Play my sister's baby game!

My sister Jami is pregnant with Baby #2. Big brother Kaden will be about 18 months when Baby #2 arrives. It's an exciting time for the S Family!!!

Jami and Chris will find out the sex of their baby in late July so they've started a baby game to guess sex, birth date, time, length, and weight. So play along if you want and have fun!

 http://www.expectnet.com/games/SisonBaby2

Flood Fight 2011

Please keep my hometown of Minot, North Dakota in your thoughts and prayers. We are experiencing a devastating flood of immense and record-setting magnitude. This had made national news so you can expect to see it on all major networks' evening news and print media.

You can read more about it by visiting the following websites:

Live 24/7 coverage: http://www.kxnet.com/?setCity=min

More 24/7 coverage: http://www.minotnd.net/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kxnewsminot

News Stories:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43492649/ns/weather/t/time-running-out-north-dakota-town/
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/22/north.dakota.flooding/index.html

Michael and I arrived in Minot last night and we both just could not believe the water levels as we drove around last night. They are unbelievable! We have been glued to the KXMC news coverage (which has been great) and will continue to be for the next several days. I simply cannot believe it.

Please especially keep positive thoughts for my aunt Noni, whose family is in the evacuation zone. Nearly their entire house is in my dad's hanger at the airport and based on the water level predictions, their house will be flooded (basement and water on the main floor). The rest of my family members in Minot are not in the flood zone but I have friends in the zone as well. Again, any and all positive thoughts are appreciated.

Stay strong, Minot! We are all praying for the city!!!

Goodbye Chicago

Today Michael and I are leaving Chicago for good. We spent the weekend with his family celebrating his graduation and packing our moving truck.

These past four years have been amazingly memorable, from moving into my first apartment on my own to meeting the love of my life. I've visited many Chicago landmarks and favorite places and I know one of the things I will miss the most are the people I met during my time here. And the food-I'm definitely going to miss the food!

So thank you Chicago for an amazing four years. I will miss you but I promise I will come back and visit!

Minneapolis-here we come!!!!

Last Day at NU

Today is my last day at Northwestern University. I've been working here for nearly four years, and while I've had my share of highs and lows, I am so thankful for the amazing opportunities my time at the University has provided me. More importantly, I cannot convey how important the relationships I've made with colleagues are to me.

To my NU friends - thank you all so much for all your guidance, support, understanding, patience, hard work, and love. I will miss you all but please know I'll be back for visits. And if you're ever in MSP, you'd better let me know :-)

As my good friend Katie said when she left NU a few months ago, this is not goodbye. Instead, it's just a "so long."

Job Search = Over!

I'm skipping my usual Traveling Tuesdays (look for more next week) to share with you all some exciting news:

I have a job!

Last week, I was incredibly lucky and had opportunity to think over two different job offers. I am very excited about the one I chose. I will continue to work in the same industry I do now - alumni relations and development - but I will be working at an independent high school in the Twin Cities area instead of at a university.

The job itself really excites me - much more responsibility than my current job - and the "perks" of the job are fantastic: great salary, good benefits, free parking (that would have cost me $1,000 a year at the other job), free lunch everyday (apparently they are gourmet and delicious), and loads of vacation time, including Fridays off in June and July, a week at winter break, and a week at Spring break.

I start July 5, which is the same day Michael starts his new job, so it could not have worked out more perfectly.

I feel truly blessed to have found a job that I am excited about and know is a great next step in my career before the move this weekend.

Thanks to everyone for all your support and guidance! I guess I can now check "get a job" off my goals list for June :-)

Sunshines and Creeps

I have several things that are both Sunshines and Creeps this week. Oh well...

Sunshine to some good news on the job front, but Creep to not being able to say much more than that right now. When I can, I will!

Sunshine to Michael for being officially done with school. So proud of you LOML!

Sunshine and Creep to the weather in Chicago this week. Two days of 90+ degrees, followed by 2 days of 50ish degrees and rain. I do not enjoy 40 degree temperature swings. What happened to a mild 70-75 day???

