BIG in 2008 “Day 7”: Simplicity

Webster describes Simplicity as “the state of being simple, uncomplicated or uncompounded”

For those who know me, you know that “simple” and “uncomplicated” are words not generally used to describe me. During the summer of 2008, and then into the Fall of 2008 I realized that I was in need of a season of simplicity. Mostly because I was unable to go to my usual places to figure life out: schedules, plans and spreadsheets. I was unable to plan, and it just made me realize how complicated I was making things.

So, I entered into a season of simplicity. I de-cluttered my calendar and cleaned out the scary area under my basement steps (Every time I go down there, I imagine that a crazy little lady has been living under my steps for months! I read too much news). I re-organized my closet and got rid of the things I did not need any longer.

It was not my physical space, the calming of my physical space was the spark for some calming of my internal space… and that has been really enjoyable. I have parted with some “things” that I used to “need”, and realized what true need is. I was available for an impromptu morning breakfast date that turned into a really special event. The key was not just that I got rid of things; it was that I kept what was important and was able to use and cherish those things.

All this because I slowed myself down and cleared my spaces out… I encountered my season of simplicity.

BIG in 2008 “Day 6”: BIM BIM BIM

Allison is “BIM BIM BIM” … this is a frequent Facebook status of mine in 2008… and it has frequently garnered the question “What is BIM again?” Here is your BIM 101.

BIM = “Building Information Modeling” and it is either the process of virtually building a building before you actually build it, or it is the 3D parametric (smart) model of the building.

Basically, it is new technology in the construction industry. Due to my interest in it, I was chosen to be our BIM expert at my company, and in January 2008 it became my full time job. So now, I spend many hours a day playing with software and testing out my ideas and theories. I also have spent countless hours in meetings with subcontractors, as they try to make all their systems fit into a space above a virtual ceiling. Fun Fun Fun!

For your viewing pleasure (we will see if these photos work in blogger), you can see these two images. One is a shot of our virtual model, and the other was taken in the field, after everything was installed. Oooooooo…. Pretty…..

(Images will have to be added later.... I seem to get them into a format blogger will let me upload. booooo)

BIG in 2008 “Day” 5: Turning 30

On May 6, 2008 I turned 30. One month and three days later, so did Jeff. One cool thing about marrying someone whose birthday is so close to yours, you get to celebrate the big ones together. And celebrate we did! Jeff indulged my party throwing side and let me plan an elegant dinner party for 30 of our close friends and family. It was nice to have a party where all I had to do was pick out what I was wearing, and show up.

Although it is a true story that I had forgotten completely what to do about table decorations until the day before. So, the morning of our party, I was up at my parents’ house “pruning” the gorgeous lilac bushes. Lucky for me that my mom grows an abundant amount of flowers that were in season, and went with my pre-determined color scheme…

It was a lovely event, and we were so appreciative of all our guests coming to celebrate with us. For Jeff and me, this marks half of our lives spent together (we met when we were 15). It also marks a new entrance to adulthood. For me, I anticipated turning 30 for so long, that once the date, and the party were over, I was almost relieved.

It is with a new perspective that I look upon things. I have completed the race of education (oh, yeah, I did finally finish my capstone this year, officially earning my Grad degree) and have spent a few years out in the “real world” now. I see that there are seasons now, not just up-days and down-days; but up-seasons and down-seasons.

I enter my 30s at the end of a winter season, heading into a Spring one… I can’t wait!

Big in 2008: Day #4 - Blogging

Greetings friendly blog followers! I hope you all had a nice holiday. I went into my cave, and did not come out for a while... as such, I have lots of blogging to catch up on if I am going to make my goal of 10 blogs in 10 days... here goes.

While Jeff and I started our blog last year, it was in 2008 that I really got into blogging. Not only posting on our own blog, but I have also enjoyed reading the blogs of others. At first, I just followed the blogs of my dirrect friends, but then I started "blog hopping" and following the bogs of firends of friends... and it goes on. What happened is that I heard so many interesting stories. Blog reading is like sitting in a cafe, people watching... only on the computer.

