Nice Holiday Booty

One of the best parts about the Christmas is presents! Don't argue with me, you know you like to get presents. I'm not saying it is in any way more important than the true meaning of Christmas, its just a really nice bonus during a time that is already super rad. As I'm gearing up to start a new job, some of my presents might include new work rags like the above. Do you approve of how those pants hug my buns?I don't approve of how this vest makes it look like I have breasts. It doesn't leave much to the imagination, that is for sure.You probably can't tell from this picture, but this shirt reminds me of chocolate and mint. It made me want to eat myself.Another great part about Christmas if family. This year, Judes, Lynster and Jeff are coming to our house! I like to pretend that they would spend Christmas with us if we weren't having a baby, but I know I'd be fooling myself. Judes is the only one here so far, so we are taking her places. We went to Xoco and had ourselves food that is righteous for the soul. While waiting in line, I caught a glimpse of these empanadas. They look rad.

There's my girls. So precious with guacamole and chips.

I got the crispy pork vermicelli soup. It was without a question radical. Pork is one of the best meats ever created by man.

Judes go the short rib sandwich that comes in a delicious tomatoy broth of happiness galore. She relished in its amazingness.

Caitlin got the vegetarian soup (which I have had before) and felt joy in her heart to know that it would soon be nourishing Baby Max.

And of course, creamy homemade hot chocolate. It warmed my cold, cold heart.

New camera photo added here.

Caitlin successfully hides the belly in Heather's coat that she borrowed for the night. At that point, I got excited about using my camera for photo opps.

We stumbled upon the German Christmas fair at Daley Plaza. I found some mummy and ghost ornaments for our tree. I was denied the ability to purchasing them for the perfectly festive Halloween themed tree.

Little Satan heads too!

Then there were many figurines to enjoy as well.

Kitties, piggies and doggies. So presh.

And some wine drinkin', pipe smokin' Santas that only the Germans could conjure up in their sick heads.

I like this creepy photo of this woman's floating head through the ornaments.

Chicago's Christmas tree, like NY's, always disappoints me. There are no ornaments or anything special on them...just some lights. Yes, the tree is huge and tall. But really? That's the best you can do to give me some holiday cheer? Step it up. At least these girls make the tree look awesome.

No, that's not the temple. It is the religious looking top of a normal office building. I thought it looked nice next to the star.

We searched some more, but came out empty handed. Those ornaments (like all things hand made), were ridiculously expensive! Stay tuned as we have more amazing adventures. I can't believe Caitlin is still walking around 6 hours a day, running errands, and workin' it like she isn't carrying around a full-term baby up in her gut. Amazing.

Then I'll Steal Your Coats

Thursday, December 17th, 2009, was one of the suckiest but also awesome days of our lives. The reason is that DWo and LWo officially moved to Minneapolis. If you have followed this blog at all, you have seen the Wo's appear frequently in our posts. The reasons they appear so often include:
1) They were both in my program and so they were stuck being around me anyway
2) They are inventive, fun and game for any adventure that Caitlin and I desire to embark upon AND they come up with adventures for us to participate in as well
3) They like food...and we like food
4) They are our super friendsThey packed up their Accord with a new rack (nice rack Don) and bag. This car was packed to the freakin' brim.Don is anal about his car getting scratched, so he came up with this protective grate so that the bag wouldn't hand down and touch the paint job. Inventiveness to the core.See, the car was packed to the brim. Caitlin and I followed them up to the outlet malls on their way up to Minneapolis so we could unite at our favorite restaurant for bonding - Culvers (don't judge us for being fatties). Ahh. Culvers. You do us right every time we visit the outlets or Lake Geneva.The final goodbye picture. It was a tender moment where Liz cried and my fingernails got blown off in the men's bathroom by the hand dryer. We wish them the freakin' best in Minny and I'm sure you'll see them again soon enough on this blog as we reunite at Ho Chunky Casino in The Dells, WI.

I Hate You Don and Liz Wortley!!! I want to eat you and then steal your coats!

