Camp Mack 2008

Our family goes to a camp for a weekend retreat during December to celebrate the holidays together. I usually take a ton of photos, but most of mine turned out pretty crappy this year. Here are a few that turned out acceptable enough to share...

my niece- Kathy decorating cookies

my nephew - Jake opening a gift

my sister-in-law - Linda and brother - Gary

me and my niece - Megan

And a final crazy shot with Jake, me, and Meg!

Highlight of Christmas break...

Though my break is not over and I don't know what else is coming, I have a hunch that the highlight of my break this year will be my trip to Chicago on the 16th of December. I did a lot of other really fun things with wonderful people, so I hope no-one's nose gets out of joint about that comment, but I just LOVE Chicago SO much that any trip there makes my life a whole lot better!!!! :)

See how much I LOVE Chicago?!

I went to Chicago with 2 of my friends from my home group - Patty and Bonnie. We drove up Tuesday AM. We made fantastic time...from the Becks house to the parking garage in about 2 hours! The drive was filled with laughter, chit chat, and deep revelations of our heart...so good!

We first went to Garratt's Popcorn. This is a gourmet popcorn shop in the city. Bonnie purchased a large tub of their famous popcorn as a gift for her boss from all the employees at the company she works for.

I'm not sure the salesgirl was thrilled to pose for us, but she did!

Then we went to Macy's to eat lunch at the Walnut Room. The Walnut Room is famous for having a very large (4 story?) Christmas tree in the middle of the room. I was excited about eating "beneath the tree" but didn't realize what an incredible treat I would be in for when it came to the actual food! It was very good! We ordered two entrees, a dessert, and a "special" drink to share.

This was Ming's Shrimp - shrimp sauteed with scallions, grape tomatoes, edamames and sweet tart soy ginger sauce, served over sour cream and chive whipped potatoes. It was quite tasty.

This was the Butternut Squash Tortellacci - A butternut squash ravioli type dish with dried cranberries, garlic, leeks, roasted red peppers, parsley, gorgonzola and toasted pumpkin seeds in a light sage cream sauce. This was truly delicious! I savored every bite of this dish!!!! I would highly recommend this if you ever dine at the Walnut Room!

This was me trying Creme Burlee for the first time ever. I wasn't very impressed. I don't think it had anything to do with the quality of the dish itself, but more a reflection of my distaste for custardy type things. Oh well, at least I can say I've tried it now!

Me and Patty enjoying a "Peppermint Patty." I only tasted a bit of it because it has mint in it and I'm not a fan of mint flavored things.

Patty, Bonnie, & me under the Christmas tree in the Walnut Room.

After lunch we did some shopping at Macy's. Some for Christmas gifts and some for ourselves!

A section of the Macy's Christmas tree up close.

We walked to the Christkindlmarket. This is an outdoor market that features little shops owned by European(mainly German) artisans. We walked around there for quite a while enjoying the beautiful items for sale and the yummy smells of their baked goods.

Bonnie and Patty by the HUGE tree at the market.
I had been amazed by the hugeness of this tree until some of my students commented on Facebook that it's not actually one tree, but instead a whole bunch of trees wired together to make one massive tree. That took a bit of the thrill away for me, but I still enjoyed it none the less.

After the market we dropped off packages at the car and then went to Trader Joe's! If you read my blog often you will recognize that store name! Every time I get to a big city that has one I have to stop and buy some fun new foods. After Trader Joes we went to Buca de Beppos for dinner...another name you'll recognize from my blog! I love this restaurant...so yummy!

This was our sampler platter that we shared at Buca's - Quatro al Forno...Cheese Manicotti, Chicken Cannelloni, Baked Ravioli, and Stuffed Shells. I still think their Cheese Manicotti is one of the best things on their menu...along with the bruschetta, which we also had! :)

Bonnie and me enjoying the snow! I was probably enjoying it more than her! :)

Patty, me, and Bonnie in the elevator going down to the car to leave.

After dinner we walked through the snow back to the car and headed home. The speedy trip which we experience d on the way to Chicago was not to be experienced on the way home though. The trip home took about 5 1/2 hours due to rush hour traffic and copious amounts of snow. Despite the slow travel time we arrived home safely late Tuesday night feeling great about our fun day!

A view of the city as we left in the midst of the snow!

Baby Connor

My friend (and fellow RD) Rachel had a baby on Thanksgiving. She's been on maternity leave since then, but joined the RDs when we went out to Hacienda the night that dorms closed. I didn't get any photos of the RDs, but I did get a great shot of sweet little Connor!

Chrsitmas goodies to say Thank You!

