Romance

As a single girl, I pictured my future Valentine's Days with my special someone filled with romantic gestures, intimate dinners at fancy restaurants, and large bouquets of roses. Surely life with someone to love would be all romance, all the time. I would often find myself longing for those days, praying that God would bring the right guy into my life soon.

After what felt like an eternity (which I now see was a very short period of time), God gave me the desire of my heart by not only opening the door to do missions work in the UK but also introducing me to the man I was meant to marry during that fateful trip.

Our courtship was filled with as much romance that could be possible when you're more than 3,000 miles apart most of the time. Late-night Skype conversations, a cute stuffed animal we named Skype, and a lovely bouquet of Valentine's Day flowers were some of the highlights. What we lacked in face-to-face time was made up for by the romance of a whirlwind, long-distance relationship.

Then, we got married, and those dreams of romance didn't quite pan out the way I'd thought they would. That's not to say there wasn't any romance; the romance was present but in a different form from what I'd pictured. This is not to say that Dave is not a romantic husband. No, not at all. He still finds ways to surprise me and sweep me off my feet on a regular basis.

I first realized just how different my dreams were from my reality on Monday night, probably considered the most romantic evening of the entire year. Dave had made our dinner of chicken fried rice, and we'd sat down to watch a documentary on charter schools in Harlem. We sat comfortably together on our love seat as we watched the film. As the credits rolled, I realized just what romance looks like for me.

• Romance is making dinner for your wife because you want to give her a break from her daily task.
• Romance is finding things in common to enjoy together, even if that means you're watching a documentary about the education system in a city far away.
• Romance is feeling comfortable enough to sit in silence, without the need to fill the void with your voice.
• Romance is knowing that simply being with your spouse is the best Valentine's Day gift you could ever receive.

Our holiday may not have been romantic in the Hallmark sense, but it had the perfect amount of romance for me. I wouldn't trade the time spent with my husband for the largest bouquet of roses in the world.

What a Weekend!

As an introvert, I knew that this weekend was going to really stretch me. Starting Thursday night, I had a social engagement planned for each day through Sunday. Yikes! I'm pretty drained right now, but I had quite a bit of fun over the last few days.

Some of my coworkers and I decided to spoil ourselves by going to The Cheesecake Factory on Thursday after work. I will never say no to a chance to have a slice of Kahlua Cocoa Coffee Cheesecake. (And the company wasn't so bad, either. Ha!)

I realized on Friday just how much I enjoy putting on special events. A group of us planned and hosted a baby shower for my work friend Sarah. I had so much fun working with my coworkers to put this baby shower together. There's something about the adrenaline rush I get when it's time to put our plans into action and have a party.

The planning committee with our guest of honor, Sarah

On Saturday, I was able to attend the wedding of a childhood friend, Jen. My family has been friends with Jen's family for as long as I can remember. My mom used to watch Jen when she was just a two-year-old, and now she's married! Because there is some universal law that states Dave must have another obligation when we're invited to a wedding (really, this was the third wedding I've attended solo because he's either had to work or take teacher certification tests), I went to the wedding with my parents and Nate and Kim. Jen and her husband Matt are really involved in a church on the west side of Chicago, so the wedding was in the city. It was a very nice ceremony and reception, and it incorporated a lot of their personality, which I love to see at weddings.

Jen and Matt love Chicago, so the tables at the reception had themes based on different neighborhoods in the city. We sat at the Chinatown table and had these cute fortune cookies as our favors.

The reception was in a really old building with these wooden trusses instead of the newer steel beams. I loved this "retro" design.

I love this picture of Kim and Nate!

Mom and Dad at the reception

Today was the final extroverted event of the weekend: teaching Sunday school! It was my first week leading a small group after observing for a couple of Sundays. The kids must have gotten the memo that I was really tired because they ran me ragged. Hehe! I was so happy to have a quiet afternoon and evening to recover from this crazy-busy weekend.

Blizzard 2011

It's almost three o'clock, and Dave and I are still snowbound. There's a snowplow in our parking lot, but it hasn't moved since one. Is it stuck? Is the driver taking a long lunch? Whatever the case may be, we have nowhere to go, so we're quite content in our cozy apartment with the late afternoon sun keeping us warm.

