Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Tchau 2013

I'll get the running portion out of the way first...:

1433 Miles ran in 2013. An increase of 15% over 2012's 1245 miles. (An increase of 188 miles.)
2013 was a fantastic year for me! Running Wise it was a great year.This blog usually only highlights the running side of things, which is a tiny sliver of my real life.  I love looking back at my little slice of the internets to see where I've been and where I can improve.
One of the main highlights of 2013 was visiting Brasil for 9 days in January.  I was so happy to meet L's parents finally :)
I also enjoyed eating all the Brasilian foods- like this "Pastel" filled with ham, tomato and cheese from the farmers market post run. I still think about all the wonderful fresh foods I ate while there.
I also ate HALF of the most awesome mortadella sandwich in the world. That sandwich is like a once a year treat. But DAYUM it was delicious with a cold beer in the middle of the market.
Bar do Mane, Sao Paulo.
Along with all the amazingly friendly people I met in Brasil, I found a new "friend" at Parque Ibirapuera on one of my runs.
Galinha d'Angola

I hope to return to Brasil in 2014 to see L's family and our friends again. Just absolutely not during the World Cup or Carnivale.  Until then, I'll just keep cooking Brasilian food and looking at my old photos and posts from the trip.  Part 1,  Part 2, Part 3, Part 4,  Trofeu Cidade de Sao Paulo. (10k Race)


We did cool things.

Like go to 2 Chicago Bulls games.
Air Benny!

I went to a Chicago Cubs game again with co-workers. It's a yearly tradition.
L and I went to the Chicago Beer fest again and sampled waaay too many delicious beers mainly from the Mid West.
Pretzel necklaces worn like true craft beer geeks. We meant business.

We also brewed beer twice. The first batch (an IPA) came out terrible. Currently our 2nd batch- a Chocolate Maple Porter is in the fermentation stage and will hopefully yield a better result than our lysol IPA.  
One byproduct of the brewing process is the spent grain used in the "mash." Since this does not contain hops or anything else poisonous to dogs, it is completely safe to turn it into dog biscuits. This is the first time I've baked dog treats and was actually fun to make. 

CB knew I was making these for him and kept supervising me the entire time. I've never seen him so focused on one thing for so long. He is very pleased with the finished product and hopes we brew beer again soon.
Just add some peanut butter, eggs, and flour to the grains and BOOM 170+ biscuits!

We also went to cool places this year.

Asides from the trip to Brasil, we went to Las Vegas like we do each year for a conference. I realized this trip that I am "too old" and/or "not old enough" to really enjoy this place anymore.
**Too old because im not into getting shitfaced with the douchebags at the clubs, 
Not old enough because I don't enjoy gambling like the octogenarians. 

We also took a trip to the San Francisco Bay area so L could be a groomsman in his friend's wedding. While there, we went to the world famous Mikkeller Bar in San Francisco, and I was able to take some time before the wedding to go stand up paddle boarding in Monterey Bay where I made some new sea lion friends.
I can't believe the sea lion jumped out in front of me. I still can't believe I captured a photo of it. 

Friends and Family are everything.

We were fortunate to see so many people we love this year.
My Daad, L's God daughter, and some of our close friends among many others.

Oh and the *most significant* happening of 2013 was L and I got engaged!

We did it in the "Brasilian style" because well, L is Brasilian. The custom is quite different from America. There's no OMG TOTES SURPRISE viral showy proposal or diamond ring. Instead, the couple agrees to be engaged and exchanges matching wedding bands which they wear on their right hand. Once they are married, they switch the ring to their left hand.
We got engaged in July. Yes, I purposely didn't share on social media for 7 months, oh the horror!

Yeah, so 2013 was a pretty kick ass year for L and I and CB. So many memories happened here that obviously weren't mentioned- these were just the "highlights."


Tchau, 2103. It's been fun.

Feliz Ano Novo, Happy New Year!

-xaar

10 comments:

  1. Yay, comments are back :) You really traveled a lot this year! Any plans to go back to Brasil next year?

    I wondered if you were going to share your news here! I like the Brasilian tradition for getting engaged! That's more or less what Bob and I did, minus the wedding bands (though the bands we ended up getting do match!). We just talked about it on NYE a couple years ago and that was that. I didn't want an engagement ring (seemed like a waste of money) and I find the big ring pics that are all over social media to be really, really tacky. The message always kind of seems like "OMG DIAMOND! Oh, and yeah, I'm marrying someone I love," which seems a little off the mark.

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    1. PS - Agreed that we should get together again soon! Ice skating & brunch some weekend, perhaps?

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    2. YES! Cannot agree more :) I was saving my rant on "making life changing decisions in a surprise setting with a LOOK heres a diamond to influence your decision" for a latter post :)

      And we must find a weekend for Ice skating and brunch. This past monday was way too cold for me :) I think the rink is open until Feb, so we have time.

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    3. I would like to at least hear that rant, and no doubt share in it :)

      Monday was definitely too cold, and I think skating may even go until march, so we have time!

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  2. What a great year! Glad I could be a part of it, Heather.

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  3. I hope hope hope you go to Brasil this year just so we can read all the fun recaps again. LOL!

    I don't think I knew you went to some Bulls games. Fun!

    And I love hearing the Brasil engagement traditions! So fun to learn about different cultures! I am not bother by the American diamond ring tradition, but I do know a few ladies who have been ring obsessed and "OMG when is he going to propose?!" and that scares me (why aren't they discussing it? why does HE have to do everything?).

    What are the pretzel necklaces for?

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  4. Ahhh so many things to comment on!!! What a wonderful year!

    Congratulations on your engagement! We got engaged via agreement/discussion as well. We knew we wanted to get married, and wanted to do it before he left for boot camp, which would happen in less than a year, so we decided that we needed to start planning a wedding. It didn't occur to us until the next day that that meant we're engaged. I'm not really bothered that I don't have some cool engagement story - "agreeing" to get engaged is much more us.

    That Chocolate Maple Porter sounds delicious. Let us know how it turns out! Some of my friends brew beer (and one is actually opening a brewery in south suburban Blue Island) and they've had some tasty results.

    I love that pic of CB and the biscuts. He looks so focused.

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  5. well first off, Congratulations! I am super excited for the two of you. It was so awesome seeing you in 2013! I hope I see more of you in 2014.

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  6. Holy cow! Congrats on the engagement! I think the tradition is awesome. I am so happy for you!

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  7. Sounds like the Brasilian tradition makes a lot more sense than the ring-focused surprise American tradition.

    I don't think I was reading your blog yet when you traveled to Brazil so I'm going to have to check out those recaps. It already looks like a great trip.

    I made doggy treats for my brothers pup for Christmas. It was fun and really easy! Now I'll just have to brew some beer so I can try your version.

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