T-minus 4.5 weeks till we move

So my plans to blog more frequently are not going to come to fruition…. I'll still try to post in the next couples weeks but just wanted to throw that out there.

Sorry!

Stay warm! It's supposed to be very cold in the Midwest today… and everywhere else in the country. (I'd like to punch this polar vortex in the gut but I don't think that would help anyone.) Thankful for father-in-laws and husbands who start cars in the middle of the night so that the batteries don't die and for mother-in-laws who make chili on these cold, cold days.

We're leaving on a jet plane

Well, not a jet plane really… more like a moving truck and our cars. Adam got a job in the Chicago area so we are moving at the end of February. We are super excited for the opportunities ahead but also  sad to leave our first city together and the friends we've made. Good thing, we aren't moving that far away.

For our first anniversary a month ago, I had bought concert tickets for Adam as the more modern take on the traditional paper gift. Well that concert was on Saturday so we decided to try and kill two birds with one stone and see possible apartments on the way to the city. It was such short notice that we didn't get to see many listings at all. We did however, get tricked into showing up to see this 1 bedroom listing below. Not exactly what we were looking for in the Tundra up here.

We then arrived early to the House of Blues for our concert because we were more interested in seeing the opener than the headliner.

This wasn't the opener we were interested in. This guy lost more clothing than number of songs he played and he kept dancing on the speakers. It was painful to watch. (Poor guy!)

 We came to see this opener, Parachute. Adam and I have been listening to this band for a couple years and we LOVE them. We aren't big concert people but Parachute was really fun to watch. Their music is awesome live (because you can actually hear the words), they are constantly changing their instruments (guitars, piano, saxophone, you name it), and their main singer really knows how to engage the crowd (walking among everyone, taking someone's phone and taking a picture of the crowd, and getting everyone to sing along). It was so fun!

Thankful for new years to work on old habits

(there is always positives in a "fail" haha)

This week I have hit a wall. I’m discouraged about a lot of things but I think mainly it’s because I’m tired of overcommitting myself and always having to get something done.  If I could sum up the last year of our lives it would be full of this problem. I’m not saying the last year has been bad (because we’ve had plenty of fun times too!) but my problem of not saying no has become a habit I’m hoping to kick in 2014. It’s been worse lately and I can’t tell you how many mistakes I have made in the last month because of it (2 at Wheaton that cost our department a couple hundred dollars- my boss was less than thrilled with me,  a couple in my freelance work that caused me to work more hours than I planned and practically pay the customer to do their work, and minor ones in my personal life ;/) I’m hoping that 2014 will be a more balanced year.

Philippians 1:6

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Reading this verse and holding on to this promise. I’m not perfect (far from it) but I know that Jesus isn’t done with me yet.

Happy Friday and weekend to you guys!

Oh December

Since I didn't blog in December… like at all… I thought I would give you a recap.

I got a new niece, Piper Rose ;)

Adam and I celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary

There was a snow storm on our anniversary. Just imagine if this had been last year when we were getting married. We would have had a lot less witnesses at our ceremony.

Adam graduated from grad school. Yay!

(the hat was too little for his head haha)

I know it's a bad picture but it was hard to get any good ones when he was so far away!

I painted an accent wall in my Pastor's office to help him out.

* Disclaimer: I did not pick that color. It's what they had at the church. We're going to add some pictures on the wall this month to spruce it up….

 I saw Hello Dolly with Adam's family. It was a really fun play.

We gave some really good gifts: some funny and some serious 

These are all gobstoppers for Sarah. It was really fun to have her open them up in stages.

 Spent a lot of time with family.

Played a lot of games including bowling.

and just had a good time of reflection. I like this part of the year because it's all about starting anew. God sent his Son so that we could have a fresh start: a real relationship with him and freedom from sin. And with the new year, comes new goals to grow closer to Him and try to live a life reflecting that.

Happy Tuesday!

Baby, it's cold outside

This is a first for me. I have never lived in a place where it snows almost all weekend and then work gets cancelled not from all the snow (10 + inches) but because of the cold. Today's high temperature is supposed to be -14! I have yet to venture outside because I am enjoying being so warm inside but I will eventually have to head outdoors to start my car so the battery doesn't die in the cold. What? Yes.  Once I get warm, waterproof boots, I really have nothing to complain about because I'll have enough warm winter clothing but it's just a crazy place to live in sometimes. I can't imagine living in Minnesota today where they are breaking the record of it being -64 without taking into account the wind chill factor.

Anyways this weekend we spent a lot of time: shoveling (and by we, I mean everyone else but me)

Looking at all the snow accumulate

Pushing our car out of the snow (or maybe we just did this once…)

 … and working. I still haven't quite figured out how to say no but I'm hoping I can do just that in 2014.  I keep saying yes to projects that are frustrating and take up a lot of time forgetting that I am now back to full-time and don't need to be looking for extra projects… haha I'll learn one of these days.

Stay warm, people and enjoy the day ;)

Hello 2014

Whew. The holiday season has been a fun but very busy time for us. Lots of family time, games, and traveling. I'll have to blog about it in the days to come but thought I would at least mention what we did today.

Our friend, Joe got a job in a Chicago suburb back in October and has been living with his Aunt and Uncle during the week down in Illinois and coming back to his apartment in Milwaukee on the weekends. So he asked us last week if we could help him move on New Years Day since it was the only day it worked out to move him until February. (We agreed in exchange for his help moving us when we decide to move). Well, who knew we were going to get a huge snow storm come through the area New Year's Eve, New Years, and even into today.

 Lucky for us, this bachelor didn't have a ton of stuff so we decided to be troopers and pack him up and move him down to Evanston, Illinois.

Two guys drove the U-Haul that took a detour to pick up a Craig's list couch while the Adam drove us two girls down in a car to meet the guys there. Since we knew we would beat them there, we decided to stop at the outlets and get some sweet running shoes on sale/clearance. I was excited for my purchase but by the time we had started to make our 1st trip up to his apartment, I was wishing I had bought some winter boots to keep my feet warm. (Each winter, I feel like I figure out what I need to keep me warm. I've gotten the gloves, scarfs, sweaters, really warm coats, fashion boots that keep my pants from getting wet, but I don't have any winter boots that keep my feet from getting wet and cold… That will be next on the list with a winter like this.)

The kicker with Joe's new apartment was that not only was it a 3rd floor apartment but there is a rule that you have to use the outer staircase that is super narrow and made out of wood that was really slick with all the snow or pay a $400 fine.

Hence why the boys had to finagle this couch up the flights of slippery stairs. I wish I would have taken the picture sooner so you could grasp how hard this task was. It probably took us a good 15-20 minutes to get it up the staircase because they had to angle it up and around each flight of stairs and it kept getting stuck.

 Us girls just stood behind holding the cushions and worrying that they would fall down the stairs but they made it up and we finished unloading all his stuff.

 Evanston got about 10 inches of snow today…  This picture doesn't quite indicate that.

Evanston got enough snow that this guy thought it was a good idea to cross country ski down the city streets. We thought it was hilarious!

The day was an adventure. It took way longer than we thought because of the snow but we had fun together and now have a good story to remember. (also now I know why no one moves during the winter. My feet and hands were frozen because I didn't have good gloves or shoes ;/