Merry Christmas to me!

I've been saving up for a few months, and I was finally able to purchase something I've been wanting for a long time!  A DSLR camera!!!

I've had it since we got home from Canada and I've had a lot of fun learning how to use it.  I know I still have SO much to learn, but I'm really hoping this will be key to improving my photography!

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours,

We wish you a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate

the birth of our Savior!

Merry Christmas and blessings for the New Year!

Melissa, Mike, and Champ ;)

Christmas Around Our House

Merry Christmas and welcome to my house! C'mon in and I'll show you around!

Here you can see my Christmas card display.  I made it myself--a piece of festive ribbon with a bow on top.  Then I bought some tiny clothespins to attach the cards to the ribbon.  We don't have too many cards, but I wanted a fun way to display them!

I love this Christmas puppy--he looks a lot like Champ did when he was younger!

Here's my little Christmas centerpiece for our dining room table.  Feel free to grab some candies as I show you to the living room.

Come with me to our living room, I'd love to show you our tree! We have lots of ornaments on it that have special meanings for us.  And of course, under the tree you can see presents for our family members!

Here's a fun ornament to celebrate of first Christmas together as a married couple!

I wish you could see it better in this picture, but because of the flash, you can't see the words. It says "New Home 2010"

We started a tradition last year that Mike and I buy each other a Christmas ornament.  This is the one he got me last Christmas.

My SEM student made me this ornament this year!

This is the ornament I bought Mike last year

Mike and I both got one of these for Christmas last year from the SEM leaders.

This is an ornament that I have had for as long as I can remember!  When you push it, it plays We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Of course, I can't forget to introduce you to Tyler, our talking snowman.  He always has a friendly greeting as you enter our living room!

I love this little Christmas tree--it looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss movie! 

Mike's favorite artist is Thomas Kinkade.  For his birthday this year, my parents gave him this fiber optic wall hanging.  You can't see it in the picture, but the lights on the house and the Christmas tree change colors.  It's beautiful in the dark!

Let's head into the kitchen and we can enjoy some cookies and hot chocolate!  I'm so glad you stopped by!

A Christmas Survey

I saw this survey over at Lindsay's blog, and I thought it would be fun to play along!  Only 3 days until Christmas!!!  Are you ready?  I think I am, just 1 more gift to wrap.  Oh, and lots of baking to do tomorrow :)

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?? Definitely hot chocolate.  I had egg nog for the first time earlier this month and it wasn't my favorite.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? We rarely did "Santa" gifts growing up, but when we did, they were wrapped.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I love colored lights, that's what we have on our tree.  I think it looks so festive.  But, I also think white lights on a tree with some fancy decorations is stunning as well!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, I don't think I ever have!

5. When do you hang your decorations up? We usually put up our decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving.  This year, I had everything up then except for my village set (which may or may not get set up tomorrow!)

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My mom and Grandma's homemade stuffing. Nothing beats that!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Oh my, I don't think I could pick just one.  I loved when my parents would send us on a scavenger hunt for our "big" present, hiding clues around the house.  I also like getting wooden shoes with goodies in them from my mom on Sinterklaas Dag.

8. What is on your Christmas Wishlist? A lot!  Some things I asked for included:  a BOSU ball, a foam roller, a heart rate monitor, running socks, a jump rope (notice a trend here?)

9. Do you open a gifts on Christmas Eve? Yes!  Growing up, my family always did presents on Christmas Eve, right after the church service.   It's perfect because Mike's family always celebrates on Christmas Day, so we can celebrate with both our families.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? This year we have a new tree which has pinecones in it, plus we put some colored lights on it.  We have a colored star on top and all kinds of ornaments.  We both have ornaments from our childhood as well as the ones we gave eachother last year.  I have a few colored balls, but it's mostly special ornaments.

11. Snow? Love it or dread it? I love snow for Christmas and about a week afterward.  After that, I'm ready for summer!

12. Real tree or fake tree? We have a fake tree now.  Growing up we typically had a real tree, so I miss the evergreen scent!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I have received so many incredible gifts, I can't choose just one!

14. What’s the most important thing about Christmas for you? Celebrating the birth of Jesus with family and friends!

15. What is your favorite Holiday dessert? I have to choose just one?  I really don't know...I can't think of a dessert that we only get around the holidays!