Sunshine and Creep  to 4 days of work left. I will miss my job and the people, but I am excited to move on to something new.

Creep to the CTA yesterday. Worst day on the CTA ever. I waited 27 minutes for my train in the morning. In the rain. Then I took an express train (meaning it skips about 15 stops) home that decided to stop at all red line stops. Cannot wait to be done with that soon!!!

Sunshine and Creep to So You Think You Can Dance. Loved the Top 20 reveal episode last night, but why did you cut some of the people you made me fall in love with during auditions and Vegas week (The Professor, Lil O, Jacob). And who the heck are Miranda, Chris, and Clarice? Show me of them so I can fall in love with them too.

Creep the weather forecast for tomorrow. Probably no yoga in the park :-(

Creep to me and my crabby pants. I know I'm stressed about my move, but I need to stop letting it get to me and act as excited as I am. Get it together Jenni!!!

Sunshine to cooking with Michael tonight. Can't wait to share a bottle of wine and enjoy each other's company!

Creep to packing this weekend - I know it's going to take forever.

Sunshine to moving in 9 days! Single digits!!!!!!!!!!!!

June Goals

So my May goals were certainly helpful is helping me stay grounded but of course, not everything was accomplished. And of course, the goals that suffered were the personal ones :-( I’m not going to go too crazy with June goals, seeing that I am moving, spending a week in Minot, etc.

Purple and bolded = Accomplished!

Professional Goals - May

Keep applying for jobs! (applied for a few more)

Look into corporate for jobs in HR or Community Relations (I did. Applied for a few. Didn’t hear anything)

Do at least two informational interviews

Complete my performance evaluation and review with supervisor to assist me articulate what I do on job interviews

Finalize schedule for Fall Leadership Symposium (as much as this can be done)

Get a job :-)

Personal Goals - May

Yoga twice a week (once a week)

Cardio four days a week (I averaged 2 days – better than nothing)

Continue working on budget with Michael (this will be easier once I have a job)

Figure out moving budget and plan

Finish my current book (I’m close. 70% on the Kindle)

Start a historical, nonfiction or "classic" book (need to finish current book first)

Go out for a date night with Michael (used Amy and Molly’s gift card)

Phone dates with Kristen, Michelle Steph, Brooke, and Laurie

Professional Goals - June

Get a job :-)

If I don't get a job, keep applying for jobs

Figure out how what to do with my retirement (leave, transfer to my new job's retirement, or roll into an IRA)

Pack up my office, move what's necessary, and throw the rest

Personal Goals - June

Yoga once a week

Cardio three days a week

Figure out health insurance until I have a new job and insurance through them

Finalize budget with Michael

Finish my current book - I will do this!

Start a historical, nonfiction or "classic" book

Pack and determine the following categories - 1. Use in June/July; 2. Storage until move in August; and 3. Permanent storage

Traveling Tuesdays: Belgium and Holland - Part 4

Day 5 – Thursday, April 21 – Antwerp


This was probably one of the days I enjoyed the least on the trip, simply because we didn't do much. Breakfast on Thursday was Belgian waffles, as it was our first day in Belgium. We enjoyed waffles in the traditional Belgium sense – with powdered sugar and fruit, not with syrup or whipped cream.
We spent the morning in Antwerp with our guide Jeff. I did not care for Jeff as a guide, as he moved extremely slowly and was a bit scatterbrained. He gave us a short city tour.

City square in Antwerpe.

Cute little cafe getting ready to open (it was about 8am when I took this picture).

Our group and guide, Jeff (he has the microphone in front of his mouth).

More of the group - NU and UNC-Chapel Hill.

I liked the middle dress so I took a picture :-)

More City Square.

The FitzSimons and Louise Rose.

Then we had a tour of the Rubens’ House Museum. Rubens was a master artist of the Baroque style. The tour was actually his old home, which has been turned into a museum. It was extremely crowded and with four groups of 20, it made moving through the house quite difficult. I took several pictures outside, but couldn't take any inside.

