Weekend Recap: October 19-21

This weekend at home felt longer than normal (woohoo), due to the fact that I did not have choir rehearsal on Sunday evening.  I love being in choir, but I do not like the rehearsal time, on Sunday from 4:45-7:00, at all.  So this past weekend, there was no rehearsal, so I made the most out of my Sunday, and my whole weekend! :)

Friday night = Girl's Night #1.  Dinner with Nicole and Brooke.  Getting hit on/insulted by a really drunk guy.  Brooke getting told she looks like Justin Bieber by said drunk guy. Meeting Jaqui at Derek's concert.  Dancing to "Gangnam Style" with Nicole's mom. Enjoying the night with girl friends.  Drinking too much.

Saturday night = Girl's Night #2.  Movie night at Jess'. A random/frustrating trip to HyVee. Delicious frozen beverages (Mango Daiquiri, hello).  Watching one terrible movie.  Watching one fantastic movie.  Megan, Jess, and I all deciding to call it a night at 10:30 because we are lame and we were tired.  Taking no pictures. :(

Terrible Terrible Terrible

Great Movie!

Sunday = FOOTBALL.  Cooked all morning.  Mom and Dad joined us for lunch.  We finally got pictures in front of our house.  Took a nap after my parents left.  Ryan's family came over for dinner.  Ate some awesome chili.  Watched football.  Watched 60 minutes.  Cleaned up when they left.  Watched more football.  Enjoyed not having choir.

The bricks on the roof are flattening the shingles. :)

Happy Tuesday friends!

Taco Tuesday

I would just like to share that I love my co-workers, who have become such great friends.  We had a lovely taco dinner on Tuesday night, and I am looking forward to girl's night tonight!  

I couldn't decide which picture I liked better, but at least Theresa's face isn't cut off in the bottom one!  LOVE YOU GIRLS!

The Color Run

Saturday, October 6th: It was cold, Des Moines was nuts, and I was so out of shape...but I had the best time!  Stephanie and I took part in The Color Run, "the happiest 5K on the planet."  

We drove up Saturday morning and got there early so we had plenty of time to pick up our packets and get the lay of the land.  We ended up getting some gear at The Color Run store and eating some last-minute lunch I had luckily packed in the warmth of my car before standing in line for the starting line.

So even though we were the 1:00 wave, they released the starting line in 1,000 person heats.  The disappointing part of the race was the waiting.  It wouldn't have been so bad had we known ahead of time that it would be like that, and also, if it wasn't so cold!  As people became impatient, they were releasing their packets of color before the race even started.  It's probably not a big deal, but I wanted to get by first drops of color on the course, but this is what we looked as we approached the starting line (one hour later!):

Once we got started, we had a lot of fun!  Running/walking/dancing through each color station was like entering this alternate universe.  It was a great moment, and slightly crazy to share with 15,000 other runners.  Of course, this race is untimed, so we stopped several times to take some pictures and even to chat with a friend of Stephanie's.

The finish line was a lot of fun, there was a great DJ playing fun music and announcing times to release your color packets....I don't have the best picture of the awesome color cloud we created with everyone (I was scared to take out my camera), but I did get some pictures of the end product! :)

The Color Run was a great event that encouraged participation amongst all fitness levels and ages.  You get to dress goofy, act like a big dork, and dance to your hearts content, right along side every one else, so no one is judging you.  It was so much fun, we want to do it again next year!  

Post-race, Emily R was kind enough to let us utilize her facilities and clean off!! And then Emily, Ashley, Steph, and I grabbed dinner at Raccoon River (one of my faves!), before Stephanie and I made the drive home.  We clean up pretty well I must say!

Summer Favorites

The summer is definitely coming to a close...and I'm OK with that, since fall is by far the best season ever.  And it is totally starting to feel like autumn outside!  However, there are some summer activities and weekends away that I just wouldn't want to trade for anything.  Even though I work full-time, year-round, I have a slightly different approach to my free time in the summer, and I know once winter sets in, I"ll be begging for summer again!

I just wanted to share some of my favorite summer moments through pictures, and I am going to try to focus mainly on ones that didn't make it to my blog, though I'm sure I'll sneak a few in there! :)

Brewery Tours of Colorado

Exploring in Colorado

Shear beauty in Colorado

Nights In With Friends...singing!

