art lover seeks gaudí

valentine's day instagram-athon

2012-02-14T06:44:00.014-08:00

Today I will have a Valentine's Day Instagram-athon. That means I may or may not keep adding instagram photos throughout the day. It depends how good and relevent they are. :) More importantly, it is my Grandma Rita's birthday today!

Above is a v-day gift from my supervisor. Num.

Well. Here are the peanut butter blondies with chocolate ganache. I brought these in at 8:00 am. This photo was taken at 9:26 am. That should give you a pretty good idea of how good they are. Planning on leaving with an empty 9x13.

V-day coffee in my V-day thermos (gift from Dorothy last V-day).

It was coffee that Kelly bought for me while she was studying abroad in India.

Like my framed couple photo in the background?

OMG. Ben just came to work and brought me my favorite kind of cupcakes!!!

Best kind of surprise!

All of my posts so far have been food related so far. I guess that is what holidays are about.

This is the one I ate.

You can't quite tell, but the buttercream frosting has a hint of raspberry flavor to it.

I have the most serious sugar buzz right now.

Lipstick to celebrate the color red.

Had a Valentine's date with Mary, my hairdresser at Hair On Earth.

She is the BEST hairdresser I've ever had, and I've only seen her twice.

OK. That's all I've got.

Ben's in Panama City for his gig so it's time for a glass of wine, Glee, a few chores and off to bed early.

V-day is way more interesting with instagram.

Happy Valentine's Day!

sunday taxes, monday colors

2012-02-13T06:11:00.001-08:00

The only thing that has made this Monday a success so far:

1) My hair looks pretty good.

2) I love the colors I'm wearing today.

3) I'm not cold in the office (aka I put on enough layers).

4) I made myself a nice big 16 oz. thermos full of french press coffee this morning and I am feeling the effects.

5) The sun is SHINING, despite 26 degree weather this morning. Only a high of 58 today, but 70's the rest of the week. This is a more "normal" temperature for this time of year. Glad it was not like this for our half marathon.

Yesterday I had an awesome tax experience. Of course that shouldn't make sense because taxes suck. So I go to H&R Block for my taxes because I am totally willing to pay someone to figure out my confusing government documents for me. There is an H&R Block conveniently located next to the Publix grocery store, a meager mile away from our home. I went there on Saturday to make an appointment, and to my surprise they are open on Sundays (it is tax season, after all). I set my appointment for 9:00 am because I don't have to be at church for choir warm-up until 10:15 am. So I wake-up, dress, have a delicious oatmeal breakfast, make coffee, pour coffee into a thermos and off I go to have someone else do my taxes. My tax lady was awesome. She would ask me a tax related question and then plug in a question or two about me, my family, my job, pets, etc. She was super friendly and made it the most bearable experience ever. I'm missing one document that should be arriving in the mail this week, so I'm scheduled to see her next Sunday for 15 minutes to finish it off. :) I also love that I got the motivation to take care of this in February and not procrastinate.

I have a few things to look forward to this week:

1) I am making my amazing blondies for V-day treats (see previous post)

2) Ben has a Valentine's Day gig in Panama City tomorrow night, :(

so I'm getting my hair cut at Hair on Earth instead :)

3) Allen Toussant and Trombone Shorty concert with Ben on Friday night

hot yoga and chocolate ganache

2012-02-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the polar opposite title. It almost doesn't feel right blogging about exercise and food at the same time. This was our supper this evening! Shredded BBQ Pork with Tart Apple Slaw. Courtesy of the Can You Stay For Dinner? blog. It was UH-MAZING. You make your own bbq sauce and everything.

SO glad there are leftovers. I highly recommend this blog. The writer talks about how she lost 135 lbs. and then had to learn how to have a good relationship with food again. Very interesting and the recipes are pretty healthy (but maybe not the desserts). Next I want to make Quinoa Burgers. I'm not a vegetarian, but they look tasty with cheese on top. :)

So my big activity of the day: HOT YOGA.

I once took a yoga course at Bethel and I loved it. Twice a week I got to cart my little hot pink yoga mat around and go lay on the floor and stretch in the basement of the old science building with a few of my friends and Barb Thiesen. That was regular yoga. This particular HOT yoga experience felt a little more stereotypical, like what you see on the movies. The instructor had this trippy tone in her voice that made her sound like someone who knows what color her ora is. There were about 30 of us packed into a room, only several inches apart from the next yoga mat and no extra floor space except for our condensation covered water bottles. The room was quite warm. I never found out exactly how warm, but it was a dry heat (at least until we started moving) so if it was 100, it was hard to tell. I'm guessing high-90's. We were in there for 90 minutes, so you can bet that I, and everyone else, was drenched it sweat at the end. While in savasana (the final "pose" at the end where you lay on the floor for 10 min. and nearly fall asleep), the instructor opened the door and turned off the heater. All of a sudden my very warm body felt washed in cool air. It was fantastic.

I give the whole spectacle 2 thumbs up. My muscles had been sore from lifting, so stretching them out in a hot room for 90 minutes felt amazing. Also, it wasn't just easy stretching. You needed to be strong and balanced to hold your poses, so it was a great challenge. I did not even once feel sick or like I was going to pass out. I accredit this to becoming accustomed to Floridian humidity and running a half marathon less than one week ago. I told Katy I would definitely join her for this on Saturdays at noon. It only cost $5 for the first session and then you can buy a punch card that gives you a number of sessions for a few dollars more. I just love new exercise experiences! Cardio kick-boxing, hiking, walking, running, biking, weights, yoga, pilates, basketball, boot camps...They're all such exhilarating ways to release stress and break a sweat, the fun way.

Speaking of a reason for exercising...

Also from the Can You Stay For Dinner? blog,

Peanut Butter Blondies with Chocolate Ganache. (!!!)

I knew if I made these, Ben and I would just devour them all. In an attempt to save us from ourselves, I'm making them for Valentine's Day so I can sample 1-2 and then leave them in the break room at work.

Ben received a last minute call to fill in for a trombone player at the FSU big band III concert (which will go on all evening), so I am trying to fulfill my wishes from last week by making some green tea and getting back into Tinker Taylor Solider Spy. Haven't had much time to read recently with all the running going on. I'll try to remember to post Chocolate Ganache pictures.

pumpkin walnut

2012-02-09T06:26:00.001-08:00

I made these yummy looking pumpkin walnut bars for snacking at work today. I am a little tired, sore from lifting last night and it's cold in the office. I already drank my green tea and it made me wish I was home in my warm bed or wrapped up in a blanket on the couch with my book. May something about your Thursday be warm and cozy.

turkey muffins

2012-02-08T07:27:00.001-08:00

On Monday morning we ended my family's stay in Tallahassee by going to Waffle House for the first time in my life. Tom loves Waffle House, so he was very excited. It was awesome and so bad for you. Definitely going back. The waffle was so light, yet it sat so heavily once inside of me. :) I also had regular grits. When we went to The Other Seineyard on Friday night, I had some of Austin's cheese grits. I officially like grits now, so I bought some at Publix last night. They had one million options. I doubt grocery stores in the Midwest have that many options for grits. Our waitress at Waffle House said that you can tell when someone is from the North because they'll mix in sugar, maple syrup or whatever to sweeten it up. Southerners go for the salt, pepper or nothing at all. If you didn't know, grits are ground corn/hominy. Think cream of wheat or porridge.

After that, we took a little drive to the beach. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I am so glad that I decided to take work off for extra rest. My body feels pretty normal at this point. We tried to check out Lucy and Leo's Cupcakery, but they were closed. So Paula and I got sweet coffee drinks instead. Then we watched the ducks, geese and turtles at Lake Ella and returned to the house for a nap before the trip to the airport. Yay! It was so nice to have visitors! It was a monumental weekend between the FSU game, the race, the Superbowl, Waffle House, all of the good food, and the beach!

It has been 3 days since the half marathon and I am becoming accustomed to my new life without excessive running. I knew it would be a little bittersweet. Goal accomplished, but now I don't have a plan that enslaves me into being in the best shape of my life. But not so fast! I already found one! My co-worker, Lisa, is also a personal trainer at Gold's Gym and has been very supportive of my extreme exercising, but fearful for the future of my knees. She told me that she used to run all of the time when she was younger, and now she has no cartilage left in her knee. I believe her, and despite my newfound love of running, I don't love it enough to continue in the excessiveness that is marathon training. At least for now. I won't quit completely. I just won't be logging 20 miles/week. Lisa is a huge proponent of weight training and I have been fully convinced that my next exercise endeavor will be weights based. She suggested I check out bodybuilding.com and I found a 12 week plan that I am going to try out. Lisa made a really good point the other day. When you go to the gym, where do you see the majority of fit, healthy looking people? By the weights, or on the treadmill? At Gold's, the answer is definitely the weights. This does not mean that there is no room in my life for cardio. There is. But you'd be surprised how essential weights are for the body. I took a strength and weight training course my junior year of high school, so I at least have a basic to moderate knowledge of weights. I am starting today and I'm pretty excited.

So in other news, I made turkey muffins last night. They're just glorified meatballs. I can't wait for lunch because I haven't really tried them yet.

I am also going to a hot yoga class this Saturday with Katy and Flo. Look it up. Sounds interesting.

half marathon, conquered!

2012-02-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

We did it! We all finished the Tallahassee Half Marathon. It definitely went better than I expected. I was SO nervous the night before. I didn't even try to go to sleep before 11:30 pm because of my nervous energy. I decided to wait for Ben and Austin to return from their Christian McBride jazz concert. Ben assured me it would be fine. So after laying around and a little tossing and turning I slept until 5:30 am. I was glad to wake up. It is not fun to sleep when you're nervous. I ate a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter, a glass of gatorade and 3 ibuprofen in preparation for the inflammation that was about to follow.

This was us about 7 minutes before the race began.

We picked up Paula, Tom and the parents from the hotel and made our way over to the starting area. We ate our first Gu, stretched and drank a little water. We lined up according to what we thought our pace was. We settled in the middle of the 9:30-11:00 minute zone. Ben and Tom were elsewhere ahead of us. There wasn't a gun to start us off. Just all of a sudden, the huge mass before us started slowly moving forward. Our first mile was around 10 min. I was following Paula and a little worried that she would keep up that pace. I'm a slow starter until my body warms up. Paula said she's the opposite. She goes fast at the beginning because she'll die somewhere in the middle regardless. We stayed together the whole time. It was nice having a pace car.

By some miracle, only my left knee bothered me. My right one didn't hurt throughout the entire race! Shocking! I credit this as the reason I had such a successful race. 2 knees going down hill it torture. 1 is completely livable. I also wore IT bands around both knees for the first time. Plus that ibuprofen. The left knee, however, started to hurt after 4 miles. That's rare. It usually doesn't bother me until mile 6 or so. We still needed walking breaks throughout the course between my knee pain and Paula's lack of acclimation to the humidity/ foot pain. It was overcast (thank heavens), but the humidity was at about 96%. Bleh. Made for a sweaty race and harder to breathe in.

Tom came in around 1 hr 45 min. He finished 10th in his age division. He was made for this stuff! Ben made it at 1:56. Definitely a best! We strolled in around 2:24. Hehe. Not very competitive, are we? Our awesome friends, Jenn, Frank and Derek came out to see us finish. They took some good photos and video of us (on our Facebook pages). We all looked ridiculous for the rest of the day. We were all limping and walking slowly. I had my knee brace on for the remainder of the day. It was good support for my knee, but the pain stuck around until bed time. There is also a small bump beneath/attached to my knee cap. Hopefully that will go away?.?.? It hurts much less today. Even when I put pressure on it.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and support throughout training and after. Definitely kept me going and was much appreciated! I can't believe it's over. Going to give my knees a little break and do some weight training for awhile. Perhaps a little run somewhere in there. :)

garnet and gold

2012-02-04T14:38:00.000-08:00

The family made it to Tallahassee!

This morning we had breakfast separately, but grabbed some caffeine at Atomic Coffee.

Tom was very excited about Gumby's pizza. Brought back some childhood memories.

Gotta love all of that garnet and gold.

Gorgeous weather today. 79 for the high.

Bought some FSU gear from the bookstore. Ready for the game.

Tall folks.

We were far up, but a good view.

It was a close game, but the Noles won!

Now for a nice carb load from Bella Bella this evening and a half marathon tomorrow!

the last stretch & two french baguettes

2012-01-31T17:50:00.001-08:00

I must say that Instagram pictures are much quicker to process than my Nikon photos. Don't worry. I would never give up my beautiful SLR for an iPod camera. But when it comes to mundane food things and events...the iPod fits in my pocket so nicely. :)

So these little beauties were created because a friend of mine pinned the recipe on Pinterest. I saw it. It didn't look hard. So I had to go for it. They had a sticky factor that I had to work with, but otherwise not too bad. It was also interesting to transport them into the oven. (You have to leave the baking stone in the oven while it heats up.) They made it in and out, to say the least. Crispy crust; fluffy on the inside.

So, 10 miles! I ran that. On Sunday morning. We decided to forgo church because 10 miles is a big deal and we needed to do it at an optimal time. That meant not in the afternoon sun. Ben actually just ran 9 miles. That was not really as big of a deal for him.

Ben, my personal half marathon trainer, was very helpful. He mapped it all out. He just asked me when I wanted water, figured out the drop offs and we nestled 2 plastic water bottles along the trail where I could see and grab them as I went along. I started eating my first GU (Espresso Lover) when I took off and initiated the second GU (Mint Chocolate) around mile 5. St. Mark's Trail, which is also our race course, is lovingly flat. Yay for my sad, sad knees! My knees did hurt, but a bearable one, for just the last 2.5-3 miles. My body really felt like it was on autopilot. Like the machine thing I talked about when I started this whole endeavor. My headphones were in, the breeze felt good, I was focused and my body followed in line. A VERY promising last long run before the big to-do. My confidence in myself was far beyond that I experienced with the 9 mile run.

So Austin flies in tomorrow evening! I will be asleep (11ish), but hopefully I'll see him at some point on Thursday. I don't think I've mentioned that Ben's old roommate is coming to check out the FSU Musicology program. So excited to have both family and friends here at the same time!

The world is changing

2012-01-30T19:29:00.001-08:00

I am writing this post from my brand new iPod touch. It's more addicting than pinterest. As you see I'm decorating for the arrival of my family, a half marathon, and the Super Bowl. More info on my ten mile run to come.

happy wednesday

2012-01-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

This is on Etsy, in case y'all wanted to buy me an early birthday gift.

Just time for a mid-week update. I feel like I've done so much since the week began.

I have...

- baked healthy granola bars for snacks
- made significant progress on my painting that I'm donating for dining extravaganza
- bought an ipod touch (!!!) It's in the mail.
- worked on my white bedroom curtains
- gotten a 5 mile and 3 mile run in.
- cooked enough oatmeal and boiled eggs to have for breakfast all week

It turns out that my old ipod is not as truly "dead" as I thought. It still works, but it's been freezing up more lately. I figured I would beat it to the punch before it really dies and leaves me stranded from my music. I'm not usually big on staying on top of technology. I feel so hip. :)

I AM SO EXCITED.

Not only are Paula, Tom, Mom and Dad coming next week, but our dear friend, Austin, just happens to be flying in a few days before to check out the Musicology program at FSU. We're going to eat awesome food, go see an FSU vs. Virginia men's basketball game, celebrate the Super Bowl, oh yeah...and run a half marathon. AHHHH! That makes me nervous! I cannot believe it's almost time to really do this thing. I'm trying to focus on 10 miles first.

cupcakes for breakfast!

