Chicago Sports – Not Great Bob!

I’m not sure anyone would have predicted how poorly all of the Chicago sports teams would do this year. It was just a few years ago that the Cubs were kicking butt, the BlackHawks had just won the Cup, and the Bears…still had a ways to go. They looked great last year though and seemed like they might be turning corner. Jump to now, and all of them are riding the struggle bus to say the least. I had a few thoughts on each of them, and figured why not put them down on the blog I haven’t used in over a year!

First up – the Bears.

What can you say about this season but OOF. The have a coach who refuses to give up the play calling and a quarterback who has regressed beyond any one’s expectations. I’ll own up to having been on the Trubisky hype train after last year. Not mention all the talk about the steps forward he had taken from the coach. That really blew up in a lot of people’s faces and an offense that score isn’t going to go very far. The one saving grace is that the defense, while not other worldly like last year, has still been solid and kept the Bears from getting completely torn apart.

Next up – the Cubs.

Last season was a complete grind to watch on TV. You never knew if you were going to watch the good team the Cubs had the potential to be, or the mess that never stood a chance. The two brightest spots were easily Nico Hoerner and Nick Castellanos, because they both provided a nice jolt into the team that helped make the Cubs fun to watch again. The team still has great players but most definitely needs a shake up, and some additional help. Unfortunately, I’m not sure either will come this off season. The Ricketts have already started putting the “we’re not going to spend big” message out there, and putting together a trade for a star player is never easy. At this point, I’m guessing the they make a few minor trades and sign a couple cheaper free agents, and ride the “Hope are current players get better” train all the way to next season.

Now, lets talk about the BlackHawks.

I had a decent amount of hope going into this season. Not the “THE HAWKS WILL WIN THE CUP!” hope, more of the “The Hawks will be a playoff team!” hope. That’s looking less and less likely though. Of the games I have watched this year, they’re just getting out played by most of the teams. They get beat to the puck constantly, and the shots they allow are ridiculous. The only thing that has kept them from getting blown out several times is the spectacular goal tending of Lehner and Crawford. Without those two, the goals allowed in a couple games would have been double digits. The best part of this season has easily been the young players making their way on to the team. Dach, Nylander, and Boqvist are fun to watch, even if you’re occasionally cringing at some of the mistakes they make. Along with Debrincat and Strome, they are the future of the BlackHawks, and it doesn’t look to bad. There is still some time for them to right the ship, and hopefully they do, but that window is closing quickly.

Finally, I’m going to mention the White Sox.

This is the team I know by far the least about, but also the team I feel like could be the best in the near future. They have several good young players that have made their MLB debuts, and some more on their way. Again, much like Cubs, I believe it will hing on if the ownership/front office is willing to spend some money and supplement the young-ins with some needed veteran players (them being good would help too). They seemed wiling to spend on Machado last year, so hopefully they take that money and spend it this off season. They kind of remind of me of the 2014 Cubs. – a good start but need that extra boost to really get going.

And there you have it. My thoughts on the state of Chicago Sports. Not that anyone asked for it.

P.S. I know these aren’t the only teams in Chicago (Fire, Sky, etc.), but the other ones I know absolutely nothing about, so wading into those topics would make no sense.

Keep Moving On

So a few months ago I made that blog post with several goals for myself this year.

Some of them stuck, others not so much. (Shocker.)

I am continuing to build my knowledge base in my career field. My skills with Javascript have improved from the beginning of this year, thanks to online courses and reading. Having a magazine subscription helps as well, and helps keep me up-to-date with what’s going on along with online blogs.

Drawing more = doodle here and there. Not perfect, but it keeps my creative brain going. I don’t want to burn myself out, so I’m okay with this.

I see so many other women doing so well with their reading resolution! Me… Not so much. I have been reading a lot of career related stuff, but outside of that, not so much. I do need to get on the bandwagon and finish the Mistborn series. Just have to get myself to sit down and make time.

Catching up on Kingdom Hearts is slowly happening. Currently stuck on a boss battle that after a few times every time I get on, I have to get away from the TV to avoid throwing the controller.

This year, so far, we’ve definitely been better about keeping things in town. Besides a few weeks ago, when we took my three-year-old niece out to a children’s museum, we’ve kept things in town.

Fun time with the niece

My niece and I after getting to touch a electrically charged ball. Can you tell we’re related?

This past weekend, we ended up racing the local, inaugural St. Patrick’s Day 2 mile race (after getting a 8 mile run in). It was a great time; fun and fast course, and got to see a lot of our runner friends finish. I finished second overall female with a time of 13:35. Next year I’ll have to give it a shot with fresh legs. Afterwards, we celebrated the Irish way; drinking beer with friends!

