It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I love Christmas. It's my favorite time of year. The traditions, the memories, the decorations, the songs, the movies, the lights, the excitement...I love it all. And I love sharing it with my family and friends.

As soon as fall hits, I'm ready for the holidays. People complain about the decorations going up too early and the radio stations switching to Christmas music too soon, but I love every minute of it. It doesn't last nearly long enough for me. I try to savor every carol, every commercial and every Starbucks Gingersnap Latte. 

 As soon as I see this commercial, I know Christmas is officially here:

When I got back from my parents' house this afternoon, I immediately put up my little Christmas tree. I initially set it up on the ground, but it was too low, so I put it on a pedestal (aka a TV table) and covered the base with my lime green scarf. It came with lights already on it, but I as I assembled the tree, I noticed large chunks with no lights at all. Alas. Thank goodness for my bright Target Christmas ornaments. They filled in the little dark spots...

It needs a little work, but it makes my apartment feel much cozier already. 

Hooray for the holidays!

Home sweet home

I'm still up in the 'burbs hanging out with the fam. Actually, I just got back from the DMV and what a treat that was. The new IL licenses look crazy!

I promise to write more soon...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

I'm just hanging out at home, relaxing in my pjs and helping my Mom make the feast. I love the holidays.

It's a day of being thankful, and although 2008 hasn't been my best year, I have lots to be thankful for. My amazing family, wonderful friends and boyfriend, my new apartment, my job, my dogs...life might be challenging, but it's good. And I'm happy. 

This picture was taken last year when I was in Ixtapa with my family for a destination wedding over Thanksgiving. We wanted to find a restaurant that made a full turkey dinner and this is what we found:

Please note the turkey holding a cooked turkey in one hand (so sketchy) and a margarita in the other. The place was actually really good. It was probably the best Thanksgiving meal I've ever had. And the chefs were so excited to be making it, they kept checking in on us to make sure we were enjoying everything. Yum...so good.

Alright, I'm off to consume a disgusting and delicious amount of food. Happy Thanksgiving!

Liked it

I said I would post my thoughts on Twilight, but I'm feeling a bit lazy today. So I think I'll just do it in a neat little list...

Loved:

• Edward Cullen playing the piano. Swoon. 

• Edward Cullen kissing. Oh. My. God. 

• Edward Cullen in general—I left the movie feeling disappointed in 

    human boys

• Bella's Lullaby, of course.

Liked: 

• Mike and Jessica. It was nice to see teens playing REAL teens (unlike 

    Dawson's Creek, The OC, etc)

• That is was awkwardly funny

• Kristen Stewart as Bella...at least more than I thought I would 

• Victoria, James, Laurent, Charlie and Carlisle (I found him pretty 

    studly)

Disliked:

• Rosalie

• Jasper's hair

• Cheesy special effects

• Odd camera angles 

• Way too many shots of trees (I get that it's pretty there—give me more 

    Edward)

• The music. It seemed all wrong in some of the scenes

Hated:

• The terrible flashbacks, especially the ones with the Indians and the 

    "Cold Ones". Completely unnecessary.

Overall, I liked it. Didn't LOVE it, but still found it very entertaining. And I have a feeling I'll end up seeing it again over the next couple of weeks.

And is that "you're my brand of heroin" line in the book? I couldn't remember, but it seemed SO out of place in the movie and it made me cringe a little bit. 

On another note, I am SO excited that tomorrow is my last day of work for the week. Then I'm heading up to the 'burbs to hang out at home (AKA my parents' house) for Thanksgiving. I get to do laundry, enjoy delicious food, drive a car, go to Target and play with my dogs. I can't even wait.

So lucky. So violated.

Today I found out how truly lucky I was on Saturday night. 

When I got into work this morning, I called and filed a police report for my stolen drivers license. I knew I should call and check up on my credit card and debit card, but I just couldn't do it. I was too nervous. I thought I had cancelled the cards quickly enough, but I couldn't be sure. And once I called and heard the fraudulent charges, there was no going back.

So I waited until the afternoon, and then I couldn't take it anymore. I started with my credit card company. As expected, the woman asked me to verify my last purchases. 

8:40pm, Saturday, November 22nd. $1,544.19 at Target in Chicago. DENIED.

I nearly wept with relief. That was the only fraudulent charge and it was denied. Thank God. I had cancelled my card only 25 minutes earlier. I would have loved to been at that Target to see that smug little thief get rejected.

So that was that. I was lucky.

I checked in on my debit card online and it didn't look like there were any fraudulent charges, but my intuition told me to call my bank anyway. And after this weekend, I know to definitely trust my intuition.

So I called my bank and the woman told me my card was cancelled, but she still had to verify my last charges.

$25 at BP. Rejected. 

$150 purchase. Rejected. 