2012-01-21T08:17:00.000-08:00

Yep, I did it. This is how I chose to celebrate 200 blog posts. I went and bought cupcakes and coffee for breakfast from Lucy and Leo's. They are truly amazing cupcakes with an inch+ of the creamiest homemade frosting on top. Today I bought cookies and cream, coconut, strawberry shortcake and a chocolate, peanut butter, banana bread concoction. I also stopped by Joann's to get more fabric...they were having a sale...it was a good opportunity. I'm on fabric buying restriction from now on. I also stopped at Publix for shrimp. Today we're making spicy shrimp chowder with sweet potato from Tanya Tandoc's soup recipe booklet. :) There's always 2 cups of cream in her soup recipes. I opted for half and half.

We sampled from all four and will save the remnants for later.

I love the weekend!

joys and concerns

2012-01-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

But there aren't really any concerns...just joys.

First joy. This is one of my favorite projects ever! It's an adorable little tomato stocking cap for a baby.

I made it because...

My dear, dear cousin had ANOTHER boy this last week!

Second joy. Malachi Paul Kliewer was born on Tuesday, January 17 at 3:41 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 3/4 in. long. Congratulations to the Kliewers! I cannot wait to get back home and see all of these little guys.

Jeff and Kim with eldest, Jacob (3 yrs old, on the left), Malachi (newborn) and Caleb (1.5 yrs old).

I borrowed the picture from Kim.

Third joy. Not as exciting. New cotton fabric for tank tops. I'm getting ready for beach season, people! Not sure when that project will start. But I'll hopefully be inspired by my fabric.

Ok, there is only one semi-concern; I'm exhausted from all of the running!

My knees are holding up, but my body is just plain tired.

This was my second round of 5, 3, 5 and I can't even believe it is over.

9 mi. this Sunday.

One more week of 5, 3, 5.

Followed by 10 mi. next Sunday.

Followed by 1 week of tapering off. THEN...that's it!

The race is on February 5. I am so excited for Paula, Tom, Mom and Dad to come down. Ben and I thought it would be nice to take them to an FSU basketball game the day before the race, especially after last week's crazy win. Also, I cannot wait to take them to The Other Seineyard, my self-proclaimed best seafood place in Tally. Hope the weather is decent. It just keeps going back and forth from cold to warm. At least the half marathon is not in Freeman, SD. It is currently 5 degrees there.

Looks like we will be cleaning the house most of the weekend. One does not feel like cleaning much after running 5 miles at the end of a full work day.

By the way. This is my 200th post! I will have to think of a way to celebrate.

micosukee greenway

2012-01-16T17:47:00.000-08:00

The name is pronounced Mee-co-soo-kee and it's a beautiful trail that's located on the inner edge of the city. We didn't have to drive too far. Our friend, John, recommended it to us. I've been wanting to check out any trail lately. I feel like we're exposed to a lot of pavement and city life, so it's nice to get out into the wilderness once in awhile.

It was a beautiful day. High of 70.

There was a very old plantation cemetery next to the trail that was originally owned by the same Fleishmann's that started the baking supply corporation. Your interesting fact for the day.

I didn't actually get cupcakes today. Last night we ended up renting a movie and going to Nu-Berri for frozen yogurt, so I had my sweet fix. I didn't do anything notable. We got home from the Greenway, I baked bread, finished a knitting project, went to Gold's Gym to lift, came home to finish up chores and read a little. I started getting anxious earlier on this afternoon as it was my last chance to get things done before work and running reconvened. I quickly reminded myself that it was my day off and should relax while I can. I'll pick up a few things yet, get my lunch and gym bag ready and continue reading "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." We just got it in the mail today and I just started reading it this afternoon. Ben and I realized that we haven't been reading as much as we'd like. I coveted "reading for fun" when I was in school. I need to take advantage of it NOW.

One last thing. I am very sick of how busy Gold's Gym has been lately. It's a lot of people with stupid New Year's resolutions that they're going to back out on in a few weeks. Don't they know I'm in training?!? There are 15-some treadmills at Gold's and they're almost all full by the time I get off work. I would gladly run outside if it wasn't dark by 5:45 pm. I'm sure anyone with a gym membership is feeling this annoyance right now.

:) Hope you have an enjoyable, shortened week.

MLK weekend itinerary

2012-01-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

I love my 3-day weekends. Sadly, it will be the last one I have for awhile. I am slowly building up my Paid Time Off hours at work, but I can't use them until March 9. On that day I will have worked at Apalachee Center for 6 months. I can't hardly believe that much time has passed down here in Florida. I am excited for Spring to arrive so everything can start turning green again and we can start going back to the beach on the weekends. Here is a little recap of events so far.

Friday: I went to work. Sharon, my supervisor, was sick with a cold and a fever, so I was fairly busy. I have managed to avoid all of the illness going around. After work, Ben and I went to Bella Bella, a little family-owned Italian place a few blocks from our apartment. We had baked ziti, carrot curry soup, lobster artichoke dip and bubble bread (bread with garlic butter spread and cheese on top that you dip in marinara sauce!!!!!!!) I went to Quaker Hymn Sing for an hour. Ben didn't really want to go. I felt kind of obligated as Sue and Morgan had reminded me about it twice. It was fine. It makes me miss Mennonite singing more than fulfilling a void. Afterwards, Derek, Ben and I went to see the movie, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."

We really didn't understand it. You know how you can infer what is going on in a scene based on previous events, actions and emotions? This movie is a step beyond that. You know what's going on, but at the same time you have no idea. After arriving home, we ordered the book on Amazon in hopes of figuring it out for ourselves. If that fails, we will check Wikipedia.

Saturday: Slept in. Ben and Derek went to the pre-game activities going on at FSU. Florida State was playing #3 ranked North Carolina, so ESPN was there. Ben couldn't get me a student ticket because it was a higher profile game. If you hadn't heard, FSU actually won 90-57. Ben and Derek got to storm onto the court with the rest of the student section. Pretty exciting to watch on ESPN3 online.

Prior to that, I went for my long run, which went back down to a 10k. It was much easier after having run 8 miles last Sunday. It was in the mid-40's at that point, so pretty decent running weather. Even when it's cool like that the sunshine is still pretty hot. This can be confusing for you body until it warms up. I started eating my Espresso Lover GU as soon as I took off. I timed it much better and it helped when I needed it to. Ben and I are already talking about buying new running shoes after the race. I was looking at the Brooks website and saw these. I'm not loyal to one brand. I have Sauconys now. I've had Brooks before. Ben says I need to go to a running store so they can help me choose the right shoe. I love the Brooks shoe below. They're like $120. But I think they look fun and flashy. :)

Derek came over for supper after the game. I made shrimp mushroom pasta from Food Gawker. Ben and I decided to go with Derek to his friend's masters violin recital. She was quite good. We stopped by All Saints Cafe for coffee beforehand.

Sunday: Ben decided to skip church for his 11 mile run. Ick. I went to church because I had to sing. The afternoon has been spent doing laundry, washing dishes, making bread, knitting and watching football. Hopefully we can come up with something else for the evening. Making BLT's for supper.

Not sure what tomorrow will bring. I kind of want to go get cupcakes. :)

artsy bread

2012-01-08T15:52:00.000-08:00

The remainder of the week (after New Year's Day) was super uneventful. The only good part was arriving home late Friday afternoon and discovering a box filled with styrofoam peanuts and a few little surprises. For our Christmas gift this year, my sister and brother-in-law sent us a "meal" in 5 mason jars! This meal included mixes for hot chocolate, Mexican dip, chili, brownies and apple muffins. Yay! What a good gift! Paula made them all by herself, and Tommy decorated them. :) Thanks, Paula and Tom.

Speaking of making things...

Loaf #1

(I initially forgot to take a picture because I was so excited to eat it.)

Before we left Kansas back in August my dear friend, Brad, gave me a cookbook that I had been eyeing for some time. Brad used to work at Pages bookstore and coffee shop in Newton, so he always recommended books as gifts. I would come by for coffee or to visit and often found myself leafing through Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I could never get myself to buy it for one reason or another. So lucky me when I was gifted it instead! I read through it during the road trip down here, but lacked a few tools to get started right away. Among those tools was a baking stone, which I finally picked up last week. I re-read some of the pages and got started on the master recipe, which includes the core method for baking artisan bread in your own oven. (Obviously you don't create your fully-baked loaf in 5 min. With raising and baking time it takes more like 90 minutes, but that is quite a bit less than what I'm used to.) The idea is that you keep a bucket of this dough in your fridge, cut off a small loaf and it's fresh and ready soon after. Minimal prep and work, and something you can easily do everyday.

Loaf #2

It wasn't difficult and it's easily the best bread that I've ever made. It tastes amazing!
I highly recommend it.

That was a wonderful accomplishment from the weekend. The other was my 8-mile run. I had to put petroleum jelly under my arms because I developed a slight rash from my arms rubbing back and forth. I've never run enough for that to ever happen. Crazy! I also used GU for the first time. It definitely helped me get through those last tough 3 miles, but I think I could have used it a little sooner. I have enough runs left to figure it out and adjust the timing. 8 miles definitely took it out of me. My knees were feeling it afterwards and I was just plain exhausted. I drank a huge Gatorade and tons of water. It didn't help that it was pretty warm today. (NO, I am not complaining. I'll take it over cold!) I have felt my body getting more and more tired as these runs have increased. Should be an interesting test running 5, 3, 5 for the next 3 weeks! We're almost there.

happy (belated) new year!

2012-01-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

This photo is off of Alyssa's NEW camera and depicts my Christmas in Newton very well. Happy and an armful of joyful kitties. Austin was actually the photographer of this one. I am pictured at my old house on Minnesota with Brad's (normally outside dwelling) cat, Alaska.

New Year's Eve was pretty calm this year (I guess last year?). Ben and I rented a few movies: Waiting for Superman documentary, Winter's Bone and Conan O'Brien Can't Stop documentary. They were all great. Check out the trailers. I would love for anyone who is a teacher (or not) to tell me what they think of Waiting for Superman. I mostly want more information on the teacher's union and whether or not Michelle Rhee's proposal really looks that bad. Anyway, we made Kansas Beer Bread and Curry Dip (Two tasty gifts from Dorothy. Thanks, Dorothy!) and I had Ben buy some good cheese and wine from Publix. I even stayed up until 1 am.

The weather was absolutely heavenly yesterday! Mid-70's. Perfect day for a 7-mile run. :) It didn't go too badly either. The first 4 were good. I arranged it so that I would run 4 and then back to the house so I could grab a water bottle and some almonds to reenergize my body for the last 3. That was the first time I've attempted to eat and drink while running. Not really that easy to do. It must have looked kind of stupid. I had a huge hill to tackle at the beginning of the last 3. I made it half way and decided to walk up the last block. That hill is a struggle when you're fresh, so it was necessary. The remainder wasn't too bad. My knees were sore, but I luckily I ran around a very flat Lake Ella 2 times. Afterwards Ben and I went to buy GU for our runs next Sunday. I bought Sublime Lime (Ben's favorite), Mint Chocolate, Strawberry Banana and Espresso Lover (which contains 2x caffeine).

I drank my yummy cup of coffee and I'm amidst tackling projects for a day off from work, but I wanted to show you a few things I got for Christmas that I'm very excited about.

These are all technically from Dorothy as she was the one who gave me the gift card to have a shopping spree at World Market. Thanks again, Dorothy!

Christmas decor! I am not a big fan of A LOT of Christmas decorations (which is the reason I made my own garland). I think all of that plastic can look pretty tacky pretty quickly, so I'm picky about what I put up. Since everything is on sale I forced myself to stock up for next year. You're probably saying to yourself, "Susan, You're telling me a pig ballerina isn't tacky?" It probably is. But I come from a pork producing family. I also got some sweet cardboard bird ornaments from Alyssa that are adorable, match my garland and are hanging from our lights as we speak.

I also got a bread/pizza stone from World Market. Brad had bought me an artisan bread cookbook as a going away gift when we moved to Florida and it suggests that I use a baking stone for the recipes. Now I can start making some real artisan bread!

Some more World Market Christmas decor. I love coffee!

Ben showing off my new paella pan from World Market. I have been dying to make paella since returning from Spain. I'm going to get some fresh seafood and give it a try. Ben is also sporting the apron that cousin Kim made me for Christmas quite awhile ago. :)

There were more wonderful gifts, but those are the ones I took pictures of. Mom and Dad gave me a cash gift that will likely go toward a plane ticket to Rhode Island this summer to visit my friends, Kristin and Brian. That is exciting!

With a new year comes new projects! I'm using this yarn that I bought in Spain and making my own Bethanie Infinity scarf (the green one I gave Natalie). I'm going to tackle some baby booties and a hat for cousin Kim's baby that should be arriving this month! Need to go yarn shopping. :)

I can't wait to finish my white curtains for these windows. I love our bedroom because it is so easily filled with light. We don't open the shades that often because there are lights that go on at night and Ben wants it pitch black. But when I have a day off and can really enjoy it, I open those shades and enjoy the sunshine. No Seasonal Affective Disorder this year!

One last gift! Grandma Millie gives the grandkids money and we go buy our own gifts and then "open" them in front of her at Christmas. My money went towards this cute vintage cabinet. I couldn't fit it in a box this year (or the plane for that matter), but it was definitely one of my favorite "gifts."

christmas in the north

2011-12-30T20:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas is all said and done. How wonderful it was to return to Kansas to see friends and family. Mom and Dad even came all the way from South Dakota to join in the Harder and Stucky celebrations. Dorothy's home was so comfortable, cozy and festive. It helps to have a red couch for the holidays.

It was our wretched luck to endure flight problems on our way to Kansas. I've explained this too many times, but for documentation purposes... We arrived at the Tally airport around 4:20 pm for our 6:20 pm flight. At check-in we discovered that our flight was already delayed one hour. There were maintenance issues. This didn't concern me that much because our next flight wasn't until 9:00 pm. Unfortunately, we didn't BOARD until 7:45 pm and then it managed to take awhile to take off. All I know is that we didn't get off the plane in Atlanta until 9:20 pm, and that was TOO late. I rushed over to the "missed your flight?" scanner that they have stationed in the Atlanta airport and swiped my boarding pass. (I now realize that is a bad sign. Atlanta flyers must have missed so many flights that they needed to install these blasted machines.) Instead of printing me a boarding pass for the next flight I could take, it prints a voucher for 2 meals and a one night stay in a hotel nearby. Shoot. Ben got off the plane after retrieving his trombone and I explained the bad news. We saw that the help desk was swarmed with angry flyers so I called the help line that the voucher listed and rebooked our flights for 6:00 am the next morning. We checked with the luggage folks to make sure our checked bag would make it to Wichita and then found our shuttle for the hotel. We ordered pizza with our vouchers and dropped onto our beds at 11:30 pm. We awoke at 3:30 am to catch our 4:00 am taxi. After a confusing line, missing ticket information, a frustrating phone call to the Delta help line and a wonderful airport attendant, we had our FIRST CLASS tickets to Chicago O'Hare to meet our connecting flight to Wichita that landed at 10:00 am.

It sounds much simpler now that I write it down. It wasn't. It was bad. I hope none of you have to do it.

The good news is that we made it. I drank a lot of water and coffee that day. Ben went to rehearsal that afternoon and had his very successful and well-attended jazz gig with his Bethel friends that evening.

Browsing through records at the Et Cetera Shop.

I missed Main Street enough to take a picture of it. Right next to what used to be "The Beadery." So sad.

Messing around with display mirrors.

Spending time with friends!

A beautiful December day. Not at all what it looked like last year. I had bragged to my co-workers that I would have a white Christmas. Not so.

We went on a walk to the pond near the McCabe-Juhnke house to see all of the geese. Alyssa is seen testing out her fancy new camera.

Friends at the Iron Horse. Including dear modmate, Cari, home from grad school in Madrid, Spain.

