Long awaited return!

I'm back... and I'm totally badder than ever. Whatever that means.

Anyway, a lot has gone on and there is a lot to cover, so let's begin...

January:
I am going to take back what I said about knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I still think I know my direction, however, we decided that it was not the right time for me to go back to school for the Admin degree. I think it was a great decision (after the 1st bad decision that is), and I am even more confident than when I made the original decision to return to school. Oh, the joys of being indecisive. :)

February:
I don't really remember. I'm sure it included Valentine's day and other lame holidays. But I believe it also included at least a few snow days and some regular holidays off of work. Oh, now I remember! I got strep throat and was home sick two days, then came back to what proceeded to be the busiest work month of my life. But that's over now.

Rob & Judith are having a baby and were finding out the sex. Naturally we hedged bets on everything related to the baby possible. Those are seen below in the picture. Please note Travis' length guess, it's particularly enjoyable (that is in inches). In order to make our pick for boy/girl, I made these cupcakes and we had to go into the kitchen and select either pink or blue in accordance with our pick. It was really cute.

Also, it's a girl and she's scheduled to arrive on July 1st.

March:
We went back to Michigan for a much needed break. Great news, the weather there was gorgeous! We enjoyed great time with family and it was absolutely wonderful to at least see the lake again. Strange how I can miss that lake so much.

Beautiful sunrise on our drive back to Michigan.

Lake Michigan in March.

I got a Kitchen Aide Stand Mixer and it's changed my life. Look at the beautiful buttercup color! Skipping ahead - in May I got an ice cream maker attachment for it... amazing!

My car turned 100,000 miles and it was exciting. We celebrated together.

April:
I ran a half marathon, for which I was entirely ill prepared and had actually contemplated not running again until the fall. However, even without a best time, I had a great time running and it re instilled my desire to continue running. Post race I signed up for another half marathon, which we will get to.

Me, Lauren's mom Suzanne, and Lauren

First Royal's game of the season!

We also hosted Earth Day, which has now become our annual party. It was a success! While I did not make special organic, earth friendly dishes, I do think my mother Earth appreciated my drinking in her honor, and recycling all things metal, glass, and plastics #1-2. Here are my cookies & cream cupcakes. (They were displayed much cuter when the party actually arrived.)

Easter sunrise service. Just gorgeous!

Royals game #2 of the season!

May:
I co-hosted a bridal shower for my wonderful friend Mary. It was entirely stressful, but it turned out adorable and great, mostly thanks to both Kendra and I's slight case of crazy (and OCD).

I ran a half marathon, and placed 3rd in my age group (and got another medal for that!). Even though, again, it wasn't my best time, I had a lot of fun.

I, alone, hosted a baby shower for Judith. It was much less stressful, as I now had practice, and it turned out adorable and she got lots of great baby things.

My house, shower ready.

I attended Mary's bachelorette party, which was a fabulous, much needed girls night out! We started at someone's house and then traveled by trolley to several stops including Waldo, Martini Corner, and the Power and Light area. Kendra spent the night with Avery and we all had a wonderful time.

Speaking of Avery, here she is being all adorable this week. I love that face, so much it's insane.

I finished two books. One for my work book study, Lost at School was about school discipline and dealing with children with difficult behaviors. I felt it had very good points and perspectives, as well as some good forms to use in practice. I felt some of the story was somewhat far fetched with the "ripple" of change this weird school psychologist created. But it was enjoyable and thought provoking all the same. I also finished Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris. I'll have you know I finished this book the fastest I have finished any book since high school (in 2 weeks)! It was just as I expect from David Sedaris, it was funny, quirky, and ridiculous. I laughed out loud several times, just ask Travis. I think next I will be reading Mystic River.

This was a marathon update and I apologize for my long absence. Now that I have this overwhelming update out of the way, perhaps I will be more current. Also, I've been keeping up on my monthly to-do's, but I'm starting to realize that I may have made more travel goals than feasible. Please refer to the updated 101 list for my current progress.

Snow Day(s)!

Currently I am home on snow day #2! It's been a lovely two days, and I thought, what better day to update my blog?!

