One down, two to go

Today was my first final of the semester. It was business organizations, and I have been studying nonstop for days. Despite the somewhat dry subject matter, it was a class I really enjoyed.

Right before the exam, I ate my usual victory burrito and chatted with students in the lounge. The exam itself wasn't too bad. It was definitely a lot of information to regurgitate, but nothing seemed like it was out of left field.

After days of not going out, not watching TV, and generally not having fun, I needed to get out and do something fun tonight. So, on my way to the train station, I stopped by a big sale at Ann Taylor Loft and the Christkindlmarkt at the Daley Center.


It was getting to be a bit of a snowstorm by the time I got to Daley Plaza, but that only made the Christmas scene more beautiful. For those of you who don't know, Christkindlmarkt is the German Christmas market at Daley Plaza every December. I have never made time to go before, but I'm officially going to have to make this a yearly event.

Aside from the delicious food, there are tons of Christmas ornaments for sale. I stopped by one shop that had tons of different glass ornaments for sale.


I bought two ornaments: a little redbird and a pickle. The redbird represents my undergrad mascot, and the pickle is a German Christmas tradition. (You hide the pickle on the Christmas tree and whoever finds it first gets a prize.)

The store had a lot of other weird ornaments, including a bulb of garlic and other assorted food and animals. And, apparently, Germans enjoy a few Satan heads on their Christmas trees:


Weird. I almost bought one for Dave, the atheist.

So, it was a pretty good evening. I shopped, I got to crochet on the train, and Dave took me out for hamburgers, fries, and a chocolate shake. We're watching "The Office," Season 4, and I'm going to start doing Christmas cards now.

I'm going to hole up for the next day to avoid a scene like this, which greeted me when I got to the Arlington Heights train station parking lot this evening:


Brrr. Let it snow.