Competitive Charades

At our last team meeting before the holidays, my manager asked everyone on the team what our favorite holiday traditions were.  My answer was no contest - the annual Gorder/Early charades game wins hands down.

My good friend Alex's family (Alex did double-duty as a bridesmaid/violinist at my wedding) and my family have been close for as long as I remember.  Jayne and Jim are basically my second parents.  I'm not sure exactly how this tradition got started but for as long as I can remember, whenever our two families would get together over the holidays we've always played charades...and it has always been kids vs. adults (or now, baby boomers vs. millenials).

Since its inception, however, our once harmless charades night has morphed into a brutal, anything goes showdown where the only goal is to give the hardest clues possible and basically make each other look ridiculous.  There is no score, and the only rule is... well there basically are no rules, except for one very important one: the clues have to be in English (except for names or proper nouns where necessary)

I honestly have no idea how things got so out of hand, but I vaguely remember the turning point as being maybe 10 years ago when Alex's dad had to act out "Orchestra Proficiency Unit Skills," and mimed killing his own daughter for the last word (kill rhymes with skill.  And also she came up with the clue).  Allow me to take you through a quick "Competitive Charades" retrospective.

~ Christmas 2008 ~

Like any good evening, this one begins by lighting a dessert on fire while the two moms fight over a bottle of rum.

Miiine!

Dramatic gesturing and hilarity ensues...

SO CLOSE!!! and yet, so far...

...as well as silly faces...

responsible adults?

...and obviously one of my favorite charades clues of all time:

Jesus Christ

Vampire

Hunter

"...Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter??"
"Yeah, it's a movie."
"Have you seen it...?"
"...yes."

~ Christmas 2009 ~

2009 was glorious, although the photos were less so.  My camera was not cooperative and decided to produce only blurry images, but here they are anyway:

So serious!!

SO INTENSE

My face upon realizing I would have to act out
"The Lebesque Stiljes Integral: A Practical Introduction"

The winning team!
(FYI we have no scoring system - we just always decide we've won)

~ Thanksgiving 2010 ~

Unfortunately I have even fewer AND worse photos from this particular year...but I do have this lovely action shot of Jayne collapsing on the ground in what would appear to be either laughter or frustration:

BOOM

This one of Alex and Karl looking contemplative:

Competitive Charades is no laughing matter...

And, yet another photo of the glorious winners!

Winners at charades.  Winners at life.

And finally...NEW YEARS 2012!  

Now with even more rum, and a better camera

;)

Julianna made sure Mini got a front row seat!

Oh bring us some figgy pudding...

fire + alcohol = dessert?

...let the charades BEGIN!

I think this was a mole...?

The other team got rowdy and out of hand pretty quickly...

My own father blatantly trying to mock and distract me during my turn

I still rocked it

Mom was not amused by her 16 word song clue

Alex was not amused by "Corpus Jurus Secudem"

Still champions.  Now with a mascot.

Our brilliant use of "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" inspired the creation of a new rule: no clues over 10 words.  The parents got pretty belligerent and insisted that we had crossed the line with a 16 word clue.  HOWEVER... they somehow thought it was OK to use "Corpus Jurus Secudem," a clue which is clearly in Latin, thereby violating the original and sacred tenet that all clues must be in English.

MOM I KNOW YOU READ THIS BLOG AND YOUR BLATANT DISREGARD OF CHARADES RULES DOES NOT AMUSE ME.

Moving on.

I feel like the best holiday traditions are often the ones that just develop naturally over time, and are maybe not the most traditional.  I love our Christmas Eve dinner and service, and going downtown for lunch at Macy's, but in my heart competetive charades is always the winner.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions and memories??

Alright, 2012. Impress me.

This weekend was the perfect example of how sometimes we need to just let go and ride the wave.  I had big plans for how I would spend my last few days of freedom from the office: I was going to practice yoga for at least an hour every day, take the dog for long walks, and do all kinds of cooking.

And then I got sick.  As a result, I have not so much as looked at a yoga mat since last Thursday (except for a few sun salutations and handstands at home), and have subsisted mainly off of Yogi Cold Season tea and Pho Ga from Quang.  In addition, Minneapolis got a solid dousing of freezing rain on New Years Eve, and it turns out Sidney hates walking on ice so I haven't been able to get him much further than down the block and back.

So, my weekend did not turn out quite as planned, but maybe this was my body's way of going "Hey... why are you planning on running yourself into the ground on your vacation.  Settle down and take a damn day off.  Instead of doing fifty hours of yoga, why don't you sit on the couch reading books and making collages for three straight days, doesn't that sound fun??"  Well...actually it was fun.  So, lesson learned.

