RSC in SD and Christmastime!

"Do you want to see the Addams Family?"

"What?"

"It's playing at the Performing Arts Center."

"Um... no... not really. I do want to see the REduced Shakespeare Company in San Diego though. They're doing their CHristmas show down there...."

And two weeks later, Mom and I were in San Diego for the day. I've loved the RSC for years now and when I found out they were in SD, I was so excited. Mom and I first went down to Coronado and walked around the beach and the hotel as the sun was going on- it was pretty empty which was nice and the sun was so beautiful.

From there we headed downtown to the Gas Lamp Quarter, found some parking and went to the
Museum of Contemporary Art, which was free on Thursdays. There was a really fascinating exhibit of Mexican and Mexican-American art that just covered the tall walls of one of the exhibit halls and another one of paper-dolls and cut-outs hanging from the ceiling. Modern art is weird, guys, but also mind-boggling and unique at the same time.

Dinner was at the Old Spaghetti Factory, where we usually would head when we were in the Gas-Lamp Quarter. We also stopped at World Market to pick up some Electric Reindeer wine. I just love the name.

 

Then it was to San Diego Rep to see the RSC! I can't describe what we saw. It was hystiercal. Our faces hurt from laughing so hard. Dustin, Michael and Mick were incredible and I seriously recommend the RSC to everybody. They covered everything there was to cover about the holidays. I'll let them describe it to you, since they do it best.

And they signed my program and took a picture with me. Oh Michael, you're the best...

But that wasn't the end of the Christmas festivities. There was also Nutcracker Suite baking.

Running and reading at the beach.

The only two Yadlin girls to represent Christmas in the Yadlin house this year..

Abba being Abba.

A freezing day at the beach ON Christmas day.

And then packing for the trip! Happy Merry Chrismakwanukkahanzakah!

Pre-Christmas Events

 The blog was quiet the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas and here's why.

There were HIMYM nights with my BFF and other fun friends. We went downtown to Chandlers and then the Modern and had yummy drinks, bizarre conversations and lots of laughs.

The IC had our own festivities- Abbey and I cooked one night while Jon came to sample the food (and provide the wine). We also shared guilty pleasure songs and there may have been some dancing. Matt joined us as well for our own IC Christmas celebration that resulted in many pictures by Abbey's Christmas tree. I don't know where those pics are right now. I love these friends so much.

There was also a LOT of paper-writing and research. I'm actually really happy about where my paper ended up going. I hope my professor did as well..... (belated update- I got an A in the class!)

 I got to spend some time with my small group girls- I had them over for lasagne, which they devoured, and made them cute little Christmas presents (mugs with their initial with some sweets inside). These are such sweet girls and getting to go thrift-shopping with some of these at the end of finals week was also such a treat.

Of course it was Hanukkah too! I had to use stupid birthday candles (after searching 5 stores in Boise) for the first two nights and then found the most expensive candles ever in BB&B but it was worth it. How glorious is my 8th night Hannukiah!?

I also unexpectedly ended up playing the piano for the Children's Pageant. It went... interestingly... Transposing is NOT fun. Watching sweet kids act is hysterical. Love my church kiddos.

Such a wonderful time of year!

Starting December Out Right

Sometime over the summer, I noticed a groupon for a weekend in Sun Valley. It was $140 for two nights for up to four people which was like pennies (especially for SV) so I jumped on it. In the end, Kelsey, Aly, Abbey and I found a weekend that worked and headed up for a lovely girl's weekend.

The drive up was at night and in partial rain and NOT fun but I was certainly grateful for Abbey's conversation to keep me going and focused. We made it to the inn with no problems and went to a delicious pizza place that had unique combinations of pizza toppings. We weren't bothered and that four of us were able to catch up and relax.

The next morning, we picked up the free snow-shoes and set off to try and find some snow. As you can see from the pictures, there wasn't that much. We had about a ten minute walk through one-inch deep snow, which was quite beautiful, especially along the river, but certainly not enough to do any sort of snow-shoeing. We could have headed up to Galena Pass but the roads weren't great so we decided to head for the Lodge.

We walked around down-town Sun Valley for a little bit, popping into some bookstores and a little mall (and letting a lady at some kitchen store show us her new espresso machine that she was trying to work) and then went back up to the Lodge. There were these beautifully decorated windows that represented holiday celebrations from around the world so we picked up these little passport books and hunted down each window. For each window, we got a stamp and at the end, we got a little sweet treat (well, two, actually, we got one sweet treat at the Lodge and one at the inn... I really don't think SV is going to go out of business because we took an extra sweet treat...) Despite the high price of nearly everything in the stores, the windows were so unique and we were able t see the candy representation of SV. Although I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that it wasn't life sized. As were the other girls as well....

We had lunch in SV at a delicious sandwich place and then Aly, Abbey and i wandered around Hailey for a little bit, getting in a long walk as we checked out thrift stores and bookstores. ALl four of us took a swim in the pool and a soak in the hot-tub for a bit and then it was snacks and game night- Apples to Apples and lots of Taboo. Plus wine and snackies. That always makes for a fun night.

The drive home the next morning was MISERABLE. It was pouring and so yucky and gross. We did get one beautiful view overlooking the valley but that was it. Next time, we do a girl's weekend in the summer when it's gorgeous!