Fall Foto Friday

Okay, you caught me. I am retroactively posting this pic as last week's Fall Foto Friday (on the following Wednesday). Does it cut me any slack that the photo depicts where I happened to be last Friday? Well, anyway, here's a pic from my time down at Taylor last week, recruiting for WV during their World Opportunities Week. Scattered around Taylor's campus were quite a few of these bright red maples--LOVED them. Here the soft morning light shines on the Memorial Prayer Chapel in the background.

A Vacation Alphabet - Part 2

D is for Dessert

I rarely need an excuse to order dessert, but "Hey, I'm on vacation!" is a great one if I find myself hesitating. Here's the Triple Berry Chocolate Mousse Torte that Travis and I shared at Dixie Quick's (see E below).  We were half-way through it before I thought to take a picture. Yeah, it was that good.

E is for Eat Like a Local

The hubs and I watch our fair share of Food Network. Inevitably, that affects the way we think about food-- how we prepare it, how we think and talk about it, and where we eat it. There are a number of shows on FN that feature and promote local establishments, especially Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Seeing how many great restaurants and delectable dishes are out there, Travis and I have developed the practice of seeking out local, independent joints when we travel, rather than routinely settling for the safe and familiar chain restaurants by the highway exit. With FN's recommendations as our guide (and also a few shout-outs from friends), on this trip we set out to eat where the locals eat, and were not disappointed.

A few highlights: In Omaha, NE on the way out we stopped for dinner at Dixie Quicks. This is the kind of place an out of towner would probably never drive by in the first place (since it's on an out of the way street in a not-so-pretty part of town), and even if they did, probably wouldn't notice. If not for the GPS announcing our arrival, we might have missed it the first time too, even though we were looking for it. The restaurant has an unassuming facade on a rather industrial street. Inside, however, the decor is surprisingly colorful, elegant, and eclectic. The menu changes daily, and is printed in chalk on a board at one end of the dining room. The chef's creations are influenced by time spent in various regions of the country, especially the south. I ordered the blackened salmon, which came with mashed potatoes and this delicious tomato butter sauce, and Travis ordered the pan-fried catfish with collard greens. (Please note: In case you're thinking about checking this place out, I noticed on Dixie Quicks' website that they'll be moving to Council Bluffs, IA on the other side of the river Fall 2011.) 

In Denver we had lunch with friends (see F below) at The Cherry Cricket, which we'd seen featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate for having the best burger in Denver (in the opinion of Aaron Sanchez, at least). We weren't terribly impressed with the service here, but the burgers were superb, and the fries as well. 

On our return trip across the Midwest we stopped for dinner at WheatFields in Omaha, which came highly recommended by Chris & Janelle (again, see F below). This is one of those places where you walk in and find yourself mesmerized by the bounty and variety of baked goods on display, and the once seated, completely overwhelmed (in a good way) by the sheer abundance of menu items. The highlight of our meal here: the cinnamon roll that came with Travis's quiche trio as a sort of "first course," the same way a salad might come before lasagna. Giant frosting-covered cinnamon roll as first course? Indulgent. Delicious. Genius.

 

F is for Friends

The lure of Colorado has called several of my friends out west. While I miss having them nearby, the upside is that trips to Colorado are usually peppered with reconnecting with people I love dearly. This trip was no exception. We got to have lunch with my college roommate Cheryl and her husband Joe, stay with Rachel & Eric (who played an integral role in bringing the hubs and I together), and spend a delightful afternoon dining and visiting with TU friends Chris & Janelle and their daughter, Sophie. Here we are with them at the mall:

Stay tuned for Part 3 tomorrow!

In the Company of True Friends

I spent this past weekend in New York City, where I was joined by 6 of my dear sister-friends (of the 11 total) from college, who came in from Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to join Lynn, who lives there. The occasion was our annual girls weekend, the 8th since we graduated from Taylor.

It "just so happened" (as in, God miraculously arranged) that girls weekend was also opening weekend for Redd Tale Theatre's Triumph of Love, the show in which Lynn brilliantly plays the lead. The weekend also included pedicures, street food, a leisurely afternoon in Central Park, a "homemade" baby shower for Becca, and lots of time sitting around together, sharing the highs and lows of the previous year. My heart feeds on these weekends and I always come away with a renewed awareness of how blessed I am by these friendships.

