2012 Year in Review

I love around holiday time, when people send us newsletters of what is going on with their lives. I think there is something really cathartic about it and since life can move so rapidly, I love catching up in one letter and I can refer back to anytime.

Since I didn't get a chance to send one out, I figured I would start a blog.

(Please ignore any "Julieisms" = strange typos or incorrect words that look similar to the word I actually meant to use.)

January

Scariest month of 2012 (that we are glad is a year away) Carlos was diagnosed with testicular cancer and had an orchiectomy surgery. We said goodbye to the ole friend and left other littler buddies at the bank.

Keri inspired me to join an AIGA Mentor Program group, which happened to start a week after we go the news. Creating and presenting a pecha kucha was a great stress reliever during this insanely stressful period of time.

In addition to making new creative friends, Words With Friends, was another new friend to pass the time.

February

We enjoyed a romantic Valentine's Day with dinner at ZaZa's Trattoria in St. Charles, and a fun night out joining friends for sushi and the Lincoln Lodge Show & Tell show.

Carlos made new friends too. Two partners in his path to healing surfaced, Omar and Dr. Eggener.

March

Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection surgery was chosen and completed on the 13th. The surgery and recovery went really well. The hospital stay on the other hand was a bit of a different experience with care being a bit concerning. I am glad the hospital was able to get me a cot, so I could stay by his side through the 17th. Myrna and Lucio relieved me for shower, lunch, treadmill and phone breaks — giving family and friends updates on his progress.

The hokey pokey song was forever modified at this point...you put the catheter in, you take the catheter out.... 

The entire month was recovery and no work for Carlos, while working to increase his strength while adapting to his new body. I ran the Shamrock Shuffle solo, he insisted I go.

April

April was more recovery and getting life back to normal. We had one more cancer scare and then we were relieved to celebrate being cancer free! We celebrated by having dinner with friends. Carlos was back on the treadmill by month's end and full force fundraising for his Live Strong marathon run.

I got to copycat his job by doing student portfolio reviews at Harrington College with Keri and Laura, and enjoyed the Sappi Show at the MCA.

May

My AIGA mentor group ended, and Cardio Kickboxing class with Laura began. Carlos, Kate, Rachel, Frank and I ran in the Elmhurst Annie Ryan fun run.

June

Busy month for birthdays. Dinner with friends and a visit to Kingston Mines for Carlos's. A week later we were flown out to Minneapolis by Attero, for the Live Strong fundraising race they sponsored on his behalf. "Cruising Como with Carlos" was a blast! He won! I ran between Lucio and brother Miguel. Everyone in Minneapolis was so nice. Minnesota nice!

July

After all of that, we made it to our first wedding anniversary. We celebrated with pizza and went and saw Brave. Pretty low key due to how busy my work schedule started to become and with the inspiring idea that we add a door way to our dinner room. This spurred the beginning of a 6 month kitchen, living room and dining renovation project that went from pleasant distraction to pushing us to the limit.

Since we weren't busy enough, I signed up to see a chiropractor to help resolve my arm pain/numbness and neck issues, though they couldn't fix the numbness our summer vacation to Hilton Head Island left us with.

Hilton Head had some redeeming qualities, I fell in love with a.m. water aerobics, yes I am a total geek :)

August

Dad's prostrate surgery was a success, though not the easiest surgery. He did all the right things and it paid off. His recovery went very well.

Carlos bought a new Subaru WRX, "Trixy". Sorry bye bye "Betsy".

Dwain & Jamie and Kelly & David had their local wedding receptions.

Said some sad goodbyes to Sonali and Mahesh, as they relocated to New York City for work, and to Robin as she left for St. Louis.

For fun, Heather and I went to the North Coast Music Festival and got educated on all the new drug terms in addition to, "put your eye in the sky". WTF!

September

Work, work, work, work, working on the Hu-Friedy.com relaunch project. In between work, work sent me to a class called, "The Ultimate Communicator". Their investment in me becoming a leader paid off, since I discovered out of the 4 quadrants of personality types, only 10% are leaders. That reinforced my belief and desire to manage.

While I was busy in class, Len was busy have spinal fusion surgery. The surgery took longer then expected, but Len was a trooper and has recovered well since.

October

Dad has been focusing on being healthy, losing weight and eventually kicked the PSA (?) levels to the curb with the losest recorded number for the year! The Rog is cancer-free!

Carlos completed the marathon!!!! I spent the day trying to find him which never happened but I was glad he saw other supporters along the route. 

Pizza continued to be a high priority and date night on Fridays at Roundhead's began. We made friends with server Bradley. Bradley's college debating abilities were great fun as the election drew near. Dan and Jessica got to join in the fun too.

Dylan's birthday was super fun at Aunt Mitizi's.

November

Carlos got a promotion to Senior Recruiter and the raise he was waiting on! 

I hardly remember November except for work, work, work and starting the Pilates Reformer class with Laura, after getting a tip from the chiro that this would be a great treatment option for me. So far that has been true and I am focusing more on strengthening for pain management.

Thanksgiving kept us all from celebrating together, motivating us to host Christmas, and refining a new deadline for completing the renovation (that never ends). We have new cabinets, a counter and a working sink and dishwasher! Hurray, no more dishes in the bathroom!

It wouldn't be 2012 without adding another surgery. Carlo's dad had not just a single hernia, but a double! Such an overachiever.

December

The mad dash to launch Hu-Friedy.com launch made it for the internal debut just hours before our company Christmas party. With hardly a moment to breathe, a new and improved impossible deadline was defined, this one in actuality isn't possible...

My birthday was super fun with a merging of couples in our friend groups at Carlucci's. The place was perfectly decorated for the holiday and we eventually wound down in their bar listening to Santa's helper since throw back Madonna songs. What more could a girl want?!

Carlos was wigged up for a quest appearance in Vic's viral video:
http://youtu.be/omcrb5EGhZo

Luckily, the holiday office closing and a couple of comp days before Christmas came just in time for me drive all over the place to get gifts and groceries to host 18. Baby shrimp was sold out — chopped up pieces of frozen shrimp work well for shrimp dip too. I was worried we didn't have enough food hours before arrival, boy was I wrong. We had a ton for food and a ton of fun. The white elephant and secret santa made this year uniquely fun!