Christmas Tree

Happy New Year

We had a low key celebration with some friends at Bryant's cocktail lounge and Maxie's Southern Comfort restaurant to ring in 2011. One thing I've noticed this year is that the holidays just haven't seemed like the holidays. I'm not sure why, because they have been enjoyable and it's nice to see family and friends. But they just felt different, didn't have quite the same ring to them as usual. Ry says it's normal as we get older. He also said maybe I'm having a quarter-life crisis. Geez, what a goof. Can you imagine my response to that statement? I'll let you use your imagination. He said, "what? I read a book on that once." Pssshht, please.

We held a silly little photo shoot in our foyer before heading out. Here's our New Year's Eve kiss to you:

Small Celebration

We spent Christmas eve at my Aunt Steph and Uncle Mark's apartment in Waukesha with my Mom and cousins. It was a big gathering of people with plenty of food and laughs. Tonight, we celebrated the holiday with my Dad and Sister, Greta, at our house. We played a dice game called Farkle and lit a fire in the fire place. My Dad and Greta cleaned up in Farkle even though they'd never played before. It was a very small family gathering, but nice. We've never had big holidays, even before my parents got divorced, but with just the four of us it feels very tiny. This is our fourth Christmas doing separate celebrations and it still feels strange sometimes. Eventually, I suppose that will change.

Our sup was vegetarian, of course. For hors d'oeuvres we snacked on homemade tapenade, herbed brie, raw Wisconsin gruyere, apples and a pomegranate. For dinner I made a leek and white bean cassoulet with biscuits baked on top and smokey collard greens on the side. For dessert we enjoyed a low-fat chocolate bundt cake and turtle candies my mom gifted us.

We finally hooked up our under-the-counter kitchen radio, so we listened to Christmas tunes during prep and meal time. I can say with certainty that 99.1 WMYX plays too much Transiberian Orchestra. But I did get to hear two nice versions of Oh Holy Night, my favorite Christmas carol.

Now the house is quiet, the dishes are all washed, Ry is asleep with Silvio on his lap and it's only five minutes until my 29th birthday.

Merry Christmas!

We've spent today cooking and cleaning. Ry made homemade potato rolls and red lentil sloppy joe's which we intend to take over to my aunt's house to nosh on while every one else enjoys ham. I have to say that even though we've been vegetarian and about half vegan for eight months now, my desire for meat on a holiday intensifies because we can't partake in the same special meal as the rest of the family. Although, today I sampled the sloppy joes and I am looking forward to them, so props Ry!

I didn't do as much cooking as Ry, but I did some raw vegan baking. I used a recipe from a vegan blog called Chocolate Covered Katie to make snickerdoodle balls.

Snickerdoodle balls mixed with the famous Knudson vegan truffles (with due credit given to my former RA Nick Roberts who initially shared the recipe).

Here are just a few pics to showcase the holiday cheer around our house:


Mantel and tree shot from the couch.

Christmas cards on the fridge.

Pinecones from our wedding in a basket.

Kissing ball brought all the way back from Medford.

Music box, a gift from my babysitter on my first Christmas.

Ice lantern made by my Mom.

Piggy with a candy cane in its mouth snow globe.

Mantel detail with cloth garland that I inherited from my family and art in the background. Again, repurposed wedding decorations!

Winterberry bouquet to spruce up the living room.

A No-Present Christmas

Over the past few years I've been struggling with the commercialism of Christmas and the obligation to consume that comes along with it. Admittedly, I'm not a super religious person, so my primary objection is not along the lines of the "put Christ back in Christmas" thinking. However, the idea that we've strayed far from the central themes of these winter solstice time holidays (whether Christmas or Hanukah) to something utterly material resonates with me strongly. What about those central themes of hope and rebirth-admist-darkness?

Massive displays of red, green and white merchandise do not bolster my faith in the world. Buying and receiving gifts that are made by factory workers in China and are largely disposable could never represent the depth of love I feel for my family and friends. Not to mention that these items are often wasteful and many end up as plastic in landfills within months. Nothing I could buy will bring the kind of togetherness I hope to achieve with my nuclear family or my own children when they come. I guess I hope that when I am in charge of my own holiday, once we have children, that gifts would play a tertiary or non-existent role. This doesn't mean I don't want my children to have a "Christmas experience", or that I'd be some kind of anti-consumer grinch. It just means I hope that gifts will have little or no importance in our overall celebration. I want Christmas to be about our time together, not what we could buy each other.