I’ve even gotten a membership to Orange Theory Fitness to help motivate me to actually cross train. More on this after a few more classes, but it’s helped keep me grounded AND, after two classes, I feel much stronger.

How have your goals stuck thus far in 2018?

Good Bye 2017, Hello 2018

2017 for us was our first full year of being married, and we had a lot of fun experiencing it together!

2017 Experiences

  • Traveling. A LOT. I didn’t get a ton accomplished outside of this, but bein
    g able to see parts of the US that I’ve never seen before was pretty much worth it. Denver, CO. Raleigh, NC… And got to get back out to Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. Sharing those fun adventures with Chris was a lot of fun.
  • Broke PRs. Running wise, 2018 was a rocket year. I PR’ed my 2M, 5K, 10K and 13.1M distances. 26.2M would have been a PR if my legs could have stayed healthy at the end. I’m happy to say I’m back at it with fresh legs.
  • Drank a lot of good craft beer. Along with traveling, I also got to visit a lot of local craft breweries along the way. A few of my favorites include:
    • Outlander (Seattle, WA): With so many different flavors to choose from, Outlander was definitely my favorite from our Northwest trip. Despite it’s small appearance from the outside, it has a lot to offer craft beer lovers. Meeting the man behind the scenes was pretty cool as well.
    • Bombshell Brewery (Holly Springs, NC): After arriving at the brewery, I had no idea what I was getting out of my 45 minute drive outside of Raleigh. I got to meet Ellen, one of the very few women craft beer owners in the country, and fan girl over her achievements. Their Oktoberfest and Lady in Red both were great; I wish I had of had more time to try more. If we ever make it back out to that part of the country, I will be sure to be back for more.
    • Heavy Riff Brewing/Center Ice Brewing (St Louis, MO): It’s a tie between these two for my favorite this year. Heavy Riff has some excellent dark brews, and Center Ice is fantastic, especially for being very new to the brewing scene. Both are off on their own, so you don’t get a ton of bar hoppers, making them both very easy to socialize and hang out at.

I try my best to not think of goals as resolutions, because let’s be honest.. Resolutions usually fall through in the first few months of the year. Instead, I’m trying to create a list of goals with dates/times tied to them for 2018.

2018 Goals

  • Web Design & Development Improvement. Lately I’ve felt like I’ve been on the “going with the flow” train with my work skills. I’ve been taking a few online classes here and there as well as getting to know CSS Grid, but feel like with frameworks like React.js becoming more and more popular, I’ve got some serious catching up to do. I’m going to update my Web Portfolio (and actually get a URL that doesn’t use my maiden name) and hopefully be able to catch back up to modern front-end web development times.
  • Draw More. To go along with design, I need to feel more comfortable drawing. I realize I’m never going to become a well known illustrator, but drawing more will help me create icons and my overall design skills improve. Plus drawing should be fun, not something I stress over.
  • Reading. Along with the Web Development magazine I just subscribed to, I need to get better about getting away from my cell phone and actually finish some books. I have to finish Mistborn: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson, and then jump into Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Claire that I got for Christmas this year.
  • Catch Up on Kingdom Hearts Series. I’m nearing the end of Kingdom Hearts II, but need to complete the rest of KH2.5 and get through 2.8 before KHIII is released. Here’s to hoping we’ll at least get a release date on that one this year!

Not a ton of goals as you can see, but I also want to be able to focus on these three (or four if you count the silly one). For myself, in general, I need to be better about being okay about staying at home and getting things done rather than traveling every weekend. I’m sure my wallet would enjoy that as well.

Don’t get me wrong though, I’m still going to get out and have a good time every so often. We already have tickets to see Story of the Year in this weekend down in St. Louis, and a Gulf Shores, AL trip is in the works for May. And of course there will be new craft brews to try along the way.

Just spreading out the trips here and there… For balance.

I hope your 2018 goals go smoothly as well.

Goals for 2018

Inspired by my friend Brian, instead of naming some resolutions this year, I’m going to set a few goals that I can *hopefully* keep myself accountable for. So let’s dive right in!

Blog More. This is the main goal for this year. I keep telling myself I’m going to write a post for the blog, but have a bad habit of not falling through. This post is a great example! I’ve been meaning to write these goals down for two weeks and despite having ample time I just hadn’t done it. I’m going to keep this goal conservative and make just one post a month. If I do more than that great, but there will be at least one a month. And two in one month doesn’t cancel out the next month either.

