Yup, It's Been Awhile

Since it's been almost 2 months since my last post, I figured I should play catch-up.

My sister may poke fun, but here's another food/project picture. These were peanut butter cups I made (back in November...not that it's been awhile or anything...).

Jeff and I met up with our friend Laura downtown. We went to a burger bar in Wrigleyville. After 2 hours of waiting, we got a table. It was pretty tasty, but I can't say waiting that long for food is typically worth it.

I didn't take any photos around my birthday, but it happened, and there were good times with friends. Within a group of college friends, there are about six of us with mid-late November birthdays. We often have a get-together to celebrate (I think this was the fourth or fifth year of celebrating).

Thanksgiving dinner (I love that we have colorful fiestaware.) Jeff's mom and Samson came down and we prepared dinner. It was a fun time :). That night I became one of "those people" who goes to the store at a ridiculous hour after Thanksgiving. It probably wasn't worth it and I don't anticipate doing the same thing next year.

My other big activity from Thanksgiving weekend was completing my first race! I entered a 5k near our apartment. My time wasn't great, but I didn't have high expectations. My goal was to finish. I had wanted to give myself something to work toward with my running, so I decided to finish a race of some sort by the end of 2009. The weather wasn't too cold and the course wasn't overly crowded.

Jeff came to the finish line to cheer me on.

Crossing the finish line.

I'll end this post now, as it is becoming fairly large. I'll get to December sometime soon :).

Monday, Monday

Well, as usual, the weekend went by too quickly. Monday went okay, just back at work again. I stopped at the gym on my way home from the office. And I remembered to take off my rings while running (sweat seems to strip the rhodium). My reward? I misplaced my key. It's the key for our mailbox. I'm not sure how that will work out. I think I need to go to the post office to figure it out.

I made some pretty decent cheeseburgers with steak fries. Then I got ambitious and make some no-bake fudge thingys. I've seen them called haystacks before - they've got oats and coconut and look a little bit like this:

I'm not sure how they'll turn out. I'm not great at making candy, and this involved boiling a chocolate mixture, so...we'll see if they set up. They'll be tasty, though, I think. I do enjoy baking. I need a bigger audience, though, or I end up eating too much myself.

Happy Monday!

God's Gifts

I had a good weekend. Yesterday was Jeff's bachelor party, so he was gone all day. Pretty long day, but he said he had a good time paintballing and then going downtown.

I enjoyed Saturday. I was able to run some errands, go for a run outside (it's been pretty dreary here lately, but when I went out, it was warm but not hot and not very humid, which was great.

Yesterday was also my friend Kirstie's birthday, so we went out for a girls night to celebrate. Elyse and I drove down together, and met up with Kirstie and another Trinity grad, Rachel, then headed to Howl At the Moon, which is a piano bar. I've only been there twice, but it's a really fun place. The performers are so talented - they trade instruments throughout the night as the band grows - and they play mostly favorites, so you're able to sing along and just have a good time. It gets pricey quickly, so it's not something I would want to do all the time, but I've really enjoyed both times I've gone. It was also nice to get out and see some friends for a while.

Today was also a good day. Jeff stopped over during the morning, and we had breakfast together. I got another run in. I've been trying to get back into my pre-move routine, when running was starting to be easy, and I actually felt decently fit. It sure is easier to get out of shape than back in :).

We went to the evening service in Palos, then went for a walk. It's been getting chilly here. It feels much more like October than late-August to me. I hear Seattle has nice weather, though, so hopefully that will stick around and we will have pleasant wedding weather.

The title of this post comes from the quote below. I think that stopping to notice the small gifts that God provides in our lives (a tasty breakfast, a walk in the evening, sunny days) really helps me realize how blessed I am. This is also a good way to prepare for another week of work.

"God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame." Elizabeth Barrett Browning