16. What is your favorite tradition? The candle-light service (now just the last song) at church on Christmas Eve, followed by going to my parents' and preparing a feast of appetizers and dessert-type foods.  Then we read the Christmas story and open gifts.

17. What tops your tree? A colorful star...I took it from my parents :)

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving!  I love picking out gifts for people and seeing their reactions when they receive them!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? A tie between Christmas Shoes and Breathe of Heaven.

20. Candy canes, yuck or yum? Peppermint--yuck!  Fruity--yum!

21. Favorite Christmas Movie? I have so many: Elf, Mary Christmas, Polar Express, The Santa Claus (all of them!), How the Grinch Stole Christmas...

22. What do you leave for Santa? Nothing...lame, I know!

23. Do you have a Christmas morning tradition? Usually cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

24. Do you prefer to shop on-line or at the mall? Both!  They both have advantages, but I did the majority of my shopping online this year!

25. Christmas letter or Christmas card? Card...I should probably get them in the mail...

Champ Update

Has it really been 15 days since my last post?  Why, yes, it has...shame on me!  It's hard to believe it is already December 20th.  This month has been so incredibly busy, it's just flown by!  We've had Christmas parties for SEM, Youth Group, Work, and of course family!  I also did my very first Craft Show earlier this month and it went well!  We were in Canada last Thursday through Sunday and had a fabulous time with our family, I'll upload pictures soon to share them!  For now, here's some pictures of our adorable growing puppy!


Just to remind you, this was how big he was when we got him!  I think he weighed between 16 and 20 pounds.




We gave him a bath a few weeks ago.  Not surprisingly (since he is part Labrador Retriever), he loves water and bath time.  Afterwards, I wrapped him in a towel to dry him off and prevent him from shaking everywhere!




The day after Thanksgiving, we bought him this huge (24") rawhide bone and a dog bed.  It's been less than a month and there is about a 3" section of the very end of the bone left.  He likes to lay on his bed and play with his toys.



See how much he's grown?  I took this picture last week, and Champ is now 6 months old (on Dec. 16).  I weighed him on Monday and he was up to 44.4 pounds!  He's just a big soft furball :)

Champ and Daddy

This is quite a common sight in our house.  The two "men" taking a nap on the floor.  Last night they were laying face to face, but I'm not supposed to post that picture :)

Champ is fully house-trained (and has been for a while).  He knows some basic commands, but is best at "sit".  We are still working on "stay" and "come".  He's a very smart dog, and we love having him around!

Friend Makin' Mondays--I am...

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!


FMM: I am…

1. I am good at…baking, cooking, leading others.
2. I am happy when…I am with my friends and family.

3. I am working on…keeping my house clean!  It's hard, but I'm learning!
4. I am interested in…fitness and healthy living.
5. I am always…smiling :)
6. I am enjoying…the Christmas season!

7. I am in…love with my husband! ;)
8. I am reading…through my constantly growing stack of magazines. I think I'm reading either Shape or Fitness right now.

9. I am concerned about…nothing that I can think of!

10. I am looking forward to…upcoming Christmas parties!

A Thankful Month

As I look back on my list of thankfulness over the past month, I'm again aware of how much I really do have to be thankful for!

1. A quiet and productive evening at home.
2. An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3. My nice warm house!
4. My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5. A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6. An extra hour of sleep!
7. A job I enjoy.
8. My health.
9. The ability to make healthy choices.
10. A warm workplace, house, and car!
11. A day off.
12. The ability to run an incredible race with some amazing women (more details soon!)
13. A restful and relaxing Sunday.
14. A few peeks of sunshine through the dark clouds.
15. An evening at home to get things done.
16. The incredible group of girls in my small group at youth group!
17. Spending time with family.
18. A productive day off.
19. A husband who is willing to watch "girly" movies with me, and even enjoy them! (He took me to see Breaking Dawn!)
20. My church family.
21.  Another day...even if it is a Monday!
22.  My puppy who can always make me smile
23.  A new baby in the family...congrats Kim and Eric :)
24.  That both of my families get along well!
25.  The means to buy the things we need, and some things we just want.
26.  My husband and everything about him!
27.  A 4 day weekend!
28.  Food :)
29.  Self-discipline.
30.  A gorgeous sunshiney day!

