As promised, here’s a short-and-sweet blog of some Winter Break pictures:
I went for a walk several days before Christmas, and before I knew it, I was walking to this nice little park area, Milton Lee Olive Park, right outside of Navy Pier that I visit several times a year. It has a beautiful view, as you can see, so I decided to take a picture of it to share with all of you.
This photo has nothing to do with me, but it’s a photo my cousin took on her trip to Barcelona, Spain during break. For those of you dreaming of traveling and getting out of your heads a little, enjoy.
This last photo isn’t really good, but it’s the Holiday “L” train that exists during the holiday season to bring a smile to people’s faces. It’s the first time I’ve rode on it, so I was super excited to take a picture of the inside.
Okay, so since I’ve covered this Winter Break (past), it’s only fair that I share some of my resolutions for this upcoming year (future). I’ll also share some pictures from this Winter Break that are worthy of my publication in a third short-and-sweet blog.
On New Years Eve, I realized that for the first year in many years, I didn’t have a list of resolutions. Even more than that, I hadn’t thought of any resolutions to even make a list. I felt that a lot of what I wanted, I was already accomplishing, so I gave the list making a rest, and for the last few weeks, I’ve just taken the time to enjoy myself. Now that school has started up again though, I’m beginning to realize that there are several things I’ve been hoping to do, and several more that I want to keep doing. Throw those goals together, and they make up what I’m calling my Resolution List of 2013:
Train for a half marathon– in junior high, I ran track and field and cross-country, but I stopped when I went to high school. I ran on and off on my own for all the years since leading up to the present, switching between loving and hating running. After a lot of thought (and another change of heart towards being pro-running), I decided that training myself for and running a half marathon between July and October is the perfect goal to try and uphold and accomplish this year.
Score an internship– I’ve been applying to many internships in the last few months, but so far I’ve had little success. The search isn’t easy, which is why I’m going to push myself harder and search and apply more starting now so that I can land an internship for the summer.
Continue eating vegan– several months ago, I changed up my diet and exercise routine drastically, including eating a vegan diet. I’ve since done boatloads of research, and my gut feeling tells me that this is the best path for me. I do have my days, though, when it gets tricky (and I’ll admit I’ve had several slips for cheese), but with the New Year, I know I want to stick to it whole-heartedly.
Start a video blog on youtube- this is a resolution that I want to start by the end of January, although it is still an idea in progress. I’m still deciding on a theme, but I think I know what I want my focus to be. Nevertheless, if anyone has any ideas, feel free to leave a comment!
Keep up with my Loyola blog better- this one is self-explanatory. My university is important to me, and therefore sharing my journey here is important, and this year, I hope to keep up with a minimum of two blogs a week. And more pictures.
When The Prestige first came out on DVD during my sophomore year in high school, I happened to be flying back from a trip to Israel. Because of this coincidence, it playing on its own channel during my 12 hour flight from Jerusalem to New York. The movie is just over two hours, and they played it about 5 times. I watched it every single time.
The reason for this high school throwback at the beginning of my annual “Look what an awesome time I had during my winter break this year!!!11!” post is that throughout my holiday break, I couldn’t stop thinking about the ending of the movie.
We hear Cutter (played by Michael Caine), explaining that, “every magic trick consists of three parts, or acts.” And, if I needed a quote to describe my winter break, that was it. It was grouped into three different segments of time and every one felt just like magic.
Part 1 (aka Livin’ the Dream)
Christmas at a children’s hospital!
During the first week and a half of winter vacation, all my dreams had come true. I was able to limit myself to four activities: 1. watching cheesy CW television shows; 2. sleeping; 3. working Christmas shifts at the hospital; and, 4. sleeping some more.
After my semester filled with at least 48 hours without sleep at least once a week and countless commitments to take care of, it was so nice to go to work in the afternoon, watch television all night, and sleep all day.
I know that it sounds like working over break wouldn’t be very fun, but surprisingly, it was a blast. Since I work at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, we constantly had Santa and his elves dropping off toys for our patients. And we got to wear awesome holiday themed headbands!
Part 2 (aka JewFest 2013)
Last year, I spent Easter Vacation in Miami, Florida with one of my best friends. Since she had visited me at Loyola our freshman year, we wanted to go somewhere different for what we have now decided is our now annual reunion.
Our destination for junior year: New York!
Reunited…and it feels so good!
We ate, saw, and did so much over the 10 days we were there.
We…
…inadvertently ended up spending New Years Eve in the penthouse at the Waldorf Astoria
… and reunited with many of our old counselors from the camp where we first met each other about 10 years ago.
While New York and everything in it is pretty ballin’, seeing all of our old friends was definitely the best part of the trip. We saw staff (including my first counselor, who I hadn’t seen since I was 10!) and other campers who we used to be in awe of, whispering to each other, “OhmyG-dohmyG-dshe’sSOCOOL.” And the best part…they treated us like real grown ups now!
Finally, with one weekend to spare and after only 2 days back in Chitown, I went up to my mom’s cabin in Minocqua, Wisconsin with my two friends, Maureen and Scott.
