Holiday Vacation

After spending a wonderful holiday with our family, H and I took the week after Christmas off work, which has been wonderful! We rarely get time like this just to hang out and spend time together. But true to form, we have not relaxed very much - we took down all our Holiday decorations, organized every closet in the condo, played swapping of computers which entailed a lot of research and work to transfer itunes from old computer to new computer - yuck!

On a good note, Karen went through her last Chemo treatment yesterday, which was a great relief. We are part of the way there. The next step will be surgery in January, then 6 weeks later radiation will begin. She has been extremely positive and it shows in her recovery.

Now we are preparing for NYE! We will be spending NYE at Lumen with many of our friends. It should be a great time and it's always fun to dress up and bring in the New Year! More to come later this week!

Happy New Year! Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and prosperous New Year.

Christmas in Quincy

The morning of the 26th, H and I packed up and headed to Quincy. We are fortunate we live in a central location to both of our families, it makes holidays a lot easier and we get to spend time with everybody - which is very important to us.

Again at the Bordewick home we were fortunate to have everybody under one roof, which also does not happen as often as we would like. Upon arrival, Bob, Karen, Em, Dan and myself headed out to look at reception halls for the wedding! There is a lot of excitement happening at the Bordewick household. After checking out some locations, we headed back to the house for our Christmas Lunch and the opening of gifts. After slipping into another food coma, H and I headed out on the town to meet up with our Quincy Friends.

Saturday we spent the day eating, of course, shopping and spending time with the family. That evening we had the Bordewick Family Christmas Dinner at the Stoney Creek Inn. I have never spent the holidays with the Bordewick side of the family - it was great to spend time with everybody. I wish we could have times like this more often, rather than once a year.

Unfortunately Bob's back went out as well, Aunt Mary Lynn was experiencing bad neck pain, and Aunt Caye had knee replacement surgery - so we had more ailments this holiday season than expected!

Sunday H and I headed back to the lou - which after the holidays, we experience post-holiday depression. But, fortunately we have NYE to look forward to!
H and I in front of the Bordewick Family Christmas Tree


The Bordewick Siblings

Part of the Bordewick Clan

Bob and Uncle Dave

Karen, Gma Zibby and H putting on Gma's Christmas Present!

Christmas in Centralia

I have fallen behind on my blogging, I blame all the food and spritis the holiday season brought - I think we slipped into a food and beverage coma!

Abhi and H at Centralia House

Nemani Christmas Tree


Mom and Dad opening all their goodies!

Priti opening gifts Christmas Morning


H and I ready to open gifts!


We had a wonderful and busy holiday season! It all began on the 23rd when we headed back to Centralia to spend the first part of the holiday with my family. Unfortunately, H and I chose the day when it was very icy to head home. It took us about double the time to get home, but we finally got there! We came home to a wonderful meal my mom had prepared and spent the evening with the family. Ritu and Priti were supposed to come in that evening, but due to the weather in Chicago, they headed in the next day. During the festivities, my mom threw out her back - ouch! It has been a rough week for her, she is getting treatment for it, but it was not what she asked for from Santa this year! Christmas Eve, H, myself and Abhi headed to Centralia House to have lunch with my dad's office staff. Later that afternoon the girls arrived and we had a fun evening with all of us home. It is rare that we all are home at the same time, so this was quite a treat! Christmas Day we spent the morning making breakfast and opening gifs! That evening, Ritu and Priti prepared a gourmet dinner which could have fed an army! H and I left that evening and headed back to the Lou so we could leave for Quincy the next morning bright and early!

Christmas Angels

People always say there are Christmas Angels and miracles, but you don't quite believe it until you or somebody close to experiences it. Last week, we were made believers of this. H's mom and dad were grocery shopping, and as they were checking out, there were a few kids at the end of the aisle came up to them and said they would like to pay for their groceries, as they held out wads of cash. My in-laws were taken back and said no, it's ok! They insisted - and paid for the groceries. Come to find out, there are a couple of men in Quincy who go and get children from the orphanage and take them out, give them thousands of dollars and go around and pay for groceries. The children are responsible for choosing who they want to give the money too. It was so generous and selfless. If this does not make you a believer in Christmas Angels/Miracles, I don't know what will!

The Rockettes

On Sunday mom, dad, Abhi and myself went to see the Christmas Spectacular at the Fox. It was a wonderful show - for children and adults! The Fox is beautiful as it is, but during the holidays they have it decorated so beautifully and have a very cozy atmosphere. Here are a few pics from
before the show!

First Annual Ugly Sweater Party

This past weekend, H and I hosted our First Annual Ugly Sweater Party at our condo. It was a great time! I think that Ugly isn't the word we need to use, Tacky is more appropriate! Jerrad won the ugliest sweater, and his grand prize was a Fruit Cake! It was great to spend time with our friends. Here are some pictures from the festivities. The rest of the pictures are here.

H & I Sporting our Sweaters


The Ladies


The Winner of the Fruit Cake

Holiday Pics

Some pics from our holiday celebrations....the rest are here


SIHF Holiday Party at the Starlight Room


Before the progressive dinner

The floors decorated for the Progressive Dinner

Out for our bar crawl - just the 4 of us....we hit Newstead Public House, Ernies 33, Agave, Gast Haus, and Grizzly Bear - we definitely know how to have fun!

In Full Swing

I have gotten behind on my blogging, it has been a very busy, and fast paced holiday season so far! I hope you are all enjoying the festivities of this time of year, I know we are! Here is a run down of the last couple of weeks - and of course, pictures to come soon:

• Girls Spa Day a week ago at the Face and the Body - love that place
  
• Celebrate Mike graduating from SLU's NP program! Congratulations Mike!
• Annual Edison Condo Progressive Dinner Party - it was the best one yet!
  
