Major Updates Take II!

I can’t believe how much I seriously slacked on this blog during the last quarter of the year!  New Year’s Resolution #1…be more attentive to the blog!  Even if it’s really just my mom, dad and brother who read it…it’s kind of like a journal or diary…except…the entire world can read it if they’d like!  Kinda creepy when you think about it that way!  But whatev!!!   

So I guess this is my apology to my readers…I’m sorry I haven’t been diligently updating as I should be!  I’m sure there are many many many great moments I haven’t even remembered to blog about! 

Many more exciting updates to come shortly!!!  Get excited!!! 

Holy Family Scholarship Dinner

My parents (well…really my biological parents as well as all my church families) have been long time supporters of Holy Family Lutheran Church in Chicago.  It is a school for inner city children…but it costs a lot of money per year to attend and most of the students are there on scholarship.  I find it so humbling that so many people in our community are able to give so much to this school and it’s mission.  This was my first year to attend the Scholarship Dinner and I have to say…I can’t wait until next year.  Each year a dinner/auction is held to raise money for the school and the scholarship it is able to offer.  I believe that of the 35(ish) tables at the dinner our church was represented at 4 of them!  That’s awesome!  There are both a silent auction prior to dinner and a live auction following the meal.  There was also a performance towards the end of dinner by the choir from the school as well as a few skits by the children.  I didn’t end up bidding on anything at the silent auction this year but there were so many wonderful items up that I’m sure it brought in a lot of money for the school.  The live auction was awesome!  So many generous individuals in our community! 

It was so much fun to get dressed up with my parents, aunts and uncles, and church friends for an evening of faith, fellowship, and fun!  I can’t wait for next year! 

Aunt Karen and her autographed football (oh...and Robbie Gould!)

Showing mom how my phone has a camera on BOTH sides!

Daddy Daughter :)

Please take a minute to learn more about the school for yourself!  It’s truly remarkable and the children (students) are wonderful!!!  I took so many pictures with (for?) them!  There were about 15-20 students from the school in attendance!!!  Which makes it so much more meaningful!  It was awesome to talk to some of the younger ones about school! They are truly excited to be at school!!!! YEAH!!!

http://www.holyfamilyministries.org/

The Thanksgiving That Never Ends...

11/23-11/27/11

Wednesday:

JARED’S HOME!!!!  Yeah!  I know it’s only been like 2 weeks…but I love my brother so much and I love when he comes home!!!  He hit up Nellies tonight so I didn’t spend too much time with him…but I knew we’d have lots of family time coming up so it wasn’t a big deal!  He caught up with a bunch of friends…and then he got to crash at my place…since it’s walking distance to the bar…so it was really a win-win situation!  YEAH!!!

A small portion of the baking I did for the weekend...in the end I made 24 turkey cookies, cranberry dessert, mashed potatoes, and 4 pies!!!!  I was a baking machine!  :)

Thursday:

Happy Turkey Day!  We started our morning off with a nice little Turkey Trot where we ran (hahaha) into a bunch of friends and neighbors!  Last year we ran the 8K so this year we opted for a short 2 miler.  It was a great distance…but I felt guilty afterwards because I still had so much in me!  I definitely didn’t give those 2 miles my all this time around…better luck next year!  We then headed to Mom and Dad’s for an afternoon of lounging, taking the Christmas decorations out of the “Christmas crawlspace” and prepping the meal and general hanging out with family!  We had a delicious meal and lots of fun togetherness.

The Fedota Family Thanksgiving Table

Friday:

Jared and I started our day with a little 4 mile run…no big deal!  And then it was on to…

LIZZIEPALOOZA!!! 

My cousin Liz is currently living in Germany!  And we miss her dearly!  Well…she was in the US for almost the entire month of November and with so many people and places to see she really wanted to make the most of her time…who could blame her!  Well…a few months ago she sent out a cousins email to see if there was a time where everyone could get together at the same time!  And the Friday after Thanksgiving worked for EVERYONE!!!  We all agreed to meet at my Aunt’s house in Hampshire, IL.  Oh what fun!!!!  Here’s who was all in attendance:

My Grandma (mom’s mom)

My Aunt Linda (mom’s sister)/Uncle Cliff

My Aunt Karen(mom’s other sister)/Uncle Rick

My mom/dad

Jared (brother)

Julie(cousin)/Brad and their children Caroline, Jackson and Harrison (NEWBORN!!!)