Friend Makin' Monday: Holiday Shopping

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  I'll try to post about ours later this week, along with the continuation of my November Thankfulness list!  But now it's time for a quick Friend Makin' Monday post...

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Do you like to shop? Usually!

Have you started shopping for Christmas gifts yet? Yes!  I have about 75% of my shopping done and wrapped!
Did you shop on Black Friday? If so, what did you buy? I did!  We got up at 3 am on Friday to head to Menard's.  Our big purchases were a dog bed, dog toys, work lights for our basement, and some Christmas gifts.  Totally worth the savings and the atmosphere was so fun!
List a few of your favorite stores. Target, Kohls, Peter's Gourmet Outlet
What is the last thing you purchased for yourself (food and drinks excluded?) A candle.
Do you prefer to shop in-store or online? Both!  I love the convenience of shopping online but I like to be able to try on clothing in stores.
If you could purchase one thing that you don’t need at all for yourself today, what would it be? Probably some kind of workout equipment...
Does your significant other shop with you? Do they love it/hate it? Sometimes...Mike rarely comes grocery shopping with me, but he'll go other places with me.  Typically he doesn't complain unless I add in extra stops, but there are definitely things he'd rather be doing.
Do you shop at thrift stores? Occasionally.

When you’re holiday shopping, do you make lists? Yes!  I'm totally a list person!  It's the only way I can keep everything straight!

It's Your Day!

Happy 23rd birthday Mike!  I'm so thankful to have you in my life.  I love you more and more every day!

5k Results

The race results have (finally) been posted, so now I can tell you about my most recent 5k on November 12th.  This race was really special because I was able to run it with a group of friends from church, Jennifer, Karen (and her husband and son), Kim, Bekah (Kim's daughter), and Erica.  I loved the race course because it was flat and well marked!  And, I have to say, the post-race refreshments were the best I've had yet!

Getting ready to begin

My original training plan was to complete a 5k each month through the summer in preparation for a 10k in October.  However, a stress fracture way-laid those plans and I didn't run a single race between June 28 and November 12.  This was my comeback, and I did make a nice comeback!  I crossed the line with an official time of 28 minutes and 13 seconds!  This was my best race yet by 1 minute and 8 seconds; I ran my fastest mile times ever too!

So get this though, they start to announce the awards and I figured I'd stick around to see what place Karen's husband took. All a sudden they called my name...I took 3rd place of the females in my age division. Whoo hoo! Shout out also to Karen who took 3rd in her age division and her husband who took 1st in his. What a day for all of us!

3rd place medal--very surprised and thrilled!

Our little group of runners

Just so I can keep track of it, and if you want to see my progress, here are my past race results:
3/12/11--Black River Rat Race--31:51
4/16/11--Lamont River Run--30:33 (not chipped)
5/28/11--Kick Off to Summer Run--31:12
6/28/11--Zeeland Zoom--29:21
11/12/11--Paradise Bound--28:13 (not chipped)

Playing Catch-Up

I have to admit, I'm not doing too well at posting my thankful list every day.  However, that certainly doesn't mean that I don't have things to be thankful for!


1. A quiet and productive evening at home.
2. An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3. My nice warm house!
4. My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5. A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6. An extra hour of sleep!
7. A job I enjoy.
8. My health.
9. The ability to make healthy choices.
10. A warm workplace, house, and car!
11.  A day off.
12.  The ability to run an incredible race with some amazing women (more details soon!)
13.  A restful and relaxing Sunday.
14.  A few peeks of sunshine through the dark clouds.
15.  An evening at home to get things done.
16.  The incredible group of girls in my small group at youth group!
17.  Spending time with family.
18.  A productive day off.
19.  A husband who is willing to watch "girly" movies with me, and even enjoy them!  (He took me to see Breaking Dawn!)
20.  My church family.

Saving Money on Healthy Items

I discovered a new website the other day and I'm super excited about it!  Excited enough to share it with you! 

The website is called VitaCost and it offers reduced cost vitamins, supplements, and other healthy items!  It is the internet's leading wholesale nutritional supplement store.  But it offers so much more than just supplements...

