Holy Shit was 2011 a whirl wind and an incredible year. I can't really recap everything but I will run through some of the highlights that come to mind while I look back on the amazing year while I celebrate my 40th Birthday in Jamaica with Christine. 2011 started out with PJ and I finishing our trip in Colombia and while we were away enjoying ourselves my good buddy Sol happened to have lunch with an old friend of his that he went to High School with and had not seen in about 8 or 9 years. Sol was enjoying brunch with Christine whom I had known about 15 or so years ago but mostly just as Sol's friend that I would see from time to time. While they were at brunch catching up they started talking about dating and what she was looking for and somehow the list of what she was looking for instantly brought my name to Sol's mind. Sol asked Christine if she would consider going out with Dave and she said Dave Jacobs? Your buddy Dave? Sol was like yes, you just mentioned all of his qualities. When I returned from Colombia a few days later Sol asked me if I remembered Christine and I would want to go out with her. Of course I remembered her and Yes I would be interested in going out with her. I totally remembered her and how cute and nice she was, I waited about a week and sent her a text and caught up a little bit and we made plans to go to Sunda for dinner January 19th... Christine and I had our 1st date 1/19 and since we knew each other from the past we were very comfortable right away and got together a few more times right away. Well all I can say is 2011 will go down in history as an amazing whirlwind that continues to be incredible almost a full year later. We took our 1st vacation to early March to Beaver Creek and got Engaged in Paris middle of April followed by a couple trips to Salt Lake City and then Turk and Caicos to pick a spot to get married on the beach. We decided that Mexico would be easier and more fun so we chose The Grand Velas in The Riviera Maya and we had an amazing beach wedding with 40 friends and family on August 6th. The following weekend we had the party of the year for about 130 people on the rooftop of my dads building that was so much fun with awesome food and friends and family and was beyond perfect. The whirlwind year included so much more than those few highlights. I started running quite a bit when Christine and I started dating and ended up running many small races. We ran multiple 5k's and 8k's a 10 miler and 6 1/2 marathons which I never even thought I was capable of running and to finish off the running season I Ran the Chicago Full Marathon and less than a month later I ran NYC Full Marathon with Christine. The year was full of dozens amazing meals at restaurants in Chicago, NYC, Colorado, Turks & Caicos and also Mexico. We went camping, apple picking, hiking, runs and Yoga. We spent the holidays in Salt Lake and New Years in Chicago with friends. We are now starting 2012 celebrating my 40th birthday in Jamaica and I now that 2012 is going to be an incredible year also. Outside of the amazing new relationship that quickly turned into an engagement and shortly after became a marriage I have had a busy year in many other ways. Lockdown has grown into exactly what we had hoped and becoming a favorite place for the neighborhood and all of Chicago. We are looking forward to spring and all the hard work to paying off. We have decided to open up a new dream of a late night hot dog stand serving a small but amazing menu. We are opening up Phil's Last Stand around the 3rd week of January and we are sure it will be a winner. I will be putting in a lot of time and love into PLS with Phil's food expertise and personality keeping the people happy and coming back. Well that is my end of the year post and even though I have missed many things that we dad and happened I know that 2011 will go down as one of the best years of my life and I am excited for the future and to continue living my dreams and making more of them come true. I promise to post more often this year and share a little piece of our lives Till next time