Christmas in Illinois

No white Christmas this year. But fun all the same. It was a nice week home: spending time with family (and those like family), visiting friends, eating delicious food, and enjoying some rare mid-western winter sunshine. What a treat!

{Christmas sweater party}

{Christmas Eve before church}

{Christmas morning}

{later Christmas morning}

{extended family Christmas}

That Just Happened

That's right. I scored a 200 in bowling. After scoring two games in the 80s. And it's legitimate. Not one person bowled for me to help me out.

Let me back up and give a little history of my bowling skills. During college I participated in the Big Brother's Big Sister's Bowl for Kids Sake Challenge. It's a fundraiser event for the organization where each participant collects pledges before bowling. The donor can choose to give a flat amount or a per pin pledge. I tended to get mostly per pin pledges, and maybe that's because people knew just how bad I was at bowling. That remains unknown. Anyway, since it's a fundraiser, the organization realized they would need to set a minimum if they wanted to raise substantial money, so they automatically bump you up to 100 if you score below that. Let me just say I consistently needed the help. I could never score a 100 by my own accord, so I would get bumped up to the minimum in order to make my pledge collections worth anything.

As is evident by my first two games this particular night, I have not improved much. However, something happened and I clearly found my groove (I think it was the Christmas socks; I'll explain in a second). I don't mean to brag, but did you notice I only had one open frame the entire game. And even in that frame I only missed 2 pins! That's pretty outstanding, if I do say so myself, especially when you consider who bowled it! Of course I had to have them print my score so I could remember this bit of history. Because it's sure to never happen again.

So about the socks. Apparently this bowling party was a Christmas sweater party, but someone forgot to tell me that detail. So I show up and am the only one without a sweater. If you know me at all, it is not like me to miss out on an opportunity to dress up or have some fun, so I was a little bummed when I realized this. But then - good news - as I was putting on my bowling shoes I realized I just happened to be wearing gaudy Christmas socks. Lucky me! So naturally, I rolled up my jean bottoms just enough for my Christmas socks to show and for myself to look like Steve Urkel. If you're wondering why the magic didn't kick in until the third game, it's because I didn't roll the pants until part way through the second game. But I think that was definitely the key. Whatever it was, it was fun!

Christmas Greetings

I think I found a new hobby.

Today, as a special treat for the Christmas season, we had a fun activity during our meeting at work. We got to make home-made greeting cards! I loved it!! Truthfully, I'm not all that creative, and I got most of my ideas from "piggy-backing" off someone else. So they were kind of my own creation, but inspired by others. Anyway, check out the ones I made...

The next few are my favorites.

Sadly, I never got around to sending them out, but that just means I'll have a few Christmas cards to get me started next year! Yay.

Sorry, Again, For My Absence

I've been a pretty busy lady since late July, which was essentially my last substantial post. Here's a brief summary picking up where I left off.

The weekend after my triathlon, I...
Went to Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and a Zac Brown Band Concert (amaaazing!) with some of my favorites...

And the following day I went tubing down the Cache La Poudre River with those same favorites, on a crazy impulse. That was an adventure! (If you want more details, ask me.)

In August, I...
Went to a Rockies game or two...

Said good-bye to a great friend and co-worker who moved back home...

And enjoyed the last days of summer's delicious bounty...

In September, I...
Went backpacking with my brother, Rachel, and Donnie for a long weekend.

{we made a couple friends}

Met Chris Cagel at the Grizzly Rose...no big deal!

Went camping near Spinny Reservoir and the Dream Stream, as it's known by fishermen (and women).

Went to Breckenridge's Oktoberfest street party. It's rained on our parade (literally, although there was no actual parade). Everyone managed to have a good time anyway, and I've never heard grown adults literally cheer for sunshine...until that day. We enjoyed a mug or 2 of good beer, some "Bavarian" food, and good times.

And I presented a poster session at Public Health in the Rockies annual conference.

In October, I...
Took Jessie to Colorado Springs for her first visit ever. We went to Garden of the Gods where we broke some rules...

and made some memories....

Then we went to Manitou Springs to taste the spring water...

and ride over-sized fake bicycles.

From there we proceeded to my cousin's house for their annual Oktoberfest celebration (sorry, no pictures).

Went to a corn maze, which was surprisingly challenging, and picked out a pumpkin from the patch. Proceeded to carve said pumpkin with a group of some favorite friends, while watching Hocus Pocus, I might add. Can't forget this - baked and ate some pumpkin seeds!

Made and enjoyed some amazing whipped pumpkin dip. Do yourself a favor and make this. It will rock your world. (15oz pumpkin, 1 5oz package prepared instant vanilla pudding, 1 16oz container fat-free whipped cream, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice - mix all together and use as dip on whatever sounds good to you; I prefer apples.)

And in November,
I spent Thanksgiving at home with most of my family, and celebrated a wedding in Chicago with some of my favorite people!

In December, it is back to reality for a few short weeks before I get another week off to spend with friends and family at home. Then in the new year the fun really begins! Stay tuned!!