It is for all of these reasons that Ry and I decided we wanted to have a no-gift Christmas. I had heard a story on NPR last year of a family that had a no-gift holiday and they said the results were spectacular. They described more time for togetherness and unity, without the pressure and obligation to buy. This sounded ideal to me and I proposed it to my family, who agreed to participate though it seems with a great less thrill than I feel about it. It seems they have accepted this experiment, but most of them are still buying gifts for each other. I suppose, that's natural. I don't know why I expected others would want to be totally on board with this notion, especially because peoples' attachment to gift giving is strong. I can't fault anyone with this attachment. There is much pleasantness associated with it and it's certainly traditional at this point. I'm just not sure when it's snowballed into something seems to eclipse the larger meaning of the holiday for many people out there, but nonetheless it's a largely happy tradition. So, stepping out of it represents an oddity or split from the norm.

I'm not a huge fan of receiving gifts. I'm thankful for them, certainly, and I have received gifts that truly touch me, but often receiving them makes me feel uncomfortable. Sometimes it's because I don't feel deserving. Other times it's because there are many things I truly don't want to fill the extra space in my life. I want to live simply. Gift giving usually comes with the best intentions. A loved one is attempting to express a feeling, love, gratitude with their gift. How can you possibly express that you'd rather not have a gift without creating a sense of rejection or seeming self-righteous? Conversely, and quite paradoxically, I love giving gifts. I love giving them most when there is no obligation and they are a thoughtful and happy surprise.

Today, Ry and I spent some time canning our little homemade gifts for family and friends. They are simple almost to the point of being mundane. They are small, but have been time consuming. Now that the holidays are almost upon us, I wonder if they will be enough. Maybe I should be giving my family members more? Knowing that others will participate in more elaborate gift-giving and we will not makes me worry that we will feel left out in some way, or that our family members will think we do not care about them or that we're just cheap.

I've expressed these feelings and fears to Ry and he says to let them go. We've decided not to participate in the consumer portion of the Christmas tradition this year and this represents a break from convention. He says that when you break from convention, you cannot expect that it will please everyone or be accepted by everyone. He says we've made the choice already for this year and it's something that is important to us. I guess all that's left to do at this point is accept that choice whole-heartedly and see where it leads me.

View out the side window of our living room after this year's first snow.


Silvio always goes exactly where you don't want him to go.


It's tough to get a clear pic of the tree at night without a tripod or super nice camera. Homemade cranberry garland.


Up close with my stocking on the mantel. My mom made it for me when I was a wee one.

Teacher's Convention Weekend 2010

For the last several years we've planned getaways for Teacher's Convention weekend. Nothing solidly planned this year turned into a pleasant hodgepodge that provided a little taste of many things. It didn't have all the expectations of something you plan in advance and it breathed some spontaneity into our normally quiet weekends. There's freedom in deciding what you'll do at the spur of the moment and real enjoyment in discovering new things. It makes me feel like an explorer.

Thursday

I took off work to attend a continuing education course related to substance abuse at the UW-Madison Extension. Ry tooled around all day doing his own thing while I sat in a day-long course at the Pyle Center. The course was useful enough and it's always invigorating to learn something new that will stretch me professionally. After the course ended we met a friend of Ry's back from his college student teaching days named Darcy. We dined at Graze (a down-market sister of L'Etoile that uses locally sourced ingredients) with Darcy and her husband Andy. It's rare that you do the couple "first date" thing and it ends up swimmingly. However, this was the exception to the rule. They were super cool and I enjoyed myself quite a bit. They are into cooking, gardening, canning, literature, home projects and all things interesting. So, rock on Darcy and Andy.

Friday

We had firm plan to visit Ikea to purchase some sort of sidebar/buffet/shelving system to fill up our very long and empty kitchen wall. We'd been looking around for a while without much luck, so we figured the Swedish giant would have something. I've only been there one other time on a Saturday, we walked through a tiny portion of one story and I almost flipped out in a full -n panic attack and we left right after we found what we came for. The store was bearable on a Friday during the week and we had a mission, so we stuck it out for three hours looking at all of the options until we came up with the perfect option.


