Halloween Costume Contest

I'm very fortunate to work for a company who lets their employees come up with and participate in so many fun events all year round. For Halloween this week we're holding a spirit week, haunted house, food days and much more! I decided to put together a little fun game for the department this year also. It entailed of people bringing in pictures from their youth dressed up in Halloween Costumes and having the rest of the department guess who the individual was.

Not realizing that some of the pictures were hard to tell even what gender it was, it ended up being a humorous time scoring the answer sheets! Luckily - only one co-worker thought that I was a boy in my picture.

See below for my childhood Halloween Costume!

2009 Girls Weekend

"Friends are the sunshine of life." - John Hay (1871)

This past weekend, I was so lucky to have two of my very best friends fly up and stay for the weekend! On top of that, we were able to eat, drink and laugh with other great friends. The timing couldn't have been more perfect for such a happy, fun-filled weekend with people I love. I feel very luck to have these wonderful friends who make me smile.

The funniest moment? We were enjoying some drinks at JP's Wine Bar and Barry Williams walked in and sat at the booth next to us. After a good hour of figuring out who had to do the "asking" for a picture, somehow I lost and had to do it. Fortunately, he was VERY friendly and didn't mind at all!


Here are just a few pics from the weekend -

New camera!

Our old digital camera pooped out so we were in definite need of a new one! We decided to just get something to get us by for a few years as we plan on purchasing a bigger, sweet camera for when we have children.

So, after researching digital cameras under $500, this one came up on almost every report. It's the Canon - PowerShot 12.1-Megapixel Digital ELPH Camera. We've had about three Canon's and loved them all so we were definitely staying with that brand. This was a decent price and tiny so it's perfect for the pictures we take.

Stay tuned as hopefully we'll have something to take pictures of and post soon!

What Half Marathon?

So I decided to pull the trigger on Friday and head to the doctor. I had broken the fever days prior and the chills/body aches were completely gone. Overall, I felt much better, but my cough was sounding worse than ever and my ribs/lungs hurt constantly. The Half Marathon was Saturday morning and I just needed some professional reassurance that I could make it through the race despite some hacking. Or at least some fast-acting, heavy-duty drugs to numb my body for just over 2 hours!

The verdict = Bronchitis. (And actually a bad enough case that they x-rayed me for pneumonia and lung damage!)

When I asked my doc about running the next morning, she definitely gave me the stink eye with a face that said "do I need to check you into a mental hospital?". Needless to say, I was given four prescriptions and approval to pout all weekend. I had trained so hard and was going to knock of TONS of time from my score last year. I know there will be more races, it was just a small setback for something I was counting down the days for.

Sick as a Dog

Thank GOODNESS that Derek and I had nothing planned this weekend. I was completely overcome with a sickness on Friday night and am still fighting the darn thing. I'm really praying that I get well by Thursday or Friday latest. Saturday morning is the Half Marathon again and I have a new goal! I've been running really strong all year and it's so much easier to jog 6 or 8 miles than it was last year before the race.

Last year, I completed it in 2 hours and 29 minutes.
New goals:
Still sick goal = Under 2 hours 20 minutes
All healed goal = Under 2 hours 15 minutes

Fingers crossed that this sickness gets OUT of my body soon! My friends Nyquil, Sudafed, Mucinex and Naproxen are all helping me fight fight fight!

Oh yeah, sorry for no pictures from this weekend, but since we really didn't do much, we really didn't snap any pictures! Exciting news though - since our old camera died on us, we ordered a new camera that should be arriving this week.

Sweet Surprise

I absolutely love getting roses from my wonderful husband for "no reason at all" other than he just wants to send me something beautiful. I had an email first thing this morning from our receptionist saying I had a package. 9 times out of 10, it's newspapers that we run in from around the country, but this morning, I walked down to find these!

They are currently adorning my desk here at work and Derek might have to fend off some jealous girls here around the office. It was a perfect surprise for this extremely stressful time!!

