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!