Three Weeks In Chicago

Chicago in January?  I know, what was I thinking when I said yes to this?  Because of medical issues, I accepted a plea to help family while their anchor person, my brother-in-law was going to be on the east cost for three weeks.  I adore my little preK niece and my sister-in-law, so as soon as I knew my guys would be able to fend for themselves for this long, I headed for Hyde Park.

The temps were pretty cold when I first arrived, but now the snow has melted and we walk to the store with less layers, but the snow angels are a little muddy.

I've had a wonderful time with the girls.  We've tried many recipies in their GF (gluten free) cookbook, including granola...that was yummy!  I have to admit that my GF cake was the biggest photo fail ever!  Although we've found calling it a chocolaty dessert has brought it into a whole new light! I've enjoyed the kitty photo shoots and bring on the sparkle glue whenever we have a piece of paper out!  I've loved doing all the girl stuff with my niece.

Tomorrow is my last day here in the windy city, but it feels like I just got here yesterday. It's been wonderful, talking with a writer every day, listening to her thought process.  I think it's helped me somewhat to clear my head for writing, photography and editing..  I miss my guys, and kitties, but I was thinking today, if I find that the Christmas tree is still up, dishes have not been done for 3 weeks and the kitty litter hasn't been changed, I'm coming back here a.s.a.p.!  :-)

Christmas and the New Year - 2015

I haven't been feeling well these past few years, so things seem to go slower and at times, not get finished. This year our Christmas tree was so late that it hardly beat Santa!  That can't happen again, I told myself.  My parents would always have the tree up after Thanksgiving, so we had a month of lights, watering the tree, presents, chocolates, baking and that special magic that always filled the air in December. Only as a kid I don't ever remember not having snow.

Along with being late, I think our tree was chosen as a Charlie Brown mercy tree!  It was small, which allowed us to put it up on a table this year.  That was nice, as our condo can be quite crowded at times, but it also had another little imperfection, a slight lean.  Did I say slight?  I meant to say, isosceles triangle type lean!  It was fine when one looked at it head on, but from the side it looked like King Kong had sat on the top of it, causing it to lean further and further down, coming only partially back up when the gorilla finally touched the ground!

I love cooking, baking, shopping, wrapping presents and having family and friends over to rekindle the love that I always felt as a kid.  Even though there was only the three of us, mom, dad and myself, we made so many beautiful memories, including many others that we loved. I truly love sharing those traditions with my own family now that my parents are both gone.

The fun continued the next three days with a trip to my in-laws and visiting with my husbands family.  I love watching the cousins play! Reminds me of the hundreds of cousins that I used to play with, especually during the holidays.
Then I smile, but there's still no snow.

San Francisco in November - 2014

As I was listening to Sheryl Crow on Pandora, her words, The Change, Will Do You Good, seeped into my brain like a tiny woman on my shoulder, telling me to do it, just do it.  So I decided yes, let's do it!

First, even though airports are notoriously the place you want to stay away from during the holidays, we booked our flights for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, returning the Monday after...hoping this would take some of the anxiety off the to and from.

Our hotel is one that my in-laws knew of, being close to relatives in Palo Alto, CA. We were intrigued by the name, Hotel California and the fact that they housed 2 cats.  The thought of running into a cat in the small, old-fashioned, California style hotel, made us smile with glee just thinking about it.

Our flights were great and the weather was a wonderful sunny 72* when we landed.  As we towed our luggage up the stairs to the second story of the building, I found myself noticing the clean, but old patterns of the carpeting and singing the Eagles song, true to the name of the place.  This happened a few times as I walked these small, yet comfortable, like grandma's old house, halls.

There was a small kitchen, similar to one that you might find in an old cabin up north for hunters. It was packed with dishes, silverware and the essentials in the fridge, milk, juice, butter, bread and a different yummy treat in a woven basket on the table each morning, along with some fruit. We bought some yogart, cereal and berries at a nearby story, labeled them and housed them in the refrigerator for the week.  If there wasn't a name on it, it was free for anyone to partake of.

We were not disappointed with the cats, although one seemed very shy or had other rooms that it preferred.  Every morning we had a visitor come to our door, which we would realize because of the little "mew" outside of our door.  We let the tiger cat in and he soaked up all the love that we wanted to give.  It was glorious for both the humans and the feline.

Our days were packed with hiking, family lunches, dinners, sightseeing, walking the campus at Stanford, driving down the coast and of course, much photo taking. I love visiting this family each year for Thanksgiving.  It reminds me of when I was a kid and we would have around 20 people around our normally small dining room table which would be stretched out during this time for all to sit down. This year was especially nice because of  the warm weather. I have to admit, the change did me good.

Fall Folliage 2014

In the fall of 2013 I went on a most satisfying photography trip with my dear friend Alexis C.  We traveled from Ann Arbor to Mackinaw Island, where we then traveled across the Mackinaw Bridge to explore much of the eastern area of the U.P., then back down the north western side of lower Michigan.  It was so much fun that Alexis and I decided to jump in the car and do another trip this year.

Our trip this year was crunched into a short weekend, but as usual, it was awesome!  We left on Friday, much later than we had hoped, but we arrived at our destination, Interlochen, MI. where her parents have another home where we stayed.  Here are a few of the photos that I took while exploring during our up north weekend 2014.

Before driving back to Ann Arbor, we took the back roads to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes.  I just love the drive in the park.  I remember taking this route many times with my parents when I was younger.  By the time we were leaving it was starting to rain and getting dark.  Our signal to head home.

AGLOA Project

I'm beginning to prepare a special book for the Academic Games 50th anniversary.  This huge celebration will be in Orlando, Florida, April 2015.  To have this book out before next year's nationals at the end of April, I'm taking all memorable, new and especially old now.

I recently finished this year's book, which can be ordered through Blurb.org  49th AGLOA NATIONALS in Knoxville, TN   for all participants.  This book is over 60 pages of captured fun, laughter, disappointments and celebrations over the 4 days.  I loved creating their zen lifestyle book!

Have a ZEN filled day!

2014 Soccer

Looking forward to spring soccer!  It will be great to be outside again to see the boys battle it out.

While getting revved up for this summers FIFA WORLD CUP in Brazil, take a drive down to Detroit and have some real fun!  The Detroit City Football Club is a fantastic watch for adults and kids alike.  Do note, that there is a true fan side and a family side.  It will be in your best interest to choose accordingly. They have a great stadium at Cass Tech with easy parking, if you don't arrive too late.  You may even see some of your favorite footballers from area Universities playing! Fun for everyone!

The DCFC home schedule is for 2014 can be found on their website:
http://www.detcityfc.com/dcfc-schedule

A look at their new roster additions:
http://www.detcityfc.com/news/detroit-city-announces-second-wave-of-roster-additions/

 

 This is the family side...(just kidding). 

 

Detroit City FC is a minor league soccer team that plays in the National Premier Soccer League’s Midwest Great Lakes Conference. Founded in 2012, Detroit City FC has established itself as one of the most talked about soccer teams in North America and the grassroots embodiment of a resurgent city.