What we did this [holiday] weekend.

1.

I made 1-Hour Cinnamon Rolls with my friend Mary.  When I first saw the link (on Pinterest...typical...), I definitely thought there must be some catch.  No way can something as delicious as cinnamon rolls be made in an hour.  Either they won't rise or they'll taste gross.  

Oh ye of little faith... 

Some of the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had. 

2.

I got a call from Alex late Friday afternoon asking if I wanted to go to the Chicago Lyric that night to see Madama Butterfly.  

"We don't have to go if you don't want to!" 

Hmm, no thanks. I don't like that idea.  

Of course, we went.  And (despite the nosebleed seats) it was divine.

I'm no opera guru (though that would be so cool...), but I'd listened to Madama Butterfly a few times before, and I was very excited to go to an opera with which I was relatively familiar.  Madama Butterfly is lovely, even though the story is so awfully depressing (though I suppose jilted heroines committing suicide is nothing to blink at in an opera).  

Vogliatemi bene, a duet sung by Butterfly and Pinkerton to close Act I, is possibly my favourite in the opera. 

The Lyric was built in 1929 (architecturally, Art Nouveau meets Art Deco.  Two of my favourite design styles...Look at all that gold!).  Alex was telling me that it is quite a point of pride for Chicago.  How did I not know this until now? 

3.

Baby Burch turned 19 weeks! Hurrah hurrah!!!  I was telling Alex that Baby literally comprises 95% of my thoughts these days...I constantly feel so blessed to have this little one growing inside me.  I have a little paranoia because we still haven't had our ultrasound (hopefully the beginning of February!), and I'm just so nervous to see how he/she is doing, whether he's healthy and growing, what he looks like, etc.  I definitely believe that I have felt him move however, which is such a happy sign for me.  June can't come fast enough!

4.

Alex and I went to the Art Institute on both Sunday and Monday.

Art Junkies...

There's a sublime exhibit up at the moment called "Dreams and Echoes" from the private collection of Chicagoans David and Celia Hilliard.  The collection in it's entirety is really stunning...it's just the sort of art that I would collect if I was say....a few billion dollars richer.  

 

Edgar Degas. 

Study of a Plaster Cast of a Child's Head (after Luca della Robbia), 1856/60. 

Promised gift of Celia and David Hilliard.

Image via http://www.artic.edu/.

Pierre Cecile Puvis de Chavannes.

Study of a Sleeping Woman, c. 1867. 

Gift of Celia and David Hilliard, 2007. 

Image via http://www.artic.edu/.

5.

We went with some friends to see the new Italian film The Great Beauty  at this great Independent Theatre just a few blocks from our apartment.  I'm not going to say more on it other than it was a striking, excellent film.  I think that our friend Mary had a very astute observation, essentially that it is not a film we, as 20-somethings, can understand fully.  In the same vein, Alex said it's not something you can just talk about for hours (though you could), and say "this is what it means end of story."  However, it's definitely something that you will keep coming back to through your life.  It's the sort of thing that stays with you.  See it.

6.

Including Friday and Monday in this "weekend" post is acceptable, I believe, especially because of MLK day, but covering Tuesday is stretching it.  Psh.  Whatever. 

Our friend Fiona is in town to visit her boyfriend (one of our Chicago Pals), and we all went bowling last night.  I hadn't been in years, and it was all good fun even if I was awful.  I mostly just liked watching this cool kid: 

Lovers Lane.

7.

I'm so happy Martha at Romancing Reilly is back to blogging again.  Her posts are always such inspiration for me! (After all, it was her blog that got me to start blogging again...not sure that that's a gift to anyone else, but it's good for me, hah!)