The best end to break? Being on the same flight and sitting RIGHT next to one of your best friends from college. What are the odds? We didn't even have to trade seats with anyone.

merry christmas from florida!

2011-12-18T18:01:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas picture taken on Sunday, December 18. 65 degrees. Merry Christmas to us!

(Immediate family, you will be receiving this picture, so no need to print it.)

I decided I had better create this post before the week starts or you won't hear from me until the end of the month. Only 3.5 days of work to get through and we will be on our plane to Wichita. We should arrive in Kansas around 10 pm CST. I'm really trying not to be excited yet, but it's hard to when I'm frantically attempting to finish up gift wrapping and making.

It was a lovely weekend. Ben and I went to watch a movie at Derek's apartment on Friday night. On Saturday I went to town cleaning the house. I cleaned out the fridge, did laundry, vacuumed, dusted the ceiling etc.(We have very tall ceilings so it was quite the workout). That evening we tried out Samrat Indian Restaurant. Lamb Curry, naan and chai.Yum.

This morning Ben and I both awoke at 8 am to run our dreaded long runs of the week. We were actually in positive moods and ready to tackle those hills, but we both came back a little worn out. I ran 6. He ran 9. He said his first loop (4 miles) wasn't very good, but the last loop (5 miles) got better. I was actually doing pretty well until my knees got a little sore around 4.5 miles. Then as I started my last mile they were REALLY sore and I still had some decently sized hills to defeat. I didn't look too pretty on my last half mile, but I made it in about 1 hour. I iced my knees with frozen peas and English muffins. I need to do a little better job of keeping track of my splits with the small chance that I might show improvement and be excited for that. I am still extremely happy that I completed 6 miles. I don't remember the last time I've done that. It is nice training for a half marathon during the holidays. I don't feel so bad about all the holiday goodies that I have been over-eating.

This evening we had our Christmas choir concert/carol sing at UCT. I enjoyed it, but it actually just made me more excited to sing some Mennonite hymns. Bethel College Mennonite Church, here we come! We had good food and conversation though.

It is likely that I will not be writing anything until our return (December 28). Have a wonderful Christmas to my friends and family that I won't get to celebrate with this year! Hope to make a trip to South Dakota sometime within the next year.

art projects

2011-12-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

Last spring I made a post about my dear, dear modmates gifting me a beautiful wooden plein-air easel as a graduation present. I completely forgot to post pictures until I broke it out this weekend. I've felt a little inspired to paint recently. I discovered Casey Leigh Weigand's artwork and got some ambition to try out some more abstract projects. I fear abstract because there is a fine line between art that belongs in a gallery and art that belongs on your fridge. We'll see how it goes.

Casey Leigh Weigand

You can check out her blog and art at http://www.thewiegands.com/.

Kim Schmidt, and I believe Kate Larson, woodburned this image into the easel.

They even engraved a little message to me:

TO OUR DEAREST SUSAN

FROM YOUR BIRDIES

I have the best friends!

Running 5 miles was GREAT on Saturday. I decided trying to NOT focus on my pace so much and just run comfortably. What a difference. I still had to work hard to keep my form up and my body moving, but with less frustration. During my sophomore year of college I would often go running at least every other day. Usually 2-3 miles. I tried to recreate that same mindset of running around Bethel that I enjoyed so much. It really helped.

On Sunday we had the pleasure of going to Katy and John Diaz's after church to see baby Satori and play with Clarity. John made super delicious eggplant parmesan for lunch. Ben had run 8 miles earlier than morning before church so he was fairly exhausted by the time we returned home.

I asked Sharon if it would be ok that I leave work around 4:00 pm next Thursday because our flight out of Tally leaves at 6:20 pm. She whispered, "You just leave at noon," and smiled. Love my supervisor! I think she has really appreciated the fact that I have been around to keep things going at the office as she has been in and out for doctors appointments concerning her recent surgery and sickness after sickness. Poor woman. Her immune system has been down since her double mastectomy and she has caught every sickness imaginable. I am trying to take my vitamins and get lots of sleep.

10 days till KANSAS!!!

a long run

2011-12-04T17:43:00.000-08:00

I am learning to get along with the increasing mileage in my training plan. Today was 5 miles. It sucked.

Running is such a basic thing, but the more you do it and the more you challenge your body the more you will see complexities reveal themselves.

A few things that I have noticed:

1) Pain. It has traveled all over my body. It's been in the form of a side stitch, tired legs, shoulder pain, rolled ankle, tendonitis in the foot or blisters. I've seen so much of it throughout my years of jr. high and high school sports. Some of them have shown their faces recently. Others not so much. There are also pains that are good old friends that never seem to leave, AKA "my knees". They're usually a disaster on concrete. Treadmill or dirt trail are better for them. However, today, no knee pain. What a joy to get through 5 miles on concrete without that irritating obstacle. It's different with everyone. Thank the Lord that I don't have hip problems. Learning to mentally push past "temporary" pain and knowing when to stop for "real" pain is a daily lesson.

2) Stride. Runs are great when you feel your body working exactly how it's supposed to. A well oiled machine that makes you feel like you could run forever. Today was NOT a representation of that. Despite my physical body fighting my will to make it run today, it did seem to have an automatic motion that it picked up from my work on the treadmill. It's hard for me to describe. My body just wanted to walk, but my mind knew it had to put in those miles in a form that resembled running rather than walking. I bet I looked pretty stupid today practically dragging my body up hills at pathetic speeds. Ben talked about how a treadmill essentially pushes your body forward for you. I agree with that and would say that was my problem today. I seriously felt angry out there because of how slow and reluctant my body was to fly forward, so to speak. It's a lot more work to climb up those hills than the treadmill pushes you to do. Still working on this.

3) Location. Piggybacking on the pros and cons of treadmills...they're useful machines that I need to use, but a nice running trail is my best option. Unfortunately, it gets too dark to run past 5:30 pm. I will have to save those for my long Sunday runs. Concrete can be pretty tough on my knees, but these hills are working my body out more than any flat Kansas terrain ever has. A great challenge to work lots of different muscles instead of the same over and over again (as personal marathon trainer Ben says). I will just continue to switch it up.

I think I'm going to pick up some GU for my 6 miler. I just want to see what it can do for my body. Ben doesn't need it until he's running 10 miles, but I want to experience its magical effects. Ben says I just gotta keep putting my miles in and I should be able to handle 13 when it's time. :)

christmas decor

2011-12-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

Part of my Christmas DIY-athon has been a fabric tassel garland. It was a little tedious, but cute. I added some large bulb lights from World Market and now it looks a little more like Christmas. Definitely no snow out on the ground though. We're not getting a tree this year. We're not that in love with Christmas decor and we don't have that much room anyway.

Two 3.5 mile runs and one 2 mile run on the treadmills went very well this week. I am going to try to run 5 miles on the road tomorrow. Hope my knees can endure.

The Blood Mobile was stationed at our workplace on Friday. I gave blood for the fourth time in my life. I had to wait awhile after going to Guatemala. They don't like taking the blood of possible malaria carriers. The last time I gave was February 2007. This time I filled the bag in six minutes. They said that's fairly normal, but I beat a lot of people that were in the Mobile. Funny that giving blood is a competition for me.

Today Ben and I went to our church bazaar. We picked up our jellies, chutneys and fudge sauces that we ordered. This included Red Onion Jam (supposedly good on roast beef sandwiches), Blueberry Lime Jam, Pecan Fudge Sauce, Hell Fire Salsa and Pear Chutney. We also picked up a few other baked goods and stayed for lunch.

A little Peruvian nativity set from Dorothy to keep the remote and Bethel coasters company.

In less than three weeks we will be in Newton where it actually looks like Christmas. (!!!)

mossy green infinity

2011-11-27T16:48:00.000-08:00

It is finished! It actually has been for about 2 weeks now. Just had to weave in the loose ends, soak it, block it (pin it down into the shape it needs to be) and let it dry. I can't remember if I told you or not, but I'm gifting this to my friend, Natalie. A) For her birthday and Christmas gift, B) I decided I would prefer the scarf for myself in a more neutral tone (I have yarn in mind), C) this is SO her color. I know a lot of you will be saying, "Susan, Where is MY knitted gift?" But you must understand that I am not a knitting machine and the minute I feel obligated to do a project, I immediately lose interest and it becomes a chore. I have one commissioned project on my to-do list and I am (hopefully) promising myself that I will not accept anymore of those (unless it is some extreme exception). Sometimes I feel the need to give a really special gift and knowing that Natalie is feeling a little apprehensive about spending her first full year of her life out of South Dakota doing volunteer service made me want to do something extra special for her.

I simply have to learn to say what I've heard experienced knitters say to commissions offered in the past...

"You can't afford me."

satori ornette

2011-11-27T11:11:00.000-08:00

On Saturday morning Ben and I woke up late and discovered voice messages on both our cell phones. John Diaz, a fellow teacher's assistant, saxophonist and friend who shares an office with Ben at FSU called to report that his wife, Katy, had pretty strong contractions around 6:30 am and they were at the hospital waiting for their second child to arrive. Clarity, their oldest daughter, was being watched by a friend that had to leave town around 11:30 am. John asked if we could watch Clarity until their friend would return that evening or the baby was born. John's parents live in Tampa, FL and Katy's parents are in Kansas City, so there was no way they could call on family. We speed-cleaned the house and prepared for their friend to drop Clarity off. She showed up around 11 am and we kept her until about 5 pm when we joyfully ventured over to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital to greet new baby sister, Satori Ornette Diaz. Satori is a Japanese word that means "enlightenment" or "understanding" and Ben says that Ornette is the name of a jazz musician. She came in at 8 lbs. and 8 oz. and 21 inches long. I expressed my appreciation for the large child as my sister and I had both been 9 lbs. and my brother, 10. Katy said that they "ran large" in her family too.

Ben and I were wiped out. We had taken Clarity to the video store to get Spong Bob Squarepants, to Tom Brown Park (where she made friends and we chased and ran from them on the playground for an hour), back to the house for paper planes, lunch and snack. Ben was even super helpful and kept her entertained while I Skyped with my Schmeichel/Waltner relatives in the other room.

We treated ourselves to The Other Seineyard, an amazing seafood restaurant, about 1 mile from our house. Ben had read that it was some of the best seafood in town and it was SO true. We were just gushing to each other the entire time we were eating. Ben had the grilled grouper, hushpuppies, baked potato and coleslaw. I had the grilled mullet, hushpuppies, french fries and coleslaw. We loved every bite. More than any other restaurant in Tallahassee, we have to take our friends and family here when they come to visit.

1/2 MARATHON UPDATE:

I ran 4 miles for my long run this morning at Gold's Gym before church. Definitely a good idea to hit the treadmill for the sake of my knees. Horrible idea for my general spirit to run. It was pretty hard to keep it up, especially after the 2nd mile. Bleh. I am trying to keep my pace under or at 10:00 minutes miles. That seems pretty slow to me, but my body has just never done this much mileage before and I don't want to overdo it and destroy myself before it's time. So if it started to get too tough, I would pull the speed down to 5.5 and just try to keep going. It felt like when I first started training for my first season of soccer at Bethel. I would tell myself, "You can run as slow as you want, but you can't stop or walk".
I am so glad I got it out of the way. Now the afternoon can be spent on cleaning and Christmas gift projects. :)

Ben and I had pumpkin pancakes and apples for lunch today.

charm pack

2011-11-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

I seriously didn't even know what a charm pack was until 2 weeks ago.

If you don't sew or quilt, you might not know what a charm pack is either. As you can see, a charm pack is a "pack" of different pre-cut fabric squares meant for quilting/sewing projects. They are often grouped with certain color schemes in mind. I encountered a quilting project on Pinterest, went hunting for fabric on Etsy, and discovered charm packs. How nice! My mother has helped me assemble one quilting project before and I might need her assistance on this one too. Don't expect this project to show up finished on here anytime soon. I have a few more that have top priority at the moment.

Close-ups of some of my favorites.

florida state football

2011-11-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

I was meaning to post much sooner than this. It's been a little hectic lately. This last weekend we attended our very first Florida State football game. We barbecued at our house with Ben's music school friends and then made the trek over to the stadium. I made my awesome chocolate chip-walnut cookies. Ben made his favorite, potato salad. We had also kabobs, chicken, beans, chips and baked mac and cheese. It was so much fun to cook and hang out with friends.

Derek, Jen and Frank

There were soooooooo many people.

We sat in the student section. Students stand on the bleachers the whole game, except half time and between quarters. I had to take a few breaks.

FSU actually ended up losing, but we didn't stay to see it. We left at the end of the 3rd quarter as it started to rain. It was still an interesting experience to spend the whole day in celebration and preparation

for a football game. I still don't care that much about football.

THANKSGIVING UPDATE:

Tomorrow Ben and I will be joining our pastor and her family for Thanksgiving activities. We are bringing sweet potatoes and ice cream. They will provide the rest. I am so excited for food. They're really fun people and a great alternative since we can't be with our real families.

I actually had one Thanksgiving meal already. Ben shares an office with another graduate student, John Diaz. He is actually married and has an adorable little girl, Clarity, who I played "I Spy" with for a good portion of the evening. His wife, Katie, made a fabulous vegetarian Thanksgiving meal this last Friday because they are going to be having a baby girl any day now and they didn't want to miss out. A vegetarian Thanksgiving meal is not too different from a regular one. They just don't have turkey or ham. They made tofu and it was actually quite good. Ben couldn't join in since the big band had to play at an FSU event.

HALF MARATHON TRAINING UPDATE:

I am midway through Week 2. It's a 12 Week program. Bleh. The miles are still low (2-4), so things are fine. Some of my old knee and leg muscle issues from high school basketball have returned, but I can handle them with proper warm-ups and ice afterwards. I imagine it is from all of the concrete I've been running on. I'm going to try to get to some dirt trails when I can and utilize the treadmill when appropriate. The weather has been amazing. It was 80's this past week. 70's down to 60's this weekend. I don't mind this one bit :), but I've got my fancy running tights when necessary.

DIY UPDATE:

I have been a DIY fiend. I have been working on Christmas gift projects whenever possible. During my lunch break, after my runs and right up until bedtime. I wish I could show you them, but I don't want to give any previews to their eventual recipients. After Christmas. :)

northern florida fall

2011-11-12T14:09:00.000-08:00

Something I didn't ever expect from Florida: cold weather. The locals will remind you that you are not in South Beach. Welcome to northern Florida. My co-worker, Anthony (originally born in Wichita, KS), told me that Tallahassee has some of the hottest weather in the summer and some of the coldest weather in the winter. The low for last night was 28 degrees. I guess I'm happy to still have use for my sweaters, scarves and mittens. (Using my fingerless gloves while typing this.) But no worries. Highs are set for 70-80 this next week. Love that warm weather.

Still, what confuses me are all the leaves on the ground and still so much green around me. Things must take a long time to die around here, or they just won't.

As you might recall, I have a cough/cold that is on its way out thanks to Mucinex. When symptoms started brewing on Monday I consulted runnersworld.com to see if I was doing myself harm by running. After reading up I decided that it would be best to rest my body and let it fight off the infection before making it worse. I haven't run since last Sunday and it's been quite frustrating since we've had such great weather all weekend. Yesterday afternoon I decided to at least take the camera out and go on a walk through our "neighbor's" yard, aka "the cemetery". I know it seems creepy, but it's so well kept and picturesque that it's really nice in the daylight. (You're not allowed to be in there after sunset.)

The view of the cemetery from the front of our apartment.

This is known as the "Old City Cemetery". There are a lot of gravestones dating back to the 1800's. It's really interesting to walk through, read the dates and names, see who's getting flowers etc.

Some of the lone red and oranges leaves.

