Jewelry anyone?

So I've been to Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, and even a Passion Party (best explained in person...), but I had yet to attend a "hostess party" featuring jewelry.

Well, Sunday, Sarah hosted a little get together based on the stylish designs of Silpada, which specialize in Tiffanys quality silver at far more reasonable prices. Carrie, our saleswoman extraordinaire, brought some of her finest bracelets, bangles and earrings for us to check out. Of course, I had to buy something...but I did show restraint! I couldn't find the pics of my earrings online, so this image will have to do...


They're not mine, but they are Silpada!

Unfortunately, I left my camera in the bedroom with my coat, so there are no other pics to post, but thanks, Sarah, for hosting and for making that delicious apple cobbler!!

Fighting Irish Go West...

Believe it or not, is was actually easier to get 14 Notre Dame History grad students up to Chicago than it was to get 1 Thais Carter down to South Bend!

I was finally able to meet all of the new people in Heath's PhD program (and catch up with his friends from last year), when we hosted a little soiree at Casa de Carter on Saturday night. We had a great time and I am very appreciative that everyone braved the winter weather just to come hang out—2 hours each way is no small deal!

About Face

It's official: We caved. The Carters are now on Facebook. I won't hesitate to tell you all that Heath did, in fact, cave first. He was weak. And then, he was relentless! When was I going to register?

So, now that we're on...please be our friends!

Worth Watching

While we don't believe Barack Obama is a perfect or even ideal candidate, he certainly represents the change our country needs and the capacity to inspire us all to be better, try harder, and make the impossible possible.

We suggest watching his victory speech from Thursday night—especially the last 3 minutes.

New Year's 2007

When we first started dating, I remember saying to Heath once that I wish we had known each other in high school so that we could be part of each other's memories of homecoming, graduation and—most importantly—prom. Well, this New Year's Eve, the lovely ladies of Giddings (Dena and Lisa A.) made that wish come true.

Their prom themed "Moment in Time" party gave me a chance to dress up and Heath a chance to revisit a hairstyle perhaps best left in 1999. :-) We were joined by the Browns, the Smiths (in town from LA!) and Cockrel sisters. Ryan and Lisa C. were named prom king and queen—well deserved!—and we all enjoyed an evening of spiked punch, dancing (yes, Ryan danced), and reminscing about the year gone by.







It was a great way to ring in the new year. A big thanks to the prom committee!

The Best of the Rest

The Wednesday after Christmas, Heath and I trekked down to both Richmond and Fredericksburg to meet up with our friends Ben & Mary and Celeste & John, respectively. It was great to catch up.

That Thursday, we had lunch with Jeff Forrest at the Tombs and walked around Georgetown for most of the afternoon. We then met up with Aunt Renee, Tiara and Grandma for high tea at the Ritz Carlton, which was fantastic. That night, we walked down to a Vietnamese place near my dad's apartment and had a great dinner.



Friday, Heath had lunch with Father Walsh while I took Violet around Georgetown for the first time. We then met up with my dad for a rousing game of Scrabble and then all headed out to Rockville for dinner at Greenfield's, a chuhascaria (Brazilian steakhouse), where we gorged ourselves on meat and, in my case, fried bananas. So good!




A nice mix of resting, catching up and eating, our time in VA/DC was well-spent. We were, however, eager to get back to the friendly (snowy!) confines of our condo in Chicago, and arrived safely home Saturday night.

A Pietrangelo Christmas

So, for those of you who we haven't already exhausted with a recounting of how the Pietrangelo's do Christmas, here's the breakdown: Christmas Eve is the biggest part of the celebration with a big seafood spread (an Italian tradition). We started our evening with oysters, shrimp and baked brie, moved on to lentil soup, and then angel hair pasta in a squid red sauce, bakala (cod fish) and artichoke hearts. We topped all of that off with an apple crisp. Once again, my aunt and grandmother really outdid themselves on the food!






We also open most of our gifts on Christmas Eve, so Violet—when not following my grandmother around the house—got to experience bows of many colors and lots of gifts just for her. A definite favorite was her new reindeer squeaky toy which she carried around in her mouth for most of the evening.








Christmas morning, we all wake up and prepare a big breakfast, open our stockings and "Santa gifts" and then settle down to a puzzle. This year also featured a Tiara vs. Heath showdown at Wii tennis (which Tiara won, by the way) and a family viewing of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," the Jim Carrey version. Usually, Christmas night we go out for Chinese food, but this year we ate in and all enjoyed this amazing smoked ham my aunt received as a gift at work. It was delicious!

Our Christmas Journey

We started our 11-hour trek to the DC hour about 3 hours behind schedule, but that was the only glitch in an otherwise smooth trip. Violet was a gem on her longest road trip yet, content to sit on our laps and stare out the window for—literally—hours on end. And, as a reward, Mom and Tiara had a new bed waiting for her when we got to the house...although it took her a few minutes to realize it was a bed and not just a glorified chew toy.