Fall Travel Highlights (at long last)

Baltimore for National Conference

Drive from Denver to Aspen - listened to iPod with new converter cable

Sky Hotel in Aspen

Wine at check in, zebra and leopard print robes

Quick Drive to Vail - beautiful scenery and good college fair

Lutheran College Fair in Denver with Robin & Jessica

Old Chicago w/ Jessica

Colorado College Fair Week

Dinner at College Fair w/ Will

Over zealous student commented on my looks

Alaska

Bonfire w/ The Johnsons - Marshmallows!

Long walk w/ Ted

Morning Mochas by Becca

Glacier Brewhouse - Twins Game & Matt from Valdez

Urban Greens (suggested by Mr. McGownd)

Dinner w/ Megan from Gustavus

Paul from StO on Denver Flight

Cheesecake Factory w/ Brian & Joe

StO Brunch at Grand Hyatt Denver

Lunch w/ Robin

Sarah's Recital & Drinks

Dinner @ The Island w/ Brian

Black Pearl w/ Sarah

Christmas Fest

Apparently I can't get enough Christmas Festival! I was fortunate enough to attend Christmas Fest on Thursday night... we had floor seats, on the end, so that when the students were processing in or recessing out of the auditorium they were right next to us. As the woman on MPR just described, when the students are singing all around you it feels like a giant hug. But attending the performance on Thursday wasn't enough. The Sunday afternoon performance is broadcast live on MPR, which I had completely forgotten until perusing FaceBook. Thank goodness someone reminded me to listen to it live! I caught the last 50 minutes of the Fest (the best 50 mins if you ask me) from the comfort of my home. Would you consider me a giant dork if I told you I turned off all my lights except for the Christmas tree and laid on the couch listening to the 5 choirs and orchestra? I even had the program in front of me so when the congregation was invited to sing, I sang along. In my house. By myself.

Sometimes music moves me to the point of tears, especially Christmas Fest. A couple songs in particular this year - Praise to the Lord (a hymn from the 17th century) and, of course, Beautiful Savior. Both of those songs had me in tears. Another highlight was the Viking Chorus performing Oba Se Je, a Nigerian folk song. And then of course there's the orchestra - this year they performed a piece called Rejoice!, recently written by Steven Amundson (the director of the StO Orchestra). I loved being able to picture the StO musicians on stage, performing their pieces. If you're interested in listening to the broadcast, see the following website for more information:

http://www.stolaf.edu/christmasfest/broadcast.html

Enjoy!

I know I did... twice.

Jill

Serious

I love days like today.

I slept over 7 hours and woke up at 8am ready for the day. After enjoying mochas, Julie, Carson and I went for a walk in the crisp November morning weather.

As much as I enjoyed my time with my neighbors, it can't compare to the time spent with Kevin, George and Anna. Kevin and I went to the Lagoon and saw A Serious Man, which was filmed in part at St. Olaf. It was exciting to see the lecture halls of the old science center. I know we had a few students who were extras in the film, but we never saw them in the movie.

Leave it to the Coen Bros to leave you hanging. Kevin and I talked at length about the premise of the movie - the movie is not at all sensationalized and left me feeling connected to the main charachter, Larry, whose life is not easy and is filled with complications. There isn't a typical Hollywood ending with everything wrapped up nicely, but leaves you wondering what happens... I wanted at least one more scene to help explain what happens to Larry and his family, but that's not the point. The point is that life doesn't have a simple, happy ending, but we're always dealing with questions and uncertainties.

That wasn't even the best part of my night! Kevin and I went over to George and Anna's for dinner after the movie. I haven't seen them since their wedding in August, so it was so fantastic to catch up with them, debrief about their wedding and hear about their lives.

Spending time with those three (Kevin, George and Anna) I'm reminded of how blessed I am to have such amazing friends in my life. After dinner, Kevin and I had great discussions about dating, travel and our place in life. I appreciate that Kevin is a deep thinker and relates well to my place in life - he thinks about ways to better his life and to appreciate his place in this world. I'm not articulating well enough how important these relationships and conversations are to me, but my heart is full after spending time with those guys. It seems that Kevin and I frequently have meaningful conversations that leave me feeling incredibly fortunate and appreciative of our relationship. And something that makes me happy is that I think he enjoys our time together just as much as I do.

I love my friends.... You help me to appreciate my life more deeply.