In the company of true friends...

...it's perfectly acceptable to go from laughing to crying in 10 seconds flat.
...it's safe to confess our fears and anxieties, our longings and frustrations, our hopes and dreams.
...it's okay to ask those vulnerable questions we can't ask anywhere else, and to wrestle with the answers.
...I am inspired to trust, to hope, and to believe.
...I am moved to give God glory and turn to Him for help.
...I am most myself.

To my friends: 

Thank you for loving and encouraging me. You are beautiful and strong and brave. I would not be the woman I am without the reality and promise of your presence in my life, year in and year out. I thank my God for you.

Four States in Four Weeks

Two weeks ago I embarked on the first of four back-to-back weekend trips.

Trip #1 took me to Colorado to meet up with Travis, who had already been out there for a week, camping and hiking mountain with his buddy Dale. I joined them on Friday, and together we visited a college friend/roommate of mine and explored sites near Colorado Springs (Cheyenne Canyon & Garden of the Gods) on Saturday. Sunday morning we hiked to the summit of my first 14er, Mt. Evans. It was a great experience, and I hope the first of many like it! This pic shows us at the top; over my shoulder is the parking lot where we started hiking at about 12,800 feet.
Trip #2 took me back to my alma mater, Taylor University in Upland, IN where I met my dear friends from Third Gerig for our seventh consecutive annual reunion. We stayed in the dorm, bunking in our old rooms for the weekend. After so many years away and so much that has happened since we lived there together (careers! masters degrees! marriages! babies! years abroad!), it was incredible how natural it felt to be there together again--climbing the stairwells (that still have the same smell!), padding down the hall to the bathroom to brush our teeth side by side, lounging around in the suites, updating one another on what's transpired in our lives over the past year, sharing stories and laughing together, looking through photos from our college days, and telling of plans and dreams for the years ahead. This year's reunion included a book-themed baby shower (for Janelle and Sophie), a personal bridal shower (for me), and a 30th birthday party (for all of us--complete with tiaras!). What a wonderful weekend...such treasured friends.This coming weekend takes me to Wisconsin for my cousin Molly's wedding, and next weekend I'm off to Michigan for a bridal shower with Travis' family and friends. The weeks are whizzing by, and summer will be over before I know it!

Holiday Highlights

Eek! It's been over a month since I last posted. Time to get something new up here. I'll kick off the year with some a review of the holidays. I was able to take the last two weeks of the year as vacation from work, so my time off matched Travis' time off from school. We relished the freedom, spending lots of time together and with family and friends.

We kicked things off by attending Christmas services at Harvest (on Saturday) and at First Baptist in Wheaton (Sunday morning). Travis got his first glimpse of the sanctuary where we'll be married next fall, and met LOTS of people I know from my many years there who had heard about our engagement and were eager to wish us well.Christmas Eve morning Travis and I went snowshoeing at the arboretum. We experienced our own "Christmas Miracle" when we found Travis' cell phone and keys he'd lost there the day before (when we'd gone for a brief afternoon romp through the snow). Despite the several inches of snow and some freezing rain that had fallen overnight, we came across both items (near where Travis had taken a flying leap into a snow-covered bush, causing the items to fly out of his pockets, which neither of us realized at the time) AND when Travis got home and plugged his phone in later that night, he found IT STILL WORKS! He could give the cell phone manufacturer a great testimonial on the durability of their product, that's for sure.

Snowshoeing (etcetera) at the Arboretum

Later that evening we gathered for dinner with my extended family. It was "the year of the fiance," as I and two of my cousins added our beaus to the mix. Christmas Eve held an undercurrent of sadness for me this year, as the event that had always revolved around my grandpa was punctuated my his absence. I'm glad the family still came together, though, and we enjoyed conversations, games, and laughter back at my aunt's house after dinner.

