Baby, it's Cold Outside

That song has been in my head since last night. It's my new fave! (Liz Phair version)

Well, it's the last day in the office for 2004. The next time I come back to this state, it'll be 2005. I cannot believe how fast this year has come and gone. A lot of life changes this year! This is potentially my last year to be a Chang (pending if I do end up changing my name...).

Anyhoo. It's subzero outside with the windchill, and I'm heading out to warm Texas...although it snowed yesterday in Dallas. Probably no white Christmas for me still though. Hopefully, Midway is not going to be a mad house. Looking forward to some R&R!!

Merry Christmas all!!!

Finally, a Picture

"At the Walnut Room Christmas tree with Cathy Yee"

This picture was taken when Mike & Cathy came to visit back in November. Cathy was here for work, and Mike came along for the ride. That Friday, we made grand plans to shop at Marshall Fields (Jackie O collection) and then eating some Giordano's pizza. You can't tell in this picture, but it was taken about 30 minutes before my stomach flu/food poisoning, whatever, kicked into high gear. We never made it to Giordano's. In fact, I never made it out of my apartment in the next 24 hours or so. Poor Mike & Cathy had to entertain themselves for a day. I was not a hostess w/ the most-est.

4 Days Left Until Christmas!

I've always said that I liked colder weather. I think when I said cold, I meant maybe 40 degrees, 35, tops! Because yesterday was 10 degrees, and it was like "I-want-to-die" cold!

But whatever. It's Christmas! Shopped some with Amy this past Saturday. We're clearly rookies at this because we've tried to do 85% of our Christmas shopping in 1 day, and the shopping bags were plenty heavy! Back in Dallas, we would have just dropped it off in the car and went back into the mall to finish up. Well, not only did the temperature dropped like 10 degrees during our shopping trip, the crowd I think tripled in size as well. That's what we get for shopping on Michigan Ave. The last weekend before Christmas. Walking inside Crate and Barrel w/ 4 shopping bags each makes it especially tricky to avoid knocking down any glasses/breakables on display.

All that stuff aside, downtown Chicago really is beautiful this time of the year. All the Christmas lights are on, and everyone's bundled up. It truly feels more like Christmas here!

Wind Chill Factor

This morning the temperature is 26 degrees. That's a lot below freezing. Not much precipitation though, just a little bit of flurries. I broke out my HUGE winter coat, but I don't see many people on the street doing the same. Maybe my blood really is that much thinner.

Lately, I'm feeling further and further disconnected from friends in Dallas. I don't know, I guess it's inevitable. Everyone's life moves on. It's sad seeing all my friends continue on with their lives, though I'm no longer a part of it (physically, at least). It's easy (and selfish) to think that your friends lives will no longer be the same w/ out you in it, but then it's very awakening to know that their lives indeed do go on, they'll make more friends, and they're happy doing it.

Ya Learn, Next Time.

It was POURING down rain this morning, and my 8-minute walk to the train was not so pleasant. And I can say, today, I don't like Chicago so much. Since I had my trusty commuter Totes umbrella, my upper body stayed relatively dry. From my hips down however, I was drenched. (Except for my feet, thanks to my waterproof Clarks shoes.) The bottom of my pants are hideously wet, and of course since we have our office Christmas party, I wore my nice black pants. We're talking the very sanitary streets of Chicago (not!) filled with puddles of rainwater! Good thing I didn't wear the velvet ones. Oh yeah, and the office dress code says NO jeans on weekdays. Lovely. Even my fancy trench coat, which was meant to be worn in rainy London weather, was soaked. Yuck.

I miss the downtown Dallas tunnel, which was directly connect to my apartment building and takes me right across the street from the office. If I drove, then, I go directly from my covered home parking to my covered office parking. I wouldn't even need an umbrella. Such was the life!!

I should have followed my instinct and gone to the garage and grabbed a bigger umbrella from the car. I'd probably be less gross now. Even wearing jeans and then change into work pants...anything would be better.