Frames From The Weekend of 11/22/23

Linking up with Irina on her weekly "Frames From The Weekend" posts to summarize the happenings of the weekend!

My weekend began got off to a great start with a date night on Friday with Adam. First, we went to our favorite local neighborhood sushi joint for dinner:

Then, we went to see a performance of Wicked in the theater district. I had never seen Wicked, but Adam had seen it once before and wanted to see it again.

Left: The Wicked playbill and my Broadway in Chicago ticket stub
Top right: The gorgeous and very ornate foyer at the Oriental Theater
Bottom right: Looks like somebody illegally photographed the view from our seats while waiting for the show to begin (the theater ushers sternly informed everyone that no photographs were to be taken at any point while inside the seating area). 

Wicked was an incredible production! I didn't know much about the plot, other than it was the "untold story of the witches of Oz." I had heard many others say that the story was unexpected and very surprising, and that it would make me look at the Wizard of Oz in a whole new light. Given this, I was mentally prepared to be shocked when I went in. Even so, I still walked out with my jaw dragging along the ground. The story is ingenious. Now I want to rewatch the original Wizard of Oz to more closely understand some of the details.

On Saturday, three awesome ladies came over for a facial/potluck party:

L to R: Me, Kassia, Jen, and Vanitha

These women are the most amazing, inspirational, and supportive friends. I don't get to see them nearly as much as I would like so it was fantastic getting to catch up with them. As is usually the case whenever we all get together, our conversations make the hours fly by.

We always have obscene amounts of food/drink at our gatherings, too. Here is a very, very small sampling of what we had on hand:

Upper left: Mimosas courtesy of Vanitha
Bottom left: Homemade cookies made by me using this recipe.
Bottom middle: Grapes and Jen's homemade cheese spread (similar recipe here) on baguette slices.
Right: Gourmet Belgian chocolate squares courtesy of Kassia

Later that night and as is usually the case in my household between October and June, Adam and I watched ample amounts of hockey:

Upper left: Penguins versus Canadiens
Lower left: Hawks versus Canucks
Right: A little memento that Adam recently picked up while visiting Hartford on business (if you're interested, you can read more about the history of the Whalers here). Ever since picking up the Whalers shirt, Adam has been humming their theme song:

Since we're talking hockey, a couple of quick notes on the Blackhawks:

• I was thrilled to see the Hawks score two goals in 9 seconds to defeat the bitter-rival Canucks on Saturday night. It was very reminiscent of the Hawks scoring two goals in 17 seconds to clinch the Stanley Cup this past June. To quote Patrick Kane, "That's hockey, baby!!!"
• I am also thrilled that Kris Versteeg (aka "Steeger") is back as a member of the Blackhawks. I think he is going to provide the team a huge boost both on the ice and in the locker room. But hey, if nothing else, the Hawks just improved their weaponry in rap battles:

By the way, Adam doesn't think the video is as funny as I do. He proclaimed Steeger's rapping even worse than this video:

(For what it's worth, I thought both of those videos were hilarious. But, I digress.)

Throughout the weekend, I continued progressing on my Runners World run streak. I am up to 9 days now and feeling good!

Left: Running shoes and physical therapy equipment, all heavily used over the weekend.
Upper right: The weather conditions during my outdoor run on Saturday. The PNC YMCA Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day is currently forecast to have similar conditions. Therefore, I wanted to acclimate myself a bit to the elements in preparation (I've been wimping out and using the treadmill a lot this week). It was brutally cold and it took me quite awhile to warm up after I got back.
Lower right: Me dressed in my winter running garb. I opted not to wear my balaclava, but it will be making its first appearance of the season soon if this weather holds up.

I'm starting to get really excited now about the upcoming holidays. I've also been looking at Black Friday offerings and contemplating my dining strategy. Here are some pictures honoring my anticipations of festivity:

Upper left and lower right: A life-sized gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian in Orlando (these pictures were actually taken last weekend when I was still in Orlando)
Upper right: Watching lots of Food Network in preparation for the Thanksgiving cook-a-thon coming up next week. I think that the Food Network folks truly, truly live for this time of year. They were positively giddy on their broadcast of Thanksgiving Live!
Lower left: Mickey bag clips from Orlando, which will be a little gift for my in-laws in Pittsburgh when I see them later this week. Who couldn't use some hidden Mickeys in their pantry?

Who else is running Turkey Trots? Do you have a plan of attack for Black Friday, or do you plan to avoid the shopping attack?

I won't kid you, it's going to be a challenge for me to get through the early part of this workweek. Must. Stay. Focused...