These last few weeks have been filled with baby bear’s porridge kind of busy – not too much, not too little but just right.
I am so taken back about this I have to tell you all about this first - I recently bought some clothes from a company called Florence Adams. They are a family company specializing in kitchen supplies and women’s apparel based out of Kansas so I ordered off of their website. Long story short, there was a mix up at the post office and I didn’t get my package until several weeks later. I didn’t think much of it because this kind of mix up always happens to me with my packages. Florence Adams’ customer service team was incredibly helpful in tracking my package for me. I got the clothes, loved them so much that I ordered a few other things. When I received that package, there was a hand written note and a BEAUTIFUL silk scarf inside (that I did not order) to thank me for my understanding with the previous package mix up. I was floored! I could not believe they took the time to do that for me. It was completely unnecessary and I am shocked. So, if you are looking for any kind of kitchen supplies or women’s clothing/accessories – check out www.florenceadams.com They are great!
A few weeks ago I noticed a few new faces at church so I introduced myself. Turns out, one of the new faces was a guy my age from Holland. He was wrapping up a 3 week treck across the US and Canada on his own. I decided to try to rally a few people for a fun dinner on his last night on this side of the Atlantic. Due to it being a Monday night, it ended up only being the two of us. After I –unintentionally- made him freeze outside for an hour (long story that clearly is the result of me not knowing downtown very well) because I could not find him, we ended up going out for an enjoyable Mexican dinner and a few drinks. Thankfully, his feet did not fall off from hypothermia. His English was impeccable and he is quite the jokester which made for an evening full of laughs. His passion for traveling reignited me so I may be jumping across the pond one of these days soon.. maybe :)
My dad came out to visit me a few weekends ago. I really enjoyed his visit. We got to spend lots of time together trying new restaurants as well as touring downtown Chicago and the big aquarium. It was interesting in the aquarium because we first toured all of the tropical fish from Asia, the Pacific, Africa and so on. Then we finished with the tour of the fish of the Great Lakes. It was odd to see fish that I grew up catching off of Grandma and Grandpa’s dock as a little child showcased in an aquarium as an exotic species. I also got to see a kind of fish that hate the sound of boat motors and will jump out of the water when the motor is running. I thought my dad was pulling my leg with another one of his grand fish stories but thankfully for his case, there was a video of them violently throwing themselves out of the water and even hitting people in the boats. They are so large that they knocked people down! My dad also got to meet a few of my friends while he was out here, which I especially enjoyed.
I can officially say that I am starting to make Chicago home because for the first time ever in almost 3 years, I ran into someone I know at the local store. I was so shocked! It was nice to see a friendly face. Mrs. B and her kids were fundraising for the school jog-a-thon and invited me to help them the following week. Of course I excitedly accepted the invitation and we followed that up with dinner and good conversation back at their house afterward. It felt like home and I really enjoyed it.
Being that we are in the heart of Fall, my friend MK and I got together to make candy apples and caramel apples. It was an experiment because we were making the coatings from scratch. She prefers organic foods so we strayed from the typical cane sugar and corn syrup to use coconut sugar and maple syrup. We couldn’t get the temperature hot enough so when we dipped the apples, all of the coatings ran off! In the end, they looked like the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree of candy apples but tasted amazing, nonetheless.
After much debate and reworking of logistics, I will be traveling to Missouri this Friday and Saturday for a 13 mile pilgrimage with folks from church from various parts of the Midwest. I am looking forward to this. For those that don’t know, this is a 3 day pilgrimage of 40+ miles total (1 day of 12 miles for those that can’t make the full 3 days). From my understanding, everyone will walk 12 miles together with priests available for confession and ending the journey with mass at the Our Lady of Sorrows chapel. I believe, in honor of All Souls Day, there will be a break to visit a cemetery to pray for the faithful departed. It should be a fun day with people of all ages.
When I get back, some friends and I plan on finally making a pumpkin pie from scratch! We are hoping to get to a pumpkin patch for the full experience as long as they are still open and it is not too cold out. I will have to post pictures from all of my adventures soon.
Until next time!