Having a little too much fun with the cart!


I made Ry pose for this pic, which apparently embarrassed him. I learned afterward that he's not all about this type of tom-foolery in stores. You learn something new about your partner every day and I can respect that for the future.

The combination we picked out wasn't actually assembled together anywhere on the floor, but we dreamed it up and were happy with the results. The pics don't do these justice, but they look very nice, especially with the track lighting system we've got that shines right down on it. Ry got the great idea to put our china in it and the silver detailing just sparkles in the light. This sparkling-bling-china-thing seems a little upscale-snooty for my taste, but I was so happy with the results. It looks downright classy.


Full-frontal.


Another kitchen angle.

We took so long in Ikea that we weren't going to be able to do some of the other things we wanted to in Chicago, so we decided to drive into the city and spend an impromptu night. Ry has been jonesing to eat at a vegetarian restaurant he used to frequent when he lived in the city called The Chicago Diner. We enjoyed delicious vegan potstickers, lentil cakes, a seitan gyro and a vegan reuben with bubbly beverages. Weirdly enough, our waitress was a girl who has served us at Beans and Barley many times. We also knew the Manager who happened to be a friend of a friend.


Mural under the 'L' on the way to the restaurant.


Neon with hipster waiter rushing through.


Bill with little note indicating Wisconsin love from our server.

We called up a boutique hotel called the Hotel Burnham and were able to get a room. It was luxurious, cozy and historical, just what the doctor ordered. We stopped into the Walgreen's next door and bought toothbrushes and some candy (funny combo). We chilled out in our complementary robes and watched movies until late into the night.


View of the Trump tower from our window.


Hanging art exhibit in Burnham lobby.


Breakfast in the Atwood Cafe, the house restaurant.

Saturday

At least once a year we visit the National Museum of Mexican Art Day of the Dead exhibit and the Lincoln Park Conservatory for a stroll down memory lane. We went to both of these places on a chilly December date about a week after we first got together. It was a magical time and it's nice to relive it with warm fuzzies each year. Not to mention that we also like hanging out in Pilsen for its Mexican flavor. This year we added the Lincoln Park Zoo to our agenda. The weather was warm and sunny, but also cool, a perfect mix for a fall lakeside stroll.


Ah, Pilsen, you're such a colorful neighborhood.

Beautiful little urban treasures.

Hmmm, Chiapan artist...not quite sure what you're trying to say here. Just kidding.

Day of the Dead offering.

La Guadalupana.

Flamingos at the zoo.

Fiddler at the zoo.

Cool old-fashioned sign. I highly recommend their winter seasonal exhibit starting in December.

In the Palm Room.

In the Orchid House recreating a shot from one of our loverliest dates ever.


Dessert at Pizzeria Spacca Napoli to finish off a sweet day.

Sunday
Ry spent a good chunk of the day assembling Ikea shelves while I raked the yard. We also hung up some items we hadn't been able to get to yet like our colorful Oaxacan cross purchased at a mercado in Mexico City, a decorative leaf wall sconce above our bed, papel picado paper cutouts to celebrate the Day of the Dead and our chat lunatique sign in the kitchen. The house is starting to feel much more like our house now that we are getting the last of our items up.

We had only a few trick or treaters who got a kick out of us having our cat out on a leash. There were many comments about his pretty silver coat and his green eyes. We carved punkins together at night and Silvio escaped and climbed up a tree. Ry was able to grab him down by his tail at the last second. I roasted punkin seeds and cleaned up while Ry finished his crazy-super-detailed carving.



Colorful tree. This is actually deceiving since I raked the whole yard except between those two bushes.

Cat on a leash.

Ry with his super complicated stencil. I just want to point out that he carved the Mexican revolutionary Zapata, while I carved a smiley face jack-o-lantern.

Punkin guts.

From the curb.

Up close.

Roasted seeds. Yeo family recipe.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend! I wish for another pleasant little odyssey just like it sometime soon. Well, maybe not just like it, but full of the same spirit of variety.

Valentine's Day

The last few weeks have been an overwhelming time with work responsibilities and stress about what the future holds.

