Postcard Arrivals: Ukraine & Belarus

Brest, Belarus

4,886 miles in 21 days.

This post card is from 1984 of the USSR period.

Donetsk, Ukraine

5,525 miles in 15 days

Merry Christmas 2013

Can you believe that it's finally Christmas time?! This year has gone by so fast it seems, they always do anymore. 

Christmas Eve was spent at work, at least we got to go in early and leave early, because nothing is longer than the day before a holiday at work (unless you also consider going back to work after a holiday in there as well, both equally long)

OL was so excited to give me my present from her. She had a gift in particular that she was very excited to give. It was a deck of Sons of Anarchy playing cards! All our favorite characters on each card! Clay is the King, Gemma the queen, Jax the Ace and Opie the Jack. And of course, Wayne, Bobby, Juice, Tig, and Chibbs are in the deck too! What a FABULOUS present, thanks OL! ;) 

To ease the pain of working the day before Christmas it was unofficial Ugly Sweater day at work, here are a few of my cube mates in their holiday cheer!

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Christmas day was spent at my parents house. We had lots of fun! It's been our tradition the past couple years to have Christmas breakfast, this year we had yummy cinnamon rolls that were delish! A.drama made them in the bakery at her store. 

Christmas begins later and later each year, as you get older you cherish the days off from work and the extra sleep in time, we aren't 3 anymore and can wait to see what Santa has brought us. Everyone gathers around and we go around the room each person opens a present then on to the next, we like to enjoy our gift giving. Here are a few pictures from this year...

Mom, gma/gpa and as sophie puppy photobomb

Dad opening his present, which he thought was a stadium chair, turns out it was a laptop desk for your lap... silly dad. (and and Alex photobomb)

aww, aren't they cute. A.drama & Marvin

My new Christmas tradition- the Christmas shirt 2013

Sibling Christmas selfie

A.Drama and Marvin opening presents

I always manage to get a picture of NiBo eating candy

and a Christmas Oliver

(photo by NiBo)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year. I know I did! Tons of great presents, it's hard to choose a favorite! The rest of the day after we opened presents was spent watching movies and TV with the family. 

I can't believe that 2014 is just around the corner! Merry Christmas everyone!!

10 Things: Arizona Thoughts Pt. 1

{Part 1 because I'm sure there will be more}

Obviously moving to another state in just a couple months it is normal to have a million things about it running through your mind. I thought this would be a great place to share the random stream of consciousness thoughts about moving to Arizona that are running through my head, I'm sure there will be many many more of these 10 things as the months move on.

10 Things: Random thoughts about Arizona

* Crap, no longer have the excuse that "it's winter" for not shaving my legs.

* A coworker's reaction upon hearing the news "My first thought was maybe you won't be so white now" awesome.

* Everyone keeps saying I'll have to change the name of the blog.. well I'm not it will stay North of 10th, but I will need suggestions on a new tag line "stories dreams and random thoughts from the brick streets of a small town" won't work anymore.

* It's approximately 1700 miles (about 24 hours) from small town to Phoenix and we're driving out. Ultimate road trip or highway to hell?

* Things I'm so far most excited to check out once I'm there: Grand Canyon, Tombstone/OK Corral and Cubs spring training in Mesa! 

* I've been Googling Arizona facts too, here are some ones that stood out: 

     ~Arizona has 3,928 mountain peaks and summits—more mountains than any one of the other Mountain States (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming).

     ~ There are more wilderness areas in Arizona than in the entire Midwest. Arizona alone has 90 wilderness areas, while the Midwest has 50.+

    ~ Thirteen species of rattlesnakes live in Arizona, more species than in any other state.

* I'm interested to see what this "dry heat" feels like. In my mind hot is hot but people seem to think hot in AZ is different than hot in IL

* I love to wear my sunglasses. Sunglasses days make me happy (Winter time in IL does not give many sunglasses days) I've read on average Phoenix has 211 sunshine days... whoa.

* I'm worried about traffic and my patience level with it.

* I'm very excited that my birthday twin and his family are making the journey too! My favorite thing that Skinny said when he found out we both got the same job/city was a Mighty Ducks quote: "... And when the wind blows hard and the sky is black -Ducks fly together!" 

Postcard Arrival: Chongqing, China

This postcard traveled 7,543 miles in 46 days. 

That's the longest travel time so far.

This postcard is from Chongqing, China, and the sender says the city is known as "mountain city" and "foggy city" She also says that the famous food there is hot pot, which she says is very delicious and spicy.

Post Card Arrival: Leipzig, Germany

"All that I love loses half it's pleasure if you are not there to share it." 

- Clara Ortega

4,546 miles in 9 days.

The Big Announcement!

It's official folks, North of 10th is heading west! I'm moving to Arizona in March! I have accepted a new position with my company and will be moving to the Phoenix area in a couple months! The overall emotion is very excited, tons of new things, a HUGE bucket list item of living in another state will be crossed off and many more I'm sure. 

So stay tuned folks, 2014 is going to be amazing! I'll have lots of new things to share, it's sure to be an exciting ride! I hope you'll follow along with me as this huge adventure unfolds! 

Bah Humbug!

Work has been a giant headache this week. Something about the holiday's just brings out the impatience and meanness in people. But you know what makes everything better?! Cookies and eggnog in the atrium and a visit from Buddy the elf. Go ahead and try not to have a good day after that! 

Postcard Arrival: The Philippines

8,244 miles in 16 days from the Philippines.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Technically winter doesn't start until the 21st, but I don't think mother nature got that memo. Small town got dumped on with about 6 inches of snow! With nothing better to do, what better thing to do than make a snowman?!

So make a snowman we did...

We even dressed our snowman up in Navy gear to cheer Navy on vs. Army! 

Dad was happy.

Mom watched us build our snowman from the warmth of the front window, and don't ask my why she had full size carrots just sitting in the fridge, but I'm glad she did! 

Postcard Arrival: Regensburg, Germany

Traveling for 10 days and 4,622 miles this postcard arrived all the way from Germany.This sender has actually been through our great state of Illinois on a train trip to Minnesota, what a small world.