The custodial staff does a lot of work around here to make our lives easier in Residence Life. This year the RD staff each contributed something to a goody plate that we gave to the the Custodial Supervisor to share with the custodians on our behalf.

Here's what the yummy platter looked like....snickerdoodle cookies, stained glass windows, peanut butter fudge, and puppy chow! Yummmm!

RA Christmas outing

Dorms closed on the 13th, but the night before I took my staff out for dinner. We drove over to Papa Vino's in Mishawaka for a delicious Italian dinner!

Jewels and Bryce

Jon, Josh, and Kelly

Ashley and Jenna

I called ahead to make reservations and ended up ordering the food ahead of time so that we wouldn't have to wait so long for it once we arrived. We ate the House Salad, Chicken Scallopini, Veggie Lasagna, and Country Penne...along with a LOT of their amazing bread with olive oil and roasted garlic dipping sauce! Yummm-o!

After dinner we drove around a local subdivision and looked at Christmas lights for an hour or so. It was a fun evening with a group of friends that I really appreciate!

Residence Life Christmas at Bill's

Each year we do a Christmas brunch and silly gift exchange at Bill's house (the VP for Student Life) with the RAs, RLs, and RDs. It's a fun way to celebrate the holidays with the entire staff. Here a few snapshots from the morning...

Jon opening his snowman on a trike!

Jewels and her "God loves me" socks!

Lynda, Chad, and Matt - the Kulp Res Life team

The Yoder Res Life team - Russell and Jake in front, Jacki, Leah, Ally, Joe, and Suzanne

The BEST Res Life team...Kratz/Miller!
Jenna, me, and Jewels in front.
Kelly and Ashley in the middle.
Bryce, Josh, and Jon in the back.

A photo of the RD team that we used for our Christmas cards to the RAs & RLs.
Chad & Jake in front.
Launa, Rachel, and me in the back.

Highlights of the other 11 days of Christmas....

I wanted to blog about each "day of Christmas" that we celebrated in Kratz/Miller, but break is quickly passing and if I want to be caught up before school starts next Monday I need to do some consolidating. So here are a couple photos of some of the other things we did...

On Sunday night we decorated sugar cookies in may apartment!

We had a floor competition to see which floor could raise the most money to donate to our local food bank. Here are some of the guys from K4 donating their cash!

We went caroling at Greencroft Retirement Community!

On the first day of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas activities we decorated the Christmas tree.

This was the first year that we've had a tree in the student space since I started in 2001. I pitched the idea in early fall to my supervisor that I'd like some funds to purchase a Christmas tree to use in the Connector. The ceilings in the Connector are very high (I'm not sure exactly how high) and so a regular 7 foot tree would look pretty sad in the space, so I was requesting at least a 10 foot tree. As I looked online I found that most trees that large also come with very large price tags! After several weeks of price checking and discussion I was given the OK to spend $200 on a tree. There was one at Wal Mart that was 10 foot for that price. I was talking with another woman in the office about the tree purchase when another co-worker overheard me. She said that she and her husband had a nice tall fake tree that they had purchased for their home, but only used a couple of times before deciding it was too much to work to set it up. It had been sitting in their storage shed for several years. She offered to sell it to me for $100! I was so excited! It was a much fuller and nicer tree than the one at Wal Mart and I got it for half the price!

The students really enjoyed decorating the tree together.

There was much appreciation for the festiveness that the tree added to the Connector throughout the Christmas season!

Isn't this ornament adorable?

The 12 Days of Christmas

For the past 3-4 years I have held a series of movie nights in November/December that I called "Susie's 12 Days of Christmas Movies." We'd watch a different Christmas movie each night during the last 12 nights before students left for Christmas break. this year I decided to mix things up a little and add more than just movies to my "12 Days" celebration. We instead did "Kratz/Miller's 12 Days of Christmas Activities."

These were our events:

Mon, Dec 1 - Decorate the Connector Christmas tree
Tue, Dec 2 - Christmas cartoons - "Rudolph" & "Frosty"
Wed, Dec 3 - Snacks & choose your "Angle Tree" child
Thr, Dec 4 - Christmas card making
Fri, Dec 5 - Double feature - "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" & "The Santa Clause"
Sat, Dec 6 - Double feature - "Christmas with the Kranks" & "Elf"
Sun, Dec 7 - Cookie decorating
Mon, Dec 8 - "Angle Tree" gift drop off & snacks
Tue, Dec 9 - Study break - milk & cookies
Wed, Dec 10 - Christmas caroling
Thr, Dec 11 - "It's a Wonderful Life" and snacks
Fri, Dec 12 - Christmas travel snacks for the trip home!

