See ya later, January

January flew by. It helped that the weather was so not wintery for the most part. So far we have not yet had to shovel any snow. We have had some ice and a few days, including today, of 0 degrees wind chill, but no complaints from me. Jean and I have not had to miss any of our morning walks due to weather conditions. That's pretty unusual for the end of January. This picture is of me in my early morning walking attire. So attractive.

We had an out of the rut experience at work on Tuesday. There was a water main break near our building and so we were without water. School cannot be in session if the building doesn't have running water, so we had to cancel classes. Let me just say it takes much longer to cancel classes than it does to teach them! Especially when dealing with preschool age students who come 1/2 day. It all worked out fine and I had a few found hours to get some paperwork cleared out.
The highlight of my week was scoring the most points in The Bachelor pool that we are participating in with Sally and her friends. Pretty proud of myself!

Happy 4th Birthday, Nina!

Nina turned 4 yesterday. I was disappointed that I couldn't go to her birthday party because of my Grand Beach trip, but it sounds like they were able to carry on without me. Imagine that! Jack, Wayne, Sally and Matt represented. Apparently one of Nina's favorite presents was the one that Jack picked out and made. It was a heart shaped "snow globe" picture frame. Instead of snow, there are little red hearts floating in the water. And for the picture, Jack inserted a picture of himself and Wayne. :)
Happy birthday to my favorite 4 year old! Love you, Nina!

Grand Beach Girls Night

It's a cozy winter Sunday evening. I can say that because I am lounging on my bed in the safety and warmth of my house. Outside, it's an ice storm and I am thankful that I am not having to deal with it. Last night, we had our annual girls sleepover in Grand Beach at Carol's house and we were fortunate that we all got home before the storm hit.
Grand Beach was fun and relaxing as usual. It was 24 hours of talking, eating and drinking with the Birthday Club girls. All 12 of us were able to attend this year, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get a group shot. Our traditional lunch spot, Casey's in New Buffalo, was closed as in no longer in business. Disappointing. We went to the Red Arrow Highway Roadhouse and it was great, but not conducive to a group picture because we had already created some fuss when we walked in. The hostess had to move a group of diners in order to accommodate us and we didn't want to be any more annoying and demanding.
After lunch, we went back to the house and visited. Half of us decided to go to mass at 4:30. Love worshipping with my girlfriends. Some of us took a walk after that. It was sunset, and a very serene time of the day. We weren't gone long because we knew what was waiting for us back at the house... a seemingly endless supply of food and drink! Everyone had on their comfy lounging clothes or pjs by 6 pm. Two of the highlights of the evening were Sheila's Fireball shots, a cinnamon flavored whiskey and Carol's game, Cards Against Humanity (an adult R rated game similar to Apples to Apples). Both were hilarious twists for our usually conservative, wine-only group. We all learned some new vocabulary!
Everyone was up by 8 this morning. After rehashing the night and sharing a delicious breakfast, we were all in the road by 10. Fun times.

Family Brunch

We had my side of the family over to our house for brunch on Sunday. It was the perfect time to do it because it was the long holiday weekend (MLK birthday). It was also Jenny's birthday, but she insisted that we not celebrate it. Marmar would not have liked that! Marmar was, as I like to call it, "a birthday freak", meaning she loved birthdays. My mom especially loved her own birthday and all of the cards and calls she would receive, but she also liked to make sure her kids birthdays were properly recognized and celebrated. We have not been consistent in doing that since Mom died last year, so we are sorta starting our own new traditions. As in not really making a big deal of it. Still, as I said, Sunday happened to be a good time to get together and so we did, minus the birthday cake (sorry, Beth!) and presents.
Jenny, Arne, Beth and the girls, Kjell, Susie, Sally and Matt, Jack and I all enjoyed hanging out and catching up. Wayne was not able to come because he was in New Orleans for a bachelor party for his friend, Matthew. Sue, Jenny and I are still getting used to the fact that we are the oldest generation in our family. Yikes. Am I really the great aunt now? Aren't great aunts usually pretty old?!
Anyway, here are a few cute pictures from our time together.

the birthday girl, surrounded by love

The wedding season begins!