No unfinished video games. The last few years I always seem to have a game or two on the shelf unopened when it comes to an end. Life does keep me pretty busy, but completing the 4-5 games I buy every year shouldn’t be hard. So the goal here is to complete the 3 games I currently have sitting on the shelf, plus any new ones I buy. The goal is to complete one game every two months. That might be cutting it close, but I think it will get me there.

House Renovations. In 2017, I managed to get the basement finished, and it’s worked out really well. Now we have two places to hang out and play games, which is nice when Alyssa’s friends come over. This year I want to re-do the upstairs bathroom (currently trapped in the 1960s) and the back and front porches. The bathroom is the bigger of the two projects so I’m going to start with that one first. I’m going to give myself until the end of May to complete it, and then spend the summer/fall working on the porches which really just need a fresh coat of paint.

Keep getting faster at running. I set a whole bunch of running personal records last year, and want to keep that going. I’m not doing another a marathon, as two years in a row is enough for me, so that one isn’t manageable but everything else is on the table. In particular I’d really like to take a few more minutes off my half marathon, which is probably also going to be the hardest. I managed a 1 hour and 59 minute finish last year and it was pretty tough. It also felt really good, so that should give me some serious motivation. I’m going to set my goal for the half at 1 hour and 55 minutes, but I’ll settle for anything under my current time.

That’s all the goals I’m going to set as that list should keep me occupied for most of 2018. They should also generate plenty of things for me to blog about! Exciting!

Here’s to a great year!

Pumpkin Season is Coming

If you know me, then you know Fall is my favorite season of the year. You also know pumpkin flavored anything is life. Here in August, I’m already getting excited by all of the upcoming pumpkin products being advertised!

Dunkin Donuts

I am seriously in love with Dunkin’s advertising this year. I love coffee, lattes AND donuts, and will most certainly be making stops to get my morning pumpkin fix in.

 

Beer

Yes, I am a sucker for pumpkin beer as well. My favorites: Big Muddy’s Pumpkin Smasher and O’Fallon’s Pumpkin Beer. I will never turn down a pumpkin beer though, so any challengers are welcome to try me to see if they can give either of those two a run for their money.

 

M&Ms

I know some people make a face when they see these. So far everything I’ve heard about the new candy is positive, so I’m honestly hopeful for M&M’s White Pumpkin Pie.

 

Cheerios

Because Pumpkin Spice is obviously a breakfast thing. Or late night snack thing. Chris found a box of these for me last year and they disappeared pretty quick. Cheerios hit the flavor on the head, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for these.

 

Recipes

 

I’ve been pinning crazy amounts of pumpkin recipes I’ve been wanting to try… Cookies, bars, and yes, even delicious waffles like the ones shown here by Nora from Savory Nothings. My marathon long runs are going to be fueled by delicious flavor.

 

Pie

Can’t forget about the amazing gem that started it all. Pumpkin Pie > all other pie


Bring it on, Fall.

Keep Me Weird, Portland – Part 3 [The Finale]

Friday we stopped at Biscuit Bitch in Seattle before we headed back down to Portland. The name had us. Various yummy biscuit & gravy possibilities served there along with great coffee/espresso drinks. I had their Dirty Pumpkin Chai Latte; well done Biscuit Bitch.

Later that evening we drove to Hillsboro to see the Hillsboro Hops play. Unfortunately they lost their game, but my goal going in was achieved. We got our picture taken with their mascot, Barley the Hop. LOVE IT. We both also ended up with awesome hats.

Saturday, the whole family ventured back into the city to go to the Saturday Market. I got a cool fox print with our venture and we did the tourist thing: Voodoo Donuts. For as much hate as it gets from some people, I loved my Old Dirty Bastard. Donut covered in chocolate and peanut butter, can’t go wrong.. Though I got halfway through and couldn’t finish (that’s what he said).

Later that day, Chris and I braved the high 90 degree weather to visit the Japanese Gardens. I have been a few times, but it never gets boring. Sometimes it’s nice to get away from everything… Especially with views like these.

We met up with my old friend Kate for a few drinks and board games. We played The Oregon Trail and thought we had finished with only losing Kate to snakebite.. To find out we only made it halfway. No wonder some of those people stopped in Denver.

We also got to see the Naked Bike Ride before we went back home. The memories.

