my boss told us yesterday that they're gonna cut the christmas-bonus this year. he hasn't told us exactly how much less yet, but it's not like it's a huge bonus after taxes anyway so it definetely hurts. that's basically our trip to long beach. that we haven't decided on doing yet, but it was in consideration. not any more.. so we're probably gonna end up in fort wayne for new year's. jehaa! or...in that cool bar in woodburn, indiana we stopped at once to watch a football game on the way back from C's dad's. jeah, right. crap. i'm gonna so have NO MONEY while i'm there. that really sucks. i was counting on having a little more for the trip and they tell us like three weeks before it was supposed to be on our accounts. crap. old navy..tj maxx..new pumas.. *sigh*

now, good news: i booked the hotel in chicago yesterday (half an hour before i found out about aforementioned money-issue..) on hotwire.com. it's close to the airport with free parking and a free shuttle to and from the airport. which is great because that way we can just leave the car at the hotel, let them take us to the airport and take the "blue line" right into the city centre. and it wasn't that expensive either. not for chicago anyway. i pay under 100$ for two nights. and with the exchange rate as it is right now, that's about 75 euro. so i think it's a great deal and we'll have two nights in a comfy hotel to start with plus two days to spend in chicago. christkindlmarket and all. JAY! can't wait! and just in case you were wondering - 30 days..

also, we are trying to organize to get together with my friend miriam and her boyfriend the weekend after that. she's also german, we met when we were both au-pairs in '97 and she went to bamberg to study there after we got back. her boyfriend R is canadian. they met in 2002 when she was doing a "trek america". she finished university in july and moved to canada pretty much right away. i haven't seen her since. so we're thinking about getting together maybe in windsor, canada because that's about half way between fort wayne and toronto (where they are). problem is that originally he has to work that weekend and it really is the only one possible, because they are coming back to germany for christmas and won't be in canada most of the time i am. but he handed in his vacation request today so let's all cross fingers now and hope it'll work out. i already found an inexpensive studio for the four of us in windsor and it'd be so great to see them. C doesn't even know R yet and it'd be awesome to party..

i'll be off for duesseldorf again tomorrow. i told you about matthias' 30th-b-day-party. we're all gonna dress up 20ies-style and it should be a lot of fun. as usually. and probably entertaining pictures for you guys. but i can't promise anything yet. you know it's a p.i.t.a. to scan and all and i don't know how much time i'll have at work. but we'll see.. so if i don't have time tomorrow - have a good weekend y'all and don't do anything i wouldn't do.. ;o))