I'm always amazed by how quickly the weather changes around here. On Monday, with all the talk about the upcoming blizzard, I found it hard to picture as the sun shone brightly that day. Less than twenty-four hours later, we had heavy snow and whiteout conditions. The evening commute that took Dave ninety minutes on Monday took four hours in the middle of the storm. I have never been so happy to hear his key in the lock!

While the blizzard roared outside, we snuggled up under blankets and attempted to watch TV. Our computers were turned off after multiple power outages. Dinner was leftover chips and guacamole because I wasn't sure the power would last long enough to make a proper meal. The lights flickered, and the TV went off and on multiple times, but we managed to make it through the evening without an extended outage.

We woke up this morning to a ghost town. The always-busy road next to our complex was empty, with the exception of the occasional snowplow or brave soul. Here are some pictures of what the blizzard left us.

This road, usually full of rush hour traffic at eight in the morning, was empty today.

Our balcony was sheltered from the snow and northeastern winds, but we still accumulated a few inches.

Our total accumulations were impressive (16 inches in our town), but even more impressive were the drifts that formed. This drift was outside the door of the building next to us.

If anyone in our complex was planning to go out this morning, they would have been very disappointed. Some cars were completely buried!

This is the view from our building's front door. The maintenance crew did a great job clearing paths for us, but the snow was still piled up against our front door.

King and Queen of the Leftovers

When Dave and I were children, we hated leftovers. They never tasted as good as the original dish, but our moms (wisely) served them to us, and we begrudgingly ate what was on our plates. After this week, I think our moms would be proud of the responsible grown-ups we've become.

It all started on Monday, when I made chili from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I altered the recipe a bit, not adding as much chili powder and mixing in black beans. The result was delicious. Served with a side of Fritos and topped with cheddar cheese and fat-free sour cream (not pictured), it's now a Gwynne family favorite.


Even though I'd cut the recipe in half, we had plenty leftover for dinner on Tuesday night. Dave tucked his into a Tupperware container to reheat before his evening class, and I ate mine solo at home. Again, with the same toppings, the chili was delicious--even if it was technically consider a leftover at this point.

On Wednesday, I found myself wondering what I could do with the remaining chili (yes, there was still some left). My thrifty Dutch upbringing made me feel a tad guilty about even thinking of tossing it. Fortunately, inspiration struck, and I decided to make baked potatoes topped with chili. Again, it was a delicious chili-filled meal, and one we'd like to have again.


Finally, on Thursday, I was determined to finish up the last of the chili. (Can you believe we still had chili leftover?) The menu called for spaghetti and meatballs, so I improvised and made spaghetti and chili. There was just enough for Dave's meal, and I was happy with my standard spaghetti sauce. Dave's dinner reminded me of what you might see on a Steak 'n Shake menu. He loved it!


Thanks to the chili, we didn't have to do our weekly grocery shopping trip, saving us quite a bit of cash. Our week filled with leftovers was a success!

The Knitwits

From left to right: me, Leanne, Sarah, and Sarah (a.k.a., The Knitwits)

I consider it a blessing that many of my coworkers are not just colleagues but friends. I've worked at places where everyone was friendly with each other at work but didn't hang out once we'd punched out, so I try not to take for granted the friendships that have formed at my current job.

One of my favorite "friend" activities is our weekly gathering of The Knitwits, a group of us girls who are interested in not only knitting, but other needlepoint pursuits. When I had been invited to join a couple of years ago, I hadn't worked on a cross-stitching project since I'd left one unfinished in 4th grade. Every week, a group of women from my department, ranging in age from twentysomething to grandmasomething, would gather in a meeting room at work to admire and encourage each other's projects.

I don't quite remember how our group evolved from that point, but a smaller group of us (me and the Sarahs pictured above) moved to Starbucks for our weekly meetings after the original group fizzled. We'd order our favorite hot or cold drink--depending on the season--and catch up on life outside work as we worked on our projects. Pretty soon, Leanne joined us, and now the four of us have a weekly date at Starbucks every Friday.

