Thursday, July 31, 2014

dragonmouth casserole and a concert

After bookclub last week I begged Liz for the recipe of another delicious thing she made. She sent me this:
I think the only thing missing from my pic was 1 lb browned beef, or turkey. I used chicken. Layer them all up, bake and eat.
Mine ended up hot because I used 2 adobe peppers, but very good.
A couple months ago I begged my old boss for tickets to the Justin Timberlake concert. He has a connection. And I didn't hear anything until the night before the concert, but he got us free tickets! There was a brief hold-up at will call, but we got our tickets and were randomly seated just a few rows behind my friend Jenna. I sent her this text when we first got there, but my bad cell reception didn't send it through until she'd already seen us, boo! It would have been really funny.
Me & Jill
Our tickets were pretty good, and better yet, free! The concert was fun (altho I liked last years with JayZ better). This time Justin had this awesome scaffold thing that moved the entire span of the stadium so he passed by really close and people in the back got to see him too, that was really cool.
Otherwise this week has been really busy. Tomorrow is my birthday and I took the day off. I don't like working on my birthday, and this may be one of the last times when I have the ability to not work on it- so gosh darn it I'm not going to!
My parents, and my 2 besties are out of town, and Doug's at work. So my exciting plans are to get 8 hours of sleep, make breakfast, probably lay on the floor and watch Catching Fire DVD Jill got me, work on some wedding stuff, maybe use this massage coupon Doug got me for Christmas, and then later we are going to a magic show. Sounds pretty good to me.
I am ready for a long weekend, today at work was a come home, skip the workout, and make cookies kind of day!
The last time I made these they were tasteless and mushy, and I'm glad to say today's were better.

Monday, July 28, 2014

dashing young warrior

Yesterday Doug ran in the Warrior Dash and he wanted me to go watch him. He came to pick me up bright and early in his "running suit":
We headed over with a couple of his friends for the race.
And here he was after:
He was a celebrity in that suit! I kept hearing people say, "look there's the suit guy!" and he was high 5'd so many times, and several people took pictures of him. It was fun. He even got pulled aside at the end for a professional photo which went onto the main website. Under his name it said: "when we asked Doug why he chose to wear a suit he replied, "because I wanted to look stylish, and I had a job interview after this". Haha, yup that sounds like him! :)

Friday, July 25, 2014

2 years later

Today marks 2 years divorced. I realized the date as I was signing papers at work. It is amazing how fast time flies.
Two years ago I was at the courthouse coming down the elevator with mom (and Andrew) and taking off my rings. One year ago I was picking up Joel and Michelle from the airport and getting ready for Elizabeth's wedding, and starting to think about dating again.
The hardest part is far behind me. Almost the entire first year from New Years Eve 2011 when he said he wanted the divorce, to New Years Eve 2012 when a full year had gone by- I was divorced, and had survived, and I had spent an entire year doing things on my own, that was the hardest part. But making it that first year showed me that I could do it. It showed me what loving and supportive friends and family I have. That God had brought me through. That He still had plans for me.
I don't think I'll talk about divorce forever, but it is a part of my past, and hopefully has shaped me to be more compassionate to others who are hurting, and more appreciative and loving to the people in my life. And to be more thankful to my God who is so good to me, and never let me down.
So yeah, I remembered when I saw the date today, but mostly I thought about how today is 99 days until my wedding. And how excited I am for my future.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Fly Hero

I went to Doug's house last night and I saw a little fly trapped in what I thought for months was a birdfeeder. So I asked Doug if he would rescue him and let him out. Then he told me that was a bee-catcher because he was getting bees in his house. But he let the little fly out and took down the catcher, with the condition that if bees were coming back in, it would go back up.
I was too late for all these flies
(attention birds, dried fly carcass feast!)
But I was happy to save that one fly. I hate the thought of anything suffering, even if it is a pesky fly.
This evening Jill and I had a roommate hangout that seemed loooong overdue. I made bean-kale veggie burgers (ok, but not great so won't share recipe)
with a side of roasted potatoes, and made strawberry shortcakes for dessert (not pictured because I gobbled it up too quickly)
We watched an episode of Call the Midwife, and went for a nice long walk through the park and talked. So nice. I miss the days where we used to just sit around and talk and eat popcorn, life is too busy!

Monday, July 21, 2014

camping trip!

