Chicago

Yay for 3 day weekends! I took advantage of this past one by heading up to Chicago to visit my bestie, Sarah. Sarah moved to Chicago a couple of years ago and lives in a fun little apartment in Wicker Park. I am probably the only crazy person who thought it was a good idea to go to Chciago in the middle of winter, but to get a whole weekend of Sarah time, it was totally worth it.

Having been to Chicago several times, there wasn't a lot of touristy things I really wanted to do. Having just had Christmas, I didn't really feel the need to shop, and with the frigid temperatures that moved in as I got into town, walking around and enjoying the city also wasn't on the top of my list. That being said, we still had lots of fun. And, thanks to Sarah, there are pictures to document our fun!

We started out by heading down to State Street before the weather turned really cold. We went into a few stores, but I am cheap and didn't want to spend money, so I mostly just looked at pretty things and made mental notes to check a few websites for sales!

We ate amazingly while we were there, which is saying something since Derek and I are back on the Whole 30. Derek said he would have understood if I ate pizza and all other sorts of Chicago-y goodness, but I didn't cheat! I ate healthy the whole time!

Irazu Saturday night. Amazing Costa Rican.

Blue Line Diner. Yummy food, and not very expensive or super crowded. I told Derek this would be our bar if we lived in Chicago.

Saturday night we went out for the birthday of one of Sarah's friends. I got to experience Saturday night bar hopping in Chicago, including getting debris blown into my face and open mouth as we crossed a street.

We went to church at Soul City in the morning, and the worship and sermon were great! I love going to church with friends in other cities and getting to see what their Sunday mornings look like. After church we went to brunch, which is another very Chicago-y thing to do.

We went to the Willis tower Sunday afternoon and looked out over Chicago as the sun was setting (or was actually mostly set, but that's ok!) I've been to Chicago several times but had never been up to the top of the Willis (formerly Sears) tower, so it seemed like something I needed to do.

Look at us! We're standing on top of Chicago!

We finished off the weekend with dinner at Blue Line diner where we watched the AFC championship game and then we walked back to Sarah's apartment as quickly as possible. By Sunday evening the temperature had dropped and I thought my legs might freeze and I wouldn't be able to make it back to the apartment. But I did. And we spent the evening warm and toasty inside watching Friends. I may or may not have fallen asleep on the couch.

It was an awesome weekend and I can't wait to do it again. Maybe in the summer when it's a little warmer!

Christmas 2012

I figured I should probably do a quick Christmas recap, since we're already well into January.

Derek and I had a wonderful Christmas season. Here are some highlights:

• Making paper snowflakes and decorating the house for Christmas

• A whole weekend devoted to baking Christmas cookies and treats
• Work Christmas parties
• A Christmas party with our church home group, followed by a nerf gun war

• A Christmas party with our LCA kids who are now college kids

• Time spent catching up with old YL girls and getting to hear about all the ways God is moving in their lives
• Exchanging gifts with Derek at home before we left to visit family

• Spending the weekend before Christmas with my family in Columbus
• Frisbee golf in the freezing rain
• Snow throughout the holidays
• Children's Christmas Eve service that lasted 35 minutes
• Christmas Eve and Christmas day meals with my family
• Opening gifts in Columbus - I got a Dyson vacuum cleaner, which may not sound exciting, but when you have 3 long-haired pets, it was for sure a highlight!
• Spending time with Derek's family 
• Watching our nephews open their gifts
• A non-highlight was that we couldn't get the entire family together due to illness :(
• Opening our gifts - I got a new 50 mm/f.18 lens for my camera and lots of other fun gifts!
• Christmas dinner with Derek's family
• Running last minute errands with Derek to prepare him for his trip to London
• Going back up to Columbus to spend the weekend with my family while Derek was in London
• Stopping at Derek's parents on the way up to see Kevin, Kayla and Connor and watch them open their gifts from us, since we didn't get to see them when we celebrated Christmas with the rest of Derek's family
• Relaxing in Columbus with not much on the agenda for 4 days!
• Being reunited with Derek after he was in Europe for a week and seeing all 1200 pictures! One of our goals is to go through and whittle them down to a manageable amount and have a little party with the friends who went with him and their families. I'm also hoping to share some on the blog in the near future :)

So there is a fairly exhaustive list of all that our Christmas season entailed. After a year filled with many ups and downs, lots of joy, but lots of heartache and disappointment as well, I think that this Christmas season I understood better than ever before our need for a Savior, and eagerly anticipated and enjoyed every opportunity to celebrate the fact that God did not leave us in this broken world, but sent His very Son to save us. To take all of the brokenness and heartache and restore us with hope and a promise that one day, all things will be made new. I hope to carry that truth with me into the new year, and rely on it, whatever 2013 may bring.

Happy New Year!

We're four days into 2014. My Christmas decorations are still up, I haven't blogged about our Christmas or what we've been up to the past few weeks. I haven't looked back at my 2012 goals and resolutions to see how I've done, nor have I made any goals for 2013. But all of those things will come. I just need a little time.

Until then, read this post. It is helping me evaluate last year and look ahead to the coming year.

I'll be back with more substance, hopefully soon. It's just that I've been out of town a lot over the past 2 weeks and need to get my life in order.