Sunday was going to be another hot day, so the family headed to the beach. Funny relationship between Portland and Cannon Beach; if Portland has nice weather, Cannon Beach is going to be rainy. If it’s hot/rainy in Portland, it’s nice as Cannon Beach. We actually had fog while we were there, but you could still see the ocean and Haystack Rock (a popular place for marriage proposals). Much cooler weather as well, we were happy with low 70s.

Monday was a day full of sad goodbyes. We said our good-byes to my brother, sister-face and Trent before saying good-bye and having one last espresso drink from Black Rock Coffee Bar, my favorite stop every morning in the past week. We said goodbye to the beautiful green trees and beautiful mountain views that we got to experience that week. We even said goodbye to the nicety of having someone else pump your own gas.

We had an awesome time in Portland and hope to be back soon to see my fam as well as all of the awesome things Portland has to offer.

Keep Me Weird, Portland – Part 1

Chris and I went out to Portland, Oregon to visit my brother, sister-in-law and my adorable, just over one year old nephew, Trent. It’s safe to say plenty of good times were had.

We arrived late Tuesday afternoon. After getting through the airport to get our bags, taking a Lyft to pick up our car, and then driving through after work traffic to get to my brother’s, it was… Dinner time.

Thankfully my brother and sister-face (inside joke) know pleeeeeenty of good spots. We ended up actually going to Pour Craft House, where you can order food from nearby restaurants. We also had picked up some Japanese pastries from Oyatsupan next door, so Chris and I settled on sharing nachos while enjoying some awesome craft brews. Definitely check out Pour Craft House if you’re in the area – Well worth the visit.

The pastry is known as Mt. Hood, named after Portland’s neighbor mountain. On the tray is Everybody’s Brewing Sprinkles, Thunder Island Brewing’s Covfefe, Ancestry Brewing’s NW Red, and Saint Archer Brewing’s Blonde Ale. My favorite was Oats and Hoes by 54°40′ Brewing Company (not in photo); a delicious, well made oatmeal stout.

After this, we ended up heading back to my brother’s to ultimately hit the hay – Trent was up past his bedtime and we too were pretty sleepy (still running on Central time).

Wednesday was my first Portland run in a while and boy did I miss it. (FYI – I lived out in Portland for a year while attending culinary school. There’s your fun fact of the day.) It is so much cooler and less humid there, so even hitting the hills didn’t seem so bad.

Afterwards, we WERE going to hit the Japanese Gardens… However, apparently that day was one of the first days of nice dry weather in Portland. ALL of the parking was taken up – So we moved onto Plan B: We hit a public parking garage, got on the MET transit and heading downtown.

Since this was Chris’ first time in the area ever, we had to show him all of the tourist-y things. First: Powell’s Books. If you haven’t been, Powell’s Books is known as one of the largest book stores out there. Downtown’s location has AT LEAST six floors worth of books. I ended up picking up the fourth copy of Stumptown (had to happen) and Chris got another Star Wars graphic novel he needed.

Afterwards was lunch time. We ended up stopping at Deschutes Brewery. Funny story: We were all looking at the lunch specials, and someone brought up the grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup side. You’ll never guess what ALL of us got. So good, especially with that Tillamook cheese… (Yes, we’re all secretly kids.) While we were there, I had the Smash Berry Toast: very good pale ale with a slight berry kick at the end. Yum.

Afterwards we took the Streetcar to NW 21st and 23rd street to check out all of the small shops and to walk off the so good, but so big grilled cheese sandwiches. The full stomach didn’t stop us from hitting up Salt & Straw for some fun ice cream flavors. I ended up with Amaretto Cherry, once again, REALLY good (and vegan!).

It’s hard to go to Portland and have bad food/beer. They know how it’s done.

Achievement(s) Unlocked!

If I had to describe 2015 in one word it would be this: Change. For me, a lot has happened and it’s caused the entire year to go by in what feels like a blink of an eye. It’s all been positive change too, so I suppose I should count my blessings for that. I’m definitely happier than I was a year ago, and honestly can’t remember the last time things were going this well. I probably just jinxed it though. *knocks on wood*

(After I wrote this my basement flooded…WAY TO JINX IT PAST CHRIS!)

I wanted to do a quick run down of all the major events of this year, so that I can put into perspective how great this year was. Plus my memory is terrible and I’m sure I’ll need a reminder eventually.

Got a new job!

As most of my friends already knew, I was miserable in my old job. I couldn’t stand the people I worked with, and I had gotten stuck into doing the same things all the time. I understand why they wanted me to do those things – I was good at it – but it makes for a real boring day after a while. I wasn’t being given the opportunity to advance either, so when the new job offer came along, it made the decision fairly easy. The work I’m doing now is both enjoyable and challenging, and the people I work with are fairly great. They also know what they are doing, which is a nice change of pace. Not dreading going to work, and coming home in a good mood most days has made a huge difference for me.

