Columbus Day Weekend - Marathon, Ice Cream, and Reading!

Columbus Day weekend means two things in Chicago:

1) Marathon time!

2) No school (if you're lucky)

It turns out that I knew quite a few people running in this year's marathon (none of whom are pictured below - those are random people who happened to run by as I decided to photograph), and it was exciting to cheer them on as well as the tens of thousands of other runners. What a great day!...even though it was probably 20 degrees too hot for the runners...

After we finished watching (but before the clean-up crews came), I went with my sister, her fiance, and another friend to brunch at the cutest French bakery. We had actually just been there Friday night for a girls' happy hour, but clearly it was that good we wanted to come again right away! It was still as delicious round #2.

The way I ate on Sunday you would have thought I ran the marathon... Later in the afternoon, I met up with Marisa and her fiance for ice cream at one of our favorite spots. The weather was perfect for ice cream-licking on seats just outside the building - we had shade from the buildings and L stop, and it was not quite hot enough to melt the ice cream before I finished the cone...

I did try the pumpkin...mmm...

Today I was one of the lucky ones to not have school. I did get up early (so as to not mess with my ability to fall asleep tonight) - I went to the gym, got some grad school work done, and then went to daily Mass at my church. Daily Mass is probably one of my favorite parts of the Catholic church...I just wish I could do it more often. (This will probably be one of my action steps for Advent this year - finding a church with daily Mass that is either early enough to go before school or late enough to go after school.) Today's Gospel was about the Good Samaritan - it's always a wonderful reminder to hear that one! After Mass I got my daily cup o' Joe at the coffee shop near church, and on my walk home I caught up with a friend who recently moved to another state. I tell you - so many wonderful things before 10 a.m.!

Upon arriving home, I did some additional work for grad school and regular school (lesson planning for next week) until mid-afternoon. At that time, I decided to get some fresh air, so I walked up to the park, where I knew I would find some peace and some shade.

It was glorious! My book of choice was Tattoos on the Heart, which I have read before but felt compelled to read again. I'm glad I decided to pick it up - so many heart tugs, so much wisdom, so much love. If you haven't read it before (or even if you have), I urge you to read it (again). One line in the preface (photo included below) particularly caught my eye: "If there is a fundamental challenge...it is to change our lurking suspicion that some lives matter less than other lives." How beautiful and how true! As Christians we cannot think any life is worth less - we are all loved by God. (I also included a poem from the end of the introduction below - read it slowly, and then re-read it.)

Back to reality tomorrow when the alarm sounds at 4:45. It's a 4-day week...I totally got this!

Wouldn't It Be Loverly?

It's only Sunday, but it's safe to say that the joy and fun experienced yesterday was enough to last the whole weekend...

When friends are in town, you brunch. (Obviously.) And then you ask the waitress to take a group shot for evidence of your amazing-looking group. ;)

When it's time to choose a dinner place before heading for a show with your girlfriends, you choose a sushi place that does happy hour (half-priced rolls) on the weekend. Delicious and wallet-friendly!

When staring at the curtain of the show, you realize it's in Latin, so when intermission comes, Google becomes your best friend. Yet, it's only once your friend starts googling that the lightning bolt hits you - it's Latin for "my fair lady", the name of the show. Duh! (Google verified later that it means "my beautiful girl".)

And when it's your sister's favorite show, you ignore your pounding headache, put on a happy face, and take the role of poor Professor Higgins.

And now here we are. It's still Sunday, and only a few minutes later than when I started composing this post. I'm off to Mass soon with my friend from out of town, and then I am not sure where the day will take me. I do still have a little work to do for the week in finalizing some 8th grade notes and their project, but that shouldn't take too long. After all, Sunday is a day of rest. Make yours a good one!

November Memories

Ah, November - what a beautiful month you've been so far...and it's not even Thanksgiving yet! While school was super busy with end of the trimester report cards and parent-teacher conferences, I still found time to share with friends (both planned and unplanned)...

1) One of my best friends from college and her husband flew in/out of O'Hare for a wedding (in FL) earlier this month - before heading back home, we got to spend a couple of hours out by the airport enjoying a delicious brunch and great conversation. I am so glad she texted that they'd be here and wanted to meet up. 

2) Just this past weekend I was blessed to attend the wedding of a fellow ACE grad (a few years behind me) - both she and her now husband have such love for each other and for God. They are wonderful witnesses for all of us! Dinner and dancing were fun too...but that was just a bonus.

3) My sister's kiddos had their Girls On The Run 5K race last weekend. After many weeks of mild temperatures, the thermometer plummeted, and we pretty much froze...but it was awesome. The girls were so cute, and it was fun to hang out with some of my sister's co-workers too.

And now it's off to visit family and friends for the holiday...

I hope you and your loved ones (near and far) have a blessed and beautiful Thanksgiving! Advent is just around the corner...

Springtime Fun

Best deal at TJ this week? Tulips for less than $4.

Nothing says spring like tulips...especially not the weather we had yesterday... I've never seen such "on again off again" snow/hail. It made for an interesting pub crawl (annual Beat MS pub crawl #9 - only #4 for me), but we were pretty much all smiles and laughter the whole day. It's good to spend a day just hanging out with friends, especially when it's the weekend before facing students coming back from spring break. ;)

I'd like to go on record that I made it to all 5 bars on the crawl, and I even went to a party (briefly) afterwards. And this morning turned out to be pretty good - an early run along the lakefront with my sister followed by brunch with friends from out of town (who were in town for a wedding this weekend).

Still have a little bit of work to do before a retreat reunion potluck and Mass tonight, which I am very much looking forward to. The timing is perfect, as today is Divine Mercy Sunday (and mercy was the theme of our retreat)!

Have a good one, y'all!

A Good Morning It Has Been...

Today's goal = 14 miles...

Though it was overcast (and even started snow flurrying a little bit), it was lovely weather for our (my sister's and my) first "official" marathon training run. We made it down past Soldier Field!

And who wouldn't have anything but a good morning with a stop at Yolk for our post-run Sunday brunch? (I highly recommend the fried egg & cheese on a toasted bagel sandwich.)

Today has already been a good day...and it's only about halfway done. The only things I really need to do between now and Mass this evening are to score some student blog post paragraphs and to brainstorm some ideas for a student/parent poetry analysis project.

And tomorrow's a day off for those (most) of us in the teaching world - hooray!