Work folk and St. Patrick's Day

Last week Preston and I went to a banquet for a clinic where he works.  The banquet had a silent auction raising money for some of the counseling center's programs.  We WON something! It's not that exciting, but we did win a great water fountain thing for our cats, which we have been contemplating on buying.  We (I) were very excited!

 


We also got to spend some time with the wonderful and fun people that Preston works with.  The first picture below includes the other Psychologist that work at the Lawndale Health Clinic with Preston.  The lady to the far left (in leopard print) and the lady in the middle (wearing blue) are Preston's supervisors.

Tracy, Casey, Su Li, and Preston. Four of the five current interns.

Sarah, Preston, and Katheryne. Katheryne and Sarah are going to be Psychology interns next year! 

One day the power went out in my office building.  We all ended up leaving early because by 2:00 the power was still not on. Before we left we went out to eat. Our office building is in Greek town and it was a gorgeous day, so we ate a fun Greek restaurant with outdoor seating. 

 

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St. Patricks Day!

This past weekend was St. Patricks day another beautiful March day. We thought we would go downtown to see the river turn green. I think the beautiful weather had everyone living in and around Chicago thinking the same thing.  ☺

There were SO MANY people out to watch the parade.   This picture below is just at the end of the parade route, there was half a mile of the route with thousands of people! We were surprised.

We did not stay for the whole parade. Heard some Irish music, saw a few floats and then were ready to leave.  I think these band players were ready to leave too. ☺

As we worked our way back towards the train.  We ran into this piece of "art work". Which when I drive to work, I pass this "art" and think "Hmm....what does this mean? What is this?"

Preston trying to be one!

"I gotta get away from these crazy legs, oh wait I can't see where I'm going"

 

"Always wanted to hang out with a bunch of iron legs"

We had lunch at EPIC BURGER!!! Been there a few times and really enjoy the place. We share a Honey and Milk shake, which has honey, milk, almonds, and bananas. Yummy!

Fun times in this warm March weather!

 One for the road: Normally after work the trains are crowded. So, I felt like maybe I missed the memo when I was the only one on the train Friday afternoon. Bizarre.

Where is everyone?

Hope anyone reading this is doing well!

Blessings,
Preston and Krystal

Winter's end.....soon

Preston's Valentine date itinerary ♥

It's been a nice start to the beginning of 2012. Already March...time flies!

The winter makes every one kind of slow down a little. Even here in the big city, life slows down. Stores close earlier, outdoor dining is brought in, you don't hear as much Hispanic music blaring around our home, and of course, no smell of cookouts. So, like everyone else, we too have had a simple winter. But we did celebrate Chinese New Years with Preston's intern friends (of course we have no photos of it, but it was authentic Chinese food). It was a fun experience.

Probably have eaten too much pizza this winter. I think Preston wants to eat pizza from every pizza place before we leave here....and there are A LOT of unique pizza places.

Some authentic deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati's.  One piece is about two servings worth.  It is called "The Lou"

We did make it out to Millennium park to ice skate, after we had a nice time at Hancock's Signature lounge on the 96th floor, a beautiful evening view of the city.

We are downtown ice skating in the park.  We never actually fell (a few close calls though)

Snow stayed away for the most part, but it stayed plenty cold for us. Also, we now attend a Spanish church on Sundays, and enjoy that cultural experience. ☺

Preston is working really hard on his dissertation right now. There were a few bumps in the road, but it looks like things are going smoother now.  The goal is to have this beast completed by mid-summer so that he can defend it. Then on to graduation!!!!!!  

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Today was the first day that really felt like Spring is on it's way.  I LOVE SPRING!!!! It is my absolute favoritist time of the year. Walking home today was wonderfully beautiful.  I love the sun shining on my way home.....it's no longer dark when I get home. Yippee!

We are looking foward to the warmer weather, which should liven things up around here.  The city is much more fun in the warmth! Plus, we already have some people scheduled to come visit us this summer.  It is always a joy seeing familiar faces.

Blessings,
Preston and Krystal

A couple of days a month I have to drive to work, and I get to see the sun rise over Lake Michigan. Beautiful!

Thanksgiving post!

I seem to take too long between posting blogs. I know that Thanksgiving is far out of most people's minds and we are all looking forward to Christmas now, but here is our Thanksgiving post. ☺

Preston and I stayed in Chicago for the Thanksgiving holiday.  My parents were able to fly into the city to be here too, which was very nice.  They arrived on Wednesday evening before T-day and left on the Sunday following T-day.

Our first outing was to the parade. However, there was a pit stop. My dad is very friendly to everyone. He just wanted to say hello to the cop and to several other strangers in the city! It was fun!

The parade! It was quite fun and VERY cold!!! The parade was full of fun floats, lots of bands, and some interesting characters.  We stood next to a train line, and so all the big floats had to get under the train line, which you can see in the few photos of the parade that follow.