My staff meeting ended at about 10:30pm on Wednesday and I crawled into bed with Ry. He'd already been dozing on and off for a while and was a bit out of it. I said something about my litany of responsibilties that day and he responded, "just think, in addition to all this craziness we need to find you a job and buy a house." After saying this he nodded off for the night and I was stricken with a surge of panic. I got out of bed and decided to watch a video cassette of the previous night's Lost episode. Since I have nightly meetings on Tuesday I cannot watch Lost and we tape it on a give-away VCR with stickers all over it that I got from a friend in grad school. Channel 12 comes in worst of them all and nothing makes me feel out of the technology loop quite like fast-fowarding a tape. I watched the episode, felt better and went to sleep.

Most of what I've been working on is reading RA candidate files (to choose six new staff members for next year), preparing for the Cobeen 4th Annual Swing-A-Thon (a 36.5 hour swing marathon to support an eating disorders clinic) and advising a three day, campus-wide diversity awarenesss program. If you are interested in supporting the Swing-A-Thon we are collecting donations for Rogers Memorial Hospital. Just contact me and I will clue you in about the event. We've raised over $13,000 in the last three years.

By the time I reached Thursday was thankful and felt accomplished! If I can make it to Thursday night, the end is in sight.

Ryan and I celebrated Valentine's Day early. After I came home from several hours of candidate file reading Saturday morning, Ryan surprised me with a bouquet of a dozen fair trade roses. They are just lovely:



Though we were both feeling a bit under the weather we decided to go out for a love-filled sea food fest at the River Lane Inn on the far north side of Milwaukee, near Brown Deer and River Hills. We drove up I-43 in the dark and made our 7:30pm reservation. The restaurant has been there for thirty years. And though updated and welcoming, it had a distinct old fashioned feeling. We each had a cocktail at the bar and moved to our table in the red dining room decorated with Valentine's colored balloons. I am just a sucker for balloons. There must be something in me that secretly rejoices in prom decor. Here's a run down on what we shared:

Wine - Bottle of the house Pinot Grigo

Appetizer - Rare sesame encrusted ahi tuna and salads

Main Course - Garlic Shrimp with lemon butter, argula and sundried tomatoes over linguine (Megan) & Cajun scallops with andouille sausage and potatoes (Ryan)

Dessert - Raspberry chocolate mousse & creme brulee

We were by far the youngest people there, but we rejoiced in the delicious food, company and the salacious senior conversation happening around us. Some of my friends and family know that I am an expert eaves-dropper and I can't stop it. We decided that we are very spoiled in the culinary realm, but as long as we keep cooking magical things at home we have to up the ante for special meals out.

This morning my Ryan woke up with a full blown sickness. So we took it easy, lounging on the couch, enjoying coffee and watching CBS Sunday Morning. They had some great Valentine's themed segments with the best by far being one where Mo Rocca served as a male escort for some old rich lady. We exchanged cards and Ry surprised me with a bar of black currant dark chocolate. Mmmm, mmm, do I love currants. I went to mass at Gesu, while Ryan stayed at home. There was a lovely blond haired Polish boy in the pew behind me who kept driving his cars along the cathedral floor making a ton of noises. Distracting but endearing.

Next we are off to visit the newest addition to the Hetzel family: Chloe Renee, born Friday February 12th, 2010. We put together a little mommy and daddy gift bag consisting of some high end liquor and soothing post-pardum mommy products. Ryan baked a delicious loaf of wheat bread for the family as well. We're off for our visit but will keep our distance, so as not to infect the little one.

After that we are going to see two more house showings today. I'm slowly learning that realtor photos can make any old, crappy little thing look nice on a computer screen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more luck today than yesterday. We've at least agreed that if we are going to stay in Milwaukee we want to move into something that is reasonably priced and ready to roll. No labors of love for us in the city.

Here are a few other choice pics from last week:

Cecina tacos with avocado, green onions, cilantro and red salsa from El Rey. A quick Wednesday night meal for us:



A ridiculously large churro that happened to make my poor stomach ill:



My blooming spider plant:



I obtained this spider plant by stealing a baby spider off of a plant in the carillon ringer's office while I was taking a tour of the Marquette bell tower. I secretly snipped the baby off, took it home and rooted it in some water. After I planted it, it's grown like crazy. I wasn't even aware these plants did flower, but discovered a couple of months later that they sprout out these delicate white flowers that last for only about a day. I haven't seen any on my plant in a while, but low and behold, some arrived this week. Hooray for small blessings.