The holidays

We had a great time for the holidays this year! John and I celebrated a little early, on the Thursday before Christmas, as we would be traveling for the actual holidays. We got each other pretty great gifts this year...I guess we listen well to each other! Haha.

It finally snowed a little. My new Ninja blender. John with his Google Nexus 10 tablet.

We drove up to Oshkosh the Friday before Christmas. Since we wouldn't be there for the Lenz Family Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve, we took Grandma and Grandpa Lenz out for dinner so we could spend some time with them. It was one of the few times we've ever spent with them, just the four of us. We had a really good time...and delicious food. Grandma Jo almost sheepishly gave me an ornament she had meant for last year. It's a white lab coat with Dr. Emily Lenz on it instead of Emily Lenz NP. She was embarrassed about the mistake but it's so cute...and I think I can fix it!

John's dad is very involved in the Celebration of Lights display. Later that night, we drove through the park to check out this year's work. Pretty cool!

Saturday morning we celebrated with John's immediate family. We had pancakes for breakfast and then opened our presents. John and I got lots of great gifts...and everyone seemed to enjoy the gifts we got for them as well.

Natalie with her new Vera Bradley Weekender bag from Annie and me.

Annie, Natalie, and Em looking at the wedding photo book Natalie made Annie.

-----

Later that day, we headed up north to Mountain, WI to John's uncle's cabin to celebrate with Uncle Tom, "Almost-Aunt" Peggy, my parents, and John's family. We ate lots of delicious food, played a few games (Tripoley was my favorite), cross-country skied, sledded, and cheered on the Packers. It was a fun weekend!

Ben and John

Mom and Em

Em and Annie

Fail! Natalie, John, and John

Em and John

Em, Annie, and Natalie

-----

Christmas Eve morning, we followed my parents on the drive back to Cochrane. That evening we celebrated with Mary, Jeff, Ben, Mitch, and Grandma Rohrer. It was so great to see them all again. I had seen Mary and Ben recently...but hadn't seen Jeff or Mitch for quite awhile. We're all so grown up now...and my cousins are so tall!

This is the only picture we took that night...but it's a good one! Ben, Em, and Mitch

-----

We stayed in Cochrane for a few days after Christmas to hang out with Mom and Dad. Mom and I ventured out to Winona shopping one day and ate lunch at Acoustic Cafe, one of my favorite places. My friends Aubrey and Dana were also home and came over for an afternoon of catching up and reminiscing. It was so good to be home!

Mom at Acoustic Cafe

-----

We came back to Chicago with five whole days left to spare before I went back to work. It was great to relax a little bit. Sure, there were still a lot of things to get done at home...but mostly fun things!

We had a pretty chill New Year's Eve. Keith came over and we cooked a delicious meal. We used Keith's girlfriend Amy's bruschetta recipe for our appetizer, Keith bought a Chicken Roulade with Cranberry Sage Stuffing, and I made roasted carrots plus a peanut butter pie for dessert. It was so good!

These were from the 7 PM fireworks. The midnight ones were even better!

 

 -----

New Year's Day was rather uneventful as well. Keith came over for the Rose Bowl game which the Badgers lost. Boo. They played a pretty good game though. I'm already excited for next year!

Twitter

I like Twitter...and so do my 19-year-old sister-in-law and 18-year-old cousin. Apparently, this is the way to express thanks these days. At least I'm cool enough to be on it!

I found some cool stuff at the Dollar Spot at Target plus some Pretzel M&Ms to send to Natalie for her birthday. She needed something to open up on her birthday (and the start of finals week) after celebrating her birthday in Chicago a couple weeks earlier.

 

I was #1!

This is a little old...from sometime in November...but I led all my friends on dailymile for the first time ever!  Woohoo!

December Recap

I had a tough time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. The weather was unseasonably warm and everyone kept asking me what I wanted for Christmas...and I didn't really want anything (except for a Ninja blender and some Disney movies). I was still excited about picking out gifts for other people but just wasn't feeling it for myself. Luckily, it turned out just fine.

-----

As I mentioned at the end of the November Recap, John's family came to visit the first weekend in December. We spent the day Saturday walking around downtown and shopping. I didn't really buy anything but got ideas for my sister-in-laws instead. The weather was pretty nice. The Christkindlmarket was packed!

Em, Annie, and Natalie enjoying the stuffed pretzels at the Christkindlmarket

The "kids" by the tree at Macy's: John, Em, Natalie, Ben, and Annie

Saturday evening we went over to John's cousin Brigitte's friend John's house in the Bucktown neighborhood. John's house is humongous and absolutely gorgeous! It was so fun to spend the evening with them.

The (soon-to-be) birthday girls: Natalie and Brigitte

Sunday we went out for breakfast and then visited the Adler Planetarium. It was cool to go there again and spend a little more time at the exhibits.

