Monday Meanderings

So much to say so I thought this was the perfect reason to do a little meandering or babbling...whichever you want to call it.

Meanderings ......

On Mexico -- We are home from Mexico!  It was such a wonderful week and honeymoon!  Hoping to post a few pics and more on this later!  A HUGE thank you to my uncle Dennis and aunt Marilyn for sharing your timeshare with us.  We are forever grateful to have been able to spend a week in Cabo at a gorgeous resort.

On moving -- A week has passed since my most recent post about moving and after typing and posting that I have to say that surely didn't convey nearly enough emotion for how I had felt the past month. I am still exhausted just thinking about it and it's not nearly over.  I was so excited to learn of the possibility of moving straight to CO on December 15 but now that we have learned that isn't happening, I am so relieved.  I am so excited to have another 4 months here.  As done as I am with city -living I still have a lot I want to do and a lot of friends I want to see...not some "see you to say goodbye" but  "see you and spend time with you."  It is going to be so hard to leave and I'm glad we have this extra time to see those we can.

On Cooper -- Our little Cooper has been a little under the weather since he spent a week being boarded.  I was extremely worried about him while in Mexico.  I thought about him countless times a day because I was worried. He was so upset when we dropped him off there, so I was disappointed to come home and learn that my gut had been right and he wasn't in the best conditions.  His back paws were rubbed really hard, almost raw so there's been a lot of licking the paws going on.  He has basically slept since he came home on Friday (it is now Monday morning!) When he barks, he coughs really hard and nearly throws up...assuming that is from barking so much while gone.  He lost weight while there and is a little skittish at times.  I KNOW he wasn't hit or anything like that but something there made him a little hesitant.  My poor baby...never going back to that place and would love to say that if we ever travel again we'll find someone who can take care of him.  It really would have helped put my mind at ease on our trip.  In the meantime, I'll be researching new places where he may go for daycare a few times so we'll know the owners, he'll know the owners and other dogs and be more comfortable.  Oh and did I say how bad he smelled when he came home?!  Disgusting.  Poor Cooper.

On our new condo/rental -- We went and saw a condo on Saturday and will be signing the lease today.  It's one of Jason's friends who recently bought and moved to a home in the burbs.  I was pretty sure they hadn't found renters yet and thought it may be a win/win since we could rent it beginning this week while also renting a few months until it's renters season.  Hopefully they're as happy to have someone renting right away even if it it a short term lease...and obviously we're happy to have a (nice!) place that's only until the end of March. Our move-in date is scheduled for December 10...um yeah, that is less than 2 weeks away.  Bring on the moving boxes...again. :)

On Student teaching -- I am still not sure where I'll be student teaching in January.  They put things on hold here in Chicago while I wanted to hear from University of Denver.  I am very anxious to hear where I'll be spending the first ten weeks of 2012. I am so nervous about student teaching and obviously the anxiety of "not knowing" isn't helping.  I'm praying it's a school that I can learn from.  Really really hoping and praying it's a good experience to boost my confidence about me as a future teacher.

On Christmas -- I am so anxious to get into our new place.  Originally our plan had been to come home from Mexico on Friday and go Christmas tree shopping on Saturday, then spend all of Sunday decorating.  Obviously with us moving that is no longer the plan.  I was kind of bummed this weekend knowing all of our Christmas decorations are still in storage and that we can't put anything up but I cannot wait to to be in our new place and get our tree up!

On Christmas Cards -- On the Christmas note...I did order our Christmas cards last night.  :)  I spent about 6 hours trying to find the right one...it's so tricky with getting the right card to match your picture. I LOVE sending Christmas cards (and LOVE receiving them even more...hint hint) so this is definitely a highlight of my Christmas season. They should arrive in the next two weeks and can't wait to address them and send!

Happy Monday all -- Enjoy your week!

