Snow Days, Washington D.C., bowling...and much more!!

Hello blogger nation. It's been a while, I know!! I figure I'm a true blogger now, because most of my posts begin with an apology about not being a regular blogger. But in this case, it only means one thing...beer and champagne are having too much fun to sit down and type about the day to day!!

So what have we been up to?

Well, winter officially struck in Chicago as the past two weekends we have been hit with snow, but only 8 inches each time and both times the weather warmed up so all the snow is now gone....and yes we are living in Chicago, not Denver. I feel as though this mild winter is God being kind to us as we were mentally prepared for much worse. I mean I have heard horror stories from people about the "big storm" last winter and I don't care if I never experience something like that!! :) I can't say we did a whole lot of "snowy" things, but we did enjoy the a few cozy nights with movies, delivery and each other....which are all good for the soul if you ask me.

As I mentioned in my "good friends" post, most of my good friends currently span from Denver all the way to Nelson, NZ, and yes I miss them all so much. So luckily for me and AK's flight miles I was able to visit a dear friend in Washington D.C. over MLK weekend. We both had Monday off which made for an extended stay. It was so nice to spend some Q.T. with Kendra (a.k.a K-Dogg). She got to show me her turf....we shopped in Georgetown, ate nice dinners, drank nice wine, chatted about everything from politics to our dream vacation spots, slept in every day, and even saw the White House, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. I wish there were wild and crazy stories to report, but after all that we were in bed by midnight most nights both complaining about how exhausted we were and both left very clueless as to what happened to the 2 very single ladies that took on New York a few years back?? Times have definitely changed!!
And in my absence AK enjoyed a nice weekend in Chicago hanging out with some good friends and teaching them how to play the game "Things!" He also got to take in the Mich St/Northwestern basketball game with his dad (Happy Birthday Mark) and his buddy Ben. Unfortunately his mom came down with the flu bug and was unable attend. We are looking forward to seeing them though next weekend to watch the Mich St/Mich game.  

Back in the early days of Denver when I had no clue who AK was he lived in this house with 5 guys in a neighborhood called Wash Park...pretty much the posh area of Denver where everyone drives Range Rovers, Moms push around Baby Bob Strollers and no one leaves their house without their favorite Patagonia accessory. So you can imagine the delight these neighbors felt when 5 guys post college moved to the neighborhood....think college on steroids to set the mental picture. But not all bad things happened on Humboldt (the street the house was located on)...it just so happens some of AK's best friends today lived there with him and will share more inappropriate memories than most guys should!! :) And it just so happens one of the guys and his wife now live in Chicago and have been oh so kind to show us the ropes and introduce us to more great people. Last weekend was no different as they invited us us to go bowling!! You heard me folks, we went bowling and it. was. fun!!! We shared many laughs, competed at a silly little game, and discovered a few unknowns....one being how good AK is at bowling. I was sure I could beat him at anything that involved a ball (I said a ball, not a goofy little puck), but boy was I wrong. Before long he was giving me pointers and I was left saying: "It's just a game, can't we just have fun!?" (famous last words of someone who is a wee bit competitive and likes to win). But with all that said, we really did have a good time and enjoyed our new company.

Besides that we feel like we have settled into Chicago a little more. We are meeting more people, figuring out our "go-to" places, and adjusting to the big city more and more all the time. I have to be honest the first 3 months felt like a vacation that was going to end, but life feels more normal now. We have enjoyed laid back weekends post holiday chaos and are looking forward to when this city warms up as we have heard numerous times that that is when Chicago comes alive and Andy has no idea how good he is going to look in Cubs gear....can't hardly wait!! :) 

Snowy School Street (our street)

branches.

together again!

dinner time....good food, good wine, good company!!

washington monument! beautiful!

WW II Memorial...what's up IA??

I {heart} the Lincoln Memorial

best friends+washington monument

there he is....lookin like uncle eddy scraping the car. gotta love him!

bowling alley!!

Good Friends + Colorado....

