Get ready...

For what could be the best post ever. I will just leave you hanging with that tidbit of information. :)

A slow death

So this blog has experienced a slow death. I'm okay with that. Maybe in the future  I will do less Facebook time and more Blog time. One can never know. However, here is my completed 101 list! I bolded the ones I technically failed.


Dates: May 18, 2010 through February 12, 2013

BODY
1. Run at least two marathons (one 2/19/12) 
another on 3/17/13
2. Run at least four half marathons
I feel like I've actually run a kagillion. I'll have to check my tally. :)
3. Begin consistently using 12 pound weights at the gym
I'm doing crossfit, and I feel like that definitely counts for way more than 12 pound weights!
4. Drop a dress size
Didn't happen. But I'm still pretty happy with myself.
5. Stop eating food in the teacher's lounge
Mostly, I'm pretty good about this now. Especially when I really focus on not eating sugar. Then I'm awesome.
6. Buy gluten free flour and use it
Did it, not really worth it. I'd rather just do regularly Gluten Free things. Although I wouldn't mind trying Almond Flour.
7. Learn to like salads
Love! Eat one every day for lunch now.
8. Be better about actually eating Gluten Free
Yes, I am.
9. Split meals (or bring half home) when eating out
Splitters!
10. Wear sunscreen
I'm usually really good about this now.
11. Find a reliable healthy breakfast option
Egg muffins!
12. No soda for at least one month
I did this for at least a month. I almost never drink soda anymore.
13. Place in another half marathon
I think this was at Running with the Cows. But now that race is huge. So long medals.
14. Get shorts for spinning 
Not spinning anymore
15. Buy new running shoes every 300-500 miles

MIND
16. Have further insight into my future career path (PhD?)
Pretty sure I am going to go for my Masters in SPED administration. Just need to get to the right place for that.
17. Stay involved in church opportunities
Reading scripture, youth helpers, etc.
18. Work only two jobs for at least six months (August 2010-present)
Amaze.
19. Run at least once a week
Forever, I hope.
20. Read a book every quarter (10/12)
Fail. I go through reading spurts. I need to find another one soon!
21. Beat Gina in Words With Friends
Done!
22. Have a girls day/night at least once/quarter (5/12)
Time gets away from me. :(
23. Camp in at least one more National Park
:(
24. Have at least one counseling group each school year
Yep.
25. Have a picnic
It was fantastic. Love.
26. Read at least one news article/day (not going well, changing to one/week)
Fail, so, so fail.
27. Start running with Travis
He does like running with me, and we've done several races together! Yay for him, and Jeff & Lauren!
28. Give up facebook for a month
I think this was actually really great. I need to do this again.

ADVENTURE
29. Know where we want to live next and/or be living there
We know where we're headed, and working on it!
30. Travel overseas
France/England
31. Go para sailing
Florida Keys
32. Go snorkeling
Florida Keys
33. Continue applying annually for The Amazing Race
I have two potential teammates, need to get applying. We would dominate!!
34. Go to a MLB game each summer
Yay!
35. Go to a Wizards/KC Sporting game
Maybe this summer. We were actually just looking for tickets!
36. Travel to Chicago
Davina
37. Travel to Minneapolis
38. Visit Jamin in Madison
39. Travel to Austin
Marathon trip. Loved it there!
40. Go skiing in Colorado
41. Visit Dave & Julie in Normal
Great place, and an easy stop on the way back to Michigan.
42. Visit Dave & Gina's new house in Sarasota
Done. So many times. :)
43. Travel to California 
This weekend!
44. Go to the Shatto Farm
I milked a cow!
45. Milk a cow
Shatto farms!
46. Visit the wineries in Weston (visited wineries in Hermann twice, calling complete)
Wineries are great.
47. NP once/month (34/34)
Done.
48. Travel to Key West
Davina.
49. See at least one musical/year (2/4)
Another one coming in April
50. Travel by train
KC to Hermann round trip twice, Holland to Chicago once. I love the train!
51. Stay at a bed & breakfast
Florida Keys
52. Night swimming
Done.
53. Swim in Lake Michigan
LOVE
54. Watch a sunset on Lake Michigan
Love.
55. Go to a drive-in theater
56. SC
Not worth it.
57. Go to a corn maze (haunted or otherwise)
I dominated that corn maze. Even when everyone else was ready to leave. And the baby was crying, and I was dying of heat exhaustion. But I won.
58. Go to the ballet
It was awesome! And I got to see the new Kauffman Center for Performing Arts!
59. Go to a high school football game
Go Falcons!
60. Go to an NCAA basketball game
61. SH once/month (34/34)
Done.
62. Try at least new recipe each month (34/34)
So many new recipes to try!!
63. Attend a Parade of Homes or Urban Living Tour
64. Take more pictures
Thank you instagram!