Bone Lovers

I had all the bones and toys neatly put up yesterday and only 2 minutes later found this. Apparently our baby likes her bones scattered about instead of in their basket.

Is it basketball season yet?

I saw this video today on Betsy's blog and definitely had to post it on mine too. I LOVE that they put the "Any Given Sunday" words with the video! It's videos like this that just make my day and also make me SUPER pumped for basketball season. ESPECIALLY when we're going to be awesome this year! And yes.... I still get choked up at these videos along with mild goosebumps!



ROCK CHALK!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful parents! 37 years ago they were saying their vows and beginning their lives together. In this day and age where 50% of Americans get divorced, I'm so lucky that mine have chosen to live out their lives together. It's definitely something we hold as a high priority in our family and I'm glad I married someone whose parents taught them the same virtue as well!

Play Date

Our girls definitely like to take advantage of the nice weather that we're having by spending their time outside. Sometimes, they even get to have "play dates" with their cousin Tally (Derek's parents black lab).

Here's the 3 loungers chillaxing in the shade after chasing balls and playing for a while....

Bailey's New Toy

Bailey wanted to add to moms blogging, so this post is courtesy of Bailey herself.

On Sunday afternoon, I was playing in the yard with sissy when I spotted it. MY NEW TOY! Sissy and I immediately began to play together with it and we were in heaven! It was super fun because it squeaked just like my other toys and moved on its own. Mom must have already put the battery in for us and threw it out here when we weren’t looking. After we were playing for a bit, mom came out and said that we were going to get treats and go in the car, but I was too excited to care. Sissy went in, but I wanted to show mom how happy I was playing with my new toy and making it squeak. Then, all of the sudden, she ran down the stairs at me and wanted to play chase. I wasn’t going to let her have my new toy so I played along too! She definitely got really mad though and yelled at me to drop it with this fierce look in her eyes so I did because I’m a good girl. My new toy even squeaked for mommy when she picked it up! My Grandma called me into the house so that mommy could play with the toy too. I watched her though as she took my new toy outside of the yard and set it in a bush. This made me sad and I pouted all night. I don’t know why mommy would get me the best toy in the world and then take it away. Oh well… it was fun while it lasted!

In case you didn’t figure it out, click here to see what Bailey’s “new toy” was. Fun times.

Office Fun

Where I work, pranks pretty much happen often. It makes my job fun and it definitely makes for an enjoyable, relaxed atmosphere.

Exhibit A is our latest prank on another manager completed last Friday -
Yes, that would be a fort constructed by a few team members to encircle our co-workers desk. It even comes with a doorknocker, windows and a fireplace drawn inside.

This is why I love my job.

Apple Fritters Anyone?

I had been told by some friends from work that the best apple picking around is at Vaughn Orchard, in Weston Missouri. It's a little family orchard with tons for little kids to do and the best apple fritters around. We ventured down there this past weekend to enjoy some fresh country air and definitely was glad we made the trip. Although the apples on the trees were sparse, the apple fritters and apple cider slush were AMAZING!! It was a nice, relaxing getaway from the city and we did end up finding about 15-20 quality apples while there!

Sorry, it's so small that there isn't a website, but if you click here, you can find the address and phone number! And if you have a fear of bees, this might not be for you. This was apparently "bee heaven" because of the mass amounts of rotting apples on the ground!!

Birthday Burgers

Each year, for the girls birthdays, Bailey gets to indulge in a birthday cake from Land of Paws and Lacy gets a cheeseburger from McDonalds. Obviously we get enough for both girls to enjoy each birthday.

Well this past Saturday, our first born turned 7 years old! The technical age for a dog to be considered 'senior'. I think I'm definitely in denial about that, however, as this particular lab is going to live to be 35 years old. Since she is our snuggle-bug, she received a lot of loving this weekend and happy birthday paw rubs.

