Happy happy holidays! - Brady

Oof, I did too much over the holidays to write about it in depth. You'd be bored out of your mind. But I did have a lovely Christmas and a fun New Year's Eve down in Nashville (which I'll write about later). I'll post some photos below.

(Grandma and Grandpa, if you want any of the photos of your beautiful house printed out, let me know and I'll make it happen!)

First! A few photos from our family shopping trip in Chicago, mid-December:

As soon as I was officially done with school/work for the holidays I begin my first duty of Christmas: making limpa (Swedish rye bread) for Christmas Eve. Here are photos of the process:

The ingredients.

Everything all mixed together.

Limpa has to rise for a LONG TIME. It's a two day process to make it.

Ready for the oven!

Baked and braised with butter.

The final product, at Christmas Eve.

And the big day itself. Christmas Eve at my grandparents', Christmas morning at my parents' house in La Porte, and Christmas day at my in-laws':

Getting ready for Christmas Eve!

My grandparents' beautiful Christmas house.

Around the fire.

Six handsome gentlemen.

Our big Swedish meal.

Siblings.

Cousins.

Post celebration. 

Getting ready for bed, Christmas night.

Molly and her present.

The chaos.

At the Rasps'.

Merry Christmas!

And that's it! I'll leave you with two pictures of Ms. Molly.

This is how we felt during the holidays. 

And this is how we feel now that they're over. :)

Thanksgivings - Brady

We're solidly into the Christmas season now, but I wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures from our two Thanksgivings - the Vegetarian Thanksgiving Kevin and I hosted a couple of weeks ago and "real" Thanksgiving with our families in La Porte and Fort Wayne.

First, Vegetarian Thanksgiving. We held this event the Saturday before real Thanksgiving at our condo in Chicago. We've done this for several years now, starting back when we lived in Fort Wayne in a beautiful house that was much bigger and better for hosting! But we make do. And it's nice and cozy to have everyone in our little space.

We decided to put the bar outside on our balcony to free up traffic in the kitchen area. It was cold, but I think it worked out okay!

Table centerpiece.

My plate! This was Kevin's best year yet - he does all the cooking, I chop, make coffee, park cars, and pour drinks. Everything was delicious.

Meal time.

Everyone who attended.

Now for real Thanksgiving!

My grandparents' beautiful house in the snow. One of my favorite places in the world.

One of two looooong tables. at my grandparents'.

Kelly and Nate.

Cute. Grandma got a set of these for us, too.

Who are these two? Especially the blond one? Wouldn't it be fun if she posted on this blog sometime?

Grandma and Grandpa's yard.

The drive to Fort Wayne.

High five for a great Thanksgiving!

A walk in the woods in Kevin's parents' neighborhood. So beautiful.

And now Thanksgiving is over and we feel like this. Exhausted but ready for Christmas.

Love to everyone who reads this - I'm thankful for all of you!

Sisters - don't read this until you open Grandma & Grandpa's present! - Brady

Thanksgiving (Veggie and Real) photos are coming soon. But for now, I want to say one thing to my number one blog readers, Grandma and Grandpa:

I love the candle you gave to Kevin and me, and it, along with our tree, is the first Christmas decoration we put up. I even burned it for awhile this morning while I was getting ready for work.

Candy canes…glitter…what could be better? You've always made the holidays so special for us. I'm 31 years old and I still get excited when I see Grandma's familiar handwriting and signature smiley face on  a piece of mail or gift bag. We love you!

Mona Update - Kelly

Miss Mona has been living with us for a little over six months now and Nate and I have to agree- while it hasn't been the easiest few months she is a fabulous addition to our family.

As some of you might now she had some pretty big health issues that developed right after we brought her home that resulted in a major surgery over the summer followed by pretty extensive follow up care. But we're happy to report that a week ago she got a clear bill of health and is as happy as can be.

Mona is a totally different dog than Lucy- she's super curious (there is absolutely no hiding when someone new comes over even though it takes her awhile to realize even the strangers that come in to our house are going to be nice to her), she's super responsive (all you have to do is say "no" loudly and her ears will be down, eyes, closed, curled up on the floor...), and she's SUPER cuddly (Lucy will tolerate being pet for a few minutes- Mona would literally stay next to you all day if you'd let her!).  Somehow their personalities seem to compliment each other perfectly- I think they're both happier dogs because they're companions.

Mona is also IN LOVE with Nate... seriously, he can do no wrong.  If he leaves before me in the morning Mona will roam our apartment (which isn't that big, mind you) for a good 20 minutes before she'll give it up that he's actually gone.  And you've never seen a happier dog than when he walks in the front door after being gone- even if it was for 15 minutes.

Even though two dogs can be a bit crazy at times (the poor squirrels in our neighborhood likely have post-traumatic disorder from our little angels terrorizing them... ) we couldn't be happier about Mona being a part of our family. :)

New Favorite Bar - Brady

I've got one. Last night Kevin and I decided that Molly needed somewhere to show off her new haircut. (The groomer put pink bows on her ears which I had mixed feelings about and which Kevin took one look at and said "Humiliating." He doesn't think Molly is a pink ribbons kind of gal.) Here are the best pictures I could get, so you have a visual:

Anyway, we'd heard about this bar around the corner called Jake's Pub that allows dogs to come in. We had a blast this summer taking Molly to dog-friendly patios so I was excited about finding a place we can bring her along to in the winter. I didn't really get my hopes up, though. I thought it might be awkward and crowded and stressful or that she'd misbehave or annoy people or never settle down. I had planned to take her on my own while Kevin was at a work happy hour but kind of chickened out and settled in for a quiet evening at home. At the last minute, though, Kevin texted and asked if I wanted to meet at Jake's, and we went for it. It was fantastic.