Spanish moss is everywhere down here, and I love it. It gives normal looking trees a little extra character. Antonio Gaudi would love the "dripping" effect.

There are remnants of others passing through and making visits.

And sometimes you happen upon some recent touching moments.

shots of vienna

2011-11-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

Vienna has really become more friendly over these past few days. She lets me pet her for a little while, but not all of the time. She even let me take pictures of her as she shed all over Ben's white collared shirt. I need to pick up a lint roller at the grocery store. Derek will pick her up sometime tomorrow. :(

remembrance day sushi

2011-11-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

I just returned to the house from getting sushi with Ben at Jasmine Cafe (16 pieces of sushi for $8 plus soup or salad!).

It has been a wonderful Veteran's Day thus far. This is my very first holiday off of work. I slept in until 7:30 am. (Granted I went to bed at 10:30 pm) Woke up. Finished knitting my fingerless mittens (!!! photos to come). Drank my 500th cup of tea (Remember that cough that I told myself "wasn't" me getting sick? Wrong.) Did a little cleaning and laundry. Went for lunch. And now since Ben is working on a transcription paper, I have the rest of the afternoon to do what I want. :) It is a cool 61 degrees outside, the leaves are on the ground and the sun is shining beautifully.

Last night I made a quick shopping trip to Sports Authority. I was in search of some warm running tights/pants. I finally decided that my tights from Freshman year of high school track have grown a little thin to be insulating anything. I found some toasty Under Armour tights, but in my search I also discovered these fancy running shorts.

Now normally I am not much of an exhibitionist, but they're fun and they were on sale. I figure that I need something fun to get me through 13 miles.

ALSO...

Despite my staunch pacifistic beliefs, it can be beneficial to consider the non-Menno's perspective on a day like today. If you haven't already checked the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog...

"Today is Remembrance Day in several countries including Canada. It’s Veteran’s Day in the United States. A day designed to remember and perpetuate peace through good will between nations. A day to remember those who gave some and those who gave all for their country and countrymen.I want to be sensitive to the Mennonite Communities position of Pacifism. As many of you know I am the one “Mennonite Girl” who is not a Mennonite. I do not come from a background of Pacifism. I have relatives who fought in WWII, Vietnam, and our son in law Andrew is serving in Afghanistan as a Marine right now. We are united in our love for the Lord and our love for our fellow man. I would appreciate your prayers when you remember our Andrew that God will bring him home safe and sound. Today is a good day to pray for our men and women who have suffered much while serving our countries."

John 15:13 ~ Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

"How grateful we can be to live in lands where freedom reigns. How grateful we should be to God who reigns over all.

Looking forward to that day when all wars will cease…"

- Ellen B. of MGCC

Something to think on. Write a compare and contrast essay on running shorts, sushi and war.

pumpkin muffin

2011-11-07T18:25:00.000-08:00

My goal is to make Pioneer Woman Pumpkin Muffins before the end of the week. Maybe no frosting since Ben made white cake with frosting this evening. I felt like I got enough sugar in my system to last for awhile. Yes, Ben made cake. All by himself. I made the frosting though.

I was so looking forward to Daylight Savings Time. I thought it would be nice to wake up when it didn't look like the middle of the night. But mostly it sucked. I couldn't fall asleep last night because I was essentially trying to go to bed at 9:30 pm. That made for a sleepy Monday filled with coffee and tea to stay focused and alert. Not to mention I've had a tickle in my throat all day. I DON'T WANT TO GET SICK! If I do, I'm blaming the accounting department. They were all passing it around 2 weeks ago. So I drank water all day (in addition to the tea and coffee) and am currently drinking a hot toddy before I go to bed early. Crossing my fingers.

I sang with the UCT choir in church this last Sunday. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the song we sang. Even though it's a small church, I feel special being part of the choir because NOT everyone does it (for once in my life). Afterwards we stayed for a Young Adult Group get-together. We ate Santa Fe soup (like chili) and canned and labeled some goods for the upcoming Christmas Bazaar. They had Red Onion Jam, which I've never heard of in my life. Mary said that it's good on hot roast beef sandwiches. Would be interesting to try. I'm getting more and more comfortable in our church setting, and that makes me happy.

We have the distinct privilege of watching our friend Derek's cat, Vienna, for the week. Derek is attending a percussive arts convention in Indianapolis until Sunday. Isn't she gorgeous? She's not really touchy feely, but I like watching her walk around and explore her new surroundings.

The scarf is coming along...slowly. Should finish pretty soon. I still love the look of the pattern, even though it's super boring to actually do. The fingerless mits are on their way too.

Half-Marathon training starts next week.

Oh yeah, no work on Friday. Veterans Day!

we're all in this together

2011-11-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

For my bestie, Kezia. Her father passed away from cancer yesterday. Sad I cannot be with her today. Sending good thoughts and hopeful wishes to the Hesed family.

Well my friends, I see your face so clearly
Little bit tired, little worn through the years
You sound nervous, you seem alone
I hardly recognize your voice on the telephone

In between I remember
Just before bound-up, broken-down
We drive out to the edge of the highway
Follow that lonesome dead-end roadside south

(Chorus:)
We're all in this thing together
Walkin' the line between faith and fear
This life don't last forever
When you cry I taste the salt in your tears

Well my friend, let's put this thing together
And walk the path with worn out feet of trial
'Cause if you wanted we can go home forever
Give up your jaded ways, spell your name to God

(Chorus)

All the hour there's a picture in a mirror
Fancy shoes to grace our feet
All there is is a slow road to freedom
Heaven above and the devil beneath

(Chorus)

yamberry muffins

2011-10-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

This is what I did for Halloween. We don't really have a trick-or-treating kind of neighborhood.

We live next to a cemetery. Scares small children. Maybe we'll dress up next year.

Instead, sweet potato - cranberry muffins.

new knits and running strategies

2011-10-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

What a busy week and thank heavens it's the weekend!

I've made some impressive progress with my fingerless gloves. I feel like I've reclaimed my lunch hour by knitting. Wish it would be appropriate to continue at my desk.

The left hand is almost done. Need to finish the thumb and block it.

Here’s a rundown of this last week. Add “working 8-5 pm” to all of these days.

Monday

Day off of exercise since I ran 3 miles on Sunday

Quaker Hymn Sing, 7-9 pm

Makes me miss Mennonite hymn sings, but it was a fascinating experience. There tends to be fewer "resolving" chords, which bothered me. The notes on the music are shaped. Each shape is designated for Do, Ti, La etc. The first time you sing through the song you sing the shapes. They were very kind about letting us sing whatever we could get out, even if that meant singing "La" all the way through. At the end of the song you sing the last verse all the way through. Then you sing the last line of the last verse to finish it off. Interesting.

Tuesday

3 mile run

Ben's Big Band Concert 8:00-9:45 pm

I was having "errors" uploading my videos so you will just have to check my Facebook page to see the band play.

Wednesday

Lift weights

Choir practice at UCT (United Church of Tallahassee) 6:30-7:30 pm

Choir practice was a lot of fun. You have to understand that we're not in Menno country anymore. Choirs are not built of natural born singers. UCT's choir has about 10-12 women and 4 men (2 were in attendance last night). I imagine that those numbers fluctuate. I have to say that they were not stellar by any means, but they can put a song together and I actually really enjoyed myself. Kathy, who told Ben and I we should join the choir, was so happy that I was there. She saw me, her eyes lit up and she said with a quiet excitement, "You came." I was happy to make her happy. I sang in the choir at Salem Mennonite in Freeman from 5 years(ish) old through my senior year of high school. There is just something so great about congregating to learn music on a Wednesday evening. Feels like old times.

Thursday

Yarn shopping at Wooly Bully

Coffee shopping at New Leaf Market (organic grocery store)

I was going to go on a 4 mile run on Thurs., but I had a minor headache and was quite tired for the majority of the day. I haven't been sleeping well this week, leaving me to feel fairly unrested at work. The run was rescheduled for Friday. This running thing is starting to feel a lot better. Right before I go out I get this feeling of "I don't want to do this", but as soon as I start moving I feel great. Hopefully that negative urge will decrease the further I get. The fantastic weather definitely helps. That won't last forever though. I need to go invest in some cold weather running pants. (Or cool weather - in consideration of snowier regions)

I went yarn shopping to find yarn for Paula's Christmas hat (she already knows about it because I had to see what color she wanted). I went in for white Malabrigo Merino Worsted. They didn't have any white, so I left with a gorgeous smoky purple called Pearl Ten that should go great with her grey coat. Purple was the new black a few years ago. :)

I made my initial visit to New Leaf Market. Wonderful organic grocery store. It smelled awesome in there between the coffee I was buying and a the ready-made, hot food buffet (and it was right around supper time). Dear friend Natalie's birthday is today so I wanted to put a small gift basket together for her. I found her some local coffee beans from Thomasville, Georgia (Only 45 min. away/ We're THAT close to GA) AND I'm actually giving her the mossy green infinity scarf when it's done. I felt like gifting her something extra special because A) she is in St. Louis doing 1 year of MVS and far from home for her first extended period of time and B) I haven't given her a birthday gift in awhile because I've been in Kansas being distracted by Kansas-y things for the past couple years. I have some yarn from Spain that I actually want to make into MY infinity scarf.

Friday

4 mile run

Watched the final game of the World Series with Ben and Derek

I'm trying to make 4 the new 3. That means I would like to make running 4 miles easy and not so mentally/phsyically taxing, like 3. I've been going on routine 3 mile runs for YEARS. I’ve got it stuck in my brain that anything more than that is A LOT. So I went out for 4 miles yesterday and despite a little lower back pain and a side stitch with 200 m to go, I made it. I ran the absolute majority of it. The only thing that stops Ben and I on are runs are cross walks. You can get stuck at a cross walk for a good long while because red and green lights go for a LONG time. There’s a lot more traffic trying to get where they need to go here, so it makes sense.

this room

2011-10-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

is so beautiful. oh, Apartment Therapy.

IT'S ALMOST THE WEEKEND!

Jo Totes

2011-10-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

For you ladies with SLR cameras....

I must share with you my urge to own this CAMERA BAG.

That's right. Not a purse, a camera bag from Jo Totes. Click on the link to see more options and put it on

your Christmas list because I am.

Also, my body is fairly sore today. I went to Gold's Gym after work to do a quick 30 minute lifting session. Bridgette, one of the Gold's Gym employees who I've gotten to know, caught me when I was walking in and

asked if I wanted to join the free Boot Camp class for the day. I said yes pretty quickly because I really didn't have

a reason not to and I was there to work out anyway, so why not do a good job of it? Since it was Friday nobody was really around to take the class. I was the only one until we caught a gal that was about to leave the gym and luckily she agreed to do it. So there were 2 of us and 2 instructors. They were cool though, and it was fun.

Also, as Ben and I were putting my new Florida license plate on my car (!!!), our neighbor who we've never met came over and introduced himself and congratulated me on making it "official." His name is Dave and turns out he's from St. Cloud/Minneapolis, Minnesota and has been here for the past 6 years studying Speech Pathology part-time at FSU.

I love how Midwesterners will get so excited when they find other Midwesterners far from home (myself included). Doesn't matter that we're from a completely different state, we're still brethren.

relatively cold

2011-10-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

The high for the day today was 69 degrees. Brrrrrrr :)

But really, it's nice to have a little relief from the heat, AND turn the heat on in the house. Ben and I already had our argument about what the thermostat should be set at. I am always notoriously cold. He is always notoriously hot. Makes for a fun discussion. Don't worry, we settled on 70. The low for the night is 48.

Since it was great running weather I made my first run outside since the beginning of September. Back then we were waking up at 7 am just so we could run during the coolest part of the day. Ha. It was an ok run. For me, it always takes a few to get myself back in the habit. But the weather was PERFECT (after my lungs adjusted to breathing in cooler air) and it always feel great when you're done.

Here's the hat in some pictures I got Ben to take so I can show it off on Ravelry.

As you can see there are a ton of leaves on the ground, but random green elsewhere. It will be interesting to see what "winter" really looks like around here.

The tropical storm rain showers we had on Monday and Tuesday brought down a lot of those leaves. It rained ALL DAY on Tuesday. I was sitting at my desk at work, observing the rain and dark clouds from our HUGE window (I have a great view) and thinking how much nicer it would be drinking tea in my cozy living room. So of course, I went in search of cozy living rooms on Apartment Therapy.

Sigh.

We've done a pretty good job making our living room cozy, but it will be nicer when I'm not renting my space.

Ben is at salsa band rehearsal this evening, so I'll just make some chamomile tea, sit in our cozy living room and prepare myself for Friday. :)

photo bombardment

2011-10-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

I know. Two blog posts in one day is too much. But I just got alllllll of my photos off of my camera, so you're about to be overwhelmed by my recent photography.

Friday evening supper at Hopkins Eatery. Good food. Very healthy and organic. Probably won't be going back for awhile unless I'm really dying to be healthy because it was kind of expensive.

Fascinating decorating in this place. Lots of hanging plants + diner booths.

The Linda Special sandwich and potato salad. Num.

Yarn lounging in the warm Florida sun before it became a hat.

Infinity scarf ripped out and rewound. I call it my "larva." Great moss green color.

New shoes to wear to work!

My next big sewing project: white curtains for the bedroom. It is pictured rolled out on the floor. I bought 8 yards of discount fabric. It was great because it was originally $8.00/yd, so it's durable and feels decent. Then it was on sale for 40% off. THEN there were a few spots (which I can bleach out/won't even notice) so the fabric store lady gave me ANOTHER discount. Total cost: $37.00 If the window looks full enough with 4 yds of fabric I can use the curtains for the "activities room".

And as you can see, Ben has been playing Tetris all Sunday long because he finished the entirety of his jazz composition homework yesterday.

Fabric that is about to be made into beautiful things.

Wa La! Pillow Sham. I even found the exact same fabric that the pattern used, which of course I got off of Design Sponge. (The fabric was just from Joann's Fabric...and 100% cotton!)

I thought about making two shams with the same fabric, but I got excited about the white/teal fabric pictured above. So you'll see one made out of that stuff sooner or later.

Ben testing it. So happy.

diy

2011-10-16T06:59:00.000-07:00

Two websites that I spend too much time on:

1) Design Sponge
2) Curbly

Because I like to save money and I love "adult" craft projects. I'm working on some sweet pillow cases at the moment.

The weekend has been a much needed break. This last week I started getting cold symptoms the day after my flu shot (coincidence?). The cold came full force on Friday so I've been drinking tea and popping Benadryl for a few days now. I'm on the upswing this morning, but still a little fatigued.

Last night we invited two of Ben's FSU Jazz friends over for chili, cinnamon rolls, jazz vinyls and baseball on TV. It was nice to have a reason for cleaning and entertaining.

This evening we're going to go out for Chinese food with our church Young Adult Group. Then they're going back to Pastor Nancy's house for a movie, but I figure I shouldn't sit in close proximity to so many people and spread my disease, so we're probably going home.

chicken and waffles

2011-10-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

I have a million things to share with you. You can tell that I've been spending a little too much time on the internet.

1) Remember my make-up bag? I can't give you the directions from my download (mostly b/c I refuse to retype it), but I found a very similar pattern from Design Sponge that would get you similar results. Click here.

2) This week I made Curried Chicken Salad Sandwiches. Super tasty. The recipe is from Women's Health.

3) So remember the scarf that I was going to start? Well, I started it, and then I realized about 75% of the way through that it got twisted. Don't ask for explanations. Bottom line. I had to rip it out and start fresh. But it's hard to start over on the same day that you rip out all of your hard work. So I started my other project. A slouchy hat! I bought the pattern on Ravelry and I finished it in 3 days. It was so much fun. I basically knit all weekend. I also have a new favorite yarn, Malabrigo 100% Organic Merino Wool, color is Natural. It is SO soft. The pattern called for Malabrigo so I looked it up and saw that Wooly Bully carried it. A great discovery.