101 progress:
#16: I am happy to say that yesterday marked the start of classes for a Ed.S degree in Special Education Administration from UMKC for me. While I was supposed to have class last night, it was canceled due to the crazy weather. This will take me about seven semesters, or until Spring of 2013. After much thought and research into certification, etc., I am happy to say I believe this is the correct direction for me, and I'm excited about all of learning and opportunities ahead. However, this likely rules out the possibility of me ever becoming Dr. Laurelin Barkel, put it's practicality over title. :)
#18: I have officially only had two jobs for 6 months now. And my progress in this area is continuing!
#20: I have completed another book! Over break, and finished yesterday, I read The Flip Side by Flip Flippen (haha, yes, Flip Flippen, and no, Flip is not his real first name). This book was sent to me by my dad and he said that it really changed his life. It would likely be categorized as a "self-help" book, which I am not terribly fond of. However, I have to say this was a very good book that provided me with insights to myself and my leadership style. I think it is a fantastic book for anyone entering a leadership role, or even for young career people. I even teared up a few times. I think my dad particularly enjoyed that I had the opportunity to read this book, and it's meaning to him also provided me with some insight to the person my father is. Touching, I know.
#89: I sent holiday cards this year (only to the people who sent to me, so I have some room for improvement). Just need to continue annually.
Montly to-do's: I am also happy to say that I kept up with all of my monthly to-do's. And a special thanks to my one and only committed reader for the present in helping me achieve some of these goals. :)

That's it for now... see you next month!

Christmas is coming. :)

3 more days of work, then two weeks off.... I couldn't be happier. :)

1. Travis' littlest bro came down to visit for Thanksgiving. That was a very nice weekend filled with: tons of cooking/baking, eating, going out for beverage (he's newly 21), visiting the Nelson-Atkins Meusuem of Art (and using the headphone guides), a little Black Friday shopping, a new fake Christmas tree, and putting up Christmas decorations. It was great to have Phillip visit, and we did a lot of fun things. I enjoyed hosting.

2. As noted in #1, I made a lot of food for Thanksgiving. Here are some of the included recipes:

Chocolate Cream Pie  - AMAZING!
Cornbread & Sausage Dressing - delicious, although highly involved to make

3. Since the last post, I ran another half marathon. I ran the Gobbler Grind half, which was the first race Travis has not watched me at (which is why it was not my best). Travis was in South Dakota hunting with his dad for the weekend, while I went to run the final half of the season with Lauren. It was way too busy and there wasn't nearly enough post-race food or beverage. Overall it was a disappointment, but you never feel bad after running 13.1 miles, which is why I went out for breakfast afterward. :)

4. Travis has now run with me enough times that I am checking it off the list! He has also committed to running the Brew to Brew race (44 miles in a team effort) in April, he will be running at least 3.3 miles then. :) It makes me so happy when he runs with me.

5. I have sucked at taking pictures, reading books, and having girl's nights. I will work on improving.

Until then... Merry Christmas!

Michigan brought the Fall with them...

So, what has happened in the past month (I have to check my GoogleCalendar to see the recap of my life):

1) We went to see Saved! the musical at KC Rep Theatre! I thought it was really good and funny, but my fellow show goers thought it was "eh." Mark & Julie had seen the movie and said it didn't live up to the movie, and Travis was just "eh." I think part of it was because it was a Rep production the cast was small and so was the set, so there was no wow factor. However, I highly enjoyed it. Thus completing #49 for yet another time this year.

2) We did our 5k with the Tomahawk Trailblazin' Runners club! It was fantastic! It was great weather, and we had nearly 60 students, parents, and staff from Tomahawk participate. It is so great to see kids get excited about running. I LOVE this part of my job. :)

3)  I ran the KC Half Marathon, in personal half marathon record time. It was once again lovely running weather and I finished in 1:54:49. I was very proud of my time and felt very happy the rest of the weekend. Travis and I celebrated with a delicious brunch at the City Diner. Thus beginning completion of #2.

4) We have been ridiculously busy with things with the church. This month has included a continuing Young Adults Book Study, a new 32 week Bible study (not my favorite so far), and running the silent auction at the Community Treasures church event. Needless to say, I've been keeping up on #17.

5) Last weekend Travis' parents and aunt & uncle visited us in KC. They spent 10-11 hours crammed in a pick up just to haul their motorcycles all the way down here to ride with us! The original plan was to do an overnight trip to the Lake of the Ozarks, but with a high chance of rain, we decided to do day trips around KC. It worked out very well. The first day we went up to Weston where we got $0.25 shots of delicious flavored things, such as: Tequila Strawberry Rose, Double Chocolate Vodka, Concord Grape Vodka, Eggnog, Peach Margarita, etc. Then we made our way through Atchinson and down to Lawrence (where KU is). The second day we went through teeny-tiny towns all the way up to Osbourn, where none other than the Shatto Farm is! Leading me to...