I've been dealing with knee pain from running, and I told Mike I wanted to start taking glucosamine to see if that would help.  I found some on VitaCost for a fraction of what I would have paid in the store.  I also found garlic powder at an insanely low price!  There are so many things I would love to buy, and I know in the future I will because the prices are so low.  Things like: flax seeds, rice flour, almond butter, protein powders, baking mixes.  Seriously, I could go on and on!

My nutritionist/chiropractor has me on a Thyroid complex and Trace B-12 supplement right now, along with fish oil.  They were not cheap to buy from her, but I found them for so much cheaper at VitaCost and I'll be ordering my next round there!

I really like how they ship your order out the same day (if you order before 4pm) and shipping is a flat fee of $4.99 (free for orders over $49!) There are constantly deals, both a weekly and daily special, on top of their already lower prices.

I'm sharing this with you because I know how much you like to save money, and I know some of you are on a health journey as well.  Right now, VitaCost is also offering referral rewards.  This means when you sign up through my link, we both get $10 to spend!  (Then you can invite your friends and get rewards from them!)  It's a win-win for both of us.  You can get $10 worth of free products and only spend $4.99 for the shipping...can't go wrong with that!  Give it a try and let me know what deals you found :)

November Thankfulness Continued...

Can you believe November is almost halfway over?  And Thanksgiving is next Thursday?  Me neither!  Time is just flying by!

Today, I'm thankful for...


1. A quiet and productive evening at home.
2. An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3. My nice warm house!
4. My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5. A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6. An extra hour of sleep!
7. A job I enjoy.
8. My health.
9. The ability to make healthy choices.
10. A warm workplace, house, and car!
11.  A day off.
12.  The ability to run an incredible race with some amazing women (more details soon!)
13.  A restful and relaxing Sunday.
14.  A few peeks of sunshine through the dark clouds.

As for me...

A few weeks ago Mike and I (finally) saw the movie Courageous.  If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.  We were both touched and inspired by it.  At the end of the movie (right before the credits) a verse comes on the screen.  Joshua 24:15--As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  Mike commented to me about how much he liked that verse, and that was the inspiration for my most recent plate.

I wanted to put an emphasis on the words in red.  Try saying it outloud, with a bit of attitude on the red words! 

I love how this turned out, and Mike was quite please when I gave it to him.  Now we just have to find a place to display it!

The List Keeps Growing!

Today, I'm thankful for...
1. A quiet and productive evening at home.
2. An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3. My nice warm house!
4. My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5. A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6. An extra hour of sleep!
7. A job I enjoy.
8. My health.
9. The ability to make healthy choices
10. A warm workplace, house, and car!

What are you thankful for?

So Much To Be Thankful For!

Today, I'm thankful for...

1.  A quiet and productive evening at home.
2.  An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3.  My nice warm house!
4.  My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5.  A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6.  An extra hour of sleep!
7.  A job I enjoy.
8.  My health.

What are you thankful for?

Continuing Thankfulness

Today, I'm thankful for...

1.  A quiet and productive evening at home.
2.  An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3.  My nice warm house!

4.  My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5.  A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6.  An extra hour of sleep!

What are you thankful for?

Working around the house

When we moved into our house, the only lighting in the kitchen was a set of 3 tracklights (and a dim little light over the sink).  I was constantly frustrated by the poor lighting because it made for really bad food pictures, and it was difficult to see anything in the evenings because the lights created so many shadows in the kitchen--I could barely read a recipe!  About a month into our marriage, Mike's dad rigged up the little contraption you see on the far left light bulb.  Have a bare bulb helped the light situation a little bit, but it certainly wasn't a good long-term solution!

Can you guess what my amazing husband and awesome father-in-law are planning to do?  Oh yes...I know they love me!  (Or they got sick of me complaining about the lack of lighting in our kitchen!)

After a few hours of hard work (I did help!), this was the result...

Beautiful can lights in my kitchen!  It really is incredible what a difference these lights make!  My kitchen is nice and bright now, I can take decent food pictures inside, and I can read recipes without turning every light in the vicinity on!  Thank you Mike and Pops! :)

Today, I'm thankful for...

1.  A quiet and productive evening at home.
2.  An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3.  My nice warm house!