Then on to the annual burger-fest where she inhales an entire cheeseburger from McDonalds in 2 seconds. Bailey, on the other hand, likes to daintily savor every bite of hers.

Fab Lab Reunion

This post should have been up about 3 weeks ago, but I forgot my camera so I had to wait for others to email pictures out!

For Bailey's 2-year birthday, she met all her brothers and sisters at the Shawnee Mission Dog Park to celebrate! I'm not sure if I've ever posted, but Bailey and her 7 brothers and 1 sister were left on the plaza in a box overnight to be rescued by the KC Humane Society. The families of this liter all stay in touch and send pictures/updates once and a while. It's definitely fun to hear how the other "fab labs" are doing and what they have been up to. I think all but one of the pups showed up to enjoy in the reunion and wonderful cake that another mother provided!

I have to brag on my little angel though as she was the only one who swam! Some of her brothers would let their toes get wet, but some wouldn't even come within feet of the water! The picture on the right (below) is most of her brothers and sisters. You can see that she definitely is the smallest out of the liter!

Pooch Plunge

Around Labor Day each year, many of the area pools keep their pools open for a day extra so that the cities dogs can enjoy a swim of their own. We've tried a few of these in the past and the girls absolutely love them.

This year, we decided to check out the "Pooch Plunge" at Tomahawk Creek in Overland Park on Tuesday. Needless to say, the girls swam their hearts out and are still extremely tired from all the fun.

Here's Lacy swimming back to shore as Bailey enters the screen to the left -


And here is Bailey playing with 2 different balls -

Family Weekend

Saturday was the first KU football home game and we couldn't have asked for better weather. With a small breeze, the sun out and the heat to a minimum, it was the most perfect setting for a football game. Even though I still don't understand everything about football, I definitely still enjoy tailgating and the game with friends and family.

We celebrated the afternoon with Derek's family by eating lunch at Free State! Then, we enjoyed the game by sitting in their new, shaded-side seats! On the way back to the car after the game, we snapped this great picture of the 4 Jayhawks in front of the Campanile...



On Sunday, the family festivities continued. My side of the family gathered at my parents house for some delicious dinner and pumpkin pie (per Derek's request..... and I think he ate an entire pie!). Because the great weather continued, we were all able to enjoy eating outside on the patio. My cousin Brandon and his 2-year old daughter, Reyna, were even able to be with us since they are in town!

Thanks to both families for the wonderful food and together time over the holiday weekend!

New Basement Carpet

Now that our little pup is no longer a carpet-chewing monster, we decided to get new basement carpet! The previous carpet was this old, flat, stained, ripped stuff pictured to the left. The only nice thing about it was that when you spilled, you couldn't tell at all since it had a HUGE variety of colors mixed in.

Derek and I decided to move furniture ourselves to save some mula. My hands are STILL sore from lifting some of our bigger pieces. To the right is what the basement storage area looked like Tuesday while it was being installed.



And here's the new carpet that is soft, plush and great looking. It still smells brand new and doesn't have a single dog hair on it. You can bet the dogs aren't allowed down there during the day! Definitely a huge upgrade from our old stuff and we are excited at how much better our basement looks overall!

One relaxing weekend

My amazing husband surprised me with a plane ticket to Dallas a while back to see my other half, Michelle. We spent hours at the pool, shopping and bar-hopping and it was a much-needed relaxing weekend. Derek and I are obviously going through a tremendously stressful time in our life and this was such a sweet surprise.

For those of you who don't know her, Michelle is one crazy, random girl who always is in a good mood. We have the same personality and likes/dislikes and it definitely ends up to be a good time when we're together. Except for my cat-allergy attack where my eyes were BRIGHT red, I had so much fun with Michelle and her sister Laura and am thankful we've been friends for 5 years now.

There are WAY too many stories from last Saturday night, but the pictures below show how much fun we had around Dallas. We started out the night with Sushi at this great restaurant called Kenichi and then bar-hopped all night ending with some Romanians and burgers.

