What was something you wanted today, but couldn't have?...

...More time! After church, I studied for the CTP exam (which I'm taking in late June) and then went to Fat Cat and Green Mill (for the Uptown Poetry Slam) to celebrate Suzanne's birthday - lots of stuff for the Sunday of daylight savings! I could have spent some time decluttering and/or taking a nap!

What was the last movie you rented?...

...Courageous, which I rented three different times and should've just bought it! I rented it once to watch by myself, but never did (even though I had it for 10 nights)! Then, I rented it with Debbie when I went to Tulsa and we actually watched it and laughed and cried a lot, especially at the inside joke about Chick-Fil-A :)  Then, the next weekend when I was in Alabama, I wathced it again with Linda and laughed and cried some more.

What's your favorite word right now?

Crackers, cracker jacks and mother trucker (all replacements for bad words)!

What's the last song you listened to?

Manic Monday karaoke @ Carol's Pub with Suzanne and all the other girls from church! Holly was able to get everyone together for a random Thursday night gathering. We had a blast singing country songs (Down on the Farm, Fishing in the Dark) and 80s songs (Hold On and Manic Monday). We were no match, though, for Jill, a random middle-aged lady who sang "I'm An Asshole," "I'm Just A Girl," "Blister in the Sun," and "Shoop"!

Leap year? What did you do with the extra day?...

...I woke up at 5am and went to the exercise room in my condo building to use the eliptical (after listening to God's words, "I will give you rest"). When I was done working out, I watched Church on the Move's Weights Part 3 (about forgiveness). At lunch time, I went outside (it was 60 degrees! but windy). Then, I finished my night by watching Survivor - love that show!

What was the last performance or concert you went to?...

...I guess it was "A Christmas Story: The Musical". But tomorrow night (this was originally written on Feb 16), Cindy and I are going to see "Assisted Living" at Profiles.

If this day was an animal, which animal would it be?...

...It would be Hammy the squirrel from Over the Hedge because of all the schedule changes with the flights to Tulsa and then the tram being stuck at the parking lot.

Back story: Another snowy Friday afternoon commute in Chicago where I have a flight planned! My flight to Tulsa was supposed to leave at 8:30pm. All day at work, I was checking the status of the other flights going back and forth to Tulsa. The flights earlier in the day were delayed for an hour, then two hours and then they were cancelled. Then, my flight showed as being delayed one hour. I thought about just changing my flight to Saturday, but never pulled the trigger. So, since my flight was delayed an hour, after I left work, I decided to go out of my way to Old Orchard to pick up a pair of jeans I was having hemmed when, on my way - what do you know - my flight status changed to being on time!

At that time, it was 7pm and I was further away from the airport than I was when I was at work...and did I mention it was snowing?! I made it to the remote parking lot at the airport around 7:45, but the tram was stuck! During a heated exchange with the parking lot attendant where I was demanding that I would not pay the $2 "under 1 hour" fee for the privilege of coming into the parking lot just to realize the tram wasn't working and that instead, I was going to have to go to the terminal parking lot (and pay double, by the way) in order to make my flight, the tram started working again. So, I put the car in reverse, found a parking spot, got stuck behind a dad and his kid on the escalator and thought I was going to miss the tram, but finally got into the terminal at 7:55 and was at the gate at 8:10. Phew - made the flight!

Yes, I've had some close calls at airports in the way past and even missed flights, but for the last several flights, I'm proud to say I've been there before they even start boarding! This was stressful and I'll stick to my new habit of getting to the airport a little earlier...starting today!

PS: Benefit of taking Friday night flight = seeing Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, looking like totally normal people, picking up their buddy at their airport!

What are three things you have to buy?...

...#1 A pair of the new Toms Ballet Flats!
...#2 Plane tickets - to visit Debbie in Tulsa to celebrate our birthdays, to visit my family in Bama (more birthday celebrations) and to NYC for a weekend of theater with Cindy in March
...#3 A new sofa (see picture of my current sofa here) - - but that's such a big commitment!

Are you seeking contentment or excitement?...

...maybe a little excitement...had a fun weekend (volunteering at the Salvation Army Super Bowl party and tax prep) and tonight was game night at the Hudsons.

What a fun-filled weekend I just had...and it pumped me up for the busy weeks I have ahead!

I had my first volunteer session with the Center for Economic Progress doing tax preparation. I spent two hours on my first return and wasn't even able to finish it =( I was helping a taxi driver and we were trying to figure out the best way to record the expenses related to his new car. He also had a separate company on the side and although I was pretty sure we couldn't do that tax return, I brushed off the $17 loss his separate company had ($17 isn't material!) and went ahead with the personal return. What I didn't realize (until 2 hours later) was that the company's tax return had to be done first and then that $17 loss had to be shown on his personal return. I guess I need to get in a little different frame of mind from what I'm used to at work where not even a million dollars is material! Then I started the tax return for another guy who was insistent on filing using the married filing separately status - even though he and his wife were happily married. I tried to tell him that was not in his best interest, but he wanted me to do it anyway. When I input all the numbers and showed him that he was looking at a $1,500 refund vs. a $6,500 refund, he finally listened to me and said he'd come back later with his wife. That took about 30 minutes. Then, for my last return of the day, I told the intake person to give me an easy one! I finally was able to get a full tax return completed and filed for a couple that had a 19 year old daughter that was in college (the daughter's name was Jennifer!). It was fun, but more difficult than I thought it would be.  Oh, and apparently Governor Quinn was there that day at 10:30 (while I was debating a depreciation schedule vs. mileage expense for the taxi driver's new car) for a press conference.