As I mentioned, it was VERY cold. The parade lasted till about 11:00 and we stayed there until about 10:00 am.  We did manage to go by the famous bean before going back to the house for our thanksgiving dinner. 

Preston thought this was very funny! :)

  None of us were eager to get up early and go black Friday shopping here in the city. We spent the day around the city going to the Navy pier, the stained glass museum, and the Sears tower (which there was a two hour wait to go up...so we left).  We ate dinner at the famous deep dish pizza place and then went to the Water tower place to do some black Friday night shopping!  We also walked through the American Girl store, which was really neat. We had a fun filled weekend going out to eat, more shopping, seeing the house and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright and of course had the famous Chicago hot dogs.  We stayed busy for sure.

The American Girl store!

Stained glass museum

 

One of the largest Macy stores in the world. It's 8 floors!

We video chatted with my sister and her husband on Thanksgiving day. That was fun!

The nicest part, of course, was just spending time together. It's always nice to be around family, which we look forward to doing again in about a week.

I suppose the Christmas season is starting!!! Friday we woke up to snow covered ground ☺, Saturday I got most of the Christmas shopping done and we went to a Christmas party with some friends from church. Tonight we are going to the Moody Christmas services, which I hear is great!

Then, on to the more fun part of Christmas....we're going South to be with our family!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! :)

From October to now

It's been over a month since we have posted on our blog.  Mostly because we're settled into our routine. Both of us are working full time plus. The weather is beginning to turn cooler, but we are not really talking too much about it because we know that the real cold weather is going to come.  

Way back on the first day of October, we went apple picking.  I made an apple pie and Preston cut up apples and dehydrated them. 






Joseph was in town a few weeks ago and we were able to meet up with him for lunch one Sunday. We quickly snapped a photo before parting ways. For some reason this photo just makes me laugh!




Joseph Roberts, Krystal and Preston

 

 At the end of October we went to one of the interns home and carved pumpkins, which neither of us had done in a really long time. 

The first weekend of November, Preston went to spend some time with his family in Tennessee. 

I stayed here in Chicago for the weekend because I'm still on my "probation period" at work and I had signed up for a 5k race....which was super fun...and I actually improved my pace 

Preston's younger sisters made him a welcome home sign! Derek was just a little too overwhelmed with excitement and surprise to see his wonderful brother, PRESTON!! Hehehe...silly boys.

We are doing very well here.  Just a couple of more weeks until Thanksgiving!! We are very excited to have my parents in town for the Thanksgiving holiday. And then Christmas!!! Yay!

Birthday fun!

Preston and I had fun this past weekend as we celebrated my birthday. Since both of us had to work on Monday (and Preston works late on Mondays) Saturday was my birthday celebration day. To begin, the weather was superb. The sun was shining, there was a light breeze, and warm temperature all day! Preston and I ran in a 5k first thing in the morning. Preston did an EXCELLENT (in my humble opinion) job running the race in 24 minutes, while I was happy with my time finishing at 36 minutes. The race was put on by the clinic Preston works at, and it was run through the rougher part of the neighborhood. It was neat seeing scripture along the roadside as we ran, and it was cool to take part in an effort to help the community develop a healthier image of itself!  We're looking forward to trying to improve our time at our next run.

In the afternoon we went to a quaint and dainty little chocolate shop called Leonidas (a Belgian chocolate cafe) where we had a chocolate tasting. It really was just like a wine tasting but with chocolate. The lady brought out several different types of belgian chocolates and talked about each one of them as we ate them.  Preston also enjoyed a Hazelnut latte and I enjoyed a Gingerbread latte. Very tasty event!  We also went by the Hershey store close by. 

 

 

Then we took a stroll down a few blocks and walked along the beach front....beautiful night. We ended up at the Navy Pier where we took a boat ride. Not just any boat ride...we road the Seadog, which is a speed boat! It was SO much fun. It's a big speed boat that holds up to 100 passengers and rides around lake Michiagan. Before the boat went back to the Navy pier, we sat still in the water watching a beautiful firework show! A lovely evening indeed and one of the neatest things we have done so far in the city. 

   

A picture of a picture...us in front of the boat...and you can see the city behind

A glimpse of the fireworks

Life is continuing as normal for us. I ride the L (train) every day to and from work. I have been enjoying the ride and I get to read and even crochet while on the train. I make a few transfers to get to work. The blue line is particularly crowded. Every morning as it pulls into the station I see the crowds sitting and standing on the train carts, and I think "I don't believe I will fit in there," but everyday I manage to squeeze my way on and sqeeze my way off at my stop! 

 

Preston is doing well at his internship and enjoying working with the diverse population. We had all of his co-interns over for dinner and games last weekend. They are a great group of people, and it's nice that Preston gets to work around people who share similar beliefs and lifestyles! 

 

We are very blessed, life is good, and God is great.....and the Steelers won their second game!!! :)