Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Well hello there stranger!

It's been awhile since I have posted here and I have to say it was very nice to have a little vacation from writing. I know that I should be writing every day to hone my skills and become a better writer. But with all the writing I was doing for my blog and for my sketch groups I was starting to feel a little burnt out. So vacation came just in time for me between the number of hours I was working, the rehearsals, classes, and amount of writing I was doing I was glad for the break.

So here are some of the highlights of my holiday celebrations and vacation.

Before heading back to Colorado to visit my family I had a little holiday fun in Chicago.

Megan, her sister, and I headed to the Christkindlmarket in the Loop in Chicago. We did some shopping, window shopping, and indulged in some German snacks. 

Since Megan and I weren't going to be together for Christmas we decided to have our own little christmas celebration together. We got dinner at Twin Anchors in Old Town before heading over to the Lincoln Park Zoo for Zoo Lights. We walked around and saw the ice sculptor hard at work on a frozen octopus, indulged in some delicious peppermint hot cocoa, and rode the Endangered Species Carousel. 

After our adventures at the zoo we headed home to warm up, open gifts, and watch a Christmas movie.

It was a pretty fabulous, albeit chilly, pre-Christmas celebration. 

Soon after I headed out of the Windy City to my home state of Colorado. Oh how I miss these beautiful mountains! 

Being home with my family for the holidays can only mean on thing and that is a ton of baking and food prep for the big dinner. 

Mary, my Dad, and I making pizzelles as per tradition! 

Thankfully, or maybe not, It snowed a bunch during my time in the Mile High State. It hasn't yet snowed significantly in Chicago, so I was enjoying watching the snowfall while curled up next to the fire with a cup of tea. 

Risking everyone's lives driving with my 15 year old sister! 

There are many Forest Family Christmas Traditions and as per usual I took so few pictures its actually astonishing that I have a blog at all. Some of my favorite traditions include hash brown quiche for breakfast, a 4 course Italian feast for dinner (Italian wedding meatball soup, lasagna, roasted chicken/salad/green beans, macerated oranges, and of course pizzelles, biscotti, and chocolate for dessert), and the annual cousin foosball tournament!

Tradition runs so deep in my family it was no surprise when my little brother Nathan won the tournament for the 4th or 5th year in a row!!! 

Between much relaxing and TV binge watching we managed to get out and have some fun family times including this trip to Blossoms of Light at the Denver Botanical Gardens. 

We take the best selfies!! 

And this trip to the Denver Art Museum to see the Brilliant Cartier special exhibit

Classy, classy ladies! 

I got to catch up with some old friends from childhood, high school, and college. Of course, true to form, I only have one picture with my good friend Raye from college. We squeezed in a visit on New Years Eve on my last night in Denver. 

Puzzles, Diet Coke, and a good friend what more do you need? 

Tomorrow morning I am heading up to the mountains with my family to spend a few nights at my parents cabin.

I am super looking forward to one last relaxing weekend before heading back into the chaos of Chicago, preparing for Sketchfest 2015, and starting Level 6 of the Conservatory.
We don't have any internet up there so I am trying to get all this packed into one blog post.

Happy New Year Blogosphere!!