PERSONAL
65. Take an anniversary trip every year (3/3)
1. Camping 2. Camping 3. Big vacation to Europe, to celebrate everything
66. Get a full body massage
It was pretty amazing. However, I'm too cheap to do this on a regular basis. 
67. Find a way to live closer to family
Phillip lives here now, so I'm calling that done!
68. Wear a skirt or dress at least once/week
Love them.
69. File all the papers in the guest room
Done.
70. Clean out the filing cabinet
Done.
71. Get rid of the desk in the guest room
Got a new nice one from Rob & Judith.
72. Get a tattoo
Find joy
73. Get my haircut every 4 months (12/12)
Yes. 
74. Get to MS+60 on the pay scale
Donzo
75. Have at least one planned meal per week
Yes.
76. Give blood
Success, nearly passed out twice
77. Get wedding dress cleaned (possibly preserved)
Cleaned and stored at Travis' parents house
78. Return books to the library on time
Did that. Now my library account has apparently expired.
79. Learn how to pick out a ripe pineapple
Color, pull leaves out the top. Love pineapple!
80. Host an annual party at our house
Earth Day
81. Blog about each item I complete
Doing right now.
82. Buy closet organizers
Really great ones that Travis installed.
83. Clean all the baseboards
Several times. Hate it every time.
84. Get rid of clothes/shoes that a) I don't wear, b) don't fit, or c) are falling apart
Thank you BBBS for making this so easy!
85. Start changing my home style to eclectic (a la Anthropologie - only hopefully less expensive)
On my way....
86. Send a secret to PostSecret
87. Don't complain about anything for a week
88. Call people by their name whenever possible
Still need to work on this.
89. Send holiday cards each year (2/3) - fail Christmas 2011
90. Write my time on all of my running medals
I like this idea.
91. Go a month with no unnecessary purchases (no eating out, no clothes, etc.)
92. Make an effort to send cards and gifts before birthdays
I am SO SO SO SO bad at this. I fail.
93. Have Avery able to stay out in the house any time we leave
She's kind of amazing.
94. Become an auntie
Thank you Levi Dean!
95. Keep a journal for one month
96. Send a “just because” gift
I don't remember doing this, but I need to do more of it!
97. BW
Ouch!
98. Call people back within one day
I do this.
99. Get my clothes that don't fit altered
Thank you Grandma Jean!
100. Stay in touch with friends that move
I don't think I've had that many move, but I'm doing well so far! :)
101. Find something to be thankful for each day, and rejoice!
Want to do this everyday for the rest of my life. 

Break

20 - I got a tablet for Christmas, which also doubles as a reader. I have since read, "My Horizontal Life," by Chelsea Handler. Pretty funny book.

78 - I will no longer have problems returning library books on time, because they are automatically taken off of my tablet. And I am reading them faster now!

56 - Done. Enough said.

58 - We went to see The Nutcracker at new Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. It was a very beautiful venue, and the dancers were fabulous.

89 - I failed at this. Didn't send Christmas cards this year. :( Just a really busy week before we left for North Carolina, and some struggles with a good family photo.

That's it this time around. Hope all of my faithful readers had a very Merry Christmas!

The return of the prodigal blogger...

I like to think my readers will celebrate my return to blogging as much as the prodigal son in The Bible. :)

I would like to preface this post by adding my apologies for no pictures. This post would be delayed by months if I wanted until I had the pictures ready.
On now...

June:
Found out my mom's cancer has returned and metastsized to the bones. It was not a great month. I did summer school and knit like crazy to finish the baby blanket for Rob & Judith's babes arrival.