After the tax prep, I did a few loads of laundry and went to Target (with my new-found coupons in hand!). Then, I got ready to go out to dinner at Noodles in the Pot to celebrate (with 20 other people!) two friends' birthdays. After dinner, we went to Kingston Mines - - can't believe I've lived in Chicago for 10 years and never gone to a Blues club! The music was great and we had a fun time.

The Sax guy roamed around the audience for a while!

On Saturday, I had also started putting some of my old clothes in piles to donate (like the ones I haven't even taken out of the box that I moved them in 5 1/2 years ago!). But, I started thinking that I should give them to somebody I know because they're pretty nice! So, after church on Sunday, my friend Ranae came over and she took some skirts from my skinnier days. I think I'll look into donating the rest ofmy nicer clothes to Dress for Success.

After a short nap, I headed to the Salvation Army's Harbor Light Center to volunteer for a sober Super Bowl party with a friend from church. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work! Mostly, we just served food to the 200 guests. It was a pretty yummy setup: Nachos in the 1st Quarter, Potato Skins in the 2nd Quarter, Pizza in the 3rd Quarter and Brownies/Cake in the 4th Quarter. In between, we passed out pop that Pepsi had donated and went around with trash bags to pick up empty plates. I'd definitely do it again next year!

Me and Suzanne
Gotta love the hairnets and plastic aprons!



Another picture I found from the Tribune.
The event was held in an old gym.
This pic was taken during the national anthem while
we were way in the back getting the nachos ready!


After the long weekend, I still managed to make it our Gospel Community game night on Monday  after work. I learned a new game - Dutch Blitz (like Nertz...if you've heard of that, which I hadn't). I experienced some beginner's luck (partly because I didn't know the rules), but ended up in last place. Then we played a round of Taboo and surprisingly, Jonathan from South Africa did the best when it came to clues about American History! Good times =)

Lazy and comfortable

I found a theme in 3 of my journal entries from the past week that I think hints of the winter blues:

January 22 - Are you seeking security or adventure?...Security and comfort
January 23 - Do you need a break? From what?...Not really - - unless you consider needing a break from being too lazy as needing a break
January 28 - How do you describe home?...Cluttered! But comfy.

Hmmm....not much more to say about that!

What are you looking forward to?...

...spending some much needed time with Debbie in Feb! Oh, and to meeting Mr. Benjamin Charles Donahue when he decides to arrive!

Back Story:
First, the easy (and short) part. Jeanette - a friend I made while I was working at Accenture - was due with her first baby, Benjamin Charles Donahue, on Friday the 13th of January. I wrote this journal entry on January 21, when she was a week past her due date. I'm happy to report that I did get to meet him this past Thursday...so tiny, so cute!

Benjamin Charles Donahue - January 25, 2012

Now, the longer part. Debbie is one of my friends from college and we've gotten to be even better friends over the years. College friends are irreplaceable. College friends were easy to make. In college, my full time job was having fun! (I'd worked hard enough in high school that college wasn't too difficult, so I was making up for lost time!) Now, my full time job is, well, a job. And when I get home at 7 or 7:30, I'm pretty content with eating dinner, watching some tv and going to bed. It takes effort - persistent effort - to build quality, lasting friendships.

Chicago is a town where, after college, most people move here with their college friends or come back home and re-join their high school friends. I didn't meet that criteria - and most of the friends I've met throughout my 10 years here are friends I've made for a season - - depending on what job I have, what groups I'm a part of, what church I go to. People change jobs, people move, people have lots of other things going on that take up their time. Combine that with the fact that after a long day of work, I can be pretty lazy and be content just staying at home...it doesn't make a good recipe for building those types of relationships that were so easy to make in college. 

All friendships are different. And we do go through different seasons in life. And some friends are just for a season. And even the longest-lasting friendships have their peaks and valleys - sometimes you talk every day and sometimes you go for months without talking. I'm thankful for every one of you that God has ever brought into my life - whether it's been for a short season or a long season. Friendships take effort. Relationships take effort. And I'll be honest: sometimes I'm just not willing to put out that much effort. Hmmm...I guess I'll continue to ponder on that for a while...it'll be a good topic of conversation for when I do find a cheap, last minute ticket to fly to Tulsa and see Debbie in February to celebrate our birthdays! 


Debbie's wedding - May 2004



Our traditional "couch picture" when college friends gathered
in Tulsa (Feb 2006) to celebrate birth of Debbie's baby boy, Everett!



Our traditional couch picture when everyone gathered in Chicago (Sept 2011)

In the meantime, I plan to add Rachel Bertsche's book, "MWF seeking BFF: My yearlong search for a new best friend" to my list of books to read. Maybe it'll inspire me to put myself out there more! Of course, her fall back night at home is with her husband....my fallback is a night at home with my cats ;)

Here's an excerpt from Rachel Bertsche's book that I think sums up the friend-finding experience in  Chicago quite nicely: 

