a work in progress and a complete copy of leslie's blog looking back at her year... but what a great idea!
here's a sampling of what i've done this year...
*moved from nyc to chicago
*bought my very first house: 847 w fletcher!!!
*got TWO new jobs: in feb 07, i quit nnn after 5 years and joined gemini real estate advisors (grea) and in nov of 07, i quit grea and join tax strategies group (tsg)
*traveled for work to: texas, california (a few times!), vegas (twice!), vermont, georgia, florida (twice), oklahoma, rhode island, connecticut(a few times), maine, new hampshire, all over new york including buffalo, massachusetts (a few times), virginia, washington dc
*traveled for fun to: ca, bahamas (that was between jobs as a treat!), maine, illinois, colorado, vegas, cabo, dominican republic, indiana (phew! that's a lot of traveling!! am i forgetting anything?!)
*weddings and more weddings! heather hawley to rick mehl in chicago (unfortunately they chose to get married on a thurs and i wasn't living here yet so i couldn't go), laura schrage to chris campbell in culver, indiana (this would be the infamous wedding scott and i attended together after visiting dev and patrick in chicago), and ok maybe that was it, but it feels like there was another wedding that i went to... hmmm...i'll have to think on that some more
*baby showers! my first baby shower ever: jessica johnson (formerly thompson) at cirpriani downtown in nyc. baby anthony soon followed! and my second baby shower ever: courtney wucetich in ca for the most adorable little boy: alexander peter.
*on a sad note: my last grandparent, henry (hank) miller harper, jr passed away december 3rd.
*on a happier note, my mom had the brilliant idea to make us matching rings out of the diamonds from my grandmother's old gold watch that was really really dated and so that was her mother's day present to me even though i'm not a mother (obviously) but her idea is to pass the rings down to the girls in the family as they come along in the future.
*had a variety of visitors come and see me in nyc: sarah mac, meghan corea (who eventually moved to the city!), mom and dad, scott, kelley, higgins
*already have had a few people in chicago: mom and dad, alex, and sarah lyman will be here in a couple of days!
and then there were the variety of nights out on the town! gosh this year has flown by...i can't wait to see what 2008 brings!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
scrabble.
should i feel guilty?! i think i probably should... my aunt ellen, uncle jim, and cousins caitlin and benjamin came down from dallas for christmas dinner which was lovely (pictures and another blog to come on that). but while we were waiting for dinner, caitlin decided that a game of scrabble would be fun. and so all the cousins played: my brother who is 26, ben who is 21, and caitlin who is 18. i don't know if i just got the really good letters or if i really am that good at scrabble, but i beat caitlin who took second place by over 55 points! ben was third by 1 point and my brother pretty much lagged. we all got a good laugh when he tried to spell tiger and spelled it "tigAr". he claims that it should be automatic spellcheck... we still laughed. a lot. i might feel guilty for how much i laughed... so my question is, being the oldest cousin, should i feel guilty for beating them (fair and square i should add) b/c i am the oldest?!
Monday, December 24, 2007
holy fear of flying...
ok, i fly a lot. that has already been determined. this christmas vacation, i flew on several flights. on friday the 21st, i had to go from chicago to newark, change planes and go from newark to portland, maine. on sunday the 23rd, i flew from portland, maine back to newark and then from newark to houston. and finally, i flew back yesterday afternoon from houston to chicago. that's a lot of flying in less than a week, but not the most flights i've ever taken in such a short period. that record belongs to my work trip where in 2.5 days i flew 13 different flights. that was insane! but nevertheless, i digress. back to the present...
generally speaking i am not afraid to fly. it's just something i do. i don't like it, but it gets me to wherever i want to go fairly quickly and thus is a nececssary evil. but, sometimes things make me nervous. and on my flight from newark to houston, i got very nervous!
my parents were supposed to be on a flight on sat evening so they could be home for a going away party on sunday, but their original flight was cancelled and our flight was completely booked so they flew thru detroit. my brother and i were on the flight for sunday from newark. the flight went fine. we were on one of those really big planes - 2 seats, 3 seats, 2 seats. there were a bunch of pilots on the flight too just going along for the ride. the flight was going smoothly and fine up until the landing. the plane had screens and were showing our flight progress and how high we were. we got down to about 3000 feet and suddenly turned away from the airport and i realized we were starting to circle. but, planes don't normally circle so low b/c they burn more fuel at lower altitudes... so i started to get a little nervous, but the pilots and flight attendants didn't make any announcements and that was even more troubling. so then a flight attendant comes and talks to the pilot sitting in the row right in front of me and i couldn't hear so that added to my nervousness... and then he started looking down the aisle several times and that really didn't help me feel any better! so finally we start to descend from our steady hold at 3000 feet and as we are landing, there are flashing lights everywhere on the runway - ambulances and fire trucks! what?! but still, no announcement! uhhh, let's talk nerves here people... i was feeling more than a little nervous here. so then we land on the runway without incident, but we just stopped at the end of it. ok, planes don't stop at the end of the runway ever. they always move out of the way. still no announcement. and then finally, they cleared us and we went on our way to the gate.