This weekend Doug and I drove down to Indiana to meet my friend Jill and her bf "halfway" for a quick camping weekend. I thought she lived in St. Louis, but she really lived in Springfield, MO so my calculations on halfway were a bit off. whoops! Anyway, we left Friday after work and off we went.
combos? check! we were ready
Stopped at a tasty fast food chinese/thai place on the way thru Ohio. Magic Wok, wish we had this restaurant! It was tasty and even a bit healthy.
the iphone was no match for the beauty of this sunset
Doug and I had a good time talking and driving down, but it was a long drive and we were tired. We pulled into the campsite at 12:30am and went to check in. We were soon told that they had no reservation for us. What?? So I called Jill and she explained to the guy that she had made phone reservations, but nope, they didn't have anything and now they were full. So we pulled over and started calling other places. Of course most of the other campsites didn't answer since it was now 1am, but a couple did and they were full too. So then we started calling hotels, full, full, full. We finally found a place for $120 and half an hour away. So off we went and crashed into bed after 2am.
The next day, you better believe we took full advantage of both a hot shower and the continental breakfast. And Jill's bf had found us another campsite, an hour further south of where we were. So off we went and set up camp.
It turned out to be really cool that we went there. They had a Pioneer Village of how life was when the guy came down and settled the town and built a mill. We watched and talked to a guy whose job was pretty much just to use 19th century tools to build furniture and talk to people who were coming thru his woodshop. There was also a woman who weaved tablecloths and such and the mill which ground cornmeal.
Doug bought me some. It was cool because I needed cornmeal anyway and I could get some fresh milled! I was telling Doug how excited I was about the cornmeal and he just said "I love you", and I asked him why he loved me spending all his money, haha, but he just said he liked I was excited about simple things.
We hiked and explored a cave. That was really fun. The guys hiked in thru freezing cold water towards the back of a cave and saw a waterfall. I can't believe this is the only picture I have of Jill and I from this weekend! I was slacking
We ate over the campfire, played that "head's up game", talked, went back to the village the next morning to see the stuff we missed, packed up camp and headed home. It was a super quick weekend. But so nice to see Jill. It had been over a year at least, and I'd never met her bf. So definitely worth it. And I'm very happy I'll see her again in November! :)

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

meals on wheels

Yesterday I made some stuffed peppers. Then I was already running late to my friend's to watch the Bachelor, so it turned into dinner to-go.
Today I had some quiet time at home. I got home and there was a package for me
Thank you, US Mail for taking such good care of my package. It only cost $9 for super slow delivery and an almost completely ripped open package. But anyway, my NCLEX study books arrived unscathed!
my cousin's girlfriend took her exam already and passed these babies on to me. I have started studying already through a book on my lunch breaks at work, but there is A LOT more to go. Actually it's pretty overwhelming.
So tonight I exercised, and made dinner. I always like a couple hours to myself, and then it starts to be like, when is Jill coming home?? Dad stopped by to bring Doug's sunglasses he forgot at their house, and he brought me some Gingerbread from their trip to England.
Umm.... I told Dad I wasn't sure what I thought about this. It tasted almost mealy, and hard to describe. It wasn't really sweet at all, and we decided that it needed sugar. But that would probably make it more a ginger cookie. In the end, we both agreed we prefer ginger cookies.
It was funny because before Dad came over, I had already started making a batch!
mmmm... vegan molasses ginger. I have decided that next to a chocolate cookie of sorts, these are my favorite. I'm trying to decide if it would be too much to make dozens of them for my wedding dessert table....

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Rocky Mountain High

I had such a great time in Colorado visiting my brother, sis-in-law Michelle, sister and her husband Johnny. And, I can't forget my sweet little niece.
Oh my gosh, little baby girl! Her sweet smile gets me every time!
It was the first time Joel & Michelle met Doug, and they approved. Not surprising.
The trip was short, just 5 days really. And all of them jam packed.
We camped
spent time as a family
Johnny, Elizabeth, Doug and I hiked a 14'er! Woohoo, life goal checked off :)
Mt. Bierstadt is 14,060 ft and my thighs felt every foot of that.
Really more my lungs I guess though. We would take a break, and the second I started walking again I was ready for another!
(the top is that mountainous hump right in the middle of the picture)
we were literally climbing over rocks towards the top
YAY!! we did it!
Then we got picked up by Joel and Michelle and I think we all fell asleep. Poor Doug I think had altitude sickness because he puked 3x :(
But that did not stop us from going to my favorite restaurant 3 Margaritas!
The next day we got to see my aunt & uncle and their families for a little bit in the morning, and then back home. Over way too soon!
And just because, more pictures of my little cutie
with Aunt LizzyB
after she poo'd all over her new outfit!
She grew so much in 6 months! I can't wait to see the prettiest little flower girl 4 months from now!