Rubenshuis (or Ruben's House) from the front.

Inside the courtyard.

Balcony over looking the courtyard.

Garden behind the house. This was really pretty.

View from the balcony.

View of the house form the back of the garden.

After our tour of Rubens’ House, we made our way to the Our Lady Cathedral. We walked down the main shopping street of the city. It was strictly a pedestrian walkway, which was nice. The Cathedral was beautiful, but crowded.

The Our Lady Cathedral.

Loved this guy's mohawk.

Inside the Cathedral.

Beautiful tapesties hanging from the wall.

One of the many altars.

The floor, which has gravestones and burial plots underneath it.

ET greeted me when I got back to my cabin that day :-)

After the tour, everyone split off to do their own thing, as we had the afternoon free to ourselves. I had lunch in the city with the a few couples and did some shopping on my own before walking back to the boat. It was nice to have some free time that afternoon. I spent the rest of the day laying on the deck of the boat, enjoying my book and the sun.
I ate dinner with the FitzSimons and Roses that night, and we had a wonderful time. Fitz was quite the character and we laughed a lot. Following dinner, there was a Belgian chocolate reception in the lounge, which was very delicious. I wish I would have had my camera and taken some pictures. The highlight of this night is that we talked Wanda Paik, one of my NU passengers and an acclaimed concernt pianst, into performing on the piano for everyone. Everyone was impressed by her talents and she got a standing ovation. It was a wonderful end to the day.

Weekend Recap: Last "fun" Chicago weekend

It is quickly hitting me that I am moving away from Chicago, my home for four years, in just two weeks. As excited as I am, I know I will miss this city immensely. So, this weekend, I did some fun "Chicagoy" things.

Friday
M and I went to dinner at Vie in the western suburbs. It was probably the singlest best dining experience I've ever had: great service, great ambiance, and most importantly, some of the best food I've ever eaten.

M and I got a Zagat SmartBox Gift Card from his sisters for Christmas, that allowed us to pick from a list of 30 Zagat-rated restaurants in the Chicago-land area. Some restaurants allowed the diners to pick whatever they wanted off the menu, while others had specific stipulations. All of them guaranteed an appetizer/salad, entree, and dessert each for two diners. We went through the list one by one and narrowed it down to Vie and a few other places. After looking at the menus and reviews on Yelp, we knew Vie was the best fit for us. So we made a reservation and drove 30 miles out to the 'burbs.

If you don't know anything about Western Springs, I'll paint you a picture: cute, quaint village. Beautiful and expensive homes - they reminded me of the Country Club area of Edina. Adorable downtown area, which is where Vie was located. When we walked in, I immediately noticed we were by far the youngest people there - this probably had to do with the lofty price tag of their menu. We settled into a table in the back corner and were greeted by our server. I liked her immediately, as she told us about all the great things on the menu, in incredible detail. She was a total foodie, and I loved her for it. She also told us we could order any six things off the menu so we were not limited to just two of each section. It was awesome, and so incredibly filling, as we completely pigged out! Here's what we had:

cream of green garlic soup, san marzano braised slagel farm veal meatballs, grilled bread croutons (Michael - he loved it)

 

prairie fruits farm sheep’s milk ricotta gnudi, pickled and roasted beets, lemon olive oil, fried tuscan kale (Me - Michael is just finishing it up. Gnudi is similar to gnocchi, made with riccota cheese and flour. The fried kale was amazing) 



wood-grilled vie burger: dietzler farm beef and house made bacon, wisconsin cheddar, potato salad, wood-grilled asparagus, spicy mayonnaise (Split - we both agreed this "pushed us over the edge." Sorry about the poor lighting. I didn't turn my flash on right away)



wood-grilled dry-aged dietzler farm beef ribeye and smoked sausage, local potato purée, pickled ramp glazed carrots, mustard greens, red wine beef sauce (Me - and I ate the whole thing - minus the carrots, which M ate - even after 6 pieces of gnudi and half a burger)

 

pan-roasted walleye pike, braised beluga lentils, wilted local spinach, marinated werp farm beets, marcona almonds, preserved lemon vinaigrette (Michael - he said it was delicious, light and flaky)

warm gooey butter cake, pistachio streusel, granola, sour cherry sorbet, whipped white chocolate ganache (Split. This was SO good that we ate it before we could get a picture. Best dessert ever!!!)

