2013 Overview

2013 was a really good year! Some highlights below:

*Lots and lots of trips! We did a lot of travel this year as usual. Rob and I went to San Francisco to spend time with the Liebls, Nashville, In. for my birthday, Hunky Dory, Greenville & Asheville for our anniversary, Germany & Italy, quickie to St. Louis for the Hawks with Cait, a few brief visits to Michigan, New York for work, and I got to go to Boston with mom. So many great memories shared and wonderful sites seen!

*Babies! We welcomed so many babes this year! My friends Jamie & Kyle had Allie, Megan and Andrew had Oliver, Steph and Jeff had Taylor and Lydia and Roger had Nina. It's been pretty awesome to see these little ones grow over the last few months and I can't wait for more memories to come!

*Weddings! We also had a few lovely wedding celebrations this year. Lovelyn & Mike's, Ness & Tobi's, Mary & Mike's and Casey and Matt's. I love love!

*Service! I got to spend lots of time with my Best Buddy, Connie this year. It's been such an amazing experience to be part of the Best Buddy program. Connie is so special in so many ways. I love her sense of humor, creativity and warm heart. My favorite day was going to the Garfield Park Conservatory with her. She loved it! I've been doing the usual Monday night Bingo projects and my love continues to grow for my boys there. I got really into Cardz for Kidz which is a non profit that collects handmade cards for kids in hospitals. It's been really fun to do and to get others involved. Rob and I tried out a few cooking projects this year including on Thanksgiving, managed a clothing drive and donated goods to different organizations throughout the year together. I just joined the Chicago Cares Auxiliary Board which I'm really excited about! Service has become such an enormous part of my life and I'm so grateful to be involved with so many different opportunities to give back.

*CSA - the CSA was short but really had a big impact on us, our cooking and our diets. I'm so glad we did it and I'm so excited to try new recipes and things I learned from doing the CSA.

*New car! We bought a new car and I am so glad we did - especially with the snowy weather! It's made life so much easier - moving, groceries, driving in the snow! Loving it! *Nature fun! Rob and I discovered our love for the great outdoors recently and we created a nature to do list. We did some hiking on my bday trip and our anniversary trip and took a cool walk through the Redwoods in the Bay area, found a cool nature preserve in Michigan and visited a local nature center in the south burbs. We have a lot more to see in years to come, but I love that we discovered this new interest together.

*Fall bucket list! Autumn is my favorite time of year and so I made a bucket list to make sure we did everything FALL before it was too late! We did so much fun stuff - it was awesome! Apple picking, pumpkin patch, haunted houses, fright fest, carved pumpkins, see a scary movie and more. It was one of the best falls ever! So glad we got to do so much stuff.

*There were many more wonderful and lovely memories this year. I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store!