Chicago, Chicago... It's my kinda place!

I had plenty of adventures to go around this week. Monday I worked at a dental office. It was a great day, but didn't get home until 7:30pm. I did squeeze in a bike ride on the trainer. It was starting to get cold again, so some exercise indoors was necessary. Tuesday we got more snow, and I rode inside again. I also started to pack for my trip to Chicago. 

On Wednesday afternoon around 4pm I began my trek to Chicago. I rode the South Shore Line from South Bend to Chicago. It took about two hours and 30 minutes. It was quite a shock to start at the small airport in South Bend and get out of the train on Michigan Ave. in Chicago. I then walked about a half a mile to the hotel I was staying in with my parents.  I had to wait for awhile until their flight got in. So I read a lot of a new book I'm reading, Born to Run. 

Once the parents got in we got to enjoy a yummy dinner at Kitty O'Shea's.

 On Thursday, Big John, my stepdad, and I headed over to the Mid-winter Dental Mettings. He's a dentist, and I'm a dental hygienist. I was pretty fun because we got to hang out and talk about teeth! After our meetings my mom, Big John, and I met up with my cousin Emily. We ate a classic Chicago pizzeria. There's nothing like Chicago pizza.

Friday, Big John and I had more dental meetings. We did get to enjoy more good food that night. We ate at one of my mom's and my favorite restaurants, The Walnut Room, inside Macy's on Michigan Ave. The best part was dessert, Frango ice cream pie.

After eating and avoiding Chicago traffic, we headed back to Berrien Springs, where I was reunited with my wonderful husband.

Saturday we got to enjoy more time with my parents. We decided to celebrate Mom and Big John's birthday, because both of their birthdays are in March. We got them the game, Ticket to Ride. A fun game we were introduced to by our friends Carolyn and Tiago and Nick and Taryn. Overall a super great day!

 This morning we got up and met my parents at their hotel and headed to St. Joseph. We ate a greasy, but good, breakfast at Thornton's Hometown Cafe. We started to walk around St. Joseph, but the wind was too brisk. We did catch a glimpse of Lake Michigan. It amazed us how much of the ice had melted in just a couple of weeks since the last time we had been there. We did a little bit more driving around St. Joseph and Berrien Springs, but then we had to say our good-byes. My parents are now safely back in Georgia.

Thanks Mom and Big John for the fun week. We had a great time and were sad to see you leave. Love you!

Matt and I did get an 8 mile run in this afternoon. We're getting closer to the Holy Half. I am enjoying running in 40* weather much better than 10*-20*.

Proverbs 15:20 The Message

Intelligent children make their parents proud; lazy students embarrass their parents.

(I hope we are the intelligent ones, not the lazy ones!)

Here comes the Sun... There goes the snow!

This week we were tempted with springlike weather. Most of the week was above freezing and most of the snow has melted. Although, this coming week it's supposed to be cold again. Oh well... We enjoyed it while it lasted.


Monday was Valentine's Day. We have some friends that have a tradition of going to a new pizza place every Valentine's day. So we decided to start the tradition this year. We ate a delicious pizza at Silver Beach Pizza and then Dairy Queen afterwards. All in all a very good Valentine's day!

We were so excited about the pizza we couldn't even wait to take a picture.

Tuesday, Maglee got to get of the house and enjoy her walk.

The leftovers of our igloo

 Wednesday, I went bowling for Girl's Night. 

Katie

Me

Eri 

Kessia

Brittany

 Thursday, Matt and I just relaxed and hung out at home!

Friday, Maglee got to enjoy two of her favorite things... napping on a down comforter and in the sun!

Saturday, we enjoyed hanging out with friends and taking Maglee and Laela on a walk in the field. They both got baths when we got home, because they were covered in mud from the melted snow.

 Today (Sunday), Matt and I enjoyed working together doing some data entry!

Overall a very fun week! I did get some running in too. Just a few weeks away from the Holy Half. I only did 4 miles today, because it started raining on me. Freezing temperatures and raining are not good for a girl recovering from a cold. 

My parents are coming this week to visit. I'm super excited about all the fun we have planned!

Proverbs 16:15 The Message

Good-tempered leaders invigorate lives; they're like spring rain and sunshine.

Fun, Fun, Fun!

I was kinda sad when I was looking over my pictures from this week. I realized that I missed taking a picture on Monday. I was doing so well. Although... I was a little bit busier this week. I worked at a Dental Office on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I love working at this office, but the downside is I usually don't get home until 7:30 or so. So I missed my picture on Monday.

Maglee got the picture for Tuesday. 

Wednesday is usually Girl's Night, but most of the girls could not come this week. So it turned into a couples night. Taryn had pizza, salad, and apple pie. We had a lot of fun hanging out with four of our favorite people: Nick and Taryn and Josh and Brittany.

