Monday, December 17, 2012

CRB Holiday Party and the Radio City Rockettes


When I was in college, all of my first-semester finals and finals-preparation took place during December.  During those years, I never got into the holiday spirit since I was so busy studying and stressing out about my exams.  Sadly, even after graduating college, I never really found that holiday spirit ever again.  (To make matters worse, I graduated college much longer ago than I care to admit.)

Fast forward to this year.  One of my goals this holiday season was to reclaim that holiday spirit.  And this past Saturday really helped get me my holiday groove back!

First off, I attended the Chicago Running Bloggers Holiday Party.  The plan: dress up in our best holiday-themed attire, go for an easy 3-mile fun run, then come back afterwards for a potluck and a Yankee swap gift exchange at Erin's.

I actually do not own any ugly Christmas sweaters or any true holiday-themed attire, but this is what I came up with.  (Yes, I attracted some stares in the lobby as this picture was being taken.)


Here is a picture of all of us right before we left for our run:


Back (from L to R): Anne, Erica, Maggie, Kim, Cary, Bobbi, Riyanti, Christina, Charlyn
Front (from L to R): Lauren, me, Erin, Katie, Lindsay, Marcia, Kelly

Despite being cold and rainy, the run was fun and the 3 miles went by in a flash.  Afterwards, we went back for food and fun.  Here are a few more pictures:

Kelly, the winner of our holiday costume contest.

The Yankee Gift Swap

A sampling of the mass quantities of food that we collectively brought.

From L to R, starting in the back:
Back Row:
Anne, Katie, me, Cary, Lauren, Maggie, Bobbi, Charlyn
Second Row: Amanda, Katie, Kelly, Amy, Marcia, Kim
Front Row:
Riyanti, Emily, Lindsay, Sara, Erica, Erin
By herself: Kelsey
Not pictured: Christina

There were some great runner-themed gifts at the swap - handheld water bottles, gloves, Clif Shot gels, and headbands, just to name a few.  My gift was a collection of nail polish and some mint chocolates, courtesy of Xaarlin!

All in all, I had a blast at the get-together.  It was so much fun to catch up with old friends and to meet new friends!  Can we do a running blogger party every month!?!?

Then on Saturday night, Adam and I went to see the Radio City Rockettes, who are in town over the holiday season.  I have always wanted to see the Rockettes in New York!  So I was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity to see them locally in Chicagoland.





The Rockettes show was SPECTACULAR.  I literally could not believe the precision of the dancing.  The unison was so flawless that there were times that I forgot that they are actually live humans and not robots.  Beyond the amazing dancing, there was absolutely incredible use of lighting, video, special effects, and backdrop, not to mention great music and singing.  I love love LOVED it.

The Nutcracker, with some lovable dancing characters

Multiplying Santas

A virtual tour of Manhattan

These may look like wooden figurines, but these are actually Rockette dancers dressed in toy soldier costumes.

I give the Rockettes show my very highest recommendation.  If the tickets were more affordable, I'd go see it again in a heartbeat.  If you have the opportunity to go see the Rockettes, whether in New York or elsewhere, DO IT.  They are awesome!!!!!

(And now I may or may not be considering forgoing my current career to move to New York and try becoming a Rockette dancer.  It doesn't matter that I have almost zero dance training, does it?  =D )

17 comments:

  1. I've said it before and I'll say it again...you give me dancing Bears, I give you two thumbs up !!!

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  2. I think a monthly blogger meet-up is a great idea!! I feel like we had a great turnout, but it was hard to have a good conversation with anyone because I wanted to talk to everyone! So I think we definitely need to do get-togethers more than once every few months.

    Also, I was a Rockette .... by which I mean I was on the dance team in high school, and our mascot was the Rockets, so we were the Rockettes. ALMOST as good as the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes ... yes, a very close second, haha :)

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    1. Agreed, there were so many people there that I didn't get to talk to other than for a couple of minutes! I'm all for more frequent get-togethers. Let me know what I can do to help in the planning!

      That is so awesome that you were a Rockette in high school! Very clever take on the Rocket name. =D

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  3. I saw the Rockettes when I was in 4th grade in NYC. Did not realize they were in Chicago!

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    1. How did you enjoy the show when you saw it?!? I think it's a great show that both children and adults enjoy equally! They are performing at the Akoo Theater in Rosemont and they are in town through December 30!!!

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  4. The meet-up looks like such a hoot! What's a yankee swap? Is that like white elephant?

    I've been to NYC, but I never had any desire to see the Rockettes. I assumed (wrongly) that they just stood in a line and kicked the whole time. You make it sound way better than that! I will be putting "see the rockettes" on my to-do list for when I go back to New York or anywhere else where they are. Very cool!*

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    1. To be honest, I didn't really know what a Yankee Swap was, either, but some of the other women called it that... so I just followed suit. =D But basically we all took a number and then got to pick a gift (either a wrapped gift or a gift that was previously opened) in order of our numbers. Each gift could only be "stolen" up to three times. So it was actually to have a higher number because then you'd have the best sense of all the gifts available to pick from.

      I hear you on the Rockettes show and their famous line kicks - I thought there'd be a lot of that, too. But their show ended up being surprisingly diverse and creative! Definitely go check it out if you get the chance!!!

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  5. Aww, so do you think this weekend helped you find the holiday spirit? I would say you are definitely heading in the right direction! ;) The Rockettes look like a BLAST! And of course, it was fab to see you at the party!

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    1. This weekend definitely helped me find the holiday spirit!!!!! It was so awesome to see you at the party, too!!!! We seriously should plan for blogger get-togethers more often than just once every few months. Then we could also rotate locations to cover the various suburban areas and city. Let's do it!!!!

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  6. What a fun weekend! The blogger party was great and the Rockettes looked amazing!

    I hope we can get together and run again (and or have a cheese night) and maybe CB can join us for the run if it's not raining ;)

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    1. Absolutely let's get together and run again with or without CB, plus have a cheese night, plus go for pho!!!!!! Not sure what your schedule looks like during the holiday weeks? I'll have a lot of flexibility next week after Christmas and next weekend. Let me know if you're free at all!

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  7. I want to see the rockettes so bad!!! It looks amazing!!

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    1. DO IT!!! They are in Rosemont until December 30! The show is so worth it!!!

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  8. Ahh one of my co-workers just went to see this show and I'm dying to see it myself! It looks so fun and festive. I'm sad I had to miss the holiday party but hopefully we can all meet up again in the near future!

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    1. They are here through December 30 so if scheduling permits for you, there is still time!!! And yes, I am really looking forward to our next blogger meetup when we can all get together very soon!!! I told Maggie that we need to plan the blogger meetups more than once a quarter. =D

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