It's Vegetarian Thanksgiving Day! - Brady

This is, no joke, one of my top 5 favorite days of the year. When Kevin and I got married, we decided to do Thanksgiving up right, vegetarian style. That year, and maybe the next, was just the two of us. But once we moved to Fort Wayne, we started inviting family. It's usually just the Saturday before or the Saturday after regular Thanksgiving. This year, it feels like the official start to the holidays for me.

Here are pictures from Veggie Thanksgivings past!

Changes... -Amy

So, I was feeling the need to do something fun and to make a change. Nothing big, just something to shake things up a bit. I decided my hair was ready for a change! So, instead of impulsively cutting it as I usually do, I decided to change the color this time! Let me know what you think!

I will always be a blonde at heart, and I imagine this color change will be brief. But it's a fun change for now!

Peace out!

Fire! - Brady

Left to my own devices due to Kevin's all-day depositions in southern Illinois, I impulsively decided to buy a fire grate and make, all by my lonesome, our first wood fire in our wood-burning fireplace.

(This sounds like something The Hare would do, actually...)

It was a smashing success.

Our place is really starting to feel like home. And I can't put into words how much better my life is now that Kevin's in Chicago full-time and I have a year of (difficult, difficult, difficult) graduate school under my belt. (Which makes me a smidgen more confident that I'm not (a) making a gigantic mistake or (b) on the path to miserable failure because I'm so much stupider than everyone else.)

And one more thing - Kelly

I'm seriously debating chopping off my hair...

Right now it looks like this:

But I want it like this:

Thoughts and opinions are welcome!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Kelly

Hello, blog world! I'm not quite sure how many people still read this little corner of the internet, but I'm going to try to update a little more regularly.

There is A LOT going on in my world! I love this time of year- it's seriously the best. Here is a little sampling of what's been taking up all of my time:

11/6- Hot Chocolate 15K (and my parents will be here!)- DONE!
11/11- Work Thanksgiving- DONE (Delicious!)
11/14- The Secret Garden (Northwestern Theatre Department w/ Brady)- DONE (was awesome)
11/20- Brady and Kev’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving
11/25- Thanksgiving! (and 10K Turkey Trot with Amy and Jenna)
12/4- Work Holiday Party
12/7- Holiday Party @ my apartment
12/8- My 26th birthday and WICKED with my sisters!
12/9- LPHS Choir Christmas Concert and Bday Dinner w/ my Fam
12/11- Out and about for my birthday
12/22- My fabulous mom’s birthday (and home for the holidays)
12/25- Christmas!!

November and December are the best months. :)

15K - Brady

I don't know if you realize this - but you are currently reading the blog of three seriously good runners. I mean, we're practically Olympic-bound.

For real, though, we're pretty much awesome. All three of us (plus Kevin, plus Roger) not only finished but decimated Chicago's Hot Chocolate 15K. Some specific accomplishments of note:

- We survived the near freezing starting line temperatures without too much complaining.

- We all ran the entire race. This was Amy and Roger's first official race of any kind - 9.3 miles. Not too shabby, people! Not too shabby at all.

- Kevin and I met our time goal of averaging 11 minute miles or faster (our actual average pace was 10:13, which I thought was beyond the realm of possibility for me).

- Most importantly, we all felt good enough afterward to enjoy chocolate fondue, hot chocolate, and Ghirardelli chocolate squares.

It wasn't easy, and it wasn't always pretty. But it ended up being a fabulous weekend with fabulous people. Thanks to Mom and Dad for coming up to support us. :)

Life Update - Kelly

Why hello blog world! It's been awhile but I'm still alive and kicking and enjoying life in Chicago. Turns out October was a BUSY month... here's a quick recap:

• I traveled a bunch for work (conferences, selection tour) and am getting ready to head out again right after Thanksgiving. I can't honestly say that I'm loving my job right now (I have a challenging group this year) but I do appreciate the amount of responsibility I've been given. Right now I'm debating whether or not I want to work at institute again next summer in addition to figuring out how they heck I'm going to earn a living next year!

• I am still loving the coach house. My only complaint is Adam never seems to remember to clean and his dog tends to get a little smelly, but that's what Lucy and I get for living with boys! My neighborhood is so cute now that all the leaves have changed colors, and I can only imagine how cute our little house will be once its decorated for Christmas and there is some snow on the ground. If you haven't come to visit you need to!

• Brady, Kevin, Roger, Amy and I are all running the Hot Chocolate 15K on Saturday. My mom and dad are coming up (yay!!!) so it should be a fun weekend. The only problem? I'm battling a cold and have not trained AT ALL for this race. In fact, I've worked out much less than I do regularly, let alone when I'm training for a long distance race... oh well, somehow I'll make it through!

• Speaking of races.... Brady, Kevin and I all signed up to run a marathon (that's right... a FULL marathon!) in June. It's a ways away but I'm pretty pumped to start training after the holidays.

• I just bought a record player (a steal on Craigslist!) so a new hobby is going to be scoring cheap (and awesome) used records in my neighborhood. I'm also thinking about signing up for guitar classes in December. I've been missing music in my life so these should be good additions!

• Totally unimportant but I just baked some cookies for the book club I'm hosting tomorrow night. Once box of spice cake mix, one can of pumpkin, semi sweet chocolate chips (and butterscotch chips if you're feeling crazy!) and you're done. 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes and mmm... warm, pumpkin-y goodness. I have the stuff to make another batch so depending on how many Adam and I put away tonight I might do Round 2!

That's about it... life is busy, though not entirely eventful. I'm getting really excited for the holidays and think I'm going to put up some decorations in a few weeks (yes, early I know but I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!). I'm also working on some birthday plans- if any one has any brilliant ideas let me know!