Some of the blogs that I have enjoyed reading:
Friends from my small group here in Chicago
Friends from my college days
Tasty Baking Ideas
Crockpotting
Kelly & Chris's adoption journey
Nate & Tricia (I have not really met these people, but their story is AMAZING)
Makeup
Interesting Foodie Stuff

Big in 2008: Day #3 – “House of Hungarian Wines”

This past spring, Jeff and I traveled to Europe, part of that trip was some time spent in Budapest Hungary. There we met up with his parents and cheered on his sister, Kelly, and the entire Miami of Ohio Synchronized Skating Team skate in the World Championships. It was a great trip, filled with many fun memories. But one in particular has stuck with me throughout the year as a time when I enjoyed simple happiness. This happened when we visited the “House of Hungarian Wines”

The House of Hungarian Wines is this wine cave located on top of the hill (on the Buda side) near the castle district. The general idea of the place is that they have an entire cave, filled at every turn with tasty wines from the various regions of Hungary. What this means is you sip lots of wine as you stroll…

When Jeff and I got married, our relationship with his parents was strained. Through a few years of challenges; a few more years of mutual respect; and a few more years of learning and growing, we have found ourselves with a very cool relationship. As a result of all our hard work through conflict, we have been blessed with many times of laughter, honesty and love.

David and Kathy joined us on this walk through the wine cave in Hungary, and afterwards we walked our tipsy selves down the hill, across the Chain Bridge and through the port to our dinner cruise awaiting… but those moments where we chatted about real life, and real challenges all the while laughing at ourselves was a time for me that was “Big in 2008”

Big in 2008, Day Two: Facebook

So… if you are not on the world of Facebook, you are either over the age of 40, or live in Montana. Seriously! How can you not be on Facebook?

This year, through the glories of Facebook, this relational person has been able to connect with others in so many new ways. In particular, I have found all the people who know Colorado-Allison. Many of my friends here forget that I spent four formative years in the beautiful state (where the snow melts the day after it falls… how nice would that be!?!!). I met many wonderful and authentic people who were my family. I have been blessed to find them on Facebook, and reconnect.

I have also loved the ability to see the many personalities of the people I know. See, the communication on Facebook is different than any other I know. It is somewhere between broadcasting yourself, and one-on-one communication… and it is fun. In a few short moments, I get to know what is going on in the lives of so many. I don’t feel like I will miss any big moments any time soon, and that is a special gift from Facebook to me.

If you are not on Facebook… get on it, start reconnecting… trust me, in a month, you will tell me you are a believer.

Happy connecting

Epiphany In The Cold

Resolved: In the wintertime, snowy weather is better than FAC (Freezing-Ass Cold) weather.

It's incredible, but it's snowing today and it feels almost toasty warm in comparison to the previous two sub-zero days. Thus, I've concluded that I greatly prefer snowy weather over FAC weather, and you should too.

All of this is just a temporary distraction to try to hold me over to summer, because we all know that summer weather is far superior to both. For you mathmatanical folks out there, this may help you sort it out:

Summer Weather > Snowy Weather > Swift Kick In Crotch > Taxes > FAC Weather > Death By Meat Grinder

Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!

Big in 2008 – Day #1: Music

Okay okay… I know, I am starting off with “music”, and you are thinking it a general item to be “Big in 2008”. But the truth is that this year, more than any other, music has played a significant role in my life. Music has been my constant friend and comfort during many moments of trials this year.

The few songs I hear on my way to work have prepared me on many mornings when anxiety and frustration have ruled. God met me in the perfect song that was played on the radio.

When you are struggling though tough stuff, it is nice to know that others have been in the same place you are, and lived to tell about it. In the lyrics of a few particular songs this year, I have found understanding and comfort that what I am “growing” through has been overcome.