Faucet Fun

My husband and father had a fun time changing out our master bathroom faucets tonight. It was desperately needed as our old faucets (probably originals) were starting to look really crummy and gross.

Despite my arguments though, Derek wanted to do this project "himself" (obviously with my dads supervision). I secretly smiled to myself after realizing that this "2 hour project" was probably going to end up taking 4 or more. I secretly smiled even larger when I heard water spraying everywhere and I was being screamed at to get as many towels as I could.... FAST!

And no, there's no conclusion to this post because they are still in there slaving away. Hopefully within the next couple of hours (or at least under 8) we'll have 2 new bright and shiny faucets!

For now, I'll leave you with a glimpse of the "Faucet Fun"!

Wills Completed

Remember Terri Schiavo? That won't be me! Derek finalized our will and living will documents and we had them officially signed and notarized on Friday!

It was somewhat depressing, yes, but at the same time was a relief to know that our assets as are fully covered and our future children will be all set should anything happen to us!

The only thing left to figure out.... who gets our 4-legged children! :)

Disabled List

It happens about once a year. I refer to it as the "Annual Skin Removal Process" and it works best when running outside on hard, scratchy surfaces. i wish it was a facial procedure that would make me look 20 again, but it's actually a removal of knee skin that occurs when one does not pick up their feet completely when jogging. This bit of fun revealed it's ugly face again on my morning run today and below is what my once "good knee" now looks like.
I wish it ended there, but somehow I managed to hurt my ankle, shoulder, hands and elbow also. I'd give the performance about a 9.5 and so would the school kids waiting for their bus who witnessed the entire debacle.
It's pretty much a surface injury as I don't feel like I pulled anything or messed up any joints. This means my long run tomorrow, however, is postponed one day in order to let this baby heal a bit.
For now, neosporin, Tylenol and bandaids will do the trick....along with maybe a bit of Sangria and a sympathy back rub by my wonderful husband.

100th Post

I can't believe I only started this journey less than a year ago and have posted 100 times! I also can't believe we were in Europe 11 months ago as it seems like we JUST were standing under the Eiffel Tower enjoying a romantic smooch.

I hope this blog gives my friends and family and entertaining read and is a way to keep everyone updated on what Derek and I are up to. Besides that, it's so much fun to see who ends up here across the world! Currently, the UK and Canada are not too far behind the US in blog views, but I've reached much farther! Check out the map of all the areas shaded in green where people have clicked on a link.


Most surprising countries who've been on my blog: Greece, Peru, Suriname.... and where the heck is Malta?!

Book Review - The Art of Racing In The Rain

For anyone who loved reading Marley and Me, this will be your next favorite READ! This book, written by Garth Stein, tell the story of companionship during the best of times and the worst of times told through the voice of Enzo, a golden retriever. If you've ever thought that your dogs know what you're saying to them, or are trying to talk back to you through their eyes, then this book is for you!

This heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, is a well-crafted and amazingly captivating look at the wonders of human life. You will laugh and cry through this unforgettable journey.... and what's even better is that it's written by Enzo himself!

Definitely an A+ in my book (pun intended).

Party Like It's 1999!

Such a great song and we only did about 74 dances to that song my senior year of being on the Pacesetters Dance Team!

It's been a decade since that senior year at Shawnee Mission South and this past weekend we celebrated this event at our 10-year reunion. About 100 or so of my classmates attended the festivities held at he Berg Event Space Saturday night.

To start the night off, I hosted a small "pre-party" at my house with four of my high school dance team friends. We indulged on some finger foods, drank some sangria and reminisced about those fun years. There was, of course, a yearbook appearance as well along with some Raider colored green and gold napkins and plates.


It was such a fun time and so nice to catch up with a couple of the girls whom it's been forever since I've seen last. Little Madeline even joined us and Bailey loved getting her all excited and playing with her (right)!