Travis and I hosted Christmas Day for my immediate family at his house in Chicago. In typical Johnson-family fashion, it was a very relaxed, low-key day of food, presents, and Pixar animation.EARLY the next morning (5:45 to be exact) we hit the road for Michigan. An ice storm had hit overnight, but Chicago's salt trucks had done a good job on the city's roads, so we didn't realize how bad and far-reaching the storm had been until we found ourselves at a stand-still on the highway, just over the Indiana border. The road was a sheet of ice, and we learned the highway was shut down across the entire state of Indiana. And so there we sat, locked in place by the unmoving cars and trucks around us, for THREE HOURS. Thankfully we were able to stay warm enough, even with the car off most of the time. The only food we had in the car were the cookies my aunt had sent home with us Christmas Eve, so those became breakfast. Finally, traffic had shifted enough (every hour or so people up ahead of us became restless and created false hope by moving their cars up a few feet) that a brave soul from behind us was able to squeeze between the two lanes of traffic and make his way up to a break in the median where he pulled a U-turn. We wasted no time in following his lead! We took the next exit and then proceded to slowly follow ice-covered Rt 12 all the way around the lake and into Michigan. Finally, TEN HOURS after we'd left home that morning, we pulled into his parents' driveway in Michigan, rather bedraggled and stir crazy, but gratified that when put to the test, we were able to enjoy the ride and amuse ourselves for 10 hours without any conflict or irritation between us.

We spent that evening and the next two days with Travis' family, exchanging gifts, eating yummy food, playing games, and generally relaxing. It was great. And the trip home only took the usual 4 hours, which was quite a relief!

Family Photo with my New Sister & Brother-in-Law

Monday night (Dec 29th) I received my Christmas present from Travis, which was dinner at Trattoria No. 10 in Chicago, followed by A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theater. Dinner was scrumptious, and the play was really well done. Another amazing date!

With my Clean-Shaven Fiance After the Play

Allison & Alex hosted the TU New Years bash this year. The festivities started Tuesday afternoon when friends started arriving from all over the midwest. This year's gathering had more of a chill vibe than years past, which was to everyone's liking. We prepared and ate meals together, played games, told stories, caught up on each other's lives, threw a baby shower for Chris & Janelle (which included a hilarious game of "Pin the Beard on the Baby"), and reflected with thankfulness on our enduring friendships. This was our 10th New Year together!

Chris Playing Pin the Beard on the Baby

My two weeks of family, friends, and freedom wrapped up on Saturday, Jan 3rd with wedding dress shopping. I found my gown in the first boutique we visited (though we went to another before making the final decision, just to be sure). The dress isn't exactly what I'd envisioned myself in when I was poring over bridal magazines, but when I looked in the mirror and saw myself as a bride (veil and all--there's something about putting on the veil that makes you go from a girl in a pretty dress to a bride), I knew it was the one. That evening Alex & Allison introduced Travis & I and Nate & Bethany to their new favorite place for shabu shabu in Chicagoland, Shabu House in Niles. We quickly understood why this place is the best around for this type of cuisine, and we'll be returning for more!

And the award for Best Surprise by a Boyfriend in a Leading Role goes to...

Travis!

This past Friday I drove to Coshocton, OH to reunite once again with Taylor friends. The occasion for our gathering among the green rolling hills of Amish country for the weekend was the wedding of my friend (and blogging buddy) Heather to her soul mate, Clay. They have an awesome love story that involves a conference in Austin, a bulletin board, a bridge, a concert, and a conversation about music and love and life that's still going today (at this moment, somewhere in Belize). You can read about it here.

Although having a boyfriend now generally affords me the pleasure of having a date with whom to attend weddings (and if you read this blog you know I attend a lot of weddings!), Travis was unable to accompany me to this one. He left Chicago back on July 18th to spend a week climbing 7 of Colorado's 14ers with a friend, and then several more days at a teachers conference in Denver. The conference ran through Friday and he wasn't set to arrive back in Chicago until very late that night. So, as I drove across Indiana and Ohio early Friday morning I was missing him like crazy after not seeing him for two weeks. While I was excited to spend the weekend with my friends--sharing stories over the rehearsal dinner, hamming it up at karaoke, bearing witness to the vows of two souls in love, and celebrating with delicious food and great friends in a beautiful setting--I was rather disappointed to not have Travis by my side to meet my friends and join in the revelry.

