Best of 2014

Best Jcubed Video - The only video from 2014 with all 3 members. From the beginning of the year.

Best Vacation: Colorado Camping Trip with Friends. The start to our love for the great outdoors.

Best Movie: The Only movie Rachel and I saw in theaters, Gone Girl

Best Song: Colorado by Jmon & Melissa - A masterpiece crafted around the campfire in the middle of the Rocky Mountains.

Most Played Song on my Itunes: Shake it Off by Taylor Swift - Thanks Rach

Best Concert: Deer Tick at The Metro & Blue Bird Theater. A tie! Where Mange was played magnificently.

Best TV Show: Breaking Bad Series was incredible. A breakout year for TV watching in my life as I have been binge watching TV series.

Best Moment: Rachel and I got Engaged at the top of the John Hancock.

Now, back to the Blog...

Tuesday January 6th, 2015. A night of home made beef sandwiches. Thanks to Rachel for keeping the bed warm by putting on the flannel sheets. Watched Shutter Island that night

Wednesday January 7th I watched some American Horror Story Season 4. It was also a super cold day out. At my parents place I had some soup and Cognac. A new kind of alcohol discovered and indulged in that evening. Watched some Walking Dead that night.

On Thursday January 8th I finished the book Shutter Island and ended up snowed in in Naperville. Watched some more Walking Dead that night.

Friday January 9th started with some 30 for 30s, the ESPN special about Randy Moss and Rand University. To sum it up, Rand University is located outside a 711 in Rand, Virginia, the hometown of Randy Moss. Stay in school or you end up at Rand U! We went to a party at Sarah and Aly's apartment that evening and enjoyed friends company.

The weekend started with Saturday January 10th, where I watched Illinois State University blow the division 1-A National Championship for football on tv. That night, Rachel and I made one of my favorite meals, Beef Stew. We took my Mom's recipe and cooked for about 45 minutes in the oven, the beef stew is so tasty over some rice. We drove back to Naperville and went shopping that night. We then watched Guardians of the Galaxy with Beth in her room, but I fell asleep about 30 minutes in, an early morning ahead.

Sunday January 11th was Tryout day for my Fox Valley Team. After some quality tryouts and tough decisions, I should have a great team this year!, I picked up Rachel and we headed to St. Charles for the baptism of my nephew Nikolas. He was so quiet and good while being baptized and took the whole thing like a boss. Look at that baby's cute baptism hat. Awesome. The after party was at their new house and we had some Chipotle catering, mmm. When we got home that night, I shoveled the driveway at our apartment since they don't seem to do that at this place. Afterwards, Rachel and I started our new workout plan and got a solid workout in. Get big 2015!

On Monday January 12th, I finished Season 3 of The Walking Dead. And that was about it for this week!

Until Next Time.

Ya Boy Josh

Happy One (New) Year of Blogs

Tuesday December 30th, after a day of work, I went shopping and then picked up Beth. We then drove to my place in the city where Rachel made us some spaghetti for dinner. We relaxed the rest of the night.

Wednesday December 31st, New Year's Eve! Cam came to visit and we were fortunate to find him a parking spot with the help of Grant. After hanging out for a bit, we all got ready and then had a few people over to our place: Brian, Sarah, Colin, Matt, & Caitlin joined us for snacks and games. We played cards against humanity, as well as friends and enemies. Around 10pm we headed over to Kim's place for a party and we were not liked by many, as we (I) kept counting down well before midnight arrived. Finally midnight came and we all cheered and celebrated. We then got our coats and left around 12:30am. 2015 was here!

January 1st, 2015 was spent with a morning of mimosas and a lot of football being watched. Michigan State put on an amazing comeback and won their bowl game. We then got some dinner at Duke's which was delicious and we got an awesome Thursday deal. I had 4 burger bites and got a free 12 wings since it was buy one item, get one free! Duke's is always an enjoyable time and probably my favorite place in the area.

After Duke's we walked over to Lincoln Park Zoo and enjoyed the Zoo Lights. Check out some pics from the night where we saw handfuls of sad monkeys, ice sculptors, lighted animals, & pretty lights. Also learned that ice sculptors use a special machine to keep the water flowing so the ice appears to be clear, just like a frozen river bed. This will be the new way I make ice cubes. No more cloudy ice for me!

Beware of the Rainbow Tunnel! This tunnel was a tricky part to the Zoo since it was outside the zoo and we ended up in this tunnel when they closed the zoo doors on us, so we had to walk around the outside with no lights, how sad.

On Friday January 2nd, I headed to work for the first half of the day, then once home I made some rigatoni pasta for Cam, Rachel, and I for dinner. We then met up with friends and walked over to Mary & Jeff's for some Edward 40 Hands. With a lack of 40s in the 5 liquor stores we stopped at, our little group ended up just have 25oz cans, which worked out just fine.

After the party ended, Rachel, Cam, Colin, Sarah, and I hit up a bar across the street for one last drink before they had last call and picked up some Fat Sandwich on the way home. Cam, Rachel & I split the fat milf. Tastyyy. It also snowed on the way home, first snow of the year!

Saturday January 3rd started with me clearing snow off my car, then a bit of work. I picked up gas for an all-time low price of $1.79. Will prices continue to drop!? It rained on the way home and Rachel and I watched a bunch of Mad Men. We made a delicious pork dinner and then had some wine & gummies to go along with our lovely 4 hours of chatting to end the night.

On Sunday January 4th, Rachel and I spent most of the day watching TV shows. We finished season 3 of Mad Men, and season 2 of The Walking Dead. Both shows are solid. We went out to get some groceries and saw where the Best Buy close to us got robbed earlier that morning. Crime scene! Had a couple of buffalo ranch McChickens for lunch and after watching TV for a few hour we made succulent beef sandwiches in the crock pot for dinner. Sooo good.

After a work lunch at Lou Malnati's and a day of work, I spent my evening watching a few episodes of The Walking Dead Season 3 and then shoveled my driveway and sidewalks at my parents place around midnight!

Great end to 2014 and great start to 2015. Looking forward to the year. Maybe next week I'll post a review with bests of 2014 and some goals for 2015.

Josh