January in Chicago.

January has been a crazy month for us. Coming back from Christmas vacation we seem to be swamped in our jobs, and its just gloomy with the cold weather and lack of sunshine. Luckily, we have had a few days of sun on the weekends and I found Ryan laying face up on the carpet (as if he were on the beach in the Caribbean or something!) soaking up the UV rays. You find ways to get warm in the winter.

Like- going to dinner at an authentic Cuban Restaurant. Its warm and cozy with vibrant colors everywhere inside. Super fun (but not as tasty as La Cubana in Philly or Versaille in LA. I'm still searching for a favorite cuban restaurant in Chicago).

Warm inside our cozy restaurant.

We go outside and find ourselves in -6 degree, feels like -15 weather. Of course we stopped for a photo in the snow.

On Saturdays we have been trying to go to the museums, a nice in-door activity. We got the Library pass for the Planetarium. What we didn't realize this time was where the best place to park was!! We ended up walking a couple miles to and from the Planetarium-- it was freeeezing!!!!!!!!! But we survived and got a little exercise :)

Check out the city in January.

I kind of love that the lake looks frozen and snowy. It's not frozen.

We were freeeeeezing. But I couldn't resist a photo-op. I was really glad I had my new down coat to wear that weekend.

Planetarium.

Lovell. He donated a TON of his stuff for an exhibit in the museum. It was awesome. Why are giving up on NASA again?

Soldier Field. Day before "THE" Game. Bears vs. Packers. We were a little bummed the Bears lost...

Chicago!

Here are a few more photos of January. I wanted to try and capture what "everyday" life in the city was like. Not sure if I accomplished that :)

On my way to the Doctor in the snow.

Fresh snow!! I love how it looks on the trees.

  

Under the "L"

Oh, and I had to capture our taking down of the tree-- we forgot to buy a tree bag when we bought a tree... so we had to make do. this is a combination of at least 5 yard bags... talk about innovation in the home; it's make it work time!

Stay tuned for more adventures in February!! We are doing all we can to make the most of winter.

Adventures in Reno: The Biggest Little City in America.

Traveling for work = not as much fun without my husband but I try to make the most of it.

I rented a car this week while in Reno, so it's made it possible for me to go to the temple and see all the sights in Reno.

I got to take a cooking class with my team that was here for training. It was a team building activity, where we took a cooking class and made 3 authentic Chinese dishes. It was awesome!!

My favorite dish of the 3. Eggplant and ground pork YUMM.

Tofu and Shrimp soup.

The Chef calls this "Dirty Rice". Its got egg & chinese sausage.

Cool open kitchen in this big room where you take the classes & can eat there at the restaurant.

We also went downtown, saw the Famous Reno sign and had lunch by the Truckee River.

You can't really see me-- I'm in the shadows.

Trukee River.

Truckee River from the other side. We ate out on the patio by the river, the sun was so warm and glorious that day!

One of my co-workers, Randi, lives in Norway. She is here in the states for 2 weeks, so she brought her 7-year old daughter, Iva. Iva is a beautiful girl with bright blue eyes. She is just learning English, so its hard for her to communicate with us. She had to sit in our conference room with us during our training, she was so patient. During one of our sessions she drew me a picture, of myself. She copied my outfit, perfectly!! It made my day.

I've already had a few questions about what I did during my week-long stay in Reno. I stayed really busy! Went to the temple one night, went shopping at their outdoor mall one night, and then of course, went to BJ's to catch the BYU vs. SDSU basketball game on the big screen. I even made some friends at the bar! (they were fellow Mo's there to watch Jimmer and the Cougs as well). It was great to have some company at the bar!

Jazz game far left, BYU game bottom right. Go Cougs!

Thanks for a great stay, Reno!! Next time I have to make it up to Tahoe!

Home Away from Home.
In the Lords House.

This week I am in Reno, NV for the week on business. I am training a colleague and in training for my new role as Community Connections Director with Executive Networks. I have never been to Reno before (outside of driving through it on my way to Utah) so this has been such a fun experience to explore a new place.

I love that we can travel and explore new places and still feel at home by attending the temple. We now have so many temples all over the world that it is very feasible to attend the temple as we travel. I was delighted to be able to attend the Reno Temple for a session this week while I am here. Its a gorgeous temple on top of a hill, and catching it at Sunset just made the setting even more gorgeous. I always have such a great feeling of peace and love when I am there.

Reno, Nevada Temple

The mountains and the sunset.

Guess who made the Money section in USA Today?
Keep up the good work, babe!

Click here for the full story.

