Friends are the Best

A few weeks ago, my friend Steph and I went to visit our high-school friend Meg and her family in Des Moines. Meg is an amazing mother of three (with a fourth on the way!) and her little ones definitely kept us busy all weekend long.

We enjoyed lots of playtime, going out to coffee and going to church, where her husband, Dan, is the pastor. We had a great time! It’s always so fun reminiscing and catching up with friends who still know you so well, even though you don’t live down the street anymore.

Meg and her beautiful family

So cheers to friends, old and new!

Snow Day

We can now say that we survived the 2011 Chicago blizzard. Although we now have mass amounts of snow everywhere - it did result in a snow day for both Luke and I. NO SCHOOL OR WORK! We spent our day off traipsing through the aftermath of the blizzard. At about 9:30 a.m. Luke was out the door exploring, while I was sipping coffee inside. I joined him shortly after and with a shovel in hand, we started helping the silly people who decided to try and drive down the street get their cars "unstuck."

Then we hiked over to Lakeshore Drive where hundreds of cars were left parked overnight, while tow truck drivers and loaders cleared the snow and towed all the stranded cars to city parking lots.

We didn't get mail for awhile... and there was nothing open on our street all day.

Luke helping a random guy get his car down the street.

It was windy... very windy.

Lots of cars were covered in snow - impossible to get out. Some were so covered with snow that you couldn't even see them.

Snow angel?

This is a tow truck that got stuck on Lakeshore Drive and had to be dug out with the rest of the cars. We watched them pull this one out using a loader to pull the tow truck, which pulled the car. It was amazing.

And these are the unfortunate remains of a brand new Escalade that we think tried to skirt the traffic on Lakeshore, veer through Lincoln Park and then crashed into a tree and stopped sliding mere feet from the lake. As far as we know, nobody was hurt... except the car.

Back to School

I'm officially a student. Again. So in the true spirit of furthering my education, here is a fairly accurate depiction of what I've been doing the past two weeks.

But I really can't complain; I love every second of it.

Getting back into the whole school routine has been a little more difficult than I anticipated (and by that, I mean the homework and getting up early). But I'm trucking along. Luke starts school again next week, so we'll definitely be peppering the apartment with pencils (do people still use those?) and books.

For those of you who don't know, I started the Masters of Science in Journalism program at Northwestern University at the beginning of the month. It's a one-year program, so I'm on the fast track to becoming a bonafide journalist (or, so I'm hoping).

This quarter is pretty intense and is referred to by students as "journalism boot camp." Because, really, that's what it is. We've been going through the basics of journalism pretty quickly, and in a couple of weeks we'll start our full-fledged reporting. Each of us will be assigned to a beat within our neighborhood (i.e. education, crime, sports). Then we'll be expected to report stories each day in the form of print, audio and video journalism.

Currently, I'm working on a two-minute audio piece (like you might hear on NPR) and plan on featuring who else than my lovely husband as my first source. I'll let you mull over that and post the finished product sometime in the next couple weeks.

All that to say, I am loving this new season of life and am excited to see where it takes us.

And of course, if you have any good story ideas - send them my way :)

'Twas a Very Merry Christmas

We just returned a week ago from spending the holidays in the homeland (a.k.a. Minnesota). We were able to see lots of friends and family and had the best time. And of course, being that it was Minnesota, there was plenty of snow to go around. I could have done without those last few inches, but Luke just couldn't get enough (see pictures below).

I got to spend lots of time with my very best friend, Miyong and we even made it to the Holidazzle parade - though we almost froze our toes off. I also made about a million cookies with Jenn, Betty and Kirsti at our third annual holiday cookie bake day! This year we had an extra special helper - six-month-old baby Will (three-month-old Lucia was going to come too, but then she opted to stay home with dad).

We spent Christmas Eve in Minnetonka and drove down to Wells for the rest of the holiday, where we got to meet our two-month old niece, Claire. She is the cutest, tiniest, must cuddly little baby girl in the world! Luke spent some time holding her during the weekend, but his biggest qualm was that she couldn't "play" with him yet.

Meet Uncle Luke!

Merry Christmas from the Hills!

However, when Luke got bored with Claire sleeping and laying around all the time, he took to the great outdoors with our brother-in-law Nick. And when we heard a loud thud coming from outside the house (a clatter, if you will), it wasn't Santa Claus, but Luke and Nick jumping off the roof into the snow. Naturally.

I thought I would leave you with this photo from my parents' cozy living room.

We hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours!

The Best Gift Ever

I wanted to share my most favorite gift with all of you this year. You probably won't get as excited as I did, but it's still pretty cool. This is my new work/grad school bag! My amazing mom and dad got me this beautiful Fossil bag so I can be (and look) super professional and organized on my new grad school venture. Even though class doesn't start until Monday, I've already started putting things in it because I can't wait to use it!

I mean, this just screams "journalist" - right?

(Thanks Mom and Dad! You're the best!!)

Thank You 2010

2010 was an undoubtedly good year for us, filled with almost too many good things to count. We enjoyed many trips to see dear friends and saw even more of them get married. We spent time with our amazing families and even went hiking in Joshua Tree National Park. We made some huge life decisions and moved to a brand new city. We basked in the glory of another Minnesota summer and took a lot of walks around the lakes. And we definitely ate a lot of Sebastian Joe's ice cream. We went for motorcycle rides and helped welcome some new precious lives into this world. We were lucky. We were blessed.

So as we ring in the new year, we're remembering all the great things that 2010 brought and are anxiously awaiting all that 2011 has in store.

So from our family to yours, happy new year!

Hiking at Joshua Tree

Visiting one of my best buddies :)

A trip to Mexico, visiting the ruins of Chichen Itza

The boy likes to run...

So hardcore

A perfect Minnesota summer sunset

Our empty apartment (we miss you!)

Lots of driving.... lots

Chicago: our new city

Lots of winter walks by the lake

Spreading some Christmas spirit!

'Tis the Season to Decorate

Let the decorating begin! Luke and I spent one day last week decorating our cozy 600-square-foot apartment for the holidays. We didn't bring our massive Christmas tree with us though, so we had to improvise. A lot. We picked up this adorable mini Christmas tree at Michael's - really, the whole "boot" part is what sold us.

Luke is in charge of lights.

We had to get creative with where to hang the stockings...

The finished tree! It only stands an impressive two feet tall, so we added our normal tree topper to give it some help.

Merry Christmas, everyone!