Meeting The Pioneer Woman

My AMAZING husband took me to Indianapolis for a Pioneer Woman book signing. He drove me all the way there, stood with me in line, and came up and shared a star struck moment with me.

We waited in line for at least three hours, and when the big moment came, I was too busy being excited to stay in the moment. But what I do remember, is how sweet she was. She took the time to have a real conversation with every body, pose for a picture and sign their books.

I am so excited to have met her! And to see that she really is as nice and funny in person.

But mostly I am grateful for my super patient, wonderful husband who would spend nine hours with me waiting for a 60 second moment. I love you Joe!

2012 Goals

Health

• I would like to be symptom free from my OCD. Now, I know I can't resolve this on my own. Something about nature doing its own thing...but I vow to do everything in my power to achieve this
• I got two scars this year, both from silly accidents. I chopped off a chunk of finger while cooking and I burnt a semi circle into my arm at work. My goal for 2012: no more scars!
• I would like to loose some weight. And by that I mean pant sizes, I don't care about the number on the scale. Ideally, I'd be back in the single digits, but I will settle for a 10 if I must.
• I'm going to keep doing derby. I'd also like to work out at the gym. I will have to revisit that situation once my seasonal job ends.

Family

• I truly appreciate everything Joe does for us. My goal for 2012 is to show my appreciation.
• My mom wants to do family meals once a month, I will do my best to help her accomplish this.

Volunteer

• For the AFSP: I want to volunteer for the Overnight. It's in San Francisco this year, I want to be on the Walk Committee for the Chicagoland Walk, and volunteer the day of that walk as well.
• If I could be useful, I'd like to do so for the International OCD Foundation Conference that is in Chicago in July.

Travel

• Joe and I want to make a vacation out of the AFSP weekend. We'd like to spend a few days in SanFran and a few days in LA. I want Joe to see a Conan taping and go to Disneyland.
• I want to start a Europe fund. As my family begins to plan for the International Feely Family Reunion, my heart physically aches from missing London. I don't know when it would be a responsible choice for Joe and I to make the trip, but I am definitely feeling a need to start saving for it.

Home

• I would like to completely clean and declutter the apartment and donate/sell/throw out things we don't need.
• I would like to be more cautious about saving money. With my medical needs under control, it should be easier then the past year.
• I have three years of scrapbooking to catch up on.
• I have hundreds of recipes to organize.

School/Work

• I am going to go back to school and begin my certificate in Library Technical Assistance.
• I would like to have a part time job by the end of the year (the sooner the better)

Entertainment

• I really need to read more. I need to make it a greater priority in my life. So, every month I would like to read a book. Preferably a classic. But if a new Janet Evanovich comes out, that's OK, too.
• I am taking Joe to see Jerry Seinfeld in March! I'm so excited to make him so excited!
• It has been quite awhile since I have seen a play or a musical. I would really like to make time for that sometime in 2012.
• Assuming Glee tours again, I would really like to see them preform. Especially since its the last year with the original cast. Nothing makes me quite as happy as a good Glee performance.

What are your plans for 2012?

Canada 2011

I met some amazing people when I studied abroad in college. We spent an amazing nine days together in London, where we did a literary tour ---have I mentioned how amazing the British Library is?. In the four years since we have had many failed attempts to travel together again. Illness, money and time all stood in our way. This year,  however, we decided enough was enough and our passports were lonely and in desperate need of a new stamp. Money still being tight, we decided a road trip was our best bet.. So Friday morning we left Park Ridge at 6am (as in A.M., as in still dark, as in I may again be developing a caffeine addiction) to head towards the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We spent the first day of Beth's first road trip driving for ten hours. We were lucky, the drive was bearable and we had several highway changes so we were never stuck doing the same thing for too long. When we finally arrived we spent our first night of vacation going out to dinner....raspberry margaritas anyone?....and seeing the falls lit up after dark. It was beautiful!

We then went back to our hotel to relax and indulge in an amazing chocolate cake!

The next day we got up and went to the Butterfly Conservatory. There were so many beautiful butterflies roaming around their green house. It was gorgeous and made for lots of beautiful pictures.

When we finished at the Conservatory, after a long search for that butterfly in the picture (it was a sneaky guy and hard to photograph) we walked around the botanic gardens that played host to the Conservatory.
 That afternoon brought us back to the Falls. We did the Journey Behind the Falls which brings people through tunnels to view the falls from inside the waterfall.

We concluded our day with a ride on the Sky Wheel to see the Falls from above!

It was a wonderful vacation, and a very relaxing girl's weekend. We concluded a trip with a morning massage before our ten hour car ride home. I had a wonderful time and was thrilled to share this experience with my girlfriends. Here's to hoping we get another chance to travel together again!

Sometimes I Get Really Cool Opportunities

Senior year of college my good friend, who uses the pen name Liz Laz, published her first book. It is a young adult adventure book titled My Not So Normal Life. It was a fast paced, intensely wonderful Spring Break. Together with another friend, we spent the week holed up in an annex at our University. We edited, updated and uploaded the 198 page novel. My main job for Liz made me super excited! I got to design and create the cover. I used my love of scrap booking to create a physical paper design which I went on to scan into a computer to complete the wording. It was a really exciting project that I really enjoyed doing.

This summer I learned that Liz Laz was preparing the sequel, My Not So Normal Life: School for Spies. I was honored to be asked to create that cover as well! Keep reading, at the end of the year I am planning a post showing you my new art work for Ms. Laz! It was a lot of fun creating the paper design, I look forward to finishing the work on the computer in the coming months. Keep following and I will share a link for those interested in the novels!

Columbia's Muddy Buddy 2011

I have a dear friend who I like to call my "adventure buddy." New Year's Day 2010, we jumped in Lake Michigan for the Polar Bear Plunge. While this Plunge was not affiliated with any charities (there is one later in the year that supports the Special Olympics) it was definitely a great time!

Deciding that it was time for another adventure, we decided to sign up for the Columbia Muddy Buddy! The Muddy Buddy is a race you complete with a partner, one person runs and the other rides a bike, you arrive at an obstacle and then switch (the runner bikes and the biker runs). Its approximately a 6 mile course (ours was 5.7 miles), and then at the end you and your buddy crawl through a mud pit together!

The heat certainly was not on our side. I had to walk instead of run. The asthma and the heat were just not having it. So, I am disappointed with that aspect of my performance. The obstacles were a fun challenge. For some of the more challenging ones people worked together to get everyone through. There was a nice sense of team effort in that respect.  The hurdles...which I didn't know about until the week of the event...were not nearly as complicated as I was expecting! Another weak spot I had...the last obstacle of the course was scaling an eight foot wall. By the time we got to it, it was covered in slippery mud and my fear of heights got the best of me. Well, not fear of heights, fear of falling from heights.

So, while I am not completely happy with my performance, I did have a wonderful time and was proud of myself for finishing! Best of all, when I got home and logged on to see our time, the Mud-diving Mischief Makers (our amazing team!) did not finish last! Our time was

1:34:09.4. While we were F A R from first place, we were more than a half hour ahead of the last place. Overall it was a success! Our goal was to finish the race, which we successfully did! We are considering racing again next year!

Flash Mob!

Every now and then a girl needs some adventure. So when my friend told me about a flash mob that was going to be in our area I HAD to join her! I even got a friend to join us too! It was grueling  practicing in an un-air conditioned room. But bursting out dancing in the middle of the street was great! Looking around the crowd all you could see is people with their camera phones recording. It was a pretty cool experience.

And because I know you want to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Eh0LTdyh0E&feature=youtube_gdata_player