Thursday night was date night. We headed down to South Bend and ate at Chipolte. We made a quick trip to the mall and then headed to Walmart for some grocery shopping. We actually really like grocery shopping, especially together. So it was worthy of date night. This Monday is Valentine's Day. Matt and I don't really make a big deal of the day, but we did get some treats for each other at Walmart. This is our Valentine's candy. These are really treats for us, because I can't even remember the last time we bought bags of candy.

This weekend we got another treat. My cousin, aunt, and uncle were in town for my cousin's basketball tournament. It was extra fun because this is the high school Matt and I went to and played on the basketball teach. 

This is from the game on Friday afternoon. 

On Saturday we had Aunt Judy, Uncle Steve, and Brooke over for lunch. After lunch Brooke decided to rest up for her championship game that night while the rest of us headed over to Lake Michigan.

When we got to St. Joseph we found out there was an ice sculpting festival going on. This was my favorite sculture.

Me, Judy, and Steve standing on Lake Michigan. No worries it was very solid!

Matt and I also got a pic!

Brooke's team played awesome on Saturday night. Unfortunately the game just slipped through their fingers in the last two minutes. It was a very exciting game!

The snow is starting to melt. Matt, Nick, Taryn, and I did our long runs today. 40* is not bad running weather. Later in the day we took Maglee for a walk by that time it was 47*. She was loving the sunshine and warmer weather.

Matthew 12:35 The Message

A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard.

It's been a busier week!

This week has been a busier week. I don't think I have the right to say it was a busy week, because it wasn't overwhelming. It was just busier than normal. It included a few runs, lots of snow, data entry work, dental hygiene work, birthdays, and much more.

The week began last Sunday doing a long run on the roads close to our house. We had fun running with our friends Nick and Taryn. The guys ran 6 miles and the girls ran 5 miles. It was a pretty good day to run, especially since the sun was out.

This is after the run, and we are starting to get cold. 

Monday was a low key day. So all you get is a picture of my dinner. This is how it goes around the Smith house: quesadilla, popcorn, and apple sauce.

Tuesday morning I was woken up at 6am by an office manager from a dental office in South Bend asking me to fill in for a hygienist. I scramble to get ready to get down there in a timely manner. Then she calls me as I just start the drive and tells me she doesn't need me until 11am. So I go back home and watch the Today show. Glad I got to work, but it would have been nice to get the extra sleep. I'll never turn down work, though!
It took me twice as long to get home Tuesday night, because the "blizzard" had started. I made it home safely. Matt and I decided to make the rest of the night a game night, just us two.

Holla, Mancala!

Rack-O... Super fun game!

Wednesday we woke up to about an additional 20+ inches of snow. Matt was excited, because Josh and him headed out and made some buck snow blowing driveways. Also Andrews University took a rare snow day. They have only taken 4 snow days in the past 12 years, quite different from the south!

We did make it to our friend Joshua's b-day party on the blustery snowy day!!

As you know... Thursday night is date night. Matt and I have really been enjoying having date night at our house instead of going out. We also got a 3.5 mile run in too. The snow really messed up our running schedule. Kinda difficult to run in a foot of snow.

We mad pigs in a blanket!!

Friday I had a working interview in South Bend and got home when our cell group was supposed to be meeting. I was exhausted, but so glad I could spend the evening with good friends and digging in the word. Check out John 17... Good stuff! 

It was Michelle's birthday. So we celebrated with Indian food, date bars & pistachio pie (per Joshua's birthday request), and yellow cake with chocolate icing (per Michelle's birthday request). 

We had a lot of fun with our friends this Saturday after church. We ate meatless meat loaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, salad, homemade bread, juice, and coconut pie. Don't get too jealous!!

Josh and Brittany chilling with Maglee!

Nick and Taryn

This morning, my husband was so sweet and made a good breakfast for me. It included some Taryn's homemade bread toasted, eggs, tots, and O.J. I have had a little bit of a sore throat/cold, so Matt took me to the store to get some yummy tea. So far today I have drank 4 cups. (Thank you, Taryn for convincing me that I like hot tea!)

This afternoon we decided that even though it was flurrying outside and there was snow on the ground, we would run our scheduled long run. Matt ran with Nick at a faster pace, and I ran behind them. I was so proud of myself, I did all six miles by myself with no ipod. My running buddies, I've run with in the past, weren't able to get together today. 

Matt and I decided that the Super Bowl is even more fun, just us two at our cozy little home. 

This is us "watching" the Super Bowl. Really Matt did most of the watching. I finished a book, read a magazine, and now I'm doing this blog. 

So that was my busier than normal week!

Proverbs 6:6,7 The Message

You lazy fool, look at an ant. Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two. Nobody has to tell it what to do.