I will put up a better photo when I get some nice natural light outside. I am ready for you, Winter!

4) Chicken and Waffles. Who knew that this would be such a winning combination? Ben and I were waiting around for the doors to open for a "Das Racist" concert on Monday and nearby was a food truck. There are actually quite a few food trucks around here. So despite having supper, I knew I would get hungry later on. So I drag Ben over to the food truck and have a look at the menu options. Top of the list: Chicken and Waffles. I go for it.

Me: "I'll have Chicken and Waffles"

Food Truck Man: "Buttermilk, Pumpkin or Red Velvet waffles?"

Me: "(silently, !!!!!!!!)......Pumpkin."

Food Truck Man: "Tenders or wings?"

Me: "Tenders."

Food Truck Man: "Would you like the cream cheese glaze on the waffle?"

Me: "(silently, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).......ummmmm, yes." (smile)

It was greasy and wonderful. I shouldn't have this meal everyday, but I would sure like to.

5) I won the Gold's Gym Circuit Training Challenge. It was not very hard to do. I don't have a big social life, so I just continued working out every weekday for a month. I think I win some free personal training sessions, some gift certificates, a T-shirt. Who knows. One of the circuit training supervisors told me that they're going to make a sign with my name on it that says I won.

caffeine fix

2011-10-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

First new post of October! We had a very nice introduction to Fall this past weekend. Lows were in the 40's and highs were upper 70's. Just gorgeous outside. The air was cool (though not much wind) and the sun was warm. We just marveled at it all day long. Currently it's 71 degrees in the house without any help from AC or the furnace. However, last night made me realize that we just might get to use the heating unit in these coming months. It was 66 degrees in the house this morning. I know that isn't ridiculously cold, but it wasn't exactly comfortable and it doesn't take much for me. So having to leave my bed at 6:20 am on a Monday morning did not feel very good.

I was actually excited to get to work and make myself a decent cup of coffee for a change. I really hate the drip coffee at work. When I make coffee at home it's usually on the cooler side by the time I arrive at work. I also don't want to take my french press all the way to work (I already feel like I pack enough stuff since I bring my own lunch and workout clothes for the gym).

So here's my experimental period with Starbucks instant coffee. I even bought some half and half to keep at work. (Take that, nasty powdered creamer!) Day 1 was great. :) This stuff is not cheap, however. Comes to about $1 each cup. I must say that it's better than buying a cup (literally a mug) from Starbucks everyday AND it's actually good! I'm not an expert on instant, but I drank a lot of it in Guatemala. (Weird, right? They have some of the best coffee in the world and yet, they love their instant coffee.)

So based off of my knowledge of instant coffee, I give it 5 stars.

Other stuff:

- My circuit training challenge comes to a close next Wednesday. I think I'm actually in first place. I've only missed 1 day for a haircut.

- I start training for the half marathon mid-November.

- I started my scarf. It's going great. It's a Moss Green. However, I need to finish up a baby blanket and it get it in the mail. Laura's baby is coming soon!

- I found a knitting group on Ravelry that meets monthly at a bar called the Fermentation Lounge to drink craft beers and knit. Friends!

- We had lunch with our pastor and her partner, Della, this last Sunday. Della went to AMBS (Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary) and completely understands our Mennonite ways! So refreshing to make a Menno connection! She wants us to help her start a hymn sing at church. It also looks like I might be joining the church choir. :)

- This evening we bought our plane tickets to fly back to Newton for Christmas on Thursday, Dec. 22 at 6:20 pm (Arrival in Wichita: 10:15 pm). We'll fly back to Tally on Wednesday, Dec. 28. Kansas! Yay!

ravelry renaissance

2011-09-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

One thing I learned about while working in a yarn store for 4 years...www.ravelry.com. I'd hook up the link, but sorry, members only. Ravelry is a knitting/crocheting online community. You can display pictures of your projects, buy patterns (or download patterns for free), join knitting groups, check out new yarns, share tips. I get really scatterbrained when I log on because I want to start about 5 projects at once.

I'm bringing all of this up because I was really bored this afternoon and had absolutely NO work to do. I receive all of my work from other administrators and half of them were off by noon. So I thought I'd get onto Ravelry for old times sake and instead, it sparked a renewed interest in yarn.

I've had a tricky relationship with yarn. I LOVE it, I really do. The colors and options rock my world. Unfortunately, I was taught to fall in love with natural fiber yarn...aka NOT cheap synthetic/plastic yarn. My dear old boss, Julie, would cringe at the sight of Hobby Lobby yarn or plastic needles. No, no. Only real merino wool, cotton, hemp, silk combination fibers. The majority of my needles are also wooden, not metal or plastic. I appreciate this yarn because the quality is way better, but of course it's more expensive. This was my problem in college. I didn't have time, nor did I want to blow ALL of my money. This led to me being surrounded by tons of yarn for years, but really, no time to completely figure it out. So here I go, along with all my other hobbies. There are a few good looking natural fiber yarn stores in Tally, including Wooly Bully and Really Knit Stuff and I can't wait to start my projects, including the one you see above.

never say never

2011-09-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

Looks like Paula talked me into running a half marathon with her. But not just me. Brother-in-law Tom and boyfriend Ben will join us in running the 38th Tallahassee Half Marathon on February 5, 2012. Paula and Tommy have been asking us to do this for a couple years now. Never really had the time with school, work etc. Nothing seemed to be stopping me now, so I agreed. Good thing Ben knows about this stuff, having run 3 marathons already. He will be an excellent personal trainer. He already picked out a training program for me to follow. I will start training mid-November. Out of the 4 of us, I am not only the only one who hasn't run a HALF marathon, I am also the only one who hasn't run a FULL marathon. This could be very interesting.

But I'm excited that we'll have visitors in February!

giving up and gaining

2011-09-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

Our dear old Bethel friend, Josh Chittum and new Goshen friend, Tina Histand, were married yesterday in Kansas City! I borrowed this picture from Facebook because they both look so great. Congratulations, friends! I was really crushed that we couldn't join them for their big celebration, but with school in session for Ben, me starting my new job so recently and both of us having just arrived in Florida only 6 weeks ago, we couldn't really justify a return trip to the Midwest so soon.

For me, this is the worst part about living so far away: missing out. During both of my study abroad experiences I missed out on Winfield Folk Festival (twice), family and friends' birthdays, and holidays like Thanksgiving (twice). When I was in Barcelona, I missed Dan and Tina Graber's wedding. I still remember feeling so devastated at the time. Even when I was only 6.5 hours away at college I couldn't make it back to Freeman for everything. I don't think I've been home for Easter in South Dakota since 2004. (This is because Easter is right after the Schmeckfest "holiday" and I've always chosen "schmecking" over Easter.)

I have just learned to accept the fact that when you choose to experience new and exciting locations, cultures and people, you also choose to temporarily give up those cherished traditions. It has never been easy for me to sit alone in my bedroom in a foreign country when I know dear friends and family are gathering together.

On the other hand, it's not fair to say that it was all for nothing. I've attended 3 Guatemalan wedding receptions in one evening, experienced the biggest street party/concert festival in Barcelona, swam in the Dead Sea, eaten some of the most coveted ethnic food in the world, and decorated a Christmas tree in Bethlehem.

To think that I have given up so much and gained so little would be such a lie. It's a nice reminder since we'll be experiencing a Floridian Thanksgiving this year. Luckily, we'll make it to Kansas for Christmas.

I have several good friends that are getting married this coming summer and we are going to try our absolute hardest to make it to as many as possible. I am grateful that we have friends that love and support us and are understanding of our commitment to our new job, studies and home.

We got out of our comfort zone again today. We attended a Young Adult Fellowship gathering after church today. Got to meet some new folks, have a little conversation and eat burgers. We're going out for lunch with our pastor next week after church. Really nice, open people.

hair on earth

2011-09-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

- I finally got my haircut! It has been a long time since I've let anyone but James or Robert cut my hair in their home salon in little Goessel, KS. I tried out this place about 5 blocks from our house called Hair On Earth. They had a $10 discount for your first visit and they were voted one of the best salons in Tally. Mary was my stylist, she was really nice and crazy. Easily excited is more like it. She was VERY excited about the hair inspiration picture I brought in (see below). If you need a friend, go get your hair cut. The majority of hair stylists are either outgoing or feel obliged to make conversation. Mary was fun to talk to.

- To backtrack, we actually ended up going out the night of the OU/FSU football game on Saturday. We biked over by the school to join Ben's friend, Derrick. We tailgated on a road median, played beanbags with Derrick's friends and watched the fraternity/sorority folks walking around (they all looked the same). We actually ended up getting food and drinks at Applebee's since the majority of bars near campus were packed. We had a great time. Derrick's friends were hilarious.

- This evening I fixed two pairs of dress pants that were a little too big, even when I bought them. It's nice when clothes fit properly (and I don't have to pay someone to fix them).

my hair inspiration photo

tally ho no. 1

2011-09-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Love this outfit from A Beautiful Mess. Fall clothes are the best. Hopefully I'll get to wear them by November. :)

Notice how I haven't been posting as much recently? That is the sign of a person with a busy schedule.

It mostly feels busy because I'm consuming 10 hours of my day outside of my home. 8am-12pm work. I HAVE to use my lunch hour 12-1pm because they need me to be able to answer the phone 1-5pm (there goes the super flexible schedule of Prairie View). Then I go to Gold's Gym 5-6pm and home for supper, a few hours for myself, sleep, repeat. Full day. But really, it's fine because I don't have the huge social life like I used too.

I've put in 7 days at my desk, thus far. I told my supervisor that it gets better everyday. I'm becoming more knowledgeable about where phone calls need to be redirected, where to find forms on the network and just how to keep the office running smoothly. My supervisor had to to be out of the office for surgery this last Thursday and Friday, so I didn't have the one person who answers ALL of my questions. I thought I would be pushed to my limits, but it ended up being a fairly calm 2 days. Few phone calls, enough work orders to keep me busy and the CEO was out of the office on Thursday, so not too many visitors. These "work orders" I get can come from anyone in the administrative office or Performance Improvement department. Usually involves modifying forms and policies on our network. Everyone has been very kind and I really enjoy the people I get to work with and talk to.

A few interesting highlights:

- There are 2 ladies at work who's first name is Dale, one of which brought me a blueberry muffin on Friday.

- I have started going to a circuit training class at Gold's Gym after work. You just show up, start whenever you want and go at your own pace. 45 sec. weights, 15 sec to switch, 45 sec cardio on step benches, 15 sec to switch, REPEAT.

- Went to the FSU vs. University of Miami women's volleyball game on Wednesday evening. FSU beat them in 3 sets. The game was on ESPNU and coincidentally, mom watched the last half of the game and didn't even know we were there.

- Today is the big FSU/Oklahoma football game. While watching the news last night, I learned that this game is HUGE. It grosses the city of Tally about $10 million. We were told to stay away from the stadium area tonight because it's going to be crazy. Tons of people, possible riots, cop cars. Just a mess.

- I've recently been wanting to read the NYTimes a lot more. Unfortunately, in March they decided that non-subscribers can only view free 20 articles a month. If you want to subscribe it costs $3.95 a week. That doesn't sound too bad, until you add it up to $180 a YEAR! :( It has such great writing and interesting stories. I hope there is a day when $180 doesn't sound like too much money to get it.

- The weather is getting cooler! For once in my life I'm excited for winter. Should be a real shock when we return to KS for Christmas.

- Missing the Winfield Folk Festival in Kansas this weekend. It's such a great tradition for my Bethel friend group. Fortunately, I don't feel so left out because a lot of my friends couldn't make it this year.

Ben and I are still really loving Tally. Just a fun, beautiful, laid back city with just enough to keep you occupied. If we just had a few more friends and family around it would be ideal, but I think someday we are really going to smile when looking back on "that time we lived in Florida".

platforms and agendas

2011-09-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

I want to own this cabin in the woods. Go to Apartment Therapy to see inside! It's amazing.

Ben and I attended United Church of Tallahassee this morning for a combined traditional and contemporary worship service in commemoration of 9/11. Pastor Nancy was again happy to have us back for our third Sunday in a row. She invited to take us out for lunch one of these coming Sundays following the 11 o'clock service to talk more about the church and to get to know us a little better (as is customary for her and new regular attendees).

Ben and I were just talking yesterday about how the church doesn't feel "quite right" to us yet. For me, I feel that is a part of the acclimation process. It's not Mennonite, we don't really know anyone very well and they do a number of things differently than we would. But I have to say I felt a little better about the service today. Of course there were a few things that I was not completely comfortable with, but trying new and scary things is sometimes my forte. We'll keep working on it.

Today there were a few lines from the responsive reading that resonated with me:

..."We confess that as a country, and as individuals, we have believed ourselves to be unique and inviolable. We have averted our eyes before evil in its myriad forms. We have embraced ignorance and indifference, and shunned understanding. We have acted as if different means deficient. We have given in to anger. We have admired hostility and revenge, and rejected compassion and forgiveness..."

I really liked that line, and it nearly became my Facebook status. But then I reminded myself of the implications that go along with sharing one's thoughts and feelings on the Facebook status "platform". On a day like today there is no doubt that many political and social agendas are being released all over the newsfeed. After a brief read I can already tell you who's thoughts I am rolling my eyes at and who's I would gladly embrace. I have had my role as advocate, mediator and agitator in those lovely online debates. However, I still recall when news broke of Osama Bin Laden's death and how Facebook became the medium in which to spew our own agendas in each other's faces. It is at times exhilarating to see such passion and at other times, defeating and dividing. I have friends and family of all backgrounds and despite my willingness to freely endorse my beliefs, I feel as though there are occasions where my own agenda needs to be left at the door. I will readily admit that it can be a real struggle to ignore those passions for the sake of avoiding conflict and hurt feelings. Regardless, I decided to keep my thoughts to my blog "platform" for the day, as readers have a much larger choice in the matter of whether or not to ingest my thoughts. May we use our social mediums responsibly and in moderation.

"Seldom affirm, never deny, always distinguish." - St. Thomas Aquinas

first day

2011-09-06T16:07:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist sunflowers from the farmers market. Oh, Kansas.

I am currently writing this while sitting on our deck. It is 5:56 pm, 82 degrees and 38% humidity. I never knew 82 could feel so wonderful. It is COOL outside. Reminds me of a warmer Fall day in South Dakota. Not to mention that everything is super green from all of the rain we had over the last 48 hours. The hurricane system that hit Louisiana eventually creeped over into Tally. It ranged from torrential rains on Sunday (continuing through the night) to light sprinkles on and off all day Monday. So if you didn't have Labor Day plans to come to Florida, congratulations. They would have been ruined.

Ben and I didn't do a whole lot.

On Saturday I checked out the farmers market and the local TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES (speaking of things that make you feel at home). Bought some chocolate. We ate it all by the end of the following day, which is why we don't normally store chocolate in our household.

We made our return to United Church of Tally on Sunday. They were pretty excited to see that we came and Pastor Nancy welcomed us back. It is still strange for me to attend church at 11 am when I have been attending 9:30 am services for the majority of my life.

I made my second attempt at Tortilla de Patata (potato omelet dish from Spain). I was way more successful this time.

Yesterday I made yogurt. Real interesting stuff.