My brother-in-law found me a large capacity ipod this year, and I have loaded it with the best songs. I have also continued to enjoy Klove (even though they overplay songs all the time) and found my new favorite radio station: Air One. I have even been known to listen to Radio Disney every so often, but we are not going to tell to many people about that, right?

Now that my taste in music has made many of you completely disgusted… here is a list of the music that I have enjoyed this year:

Songs:

“I Am” – Mark Schultz

“Walk by Faith” – Jeremy Camp

“Something Heavenly” – Sanctus Real

“What Life Would Be Like” – Big Daddy Weave

“Revelation” – Third Day

Big in 2008

Greetings all you faithful blog readers (read: Jeff)! I have been mulling around the idea of doing a series of blog posts recently, and I finally convinced myself that I could do it. So, as the year 2008 is rolling to a close, I will be sharing my “Big in 2008” list.

That is right, I will be posting ten times in ten days. I can’t promise that I will post first thing in the morning all the time… but check back every day, and you will find another post detailing one of things that were “Big in 2008” for me. I will go beyond the obvious things that are there every year like my family, my small group and the Cubs choking in the playoffs and breaking my heart. I will share the fun moments, things and ideas that have really made an impact on my life this past year.

Stay tuned

Go West Young Man

Greetings from the land of rain, grunge music, and endless choices in Thai restaurants!

I, Jeff, have been in Seattle the last couple of days, soaking in a short taste of the Northwest (contrary to popular belief, Northwestern University sports a misleading moniker given where it's actually located). Alex Walsh, longtime friend, former college hallmate, fantasy football nemesis, and old lady purse thief (see photo to the left) has lived in Seattle the last eighteen months or so and it was nice to have a short time off from school to come see him for a few days. At risk of putting you all to sleep, here's the quick recap of our ventures:

Friday, midday, Jeff lands in Seattle in the pouring rain and high winds. His suspicions that it is never sunny in Seattle are further strengthened. Lunch is procured at Dick's, a strangely popular walk-up greasy spoon with no seating and only five things on its menu (seriously)

Friday, evening, caught a showing of Bruce Campbell's newest B-side horror flick at a local theater. I won't give anything away, but the moral lesson I took from the film is that you should never harm bean curds ever again. Dinner at a little Indian restaurant in town, bubble tea afterward, good times. Then it was back to Alex's place to meet his cat, Chatka, and the new love of his life, a Samsung 42" HDTV.

Saturday, we woke our butts up early and after breakfast sampled one of life's great delicacies, Baconnaise, spread over strips of bacon. Yes, we survived this tasty vortex of bacon-ness, but I was crushed to discover Baconnaise is actually a vegetarian product. That smacks of sacrilege, somehow.

We then headed north to Vancouver, Canadia, were we ate at a sushi buffet, walked around most of the city, and saw a man in a giant letter "F" suit bouncing around in the street. Please don't ask me to explain that last part as I can't. We made it back into the country after some difficulties, walked around in the snow for a long time, and then grabbed grub at a local Irish pub.

Sunday = football day. After Alex's team all but lost his playoff game we spent a few hours walking around near "The Sound", which is Alex's fancy term for "the ocean". This gave us the chance to also admire many of the beautiful (and expensive) homes built along the Sound and the neighboring hills. We concluded that while these homes may be beautiful, they will be the first to perish when the Chinese Navy attacks our shores. Boy those wealthy people will feel dumb then.

Technically it's Monday, and I really meant to sign off a while ago and hit the sack. In the morning we'll pick up Melanie, Alex's girlfriend, at the airport and grab some lunch. Then it's off to sweet home, Chicago once again. For now, as I've taken up too much virtual real estate, I'll bid everyone out there in Internetland who dared to read this far a pleasant adieu, goodnight, good luck, and all the giant letter F's your heart desires.

And remember kids, when in Canadia (eh), be sure to make it painfully obvious to all of the natives that you're a dumb tourist by taking photos in front of their welcome signs.