Goal #43 SPS Dinners

Last night we went downtown to spend some time with Mike and Kara. Not only did we have a chance to hear all of their mini-moon details, but we also celebrated Mike's birthday!

We decided to do our own little Oktoberfest and had dinner at the Chicago Brauhaus in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. It was a lot of fun.... big beer steins, a band decked out in lederhosen, and yummy pork schnitzel! I can't get the "ziggy, ziggy, ziggy.... oui, oui, oui!" chant out of my head!

Millie and Daley also met for the first time! They were fast friends and played till they dropped! :)

What a Weekend!

This weekend I didn't technically finish any new goals, but I don't want to get out of the swing of blogging! This was a perfect fall weekend! The weather was great and Jeff and I had nothing to do but enjoy it!

On Saturday, we went to Naper Settlement for the Naperville Wine Festival. They had over 250 wines available to taste and some little food samples. Servers were generous about letting us taste without taking a ticket, but they only gave us a one ounce sip. By the end we couldn't wait for a real pour!

So..... we headed down the street to Meson Sebika. I always forget about this great spot. We sat outside and had a real glass of wine (or 2!) and some hot tapas. It was a great day and evening!

We woke up feeling great on Sunday and got all of our chores (laundry & grocery store) done before heading to church. That was a first! Then we went to Cantigny Park in Wheaton and had a picnic under the beautiful trees.

Afterwards we went home to watch the Bears play the Steelers. It was a great game and I'm actually really understanding football for the first time in my life! A little eye candy doesn't hurt! I heart Greg Olsen! :)

comment notification!

If you'd like to receive email notifications when I blog something or when someone leaves a comment on here let me know. It is a feature I just discovered! Jayne & mom.... I took a leap of faith and added your emails to this list! ;)

Goal #55 Be Team Leader

At the end of last school year I was put on my school's leadership team. Yesterday I made my faculty debut in this role. I went from barely saying a word and doodling in my notebook during meetings to facilitating one with half of our staff.

I have been so preoccupied with my group of students this year, that I really didn't even have a chance to worry or prepare for this until a few hours beforehand. I was a little nervous, because while a lot of the people I was presenting to are my good friends, there were a few outspoken people that could have been a tough audience. (Am I right, Eric?)

Thankfully it went well, which makes me feel less anxious about the meetings I'll have to run in the future!

Drive a Boat!

As Kara's matron of honor, I had the responsibility of throwing a fabulous party for a girl who does it for a living. The pressure was on and I wanted to make it great!

I had 9 of Kara's closest girlfriends up to my grandparents cottage in Lake Geneva. We had a lot of fun, but I think the highlight was when I got to take everyone out on a pontoon boat.

I have never driven a boat and I was pretty nervous! It was so much fun! We had the music cranked up and all of the girls were dancing and partying. I loved being the 'captain', but I'm not gonna lie.... we had a couple of close calls where I panicked and 3 men from nearby boats had to manually grab our boat and get us moving in the right direction.... whoops! I've also learned my lesson about having people jump out for a 'quick dip' in the middle of the water when I don't know if they're strong swimmers! Luckily everyone was safe and had a blast!

It was an awesome experience! I'd definitely do it again!

Goal #50 Meet With a Financial Planner

This summer, Jeff and I met with an amazing financial planner! He helped us develop a game plan to pay down some debt we've incurred, gave us a strategy to pay ourselves first and build up a savings, and made us more financially secure by selling us life insurance policies.

I don't think we could have found a planner more concerned with our financial well being and willing to share all of his advice and wisdom..... thanks dad!!! :)