The time I volunteered and it changed my life...

After lunch today, I plan to drop-off a few presents to a family affiliated with my program. This work-related errand has got me thinking about holiday volunteering. Truth be told, despite being an avid year-round volunteer, I hardly ever volunteer during the holidays. Why? It could be time, scheduling, or a surplus of philanthropists coming off the bench during this time of year. I volunteered occasionally during the holidays growing up but nothing major. But when I was a senior at Florida, I volunteered over Christmas and it changed my life. I just didn’t know it at the time.

During my last days at Florida, I participated in what is known as Florida Alternative Breaks, which is affiliated with Break Away, which was started at fellow-SEC sister school, Vanderbilt, in 1991. “Florida Alternative Breaks” is very popular among the do-gooder overachievers of the Gator nation and is affiliated with the inclusive Center for Leadership and Service.

Clearly, I felt it was important to be well-dressed while saving the world.

For my FAB trip, I ventured to Raleigh, North Carolina where I volunteered on a nutrition education and food insecurity program. While in Raleigh, we partnered with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, a Feeding America affiliate where we worked on local organic farms, packed goods, and distributed food to families and church parishes in the days before Christmas to Raleigh’s neediest.

I can’t do the whole trip justice in this post but it was amazing. If you ask my father, I did not think it was amazing at the time and it’s true. I called to complain multiple times about the cold (this was exactly one year before I moved to Chicago) and how I was sleeping on the floor a church.

I can still feel the impact of this trip as I now work at a non-profit. It has given me intangible skills that I still use to this day and has shaped the way I think about community programs and volunteering. I never thought that those five days in North Carolina would be so profound for me. But it is clearly a testament to the program. So, if you're lucky enough to still be at student at Florida- go on a FAB trip! I promise you, you won't regret it.

"Suz-prizes"

Confession: I love presents. I love both giving and receiving.

I know many of you are not surprise by this. One of my first memories regarding this very topic was when my aunt and uncle came home from a trip to Hawaii.  My somewhat presumptuous four-year old self asked the question on everyone’s mind, “Did you bring me anything?” My well-mannered mother was mortified. But I made out with a bandit with a hula skirt and a children’s book about the islands. My 24-year old self still feels the same way. But now, I love buying people things or as I would say “Suz-prizes.” I just love it.  

My loving office also loves gift giving and receiving. Every year, we host an annual secret gift exchange. This year we renamed it “Secret Holiday Armadillo Pal” in the spirit of diversity (which I also love) rather than “Secret Santa.”

Last year, I got a beautiful personalized apron since I collect aprons and I love to cook. This year I received a wonderful Starbucks tumbler to feed my iced coffee addiction and a bag full of my favorite treats. But what do you do if you don’t know what to get your Secret Armadillo Pal or Secret Santa? Here are some tips:

Do your research. Ask a colleague who they are close to or observe their desk.

Find out where they went to college. Everyone loves paraphernalia from his or her alma mater.

Don’t buy anything too personal. No one wants to receive a Victoria's Secret gift card from a co-worker.

Think relaxation. Work is hard. Who wouldn’t want a gift card for a manicure?

If all else fails, buy your recipient a Target gift card. That’s what I did this year. You’re never too far from the red dot boutique and everyone can always find something they need or want there.

Happy Gift Giving!

It was a marathon, not a sprint.

When I woke up on Thursday and read this tweet, “Happy ‪#Thanksgiving Day!! Re-tweet this post if you're already up and cooking.” As usual, Southern Living couldn’t have said it better. And at precisely 8:01 a.m., I “retweeted” like many other productive folks and went back to my cooking.

The truth is, my Thanksgiving planning and preparing began many days and even weeks ago as I talked over menus and schedules with my parents. This year marked the only the second time in my family’s history that Thanksgiving was not done at my parent’s or my grandparent’s house. The first was when my mother was 7-months pregnant with me and my wonderful aunt (and fabulous hostess) made them dinner. In other words, Thursday was a really big deal.

My actual cooking started on Wednesday when I whipped up this Southern Living macaroni and cheese.

The mac and cheese got a teeny bit burned.

I make a few different ones but in an effort to save some time and energy, I decided to for-go making homemade breadcrumbs to sprinkle on top. I also made a homemade pumpkin pie along with whipped cream from scratch.

Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite treats.

Everything else was homemade and prepared with care. Among the many things that I am grateful for, I feel especially blessed to have two wonderful parents who enjoy cooking and baking as much as me.

Big Ballin'

Hello again, friends. It has been a fast and furious fall. Nevertheless, I'm happy to report that so many fun things have been happening. But I thought I would share a photo my parents and I took at the Northwestern Basketball game this evening.

True Champions: We've all been awake for going on 18 hours at this point.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Weekend Update

What a weekend! Thankfully, the past two days were reasonably low-key. Since the beginning of summer, I have been consistently busy every weekend. Trust me, I’m not complaining- it’s a good problem to have. Nevertheless, this weekend I had somewhat of a “Suz-cation.” What’s a “Suz-cation” you ask? Well, its basically a weekend when I do pretty much whatever I want to do. I won’t bore you with a play by play of every moment but I did want to share two of my favorite things that I did this weekend.

On Saturday, I attended the annual Junior League of Chicago’s College Football Tailgate Social, an event held to raise money for the League as well as promote membership satisfaction. And it’s all you can drink. My friends and I have gone every year we’ve been in League and it is one of my favorite events.

Today, I took a brief trip to Evanston after doing a work-related errand. Though my grad school days at Northwestern are over, I still make the occasionally journey to Edzo’s which is just north of the city. I was introduced to Edzo’s while in school and it has one of the best burgers I've ever had. After I took one bit, I never looked back.

That’s it. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

New Year, New Post

I’m back, bitches.

Happy Rosh Hashanah to all! I have been waiting to end my writing “hiatus” until the New Year. With this said, I have always loved Rosh Hashanah. Until like New Year’s Eve, Rosh Hashanah is never a let down- it’s a time to celebrate and spend time with family and friends.

For me, Rosh Hashanah has always been a special time for me. It reminds me of my mother making an elaborate honey cake and my aunt cooking her famous brisket. Rosh Hashanah also signifies the start of school as well as football season- two of my favorite things. But Rosh Hashanah also means new beginnings.

Keeping with the theme of fresh starts, I kicked the year off in style. I spent my day off yesterday, writing out and addressing my Rosh Hashanah cards. I have very fond memories of my non-Jewish grandparents sending us High Holidays cards. In retrospect, it was not only delightful but also pretty progressive.

I also celebrated the holiday by attending dinner at the home of some dear friends. As any good hostess knows, its a lot of work to put together a dinner party. With this said, I fulfilled my role as a good guest and brought a side. What did I bring, you ask? Homemade knishes! My family loves knishes and they are such a treat. I made these from scratch and they were quite the hit if I do say so myself.

I like to think that the cards and the knishes have set the tone for the year. I’m 5773% sure that this its going to be amazing!