The group, minus Kathy, outside the Planetarium

Natalie trying out the astrolabe

The "kids" with the foggy Chicago skyline

-----

I mentioned the weather was warm. It hit 68 degrees one day that week...crazy for December in Chicago!

-----

The next weekend I drove up to Wisconsin to meet my mom, aunts, and cousins for the annual Spindler Girls Shopping Trip. I stopped in to see Jamine, Brandon, and the boys on my way...perfect Friday night.

My sweet ride for the weekend

Sleepy Cade

Smiley Cade

The shopping trip was as fun as always. There were tons of laughs and lots of good chats. We decided we need to do another get together in the spring!

The cousins: Em, Jill, Erin, Jamie, Krystal, and Chelsey

There is a picture of the moms/aunts too...but it's not very flattering so I'll keep it on my computer and off the internet!

-----

The next weekend, our friend Bunke and his wife Megan came down to Chicago for a concert. We were able to spend the afternoon with them before the concert by going back to the Christkindlmarket (not as crowded as the first weekend) and eating pizza at Gino's (a first for us). Then, we had brunch with them fairly early Sunday morning before they headed back to Wisconsin. It was great to see them again!

That Sunday, I finally got my baking done! I love baking Christmas cookies...especially cutouts. My mom baked a lot every year and I always helped. It's something I look forward to doing with my kids someday.

Yum! I just ate the last of these today.

-----

I think what really helped to get me in the Christmas spirit this year was spending time with friends and family...and baking and decorating.

The decorations in our apartment

John and I at the Christkindlmarket

The decorations in our office at work. I especially love our tree!

Our neighborhood on a particularly beautiful evening

It's a little hard to see in this picture, but this is my favorite decoration in Chicago this year. This dome is lit up beautifully!

-----

I'll save the holiday recap for the next post...this one is getting too long!

Thinking is like loving and dying. Each of us must do it for himself.
~Josiah Royce, American philosopher

One thing I am convinced more and more is true and that is this: The only way to be truly happy is to make others happy. When you realize that and take advantage of the fact, everything is made perfect. 
~William Carlos Williams, American poet and physician

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.
~Ernest Hemingway, American author and journalist

Sometimes I feel like I trust people too easily but I think Hemingway is right.  How do you know if you can trust someone without trusting them?  It's usually a risk I'm willing to take...

The rest of November...

Oh boy, it's been way too long since I've blogged...busy, busy, busy!  My goal this week is to catch up on the remainder of 2012...and then try to come up with a plan for 2013.  Here goes!

-----

I turned 29 on November 9th.  29...wow!  I can't believe I'll be 30 in just over 10 months.  I had a great birthday.  I worked that day...but received lots of fun gifts from my coworkers.  And, I had a great evening at home with my hubby.  Plus, I got a call from Laura in Costa Rica...it's always great to hear her voice!

-----

The morning after my birthday, we flew up to Minneapolis for a wedding.  John and I had taken the train from downtown Chicago to O'Hare, flown to Minneapolis, and then taken the light rail from that airport to downtown Minneapolis and were in our hotel by 10 AM!  We met my cousin Ben for the Badger game at The Hole, a sports bar where John's cousin works.  We had dinner with a group of friends at Spill the Wine and then headed to the reception.  We had a great time!  Congratulations Pat and Meghan!

John and Em

Em and Ang - Almost birthday buddies.

Ang, Cort, John, and Em

Cort and John...one of the best photos of the night, for sure!

The day after the wedding we took the light rail back out to the Mall of America and spent the afternoon with Mark and KJ. We ate a delicious meal, played mini golf, and caught up. It's always great to see them!

-----

John's cousin J's band, Pert Near Sandstone, played at Martyrs' in Chicago on November 16th. We met Brigitte and John for dinner beforehand and then listened to the band. They have quite a following!  Very fun!

-----

Just before Thanksgiving, we had a surprise graduation party for Maryam, our first CAS graduate, at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building. We had such a great time!

-----

John and I spent Thanksgiving weekend in Oshkosh and started off the day with the Turkey Trot. I ran the 5 mile run and John walked the 2 mile run/walk with one of his uncles. It was a beautiful morning and a great way to start out the day!

We had Thanksgiving dinner at John's grandparents' house with a bunch of family...always a good time! Then, I was able to go visit my cousin's new house and see her whole family...so fun! We got to spend a little time with Mark and KJ again...and Bunke too! Wish we all lived closer...

-----

We came back on Saturday and spent the evening walking around downtown Chicago checking out the Christmas decorations with Keith and Amy...topped off with cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery...yum!

