Christmas Part 2: Parris Edition

AKA: a very Mason post

Us kids looking pretty on Christmas Eve.

What are you doing, Auntie Hannah?

Brotherly love.

Susie showing off her gifts.

Cuteness.

Rick loves Mason's funny jokes.

Cruisin'

Told them to smile & this is what happened...

That's nicer, ladies.

Poor Mason got stuck cleaning up at
Mamaw's after Christmas breakfast.

We loved seeing everyone on both sides
of the family.
Much love to you all!

Christmas Part 1: Collins Edition

Lots of fun was had by all.
Some highlights include:

4 wheeling in the snow

Visits with cousins & grandparents.

This.

Cute pics of animals like Abby...

Love from Shelby....

Lily cat...

& Rustic yet cone-headed Mr. W.

Happy New Year!

Z still has the camera in NC
while I had to come back to
the Chi for work,
but we wish you all a
very Happy New Year!

We'll post pics and holiday updates
once I get the chance to look
through all the
pics we took!

Christmastime is here again

To help get us into a

festive spirit,
and
relax
a bit,
Z & I went over to the
Museum of Science & Industry
today .

We really wanted to see all the trees,
but we also took the time to
pose for some shots of
ourselves.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas!

Snow & Mr. W in a box

We woke up to Chicago's first real snow this morning.

Here are a few photos

And as the title promised, here is Mr. W in a giant box.

Thanksgiving & Birthday

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving with
the Burks & the Fitzkappes...
Lots of yummy food & 5 kids
who were very entertaining!

Some of the guys hanging out
after the big meal.

And yesterday, Z turned 26!
I got him Starbucks in the morning,
baked glazed lemon cupcakes from scratch,
and made fresh pizza for supper.

(His big present was the Clemson trip last weekend.)

Unfortunately we both had to work on presentations
for this week, but we managed to get over to Jimmy's
for a little while last night!

This has been a good little break from work.
I start back tomorrow and only have one more
school assignment until the semester is over!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful for our family and friends today!

We're both working on homework
stuff until we head over to the Burks
to share a meal.

Also, I am pretty excited
to have won
this contest!

I'm thinking about using it for something like this.

New Post

So once again, we've been busy,
but unfortunately we've forgotten
our camera lately.

First Z & the rest of the LSTC flag football team
drove to Gettysburg, PA for the
Luther Bowl.
They did well, but didn't quite make it to the
championships.

This past weekend my mother flew up
for a super-duper weekend of fun.
She did a little research and toured the
Newberry Saturday morning
while I worked, then we shopped, and
shopped and shopped.
(we somehow ended up with 36 rolls of toilet paper)

We also took her to her first MLS game.
Lots of fun, but really disappointing when the
Fire lost in a sudden death shoot out.

The end of the semester is just around the corner,
so I'm trying to push through final projects
to get to my BREAK.

Z is taking a little road trip to Clemson
this weekend...maybe I'll actually
remember to send the camera with him!

Spooky, Scary

Mr. Wilson celebrated Halloweener
as a glow-in-the-dark skeleton
thanks to the costume our friend
Elisabeth got him a couple of years ago!

Hope everyone had a happy Howl-o-ween!

Big news!

Mr. Wilson got his cone off!!

Oh yeah, and I made it through my first day of
work at the
Newberry Library

It's a really neat place with some amazing materials,
and I'm pretty excited to be working there!

Also, Z did not take our camera to
Michigan last weekend,
but he did post pics on Twitter.
He and Adam had a fabulous time.

Chicago Marathon & such

See Adam run.

Pretending to look like he's not about to fall out after
finishing the Chicago Marathon.

The green roof is the Harold Washington (main) branch of the
Chicago Public Library

A view of the lake from Buckingham Fountain.

A couple of weeks ago our good friend Adam
completed the Chicago Marathon & we are so
proud of him!

Now Z and I both want to run more
(although I have no ambitions nor delusions
of me being able to run 26.2...but maybe a half?)

Unfortunately we are about to enter a rather
unforgiving time of year in Chicago...
so hello treadmill if we want to run!

We really have not been doing too much lately, so
not much to report.

Z is on reading week at school and will be taking
a trip to Michigan over the weekend, so maybe some
pics after that.

Also, good news--I finally got a job! More about that later.

Random thoughts..

Boiling water makes for interesting photos.

Molly and Mr. Wilson are best buds now after she
stayed with us for a few days last week.
Also, Mr. W's paw is MUCH improved and his cone
comes off next week.
On the other hand, maybe he's starting a new trend: Doxie Pillow

And finally, totally random....
here is a picture of a bird I saw the other day.

So, things are pretty much the same these days,
applying, interviewing, and waiting to hear about jobs,
school, and homework.

It is starting to get cold here, though.
The radiators came on last night,
so here we go....!

Z's Washington Post Article

Z is taking a Public Theology class this semester.
His professor is also a blogger for
The Washington Post.

Part of the class consists of the students blogging
responses to prompts from the WP
about faith perspectives on major current/political issues.

Occasionally, some of the students' work may be selected
for publication in the WP.

So today, Z was published. :)

Here's the link:

Ashes to Ashes, We All Fall Down

Lately....

Here's a few pictures to show you what
we've been up to...

Mr. W in his collar (we've been nursing his sore paw)

I had a blast at the Hyde Park Children's
Book Fair with Erin & Nora!


Z plays on & manages the LSTC football team.


Z is sweet & brings me flowers.

& we have fun cheering for our Chicago Fire!

So, we've been busy with all that, plus classes, Z's work, job hunting,
shopping at Hyde Park Produce, chapel, and spending time with our friends.

Come visit!

I've gotta feelin'...

Today my friend Erin and I
went to be in the Oprah audience.

A couple of years ago we got to be on stage
as part of a world record:

100 people inside 1 bubble (we did it!)

And because we had to watch the rest of the show from backstage
we also received audience reservations for
a show taped shortly thereafter.

I didn't know the likelihood of getting tickets again,
but since I still don't have a job,
I'm trying to take advantage of my free time to do some fun stuff.

So off to Oprah we went this morning at 6 am.
The show was about hoarding (from A & E's "Hoarders")
which was interesting, but not the best part.

After some seating confusion we were taken from our obstructed view seats
down to the 4th row right behind Oprah's chair,
meaning we were within 10 feet of her the whole time,
plus we will be on TV when it airs.

The BEST part still, though, was before the actual show.
Oprah just had her 24th Season Kickoff Party on the Mag Mile
and it aired today while we were there.

So Oprah came in to the studio and watched Oprah on TV
with us, her studio audience, and she was sitting just a few chairs
away from us, commenting on the show
and just having fun.

Random opportunities to do things like this make me
love Chicago even more!

Around the Apt.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.
We've been slowly getting back into the swing of things.
Z has already started with football practices and begins
classes and work this week.

I'm in my 3rd week of classes already and still applying for jobs,
but I'm starting to get interview call backs, so
hopefully something will happen with that soon.

Meanwhile, we're loving catching up with old friends, making some new,
going to Fire games, watching college football,
and downtown events like the
Jazz Festival.

Here are a few photos from random things around our new apartment.
Enjoy!