Good friends are hard to come by. You know the type that it doesn't matter what you wear, what you say, or what you do, they're still your friends....yeah those are hard to come by. At least I think so. I mean some people you have a friendly relationship with or a working relationship with, but I have to say out of all of the people I know, there are only a few friends that are real and life long. Luckily, for AK and I we have had several opportunities to meet people near and far..... between growing up, college, AK studying abroad in Australia, relocations to Denver and AK traveling the world for his job...to name a few. We feel very blessed that many times we find ourselves surrounded by such great people and this holiday season was no different.
When I went home I got to spend an evening with two righteously fine ladies that I have known since, what, maybe kindergarten, if not preschool and that to me is very cool. Our lives have taken different paths for sure, but for that one evening it felt like we were back in high school dishing about whatever around my parent's kitchen table. And even though we are all in different phases of life, it was nice to reconnect, get caught up and recognize that our roots have kept us together. One has decided to raise her family in Eldora and one stretches as far East as Washington D.C. but that doesn't seem to matter when we're home, because we grew up together, were rasied the same and to this day have spent more life together than with any of our other friends.....that's special if you ask me!! Cheers Lace and Kendra!!
Then once I arrived back in Chi-City, my good guy friends from college (who call Chicago "Chi-City") were also flying in for a visit. All of them used to live in Chicago and have all recently moved for grad school/jobs. Of course they would, now that I live here. It's all about timing. Anyhow, we shared a night of dinner and cocktails, told stories and introduced to AK to the Iowa Hawkeye chaos I speak so fondly of! It was great for him to put names with faces and it was great to see these guys again....even if we ate too much, drank too much and stayed out way too late the night before a flight! :)
And then just like that AK and I were off to Colorado for NYE 2011....one for the record books for sure. After living in the big city for a few months I was ready for a little mountain time/friend time/familiar ground time and so was AK I believe. Again we were met with open arms. We stayed with so many people and enjoyed so much great company and conversation....we really could not be more thankful for such great friends. Some we met when we were just Beer and just Champagne and some we met when we started to mix the alcohol...which can always be dangerous!! :) Remember, liquor before beer and you're in the clear...stick with me folks...just sayin! Anyhow, we also had some good times on the slopes and got to remember how we fell for each other last winter....for those of you who don't know....we spent countless hours in traffic on I-70 as powder chasers sure not to miss the good snow, along with the rest of Denver. During those traffic jams we chatted a lot, discovered favorites and dislikes and rocked out to some fine tunes. And when on the mountain we chased each other down the hill with the winner usually waiting with a snowball in hand....who wouldn't fall for that, huh?? HA :) This year was no different except the snow wasn't quite as good and the traffic wasn't nearly as bad. Luckily for AK though we were booked to stay through Jan 3, which means he got to watch the MSU game with pretty much the entire "Sparty Crew" (20 plus people that travel in a pack of green and white....how do you not call them that? you answer me that!), and witness a great win and an even better bowl game! And luckily for me, two of my best friends were able to match schedules so we could share a dinner together (Meg you were not forgotten....but missed dearly as New Zealand is just too far) and reminisce and catch up. I was thankful for that time as I have missed them oh so much and was so glad we could drink wine, eat sushi and talk without hesitation!! After all that we also met up with my Uncle Scott, his wife Nikki, their 2 sweet girls and the Buzans for Nikki's 30th birthday. Very fun as we felt like we were right back at home, not missing any big events!!  And last but certainly not least, we had the pleasure of swinging by the Bush's for a meet and greet with their new puppy Izzo...bet you'll never guess who he's named after!? :) Those Spartans are crazy, but their dog is incredibly cute and proved to us we need a dog sooner than later!! Izzo, it was a pleasure! All in all it was a great trip and a big thanks to Becca & Brian, Jen Alpern, and Bridget & Chris for being such great hosts....what would we do without you fine people....I would hate to know! Also a big thank you to Lindsey Sherry for sending me most of these pics!!

K-Dogg is in Chicago.....so. much. fun!!

back together again....was way too long!

I didn't get a pic in Denver and Meg wasn't there, so I'm going back in time.... this is one of my favorite days I've ever had with three great friends in Maine!! (sorry for the swimsuit shot girls, but this was a good day!!)

NYE dinner. pretty good crew!

beer and champagne on NYE....uh oh....champagne is drinking beer and beer is drinking champagne!!! 

despite very little snow...the Rocky Mountains are still quite remarkable!