• Dinner at the Rhea's - such a fun evening
  
• SIHF Company party at the Chase
• Completed all our Christmas Shopping and wrapping of gifts!

This next week I have a couple of holiday parties at work, preparing for our Ugly Sweater Party, and preparing for a Cookie Swap and then time to travel to our families!

Thanksgiving Weeekend Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our holiday weekend, the rest are here.
We celebrated Evan's Birthday, Thanksgiving and the boys did the Turkey Run!





Our home decorated for the Holidays!

Mumbai

Most of you probably have seen part of the terrible tragedies which occurred in Mumbai during the last week. This incident has been very emotional and scary. For us that have family in India, it hit us hard. There was fear and uncertainty of what was happening and if everybody was ok. Once we found out our families were ok, there was anger and confusion. It is impossible to understand this type of violence. We have seen it occur many times here in the USA and to this day nobody has ever been able to make complete sense out of it. I do not think there is any explanation for those who speak out so violently. Thank you for those who thought of us and our family, it was very appreciated. Please keep Mumbai in your prayers.

Very Thankful

A friend of mine did a list of things they were thankful for this year, and I was going to do this last week but time got away from me. So better late than never - you can look at it as what we are thankful for and an overview of 2008!

We are very fortunate and feel thankful for everything we have. It has been a little bit of a rough year, but it has made us stronger than ever.

1. Family

We have the most amazing family a couple could ask for. They are so loving, and caring. We know regardless of what happens, we have them and couldn't ask for much more.

2. Health

This year has been rough for health for our families, but we are fighting through it. Karen is fighting as hard as she can and is winning. She is very positive and has so many people praying for her. She is almost done with part 1 of treatment, so that is very exciting. My dad has had some health issues this year as well, and he is slowly getting back to normal. He also is a tough one, and knows he has no other choice than to get better. It is amazing how a family comes together during these times, and words can't even describe how ours has reacted.

3. Friends

We are lucky to have a small group of amazing friends. The older you get, the more you realize who will be in your life forever. You grow apart from some, but don't forget them, and grow closer to others. Priorities and people change, it is part of growing. We are at the age where many things in our lives begin to change and you begin to have less in common with some and more with others. It is a hard realization but one we all must face.

4. Celebrations

We had many things to celebrate this year, babies born, people married, couples engaged, and new beginnings for many. We feel very grateful to have been a part of many of these celebrations. Some highlights are:

• Wedding of Jen & Ryan
• Birth of Jack, Wilson, Payton & Isabelle
• Engagement of Emily & Dan
• Expecting Baby Shirley
• Priti's 21st Birthday
• Jaya & Tre's Wedding
  
• Isaac & Kristina's wedding

5. Our One Year Anniversary

This year H and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We went to Las Vegas to celebrate this occasion. It has been a wonderful year. I'm not going to lie, there were many adjustments, but we made it and I wouldn't change a thing. The biggest adjustment was living together. H moved in the week of our wedding, and I had not lived with anybody for over 4 years. Needless to say, there were some growing pains. Other than that married life is wonderful. It is amazing that we dated for so many years, but have learned so many new things about each other over the past year. I know it sounds completely cheezy, but it is completely different being married.

6. Fun, Fun, Fun

One thing H & I made sure we did this year was to live our life to the fullest. We did so many new and exciting things this year, here are some of our activities and accomplishments this year:

• The Mayor's Ball
• California Trip
• H was promoted to the Downtown Regions Bank
• I began a new position at the Belleville Family Health Centers
• Had date nights every couple of weeks - where we found many cool festivals through out the city
• Winery trips
• Chicago Trip
• Michigan Trip
• Visit from Lianna
• New York Trip
• Sex and The City Movie Premier
  
• Colorado Trip (H)
• Jamaica Trip for the Reimer/Shirley Wedding
• CHS 10 Year Class Reunion
• Ozarks Trip
  
• Sand Volleyball
• Las Vegas
• Fashion Week
  
• Stache Bash

The list could go on and on, but those were our highlights - I think!

I am not even going to attempt to post pictures, it would take me a whole year to choose them. But you can go here to view the pics from 2008 so far. I think I covered most of it.

We are very thankful for everything we have and hope to be able to give back even a little of what we are so lucky to have.

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope everybody had a wonderful holiday.

Wednesday evening we headed to Quincy after work to spend Thanksgiving with the Bordewicks, we had a quiet, and nice Thanksgiving. Emily and Dan were unable to come home due to her having to work, so it was just myself, H, Karen, Bob, Evan and Grandma Zibby. We had a great time and definitely ate too much! Thursday after dinner we headed to see "Four Christmases", which was hilarious - a definite must see!

Friday we decided to venture out to the shops early in the afternoon. None of us had the desire to fight the crowds in the morning! We slowly browsed a few of the stores, and none of us did any Christmas shopping, just a few things for ourselves! Friday evening H and I went out to meet some friends, which was nice because we do not get to see our friends from Quincy often. Our visit came to an end late Saturday morning when we headed back to St. Louis. We did stop on our way home and do some Christmas shopping, which put us at about the 50% mark, which was nice! That evening H and I headed to Modesto for some tapas and sangria! Yum! Sunday we were lazy, and just did our Christmas decorations, which was very fun! I have many pics and will post those soon! This week we actually are not overly busy! Just a few things to start getting ready for our Progressive dinner next weekend, dinner at the Rhea's Friday, Girls spa day on Saturday, and the annual Docter Holiday party Sunday! The holidays are here and we are in full swing of celebrations! I love it!

I am opening my centers expansion this week, so keep your fingers crossed that all goes well!

Have a great week!