     Aside from my coworkers, I’ve made exactly one new friend since I moved to Chicago. Matt and I met Lindsey and her boyfriend at a wedding. I see her every month or so, when we gather for dinner with the bride and a few ex-Northwesterners we both know. They’re fun, but even after two years we haven’treached that call-on-a-Sunday-morning level.
     That’s the bestfriendship test, I think. The “What are we doing today?” phone call. If you have that, you have someone with whom it is implied you will spend the day or at least anhour. That’s the level of BFF I’m in the market for. At this point, I have girls in Chicago who I could email to set up a dinner date. But when Matt decides at the last minute to take a Friday-night trip to the casino, I use the time to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy. When he has to work on a weekend, there’s no one, save for my mom (who followed me, er, moved, here a few months ago), whom I feel comfortable enough to call and say, “What are you up to?”
     Getting to that level is tricky. It’s essentially dating. At what point after meeting a new friend is it acceptable to call “just to say hi”? When is it not overly aggressive to text “Pedicure in a half hour?” The first time I saw a coworker outside the office, we’d been texting on a Saturday about a work-related issue. When Lynn wrote, “If you’re not doing anything, come over for Guinness and oysterfest!” I went into a tizzy. I wasn’t doing anything! I’d love to come over for Guinness and oysterfest! But could I just say that? No one wants to be the pathetic girl sitting by the phone, waiting for an invitation. I wrote back a few minutes later. “Have to get lunch and run some errands . . . How long will you be there?” It wasn’t entirely untrue—I did have lunch plans. With my 60- year-old aunt, my cousin, and my brother’s girlfriend, Jaime. Easily cancelable, but made me look less eager. There were no errands.
     This was big-time. It could be the transition from “work- friend”—Lynn sits in the cubicle next to me at the office where we are both web producers—to “friend.” I wanted to play it exactly right. At lunch, Jaime laughed as I dealt with my nerves by asking a zillion questions. Did the outfit I’d thrown together for lunch look weekend-casual-but-cool enough? Was Lynn just being nice, or did she really want me to come over? “It’s not like you’re trying to hook up with her,” Jaime said. “You’ll be fine.”
     And I was fine. My T-shirt and yoga pants were perhaps a little more weekend-pajama than weekend-cool, but I walked the street fair with Lynn and her college friends, passing on oysters and Guinness in favor of a Bucket O’ Fries. (Cool girls eat fries, right?) These could be my friends, I thought. I could infiltrate the clique! At one point, Lynn’s friend Karen put her arm around me. I was awkward but tried to go with it. It was a great day.
     Other than Lynn, I haven’t seen any of them since.
     Around that same time, Lynn was the friend-to-be I invited to join me for my first wedding dress fitting. Callie and my mom had flown in from New York for the shopping, but I was on my own for this appointment. My aunt was supposed to come, but a last-minute doctor’s appointment forced her to cancel. Even though I knew it was a big step for our fledgling friendship, I was desperate.
     “Are you doing anything Saturday?” I asked Lynn at work one day. “I have to go try on my wedding dress and would love your opinion. Do you want to come?” Bridal-related activities are usually reserved for VIPs, so I knew it was a monumental request.
     “Just me?” she asked. The look on her face reminded me of the male lead in a romantic comedy when the girl says “I love you” too soon. It was a startling combination of fear and confusion and whoa-slow-down-there-lady. “Um, I’m not sure. I might have plans.”
     I tried to backpedal. “What? Oh no, never mind actually. I was just thinking, but actually I, well, I’ll let you know. I probably won’t need you.” It was a poor exit strategy but Lynn took it.
     It’s possible that I read more into my coworker’s reaction than was actually there, but I’d already psyched myself out. I didn’t mention it again and a few days later I went to my fitting. Alone. But not before having a minor breakdown on the phone with my mom, devastated that I had no companion to tell me how blushing bride–like I looked.
     All of this makes me realize one thing: I do not miss dating. Matt and I met freshman year of college. He went from friend- with-benefits to boyfriend to husband. My experience with all this courting and shoduld-I-call-the-next-day is limited, and the thought of diving back in—even if only platonically—is seriously daunting. 

Random journal entries...

...I've been little busy and this week's questions didn't really lend themselves to a lot of back story, so I thought I'd just randomly post a few of the questions from the last week:

• What song is stuck in your head? Too many to count! Jesus Loves Me, Lead Me, Before the Throne of God, and always, the "There is no one, no one at all - no detergent, lotion or oil with such power" song from Evita! [weird? yes, but I do sing that song all the time]
• Was today typical? Why or why not? Yes, if you count Bama winning the national championship as typical!
• What's your favorite accessory? My watch, since I wear it every day. [Yes, I still wear a watch! And, I've managed to not lose it for almost a year now.]

What is your mission?...

...To live a Christ-centered life by trusting in Him, connecting with others and seeking Him with all my heart.

Backstory:  One of Dave Ramsey's first newsletters of 2011 was about coming up with a personal mission statement. The one above just kind of fell into my lap when, on December 29, the question in my 5-year journal was "what are your top three wishes?" Then, when the "What is your mission?" question came up 3 days later, I realized they were the one in the same!

I was also listening to a sermon that Joe McGee gave at Church on the Move in Tulsa, OK about vision and that got me thinking about a 5-year vision statement. I'm not there yet. Right now, I just have my mission statement. Well, that and a whole list of things I'm looking forward to in 2012...

• Using my re-usable bags more (even if it means going back to the car when I'm ready to check out at the register, which I've already had to do TWICE today)
• Cooking with my new Staub Grill Pan! We'll see how it goes the rest of the year (heck, we'll see how it goes the rest of this month!), but the first "Staub Sunday" of 2012 resulted in a wonderfully delicious filet mignon!!!
• De-cluttering and then investing/sinking some time and money into sprucing up my condo with new paint/wallpaper, a new bed, a new sofa and some closet organizers



This couch has been through the wringer...it's got cat scratches, tape residue (from trying to keep the cats from scratching) and two gashes! Definitely time for a new couch....anybody want this one? Haha! 

• Meeting up with Suzanne once a week to do water aerobics
• Volunteering more - - starting with a stint doing tax return preparation through the Center for Economic Progress
• Exploring the Greek Isles with my mom on a Seabourn cruise
• Trying out to more of Chicago's fabulous restaurants...even if it means that my friends with kids have to get a baby-sitter and drive to the city! Restaurant Week 2012 in February will be a great kick-start...who wants to join me?
• Taking the Metra to work more regularly now that the construction on Lake Cook Road is finished!
• Studying for the Certified Treasury Professional exam in June
• Come up with a 5-year vision statement

That's 10 things, so I'll stop there before I get overwhelmed! Of course, the above list was in no particular order. Hope you're having a fabulous start to the new year!

