My father-in-law died last week. He was 76 and had been suffering from the effects of cancer since August. His doctors had told him he had more than a year, and he was hoping to stick around until after my husband and I had kids.

Often we ask people to vote on the awards and sometimes we decide them ourselves. This year it seems to be a clear cut decision that the The Great Rabbino 2011/12 NFL Player of the Year is our very own Chicago Bear, Adam Podlesh.

Right before the end of the year, I wrote a blog post for JUF News in which I reminisced about 2011 and shared my personal aspirations for 2012.

A friend-of-a-friend came late to the Golden Globes party I attended this past Sunday. She'd booked a first date for the night and joined us afterwards. Even though many of us at the party didn't know her well, we, of course, all jumped on her for details as soon as she walked in the door— movie stars just weren't holding our attention at that point in the evening. Like many first dates, hers was a bit of a disaster.

A couple of years ago I read the book 29 Gifts and I still think about the book to this day. It's the true story of Cami Walker, a 30-something newlywed, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, who was feeling sorry for herself. Amidst Walker's depression, a medicine woman recommends that Walker give away a gift each day for a month as a way to get outside of her own headspace.

So I’m engaged, and I’m getting all sorts of advice about the wedding. The advice includes: the food is most important, the band or D.J. has to be excellent, don’t feel like you need to invite anyone you don’t want to be there, and much, much more.

I named my car "Lois" when I bought her. The reasons for her naming are two-fold. One, I thought it would be cute to play on the whole Superman (Clark Kent) and Lois Lane idea—a tribute to my childhood love of Superman movies—because I've been working as reporter for a majority of the time I've lived in Chicago. Two, I happen to be a huge fan of the TV series, Family Guy.