Bought a new house!

After years of talking about doing it, I finally sold my house and moved into Springfield. A large part of the credit for this one goes to Emily and my parents because without them, I can guarantee you I would still be living in my old house. Emily kept me motivated and moving forward, and my parents helped me fix it up so I got a decent price. I’m really glad this one got done, as it was the house I had bought with my now ex-wife many years ago, and getting out of there has allowed me to finally put that chapter of my life in the past. Yet another reason why things are so great right now!

Got Engaged!

In what will end up being the biggest change, I asked Emily to marry me and she said “Yes”! This last year and a half with her has been absolutely fantastic, and I want to continue to have great adventures with her forever. It wasn’t as nerve wrecking as I thought, which probably had to do with the fact I knew I wasn’t going to get shot down, and it was actually a little fun. Emily is already in wedding planning mode, and next October should be a lot of fun!

Went to Disneyland!

In November, Emily, Alyssa, and I went on vacation to Disneyland for a few days. We decided to go over a year ago, when we heard about the Avengers Half Marathon they put on every year. We went out a few days early and enjoyed the main park, as well as the California Adventure one while we were there. Our favorite rides: Indiana Jones, Radiator Springs Racers, and Tower of Terror. We did all of those twice, and did all the other main ones one time each through out our stay. We got to meet some of the Avengers which was fun, and I’m pretty sure Emily was contemplating running away with Hawkeye. Alyssa took a selfie with Captain America and Thor that turned out to be one of my favorite pictures of the trip. I really enjoyed hanging out with Emily and Alyssa, and it was total blast for all of us. Emily and I even got some sweet looking medals for our run! The only downside? My legs were DESTROYED after spending three days walking around the parks and running a half marathon.

So overall 2015 was pretty great. It had some down times here and there, but I came out ahead in the end, and that’s all you can really hope for. There will definitely be some more changes coming this year and I’m looking forward to what 2016 brings!

What’s Your Element?

You know those quizzes you can take on Facebook? The “What Is Your Element” quiz where you either get something like Light, Fire, Electricity, Heart, etc?

Well, I know all of those quiz results lie to me. I know my element.

Autumn Trees

It’s Autumn.

Don’t know what it is. The pumpkin spice everything, the changing of colors, the cooling temperatures or the fact that fall clothing looks 100 times better than all of the other apparel out there.

Pumpkin Patch: Trip 1

From the spoken words of my friends, I am the queen of Fall. If you need to get into the autumn spirit, talk to me. I have already been to two pumpkin patches this year. Two. And I know that will not be the end of it.

Pumpkin Patch Trip: 2

Corn mazes, apple cider slushies, picking pumpkins for harvesting later… Honestly what could be a better way to spend your afternoon?

Not only is there pumpkin everything, the weather becomes cooler.

Cool weather = better running.

The humid, early morning runs are gone, and the cool, racing fall days are here. This Sunday I am running my fourth marathon and the forecasted high is 71° F with sunny skies.

It makes those, humid early mornings worth it. (You have no idea how hard it was to type that.)

And after that, it will be a perfect time to binge watch fall TV. Flash, The Walking Dead, Agents of Shield, Arrow, iZombie, Star Wars: Rebels…

Fall TV Series

And we haven’t even gotten to Halloween yet.

What are you most excited for with Fall?

Comeback Kings (and Queens)

If you couldn’t tell from the previous post date, we’ve been on a bit of a hiatus for the past several months. Believe it or not, there was a reason (well, several, but a major reason) why we couldn’t get to the keyboard long enough to make our usual posts.

Want to know said reason?

We are officially new home owners!

Excited

I had no idea how much work went into selling and buying a home until going through the process. We still have several boxes that need to be unpacked, but everything has been moved from one house to the other.

Not only was there hardly enough time to blog, but we had to miss out on things like Comic Con Chicago. Big letdown…

Being an adult can be a bummer.

Thankfully I have a nerdy boyfriend that we can do fun (i.e. playing live-action Splatoon while painting the bedroom) and nerdy things (like making a nerd cave out of the basement) to the house. We’ve already made a trip to IKEA for the designated game system shelves. We will be sure to post photos as that comes along.

With us moved into the house and more time on our hands, you will find more posts being added to our blog. Looking forward to once again sharing our fun adventures with you.