Luvabull.

I like to make up words.  Bir-Ver-Mas =  Birthday + Anniversary + Christmas.  My husband and I are cheap. When I want to make said quality sound more attractive, I call us frugal.  Call us whatever you want, but we don't spend much money on each other.  We give gifts like free hugs and kisses, and the guy does the dishes most of the time, so I'm a pretty content lady.

We decided not to get anything for each other for our birthdays (November), Christmas, or our anniversary (December).  I really want a camera that is out of our budget, and he got sexy glasses that cost way more than they should have.  (Those new glasses weigh less than my eye lash. Seriously.  How can something with so little material cost so much?  I digress).  So basically we would save our money and get the one big ticket item we both wanted.  Well then fate messed it up and we pulled eachother's names in the grab bag with his side of the family.  So we had to get each other something.  If we didn't we would have become not only cheap, but tacky cheap.

If we are going to spend money on each other, we tend to do it on experiences, so last weekend we took an overnight trip downtown.  It was 55 degrees in January.   Awesome.  We stayed at a lovely hotel, ate a fabulous dinner, had free wine at the hotel's reception hour, went to a piano bar where the guy didn't know any of the songs I requested, and then headed up to the Hancock building before going home.  On the way home we stopped at Hot Doug's.

The Breakdown:

Wow Bao.  Twice.  I love those asian buns, and I wish they filled my whole frozen yogurt cup, not just the outside.

The hotel, The Palomar.  Would highly recommend it.  We got a great deal on bookit.com

Dinner at Quartino.  We got the Italian sample plate where you pick different Italian meats, cheeses, and salads...and then it comes with all these sides and breads.  That meal of delicious carbs and fats was so good I could have peed my pants.  Except for the duck prosciutto.  That was disgusting.  I could hear Donald Duck whispering in my ear as I tried my one and only bite.

Free wine that we could drink on a patio in January.  (We are cheap, remember).

Hot Doug's was a bust for multiple reasons.  Number one, the words "Encased Meat" make me want to hurl, and it was written all over.  Number two, we waited over an hour in the cold for that encased meat.  My chicken sausage was good, but not that good.

Going to the Hancock was neat.  Jon had never been before.  They offer "Skating in the Sky."  Biggest load of crap I have ever seen.  I think the ice rink was a whopping 20 X 30 ft.  Pretty much the size of the living room.  When you fell you crashed into the wall, no matter what.  I cannot believe that was real.

My next profession.  I like adventure, and heights.  I probably wouldn't clean quick enough.

Regardless of what we did, it was great to be with my man.  He made a comment in one of our conversations that was so true it hurt.  We continue to systematically overextend ourselves.  We are both really good at running a mile a minute, and not so good at just being.  It was so go too be able to slow down, to sleep in, and to do our best to not steal the robes and the pillows.

Over the past week I also made massive decision to postpone going back to school.  NIU's FNP program was a quick way to get it done before the requirements change, and I'm not good at missing deadlines.  Want to know a secret?  I don't like old men, diabetes, hypertension, blah, blah, blah.  I love what I am doing right now.  I love labor and delivery and being a part of a life changing moment on a day to day basis.  I love caring for babies, both sick and healthy. So maybe after getting more experience and being sure about what I want, I'll go back.  I need to slow down and smell the roses.  Unfortunately there aren't any in January in Chicago, so I'll go smell the snow. Hopefully it won't be yellow.

I am a bit stubborn and many times it takes me a while to figure out what I'm really thinking.  I am always running towards the next thing.  I haven't even been at my current job for a year and I was already running back to school?  This has been my pattern.  Always. I think when I was 5 I was seriously planning my career as a Chicago Bulls Luvabull.  It wasn't just a dream friends, my type A self had a plan and it started with only wearing dresses the puffed out when I spun around.  I don't think I wore pants for a year of my life.  Like I said, stubborn.

So this year, the goal is to find peace in the little things.  To find joy in the day to day.  To slow down and learn how to breathe.  This year I want to take it in instead of just running through.  I want to do more balloon drops, more crafts, and learn more about myself.  I want to look back and not have missed a moment in 2012.

Happy belated New Year, again.