Jill

Highlights of The Summer

Minneapolis Half Marathon

Celebrate Your Life Conference w/ Deanna & Anita

Taste of Minnesota

Jam w/ Grandma
Boating on the St. Croix

Boogie Wonderland at Babe's

Stanton Family Golf Tournament

Cirque du Soleil w/ Dad & Monica

The Lake

Denver

Send Off Picnic

Washington Park w/ The Woolums

Dinner w/ Sarah & The Lundstroms

Overnight w/ Sarah

Montana Trip w/ Kevin & Piotr

Yellowstone

Hot Springs

Golf

George & Anna's Wedding

Road Trip Home

Sexy, Formal, Stylish: 30th Birthday Party

Golf w/ Mom, Anita, Deanna & Sara

Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk

Minnesota State Fair

Rascal Flatts Concert w/ Deanna

Twins Game w/ Sibs

Little House (the musical) w/ Sandy

coming soon: highlights of fall travel

Oles are Everywhere

My flight to Denver was delayed on Friday night. While waiting the gate area, I noticed a student wearing a St. Olaf Choir fleece. I went over to the student and asked if he was heading to Denver for Fall Break. He looked at me with a little uncertainty and told me that he was, in fact, going to Denver. I introduced myself, told him I work at St. Olaf and the rest is history. Well not really, but Paul and I were fast friends. We talked for the next couple of hours while we waited for our plane to arrive. Turns out he's a junior from Chicago, roommates with one of our student workers and going to Denver to visit his friend (and my former student) Martina.

Our plane finally arrived but it turns out there was something wrong with it, so we needed to change gates to get on a different plane. When we got to the next grouping of gates, I saw there was a student with an um ya ya t-shirt waiting for his flight to Chicago. I asked Paul if he knew the student, he didn't but said we should sit by him anyway. I think we might have intimidated him with our outgoing personalities. Dan's a first year and was heading home to Chicago for break. Both of them are physics majors so they had a lot in common.

Another student came and sat down next to us and was listening with interest to Dan and Paul chat about physics and derivatives. I asked if he was connected to St. Olaf too. He said no, he's a junior in high school, but he visited campus this summer and his older brother looked at StO in his college search. Turns out I was his brother's admissions counselor!

Gotta love St. Olaf. Those types of interactions make me appreciate and love my job even more!

I was headed out to CO for an alumni/admissions event that was very successful! As an added bonus, I finally had time to meet up with Brian and Joe for dinner. Love those guys.

Jill

Captain Cook

I'm on the last leg of my trip - arrived in Anchorage earlier today, checked into the Hotel Captain Cook and went shopping.

In case you're wondering who Captain Cook was, check out the website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook. He traveled all over the world, but I'm not quite sure what his connection to Alaska is. If I find out, I'll let you know.

I went to the Glacier Brewhouse for dinner tonight - had the blackened Halibut, which was delicious! Thank you, Mr. Bartender, for the recommendation. It's likely that I'll get the same thing for dinner either tomorrow or Tuesday night... that's how tasty it was. Watched the end of the last post season Twins game and chatted with a couple of Alaskans. One guy lives in Valdez and is an RN, the other is an accountant in Anchorage. Both of them were very friendly .... the conversations made me appreciate sitting at the restaurant bar by myself. I went into dinner thinking I'd be in and out of there in a short period of time, but I stuck around to watch the Twins game and ended up having 3 beers ... very unlike me! After completing my first beer, I debated between another beer and a bowl of ice cream. I ended up choosing the beer. Twice. What would you have done?

I was so sad to leave the Johnsons this morning! We had such a good time together - watched a total of 3 movies (The Informant!, Chicago and Ghost of Girlfriends Past), went out for lunch at the Chowder House yesterday and drank mochas while watching the sunrise from their sunroom this morning. In addition, Ted and I went on a 6 mile walk near the university yesterday morning. The weather was awesome - it was well into the 50s both days!
I just love those guys and think of them as my second family.

I better go to bed before the most ridiculously long college fair tomorrow.

Thank you Ted & Becca! Love you guys.
Jill

I Still Heart Alaska

Made it to Fairbanks!

I'm pretty pleased to be here, especially to spend time with Ted & Becca. Last night, we sat by the bonfire for over 4 hours! Ted and I had great conversations about life, work, relationships, etc. Eventually, we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. We were on the lookout for satellites, but didn't have any luck as it became cloudier as the night wore on.

Apparently, the nights are the darkest at this time of year. In the dead of winter, even though the nights are long, the snow reflects light and makes for brighter nights. I'm pleasantly surprised with the warm temps here - it got up to 51 today!

Today I had a college fair from 9am - noon and I'm currently waiting in the Alaska Roasting Coffee House for the first of two student interviews. Tonight we're going to lay low ... the plan is to watch a blue ray movie on their 52 in tv (which hides behind their fireplace mantle. No big plans for tomorrow, which is perfectly fine with me.

On the way to the college fair this morning, the traffic report went something like this: Traffic is moving along pretty smoothly this morning. Other than the moose in the road over in ___ (can't remember the name of the town), there are no traffic issues. It might take awhile for that situation to clear up.

Gotta love Alaska.
heart,
Jilli

Alpine Americans

I am so happy to be crawling into bed after a 14 hour work day including a total of 3 college fairs and a 3 1/2 hour drive from Aspen to Denver!