So today was my first day of orientation. It went pretty well. I feel like an expert with orientation and training courses because I had to take so many at PV. Drives me crazy when I have to sit around and watch a 20 minute video on why it's important to wash your hands after you use the bathroom. Started to lose focus around 3 pm, but I made it. Our training supervisor told me that I would actually be done with training around noon tomorrow since I don't really work with patients when I'm working in administration. During the morning session the CEO of A.C. came to greet all of the new employees. He congratulated me on my position because I was going up against a lot of competition. News to me. They pretty much just pointed and said, "Go here," "Apply for this." Best realization of the day: I do not have to give up wearing my favorite scarves and cardigans because the Administration building is quite cool.

I have also noticed that the strong majority of people down here in Tally are very kind and polite, and I appreciate that. That holds true today at orientation. I spoke to some very outgoing, friendly ladies that were a delight to talk to (especially since I have been low in the friend department lately). I think I am really going to like my work environment.

generation limbo

2011-09-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post this NY Times article that a friend posted on Facebook along with the last post: Generation Limbo: Waiting It Out

You should read it, because I feel like it mirrors my job hunt experience thus far. I don't know if I ever had glamorous plans for my Art and Spanish major, but I definitely didn't know going into college that I would be so worried to leave it. I feel pretty grateful to even have this administrative assistant job, especially when I speak with friends that continue to struggle to find adequate work. As a recent college graduate, it is not uncommon to look on Careerbuilder and see a plethora of jobs that you are either highly overqualified for or highly underqualified for. Experience or a degree. It is way too easy to lack one or both. So I guess we will put in our time making copies, serving coffee and waiting tables until we've proven ourselves.

Last night Ben and I attended our first Florida State women's soccer game. It turns out that they don't charge for people to go to soccer games at FSU, so we are going to be going to a lot of soccer games. The ladies won 3-1 and are undefeated so far this season. They were pretty impressive to watch, coming from a small college perspective. Afterwards Ben and I returned home to relax the rest of the evening. In my love of hefeweizens, I had to post this new one that Ben brought home that is called The Love wheat beer from Star Hill brewery in Charlottesville, VA. Try it if you come across it. It was beautiful.

finally, some resolve

2011-09-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

Part 1: Written Thursday evening.

Do you know what these are?

party earrings

They were made for me as a graduation gift by my dear friend, Kim. Hidden within each tassel is a little milagro (religious folk charm), or miracle, in Spanish. My milagro is a little base metal person.

I haven't worn these earrings since graduation. I should bring them out more often, but I'm wearing them because Ben and I both had a pretty good day and we're going to The Curry Pot for an Indian meal to celebrate.

First of all, Ben received the results of his big band audition on Monday and his jazz combo audition last night. He was put into one of the top 3 jazz combos (They don't really rank them. He's just knows that he was placed with other really good musicians). Best of all, he was placed as FIRST trombone in the FIRST big band! Yay!!!!!!

Before I start the story I have to let you know that I decided NOT to take the Mental Health Assistant job at Apalachee Center. Why? It only pays $8.00/hr. This is shocking to me because inpatient workers at Prairie View receive $14.00/hr. I was really disappointed and was preparing to get back on the application filling train. In fact, I located a visual arts coordinator job nearby and was ready to drop the application off. However, I received an unexpected call this morning.

Amidst my Skype coffee date with Taylor, I saw that I had missed a phone call. A woman by the name of Sharon from Apalachee Center had left me a message saying that she had received my application from HR and would like to interview me to work for her as an Administrative Assistant position. Sharon is the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Apalachee Center. The job would essentially be secretary work, data entry and assisting Sharon.

I went in to interview at 1:00 pm this afternoon. It went VERY well and Sharon told me that she would be giving her recommendation for HR to hire me and she hopes to see me on Tuesday. Not to mention that this job pays slightly more than what I made at Prairie View. So cross your fingers that I get a phone call before Tuesday.

Part 2: Written now.

I GOT THE JOB. I START ORIENTATION ON TUESDAY.

Becky from HR called and offered me the job this morning. She was pretty excited for me. I thanked her for going out of her way to find this position. She said, "Oh, you're worth it!" I told you she liked me! AND we even get to work in the same building together. It has been a lovely vacation, but it's time to join the working class again. Ben and I get to enjoy Labor Day weekend first.

Also, the Curry Pot was amazing and is being added to the Tally Fav list. The Chicken Korma was heavenly.

some bad news and a new plan

2011-08-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

Bad news or good news first? Always end on a good note.

The case manger/ child specialist job fell through. I promise this ends happily.

I got a call right in the middle of making Megan Kohlman's amazing cinnamon rolls. It was Becky from HR who called to say that she was sorry, but they could not offer me the job. Medicaid (at least in Florida) requires that I have some sort of social sciences degree. She said she tried to get it approved from 3 different people, but they could not. It was kind of a pull-the-rug-out-from-underneath-you moment because I had just finished a little over a year of doing the same kind of job in Kansas. Despite my frustrations, nothing really I can do about it.

However, Becky said that she looked at other options for me. This included an "Executive Assistant" aka secretary, but I needed to have 3 years of clerical work (4 years, 5-10 hrs a week at the BC Registrar's Office was not enough hours. High standards? I think so.)

Then she mentioned "Mental Health Assistant". This would be inpatient (getting to work at the hospital) twelve hour shifts, 3-4 days a week, 7:30 am- 8 pm, including weekends. Initially I thought it sounded pretty intense and I didn't think I was capable of that. She told me to look at the job description online, along with any of the other job openings, and let her know what I thought. I told her I would get back with her.

I was still a little hurt by the initial rejection, so I just kept making the rolls and dwelling on the absurdity of it all. I kept going over the new offer in my mind. I thought that eating a cinnamon roll would make me feel better. Unfortunately, it did not. (They were still amazing though, Megan. Thanks for the recipe!)

I reasoned over things with Ben. He was very supportive and sympathetic, which was definitely helpful. And I continued to mull it over in my mind the whole afternoon.

Evening rolled around. I turned my Radiolab podcast on and picked up from where I left off on my make-up bag sewing project while Ben headed off to play his first ultimate frisbee game at FSU.

It's nice to have a hands-on project to put your energy into when you're pissed off. :)

I didn't really feel like talking to anyone, but then my dear friend Natalie Friesen popped onto Skype and I couldn't resist unleashing my sad news on someone. If you have never talked to Natalie, she has the most chipper tone of voice, a cheerful disposition and a cute little giggly laugh. She was my only other female soccer buddy during my senior year and we truly bonded during that time. The Freeman boys like to call her "Noodles". I don't actually know why, but she's adorable and I simply cannot leave from a conversation with her without being happier.

I explained to her my situation and my slight interest to take on this new opportunity. She simply said,

"You can try it out, and if it doesn't work, you can always quit."

When we're upset we don't always think clearly.

It's true. I can always quit. And I'll never know if I don't try.

I enjoy working in the mental healthcare field and I do want to continue my education there. The whole reason why I want to work in this field and not head back to school yet, is to gain more experience with these types of clients. I always felt bad for therapists who only saw clients in their office 1-4 times a month. It completely takes these people out of their element and away from their real behaviors. I think it's pretty important for therapists to understand where these clients are coming from. I've done outpatient, but maybe it's time for me to stretch myself a little and see what it's like for inpatients. Definitely my optimistic side speaking.

So the pure sound of Natalie's voice put me in a better mood, and my new plan is to apply for this job and see how it goes. I can always quit and work at Macy's. :)

See? Happier ending. Not so bad.

Good news: I finished my first make-up bag!

I'm still kind of a novice, but this was a good challenge. Definitely not perfect, but I learned a lot. It's kind of lumpy and stiff from the folded over clear, plastic vinyl inside. I would suggest using a slightly thicker cotton for the outside. Mine was thinner, so I can definitely feel the vinyl. I like to think that it will lay a little nicer after it gets put inside bags and worn down a little.

I got all of the vintage fabric from the Et Cetera Shop! Isn't that awesome fabric?!

I actually bought the tutorial as part of an e-course on one of my favorite blogs:

http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/

I think it definitely looks nice from far away. Even if it is kind of lumpy up close.

ugh...oh well

2011-08-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

I don't like writing posts without pictures.

Look at this adorable sweater that I found on Etsy.

Wondering how to recreate it.

All week I have been going back and forth about whether or not I BELIEVED that I would actually start work on Tuesday. Other times I was in the neutral "don't think about it, it's out of your hands" mode. As I write it is 5:03 pm, Eastern Daylight Time and I received no word from my HR lady today. I emailed her AND called her this afternoon, but received no response. Must have been busy/out of the office, which I guess is just my poor luck. So it looks as if I will wait to hear word about the transcript and whether or not they are choosing to hire me.

So I will just simply enforce one of the 6 Tenants that we go over with the kiddos during Psychosocial Group. This week I will be working on the tenant, Let Go, Move On. I will let you know if I need to enforce any others.

On a brighter note, I received birthday gifts in the mail today from Hurley, South Dakota and Austin, Texas. Mom sent a special Pampered Chef Measure-All "Tube" aka "Peanut Butter Pooper"(Alyssa will definitely understand that) and Emily sent 2 adorable little kitchen bowls and a necklace that she got from Anthropologie.

On that note, I am reminded that I have a lot of good in my life and another week's salary is not going to make or break me. I've been trained to accomplish a lot and keep myself busy, but I will try not to let that mentality keep me from enjoying this week. Ben immediately began to list all of the fun, and even useful, tasks I could undertake.

- coffee shop + book (too obvious)
- taking the camera out to photograph Tally
- baking (cinnamon rolls)
- sorting and organizing the random boxes still sitting around the house
- catch up on project runway, other movies
- exercise
- sewing projects (I'm about ready to make my first make-up bag and I still need some curtains for the bedroom)
- fix bike tire
etc.

So you see, I will be just fine this week. (But if they called me at 8 am tomorrow morning and said "SORRY, could you come in at 9:00 am?" I would definitely go.)

church shopping

2011-08-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Within the last half year I have had several good conversations with my friend, Neal Friesen, about church communities. Just last week he moved to Washington D.C. to begin seminary classes. We both still share an affinity for New Creation Fellowship Church (he had the luck of discovering it a little sooner than I did), so I enjoy talking about church structure with him since our tastes are so similar. I emailed a few Tally church links to him to see what he thought. We talked about the "language" the websites used and what that suggested to us about their theologies. I was feeling a little discouraged because I wasn't sure how good of a match existed here for us. But just last night I discovered this link:

United Church of Christ, Tallahassee
http://www.uctonline.org/

I called Tina Graber to see how her Presbyterian church experience was going (since Dan is the choral conductor there). She had very positive things to say, but when I mentioned the UCC option she got excited and said that she really enjoyed the UCC in Sioux Falls, SD, as Dan was doing some additional music work there. I felt good about that affirmation, so I posted it to Neal's Facebook wall. He gave a thumbs up a little while later.

So Ben and I attended the traditional service at 11:00 am this morning. (I know, that's late for me too) The contemporary service is at 9:00 am.

The church is only about 3 miles away from our house, so a quick drive. We were warmly greeted and given name tags. I saw a few others wearing their permanent name tags ( I assume that people don't necessarily want to wear their name tags every Sunday since they actually know one another.) Shortly before the church service began, Pastor Nancy came over to greet us and ask how we found out about the church. I told her I found the church online and that we were Mennonites from Kansas. As seen on the website, she has only been at UCT (United Church in Tallahassee) since March 2010 and pastored at a UCC in Pennsylvania for 10 years so Mennonite is "second nature" to her. She mentioned in the sermon that she is originally from Iowa, so I hope to ask her more about how she ended up in Florida.

We started the service off with this gathering song that might seem familiar.

This is the day (This is the day)
That our God has made (That our God has made)
We will rejoice (We will rejoice)
And be glad in it (And be glad in it)

This is the day that our God has made

We will rejoice and be glad in it

This is the day (this is the day)

That our God has made!

Words were slightly different, but a familiar tune to make me feel at home.

I would say there were 40-50 people there. The sanctuary was really pretty with wood beams, ceilings and walls. You can take a tour of it on the website. There were not a lot of our people our age there (mostly older, middle age and a few couples with young kids), but I imagine there would have been some at the contemporary service.

I felt that they were very open, kind and intelligent people. They're LGBT friendly and have a strong emphasis on peace and social justice. I think we might get along quite well. We'll see if we decide to visit another one, but I would feel comfortable sticking around to see what kind of friendships we can build with this community.

24 year-olds

2011-08-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

In August, 1987, Ben and I were born exactly 2 weeks apart from each other (Aug. 12 and Aug. 26). We are now both officially 24 years-old. So we celebrate all August-long. Not really, but we did buy ourselves our very first television as a gift to ourselves/each other. Coming from a college lifestyle, it's strange to own nice things. Since it was my birthday I decided that we should eat at Kool Beanz Cafe for supper and Bruster's Real Ice Cream for dessert. They were fantastic choices.

No word on the job yet. Crossing my fingers that the transcript arrived today or will arrive by the end of the weekend so they can give me a very important phone call on Monday. Either way, I'm trying to stop worrying about it since it is completely in the hands of the U.S. Mailman.

Ben and I are planning on getting up early tomorrow to go for a run, check out the farmers market and then check out the beach at St. George Island (a recommendation from Ben's trombone prof). Ben starts classes on Monday!

true floridian

2011-08-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

I think it's pretty official. Today I gave up my South Dakota driver license so I could become a real Floridian. It was pretty sad, but I love the new license. The colors are pretty and they don't ask for your weight, just your height (not that I really care). I believe this is because everybody lies anyway. You have to provide a ridiculous amount of documentation to get one of these. Passport, social security card, rental agreement and then we were going to register to vote as our 2nd proof of residence, but the attendant told us that they could not accept it. Luckily, he just had us call and fax a note from the City of Tallahassee electric company. Now I just need to register my car and get plates. After it was over I said,

"We need to celebrate. Let's go get cupcakes!"

Yet another place that goes on the list of places to take visitors: Lucy and Leo's Cupcakery. I found it the other day when I went to buy a Strange Fruit Bird Pillow at Textures, a hipster, handmade goods store. The cupcakery adjoins Textures. OMG the cupcakes were amazing! I would have taken a picture if I had only brought my camera! We chose 4 to share: Strawberry Shortcake, Monkey Biz (Banana Bread with Peanut Butter and Chocolate Frosting), Cookies and Creme (Chocolate Chips in White Cake with Oreo Cream Frosting), and Chocolate Espresso.

My Bethel transcript was sent out yesterday (Thank you, KAY! Saved my life!) So I hope Human Resources at A.C. receives it tomorrow. It would be an amazing birthday present, but just as long as they get it by Monday.

Ben is going to try his hand at cooking tuna steaks tonight.

work update

2011-08-22T05:43:00.000-07:00

I hadn't heard back from my potential workplace all last week and then realized that they MIGHT need my transcript BEFORE I start working. The transcript kind of slipped my mind with all of the "move in" distractions AND the fact that Prairie View did NOT require my transcript before starting work. Boo. So it looks like I will have one more week off since they only start newcomers on Tuesdays. I had been worried since I had not heard back from them, but now I feel better knowing that they simply hadn't received my paperwork. A little frustrated that I didn't think of it sooner, but it is still likely that I will have a job come next week.

on our walls, in our cupboards

2011-08-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

I am all for instant gratification. I have been wanting our home to look "complete" ever since we got into Tallahassee. The half-full cardboard boxes sitting on the floor, picture frames leaning against the walls and makeshift, plastic storage bin coffee table all trigger a little switch inside me that wants them put in their proper place. My patience has managed to override this feeling in both the home and while furniture shopping. I have come to realize that over the years I've developed a shopping habit that tells me not to buy something unless I love it, or it truly and necessarily fulfills a purpose in my life. So when we were in Wal-mart a week ago and I had the option to buy a coffee table that I really didn't care for, I took a step back and decided that the plastic bin would do just fine for now. Because what would happen if I found a coffee table that was actually unique, stylish and attractive to me? I would take it home, put it in my house and be proud of it in my space instead of harboring regret for the money wasted on something I don't even like. Delaying instant gratification is a skill that I've been working on for years and I like it when I can execute it successfully while saving money. :) I think part of this compulsion comes from my "use what you've got" Mennonite background, in addition to my love of art and all things aesthetic. It's like adding to a collection, and why wouldn't I want my collection to be the best it could be? For me"best" definitely does not mean "expensive". Instead, "best" should mean "cherished". I'd like to spend time, rather than money creating my collection. It is worth the wait. So where is the local thrift store?