MSU wins!!! please notice the relief that Becca and I are celebrating. boys are happier when their team wins....just sayin!

hello Izzo! you're so cute, I think you need to meet Miss Ruby!! :)

if you missed this on facebook, the caption read: "best part about skiing with a boyfriend!" That's one good beer right there!!

enjoying the mountain...and our new gear!! whoop whoop!

Oh What A Night....

Christmas night that is. For years now our family has celebrated Christmas on Christmas night....just about the last possible time you can squeeze in one more Christmas with it still technically being December 25th. It really used to bug me a little as this change from Christmas morning was due to my brothers getting married/having kids of their own....and then thinking they needed to celebrate Christmas/Santa gifts when their kids woke up....talk about selfish, huh?? :) Anyhow, when I got over that little hurdle and learned to share my family, Christmas night has actually become one of my favorite nights of the year, this past year included (yes I'm so behind I had to say past year as we are already in 2012). With that said, Christmas Day is also very nice as it is usually spent with my Mom and the Gehrk doing last minute preparations. I mean not only does Santa go to my niece and nephews homes, he also comes to Grandma and Poppa's. Yes, these children are unbelievably well behaved and not at all spoiled. HA...I hope you are all sensing my sarcasm as not one person leaves my parents home in need of one thing...just wait, you'll see!!
So Christmas Day was very nice. We went to church, delivered poinsettias to the "shut-ins" (members of our church who can't get out for one reason or another), had brunch, and once again fretted over when/how to cook the prime rib....as if the last 10 years have been big failures. If you're unfamiliar, every year mom is quoted saying, "I think that's the best one yet!"(perhaps it's because we only have it once a year, but who knows!?!) And somehow I managed to sneak in a little nap time with Ruby, the brand new puppy!! Funny how that works out? The day was great and by the time 4 o'clock rolled around we were ready for action and boy did action show up. Both brothers and their families trickled in right behind each other and the night was off. We kicked off the night by singing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus, and then we immediately headed down to the basement so the kids could open gifts. I tell ya, I don't have any kids of my own but watching them get so excited over the silliest things makes my heart melt. They all really are wonderful kids and they definitely bring back the excitement of Christmas when it comes to gift opening. After all the excitement it was time for a break, which basically means we were licking our chops after smelling the prime rib cooking for nearly 2 hours! Dinner was phenomenal, per usual, and in the midst of our food coma it was time for adult present opening. Gotta say, not nearly as exciting, but still very fun. All the girls left with a few new duds and some home accessories and the boys left with a few new duds as well and some essential electronics if my memory serves me right. The universal gift was the book "The Sacred Acre," the story about Ed Thomas's life. I just finished it today and thought it was quite a tribute so someone who made a lot of difference to many young kids. It also had many life lessons to put to use! Good idea momma!! Once the present chaos was over the fun had really just begun. The minute Cade arrived he was determined to play everyone in ping pong, which lead to he and I scheming a family ping pong tournament. I mean why not, considering we are all terribly competitive and think we could beat anyone on any given night. We had so much fun and even set up stadium like seating in the garage so we were sure not to miss one minute of the action. To no surprise the Gehrk ended up winning, but Dan did not go down without a fight. I'm pretty sure it went into triple overtime....the way a championship game should end, right? HA :) All in all I would say Christmas was perfectly done. Such a good time with many more memories made....Oh what a night it was!!
Sidenote: AK and I separated for the Christmas holiday which was unfortunate, but neither one of us was ready to give up our respective families. From the sounds of it, the Kay Christmas was just as spectacular with fabulous food and many fun memories as well!!
Another sidenote: I was having too much fun to capture each Christmas moment....here are my favs!!

sleeping on a church pew with the tum hanging out....love it!!

pretty pretty on Christmas!

plus 1 girl....Ruby welcome to the club...it's a good one!

see what i mean? enough presents for a small army!! thanks momma and gehrk!

And Thank You, Baby Jesus!!!!

isn't she lovely...welcome to the family Ruby! you win best present award!!

snuggles....doesn't this make you want a puppy?? she's just so cute!!