I consider it our own, sober happy hour for the week. The lunch hour flies by as we work on another row or two, and it's difficult to pack up everything and get back to the office for a few more hours.

My job is amazing, and having work friends to enjoy life with is a bonus. Meeting with my fellow Knitwits is the perfect ending to the work week.

New Year Celebrations

The New Year's holidays are often a bit disappointing after all the Christmas fun the week before. This year, I think we managed to fit in plenty of fun, and the only disappointment of the weekend was Michigan's loss to Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl.

I had Friday off from work, so the fun began with a visit from one of my best friends, Kara. We spent 3 hours in Chipotle, but it felt like only 15 minutes. I love this girl! We met each other at Olivet's freshman orientation and have been friends ever since. Kara and I have visited England together, roomed together our junior year, and supported each other through thick and thin. She's the best!

After ringing in the new year with Dave's parents on Skype, Dave and I went for our annual New Year's Eve dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We, of course, had to take a picture of ourselves before heading out.

We'd planned to watch a movie after getting back from dinner, but we took some time instead to review 2010 and share our reflections on the blog.

We watched the ball drop in Times Square, then turned the TV off. Chicago's New Year's Eve coverage isn't great, so we depended on this nifty online countdown to help us.

At midnight, we toasted to the new year and sang "Auld Lang Syne."

On New Year's Day, we went to my aunt and uncle's house to watch the Gator Bowl. Quite a few of us were all decked out in our Michigan gear, but alas, our enthusiasm wasn't enough for the Wolverines to pull off a victory. It was a sad end to their 2010 season.

Looking back on the events of last week, I'm grateful for the opportunity to take a break from the routine and spend time with friends and family. It was a great way to end 2010 and begin 2011.

Christmas 2010

It's hard for me to believe that Christmas Eve was only two weeks ago. I'm sadly way behind on updating you with our Christmas activities, but it's better late than never.

My last day of work was Wednesday, December 22, so Dave and I started the Christmas holidays that night with dinner at Chick-fil-A (or, as one of our lovely Chicago dj's called it, "Chickfillah") and a tour of Christmas lights around town.

This Santa sitting out on the front lawn looks so real! He's even sitting in a nice, comfy chair.

Have you noticed that syncing your Christmas lights with music is getting very popular these days? The house below wasn't synced, but I appreciated all the white lights.

On the 23rd,we opened up our presents from each other because we'd be busy the next two days with our extended family. Dave got me a lot of cool things, including a vacuum for the car and the promise to clean the car with it.

For lunch, we went to a great Mexican restaurant that I hadn't been to in a while. It's a little hole in the wall, but the food is delicious, especially their guacamole.

On Christmas Eve, Dave and I went to church with my parents before heading to my parents' house to party with the rest of the family. This year, we got a little creative with the presentation of our gifts, but my favorite gift was the magazine subscription we bought for my brother. You see, he is one of the most conservative (politically) guys I know, so I knew he'd appreciate a gift subscription to Townhall magazine. But we decided to have a little fun with him. Dave and I bought a very obviously liberal magazine and wrapped it up. Nate had to flip through its pages to find his real present. He was so confused! But his face lit up when he realized there was more to his present.

Dave began a great tradition in my family when we started dating--Christmas crackers! Every year, Dave and I supply the crackers, and everyone else kindly wears their paper crowns for pictures. Here are my parents with Nate and Kim.

And here's the rest of us: Uncle Ron, Auntie Jan, me, and Dave. Notice Dave's tie; he was able to wear it for our Christmas Eve festivities!

The next day was just me, Dave, and my parents. We enjoyed that delicious ham from Omaha Steaks, and I had time to take cheesy pictures in front of the Christmas tree. This reminds me of my cheerleading days.

Nate and Kim gave me In a Pickle for Christmas, so we played it on Christmas Day. Fun times!

This year, Christmas was a bit different from other years, with a quiet, no fuss Christmas Day, but I really enjoyed it. The entire Christmas weekend was a blast, and it went by way too quickly.