Watch for future posts with details about each event!

A new toy for my kitchen

Last night my friends Chad and Caren dropped by. They brought me a wonderful new toy for my kitchen...OK, it's not a toy, but I have so much fun with kitchen appliances that they are like toys for me! :) It's a coffee maker! Chad had a really nice one in his apartment before he & Caren got married this summer. His mom got them a newer and fancier model as a wedding gift. Caren had taken hiss older model at her work, but found that she didn't use it enough to make it worth having there. So they thought about what to do with it. And then Chad remembered that I don't have a coffee maker. (I like coffee, but since there's a coffee shop in my building here on campus I usually just get my coffee from there.) So, Chad & Caren decided to give me his old one. They not only brought me the coffee maker, but included a new filter for the water system, several bags of coffee, and two new coffee mugs - one regular and one travel style! It was a wonderful surprise and I so very much appreciate it! :)

Here's a stock photo of it from the Cuisinart website....
So, the next time you are over, ask for a cup of coffee. I'll be happy to brew you a cup or two! :)

New baby

My friend, and fellow RD, Rachel had her baby on Thanksgiving morning. I received a text at 6:30 AM with the good news. Quite possibly one of the only conditions that waking me from a deep sleep with a text message is acceptable! :) Little Connor Samuel Gerber was born at 2:29 Am - weighing 8 lb, 9 oz and measuring 21 inches long. I walked over to the hospital after dinner to visit the happy little family. Rachel looked amazing! She had showered, done her hair, and even was wearing a dress...such an impressive woman! :) And while a 8 1/2 lb baby is not small, he sure felt tiny as I cuddled him in my arms. Here's a photo of the proud parents with their new little one.

Rachel and Shawn Gerber with baby Connor

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving was different this year. Typically either my mom or I host Thanksgiving dinner. It's a full spread and a fairly large group of people end up at the table. Last year there were just 4 of us, so at that meal my brother Mike said that he'd take us all out the next year so that we didn't have to go through all that work for such a small amount of people. As it ended up Mom is out of town with family in Kentucky right now, so once again there were only 4 of us - Mike, my brother - Johnny (who had down's syndrome) and my nephew Jake. So Mike made good on his offer and took us out for Thanksgiving lunch. We went to the River Inn in Bristol, IN and had a delicious meal! The food maybe wasn't quite as good as what I would've made, but the fact that there was no prep or CLEAN UP made up for any taste difference! Plus this was the first time I had ever been to a sit down restaurant with my brother Johnny and he was SO well behaved! It was a nice way to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Mike and Johnny

Me and Jake

Making blankets

My RA staff and I made fleece blankets last night. We bought the fabric weeks ago, but have had some issues finding a couple hours where we were all available to get together and assemble the blankets. It took about 2 hours to cut and tie the blankets. It was fun to visit while we all worked them. Some made their to give as gifts, but I decided to make mine for ME! It's a beautiful blue on one side and has a pretty snowflake pattern on the other! I love it!

Top side

Bottom side

Finished product...so cozy!

More cooking!

One of my co-workers is pregnant and due any day. I love to do meals for family's after they have babies, but I know that her church is pretty good about that and her mom will be here for a couple weeks after the baby comes, so the immediate need for meals is slim. I decided to still do meals, but to make freezer meals, that way she can decide when she want to use them - maybe her mom will want to use them while she's here to give her more time to hold the baby or maybe she'll want to wait and use them all once her mom goes home. Whatever - it's up to her!

I decided to make this endeavor a community building activity and learning experience for my RA staff. Some of them are not very experienced at cooking, so this would be a good way to get them in the kitchen with a little supervision and guidance from me. Also, it would build our RA team community as we work at doing something good for someone else.

We made 6 freezer meals: lasagna, mexican lasagna, chicken & potato curry, hearty minestrone soup, cheesy chicken & broccoli rice casserole, and a chicken honey nut asian dish. So tasty and so fun!

Ashley cooking up some chicken.

Jewels cutting the casing off a sausage.

Josh mixing up some lasagna filling.

Homemade doughnuts!

Thursday evening after I got home from home group I had a fun activity with my gals from Miller 3rd. We made homemade doughnuts...well, what I would call cheater doughnuts, but homemade doughnuts none the less!

Here is me in my apron welcoming the gals to my apartment with my BIG mouth wide open! :)

We poked holes in refrigerator biscuits.

We fried the biscuits in oil, covered them in powdered sugar or a cinnamon & sugar mixture...

And voila....we have homemade doughnuts! :)