Old People Can Graduate Too

This is my graduation post. But I need to clarify something. You might think during this post, "wow - Jeff's photos have really gone up a notch on this post. Did he borrow someone's camera?" The answer is no, I did not. Caitlin and I bought a Nikon D90 camera and these are some of the first photos taken with it. I have not read the manual yet (of which I am ashamed), but we will learn and get better and better. We started everything off by cleaning the whole house and preparing it with Christmas cheer for my parents to arrive. We have a REAL Christmas tree this year because we'll be spending Christmas in our apartment! The parents did indeed arrive, and look how psyched they were! Actually, that response was in reference to the 4,000 pictures I started taking of them. Why do people not embrace the camera?
My dad was instantly given a project to work on - we like him to feel valued. Caitlin and I wanted to put up a chandelier in our entryway, so Big D got busy trying to figure out how he could make it work without altering anything since we rent.

Now Caitlin doesn't really love this picture, but there is a reason we have to post it. See Big D in the background working? Well, at this exact moment while I was taking this picture, Big D got electrocuted! He suddenly screamed and reached to grab the chandelier before it hit the ground. Fortunately it bounced of his face, leaving its mark.

To reward him for his sacrifice, we allowed Big D to pull from the advent calendar in place of Caitlin. It was a reward he gladly received.

Then it was graduation time! I was asked by my fellow students to be the student speaker at our graduation. I wanted to integrate the students' thoughts into my speech, so emailed them in advance and asked them to recommend words they wanted me to integrate into my speech. I received about 40 words or phrases, but randomly selected: Man Uggs, Smexy, I'll Tweet That, Pickle and Liripoop. I successfully integrated those words in with much cheering and laughter. It was also streamed online live, with comments that included, "I felt like I was watching my brother in General Conference."

As proof, here is me getting my diploma. I really did graduate, I promise.

In addition to graduating - there were awards! I had no idea there would be awards! My boy Ed - one of my favorite professors - hooked me up with a phat award. I believe it was some sort of awesomeness award. I can't confirm that.

My woman was there to support me, along with my boy Max. He was nice enough to not come out on graduation day so I could give my speech. Good boy.

I was smart enough to wear my super awesome Northwestern kicks to graduation. They have purple laces, its how I show my love.

Later, Ed, me and Pamsky kicked it in the lobby. Pamsky was nice enough to wear purple so we could all match.

DWo was PSYCHED to graduate. His sister (right behind him) was not as psyched, but I think she was keeping it inside. Maybe my speech was too boring.

Pamsky - truly radiating with pride for her son.

Patrick and dad celebration explosion.

Ally and Caitlin bond. If you look hard, you can see Max trying to reach up and swat at the flowers.

Alex lookin' swanky.

The Mulcocks and the Wortley's - an unstoppable team of awesomeness. We will miss them at a level that is not safe or recommended, but they must leave us to go to Minneapolis.

The precious family. It really was a super time.

Pamsky thought it was wrong that I didn't have any Northwestern paraphernalia to wear, so she required that we go look at sweaters. When Pamsky looks at school sweaters, she does so with a critical eye. Look at that critical eye she is using in this photo.

Caitlin, less critical in her eyes.

Me - sexy smooth in a Northwestern sweater.

I just really like this picture - Pamsky and Caitlin walking off in the cold Chicago winter.

Back at the pad, Big D puts the final touches on our chandelier. You can tell that I did a whole lot on this project. I did got to Home Depot for like 2 hours, so I consider that a massive sacrifice.

Ta DA!

Big D finally takes a well-deserved rest from his labors.

This is wear the new camera really shines - look at this amazing picture of Pamsky. Rock on.

After a long, hard weekend of having fun, eating out, shopping, graduation, being smart, etc...Caitlin's poor ankles were all swollen up like a crazy balloon. She is quite the trooper. Thanks parents for coming out and celebrating with us!

Christmas with Chrismook

You know who know's how to throw a wicked, killer festive Christmas party that blows the mind? Chrismook and Heather do. The key elements of a successful Christmas party are the proper music, delicious treat products with a hot chocolate station, and white elephant exchanges. Check, check, and check.But this was no normal white elephant exchange. It was a BINGO white elephant exchange. You had to win at bingo to have the chance to choose a gift. Chrismook, our host and master of the number choosing, started us off with all the rules.

DWo and LWo were turbo-charged and ready to rock that shiz. LWo claimed to be a master bingo player...we'd see. And it was on!Bingo makes me nervous. I was terrified - would I win anything at all???? But before I knew it, I had won! I chose the Halloween themed popcorn tin with prizes inside.Holy CRAP! The best white elephant gift ever!