So, what's your answer? Do you have a personal mission statement?

What is your most cherished memory of this (past) year?...

...when I sought God's guidance and saw His work in my life!

There are lots of great memories from 2011, so let's count them down:

#10. Finally getting an iPhone - can you say, Words With Friends?! I love having all my music and podcasts available in one device...and I haven't carried my real camera since getting the iPhone!

#9. Flying to Alabama last minute to surprise my dad for his birthday.

#8. Spending time with the "Yia Yias" when Debbie, Missy and Sarah came to Chicago for a weekend of shopping and dining in September.

Our standard "couch picture" when we stopped for cocktails at RL


#7. Reading Laura Hillenbrand's recount of Louis Zamperini's amazing story in "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption." It sparked a lot of great conversations between me and my mom's dad, Papa (who served in the Army in the late 50's, where he learned electronics that led him to a wonderful career at NASA) and my stepmom's dad, PawPaw (who retired from the Navy and traveled the world for 20+ years, including a tour in the Korean war).

#6. At a church women's retreat, being convicted to give up sugar/chocolate and successfully completing a 40-day fast of giving up the 5 C's: Chocolate (even my sugar-free chocolate pudding and my chocolate protein shake), Candy Bars, Coke, Cake, Cookies.

#5. Celebrating my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary in June (and celebrating the 50th anniversary of when they met on New Year's Eve 1960...technically not a 2011 memory, but close enough).

#4. Remy Bumppo's production of The goat, or Who Is Sylvia? by Edward Albee. There were two moments in the play that just really struck a chord with me and stirred up some deep emotions. It was fabulous! I would love to see it again, but I would have to make sure the theater company producing it handled it with the same care as Remy Bumppo.

#3. Becoming debt free (well, except for my underwater mortgage) and being able to, as Dave Ramsey says, "give like no one else!"

#2. Traveling to NYC twice in one week to watch the Shockers play in the NIT Semifinals and then win the NIT Championship!

#1. Seeing God's plan for my life worked out in ways I never thought it would! I can point to many examples of looking back on life and seeing how all things have worked out for the best, but the most evident example I can think of in 2011 is job-related. In January, I had spent some time praying about what the next step in my career should be and felt led to apply for a job that - when it had been posted three months earlier - I thought, "Who would ever want to do that job?" The next day, I applied for the job...the next week, I interviewed for the job...and the next month, I was offered the job (on my birthday, no less)!! Of course, I accepted :)

What is your dream vacation?...

...African safari! Specifically, seeing baby animals, a stalk and kill, and a cat in a tree =)

Back Story:  Of all the trips I've been on, my very favorite was a trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe. And, Africa is the only place that I've wanted to get back to (as soon as I can find the time and money)! When you go to London or Paris or Sydney, you know you'll see Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower and the Opera House. When you go on safari, you never know what you'll see!

When I went to Africa in 2008 with some friends, we flew to Kruger National Park and stayed at the Djuma Private Game Reserve. The staff, cooks and guides were the best! We did two game drives a day - - one at sunrise and one at sunset (complete with a stop for "sundowners"). We saw buffalo, giraffe, zebra, elephants, a leopard, a cheetah feeding on a kudu it had killed about an hour earlier, rhinos, "Friendly" (a hippo that our guide had his own special language with) and, on the last day, lions!

After that, we flew to Victoria Falls, on the Zimbabwe side. It was beautiful, but sad. The inflation was out of control (I got $100 billion of Zimbabwean currency for $1 USD) and no one was exporting food or goods to Zimbabwe, so the meal options were very limited. We went on an elephant ride and white water rafted down the Zambezi River...I was sore for days after the climb in/out of the gorge!

From Victoria Falls, we flew to Mana Pools National Park for a canoe safari. We were in a teeny tiny plane that flew into a dirt runway - definitely no airplane terminal). We had to abort our first landing because there were warthogs on the runway! On the first night, we stayed at a quasi-permanent camp site. The next two days, we canoed our way through TONS of hippos and went on several bush walks where we got pretty close to some elephants and also saw a couple of lion prides and hyenas. Back in the canoe, we narrowly avoided a hippo that had been lounging on the land until we interrupted him and he decided to splash into the water right in front of us (we had to back paddle and our guide went for his gun)!  The other two nights, we stayed in tents, but were fortunate that the staff put up the camp for us while we were canoeing, so we didn't have to do anything except holler when we were ready for them to fill up the water bucket for our shower!

Hippos...yes, we canoed around them!

The Shower

Our last stop was Cape Town. It was a beautiful city, but it was just that - a city. No animals. While we were there, we made the most of it by going to Robben Island and Table Mountain. I remember how fabulous it was to see the very last of the sun set into the ocean at what seemed like the tip of the earth!



Aah...what great memories! My friend Jeanette also went on a separate trip to Africa that same year and loved it as much as I did. She promised to go back every 5 years, which would mean another trip in 2013. I'm still planning on it, but Jeanette has a baby on the way, so I guess I'll have to find someone else to go with!

So, what's your answer? What is your dream vacation?

If you had to move to a new city, where would you move?...

...Riverwoods? No, really, New York City for the Broadway shows or Nashville?

Back Story: It's pretty hard to find a better place to live than Chicago, but the commute does get annoying. There are some really nice houses in Riverwoods, where I could just walk to work, but they're out of my price range.  I can only imagine a 5 minute commute! With an extra two hours a day, I would like to think that I'd work out and cook at home on a regular basis. I'd definitely have to come up with something else to fill those extra hours since none of my friends live out there (if they're not in the city, then they live in the western suburbs).

