-20 degrees

the wind chill here today was around -20 degrees. i have never felt this kind of cold before!! it is going to be a long winter!!
also, last Tuesday when I was driving home from work in the blizzard (6-8inches of snow) going about 10 mph I hit a small bump in the road and my driver's side window just fell out of my car. yes, thats right...the whole window fell out of my car. I was a little frazzled and wet and freezing! I picked Jonathan up at school and we drove (in the 18 degree weather during the snow storm) to the grocery store to buy saran wrap. Jonathan bought red saran wrap by mistake and we wrapped it around the window using mailing tape. I had to drive the windowless car to work the next morning and although the saran wrap was really loud, cold and red, it kept all the snow out and stayed on the entire day! Thankfully there is a glass and auto place right down the street from us. We were able to get the window fixed on Thursday. Needless to say it has been an interesting transition into the Chicago winter!!

thanksgiving!!

I had to work Thanksgiving day and the Friday after, so we weren't able to go home this year. Jonathan and I were both sad not to be with family during the holiday, but we had a great first Thanksgiving together. We celebrated on Wednesday and cooked a huge feast!! Jonathan made his mom's dressing and Mimi's spinach and rice. We bought turkey and gravy, and I made sweet potato casserole (aunt Mary's recipe), creamed corn, green beans, and a chocolate chess pie. We cooked all day and everything was delicious! It was so nice to be able to spend that time together and reflect on our blessed life.
Oh and we had one minor disaster during the cooking marathon...I made the sweet potato casserole first and I peeled about 8 sweet potatoes into the sink or garbage disposal!! Needless to say the sink was completely clogged with sweet potato peels, and we had to cook everything else using only one side of the kitchen sink. We couldn't fix the clog on Wednesday, but Jonathan somehow managed to fix it while I was at work on Thanksgiving (not exactly sure what he did, I think it involved taking the disposal apart??) Jonathan also went to Hunter and Shannon's on thanksgiving day to eat another feast! We are very thankful for our friends up here!
Then, Friday my brother came in town for the weekend. We had a great time. I ended up getting to leave work early on Friday and I met up with Reed and Meredith downtown on Michigan Avenue. It was insane...so many people!! We shopped for a little while and then met Jonathan at Giordanos, Jonathan's favorite deep dish pizza place, for dinner. Saturday we ate breakfast at Ann Sather, shopped at urban outfitters and anthropologie, and went to Mickey's in Lincoln Park to watch the Alabama vs. Auburn game. That night Reed treated us to an amazing meal at the Chicago Chop House. The food was so so good! After dinner we walked to the John Hancock building and went up to the observatory to see the views of the city.
We all had a great time that weekend!! So glad you could come up Reed!
Here are a few pictures of our Thanksgiving feast...