Five Forgotten Photos on my Phone Friday

This picture I drew in 2nd grade of "Someone I listen to" lol

A photo of these two from a few years ago hanging out. 

This photo of my cat after she was at the hospital a year ago :/ She's better now!

This annual text message between my sister and I about our favorite time of year

This snap of my mom and I having coffee on a beautiful day in May two years ago and chatting about life

New Years Eve 2015 and a Year in Review

This year we celebrated totally different.....
We normally stay in and do the following things: have a fancy dinner cooked by moi, watch a movie from Redbox or On Demand, take a nap before the ball drops, watch the parties on TV the hour before, drink sparkling cider, and pull poppers and shout Happy New Year when the ball drops into the next year. Ok, only I do that last part, but sometimes I coerce Tommy into pulling a popper too :D

 {End of the Night}

We at least do some variation of this every year. Sounds like the typical twentysomething NYE right?

Heh, well this year, I decided we would actually interact with other people on New Year's Eve and go out to celebrate! I'm so glad we did! It was super nice to change it up.

Do you like my shirt and Jill's dress? We went to the mall together and found them to wear for this very occasion. Jill introduced me to a new store: Dry Goods 😄🙌😻

Some friends in LRC were going out to The Loaded Buffalo to drink and see two bands to ring in the new year- The Suburban Cowboys and The Modern Day Romeos- both of which were so so good!
I got us the base price tickets, and just paid cash at the bar for drinks. It was a fun place. Even though I have driven by that place for basically my entire life, I have never been inside. I knew it was a country bar, and though it has changed names a few times since it's been around, I'm pretty sure the basic skeleton of "local country bar" has remained the same.

I feel like it doesn't look that big from the road, but it's pretty spacious. They have a bar, a pool table (I think), some tables, and a huge TV right when you walk in. That's also where they set up the appetizer bar for people who paid a higher ticket price. The second part of the building has a large wooden floor that has bar level seating around it, and a stage for the band. At the back end of the room is also another bar, and more tables along the wall.

We parked it right outside of the wooden dance floor near some stools for the night. Right smack dab in between the two bars- surprised? Duh.

Then we hung out, chatted a bit, danced to music, and drank! I also saw an old friend from elementary school, and a new friend that I made last year! Small world :)

Thanks for the pictures everyone!

Though we broke the mold by actually going out for NYE, I haven't gone off the deep end and completely abandoned tradition...so here is the quick run down of the year:

1. Tommy turned 27 on January 8th...and we celebrated with our families and friends multiple times :)
2. Kyle and Kelsey got engaged and we celebrated with them! Kelsey also asked to be a bridesmaid!!! I'm so excited for them!
3. Emily and Joe got married on a beautiful snow covered day in January, and it was amazing
4. I donated 12 inches to Children with Hairloss, which is the most I've ever donated! I chose this organization over Locks of Love and Pantene Pro-V Healthy Lengths because CWH doesn't charge for wigs, and provides wigs for children and young adults with all kids of hairloss, not just cancer.
5. I studied a ton, and passed my Reading Specialist test! Woot Woot! Now I'm certified to be a Reading Specialist K-12 :D
6. I tried a bunch of new recipes, and took a bunch of photos of my cat, lol. Stay tuned for a 2015 Flipagram of Kittypants. You've been warned.
7. We visited Megan, Jeff, and Danny in central Illinois with Emily and Joe
8. I FOUND OUT WHO A IS FINALLY. Ugh, I just had to say that.
9. We went out with Kelsers for her bday at Casa Bonita and Mickey Finns
10. Stephanie met us at Eataly and we had good food, good conversation, and good wine together 
11. Dad turned 60, and we had a bday/Easter party for him and my grandpa (who turned 90 this year!)
12. I hosted Alyssa's wedding shower at my house with her Maid of Honor. 
13. My sister Katy surprise visited me for OUR BIRTHDAY! We have the same birthday six years apart. We haven't been able to celebrate together for years since I was at college, she moved to LA, etc. It was super nice to have everyone over and celebrate our day together (Me:27, Her:33)
14. I met Karena and Katrina in Chicago which was omg. 
15. I went on the 7th grade Springfield trip as a chaperone and had a blast!
16. Katy, Dad, and I flew to Las Vegas and visited Grandpa Lacio one final time before he passed later in the year in July. It was a blessing to be able to have that time with him, and with family. 
17. Ben Folds (!!!) came to Chicago to play with the CYSO and Tommy and I went. It was pretty great.
18. We celebrated Alyssa and Kevin's wedding over the summer in Minnesota :) It was a fun trip and a really great night
19. Tommy and I went to dinner for our 4 year wedding anniversary!
20. Our friends put together a fabulous camping trip that Tommy and I went to in southern Illinois. It was super awesome- bugs and all
21. We went to Meghan's wedding :D and Laura's wedding in the same month a week apart. It was super fun to celebrate with them.
22. Kelsey, Taylor Swift, and I sang together as loud as we could at Soldier Field for freeeeee! Thanks KissFM!
23. Tommy and I traveled to Captiva Island, Florida for a week and it was heaven. #takemeback
24. I bought a new car! A Toyota Camry, and passed on the green diesel to Chrissy :)
25. Mike Brunette, our fearless LRC founder, organized two races- both of which we volunteered at, and one of which I ran! {The Twilight Shuffle 5k, and the Run of the Dead Elimination Run 4.25 mile loop}
26. The BMW Championship came to town again and we wrote the 8 miles to the course on our bikes everyday at 6 am. It was amazing.  I'm still having withdrawls.
27. Katy, Dad, and I flew to Maui together to celebrate Grandpa Lacio's life. We spread his ashes in the ocean, met amazing and beautiful family members, and spent some quality time together reminiscing. Blog post to follow....one day. Too soon.
28. I signed up for, trained for, and ran (HALF) of the Chicago Marathon. I stopped because of a tendonitis flare up. Now that I've been to the doctor and have learned that I just might not be able to do certain things without out being largely in pain, I'm not sure that I'll attempt another marathon. Wow, that feels better to say out loud here, but I immediately feel weird about it. 
29. The Hot Chocolate 5k came back to Chicago and we ran it for the 5th year in a row. 
30. I saw the final Hunger Games, and the next Star Wars
31. Ran the Santa 5K in AH with Lisa dressed as Santa!
32. I went to multiple ugly sweater events in my very own Grumpy Cat sweater creation. I would like to wear it everyday actually.
33. My mom and dad hosted Christmas on the 26th this year, which meant that Tommy and I had more time with his side of the family on the 25th. We also went over early to mom and dad's to watch Star Wars on Laser Disc help cook and clean for dinner. I also was in charge of dessert- I made a pumpkin pie (in a graham cracker crust, oops!) and two kinds of cookies FROM SCRATCH!
34. We celebrated NYE at The Loaded Buffalo with LRC friends- See above.
35. Oh! And we ran so, so, so many miles this year. The most miles in one sitting that I've ever run! It was harrrrrrd and semi painful on my tendonitis, but I learned a lot about myself as a runner. 

What a year world.

Hello 2016! Welcome to my life!