So, imagine my surprise when my friends and I walked into a restaurant for lunch on Saturday before the ceremony and there's Travis sitting at a table in the middle of the near empty restaurant with a huge grin on his face. (If you're having trouble imagining my surprise, the words shocked, speechless, and dumbfounded might help you out.) I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open as I moved (ran? floated? it's all a blur) across the restaurant and into his arms. Reality slowly set in (for a while all I could do was look at him and incredulously murmur, "You're here!") and over lunch my friends helped me piece together the elements of the surprise--Mike's mysterious late night "errand," hushed phone calls, strange comments, hurried moments...and more than a few blatant lies by those in the know.

Early Friday morning Travis had changed his flight to Columbus instead of Chicago and called my friends to help him get to Coshocton for the wedding. They all succeeded in keeping me completely in the dark for 24 hours. It didn't take long for Travis' exploits to become legend among the wedding guests, even those who'd never met him and up til that point didn't even know I had a boyfriend. As we milled about in the church lobby after the ceremony, people observed us with smiles and knowing looks that said, "So this is the guy..."

Yes, this is the guy.

Best 3G Reunion Yet!

This year's 3G reunion (July 11-14) was extraordinary in a lot of ways. It was the first time since graduation that all 11 of us were together again, drawn from NY, PA, IN, IL, and IA, not to mention China and Zambia. It was the first reunion to take place in the summer instead of the spring. It was our first major "destination" reunion, taking place in Evans, Colorado. It was the first time we showered not one but two brides to be. It was the first time we were able to incorporate a pageant party into the reunion weekend. It included our first official group photo shoot since our trip to Wal-Mart the week before graduation. And, thanks to Becca's determination and Janelle's design skills, it was the first time since our days on 3G that we received matching 3G shirts, along with a 3G cookbook and prayer guide. Yes, this year's reunion was extraordinary.
And really, the fact that 11 women who met 10 years ago when they entered college together as freshmen are still such good friends today despite their wildly divergent personalities, backgrounds, and the increasing geographical distance between them is nothing short of extraordinary itself. We are always aware, and even more so when we're together, that what we have been given is a rare and unique gift from God, to be celebrated, cherished, and to call forth gratitude and praise for the joy and privilege of going through life with these incredible women.

Janelle captured it perfectly with the statement that appears on the back of our new shirts:

Faith made us sisters.

Love made us friends.

Chicago: My Kind of Town, My Kind of New Year

This year I played co-host for the 8th Annual TU Friends New Years bash, a much anticipated and beloved event that each year draws some of my dearest college friends to spend several days together in some new location. This year that location was Allison's house on the west side of Chicago, where asparagus green walls and incredibly comfy furniture created a cozy haven where we talked, played, sang, laughed, danced, lounged, dined, sang, shared, and prayed together over the course of 4 days. Since our destination was the wonderful Windy City, we also spent some time out on the town, strolling through Millennium Park, checking out the exhibits and beautiful architecture at the Chicago Cultural Center, attending Allison's church, filling up on Lou Malnati's delicious salad and pizza, and feasting on tapas and sangria at Cafe Ibérico (one of my favorite restaurants EVER.)

This is the third time I've posted about New Years (happy 3rd anniversary, Suz's Musings!), and each time I've struggled with what to really say about it and how to adequately describe the annual gathering of this varied troop of friends who share a lasting bond that makes people--including us--shake our heads in wonder. (One of the reasons I'm posting this over a week and a half after the fact.) It's one thing to list what we do over the course of the weekend; it's another to attempt to describe the sense of being that exists among us. So, I hope you won't mind if I borrow from my friend Heather, who wrote that our annual New Years' gathering "is a time of centering and remembering who we are because of the comfortability to be ourselves." Now, comfortability is not actually a word, but now that Heather has coined it I think it should be--a word to describe the joy of being known and the felt freedom to simply be yourself and then do whatever the moment brings, without fear of censure or the burden of having to explain yourself. To get up and dance in the middle of the living room when a good song comes on, without concern for how ridiculous you look or your obvious lack of rhythm...to randomly burst into song, confident that you'll only go a few notes alone before others join in...to laugh until you cry and cry until you laugh...to lounge around in one another's personal space, communicating love by touch...to recall memories of good times and tough times, and how we got through them all together.

These are my friends, and this is how we do New Years.