Scott's toilet paper!!! Another dream comes true.

The winner took control of the next number drawing. It was a job I took on with complete seriousness.

As you can see.

Some people won old magazines. Clearly there was no limit on how crappy these gifts could be.

Chris got himself some bling-bling grillz for his mouth.

My future games were not as fruitful. Luckily, Caitlin redeemed us and won a round. We ended up with a Starbucks card that had like $21 on it. We stole it from Liz who later proclaimed (with all seriousness) "I HATE YOU JEFF MULCOCK!!!" It was a classic moment.

What is the Lauren? Why are you laughing at your husband with a slight look of shame?

Probably because he got a jar of spotted dick for his white elephant. Nice.

Another strategic steal ended up awarding Ryan with the grillz, which he models appropriately here. As stated, this party was awesome and brought the holiday spirit into our lives without delay. Thanks Chrismook and Heather for making it happen.

Jeffrey is Graduating!

It was on our first or second date back in June of 2006 that Jeffrey told me that he was hoping to get into graduate school at Northwestern University in September of 2008. I think that was his way of letting me know early on, that should things get serious I better start liking the idea of leaving NYC and moving to Chicago. Nearly two years later when we found out he was accepted into the IMC Program (Integrated Marketing and Communications) we were thrilled that Jeff was making his dream come true but a little sad to be leaving behind our life in NYC.

I don't think either one of us really knew what our experience would be like in Evanston. Now that Jeffrey would be a student and I would continue to work, we didn't know what our schedules would be nor how much time we would have to spend with each other. In Brooklyn, we woke up at the same time every morning, went to the gym or went running together, got ready for work and then jumped on the subway and went to work; only to reunite that evening somewhere in Manhattan for some fun activity.

While our experience in Evanston certainly hasn't been as exciting as it was in NYC, we have really enjoyed our time here. We have made some amazing friends, enjoyed living two blocks from Lake Michigan in a beautiful historic apartment building, and loved our callings with the Young Men and Young Women in our church. I also have loved seeing Jeffrey in his new role as a student. I learned very quickly that Jeffrey is a rock star student. Not only did he do amazing in all of his classes he also worked really hard to never be behind in his classes. Even though he could have slept in everyday, he would wake up early with me so that we could go to the gym together and then he would work really hard throughout the day to get all his schoolwork done while I was at work so that we could spend the evening together. (Not to mention he was also the main person to get the laundry done and run many of the errands that needed to get done during the day.)

I am so proud of Jeffrey for what he has accomplished. Tomorrow he will graduate and his fellow classmates voted him to be the only student speaker at graduation. Jeffrey has some fun plans for his speech to make it interesting which I am sure he will blog about later. Congratulations Jeffrey! You are the best and I am soo proud of you! Baby Max can't wait to give you a high five! (Hopefully he'll be here very very soon!)

Dunkin'

Many of you know that I work with boys 12-18 at my church - usually in the form of scouting, service or other crazy advents like kickin' it at the Shedd Aquarium. Anyway - yesterday we added a new cool kid Tevin into our crew. Tevin got baptized at our church with his family and I just wanted to give him a shout out and say congratulations!

P.S.

Today is my last day of school. I'm nearly a Masters (if I don't mess up my presentation this morning).

Taking In the Arts, and More Sleigh Bell

Last night while Caitlin and I were taking in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, I learned that Baby Max enjoys himself some Mendelssohn - but what he really likes is some hardcore Mahler. He is a more contemporary dude, I guess.

I also learned that when I'm listening to Mahler, I'd really like to have more sleigh bell.

Dangerous Repetitions

Egg Nog and Peanut Butter M&Ms for breakfast - round two. This is a dangerous pattern. Sadly, this is Jeff - so I don't even have pregnancy to blame for my behavior.

Get It Here For a Limited Time Only!

That's right everyone - you can get it here! The Official Caitlin's 8-Month Pregnant Belly Pic! This is the authorized outlet for precious Caitlin pregnancy pictures, so act now! Check it out while its hot!

We are officially in December now people. I need to make a paper chain that counts down to the 26th. I'll have the 25th be a special color for Jesus and the 26th a bling bling, glow in the dark, bedazzled chain link for Baby Max!