On June 29th, Claire Elizabeth McDaniel was born. So cute! We got to visit her at the hospital on the 30th, the day before I left KC for an entire month. I was so glad to meet her before I had to go. She is so sweet and has grown so much in the last three months!

July:
I spent the entire month in Michigan.

A portion of that was a totally awesome vacation with our besties, David & Gina. This included: Chicago boat tour, Wrigley tour, camping at the beach, swimming in Lake Michigan, Fricanos, a Barkel bonfire, the New Holland Brewery, the Holland Peanut Store, Tiny Tower, Pentwater Lake, tubing, personal water craft, dune rides, and all other things Holland/Zeeland/Michigan. I think it's safe to say our besties enjoyed Michigan, meeting the fam, and spending quality time with us. I need more of those two in my life.

Another portion of July was taking care of my mom and her house. She ended up in the hospital for 2.5 week and in a rehab facility for 1.5 weeks. It was a stressful time, but I am so thankful that I was able to be there for her (and for myself) during that time. I love my mom, and Michigan, and it was phenomenal to get a little of both this summer. On a brighter note, my mom is much improved and has made incredible gains since this summer! Woohoo mommy! :)

August:
We celebrating 5 years of wedded bliss! :) I had just returned from MI, so we decided to keep it low key and we went to a wonderful dinner at Pierpont's. We also spent some good friend time with Kendra & Colby, and Lauren & Jeff. The last weekend in August, we returned to MI for Katie's wedding. It was a wonderful (but quick) trip, and we got to see a lot of family, help my mom out for a day, and have a great dinner in Douglas. Congrats to Katie & Ross!

September:
We went camping for our anniversary trip (a month late) up to Watkins Mille State Park. It was a wonderful family weekend, and Travis and I so enjoyed it. This was Avery's first camping experience, and she had a blast!! We definitely will be doing this again.

We also went to three Royals games. One against the Tigers (who are now in post-season playoffs!). We had a great date night, and the month just seemed to fly by.

October:
We have already had a wonderful weekend of camping at the Ozarks with Travis' parents and aunt & uncle. Gorgeous weather and 540 miles on the motorcylce in three days. It was great, and we really miss getting to spend more time with those people. I ran the Kansas City half marathon, in what I thought was a great time for my current fitness level.
November:
I also took a sewing class and made a beautiful stocking! And now we are heading to Michigan for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving:
This thanksgiving I am thankful for my mom. A woman whose strength, courage, and determination inspires me to be better, kinder, and more in love with this world which we have been given.

101 Update:
#5 - I no longer eat food in the teacher's lounge. It's eaiser at the high school because we have our own office lounge and there is less free food in there! :)
#11 - I regularly eat strawberries and blueberries (and sometimes raspberries) for breakfast. Healthy and delicious!
#18 - It has been at least 6 months and I have only had two jobs the entire time!
#22 - Had a girls night last weekend when Travis was up hunting in South Dakota. It included lots of dancing, the way every girl's night should. :)
#29 - We know where we would like to be living next.
#36 - Part of our bestie vacation was in Chicago.
#49 - Saw the high school musical, The Wizard of Oz. Phenomenal! We took our social group kids, which made it even better. :) I love high school kids.
#50 - When going from Holland to Chicago as part of the vacation, I took the Amtrak. It was cheap, roomy, and I definitely would do it again!
#53 - Swam in Lake Michigan several times this summer!
#54 - Watched a gorgeous sunset on Lake Michigan in July.
#57 - We went to the Louisburg Cider Mill (and corn maze/pumpkin patch) with Rob & Judith, and Claire. I dominated that corn maze.
#59 - We went to a high school football game, and Olathe South is now headed to the State game this weekend! Good luck!
#72 - I got a tattoo! It is on my foot and says "find joy." It hurt real bad, but then healed pretty great. And it only stopped me from running for a week.

#74 - I am now at MS+60 on the pay scale.
#76 - I tried to give blood but my hemoglobin was too low. :( Fail.

#77 - I got my wedding dress dry cleaned this summer. Now I just have to get it out of my mom's house and into my own house (for storage purposes).
#82 - Our closet is organized and it's gorgeous!!

Wow! It looks like I've accomplished a lot! I guess that is what happens when you don't update for 6 months. :) Perhaps my next update will be sooner. Perhaps. Until then, so long friends and foes.

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!