the pilot in front of me started to talk to me and said that the flight attendant warned him that he may be needed if there was an emergency. apparently the landing gear didn't want to go down or the warning light was on so they weren't sure... but i knew something wasn't right...luckily, the flight landed without incident and everything was just fine... but for a few moments, it was rather nerve wracking!!!
generally speaking i am not afraid to fly. it's just something i do. i don't like it, but it gets me to wherever i want to go fairly quickly and thus is a nececssary evil. but, sometimes things make me nervous. and on my flight from newark to houston, i got very nervous!
my parents were supposed to be on a flight on sat evening so they could be home for a going away party on sunday, but their original flight was cancelled and our flight was completely booked so they flew thru detroit. my brother and i were on the flight for sunday from newark. the flight went fine. we were on one of those really big planes - 2 seats, 3 seats, 2 seats. there were a bunch of pilots on the flight too just going along for the ride. the flight was going smoothly and fine up until the landing. the plane had screens and were showing our flight progress and how high we were. we got down to about 3000 feet and suddenly turned away from the airport and i realized we were starting to circle. but, planes don't normally circle so low b/c they burn more fuel at lower altitudes... so i started to get a little nervous, but the pilots and flight attendants didn't make any announcements and that was even more troubling. so then a flight attendant comes and talks to the pilot sitting in the row right in front of me and i couldn't hear so that added to my nervousness... and then he started looking down the aisle several times and that really didn't help me feel any better! so finally we start to descend from our steady hold at 3000 feet and as we are landing, there are flashing lights everywhere on the runway - ambulances and fire trucks! what?! but still, no announcement! uhhh, let's talk nerves here people... i was feeling more than a little nervous here. so then we land on the runway without incident, but we just stopped at the end of it. ok, planes don't stop at the end of the runway ever. they always move out of the way. still no announcement. and then finally, they cleared us and we went on our way to the gate.
the pilot in front of me started to talk to me and said that the flight attendant warned him that he may be needed if there was an emergency. apparently the landing gear didn't want to go down or the warning light was on so they weren't sure... but i knew something wasn't right...luckily, the flight landed without incident and everything was just fine... but for a few moments, it was rather nerve wracking!!!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
book recommendation.
there are two books that i think everyone should read if you haven't already.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
it is such a powerful book. sarah l first recommended it to me and told me that i had to read it. since she had previously suggested The Kite Runner, i knew her selections were great ones. so i picked it up. and it took me a little while to get in to it. but when i had finished reading it, it had a profound effect on me and i realized what an amazing book it truly was.
the other book i'd recommend is:
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
this is another amazing book that tells the story of an old man who spent his life working in the circus. the author really researched this book and gathered information on circus life. while the story itself is fictional, the details of circus life in the early 1900s was really really well researched. i loved every minute of the book and couldn't put it down yet i was sad when it was done. i highly recommend picking up a copy!
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
it is such a powerful book. sarah l first recommended it to me and told me that i had to read it. since she had previously suggested The Kite Runner, i knew her selections were great ones. so i picked it up. and it took me a little while to get in to it. but when i had finished reading it, it had a profound effect on me and i realized what an amazing book it truly was.
the other book i'd recommend is:
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
this is another amazing book that tells the story of an old man who spent his life working in the circus. the author really researched this book and gathered information on circus life. while the story itself is fictional, the details of circus life in the early 1900s was really really well researched. i loved every minute of the book and couldn't put it down yet i was sad when it was done. i highly recommend picking up a copy!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
my view.
i have finally finally finally taken some pictures of the amazing view i get to see every day while i am at work. i am in the downtown "loop" and somehow managed to get myself my very first office. while i don't have a view from my condo, i do get to spend all day looking at such an amazing view. it's hard to tell from the pictures, but i can see a little bit of the river and a little bit of the lake. and i can see for miles and miles. and i also get to look at the hancock tower. our building is directly across the street from city hall and close to the thompson center too. we are just a couple of blocks to state street which has some good shops though i try to stay away from them! michigan avenue isn't too far away either, but i haven't gone down there yet. i need to do that as i hear there are some beautiful christmas decorations this time of year.
enjoy!
enjoy!
Friday, December 7, 2007
happy birthday sarah mac!!
sarah, i hope you have an absolutely fabulous wonderful amazing birthday today!!!!
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