4.  My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!

November Thankfulness

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has said this to you in the past 2 days, but it's worth saying again...  Can you believe it's already November?!?!  Seriously, where did time go?  I can't believe that we are already 10 months into 2011, only 2 months until 2012!  This year is just flying by!

We have been blessed with so much this year, and I feel like I have so much to be thankful for!  For the rest of the month, I'll be posting things that I am thankful for.  If you'd like to join me, feel free.  Let me know if you're joining in so that I can check your blog each day to see your growing list!  I'll do my best to post every day, but you all know how bad I am at that! :)

Today, I'm thankful for...

1.  A quiet and productive evening at home.
2.  An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!

Too Early!

There was a very unwelcome sight outside this morning when I took Champ out. Chunks of ice in the grass!  I know it's nearly the end of October, but I'm not ready for this cold weather!

Happenings and Friend Makin' Monday

I feel like I have so many things to write about, but not enough time to write about them all!  I do have a bunch of posts that are half-written, so I'll get them posted eventually, but it might be all old news by then! :)  So let me give you a quick run-down of what's been going on in our lives:

*Champ is growing by leaps and bounds!  I weighed him last Monday and he was 26 pounds.  I weighed him this morning and he was 30.8 pounds!  Wowza....he still has tons of energy of course!  He runs circles around our house and it's hilarious to watch.  He's pretty much housetrained (except for when new people come over and he gets excited, or when he drinks a ton and we don't let him out right away!)  I have some pictures I'll be posting at some point!

*The 7th was the last day I worked at WSCS (the men's counseling office).  For years, the 2 businesses (WSCS and EC) have shared a building.  Since both of agencies are growing, WSCS decided to find a new location.  This meant that since I worked for both agencies, I needed to travel between buildings.  Not a big deal, but still....  Well, a few weeks ago, EC asked if I would work for them full time.  I asked for some time to think about it and talk it over with Mike.  I felt like it was a big decision since when I started 2 years ago, I was working primarily for WSCS and over the past year I have transitioned to doing more for EC.  After a week of praying and talking about it, Mike and I decided it was in our best interest for me to accept the offer.  I now work Mon-Thurs all day at EC, and I have Fridays off.  So far, it's going great and I love it!

*I signed up for a 5k with a group of ladies from church on November 12th.  After not running for nearly 5 weeks, I feel like I'm completely starting over again!  I certainly have my work cut out for me over the next 3 weeks, however, I have told myself that I don't have to PR at this race!

*Mike and I went to see Courageous on Saturday.  If you haven't seen it, we highly recommend it!  It was such a great movie and we both got choked up a few times.  We have the other 3 movies from Sherwood Pictures, so we'll definitely be adding this one to our collection!

*Youth group started last month, I have an incredible group of 10th and 11th grade girls.  They love to talk, and when we can keep them on topic, they have so many great things to say.  I can't wait to see where God continues to lead us this year!

I know I can come up with more to share, but that's what my next posts are for!  Now it's time for this week's edition of Friend Makin' Monday!

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: http://www.alltheweigh.com/ so we can all see your FMM questions and answers.  The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Recipe Exchange

Let’s share one or two of our favorite Fall recipes this week! It’s always fun to mix things up in the kitchen!

If you've taken a look at my food blog recently, you know it's full of fall inspired apple and pumpkin recipes.  I love fall baking, and I've been able to spend more time in the kitchen now since I have Fridays off!  One of my favorite recipes is this one from Mike's mom:  Ma's Apple Crisp!

Chicago--First Anniversary

Mike and I celebrated our first anniversary with a weekend trip to Chicago.  We booked our hotel through Priceline and snagged a great deal!  We decided to take the train in from Michigan City so we wouldn't have to pay for parking.  Our hotel was about a 15 minute walk from the train station, and about 15 minutes from the beginning of the Magnificent Mile.  We were within walking distance of everything we wanted to do, so we didn't even have to pay for a taxi! 

We had an awesome trip...it went by way too quickly, but we really enjoyed our time away with no set schedule or anything we had to do!  I have a ton of pictures to share, so I hope you enjoy them all!

Our hotel room was huge!  I have to tell you about the pillows...do you see that little green thing around the pillow?  They actually have a "pillow menu" so you can choose a pillow to fit your needs (soft, firm, etc).  The green tags tell you what kind of pillow you have!  The bathroom was quite large, and I was impressed by their Bath and Body Works shampoos, conditioners, and lotions! 