We had originally planned on going skiing, but that fell through when the snow did. However, we still had as much fun as three kids alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere could have. Spoiler alert: it was a lot.
Wilderness Explorers!
We watched an obligatory we-are-three-kids-alone-in-a-cabin-in-the-middle-of-the-woods horror movie, in addition to cooking meals, convincing family friends to give us free meals, going hiking, and even playing some pretty intense Scrabble. It was the perfect.
Even though I’ve cut down on my commitments (maybe i’ll actually get sleep now!) this semester, I still have a long ways to go before summer vacation. I’m really grateful for the chance to rejuvenate before I dive back into school life, and I can’t wait to see what Spring 2013 brings me!
Photo 1 attributed to myself
Photo 2 attributed to myself; used with permission from the ballin’ Rachel Niederhoffer
Photo 3 attributed to, and used with permission from, the lovely Batyah Weiss
Photo 4 attributed to the grown up Koz; used with permission from Maureen “Cool Cat” Burns and Scott “I Haven’t Been Scared Since Alien” McCoy
Get Those Thinking Caps Back Under Those Winter Hats
Even though Winter Break is officially over, I clearly did not get enough sleep because at 8:00PM Monday (the first day of classes), I realized that I’d been wearing my sweater backwards all day. What a warm welcome back!
Now that I am done laughing at my silliness, it’s time to get back to my Loyola blog. Since my last post, we’ve had Christmas, New Years, holiday parties, and snow (well, kind of). Here are the highlights and lowlights of Winter Break 2012-2013:
Highlights:
The Saturday before the New Year, I was lucky enough to say goodbye to 2012 with my mom at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin, where we went snowboarding/skiing. The slopes were awesome, and I was ecstatic that for the first time in my life, I didn’t fall once while boarding. I started getting very tired by the end of the day, so unfortunately we left earlier than either of us hoped, but I didn’t want to end my streak with one of my classic dramatic falls that, though they tend to come out quite graceful, give me a headache and turn me into a five-year old with a bad mood.
New Years Eve was one of my best ever. I spent it with my best friend and my boyfriend, along with a bunch of other friends (and people I didn’t know). We began by listening to the B96.3 music countdown (is anyone surprised that “Call Me Maybe” was number one?), and when we got home, we turned on the New York New Year’s countdown on TV. We welcomed the New Year with lots of hugs and laughs before falling into a deep slumber for the first time in the New Year.
Though some may find this highlight not so fun, being able to consistently go to the gym was a huge highlight for me. I kept up with my workout routine, even when cookies were a great temptation, and for that, I’m really proud of myself. I credit my workout regimen as the reason that I didn’t fall when I went snowboarding because my strength, flexibility, and balance have all gotten better in recent months. Don’t agree that this is a highlight? Then clearly you don’t work out enough.
Lowlights:
One lowlight was the fact that I didn’t get to work more hours during Winter Break. Though it gave me plenty of downtime, I was looking forward to logging more hours while I could because we all know it’s not fun to be a broke college kid (not that I’m broke…).
Another lowlight was that there were several activities that I didn’t get a chance to do during break. I wanted to go sledding and ice-skating and build a snow fort, but the weather was uncompromising. Chicago’s lack of snow this year meant that the snow fort and sledding ideas have been put on hold, but I’m still holding out hope that we’ll have a nice snowfall before the winter season ends.
This winter break was a short one, done before I could even blink, but many great memories have been created from it. Let’s cheer for a great end to one thing, and an even greater beginning to something else, our Spring 2013 semester!
Loyola Basketball is almost wear they should be! While people have made jokes about the team’s performance for years, the team is about to turn a corner.
They have the potential to take it to the next level. Personally, I think within the next 3 years you will be seeing them in the NCAA tournament. As the ramblers will only be loosing two players from the roster this year.
Coach Porter Moser is leading this young team in the right direction with players like Devon Turk who is averaging 10 points per game as a Freshman.
I look forward to the future!
I forgot to mention, I am in charge of the student section so please join me in supporting the ramblers as they literally win our hearts.
While I started my Christmas by heading home with the family I quickly came back to Chicago to give my girlfriend her first “real” Christmas. To put this simply she has never had a stocking and never had that special feeling when you come out of your room to see a tree with presents. While I am fully aware this is not the real meaning of Christmas, it is nice to have this type of experience once in your life.
I was on a budget though, $50 to be exact for dinner, decorations and presents.
First mission, presents!
When I was home I found this treasure at Disneyland, only $4 after an employee discount. Our first movie and probably the one that best describes us is “UP.”
Not quite as easy this was made and the wire was purchased for $2.
I also included a photo album, a cheesy coupon book and earrings.
Oh and don’t forget a stocking full of random things that reminded her of the cutest moments in our relationship.
Next Step, Decorations!
Went to the consignment store down the street and found it all for a total of $30 this included the fake tree, lights, stocking and ornaments!
Finally thanks to Aldi market I managed to put together a great dish that she would love as well. After boiling potatoes, I pan fried lemon marinated tilapia and topped it with caramelized onions and cranberry sauce!
I am happy to say it was probably the most work I have ever put into a Xmas and I look forward to not being a college student so I can do it the way I would prefer.