On the other hand, I've always thought that I'd like to live in NYC for just a year. When I first moved to Chicago, I made sure to regularly take advantage of all it has to offer. If there was a show I really wanted to see, I would go by myself if I had to. That doesn't happen so much anymore. Maybe it's because after spending 10 hours in a car each week, I don't want to waste time on a show that might not be 100% worth my time. I know that NYC would get old after a year or two, but that first year would be filled with lots of new experiences, including fabulous theater and restaurants (and no time in the car)!

Then again, if I HAD to make one more move for the rest of my life, I'd choose to move closer to my family. Nashville would win out over the other big southern cities close to Huntsville (Atlanta or Birmingham would be the other options). Not sure I could handle the "Rocky Top" anthem, but Nashville's also the home of Country music AND Christian music - my faves! On second thought, though, Atlanta is home to the headquarters of Chick-Fil-A...hmm.

So, what's your answer? If you had to move to a new city, where would you move?

What surprised you today?...

...how few Peanuts/Charlie Brown Christmas decorations people in Chicagoland have...only 3 in 100 miles of suburbs.

Back Story: Last Saturday, after spending some time with Megan, Tim, Barrett and new bundle-of-joy Audrey, I met up with my friend Cindy in Lombard to drive around and look at Christmas displays. She had quite the journey planned out based on google searches, a Christmas lights app and word of mouth. I thought we were just planning to look at lights in general, but about an hour into our adventure when we finally saw our first Peanuts inflatable, I realized that Cindy and I didn't have the same goals in mind! How could I have thought we would be looking for anything else (a nativity scene, maybe)? Her friends lovingly refer to her as a Peanuts hoarder - she has Peanuts decorations for every ocassion (including 6 nativity scenes with Woodstock as baby Jesus) and every birthday and Christmas card I ever get from her has Charlie Brown or Snoopy on it.

The first house we saw (in Lombard) was a good one: they had programmed their lights to the beat of Christmas songs that you could pipe through your car radio. From there, we drove north, past a house with a plastic Santa army (a little creepy if you ask me, especially at night). Then, we drove 20 miles to Juniper Lane in South Elgin. Pretty much all of the houses on that street went all out with their displays and we found TWO Peanuts decorations. However, one of them wasn't lit, so it didn't count. After that, we drove another 20 miles through South Barrington and Barrington to North Barrington (pretty, but no Peanuts).

We decided to forego the read-about home in Gurnee (which would have been another 20 miles) and turned south to make our way back to Lombard via Arlington Heights. By that time, we'd been in the car for almost 4 hours and hadn't seen any Peanuts decorations in 3 hours. Alas, as we were driving down Arlington Heights Road, I thought I spotted a Charlie Brown decoration (but thought it could have also been a snowman). We turned into that neighborhood and made it our mission not to leave that neighborhood until we saw something Peanuts-y! We drove around that neighborhood for about 30 minutes before finally going back to the place where I thought I saw a Charlie Brown. Sure enough, I could have gotten to bed a little earlier that night if we'd just gone straight to that one house! And would you believe that on that same street, we saw another Charlie Brown decoration!

So, now I'm constantly on the lookout for Peanuts Christmas decorations everywhere. Imagine how excited I was when I got to work on Monday and my coworker was wearing a Peanuts Christmas tie! Then, I was doubly excited when I spotted a big Snoopy from the Edens expressway near Touhy. Needless to say, Cindy and I will trek up there this Saturday after we see A Christmas Story, The Musical!

Long Time, No Post!

My friend Missy just started a great blog (http://www.theperfectbitekc.com/) and it inspired me to start up my blog again.

To ensure more regular posts, I'm going to start posting at least one thing I've written each week in my new Q&A a day 5-year journal (get yours here)! I saw it at Anthropologie in September and then proceeded to order it off Amazon because it was cheaper and I got to use my Cashback Bonus because of the new partnership between Amazon and Discover!

2011 Blizzard

Good thing I'd planned to take a PTO day today to get a massage and relax from all the hard work we've been putting in at work lately. It saved me a potential 3-5 hour commute. Some poor folks have been stuck on Lake Shore for 5 hours already. Crazy! Here's a picture and article from the Chicago Tribune.

Good news = I get a snow day
Bad news = I won't be able to sleep in because the snow blowers will be going non-stop!

Here's video I took from my window.

Not a lot of accumulation on my street since the wind is blowing it so hard! I'd hate to live in the building that's perpindicular to my street...can't imagine they'll be able to open their door tomorrow! So far, accumulation on the "regular" streets is 10 inches, with 10-12 more inches to come.

Also saw this picture that I liked:

Christmas Lights

This time of year makes taking a cab so much easier. Coming home from my first Christmas party(ies) of the season on Saturday night, I was able to just say to the cab driver, "My house is where the red Christmas lights are, up there on the left" rather than saying, "About half-way down the block on the left...no not yet....right after this house...okay, here!"

Maui - Thanksgiving 2010

This was the longest vacation I've had in quite a while and now that I'm home, it's definitely taken some time to adjust back to the real world. Going to work tomorrow will be a real shock to the system! Every time the heater comes on at home, I think it sounds like waves!
Dad and I got in to Maui around 6pm on Thursday night (Linda ended up staying at home with her mom and dad) and we picked up Cindy a couple hours later. We drove to our condo, which was just north of the Kaanapali Beach area.
On Friday, we laid by the pool then headed to Kaanapali Beach and had dinner at Hula Grill near Whaler's Village.
On Saturday, we embarked on the Road to Hana about 7am. We had lots of stops, some that worked out and some that didn't (note to self - don't use an outdated guide book for the Road to Hana!). We decided to also do the "Road from Hana" and encountered about 100 cattle, 30 of which were meandering down the road alongside us. Not what you want to have to worry about when a) it's dark and b) your Jeep's "Check Engine" light is on! In all, the "back route" probably only saves you about 30 minutes. And for us, it probably took us an extra hour since we ended up taking the car back to the rental car agency. Rather than getting another Jeep (which is like having a car from the 1980's - no power locks, windows or trunk), we upgraded to a Cadillac SRX. Our dinner that night consisted of McDonald's and Pizza Hut.