Speaking of art and collections...

I never knew that as an artist I would have the advantage of trading art with other artists instead of paying for art. I often feel like I am the one coming out on top during theses trades, but I think it's pretty easy to devalue what we ourselves create. Because of this great artist perk I have a lot of pictures to hang on my wall that I just LOVE. In fact, I have a real Hanna Eastin coming my way in the near future as a result of an art trade. (!!!!!) Hobby Lobby had a sale on picture frames this last week, so after many patient months of storing these pictures I am able to proudly display them!

This is a print of a print from an excess of Paul Peach posters in the BC art department. Alliteration anyone? My art professor told me that artist and peace activist, Paul Peach, visited Bethel College during the 70's and brought a huge stack of war protest prints. My prof let the art students pick out a few of their favorites.

A beautiful Bethel Senior Art Show photograph from fellow artist, Kelsie Miller. I traded a very large field painting for this one.

Random information for the week:

1) Policemen in Tallahassee are not here to give people speeding tickets. They are here for basically every other crime but speeding. For this reason, everybody goes whatever speed they want (usually 5-10 over, and then some). This is great as long as I feel comfortable with the speed I'm going AND I don't get into an accident. I'm a pretty safe driver, so don't worry. This is a completely different situation than what I've experienced with the Newton, KS police. Someone should inform them.

2) I made and canned strawberry jam for the first time ever. I am shocked that it worked and it was a joy to hear the popping of glass jars sealing themselves.

3) Ben and I went on a run to Lake Ella yesterday morning. Afterwards we had banana, peanut butter, cinnamon, almond milk smoothies. This is a winning combination.

4) I haven't heard back from Apalachee Center yet about my job confirmation, which only slightly concerns me because I think it takes a bit to get results from the drug test. But work should start Tuesday, which means my biggest news of the week will not be about the pictures hanging on my wall or my favorite smoothie flavor.

coffee, candles, beach, quiche

2011-08-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we felt a need to get out of the house. We went to All Saints Cafe for coffee and reading time. Nothing better than bearded, pierced, tattooed vegetarians making coffee for you.

My dear friend, Kezia, birthday-gifted me with cute little beeswax candles. I didn't have any great candle holders for them, so I improvised. Also, notice the light above the sink. Ben and I went to Lowe's after coffee time for patio chairs and light bulbs to fill those nice little lights in. It feels so much warmer than the nasty fluorescent kitchen lights.

As stated, we returned to Panama City Beach this morning since we have so much free time to kill before next week. We checked the weather, today looked promising, and it was. I took my camera this time.

This is my very first quiche, fresh out of the oven. Don't worry it collapsed to normal size a few minutes after this photo was taken. The recipe is from the Moosewood Cookbook and contains red peppers and jalapeno peppers from the farmers market.

Our next mission: Strawberry Jam

where we spend our days

2011-08-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

Since I already put most of these on Facebook I will only post my favorites. We have been spending a lot of time home if you couldn't tell from all of the posts. We're planning on a return to Panama City Beach this week and hopefully we can come up with enough activities to fill the remainder of the week. The house needs a few more things, but I just hate spending so much money in a short span of time. We have our basic necessities, so looking at flat screen televisions online didn't last long. We'll get a TV someday, but the idea of spending that much makes me feel bad. I have plenty of books and internet to get by for now.

We had a tough time finding a movie rental place last night (the Hollywood Video AND Blockbuster were closed for good). We ended up getting smoothies and watching Wilfred on Hulu, which was a fine option. Paula tells me that everyone uses Redbox and Netflix so there is no need for rental places anymore. Yet again, I am a little behind the times.

new home comforts

2011-08-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

During our time here so far, we have commented on the places we would love to take our friends if they visited. Just yesterday we walked into Divas and Devils House of Style and I immediately knew that I HAVE to take Alyssa someday because she would love the clothes (but maybe not the prices).

We've been taking cues from Design Sponge in order to find shops, restaurants and other places we might enjoy.

Here are a few we have sampled that are on the "must see" list for our future visitors.

1) Bruegger's- Bagels and coffee! We have had breakfast here 3 times already (counting our apartment-search visit in July). It's a quarter mile from our house and very yummy.

2) Bahn Thai- The woman that runs this place opened it back in 1979! We celebrated Ben's 24th birthday here on Friday. I had the Pad Thai, which brought back loving memories of Thai Traditions in Wichita. We ordered crab rangoon appetizers and the best part was that they were made with FRESH crab. We could taste the difference. We both love ethnic food so we are definitely returning.

3) Proof - 29 beers on tap. Also a part of Ben's birthday "party". $3 pints for GOOD beer. This place adjoins the Liquor Loft.

3.5) Liquor Loft- This is virtually the same place. A wall and a door are all that separates the two. So of course after enjoying a drink at Proof we walked right next door to buy some Brooklyn Lager to keep at home. They have the best American-made brew selection in Tallahassee.

4) Tallahassee Farmers Market- This market is a combination of art, crafts, jellies and produce only about a 1/2 mile from our place every Saturday from March to November. A woman was selling these adorable handmade bird pillows named after opera singers! I might buy one from her next time for one of my friends having a baby this fall. There's another bigger market at Market Square we might try next Saturday.

5) Lake Ella- We biked here just this morning. I am going to have to get used to riding on hills. I almost fell over a few times and luckily had Benjamin to coach me along. It's a little less than one mile from our house and was really quite beautiful (despite being a sweaty mess). There is a coffee shop called Black Dog Cafe that I am eagerly awaiting to try tomorrow.

How nice it is to have great, new places with good environments to be a part of our lives. The house is slowly coming into form. Hopeful to post pictures soon.

the jungle

2011-08-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

There is a great view of trees, vines, bushes etc. outside our sliding glass door that leads to the deck. I didn't take the time to take a gorgeous picture, but really, it's better in person. I can't wait to find some cheap outdoor furniture so we can start enjoying it a little more. At night there is a light that casts a beautiful glow. There is a reason they call the housing complex "Treehouse".

Accomplishments:

I discovered the grocery stores, Publix and Win Dixie.

Bought 2 Isabel Allende novels at a closing Borders. Ben found 4 jazz CD's. Imagine.

Got internet.

Made bread.

Made some Tanya Tandoc French Lentil Soup and Buttery Croutons (Thanks, Dorothy!).

Continue to slowly unpack and find out what we really "need" and can get along without.

And now for a cute kitten.

Brad's cat, Alaska, helps me pack back in Newton.

Night before leaving Newton. Alaska is fond of this laundry basket.

good news

2011-08-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

good news #1:

Yesterday Ben received an email from Paul McKee, his trombone professor. It was a message to grad assistants with office and teaching assignments. Ben will be directing his own jazz combo of FSU undergraduate students. How cute.

good news #2:

This morning I had an interview for a case manager position (the title is actually "child recovery specialist") at Apalachee Center. It went REALLY well and I basically got the job. They have to run a background check. I need to do a drug test/fingerprints. Then they just need to confirm after that. I'll let you know.

the long drive south

2011-08-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since my last update. Mom and dad arrived with the trailer on Saturday, Aug. 6 and we packed up our lives. Due to a spontaneous, late-night, final visit to Newell's truckstop for a milkshake, I didn't get to bed until about 1 am. Of course it took awhile to fall asleep with the sugar from the milkshake coursing though my body and the excitement of the huge trip buzzing in my mind. I awoke at 6:50 am, we filled the car up with gas and we were on the road by 8 am. Dorothy, Emily, Ben and I drove the 2 cars down while my parents took off a bit earlier with the pickup and trailer. We drove until about 9:15 pm with several pitstops here and there and met my parents at a hotel in Jasper, Alabama. The change of scenery made the trip completely worth it. The miles of hills and tall, GREEN trees were a welcome change from the flat, burnt Kansas fields. I slept like a rock and we took off at 7:30 am the next day. A 5 hour drive was cake compared to the day before. Upon entering Tallahassee we picked up the key from the realtor's office and the GPS system directed us towards the house. We unloaded both cars and the trailer, sweating through our clothes. The heat/humidity was not as bad as I thought it would be, but we still looked and felt pretty ripe. Despite this, we went straight to Capital Andrew's Bar and Grill after unpacking the kitchen a bit. After enjoying some good seafood, Dorothy and Emily went off to the Doubletree for the evening while Mom, Dad, Ben and I stopped at Target for some basics and Win Dixie for some groceries. Mom and Dad followed us back to the house, unloaded our groceries and said goodbye, as they were leaving from their hotel early in the morning. It felt like being dropped off in Kansas for my freshman year of college. Luckily, it was in a cute little 2 br/2 bath triplex with Ben and not a lonely, half empty dorm room.

The following day, Dorothy, Emily, Ben and I took off on the 2 hr drive to Panama City Beach and was reminded of the amazing state that I now live in. As seen below... (I didn't take my camera for fear of sand getting everywhere, and it did.)

Do come visit.

We ended the day with Coldstone Creamery. Nothing like ice cream to finalize a day at the white sand beach.

The next day we took Dorothy and Emily to Bruegger's (bagels and coffee) for breakfast and dropped them off at the Tallahassee Regional Airport.

A half-mile away from the airport, we passed the Southside Cemetery. I had read that Nat and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, famous jazz musicians, were buried there, so Ben was eager to see if we could find them. Ben and I drove into the cemetery without a clue where to begin. I turned my head to the left about 40 ft. in and like a beacon of light I saw "ADDERLEY". There, with their parents, was their family grave. Music notation with the first phrase of "Work Song" is engraved into Nat's gravestone. The sun was shining and the grass was green and wet. Ben paid his jazz respects and we headed back to the house to unpack.

a note on packing

2011-08-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

Or should I say procrastinating?

For some reason I routinely end up standing around, staring at my piles of books, kitchenware, clothing etc. wondering why they're still sitting there. I don't have anymore boxes is the problem. I need to go buy storage tubs and garbage bags, but it's probably about 110 degrees outside and since I've already been out a few times today I don't see any reason for putting myself through that misery yet again.

We're leaving in precisely one week, but I don't exactly feel the impending doom yet. I'm heading to Lawrence, KS to visit some modmates on Tuesday. Then I return to the "not enough boxes" problem on Wednesday. Nate and I switched all of the bills over to his name this morning, so regardless of what happens to all of these piles sitting around, I am already a huge success for the day.

Some things to review:

1) Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton. I finished this book a month ago. I heard about it on NPR and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you want to read about an intriguing but slightly dysfunctional childhood experience with lots of talk about food, writing and Italians from the voice of a famous female food critic, chef and restaurant owner, go for it. It was bizarre and I was sad to finish it.

2) Church. I am sad to say that Ben and I have just discovered a great church in Newton that I wish we would have been attending these last few years here. We have several friends that attend New Creation Fellowship Church, a small Mennonite church on the south side of Newton. Ben and I attended 3 weeks ago to hear our friend, Neal Friesen, speak about his 48 state bike trip for Mennonite Disaster Service. Neal had been attending New Creation while he was working as an RD for Hesston College and spoke highly of it. I wish I had listened a little sooner. I mean, you can drink a mug of fair trade coffee in the pew during the service. Actually, there was much more that we enjoyed, but we agreed that we just felt really good leaving both services. Relaxed, inviting environment. Kind, intelligent people. I guess we will go church-hunting in Tallahassee with the New Creation standard in mind.

Ok, I'm still supposed to be packing. I will do my best to update you.

new home

2011-07-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

Our new home in Tally. I can't wait to share pictures of the inside once everything is settled. I am not fond of packing and loading everything up during such a disgustingly hot season in Kansas, only to unload it into an even more disgustingly hot environment in Florida. Tallahassee was beautiful though. Trees everywhere; especially pine and palm. I was astounded to notice how content the students looked walking around the FSU campus in comparison to Ben and I, who looked sweaty and disgusting after about 15 minutes. We spent about 3 days looking at different duplexes/townhouses and signed the lease on Wednesday morning before we left town. We drove all over the city with the help of the GPS and found a few good places to eat, including Mr. Roboto (which is actually sushi). I'm looking forward to our return to get to know the city a little better.

View of downtown Tally from our Doubletree window.

in honor of...

2011-07-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

...Cy Twombly, who passed away at age 83 on July 5, 2011. I vamped up my background for him.

photo by NYTimes

new to the cupboard

2011-06-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

This last week I purchased a brand new, Brazil model, Bodum french press...to match my green apple Kitchenaid mixer. My old Bodum (2009-2011) accidently fell to its death from one of my dear modmate's hands as she so gingerly washed it at the cabin in New Mexico two weeks ago. I told her not to worry, as I already knew about the new Spring models and colors coming out on the Bodum website. My bank lady actually called me from Freeman to make sure there wasn't some fraud ordering french presses from Switzerland.

I realized that I haven't made a real announcement on my blog that I'm moving to Florida at the beginning of August. Ben and I are heading down to Tallahassee mid-July to find an apartment. I am excited, but detest having to wrap up my life here and replant it 1100 miles away. Trying to find a job 1100 miles away is not a picnic either. I'm still in search of another case management position. Lots of patience on my part.

Did you know that today is the 1 year anniversary of starting my job at Prairie View? HR sends a monthly staff update to let us know birthdays and anniversaries. Just yesterday I emailed one of the family therapists I work with to let him know that I am done as of July 29. He told me he was glad I was leaving. Not because he dislikes me, but because he thinks I need to go to grad school, get my MSW and become a therapist. He has been a very encouraging individual at PV and I really admire the way he thinks and handles clients. I was taken aback early January after I forwarded him a Crisis Case Management note I had written to keep him informed about one of our shared clients. He replied:

"Good note, Susan. Good job! When are you going to grad school?"

I remember thinking, "I'm good at this?"

Ever since then I have received a lot of positive feedback from him, other therapists, supervisors and coworkers that have let me know that I am good at my job.

So I'm leaving Prairie View in full appreciation because that was an experience that instilled useful, valuable knowledge, challenged me physically, emotionally and mentally and still makes me want to continue.

Going to grad school for art doesn't excite me. Going to grad school for Spanish doesn't excite me. But going back for Social Work? For some reason that excites me.

So if I don't burn out, that's where I'm headed.

mod reunion: new mexico

2011-06-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

The mod got together again! This time we ventured to Laurie's territory out in New Mexico. Laurie (left front, blue shirt) is at grad school in Albuquerque studying psychology. She was my roommate junior year so we get to share a bed every time the Birdies unite. (During these get-togethers we have to find places to fit 8 women, so we split up the 4 beds by the roommates we had in college.) I don't like to toss the word around too much, but I feel extremely blessed to know them and they have been a part of some of the best moments in my entire life. We always laugh, cry, dance, cook, encourage and inspire when we get together, and this occasion was no different.

Did you catch our name? The Birdies? (aka The Bird Beauties, aka The Birds)

Cari asked me this year if I felt pretty proud for naming our group. It all began at the end of my junior year (the rest of the girls' senior year). All of the girls, except for Miriam and I, were graduating in a few months. Around this time, Kate told us about her aunt's group of Bethel friends and how they named their group "The Mona Maidens", made an effort to write letters/make phone calls and get together for reunions after they graduated. We thought it would be fitting to do the same. We all came up with a few names here and there, but nothing really struck us. Also around this time, I was in my 3rd year of painting class. I thought I could work on a series of bird paintings to get in the spirit of creating a full senior art show AND use as graduation gifts for the mod. We've always loved the image of birds. I think we're all fairly nature oriented and strongly connect to the symbolism that is tied in with the image.