Had a beautiful start to the day in Aspen, walked from my swanky hotel to Paradise Bakery for a cup of coffee and a pumpkin muffin, got ready for the Western Slope College Fair, went for a nice fall drive past the high school up to one of the parks, turned around and headed back to the high school for the college fair. They're very good to the visiting reps during this particular fair. When I pulled onto the street where the high school is located, a man greeted me and sent me to the parking lot where I was met by another volunteer. By the time I got to the second person, she already knew I was from St. Olaf. Talk about organized! A student came to my car to help with my materials, she walked me into the school and downstairs to the gym where my table was located. After that, Tom and I went up to the cafeteria for the lovely brunch of eggs and potatoes and inspiring words by the Aspen director of college counseling, the mayor of Aspen, and several other community members. Every year I chuckle to myself about how they present the western slope high school kids to us. Based on the words used to describe them, you would think they had been through a natural disaster and come out stronger because of the hell they'd been through. They're "resilient" and we should give them our full attention because they are the greatest students in all of the country. There's definitely a Lake Wobegon effect going on at Aspen High School.

Quote of the Day: "Here in Aspen, we may not look all that diverse. But we are. We are the Alpine Americans."

After the 3 hour Aspen fair, I hopped in the car and drove 2 hours to Vail for the next college fair. I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout at this fair as only 26 colleges were invited and the host high school only has 22 kids in the senior class.

From there, I drove another 1 1/2 hours to Denver for the 3rd fair of the day, the Lutheran College Night. I was relieved that the weather and traffic were both tame, making for a smooth drive on I-70. The trees are beautiful at this time of the year, although I'm pretty sure they've already lost many of the colorful aspen leaves to wind and cold temps. I remember the trees being much brighter last year.

Thankfully, Jessica and Robin were there to set up the StO table because there's no way I could have made it in time. As it was, I rolled in about 15 minutes after the fair started, which was much better than I anticipated! The fair was well attended and I was grateful for Jess and Robin's presence!

I hadn't seen Jess in several months so she and I went out for pizza and beer once everyone else dispersed. I really do love that girl! She's hilarious and there are definitely moments when we can relate to each others' place in life.

Nothing else particularly exciting to report for the day. Just that I'm looking forward to sleeping in a little bit tomorrow!

Happy 60th Birthday, Dad!!
Love,
Jill

Rocky Mountain High

I'm back in Aspen, CO! A couple years ago, I saw Felicity Huffman when we were both checking in for our flights to Aspen. No celebrity sightings so far ... but it wouldn't surprise me to see someone famous as the Aspen Film Festival is this weekend.

I'm trying a new hotel this year. I've quickly become a big fan of the Sky Hotel! When I checked in, I was given a glass of wine (apparently it was happy hour), which I appreciated after the 3+ hour drive from Denver. The floors in the hallway have multi-colored striped carpeting, the lamps in the hallway have furry green shades, there's sort of leafy print carpet in the room and the walls are bright yellow. I can't decide if I should wear the zebra print or the leopard print robe after my shower in the morning.

I almost rented a Nissan Murano for the week, but thankfully a nice man at the airport Enterprise pointed out that the front tires were worn down. The whole point of renting a small SUV was to feel comfortable driving through the mountains and potentially bad weather, so I was especially grateful that he noticed the tires and said something to me. The GMC Acadia is working just fine. I could quickly get used to driving a sturdy SUV.

Tom (from GAC) and I changed up our annual routine tonight. We tried a new mexican restaurant! Neither of us is particularly excited about group social activities, so we skipped the reception hosted by the high school staff and local Aspen families and had dinner at a local mexican place. Nice guy.

My eyes are getting sleepy, so I better sign off.
Good night,
Jill

2:01:25

I did it!  I finished my second half marathon and I have to admit that I'm pretty proud of myself.  JennyP and I ran the race together, finishing in 2 hours 1 minute and 25 seconds, which means we averaged 9:16 per mile ... 7 minutes under last year's time.  Overall, I felt fantastic during the race!  My left outer knee started to bother me around mile 8, but didn't keep me from running at a decent pace.  Other than that, my muscles felt great - no groin issue (a big problem last year), no chafing (also a problem in the humidity last year), the weather was perfect, and I loved my running shirt (is it ok to say that?).

Proud of my medal!

Jenny & Jill after the race

Jenny, Kevin & Jill - Admissions Running All Stars

Gearing Up

Apparently I haven't felt very inspired lately - but that's about to change!  Tomorrow I'm running my second half marathon... the Minneapolis Half Marathon.  A new race this year, it starts at The Depot downtown Mpls and runs along the river.  I had a hard time deciding if I should sign up for another half considering the fact that I didn't have a regular running partner.  In the end, I decided my goal could be not only finishing a half marathon, but training and running a half by myself!  I think the training went even a little better than last year.  I run a little faster by myself... as fast as 8:45 min/miles! (that's fast for me)

Right now I'm wearing my Heart of the City Half Marathon t-shirt in honor of all those running the Bville Half today.  The weather is infinitely better today than it was last year, no humidity or rain.

Ready to run!

Jilli