Anywho, back up to New Years Eve.  December 31 begain with a trip to the farmer's market for some fresh eggs, and lunch with Ben, and my friends Ellen and Amanda at the aforementioned Quang.  The rest of the day was mainly spent drinking tea, making playlists and cutting up random pieces of wrapping paper.

Billionth cup of tea

Collaging!

Vitamin C....

Shiva!

The fruits of my artistic(ish) labor

I was trying to keep my options open in terms of going out vs. staying in, but it quickly became apparent that I was in no condition for shenanigans.  Midway through the day my sister texted me asking what we were up to.  I responded that I was sick, so it was looking like me Ben and Sidney on the couch with Champagne and some movies.  Turns out she was not in the mood to hit the bars and wanted in on our cozy/illness-ridden evening.  We managed to rope Ellen in as well - El is one of my oldest friends (since Kindergarten).  She is currently getting her PhD at Stanford, so I only see her maybe 2 or 3 times a year and was happy to capitalize on the opportunity for more Ellen time :)

Sprinkles make everything more awesome

Ellen got there first, and we started the evening eating cookies and reading the Economist's predictions for 2012.  Did I mention that we are the pinnacle of cool?  Julianna arrived shortly thereafter with caramel cupcakes and the makings for homemade buffalo dip!

Breaking out the bubbly

Buffalo dip FTW

Hellooooo!

Julianna, me and El

The gentlemen (falling asleep already??)

Commence ridiculous dog photos...

Poor Sid...?

Julianna teaches Sidney how to dance

We talked, laughed, had some snacks and watched Hot Fuzz - which finished just in time for us to watch the ball drop!  I was pooped though, and pretty much as soon as we had yelled "Happy New Year!" I was ready to go to bed.  We ended up having a great time, even though we didn't go out...and really, spending quality time with a few close friends is more my style most days.  If I hadn't gotten sick, who knows what New Years Eve would have been like...but I think the way it ended up was just perfect :)

Just Another Day

Good morning!  I am still in my pajamas and on probably my 10th cup of tea, trying to drum up the strength to drive up to my parents' place for New Years Day shenanigans (aka competitive charades).  Even though January 1 is actually a pretty arbitrary deadline, the act of flipping the calendar over to a new year tends to make me reflect on where and who I was just 365 days ago. Needless to say, a lot has changed since January 1, 2011:

One year ago, I was engaged to this guy:

Newly engaged in India, May 2010

...and now, as of July 9 2011, I am a married lady.  Sometimes this still hits me at weird times, like when I am sitting in meetings or at happy hour and I'll suddenly think to myself holy crap, I am married! 

...I was in a long-distance relationship and was living by myself for the first time:

My old bedroom on Emerson

Living room on Emerson

now I am living with husband in our first shared home.  I was worried that this would be a huge adjustment but really it isn't.  In all honestly, living alone got pretty lonely sometimes - and this is coming from a serious introvert who really needs her space.  Living with Ben has been a really welcome change, and it's nice to have someone to share vaccuming, cooking and dishwashing duties with.  Oh and also I love him a lot.

...I was still in grad school, studying with these kids:

MBA Charity Auction

"Spring Break Training."  Pow.

but in May I graduated...

Big kids

and now I have an amazing job with a ginormous corporate entity. Woo.

...I had just discovered Anusara Yoga and was nervous about the upcoming immersion. I now count the immersion as one of the most transformational experiences of my life, and can't imagine my yoga practice without Anusara as the cornerstone.

Being upside-down and curvy...not as scary as you would think

...I didn't have any pets (except my vicarious pet Maggie). Now Ben and I are the proud rescue parents of a dog named Sidney and a cat named Minerva McGonagall (aka Mini). Last year I lived alone, now I have a cozy family(ish) of four.

Mini

Sidney

But I also realize that despite all the ways in which my life has changed, much is still the same. Yoga always challenges us to see sameness and harmony rather than difference and division and when I think about it, I realize there is more about my life that is the same than different.

I am still blessed with the most amazing family and friends a girl could ever ask for, I still have music, reading, my yoga practice...and I am still in love with my best friend.

Yay friends!

Our amazing wedding party - brothers, sisters, cousins and friends

At the wedding with all of our college friends who made it there

With my High-School girlfriends at the wedding

Pre-wedding Twins Game

At my 10-year (!!) High School Reunion

One conclusion I've come to over the last few years that one should never define who you are by your job, your wealth, what you are studying, what degrees you have, your appearance, or how others see you. If you let yourself be defined by things you have no real control over, you are ultimately setting the stage for major disappointment. Obviously I'm not perfect and I am still working at this, but I know that what defines me are the things I love and believe in - the aspects of myself that would hold true no matter what job I hold, no matter where I live in the world.

And with that bit of cheesyness, I hope you all made it safely into 2012. And also I hope the Mayan calendar is wrong and that the world doesn't end this year, because life is pretty damn good and I would prefer that it continue. :)