And just like at Derek's reunion, it wasn't long before the "who got really fat" and "who got boob jobs" conversations started to swirl!
Overall, it was a really fun night and was so great to catch up with so many old friends.


"There's nothing greater than a Raider" GO SOUTH! :)

Happy Birthday Bailey!

My little angelic bear turned 2 years old Sunday! I can't believe she's already 14 years old in human years! She has matured so much and has turned into a wonderful dog for us. We are so blessed to have found her even though she hogs the bed and suffers from A.D.D.! We couldn't have asked for a more happy dog whom we trust around anyone and anything and is so fun to be around. From the day we picked her out from the Kansas City Humane Society (left), she has melted our hearts and made our family complete!



Here she was just a couple months after birth -

And here she was this weekend indulging in her birthday cake from Land of Paws. (And yes, Lacy got half the cake).

Then we played her favorite game in the world for quite some time - BALL FETCH! (the tennis ball is in between her legs in the pic!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY!!

Freshman Move In Day

It was 10 years ago this weekend when my family was moving me into GSP at KU. I finally felt like a free adult and was so excited to be done with high school and starting my Freshman year in college. I was born a Jayhawk and couldn't wait to experience this amazing school on my own!

The memories all came back again Friday when we helped move Whitney into her dorm at KU. From the guys around campus checking out the 'fresh meat' to the girls all dressed to impress, not a ton had changed since that weekend 10 years ago. There was so much excitement in the air and Whitney was on cloud 9 as she met her roommates and prepared their dorm suite by asking all the important questions; Who gets the bottom bunk? Which desk are you claiming? Where will we put the keg? (J/K Lesa!)

Matt decided to check out the amenities and is very thankful that he'll never have to squeeze into that shower!

Enjoy college Whit! We are so excited that you decided to join the Jayhawk tradition and we know you will do so well up there. It's only 4 years, but will include some of the best times of your life!

ROCK CHALK!!

Talons

I was playing with Bailey last night and was gouged by these things! Looks like someone is in need of a good clipping before we have friends over Saturday night!

Does anyone else have a heart attack before every clip when they do their dogs nails? I just get major anxiety that I'm going to hurt her and it is NOT a fun chore.

2 Inches Closer = Sting City

While trimming my front yard bushes today, I noticed a couple wasps flying around this bush -
Only when I finished and was cleaning up the trimmings did I notice this sucker hanging on a limb with several wasps flying around it! I literally almost chopped the nest in half which would have resulted in an afternoon of NO FUN!

(Note: no wasps were harmed in the destroying of their home and taking of these pictures... all flew away safely and without injuring the photographer.)

The Blame Game

If you spotted Derek darting through oncoming traffic on Pflumn this past weekend, here’s why.

On Saturday morning, Derek was picked up by his friends to golf. Once they decided who was driving (he didn’t get the short straw), he tossed his keys onto the back of his closed trunk and was off. Fast forward 5 hours later when we were getting ready to head out for the evening and the keys were nowhere to be found. I’m asked “did you leave them on the back of the car when you went to the Farmers Market?” I had NO clue what he was talking about until he explained the situation..... and went on to blame me for not noticing they were there.

After several round of this (not so fun) game, we decided to re-drive the route I had taken earlier that day with the hope that they maybe just slid off the back of the car and were laying in the street. About 10 minutes in (those suckers apparently held on for life!), Derek spotted them in the road and we were jumping with joy. It wasn’t until after a few minutes of running in between cars when he finally retrieved them and I could tell by the look on his face that something was wrong.

He got in the car and handed me these. Rolled over, thrown around, beat up, but yet still all on the chain. At least we know that our house can't be broken into now with half the key missing!


** Feel free to cast your vote in our 'battle of the sexes'! Was Derek at fault for leaving them on the back of the car without telling me? Or was it my fault for not having magic powers and automatically checking the back of the car for anything left behind?! Only you can help decide!