-----

The following weekend, John's family came down to celebrate Natalie's birthday a little early since she started finals on her actual birthday weekend. Natalie rode the bus from Madison to Chicago on Friday. She and John met me at Bubba Gump's for dinner that night as the rest of the family wasn't arriving until after dinner. Navy Pier was decorated beautifully!

If you look really closely you can see that the center building says "Fight AIDS" with a ribbon on the side for World AIDS Day.

-----

December is coming up next...

Merry Christmas!

I have some catching up to do on here but wanted to get this post out on time...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone! We hope this letter finds you well and looking forward to another year. So much happened this year. There were a lot of “downs” to start the year but fairly smooth sailing from then on. I want to say too much for a letter this year (I tried!) so I'm going to try out bullet points instead. :-)

The downs:

• My cousin Tim Spindler passed away in January – We miss you, Timmer!
• My mom had a mitral valve repair on January 24^th. It was a scary few days but she made it through surgery with flying colors. The surgeon was pretty proud of himself! She has since completed the Challenge Walk MS (50 miles in 3 days) for the second year in a row and has begun running...watch out, world!

The ups:

• My best friend Jamine announced that she was pregnant! In March, she found out that she was having twin boys. Cade Jefferson and Blake Luther Kurth were born on June 19^th. These boys have officially stolen my heart!
• I became Blake's godmother on August 19^th!
• We helped Annie and Ben celebrate their wedding on October 20^th (and before with showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties, etc.). I'm glad to officially have another in-law in the Lenz family, Ben!
• John's job is going really well. He's finishing up his third semester at UIC and has published a few papers this year. Three more semesters and then we're off to the next job!
• I love my job! Working with nursing students is definitely challenging but also very rewarding. I work with an awesome team. I do miss practicing as a nurse practitioner though...

The changes:

• We sold our car! We've been living without a car since the end of May. We rent cars when we want to go out of town and take public transportation or walk to get anywhere in the city. It's been quite an adventure. I can honestly say there's only been one instance when I wished I had a car in the last 6+ months.

Our 2012 travels:

• Sun Valley and Boise ID in January – Skiing, family, the gun range, minor league hockey

• Siesta Key and Tampa FL in March – The beach, Busch Gardens, McAlister's Deli, John speaking at a conference, an afternoon with the Rothering's
• Jamaica in July with Mark and KJ – Dunn's River Falls, river tubing, the beach, the pool, lots of delicious food and drinks!
• Montana in August with John's parents – Lots of books for the drive, riding the combine with John, family, Yellowstone National Park, a harrowing drive through the Beartooth Scenic Byway, Mount Rushmore
• Madison for the Crazylegs Classic in April and for Homecoming in October – Friends, fun, football

Running events:

• Crazylegs Classic in April – PR in the 8K, John walked with friends
• Brewers Mini Marathon in September – PR of 2:02 with a bathroom break! I loved the course!
• Men's Health Urbanathlon Relay Leg #1 in October
• Hot Chocolate 15K in November
• Oshkosh Turkey Trot 5 mile run in November, John walked with family

Things we're looking forward to in 2013:

• The Badgers in the Rose Bowl for the third time in a row. Third time's the charm, right?!?
• Disney World Marathon Weekend in January – I'm running the Goofy Challenge (the half marathon on Saturday and full marathon on Sunday)
• Disney World with the Lenz Family in May – Ben's first trip with us!
• Weddings in Costa Rica and New York
• Hopefully adding a new member to our little family!!

Hot Chocolate 15K/5K

Last year my friend Angie came down to Chicago to run the Monster Dash Half Marathon with me.  This year, we decided to run the Hot Chocolate 15K.  Our moms decided they would like to come too, along with two of their friends and another one of Angie's friends.  We had a great weekend!

Saturday we walked down to the Soldier Field parking lot to pick up our packets.  It was quite a process and a little chilly but we had fun. 

Gwen, Carol, Mom, and Diane

The race was early Sunday morning...a 7:00 start time.  Angie hadn't been feeling well for the last month or so and hadn't run in almost four weeks...so she moved back from Corral A to Corral K with me.  The race started out really crowded as both the 15K and 5K runners started together.  It was really nice when the 5Kers split off!  We stayed together the whole race and did a pretty good job...especially Angie considering she wasn't feeling the greatest.

Em, Mom, Nicole, Diane, Carol, Gwen, and Angie

The chocolate at the end was well worth the run!  Very yummy!

Angie and Em

After the race on Sunday, we walked around Chicago, checked out the Macy's Christmas tree, ate an early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and saw the Broadway production of I Love Lucy.  Great day!

The Macy's Christmas tree

Hot Chocolate 15K

Time - 1:30:13

Pace - 9:31 

Overall place - 6509 of 16411

Age group - 961 of 2883

Sex - 3580 of 11329