 It was an amazing evening and we would have never gone there if it wasn't for Michael's sisters. Thank you Amy and Molly!!!

Saturday
We started with Yoga in the Park. I have been wanting to do this for years but have never gone. Of course, I waited until two weeks before I move to go. And of course, I fell in love with it.

Each week, there are free workouts in Millennium Park, a Chicago tourist attraction. It's usually 8am yoga, 9am pilates, and 10am changes each week (this week was Zumba). They bring in different instructors and live music. We went to the 8am yoga class and it was fantastic. I loved the instructor and her husband provided the live music (it sounded very Indian to me - it was awesome). With the birds chirping and the dull lull of traffic on Lake Shore Drive in the background and a five minute savasana, it was the absolute perfect way to start off my Saturday. Afterwards, Michael and I took some pictures to reenact our practice.

You can see the city and park in the background. We faced the opposite direction I am facing in the photo.

M reenacted Warrior I. Love that he has his shoes on :-)

And since we were in the Park, we took some pictures at the Bean.

The afternoon was spent doing "life" stuff: M wrote his final paper, I cleaned, and we went to the Container Store to get some stuff to help with our move.

That night, we went to Sausagefest in Wrigleyville and saw the 80s cover band Sixteen Candles. Saturday marked the beginning of "Festival Season" in Chicago, a favorite summertime activity of many locals, including this girl. We ate and drank (Diet Pepsi - yum!), sang and danced! A few of my friends were there so by the end of the concert, we made our way up to the front of the stage to join them for the fun. My throat still hurts from all the screaming, though my ears did finally stop ringing yesterday.

Michael had a Turducken brat. He said it was amazing. I had just a regular brat - also amazing.

Self-portrait. Thank you iPhone for making this so much easier than a camera.

Sixteen Candles.

Up near the stage.

Wearing their "sunglasses at night."

Danny, Melinda, and me. We went to grad school together in BG and now all live in Chicago.  

Danny is pretty much obsessed with SC. You could call him a groupie. They threw out the drummers' drumsticks and Michael (being the strappy, tall man he is) caught one of them and gave it to Danny. He was so excited!

Interesting side note: as were we walking from the train to the festival, my flipflop broke. Michael was the perfect MacGyver and fixed the problem using a paper clip and some duct tape. Thanks LOML!

Sunday
Sunday was a low key day. We went on a long walk (and I got sunburned for the third time this year - I REALLY need to get better with wearing sunscreen!) and then M headed to Evanston to finish his final college paper. I spent the day clearing my DVR, catching up with my GF Johanne on FaceTime, and reading.

It was one of my last "fun" Chicago weekends, as I will be spending the next weekend packing and the weekend after that at Michael's graduation events/more packing.

2 weeks from now, we'll be on the road!

Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to my job interviews going well (I think). Really hoping that one of them works out and I can do away with all this job searching stress...

Creep to realizing that one of the jobs is not right for me.

Creep to feeling starved right now, and it's only 10am.

Sunshine to staying up late talking with Michael last night.

Sunshine to the National Spelling Bee yesterday. It is honestly one of my favorite days of the year. I got to watch the day rounds on TV inbetween interviews, and taped the championship rounds. So if you know who won or what the winning word was, don't tell me :-)

Creep to all the work I need to do before I leave. I only have 9 days left in the office and there's so much on my to-do list.

Sunshine to date night tonight and a concert tomorrow.

Sunshine to Yoga in the Park tomorrow.