Liz (cousin) (her husband Stuart was in CA)

Joe(cousin)/Tricia and their children Megan, Connor and Molly

John(cousin)/Emily and their children William and Henry

Karen(cousin)/Rob

And myself

All the ladies!  :)

It was amazing to have everyone together again!!!  I am so very thankful and fortunate to have such a close extended family!  I love getting together with my cousins and seeing their children!  We love to laugh and tell stories…but I find it ironic that we all used to roll our eyes when our parents would tell repeat stories and now we find ourselves prompting (or even RETELLING) those same stories!!!

We had a very relaxing, hard laughing, story-telling time!  And I can’t wait to see them all again super soon! 

Saturday:

We spend Saturday with my dad’s oldest brother (Mark) (also my god father), his wife and his wife’s sister and her family.  My “cousin” Joe graduated last year from Bradley so I love to pick his brain about his experience there!  Very different from mine…but it’s amazing how many things were similar!  My other “cousin” Karin now lives in Morton and for those of you that don’t know…I student taught junior high in Morton!  SMALL WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!  It was great to see them all again and feel the love with my fake extended family. 

Hot Chocolate

November 5, 2011

Once again Jared and I ran the Hot Chocolate 5K in the city of Chicago!  We always have such a fun time running together and he was a trooper running it with me after running the marathon!  I know the marathon was a few weeks prior but I got the feeling that he was so over running after the marathon!  We started off with a 12-minute mile (which was basically a walk for him) and finished with an average of 9:40…I guess we really picked up our pace as we went!!!  But that’s Bearie for you…slow and steady(ish) wins the race!  We like to try and pick up our pace with each mile we run!  He’s a great person to run with because he “gets” it.  He knows the emotions that one can go through…he knows the mental games we all play with ourselves…he knows when to say “you control your breathing…it doesn’t control you” or “allow yourself to push off with your back foot” or “look forward…not down…you’re feet know where they are going”.  We really don’t run together enough! 

We forgot to take pics this year…but here are a few from last year!  

Just after I realized I used HIS drink tickets too!  Oops!!!  :)

Happy running family!

Hugs!!!  

Beautiful day...but super cold!

Check out my awesome hood...I got made fun of BIG time...but it had a hole in the top/back for a pony tail!!!  Truly made for a girl!!!  It also had cuffs at the wrist that turns into mittens!!!  Very versatile!!!

My 28th Birthday!

October 24, 2011

I must say I love my friends!  Dating someone outside of the United States is at some times tougher than others…and today was a tough one!  I love my birthday…we all know this…I don’t just celebrate my birthday DAY…but birth MONTH!!!  YEAH!!!  But it’s really tough when the one person you really really really want to celebrate with is living 6 hours ahead of you!  (Well…he IS in England…so really if we do the math…we get to celebrate my birthday for 30 hours…which is one way I looked at it positively!) 

One of my dear work friends, Erin, took me to dinner and out for a little shopping excursion with her ADORABLE daughter Leah!  Leah is my second favorite ginger!!!  She’s just darling and a joy to watch grow…I may be slightly obsessed!!!  I can’t help it…if she wasn’t so cute I don’t think it would be as appealing!   Erin is my desk buddy, as she has the desk next to mine.  We also teach Foods 1 together and she’s fantastic to plan with.  We were just starting our veggie unit and would be having a pumpkin carving contest the following week so we took advantage of my weekday birthday to go out with Leah and grab 30 carve-able pumpkins!  (Sounded great in theory…until we tried to pack 2 strollers and 30 pumpkins in the back of a mid-sized SUV…and not have them load-shift forward every time we braked!) 

Following the pumpkin picking, dinner and a little window-shopping I met my dear friends Courtney and Andrew for drinks!  It was so nice to have them come out…Court was in the middle of the school musical and for them to take time out to come for a drink meant the world!  They truly are a wonderful couple and they offer the best listening ears, the best shoulders for tears, the best jokes for laughter, the best advice when you need it, the best hugs whether you need them or not, and the best suggestions for your next drink! 

THANK YOU to everyone who made my birthday extra special.  Every one of you means something special and different to my life!  I’m so glad you are in it!!!  And Dave…honey…I missed you terribly all day!  It would have been extra special if you were home…but being able to skype was wonderful and so much appreciated!  I know I will have plenty more birthday to celebrate with you!