River Bandits Games with Friends

River Bandits Games with booze!

Bix Race and Post-party

Moonlight Chase (mostly after party)

Visiting my twin in Des Moines

Outdoor concerts

Birthday Parties

Participating in "The Olympics"

Celebrating the single-hood of one fine lady!

Wine Walk in The Village

United Way Day of Caring

Spending time with family!

Witnessing the marriage of these two badasses

Being a bridesmaid with these two sweethearts

Lindsey coming home from Morocco and getting married!

I'd say the Summer of 2012 was pretty awesome in my book.

Excited/Nervous

We close on our first house this Friday...and no one told me about the roller coaster of emotions I'd be experiencing.  I am so anxious, nervous, excited, scared, happy, skeptical, over-the-moon, frustrated, and then some about the whole process!  I guess I will say that I'm ready for the closing process to be OVER, because the waiting game sucks.  And let me tell you, if you are in the process of buying a house, DO NOT make any financial changes, AT ALL.  Do not apply for a credit card, do not refinance your car loan, do not sell an old car, do not have a birthday and deposit the cash in your account...the bank needs documentation for every single transaction you do.  GAH!  

So that's the frustrated side, on the flip side, I'm elated that we will have our own home, a house that feels like a home.  It may need some updating, but the bones are good, and the warmth is there.  I'm excited to have something to call our own and to customize the way we want.  We already painted the guest bedroom, just the two of us, two coats...sore muscles! But it transformed from pink to "Baking Stone" and it looks great!  I can't wait to paint the rest of the house!

I'm nervous because jumping into that much debt is terrifying, and I'm skeptical because I fear something major will go wrong.  I'm anxious because, as the closing date gets closer, the days feel so much longer, and I'm scared that some bump in the road is going to rear its ugly head.  However, I don't think any of those negative emotions overpower the shear happiness I feel that my husband and I will finally move to a city and into a house where we feel like we have a long future and where we feel like we can finally settle down and begin the process of deciding when to start a family.  Bring on the joy, happiness, and want-to-rip-my-hair-out feelings we'll experience being homeowners.

Wedding Weekend Recap: Lindsey and Kyle

This past Labor Day Weekend, I got to be a part of my oldest friend's wedding!  I've known and been friends with Lindsey for the better part of seventeen years!  I was so blessed to be able to keep in touch with her while she's been in Morocco and so honored when we had a heart to heart about her wedding and she asked me to sing in her wedding, because of our long musical history together and the fact that she couldn't imagine anyone else doing the job.  :)

So of course, I attended the rehearsal on Saturday out at Grace Camp in Dewitt, IA, and I immediately fell in love with the location!  It was gorgeous out there.  After attending a nice rehearsal, eating a yummy rehearsal dinner, and getting to know some of Lindsey's other friends, I had to stop a moment and take in the beauty of the location.  It helped that it was sunset as I was driving away!

Notice the white chairs in the distance?

On Sunday, I first stopped at my parents house to watch part of the air show, since Lindsey's wedding was later in the day and then around 3:00, left for Grace Camp.  It was hot, like really hot, for the darn sweater I was wearing anyway, but I got used to it.  I got to see (and hug!) Lindsey right when I got there and she looked smashing!  We snapped a pic together and then I rehearsed with the other musicians.

The wedding was beautiful, the music went really well, I particularly liked my duet with an old high school friend, Hans.  Lindsey looked stunning, the bridesmaids looked great, Kyle look handsome...it was all just beautiful!

And unfortunately, my camera died right after Ryan took that picture of us signing.  So I don't have any pics from the reception, but the food was good, and they didn't skimp on their beer selection either: Blue Moon or Berry-Weiss.  I drove, however, and enjoyed some iced tea! :)  There were beautiful favors from Morocco.  They were these cute little tea glasses in different colors with painted decorations.  The slide show was great and the wedding party introductions were sweet.  Despite being a little crowded in the location, it was a great evening and I hope Kyle and Lindsey enjoyed their party!

Happy marriage to Kyle and Lindsey!!