6) Visited the Shatto Farm! This is an amazing little local dairy farm that is marketing genius. I have been wanting to visit for awhile, and this was the perfect motorcycle stop (other than the fact that we couldn't transport milk back home)! While there I milked a cow, which was much easier than expected by the way. We also were given a tour and samples of all their milk, including: banana, strawberry, orange dream, root beer, chocolate, egg nog, and pumpkin spice egg nog. Mind you, I don't ever just drink milk, but I would this! And my favorites were root beer (yes, it tastes like a root beer float!) and banana (I don't even like bananas!). My least favorite was actually chocolate, if you can believe it. It was a fantastic stop and just re-affirmed my love for Shatto. :) You will love them too, one of their ice cream containers reads: "I scream, You scream, The police come, It's awkward" You can't get better than milk, cheese, cows, country and a saying like that. :) Thus, I have completed both #44 and #45.

7) Hence the title of this post... ever since the company from Michigan visited, it has been noticebly fall like weather. Fall has arrived. I have mixed feelings on this.

8) This past weekend I ran another half marathon in Warrensburg, MO with my faithful friend Lauren. It's a small town race in the middle of MO, and we were expecting a mostly flat couse. Well, it was almost all hills, rolling hills. It was probably the hardest half marathon course I have ever done. There were lots of aid stations, but not volunteers at every turn, which resulted in Lauren getting lost on the course, running at least an extra mile. It was also windy. All in all, it wasn't the best and I didn't get a personal record like I was hoping. However, I did get second in my age group (although I have nothing to show for it - no awards, no finisher's medal even!), so I was happy over all, finishing with a time of 1:56:40. Thus, I have completed #13. Oh, and Scott came to watch me! And afterwards we went out for a spectacular brunch at Eggtc. It was delicious!

9) I have made all kinds of delicious things this past month. But one worth noting in particular is Banana Peanut Butter Granola. Delicious! Thank you again http://www.annies-eats.com/!

10) And this month, I am thankful for a warm place to sleep, living where it isn't currently snowing (as in MI), and blankets in which to cuddle.

As requested... another picture of the new paint (and curtains now!) in the dining area.

October is here!

October has officially arrived! Everyone seems to love October, and it is a great month. Filled with plesant weather - perfect for running, delicious fall foods, and the desire to savor every last minute of outdoor time. I am beginning to realize I am also a big fan of October.

So as of late:

We went back to Michigan for my mother-in-law's 50th birthday party. It was a huge surprise. No one knew we were coming, and I think it was a successful weekend. We got to see Justin & Kelsey's house in progress, so that was pretty cool. They are going to have a great place! We also stopped on the way and had lunch with Dave & Julie in Normal (check off the list!). We had delicious chicken salad (prepared by Dave) and enjoyed seeing their place there. The trip was not without drama, as right before making it to their house, Avery successfully locked us out of the car while it was running with all keys inside. :) But, we got in without spending hundreds of dollars or several hours. Thanks Avery!

I have been a cooking fiend lately! Trying several new recipes including: Spicy Shredded Pork, Shredded Chicken Tacos, Homemade Salsa, Pollo Rosa Maria, and Cherry Coke Cupcakes.

 Cherry Coke Cupcakes

They have all been delicious! I am thoroughly enjoying this new found hobby and I believe we are eating great!

We have been painting like crazy! We also got a new rug, pillow, and new curtains are being made as we speak! I am successfully beginning the transformation of my home decor. :) Gift certificates to World Market or Pier 1 for Christmas please. :)

We have started a young adults book study at church, and a 30 week intense Bible study. While this is a big time committment, I am excited about the opportunity for relationships with others and the opportunity to grow through this study. 

Last night we made it out to another Royals game, and the Royals won! This weekend looks like it is going to hold some gorgeous weather. Possibly some apple picking (and following apple baking/cooking) in our near future. Two weeks until my first half marathon of the fall! Oh, and I find out if I've been accepted to the London Marathon next week!!!! I am so excited to hear and will post when I find out. Until then....

Long Awaited Return

I'm back. I'm back, and I'm busy!

I apologize for the great delay in posting. I have been very busy with work lately, and outside of work too!

7- Not sure if I already posted about this, but I think I can officially "like" salad! I had one the other day that was delicious: spring mix, Gorgonzola, grapes, golden raisins, apples, and a vinaigrette.

11 - I have found a great breakfast option: Smoothies. I make them with either frozen or fresh fruit (strawberries, mixed berries, blueberries, pineapple, etc.) then I mix with either banana or yogurt to thicken and milk. (I know Gina, you think this isn't a smoothie, but I don't care.) It is delicious, healthy, and portable!  I like to drive to work thinking about all the fruit I am eating in a delicious smoothie form!

25 - On Avery's birthday (yes, she has a birthday, and yes, we forgot to get her a present) we went to the park for a family picnic. We packed up our awesome picnic backpack (thanks Grandma!) and the grill and headed out for a beautiful evening! We had burgers on the grill, salad and pineapple. Avery played, and enjoyed time chasing her ball. I think she had a good birthday, and we really enjoyed the little trip. Would really like to do it more often!