$275 purchase. Rejected.

ATM attempt $100, incorrect PIN. Rejected

ATM attempt $200, incorrect PIN. Rejected.

And there were about five more attempts to get my money—all of which were rejected. They were ALL within a 50 minute window, and all only mere minutes after I cancelled my card. 

By the time she finished reading the charges, I was shaking. I had never felt so violated in my entire life. I couldn't believe how far those people went to try to get money from me. It's so wrong and it makes my heart break a little that people could be so dishonest. 

At the same time, I realize how incredibly lucky I am. If I hadn't listened to my gut right away, the thieves would have been successful. They would have completely over-drafted my account and ruined my credit. And if the manager of the bar hadn't let me use his computer to find the right numbers to call right away, they would have succeeded. 

I am so lucky.

I am going to call that manager tomorrow and thank him profusely for his quick thinking and kindness. I can't even imagine the state I would be in now if I hadn't acted quickly...

You've been hit by a smooth criminal

My wallet was stolen last night—right out of my purse.

This comes almost exactly a year after I found out my credit card number was stolen (even though I still had my card) and someone had charged $900 in cell phones in Canada. And it comes nearly 9 months after I discovered that someone had gotten ahold of my social security number and filed taxes under my name. Both incidents took me months and months of phone calls, legal documents and stress to resolve. 

So I'm sure you can guess how much this latest incident thrills me. Because not only was my credit card in my wallet, but so was my debit card and $8 (thank goodness). The real crime? My driver's license was in there, too...so now I have to go to the DMV and wait in a loooong line again. I am so mad about that. 

Long story short, the night started out great—three friends and I made a last minute decision to go down and watch the Festival of Lights on the Mag Mile from the comfort of my nice, warm office. Then we headed to Emerald Loop and got a table right away. The table was by the area where people stand to wait to be called, and also where they check in with the host. I had the unfortunate seat that backed up to that area. As I sat down I put my purse on the back of my chair, underneath my long coat and scarf, and up close against my side because I knew my seat was a tad sketchy.

So after some appetizers and couple of drinks, I suddenly felt my purse swinging a lot. There were a TON of people in the crowded waiting area...and there was a man standing right next to my chair "putting his coat on" and smiling.  It was weird and I immediately knew something was wrong. It didn't feel like my purse was just accidentally bumped.

I grabbed my purse and started going through it. No wallet. My friend looked through my purse. No wallet. We all started looking through my coat, under the table, around the table next to us. Still no wallet. I knew it was gone.

I was handling it really, really well, until the manager came over and told me how well I was handling it. Then, I have admit, I shed a few tears. I was so frustrated.  I composed myself after a few seconds and then I knew I had to act quickly. So he let my friend and I go to the back, through the kitchen (eek), to his little office where we looked up my numbers and cancelled my credit and debit cards. I think I caught it right away, but you never know. We came back and the manager bought us a round of drinks because he felt so bad. Magner's really eased the blow last night.

So now I have no money, no access to money and no ID. I am just glad that I'll be home this week for Thanksgiving so I can get a new driver's license and debit card up in the 'burbs (have to get them up there unfortunately). And I'm SO glad I took a few things out of my wallet last night, like my insurance card, my Border's Rewards card (which I couldn't live without) and my CTA card (again, so happy about that). I do think I might have a lost a gift card, which stinks, but oh well. I'm also glad that it wasn't my nice wallet—it was only my little pink bar wallet. And I'm glad that my digital camera, nice earmuffs, phone, etc were all left in my purse, completely untouched. 

After hearing about the string of violent muggings that have been happening in my area, I almost feel relieved that this is all that's happened to me. How sad is that? 

I need sleep

I'm exhausted.

I went to the midnight showing of Twilight last night, and didn't get home until about 2:30. I was still giddy from the movie, so I had to settle down a bit before I could fall asleep. The last time I checked the clock was about 3:20.

After awhile, I had a very vivid dream in which Edward Cullen was standing in my room, watching me sleep. I opened my eyes and saw his shadow out of the corner of my eye, standing off to the right side...and I literally jumped up and flew out of bed. I really thought he was in my room and it was really scary and really exciting at the same time. Naturally, it took me a few minutes to get my heart to stop racing so I could fall back to sleep...

And then my alarm went off. I got 3 measly hours of sleep. And boy, was I tired all day long. Thank goodness for my Starbucks Gingersnap Latte, that's all I can say. Oh, and the barista didn't call me Jessica today. She didn't call me anything, actually. I think the dreadful bags under my eyes must have scared her away.

So anyway, I'm off to bed. I left my cousin's birthday party early because I could barely stay awake. I'm not going to post my thoughts on Twilight until next week, after most people have seen it. I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

I'll just leave you with the images that have been running through my mind all day...

Amazing.