First of all, there was hardly anyone there, and the people who were ooo'd and ah'd and made a big fuss over Molly. Second, shortly after we arrived another dog named Mika came in. Mika is a regular, apparently, and her owner encouraged us to let Molly off leash, saying the owners and bartenders didn't mind at all. It was a fabulous decision. Molly and Mika wrestled, ran around, ogled the pool balls, and only caused a little bit of trouble. (Molly kept going behind the bar and looking for toys - we had to lure her out with popcorn every time.) She greeted everyone in the bar, and they all petted her and told her they liked her ridiculous bows. AND, for the humans in our family, Jake's carries local and seasonal beers on tap and plays good music.

It was the most fun I've had at a bar in a long time. I've had a rough couple of days, and for a few hours I was 100% happy hanging out with my dog in a bar. I think I know where I'll be spending many a winter night this year.

Rocktober - Brady

I always feel like there's way too much to pack into October. It's such a great month with such great weather, there are awesome October-themed foods to eat (Oktoberfest beer, pumpkin everything, sweet potato everything, apple everything), and you actually welcome - because you're not tired of it yet - cool mornings and evenings. Here's a little bit of how we made the most of it. 

GRRACE's Rescue Romp:

GRRACE is the organization we used to find and adopt Molly. Every year, they hold an annual picnic, and about forty beautiful Golden Retrievers take over a barn at the Lebanon, Indiana fairgrounds. We had the best time. Everyone kept saying they couldn't believe we drove all the way down from Chicago "so Molly could have a play date," but we couldn't believe they thought we'd miss it! It was also Kevin's birthday weekend, and although he now knows what he'll be doing on that Saturday for the rest of Molly's life, I don't think he minds. :)

A small taste of the chaos.

Kevin's birthday donut, on the drive down.

The Chicago Marathon:

We looooove watching The Chicago Marathon when we're in town. There's something so inspiring about it. 

The front-runners.

Molly taking it all in.

Coffee and pastry stop down the street.

Several hours later, the not-front-runners pass by as we have brunch.

Camping at Starved Rock State Park:

Wow. We just barely summoned the energy to squeeze in one more camping trip this summer and it was worth it. We had beautiful autumn weather, somehow finagled the prettiest campsite, and beat the crowds to the trails. I had trouble deciding which of our many pictures to include here.

Trip to Portland, Oregon:

Another one with too many pretty pictures to choose from. We flew out to Oregon to visit Kevin's aunt and uncle, to see my cousin and his family, and just to check out a city we'd heard so many great things about. It exceeded my expectations. We ate incredibly well, the scenery was beautiful, and the people were friendly. We can't wait to go back. 

And now it's November, and we're home, and we will be home for quite some time, settling in for the holidays and then for winter. It's getting dark by 5 p.m. now and it feels like there's a little less to pack in. Just lots of time for reading, watching movies, sitting by the fire, getting lots of work done, drinking coffee, and eating comfort food.

Never Say Never - Brady

Life in Chicago has been plugging along. It's been a gorgeous fall full of beautiful leaves, camping, apple cider donuts, hot lattes, and runs with our now much more energetic puppy dog.

It's also the time of year when people in their last year of graduate school start to think about the job market. Academic positions are posted almost a year in advance of the start date, so before you even have substantial work done on your dissertation you have to start strategizing about what you'll do when it's finished.

When I started graduate school, I swore there was no way I would take more than five years to complete my program. I initially aimed to finish in four, a year early, actually, which obviously didn't work out. However, now that I'm faced with the realities of the life after school I've begun to understand why you might stretch our your studies for an extra year. It's hard, as you might imagine, to feel ready to job applications and interviews when you don't have any study findings yet. And I still don't feel totally ready to say "Yes, we're staying in Chicago for sure" or "No, we're open to moving other places."

It's funny how life works. You think you have things all planned out...you have a list of things you'll absolutely never, ever consider doing...until you do.

After talking to Kevin, to my fellow grad students, and to my advisor, I've decided, basically, not to decide right now. My strategy is to continue to work as if I'm going to graduate in June or August of this year. However, right now I'm only applying to jobs I'm really excited about - jobs that would be perfect. For example, a position in the department of education at a liberal arts school outside of Chicago opened up a few months ago, so I put my name in for it. I'm also considering applying for what's called an "Education Pioneer" fellowship which would mean a year or two of working with a school district or charter network as a data analyst and researcher. But I'm not doing the full-scale, send-my-resume-out-to-any-job-that's-remotely-related-to-my-interests search that a lot of graduating students do.

If next fall rolls around and I haven't found anything, I can stretch out my dissertation a bit. Do more complicated, in-depth data analyses. Present at more conferences. Add an element to my study. And I can look for jobs again, this time being less picky.

I'm not entirely comfortable with this plan. The no-nonsense part of me says, "You've been in graduate school for over FOUR YEARS already. Finish this up, get out, and get a real job." Six years seems like an indulgent amount of time to spend getting a PhD. But the fact is, Kevin and I aren't open to me doing a national job search. So since I'm not 100% flexible on geography, I'm trying to be flexible in any other way I can. And giving myself a potential second year to wait for the perfect job to be posted and for me to be in a better position to get it is one big-time way to be flexible.