got tons of compliments on my costume, and was thrilled how it turned out.

The rest of our Halloween was really quiet. Ruben had to work at his new job. He just got a job working as a day time bartender for a nice restaurant called "EATT." He had to be there at 8am to work brunch. We are so grateful that he's gotten a job that is understanding of his gigs that take up nights and weekends.


Below is a pic of the restaurant before it opened. (I found this on the Internet.)


Life is good and we are happy together. More fun to be posted this month. Stay tuned.