45 Days...

Until we had to be out.  That was what we learned on November 2 when we accepted an offer on our condo!  On Halloween, we learned that we received an offer and it was just two days later after a couple counters that we accepted and realized the contract was signed for just 45 days until our closing.  You can imagine the emotions we both went through - especially when we figured out that it was very likely that I could student teach in Denver in March so could be moving straight to Colorado December 15.  We didn't want to tell everyone the details because we were so uncertain of our final plans but after a while it was getting so close to our moving date so it was a relief  this past Thursday we finally learned that student teaching in Denver isn't an option because the school I was working with won't have a special ed cohort doing their student teaching in March.  While we were both disappointed because now we'll have to move twice, I am confident this is all part of God's plan.  As ready as we both are to begin this new chapter of our life, it was very rushed and I was worried about getting the proper "goodbyes" in to our loved ones.  Not to mention we have the holidays and our honeymoon all in the mix of this.  We think we have found a place to live in Chicago temporarily and already have a place to move in March when it's time to make the big move to Colorado.  Until then, I'm excited to do all the things on my list of "things to do" in Chicago.  There's plenty I still want to do and plenty of friends and family I want to see.  As for the details of our condo, we have already passed the inspection but still have the appraisal which is this week.  Our property management company held things up so it doesn't look like we'll have a December 16 closing, but it's still so nice to know where we'll be living and what the plan is for the coming months after so much uncertainty!  Thanks for everyone's prayers, we ask that you continue through all the final stages and the move to our new Chicago apartment!

I LOVE this.  It's been an amazing few months.  I've experienced answered prayers, a lot of waiting and a few unanswered prayers.  But through it all and in the end, it is all in His hands. 

My Running Buddy

I've taken Cooper running about 3 or 4 times.  The first time I took him he only tripped me about 5 times. ;-) Since there aren't many runners along the lake this time of year in the middle of the day I decided to take him out there and see how he'd do.  He did really well!  There were so many new smells for him out there so he was pretty distracted pulling me different directions but overall he did really well and ran like a champ!  He ran 3 miles with me (longest he'd done in the past was 2 miles).  Very proud of our little puppy!  I have a feeling as he gets older we'll be doing more and more runs together! The picture on top was along the bike path...we took a second to snap a picture.  Isn't he the cutest!?

this is cooper after our run ;-) (pretty much sums up how I was feeling too)

Jason's Birthday Weekend

Pretty sure I say this every year but Jason and I couldn't be more opposite when it comes to celebrating birthdays.  Jason would be okay with the day coming and going without a mention of it being his special day.  I think that's ridiculous but do my best to respect his wishes and keep things low-key.

Thursday night my parents came down and we went to dinner to celebrate.  Friday Jason had off so we scheduled massages that were Christmas presents (groupon!).  Oh my gosh, was that amazing!  Most of Fridays afternoon was spent at Starbucks with Jason working and me studying while Cooper was at the groomer.  (still had fun doing that though just the two of us on his day off!)  Friday night we ordered take-out and watched a movie.  Saturday was his actual birthday so I tried to make him feel special by making him breakfast.  We spent the afternoon running errands (his choice...not mine!)  He spent a few hours playing MW3, the birthday gift I got him.  Then we ordered our specialty pizza diner (Lou Malnati's salad and Girodano's pizza) and watched a movie on the couch.  I sure didn't think the day was anything special but since special is not what he wanted, I think he was happy.

Happy birthday Jason.  I fall more and more in love with you every day and am so glad we got to celebrate that day you came into the world! xoxo

*image found here

A Few Things I Could Do Without

This post goes well with the weather today...A little doom and gloom.

Things I keep hearing or seeing and would do just fine without are:

• Lindsay Lohan and all her drama.  I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who actually feels bad for her.  From the beginning, she didn't have a chance with the parents she has and as a result, she just keeps messing up. Yeah, we get it...she's a complete mess. I don't need to hear about it anymore.
• Anything Kim Kardashian related.  I didn't even know who she was until the big wedding. Now I am proud that I didn't know who she was or what the big deal was.  It makes me so sad that she didn't take her wedding vows seriously or used the wedding as a way to make (or waste) money.  It's an insult to marriage.  Not to mention what could be done with that amount of money in a positive way.  I wish everyone would stop talking and posting about it.  Stop. I don't care.
• The Michael Jackson trial/verdict.  If this wasn't about Michael Jackson and instead just someone off the street like us, nothing would come of it.  Let the man rest in peace and be known as what he was, "The King of Pop" rather than focus on who to blame for his death.
• Anything Christmas related until after Thanksgiving.  I mean, come on!  Everyone knows that I am the BIGGEST fan of celebrating a birthday all month long so of course I fully support celebrating the day after Thanksgiving.  It wasn't even November 1 and Christmas is popping up everywhere. Stop playing Christmas songs, Christmas commercials and put all the Christmas related items back into the stockrooms.  It's bad enough that America has lost the true meaning of Christmas and replacing it with Santa and about buying/receiving gifts and attending "Holiday parties" (since we can no longer call them Christmas parties) but this is going way too far.  Can we please live in the here and now? Let's enjoy fall and the changing leaves, crisp weather and prepare for Thanksgiving.  We can enjoy the birth of our Savior the entire month of December (and the few days in November after Thanksgiving.)  

Happy Tuesday! :)

Hot Chocolate 5k

Last minute decision...I decided to run the Hot Chocolate 5k since I didn't run the 5k last weekend (my brother canceled and I wasn't going to get up at the crack of dawn to drive over an hour away to to do a race by myself and have to go to the burbs Saturday night for church. The reason I was doing it was to run with my brother and see Kaylee. Kinda defeated the purpose if he wasn't running.)  I was really disappointed. I knew that would be the last race of the season for me and was excited to try to run a 10:00 minute mile.  I only ran twice before today since the Bucktown 5k (early October) since I wanted to give my ankle time to heal.  And today that lack of running was totally obvious.  I had one of my worst running paces ever. :(  The course was, once again, way too crowded with too many people walking and groups of people walking in a wall and whats with bringing your young kids to run with you when they end up walking most of it!? I think I'd be a lot less critical if not for the steep price this race cost to enter.  But I am really thankful I signed up and got up this morning to go run.  As I always say, there's nothing quite like being able to run down the Chicago streets before 8:00 with a bunch of other people.  I really love running!   And love running an organized run all that much more!

*picture was the beginning of the race the first 1/4 of a mile

Fill in the Blank Friday

It's Friday!  Time to link up with Lauren and celebrate that it's the weekend!!! Have a wonderful weekend!

1.   My favorite thing about this week was/is   that it's the weekend..its been a really stressful and emotional week and I'm ready to relax tonight and run the Hot Chocolate 5k tomorrow morning!     .

2.   Colder weather makes me  cold.  I'm always cold and cold weather chills me to bones       .

3.  Three things that make me terribly happy as of late are   only a couple more weeks of grad school left (AHHHH!)    .

4. If I could only wear one kind of shoe for the rest of my life, I'd choose   flip flops FOR SURE    .

5.  My personality type is   outgoing once I know someone but rather shy in a large room or when I don't know someone  .

6.  I have a serious problem resisting     taking any and all animals home with me who need a home  .

7.  My favorite color to wear is    red  .

Gods Protecting Hand

What a morning!  I was on my way to my Bible Study driving out on 90 and all of a sudden something came out of nowhere and struck my windshield in two spots leaving glass in my mouth, hair and all over my face, body and car.  I really have no idea where this item came from or even what it was.  It sounded like two gunshots in my car with how loud it was and happened so quickly! I pulled my car over immediately and called Jason to ask him what to do.  LOL...when did I lose my independence that I didn't figure it out myself? I really think I just wanted him to think for me because I was a little shaken up.  It's been a really long and stressful week for me and was really looking forward to the Bible study and was planning on talking to someone there who could pray for me and give me some Godly counsel on some things...so doesn't it make perfect sense that I was being attacked on my way to Bible study? I'm convinced that Satan didn't want me at Bible study this morning and that God protected me.  Literally the second after I realized after what happened I saw that God had protected me.  There were two holes that went all the way through the windshield and glass everywhere.  After I dropped my car off at the glass place I also noticed that the object had fist hit the car putting a pretty solid dent in it, then hit the windshield twice so by the time it hit where it would have actually hit me, it had already had a chance to soften the blow. I am so thankful for God's protection this morning and also for a supportive husband who called around to find me a close auto-glass place.