Wednesday, January 28, 2009

How I spent my Christmas Vacation....

Celebrating Hanukkah!

With my family staying in Louisville and Jürgen visiting with his family in Baltimore I was left to fend for myself in the Arctic Tundra of Chicago. Thankfully I had two wonderful friends, Roni and Rick who brought me in for Christmas Eve and Christmas to celebrate the festival of Lights with them. We had a wonderful time, ate yummy latkes and helped calm me down after the garage debacle. Rick's mom, Ginny, snapped a few photos!

Rick, Roni and Myself before the yummy feast
Rick and Roni saying a Hanukkah prayer before we chow down
Christmas day was spent with many lovely ladies...Jude, Roni, Ginny, Jessica and Melissa. Such fun!

The Little Prius that could

Hello friends and family! It's been awhile since my last post. With the holidays, the close of my show and then.....oh yes....the WEDDING...times were busy. But I am here to tell you the Blürg is back!

Now sit back, relax, and I will share with you the tale of the Little Prius that Could.

The time was 12:30 am on Christmas Eve. The place was the alley behind my house. It had been a long snow filled day of work, then a show, then a visit to Clarke's for some hot chocolate and socializing with friends. After taking a detour to drop off my friend at her house I made my way home. It must be noted that I have spent my previous Chicago winters driving a Jeep, and was still getting used to navigating the harsh roads in my more compact, fuel efficient vehicle.

As I pulled into the alley behind my house I was quick to notice how much snow had accumulated throughout the day, and my little Prius was trying as hard as she could to get over the snow mounds. At one point I thought to myself "I should just park out front" however I ignored the little voice in my head and kept on truckin'. I came to my garage and began to engage in the oh so delightful snow mobile dance. The dance consists of two steps, driving forward a few inches, reversing a few inches, driving froward a few inches, reversing a few inches. It's tedious but if done correctly it will safely get you over the snow mound and home safely. My car was aligned properly to enter the garage, I pushed on the gas in a final attempt to hurdle over the mound of snow in front of my garage and as soon as I made it over my little Prius surged forward and through, not into, but through the wall of my garage. The carnage looked something like this:


Yeah see that open space...a brick wall used to be there!

I sat in disbelief as I watched a wall of bricks collapse on my windshield and shatter. It was cold, dark and I was all alone. Not to mention it was only a little more than a week before the wedding! Not what you need as you enter the final prep stages for such a huge event.

In the end all I could do was be thankful I wasn't hurt, and amazed that my car wasn't horribly damaged. Look how well it help up!

The Prius is all fixed now and the wall....well it's still down but construction should commence soon. In the meantime I am parking out front more often, for this is a mistake you are only allowed to make once!