So off I went making my paintings.

I asked each gal what their favorite color was, researched a little and chose birds that I felt suited their image and personality. I wasn't going to make one for myself, but after the ladies were given their gifts a few weeks before graduation they insisted that I have my own as well. In addition to the paintings, I wrote an artist statement/letter to my friends. I not only explained my intent of color and medium, but also what the birds meant to me and how I associated them with my nearest and dearest friends. My unique, strong, beautiful birdies were about to leave the place where we all felt our happiest and at home. All of these women were about to go create exciting new homes and experiences for themselves (an au pair in Germany, voluntary service in San Francisco, working and creating art in Chicago, an uncertain job in Waco, Texas etc.). I knew we would all be spreading out, putting ourselves in places that made us feel isolated and at times, incapacitated, while we worked hard and sought to accomplish our goals. In spite of new lives being formed, we have managed to fly home occasionally, or to a new gathering place that we all want to experience together. I am proud of us for following through with that for these past few years. My hope is that we continue.

So that's where it came from. We're Birdies.

Some of my favorite pictures from the trip. I took hundreds and the task of sharing more is just not worth my time.

another thresher graduation

2011-05-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

The long processional into the stadium. Mom told me that this is the best part because you see a long line of gowns start off far in the distance by the tennis courts. I obviously could not see for myself last year.

Squinty.

It was about 90 degrees on commencement afternoon.

They hand water bottles out as you enter the stadium.

Austin and Ben.

Besties since they began at Bethel.

They had their graduation party together at the McCabe-Juhnke residence after graduation.

The Harder Family. Emily, Ben and Dorothy.

Also friends for a long time.

Lindsey finished her Bachelors in Social Work in December.

Photo courtesy of Vada Snider. I thought people would like to see Ben's Thresher award. They award a few of these annually to graduating seniors. They are nominated by faculty and given to students with exceptional college careers or senior thesis projects. Ben received one in addition to Dan Graber's sister-in-law, Alison Schmidt-Tieszen (to the right of Ben, in the purple)

comments on domestic endeavors

2011-05-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

See these? They are pants that I hemmed myself. Mom bought me a sewing machine for graduation last spring. I will admit that I let it collect dust for several months until I finally decided that the "fixer uppers" (clothes with holes or needing alterations) creating a pile on my desk had worn out their welcome. I had always enjoyed messing around on mom's machine when I was younger, but I never understood the intricacies of the bobbin, nor did I sew or hem anything that I actually wore. I left these up to the master. Anytime I jammed the machine or failed to load the bobbin properly I would frustratingly call for mom. Mom was not here to help me this time. So after many tries and a YouTube tutorial, I got it down. I'm still a novice, but the artsy gene allows for basic success. Since November, I have been breathing new life into the majority of my "fixer uppers".

Speaking of new hobbies...

BREAD!

My new friend!

I am not to the point of obsession, but I imagine that would/will be fun.

Again, I had been considering/thinking/dreaming about making fresh bread. AGAIN, Mom made it, but I never really studied the art of bread making until I discovered some inspiration from another blog, The Selby. Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, CA was featured on The Selby. I looked up the bakery's website and found this AMAZING VIDEO that completely influenced me to try. Luckily I follow another blog, Mennonite Girls Can Cook, where I found the simple, simple Pauline's Whole Wheat Bread recipe.

It didn't flop! It came out looking like real, fresh bread. Not a dense rock of flour and gluten! 4 loaves to be exact. What is more amazing is that it has become my little science experiment. I have attempted the recipes several times, noting the differences. Changes in oven temperature, house temperature, switching racks midway through baking, rising times and locations, trying different flour, packing the flour differently, letting it knead in the Kitchenaid longer, kneading more by hand, rolling techniques.

I feel like I'm on my way to becoming a seasoned baker.

emma creekbusters

2011-04-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

Abbey Kirk, Taylor McCabe-Juhnke, Alyssa Graber, Susan, Justine Erb.

This morning my fellow lady friends and I participated in the annual Emma Creek Classic 5k Run, Walk, Jog, an only women race held in Hesston, KS. We ran as "The Emma Creekbusters" team, riding on the fame of our boyfriends' success.

Taylor and I each took a shot of espresso 30 minutes before we began to discourage sluggishness (with half a banana and a Clif bar). I finished around 31:15 minutes. They should email us our official time at some point. I ran mostly with Abbey, who was my beacon of light and kept me at a good pace. We were way at the back at the beginning of the race so we had to bobble through a maze of walkers. Even though the wind sucked the temperature was perfect for running and I had a lovely time with my favorite ladies.

A lyric from the Avett Brothers' tune "Hard Worker" that Radar Ray and the Creekbusters often featured at their shows.

whoopie for everyone!

2011-04-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

For dear Megan, and all of you who are in need of whoopie pies. Alyssa willingly shared Grandma Wedel's recipe.

I warn you:

CRISCO.

Lots of crisco.

First mix together:
4 c. sugar
1 c. Crisco
2 c. boiling water (or hot tap water)
2 c. buttermilk
2 t. vanilla

2nd mixture. Mix separately:
1 t. baking powder
8 c. flour
4 t. soda
1 t. salt
1 c. cocoa

Mix this 2nd mixture well and add to first mixture. Then use a small ice cream scoop (as seen above) to scoop combined mixture onto cookie sheets (you'll also see that we used baking parchment paper to more easily free the cookies from the pan. You can also reuse the paper from batch to batch!...Unless you accidently tear/burn/destroy them. Then use a fresh one).

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool (Don't stack until they are cool and dry. Veteran's tip.)

Filling:
4 egg whites
4 t. vanilla
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. milk
3 c. Crisco
8 c. powdered sugar

P.S. This is supposed to make around 50 pies! We were a little under that.

Let me know if you have questions!

whoopie pies

2011-04-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

For Valentine's Day the girls got together to make treats for our beloved friends.

Justine taste-testing

chocolate espresso cookie dough

Alyssa taste-tasting

whoopie pie dough

complete Valentine's Day whoopie pies

complete chocolate espresso heart-shaped cookies

The long day of baking paid off.

bacon explosion

2011-04-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

Super Bowl Party 2011. Pretty uneventful. Until.....

BACON EXPLOSION!!!!!!

Brad discovered this little baby on the internet. What better time to test it out?

No one ate more than one portion and we still felt bad afterwards.

2 pounds of bacon were used in this dish.

new york city

2011-04-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hanging out with Brett Jackson in Kansas City, right before our first flight was canceled due to a snow storm in Newark. We hung around KC for the afternoon and made the 7:10 pm flight that evening. We arrived at the airport shuttle station right after 11 pm, which was when the hotel shuttle ended. No shuttle to be found. Luckily, we called the hotel and Jacky the receptionist sent the maintenance man to pick us up. Loved his Jersey accent.

Lunch at the MoMA in NYC (Museum of Modern Art). The Brooklyn Lager was fantastic.

Saw many amazing works that I have been studying for years! Lichtenstein.

Ben observing the large minimalist painting. My camera backpack matches.

In the Rothko room.

Lavonne Dyck taught me about Louise Nevelson when I was 9 years old!

Taking photos of Starry Night, Van Gogh.

All of the skyscrapers were gigantic. Way bigger than buildings in Barcelona. I didn't get an opportunity to get a shot of the skyline, but the far off view of the cityscape was unreal.

In front of the MoMA.

Times Square

Locks on the fence. Usually people in Spain wrote the names of loved ones on padlocks and attached them to bridges. I imagine it's the same concept.

In search of the Village Vanguard (red awning behind Ben). Had to call Brad for the address all the way back in Kansas because we forgot to write it down. The first address landed us at a laundromat. Had to walk a few blocks further.

After locating the Village Vanguard we hung out at Garage, a bar down the street. Had more Brooklyn Lager, New England clam chowder and a free Bombay Sapphire martini (promotion night).

Downstairs in the Village Vanguard. Saw Dave Douglas and Brass Ecstasy. Amazing show.

BCA Barcelona reunion. Jordan Ridge and Lindsay Slobodnyak traveled all the way from Elizabethtown, PA to see me! We ate at Spanish Pavilion, Newark and had tapas, sangria and other Spanish food. It was just like Barca and I was so grateful that they made the trip.

Ben attended Jazz History classes at Rutgers the following day. I went to the morning class that went from 10 am-12:40 pm. No breaks. Needless to say, I went back to the hotel while Ben attended a class entitled "John Coltrane". He had a great experience. I could tell the professor and the conversations that the class was having were right up his alley. This is Ben waiting for our flight to Kansas City at New Liberty Airport in Newark, NJ.

my show

2011-03-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

I am way behind on my posts. I actually have a lot that I've skipped. I promise I'll take care of them soon. This last weekend was my art show reception at Pages Books and Coffee, downtown Newton. After working a 10-hr day I am currently packing for Ben's and my trip to visit Rutgers in New Jersey. I will share many more pictures when I return. Here are the results of my show. It will be up until mid-April if you're heading my way. (none of them are taller than 22 in.)

this one did not photograph well. the colors are much better in person.

update for update's sake

2011-03-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

I'm due for more pictures, but there's no time for that. At least not yet. I've been tied up in a multitude of activities and obligations. Here is your standard "diary entry" of this last week's events.

For 5 weeks I have been working on a 10 piece art show. I finished TODAY and took them down to Pages this afternoon. The reception date is March 18 if you're interested (With music by Bradley McKellip and friends), but it should be up till Mid-April. I also made that one piece for Dining Extravaganza in Freeman, which sold for $475 this year.

These last 10 days were quite a struggle. I managed the trip alone to South Dakota for D.E., friends, family and Grandma's 80th birthday. I luckily made it out of the northern ice storm after a mere 25 minutes, but I could tell the whole way back to Kansas that a cold was coming on. I made it back around 8:00 pm on Sunday and exhaustion crashed into my bed by 10 pm that night. I arose early, however, to make the Schmeichel traditional Nalesnicki for "International Cuisine" monthly noon potluck at Prairie View.

Sickness Log for Mom (skip if you don't care)
The cold progressively became worse as I allowed no time for my body to rest. I wasn't "bedridden" so my stubborn attitude kept me going to work. I lost my voice Wednesday evening but sort of came back the next morning. I grabbed cough drops and a water bottle and went out again. Luckily, bad weather kept me from seeing clients past 5:30 pm, Thursday evening. I don't believe I slept all the way through the night throughout the entire week. Friday came and I found myself opting out of an evening in Wichita for a pint of Hagen-Daas Raspberry Sorbet and watched/listened to 2 movies while I painted. My throat is still a little dry and I cough from time to time, but I'm basically on the upswing.

I painted all weekend (because I'm just not as prepared as I used to be). Got to see Freeman friend, Lacey Graber, fresh from a year of travel and teaching in foreign countries briefly on Saturday evening. Sunday- PAINTED.

I have received VERY positive feedback on the show already. I'll post some progress once it is up and running.

Ben had a middle school band concert with his students at McPherson Middle School today (about 1/2 hr north of Newton, up Highway 81) He conducted one 8th grade band piece and one jazz band piece. The teachers and students look/sound like they really enjoy him.

Ben and I will prepare to fly to Newark, New Jersey to check out Rutgers as one of Ben's grad school options. We'll be gone March 23-26.

dining extravaganza

2011-02-05T13:48:00.000-08:00

Untitled.

Mixed media painting to be sold at

Freeman Academy Dining Extravaganza

Art Auction on February 19.

fields

2011-01-31T20:37:00.000-08:00

christmas, is well over

2011-01-31T20:27:00.000-08:00

Breakfast get-together with high school friends.

Bethany Miller, Natalie Friesen, me and Alyssa Graber

Ritual walk out to the field to see how cold it really is.

New friends. McKenna and Ben.

Cousin Jeffery helps Jacob open gifts.

Christmas gift freak out.

Cousin Mindy and Denver.

Ben helps everyone open gifts.

Schmeichel/Waltner clan.

Sister Paula holding new cousin Caleb.

Max opens his gift, Christmas Day.

wine and cheeser

2010-12-14T18:24:00.000-08:00

Alyssa's first wine and cheeser.

Paula and Tommy's wine glasses.

thanksgivings

2010-12-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

Early Thanksgiving in South Dakota.

Going hunting.

Thanksgiving, Round 2:

Austin, TX

I joined Ben, sister Emily and mother Dorothy on the long journey down to visit Uncle Keith in Austin. Grandma Milly was already there when we arrived. It took 11 hours with Thanksgiving traffic and it was 80some degrees when we rolled in.

Playing with Sadie.

The backyard.

Ben wanted a senior picture.

Pie.

Multi-tasking.

The gorgeous weather, Saturday morning.

Ben's find in Waterloo Records. Browsing Anthropologie.

Uncle Keith passed away from cancer December 1, 2010. It was a joy to have gotten to know him and spend Thanksgiving with him.

the selby

2010-12-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

I felt as though I SHOULD have posted something today. And because I feel bad about not getting Thanksgiving photos up, I will try to bide my time by sharing The Selby instead.

The first one on the page has an adorable girl with a roof top garden in Brooklyn. Also, raises chickens and bunnies.

halloween favorites

2010-11-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

I took a lot of photos at the Sixteenth Street Halloween party. Here are a few of my favorites.

Ben

Alex and Natalie Stucky, siblings; look at their smiles.

Alyssa Graber, Ali Bodine, Lucy

Sierra and Mariah Hostetler, siblings

Kelly Reed = Texas

Alison Schmidt-Tieszen, Landon Bartel, Sierra Pryce; zombie family

Maya Kehr, my favorite photo of the night

Hutterites

weekend

2010-10-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

Brad McKellip and friends

Pages Books and Coffee

8 pm October 29

Alyssa Graber, baritone ukelele and Brad, guitar

"We had the best time at your party."

Ben makes team spirit.

Front: BC Women's Soccer: aggressive and majestic

Back: Like a snow leopard

Austin's T-shirt

Front: Wooooo Sokker

Back: Put Mike In (Linscheid)

nikon d5000 SLR

2010-10-17T20:40:00.001-07:00

It's beautiful, isn't it? It's making it's way to my home as we speak. I ordered it online on Sunday afternoon. I still don't know how I managed to make a decision. The price range was right. The reviews were good. I asked for suggestions from my other digital camera expert friends and somehow narrowed it down. I had a million other options bobbling around in my head, but somehow I landed on this one and there is no turning back.

new e-mail

2010-10-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken by Tim Carden, a friend of Ben's, who is now a friend of mine. Some of my mod mates made the trip from the Lawrence/Kansas City area to visit Bethel College Fall Fest last weekend (Miriam Friesen, Kim Schmidt, Kate Larson, myself). They presented me with a GORGEOUS, wooden plein-air easel as a graduation gift from the whole mod. Kim and Kate also did a wood-burned sketch on the inside of the lid, in addition to "TO OUR DEAREST SUSAN, LOVE YOUR BIRDIES" engraved on top of the lid with Kim's grandpa's wood engraving kit. Pictures to follow soon.

Also, sorry for being complicated. My hotmail account just wasn't doing what it needed to. I was also being overrun by junk mail. All of my friends use gmail, so I thought I would switch over. I plan on checking both for a while just to make sure I don't miss things. Thanks for understanding!

new e-mail:

susanschmeichel@gmail.com

Delafé y las Flores Azules "espiritu santo"

2010-09-27T21:12:00.000-07:00