On Sunday, we rested up from our busy Saturday, then went on a sunset sailboat ride before our dinner at Lahaina Grill. So yummy!

Monday was the start of the Maui Invitational. Such a bummer of a loss, though...we were up for 30 minutes of the game against UConn (the eventual winners of the tournament, even though they weren't even ranked!) and ended up losing by 4 points 83-79. The 40+ free throw attempts by UConn (thanks refs) was the nail in our coffin. There were about 300 Shocker fans there, including Don & Shirley Beggs, Brian & Joy Heinricks, a bunch of Phi Delts/Kappa Sigs and Mike Cline and his family. It was great to see so many familiar faces! And, one of the Shocker freshmen, Tyler Richardson #22, is from my hometown, Huntsville, AL! After the loss, we had burgers at Kimo's....good food and great views.

For dinner that night, we went to the Feast at Lele...a luau that's not just a luau. It was a 5 course dinner with 5 different sets of dance from different Polynesian islands, including, of course, the Hawaiian luau. It was great!

On Tuesday, we skipped the Shocker game vs. Chaminade in favor of going to the 'Iao Needle. That didn't take too long, though. It was Cindy's last day on Maui, and for dinner, we went to Mala Ocean Tavern.

After we dropped off Cindy at the airport on Wednesday morning, Dad and I did some price checking at Wal Mart and then Costco (which was a total madhouse!). Then, we headed to the Shocker game against UVA (my other alma mater) and the Shox played a great game! We ended the tournament 2-1, with the only loss being to the winner of the tournament, UConn. Still can't believe that UConn knocked off #2 Michigan State and #9 Kentucky! After the game, Dad and I went to Kimo's (again) for drinks and pupus with Mike Cline, his sister, mom and her fiance. Can't beat that view!

Thanksgiving was a lazy day. I don't think I even left the room until it was time for dinner! We went to Duke's Beach House...Dad had turkey, but I just couldn't bring myself to NOT eat seafood! I had the seafood risotto...yum!

Our last day was eventful. We got packed and watched the Bama v Auburn football game before we headed to South Maui. We went to the Shops @ Wailea and then to Big Beach, and ended the day by walking along the Keawakapu Beach (one beach north of Wailea beach) and watching the sunset...over the water and not over the mountains! We had our last dinner at Five Palms...it was a random place at the Mana Kai hotel, but was delicious! After having Mahi Mahi and Opakapaka for every meal, this place had the Walu fish, which was amazing! It was a great end to a great vacation.

10 Years Ago Today...

Driving by Wrigley Field on my way home tonight, I saw a flash of light. My first thought was, "Someone just got busted for running a red light!" But, I soon realized it was tourists taking their picture in front of Wrigley. And then I remembered, that was me exactly 10 years ago (well, 9 years and 364 days ago)!

10 years ago this very day, I stayed awake until the wee hours of the morning going back and forth between watching the Bush/Gore election coverage and working on a paper that I had to turn in early on Wednesday. (Some things, like procrastinating, never change.) On Wednesday, I turned in my paper, went to the airport and caught a plane to Chicago for my E&Y interview. Little did I know that this part of the interview process was the "Office Visit," which pretty much meant you would get an automatic job offer as long as you didn't do anything too stupid. It was basically E&Y's chance to sell the interviewees on why we should pick them over other accounting firms. Since I didn't even know what other firms made up the "Big Five" and since this was pretty much my only job interview outside of Wichita, it was a pretty easy sell!

That Wednesday night, E&Y hosted a dinner at Marche. That restaurant is closed now, which isn't surprising given the restaurant turnover here! When I got back to my hotel room at the W (although I'm not sure it was the W way back then since there's a lot of hotel turnover, too!), I tried to get the TV to work so that I could watch even more election coverage. But, none of the channels were working, so I tried pushing every button on the remote and after a while, gave up and went to sleep. After all, I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and I had a big interview the next day! But, boy was I surprised that all that button pushing ended up as "incidental charges" on my credit card bill for all kinds of pay-per-view movies, and not the good kind!

Anyway, Thursday was the big interview day. I remember that I was wearing black pants and a light pink sweater. I remember two other things from that day:

1. In an interview, a partner asked me, "What are you passionate about?" My answer? "My sorority." Uh, I'm thinking that's one of those stupid answers that should have not resulted in a job offer. But, I pulled my foot out of my mouth and went on to explain that it was the friendships that I had made in Tri Delta that I was passionate about. Apparently, it was a good enough answer.

2. In between the interviews, we had a first or second-year auditor take us around to our different interview locations. I was thinking that these people were supposed to go out of their way to make sure we got everything we needed or wanted, kind of like how WSU hosts were supposed to go out of their way during the Barton and Gore scholarships to make sure the contestants felt welcome. So, when the interviews were over, rather than immediately heading to the airport and sitting there for 5 hours until my flight, I asked Brian, the guy assigned to me, if he'd drive me by Wrigley Field. (He'd mentioned that he lived in Wrigleyville and had driven to work that day and was going home as soon as the interviews were over.) He must have thought I was some crazy, weird dork! But, he took pity on me and drove me up to Wrigley Field. I don't think I had any idea of what to expect, but it was definitely so different than any other ballpark I'd seen. I just knew that I couldn't wait to go inside this big structure that sat right next to a McDonald's, on a city block all by itself without a parking lot in sight!