I am so proud of Ryan!! He has been working like CRAZY to get this new product launched. It's caused a lot of fire drills around the office every day for the last few weeks, but really, he has been working on this project for a couple of years now (first on the Innovation team, now on the Brand Management side and getting it out to the public). So we are super excited to see it get some publicity and to see it launch.

We actually tested it at Christmas, when Ryan got a few bags of Pop Up Bowl to take home. Everyone was anxious to see how it works.

Intense stuff.

Seriously it's an awesome concept, and the best part is that you don't need to dirty a bowl to eat popcorn. Love love it. Everyone, go out and try pop up bowl!!

Just another day
in our little Paradise.


Sometimes there are moments that are just part of every day life. 

Like my sweet husband getting up at 5:30am every morning so he can work out before he gets ready for the day, and leaves the house at 6:45am to catch the 7:05 train to Naperville.

He also kisses me goodbye (while I am still fast asleep in bed, I just can't quite make it up that early in the morning) and says something sweet before walking out the door.

Then there's me-- who goes straight to the office first thing when I wake up... check my emails and dive into a million different projects before realizing its 1:30pm and I haven't had lunch yet. If I'm feeling healthy, I'll make a salad. If I'm not, I'll make a PB&J... with tons of extra PB&J. Yum.

Back to the grind and before I know it, it's 5:00pm, and I haven't gotten ready for the day... or worked out. So off to the gym I go.

After the gym its time to make dinner. Sometimes this is my favorite part of the day, and sometimes its my least favorite. How does that work??

Before I know it, it's 6pm and Ryan is walking through the door from the freezing cold... a welcome home kiss and it's time to eat and enjoy the evening.

Did you notice I didn't leave my apartment once during this "typical" day? Yup, in the winter that is pretty typical. I know, its kind of pathetic, but I don't really mind it too much :)

I'm off on a business trip for the next 10 days (Reno then San Francisco and Bakersfield in between for fun). Perhaps that's why I'm reminiscing on some of these moments that make my day complete. Miss you, babe. See you soon.

Winter Saturday = Museum Day. 

It's the best winter activity.

We are so lucky to live in a city with world-class museums. Seriously, Chicago museums are awesome!! Lucky for us, the Library has a Museum Pass program. It's first come first serve, and whatever passes are available, you can "check out" for one week. It gets two adults and two kids into the museum FOR FREE! Its amazing-- especially since admission is on average $18/person.

Art Institute from the South, in the winter.

Our first Saturday Museum Day was The Chicago Art Institute. This is an awesome Art Museum. Last time we went we saw all of the impressionist art, which is my favorite. So this time I let Ryan lead the way. Check out some of the highlights:

Giant paperweight. The designs inside it were awesome.

Cool statue.

another cool statue.

Awesome.

Greek Statue.

Contemporary Art-- remind you of somewhere? :)

Modern Art Wing.

Modern Art.

Clouds, view from an airplane. So accurate!

The textiles were one of my favorites-- isn't this AMAZING?!

We Won The LOTTO!!
For Musicals, at least. 


Wicked is in town, and they are one of the few shows in Chicago that offer a Lottery for tickets. We decided to take our chances and see if just maybe we could get lucky enough to get FRONT ROW seats at Wicked. See, we actually saw the show in Chicago, together when we were dating just over 2 years ago. It was one of our favorite dates and since it was in town, we figured we had to go back, for old time's sake :)

We got to the theater 2 hours before showtime and were a little bit surprised to find ourselves in the company of 150 other Wicked Fans. I guess that's what we get for trying on a Saturday night. We bought in to this theory from our friends about the way you fold your paper before putting in for the drawing; so Ryan and I both folded ours different ways. To increase our chances of course (I mean, who knows if your going to get a picker who prefers flat folds vs. dense folds?).

The witches hat is fitting for a drawing -- it was stuffed full of papers!!

We secured a place right in front of the witches hat for the drawing. When the woman pulled out a flat paper first and announced the first lucky duck of the 10 names she was going to draw, I thought for sure our chances had just gone out the window. Needless to say I screamed with delight when I heard my name was called NEXT!! I giddily hopped over to the window, gave them $50 in cash and walked away with our 2 front row tickets.

WAHOO!! Front row tickets!

This was my 3rd time seeing Wicked, and my 2nd time being a lucky lotto winner (thanks again Dad for taking me to see Wicked on my 22nd Birthday in LA!!) It was just as magical the 3rd time around, and SO COOL to see it up close on the front row.
 

Seriously we were this close.

My favorite part was walking hand in hand with my sweet hubby on the way home; just a little bit different feeling than when we walked away from the theater two years ago...

Inside the Cadillac Theater.

Sorry it's a little blury-- it was FREEZING outside!