We also had our anniversary last month.We enjoyed dinner out, a long motorcycle ride through/to Atichison, Parkville, and Weston, and Travis even bought me flowers!

Monthly and weekly to-do's are going well, and I've been improving on reading the news article one.

All items relating to cooking have been going spectacularly thanks to Annie's Eats, this food blog Gina shared with me! I have tried several new recipes this month, but here are the ones I got pictures of:

 Chicken Enchiladas and Mexican Rice

Chocolate Kahlua Cupcakes

And here is the recipe for the best pork loin Travis or I have ever had! Island Spice Pork Tenderloin

Other exciting news: Travis has finished his last class for his MBA! He is now officially a Master! We just have to wait until December for the graduation ceremony.

I'll be back sooner next month... or so I hope! :)

Florida!

My recent trip to Florida helped me cross several items off my list!

31 - Go para sailing! We went down to Key West with David & Gina for four days and spent one day doing a large amount of water sports, one of which was para sailing! Since David refused to go, Gina, Travis, and I went as a triple. This meant we got a bit higher than the other pairs. It was really fun and not at all "adventurous" or scary. The transitions of taking off and landing were incredibly smooth, and it was very peaceful and beautiful from the top! I would definitely do it again!

32 - Go snorkeling! On this same day, we went snorkeling on a barrier reef out in the keys. The trip out there made me slightly sea sick, but once I got in the water I was okay. There were hundreds of fish, and very beautiful ones. It was really fun. Unfortunately for David, he was wearing the mouth piece incorrectly until about one minute prior to being called in to leave. :) He was snorkeling, not snorkeling!

42 - Visit David & Gina's house in Sarasota! On our trip to Florida, we spent the majority of the time back at David & Gina's beautiful home. My favorite part is their high ceilings and their laniani for sitting and grilling. Gina has done a fabulous job decorating, and we have decided she will eventually be my interior decorator. :) They are very lucky to have such a beautiful place!

oh, Gina and I won at mini golf versus the boys :)

48 - Travel to Key West! Clearly, we went there as previously discussed. Other than the water sports day, we spent one day renting scooters and scootering around the island. Mid-day I decided I wanted my own scooter. :) I love scooters!

51 - Stay at a bed & breakfast! We stayed a the Old Town Manor Inn in Key West. Each couple had our own room, with a shared balcony. I have always been a bit weary of the B&B, as I sometimes feel like it's so small everyone knows what you're doing, or I feel weird eating in someone else's house. I have to say, this experience changed my mind! I thoroughly enjoyed the help provided my the hosts regarding things to do/places to go, the breakfast was a welcome treat, and the charm provided was exquisite! I would highly recommend B&B over a hotel any time!

83 - Clean all the baseboards! Before leaving for FL, I cleaned immensely! I even did all the baseboards. :)

62 - Try at least one new recipe/month! Recipe of the month (courtesy of Gina):
Turkey Florentine Meatballs
1 box frozen spinach (thawed)
1 1/3 pound ground turkey
3 garlic cloves
1 large egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 medium onion, chopped
salt & pepper
EVOO

Wring out spinach. Place turkey in bowl and add spinach, onion, garlic, egg, milk, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, salt & pepper. Mix together. Form 16 balls and place on baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO. Roast about twenty minutes. Serve with any kind of sauce.
 
*This was delicious! I loved the spinach, and you can also make this recipe using oatmeal instead of breadcrumbs to remain gluten free! Thanks Gina!
 
19 - Run at least once/week! Running at least once a week is being maintained. In fact, I even ran twice with Gina while on vacation, and once on Key West. This I really enjoyed, as I felt I got to see parts of the area I wouldn't have otherwise (and we were able to stop and look at restaurant menus as needed). I think from now on I will make it a point to run at each place we vacation!

7 - Learn to like salads! This is going spectacularly! Yesterday I even ordered a salad from Panera for lunch. It was the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad. I can't say I was a huge fan, mainly due to the fact that the "apples" were dried apple chips. But I ate it, and am continuing on this road. I have a salad with me for lunch today. :)

10 - Wear sunscreen! Well, I did. A lot. And I still got super burnt in Key West. However, I maintain this was not my fault, it was the sun and the water. I am healing now and peeling now.

64 - Take more pictures! I did a great job on our vacation!

thanks for the memo about the model like pose Gina

In other news, I now also like eggs. Gina made some delicious ones with chorizo and cheese, and then the following weekend I ordered an omelet for breakfast! I am also back at work starting yesterday. I am not really sad about this. I had a great summer, and am actually looking forward to having a daily purpose again! :)