Creep to not being able to work out much this week.

Sunshine to surprising Michael's sister Molly at her spring choir concert on Wednesday night. Double Sunshine to seeing his parents too.

Sunshine to the flooding in Minot being less disasterous than expected.

And lastly,

Sunshine to moving in 16 days!!!!

Good Vibes

Please send good vibes my way today, as I am in MSP for job interviews. Hopefully one them is a good fit for me and I get a job offer out of this visit!

Thanks!!!

Weekend Recap

My parents were able to visit over Memorial Day weekend - yay! The weather proved to be a bit of a challenge, but hey, that's how it goes when the Glicks try to plan a get together.

On Friday, M took a flying lesson (did I mention he's doing this? Very cool!) and his lesson ended just as my parents landed. Perfect timing! We went to Portillo's for lunch - yummy - and then went back to my place. My dad was sick the whole weekend so he took a nap while M, my mom, and I hung out. That night, we went to dinner at Morton's. Despite them not getting my steak right after several tries, it was a very enjoyable dinner and we had a great time. We also tried a wonderful new Pinot Noir - if you find Fiddlestix and you are a fan of red wine, I highly recommend it!

Mom and Dad at dinner

M and I at dinner.

Saturday was a lazy day. My dad was feeling pretty lousy, though he was a really good sport, so we went to Whole Foods for lunch. I am going to miss the 75,000 square Whole Foods in Lincoln Park when I move. It's so unbelievably huge and I could spend hours (and hundreds of dollars) in there. Dad slept for a few hours in the afternoon so Mom and I talked, read, and relaxed. Michael had spent the day in Evanston for some stuff for school so he came down that night. Then we went to pick up our rental bikes for the next morning - more on that below - which was not an easy task but we did it. Thank you LOML for driving a truck!!! We ordered some yummy Lou Malnatis for dinner and went to bed early because we had an early day Sunday.

Sunday, we participated in Bike the Drive. Bike the Drive is one of the largest car-free bike rides in the U.S. Every year on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, the city of Chicago shuts down Lake Shore Drive, one of the busiest and most-traveled roadways in Chicago and allows bike riders of all ages to come out and enjoy a peaceful morning bike ride, free of cars. We woke up at 6 and were on the road by 7am. I happen to live on one of the streets that serves as a checkpoint so we just biked a mile to Lake Shore, and then hopped on. It was so easy! The weather was foggy, cool, and humid, but it was tranquil and actually a lot of fun. We biked more than 20 miles before 9am, then dropped off our rental bikes, and hopped on the El to go back to my place.

Dad and Mom on Bike the Drive

Me and Michael

I love my active parents!

Group shot on my iPhone

After a hearty breakfast of bagels, eggs, and bacon, we were all beat. We napped, read, and laid around for a few hours. It started to pour outside and everyone was too tired to do anything so Michael and I decided to start of favorite rainy day project: a puzzle. I didn't think either of my parents would want to do one so we figured we'd just work on it for awhile and then quit. But my parents joined right in and we worked on that sucker for 6 hours - and didn't finish! It was a really hard one!

We got this far on Sunday.



My parents considered leaving that day because of the weather but decided to stay. We ordered some Chinese and crashed early.
Monday morning we woke up early to bring my parents to the airport. Despite the nice weather in Chicago yesterday, they had to deal with MN and ND weather on their trip home. Luckily, the weather cooperated and my dad is an awesome pilot so they made it home safe and sound. I went shopping while M hung out with some friends that morning/afternoon. M had a few free rentals at Red Box so we watched Harry Potter 7 Part 1 while we worked on the puzzle again for awhile and snacked on all of our leftovers. Then we watched Tangled - super cute movie I highly recommend. Once we finished that, we went back to the puzzle. After 3 hours of work on Monday, we finished!!!

Overall, it was a great weekend and I am so glad I got to see my parents. Can't wait to be home in ND in 3 weeks! Woohoo!

19 days until we move - can't believe it's almost here!