After that, I somehow managed to get to a blue line stop in Bucktown/Wicker Park where I had planned to meet up with another stranger - the Chicago Loop Group Alumnae Chapter President, Denise Lyons. Yes, she probably thought I was some crazy, weird dork, too! But, we had a nice chat and although I'd planned to take the blue line to the airport, she offered to drive me to O'Hare. She knew the secret that I would learn soon enough...although traffic sucks most of the time, at 8pm, outbound traffic on the Kennedy is smooth sailing. Now, if only that were true at other times of the day!

The next week, I got a voice mail from the recruiter and I returned the call from the phone booth at the Tri Delta house. She offered me the position and told me that the salary was way higher than what I had ever imagined. We ended our phone call and as soon as I hung up the phone, I let out a big excited yell!

Ah, memories.

Living life by the minute

# of planes missed, lifetime to date: 3 (or is it 4?)
# of trains missed, lifetime to date: too many to count
# of meetings/appointments I've been late for: WAY too many to count

Basically, I'd rather be 2 minutes late than 5 minutes early. Yesterday, though, that philosophy cost me 5 1/2 hours in the airport and an extra day of PTO.

My flight to Alabama was at 1:11. I could have left at 11am, but thought I could push it to 11:30. After all, security lines, especially in Terminal 2, shouldn't be too crazy during the middle of the day - WRONG! It was 11:40 by the time I headed out to drive to my secret parking spot at the Irving Park Blue Line. When I parked, I briefly thought, "I should probably take a cab from here. Okay, if there's a cab coming, I will take it." But, the only cab I saw just kept driving on by. So, off to the "L"...at least that will save me 15 bucks! At this time, it's 12:04. Yes, it's times like these that I am living life by the minute...watching the clock every second, thinking about what my Plan B is. I think, "If the train hasn't come by 12:20, I'll definitely go back down and get a cab." But, the train came at 12:09 and we get to the O'Hare stop at 12:33 (exactly a 24 minute train ride...mental note for next time).

When I get to the terminal, the main security line is the longest I've ever seen it. So, I proceed to the "secret" security line at the far end of the Terminal 2. No luck: Security lady says it's closed. But, it was only closed in the "grocery store lane" sense...people were still going through the line, they had just turned off the light to any new customers. This is where I made my key mistake...I should have begged and pleaded for them to let me in to that security line. Alas, I headed over to the next "secret" security line in Terminal 1. Immediately upon entering that security area, which had a long line that was only getting longer by the minute, I texted my mom (at 12:39, 22 minutes before boarding cut-off): "May have pushed it a little too close today...security line is LONG."

During the very long 21 minutes in the security line, others and I observed a bunch of (ie, 8) TSA employees standing around, not appearing to do much of anything. Had I not been afraid of going to airport jail for taking a picture of the security area, I would have  a picture of these folks to post for you. Yes, these agents may may have been on a legitimate break or had reached the end of their shift, but it's not good for customer perception to be standing around while we waited for service in a long line that only had ONE lane open.

Once I get up to the one guy who's checking boarding passes and ID's, it's exactly 1pm and I ask if I can sneak in to the "Employee and Military" line, which he kindly allows. But, I'm in Terminal 1 at this point and need to be in Terminal 2, so by the time I get to my gate, it's 1:06 and I ask "Is it too late to make the flight to Huntsville?" The gate agent responds, "Yes, it is. Are you Jennifer Morrow?" Why, yes, yes I am THE Jennifer Morrow. Who just arrived 5 1/2 hours early for her 6:54pm flight =)

Laundry Day

The upside to not having laundry in my unit? Having 8 washers and 8 dryers just an elevator ride away! And, whenever one of those washers or dryers is broken, you just have to put a note on it and it gets fixed the next day! I've been putting off doing laundry for 3 weekends, and since I'll be in Alabama next weekend, there was no more procrastinating. 9 loads of laundry (5 loads were sheets and towels) and only 3 hours later, I'm done! Now it's time to watch Giuliana & Bill, Desperate Housewives and Mad Men season finale. Ahhhh.....Sunday nights.

Annie Liebovitz

Last week, the documentary "Annie Liebovitz: Life Through A Lens" was on PBS. I am cleaning out my DVR today and I wasn't sure I wanted to spend 90 minutes watching this, so I considered just deleting it. SO glad I didn't! Aside from showing a ton of her awesome photographs, (which happen to be so much more than celebrity photographs) it was a history lesson and also a life lesson: on family and love, opportunity and mistakes made and corrected.

Great photographs can stir so much emotion and provide so much food for thought...a picture really is worth a thousand words.

What to do?

In the accounting/finance line of work, recruiters call all the time with job opportunities. I'm perfectly happy in my job 90% of the time (and the other 10% are just annoyances, not anything really bad), but one job that came across my desk recently looked interesting. Which made me think, "what's wrong with my current job that makes this one sound interesting?" I've been in my job for almost 3 years now and even though there's always something new each quarter, each quarter really ends up being the same.

So, should I look for a job in a different department? Should I seek out some new responsibilities but still stay in my current position? If the latter, how long do I stay in this position? Wait until my boss moves on to something else and then try to move into her position? That would mean that I'd be doing basically the same job from now until who knows when! So, I know that something needs to change, just not sure what needs to change or how much it needs to change.

I feel silly spending all this time thinking about what needs to change at work when, at the end of the day, I have a job that I enjoy, that pays well, that gives me lots of vacation time and flexibility and that when I leave at the end of the day, I (i) feel satisfied that I did a good job and that my efforts were appreciated by those around me and (ii) a job that I don't really take home with me. Well, except for times like these when it's all I think about day in and day out.

So, basically, I've just been around the world and back during the last week or two about my job, analyzing and over-analyzing all the potential scenarios. But, I've got too much actual work to do, so I'll put this on hold until the 10-K is filed at the end of January (or until some other opportunity comes up that I think about again).