Sally and Matt's wedding is six months away and now it's finally time to start getting serious about all the details. It's very exciting! On Saturday, January 12th, Sally and her bridesmaids spent the day together on a mission to find dresses. Sally said it was one of her most favorite days ever. Lauren, Sarah, Caitlin, Breezy, Meredith, and Cassie are all amazing women who love and support my girl. God bless them all. Some of the girls were meeting the others for the first time and they all could not believe how well everyone clicked with each other. The girls met at Lauren's and ended up at Lauren's (some spending the night there) and Sally said Lauren could not have been a more gracious and welcoming hostess. They had two afternoon appointments to try on dresses and in between had lunch at a spot in Lauren's neighborhood. They FaceTimed me that evening and we had the best conversation. So. Much. Fun. At the end of the day, they did find an awesome dress for the darling bridesmaids and had a whole lot of fun in the process.
On Sunday, Sally, Sarah (her maid of honor), Mary (Matt's mom), Cassie (Matt's sister) and I went to a bridal fair at the Hyatt where the reception is going to be. This fair was only for brides for that location so it was really interesting and productive. They had champagne and passed appetizers. We had to taste all of the appetizers so we can figure out what we want for the reception. They were delicious!We also got to see different linen and chair upgrades that are possible and there were lots of vendors there.
This past Saturday, Jack, Sally and I began the process of picking out invitations. We are trying to support small businesses when we can, so we went to shop in a neighboring town. It was an hour and a half appointment. We learned a lot about all the different aspects of the invitation. We came away from the meeting with a pretty clear vision for the invitation. There are just details to hammer out and run past the groom (his opinion is kinda important!), but we made great progress yesterday.

January is almost half over already!

I have been back to work since last Monday (Jan 7th) and I think we (students and staff) are all getting back in the groove. I do like the routine, but am finding myself missing those afternoon naps :). My days at work fly by as do the evenings and the next thing you know, it's another day gone. I am so thankful for these normal, average days.

Jack was in Las Vegas last week from Wednesday to late Saturday evening. He was at the Consumer Electronics Show and was given a press credential because of his frequent quotes in the Wall Street Journal and its other publications. It was a productive time for him in all ways. I wish I could say the same about me! I made myself grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and went to bed early most nights. I thought I would get much more done, but as we say, I am still "transitioning out of the holidays". It's all good.

NYE!

Jack and I had a wonderful New Year's Eve. We invited Abbie and Nina to spend the night. Could there be a better way to ring in the new year? Arne and Beth dropped them off around 4, then we took off for the city. We surprised the girls with a carriage ride in the neighborhood around Water Tower Place. It was so fun! The girls were ADORABLE and so appreciative. They kept saying things like, "I must be dreaming!" and "That is one sweet looking animal" (referring to our horse, Taco). We also popped into the Ritz to use the bathrooms and stopped in Walgreen's to get some party hats and horns. We got home by 9, took a bath, got on pjs and headed downstairs to watch Rockin' New Years Eve. Everyone made it up til midnight (well, we did have to wake up Jack who had fallen asleep in his chair!). On New Years Day, Nina slept til 9:15 and Abbie til almost 11! We loved starting 2013 with these two precious girls.

Nina, Jack and Abbie in the carriage

Nina and Abbie, party girls

sisters

sleepy girl

Christmas 12

We celebrated Christmas with some of our usual traditions plus a few changes. We started with Christmas Eve mass (3:30) at St. Cletus, then went to Jenny and Jay's for dinner with my side of the family. Arne, Beth and the girls were with Beth's side on Christmas Eve this year. This was the first year that Sally and Matt started the transition into new traditions as a couple. They were with us Christmas Eve and Matt spent the night at our house. We changed things up a bit by opening presents at our house on Christmas Eve, after Jenny's, rather than on Christmas morning. That made Christmas morning a bit less rushed. We arrived at Jack's folks' house at 9:30. We opened presents with Bucky, Grandma, Paul, and Downtown Sue, then had breakfast. Sally and Matt left as soon as breakfast was over and went to Matt's parents' where they spent the rest of the day and stayed over night there. We are fortunate that both sides, in both generations, are understanding about sharing the holidays. That's important. Things change.
Christmas evening, we returned to Jack's folks' for dinner with Sue, Lauren and Brendan, too. It was good to be together.
Mike and my mom were both missed in our holiday traditions, but were definitely remembered and were there in our hearts.

Not Quite Caught Up Yet!

Ok, so I haven't quite caught up with my posts. Still have not posted about Christmas, but I will. I promise.
It's the last Friday night of winter break and I had such a great day today. It started with a brisk walk with Jean; we have been so fortunate to have had clear streets so far this winter. Icy sidewalks/streets stress me out. I can deal with the bitter cold by dressing in lots of layers, but slippery? It freaks me out. So far we have been spared this year. At the end of our walk, we got Starbucks (courtesy of a gift card from a coworker). I got home, showered up and headed out for a much needed haircut and highlights. My time at Charles Ifergan Salon did not disappoint. For lunch, Jack and I went to Whole Foods and put together incredible salads for ourselves at the salad bar. Continuing with my day of beauty, I got a manicure and pedicure, then came home and finally finished up the thank you notes for all the sweet and generous gifts from my students. That's a big project. I watched several episodes of the TV show Parenthood on Netflicks while I wrote the notes. Before I knew it, it was time to get ready to go out to dinner. We met Mark and Cath at a Mexican restaurant in a neighboring town. It was such a great night! So much fun, super relaxing and lots of laughs. We had not seen Mark and Cath since September and I was starting to go through withdrawal. Tonight was the perfect fix.
All in all, a wonderful day for which I thank God. These are the kind of days that I will remember with great fondness.