Our room was on the 20th floor of the hotel, and we had an incredible view of the city! 

For dinner on Friday night, we went to the famous Ed Debevic's.  Mike had eaten here once before and he really wanted me to experience it.  Mike ordered a chili dog...it was over a foot long and more a sausage than a hot dog!  I had a buffalo chicken sandwhich which was super spicy, but tasty!

The food was good, but the atmosphere is what really made the night. The restaurant is set up like a 50's diner, and the waitstaff tries to dress the part.  If you didn't know what to expect before you went, you'd think the waitstaff was incredibly rude; however, that's the point.  For instance, after we were seated, our waiter (the male in the picture), threw paper hats at us and told us to put our thinking caps on and order!  He mocked Mike for eating slowly and spilled my drink all over when he brought a refill.  It's all part of the exprience.  And of course, we can't forget the waitstaff dancing on the counters!

After dinner we ventured out to find Trader Joe's.  I was super excited when I heard there are multiple TJ's in Chicago and I told Mike we had to go to one!  I could have bought so much more but since we had to carry our items on the train, I restrained myself.  I wish there was a TJ's in Michigan!  We also made a stop at the 8 story Sports Authority (I found another favorite store!) before heading back to our hotel room (the view was even more spectacular at night!)

Saturday morning, we went to Eggsperience for breakfast.  Wow was it ever good!  I saw Nutella crepes on the menu and I knew I had to have them.  I also had a mango smoothie and I left completely satisfied and overly stuffed!  Mike ordered an omelet, expecting just an omelet.  You should have seen his face when he received an omelet the size of his plate, with a side of hash browns and 2 pancakes!  Food might not be cheap in Chicago, but you certainly get what you pay for!

After breakfast, we ventured down to the Magnificent Mile--we had to burn off all we ate of course!  We passed a huge mob outside the Apple store.  We stopped to see what the fuss was about and saw hundreds of sticky notes on the front windows with flowers, apples, pictures, and notes, all in memory of Steve Jobs who had passed just days before.

We saw this in the Water Tower Place--would you have guessed that it's made out of Legos?  By this point in the day we were both getting tired of walking, and my stomach was really hurting (I probably ate more at breakfast than I had eaten in the previous 2 days!) so we headed back to the hotel.  We ended up taking a 2 hour nap, and we were still so full from breakfast that neither of us minded skipping lunch.  (I was disappointed that it was one less restaurant I'd get to try, but I didn't want to not be hungry for supper!)

After a relaxing afternoon, we ventured out again to the Magnificent Mile.  We still had a few stores that we wanted to visit.  One of those stores was H&M, we were right across from it earlier in the day but we didn't see it!  I went in and found a shirt that I liked; I asked Mike if he wanted to look in the men's area.  He said he didn't need anything, but let's look anyway.  We ended up buying him 4 new shirts!  So much for not needing anything...  For dinner, we went to Cheesecake Factory!  I started with a salad and Mike ordered some sliders.  We split a bbq chicken pizza for our main course.  And of course, we took a piece of strawberry cheesecake back to our hotel room!

Sunday morning we woke up and looked out the window.  This is what we saw!  Runners!  We had no idea that we were in Chicago for the Chicago Marathon until someone asked us about it at the train station Friday.  I was so excited when I heard we'd get to watch!  We didn't know that the race went right past our hotel so that was so neat!

This picture was taken about 30 minutes after the previous picture.  When we first got up, I thought we were just seeing the stragglers in the back of the pack since there were so few runners.  I was wrong though, and they were the leaders!

After breakfast (at the hotel's restaurant), we ventured outside to see the race up close.  We found out that we were seeing the runners just past the 12-mile marker.  I commented to Mike about a very pregnant lady we saw running and we're fairly certain she's the one who gave birth shortly after finishing!

Our hotel was in the same building as the Art Institute, so we saw some really neat structures outside.  This one reminded me of a similar colored one in Grand Rapids.

This was the view from our floor on the hotel. You can see the restaurant in the back and some cozy sitting areas in front of them.  It was a very modern feeling hotel!

Here we are on the train heading back home!  We had such a great weekend--lots of good food, good shopping, and awesome company!