In the meantime, I'll focus on the positive and when those annoyances creep up, I'll focus on "rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man" because life is full of things that are more important than work. Like Hannah said at one of our GC nights: "Jesus wants your heart, not your accomplishments."

Jailbait

Last night, Cindy and I saw Jailbait, a play at Profiles Theatre, the wonderful storefront-ish theatre around the corner from my house. The show is about two 15 year-old girls that sneak in to a night club and hook up with some guys in their late 20's/early 30's (see critics reviews here and here).

KEY THOUGHT #1: I mostly liked it because it was funny and entertaining, although it did make me stop and think about one thing: how plays will resonate differently with every single audience member based on what that audience member has experienced in life. Whether you are a young adult (there was a pretty young girl there), a parent of a young adult (like the one who took a phone call from her 10 year-old...see more below), family member/friend of someone who made some poor decisions in their early adult years, or if one was/is that poor decision-maker.  It just made me think that you never know what's underneath anyone's exterior, what they've gone through/are going through in life.

So, about the lady (Lady A) in the last row: She received two phone calls during the show...the phone wasn't even on vibrate, it was on full ringer mode. First of all, seriously? In a 50-seat theater? But afterward, another audience member (Lady B) approached her about her rudeness and words were exchanged:
   Lady B: It was rude of you to have your ringer on during the show
   Lady A: It was my 10 year-old daughter, I had to answer
   Lady B: Well, then you shouldn't have come to the theater then if you  
               needed to take phone calls during the show
   Lady A: You must not have a child. And, it only rang once, so what's the
              big deal?
   Lady B: No, it was twice, and you actually talked on the phone to her

After they had separated and Lady A was walking out the door with her husband (Guy A) and the couple they were with, Lady A proceeds to just bad-mouth the outfit and looks of Lady B, saying she looked like a Labrador (although Cindy thought Lady A called Lady B a whore...still up for debate, I guess).

Then Guy A is talking to some other couple as they're walking away and the three of them are exchanging words (although the Guy in Couple A could have taken Guy A easily). And then, Guy A comes up to Cindy and me, and says "Do you want to snip at me, too?". Uh, no, we're just here for the entertainment of all the grown ups acting like they're on a playground.

KEY THOUGHT #2: All of that makes me think, can't we all just get along? Yes, it feels gratifying to tell someone that they've done something wrong....we feel like we've corrected an injustice (I particularly like honking at pedestrians who walk after the "Don't Walk" sign has flashed and leaving these notes on people's cars when they don't park correctly). But, in saying and doing those things, I'm just trying to relieve myself of my anger and annoyance, but it only relieves me for a minute or two, and after that, I've forgotten about it. Or else it just leads to more anger and annoyance, especially if I continue to tell the story over and over to anyone who will listen.
And why do we even call anybody out on anything in the first place? To get them to correct their behavior? Is my honking at them or someone politely saying "You know, that was kind of rude to answer your phone during the show," going to be effective at all? Maybe somewhere down the line, at Lady A's next night out at the theater, it will. But in the grand scheme of things, it's just not worth my time and effort to try and correct everyone else's misbehaviors. Well, at least not strangers' misbehaviors...to my closest friends and family, I will still offer my opinions :)

On Time!

I started a new morning routine after Labor Day with the goal of consistently getting to work before 9:30am (I know, that doesn't seem like a tough goal, but those who know me well know that I've struggled with this all my adult life!).

 

The key to this master plan is setting two alarms: one for 6am and one for 7am. That way, I'm not changing the alarm clocks around based for special circumstances like:

     - Having an early morning meeting (although people know to ask me, and then apologize, if they have to schedule a meeting before 9am)

     - Taking the train
     - Wanting to sleep in because I: (i) have had a long week already and deserve to sleep in and therefore, be late to work, (ii) stayed up too late, (iii) just don't feel like getting up early

 

This master plan, so far, has kept me on track for all my morning scenarios:

 

A. The normal scenario - driving to work

- Sleep/snooze through the 6am alarm depending on how entertaining or annoying Eric and Kathy are that morning

- If really tired, sleep/snooze till 730 or so, but make sure I'm out of the house by 8:30am (or 8am on carpool days) to ensure a 9:30am arrival. Of course, getting to work around 9am is more ideal

 

B. The other normal scenario - taking the train to work

- I can still sleep/snooze through the 6am alarm, but have to wake up at the first sign of the 7am alarm in order to be out of the house by 7:30 to make the train

 

C. The not ideal scenario - If I have a meeting at 9am or before:

- Curse whoever scheduled such a meeting and drag myself out of bed during the first alarm. Boo =(

 

I'm tracking the # of days I get to work "on time" on the right hand side. Hopefully, I'll string so many together in a row that I'll have to just track the days I don't get to work on time.

I love this time of year, but...

This is perfect weather for sleeping with the windows open! The drawback(s)?

1. Being woken up at 6:30am by the garbage trucks
2. Cars honking at the garbage trucks when they block traffic
3. Waking up to crows crowing rather than a more pleasant sound of birds chirping
4. Groups of drunk people coming home after the bars close
5. Groups of drunk girls screaming and yelling at each other over some boy (like I had to put up with at 1am last night!)

I'll be sure to add to this list as I remember more of the drawbacks!

Introducing YesterdayToday2Morrow

So, I've had an account on here for a couple months now, but have been waiting for a clever name. Tonight, at Gospel Community ("GC") ladies prayer night, Hannah Foster was talking about her teaching blog called "Fostering Education." I thought, "what a great way to use her last name!" So, now I'm at home, watching Survivor and googling quotes about "tomorrow." I didn't find much, but YesterdayToday2Morrow came to mind. So, since this blog will be about things that have happened, are happening, and my thoughts about what will happen in the future, I decided to go with it. Enjoy!