Words mean things

Words and phrases that bother me:

Con-sentinos. Is pronounced CO-sentinos. Only one "n".

Chipol-tee. Correctly pronounced ChiPOAT-lay. Like the pepper or the spice.

Aldis. You may use an "s", but only if you are talking about "multiple Aldis around town" or "Aldi's great deals." You never "go to Aldis" unless you are going to multiple locations.

Victoria Secrets. Who has the secret? Victoria! Victoria's Secret... Don't google that at work, Just trust me.

Starbucks is not a drink. It is a place. It is unlikely that you're going to "go get a Starbucks" this morning or ever.

I am a little OCD sometimes. But it's better if I just get it off my chest and apologize for being weird. I don't want to be irked when you say things wrong. It's not your fault. It's mine. Maybe I should practice saying these words incorrectly differently and then I won't notice so much.

Do I really think that will help? No. But I'm willing to try.

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Missing in action

I'm behind the times. Just to give you a glimpse so you know I have forgotten you. Yes, I did say have. I'm sorry.

Here's the run down from the last four weeks:
Trip to Ames
Two Noonday parties
A baby shower
A musical (I was on stage. How did that happen?)
Two KU basketball games
Hosted a ham dinner
Hosted a turkey dinner the next day for Thanksgiving round 1
Grandma bought me a pair of jeggings
Wichita for Thanksgiving round 2
A birthday gathering of sorts for Veronica
Parental's house for Thanksgiving round 3
Weekend in Manhattan and a KSU game. I wore purple.
Decorate the Christmas tree
Lost my wedding ring. Found out it wasn't insured.
Found ring in parking lot of Target two hours later. It is now insured.
Team dinner and associated chauffeur activities for 4 out of town guests
Team meeting and white elephant gift exchange
Saw someone hit by a car
Another baby shower

This week:
Monday: Celebrate mom's birthday and decorate another tree. 12 feet tall.
Tuesday: Trip to Tulsa. Unfun client visit. No tears. Barely.
Wednesday: Lost cell phone. Found cell phone. Home from Tulsa and a pizza party with the Klines.
Thursday: Trip to Cincinnati. Girl next to me on the plane went through 3 sick bags. Unfun client visit. No tears. Barely.
Tomorrow: Home.

And a partridge in a pair tree.

Yes, I am finally starting to realize I might actually be crazy. I'll figure out what to do about that later. For now, off to the gym and then I have to tackle this to-do list...

PS- No. Of course I did not proofread this. Duh.

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for my kitchen wall

Everyonce in a while you see something on the side of a building that you pay attention to. Last week I saw a quote that said:

"Live like your life depends on it"

I didn't really know what that meant, but I replaced a word and it make a lot more sense to me.

"Eat like your life depends on it"

That is true. My life does depend on it.
But not in the same way as it does for people that don't have enough food.
For me, its about what I eat.
What I eat for breakfast does determine the amount of "life" I have during the day.
Whether I eat vegetables and fish or meat and potatoes my body will be affected.

And, let's be real. The quality of my life is also impacted by the quality of flavor.
No one smiles and relaxes when they bite into a sugar-free, fat free cookie.
We have to care for the heart too of course.

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soup's on

Last time I posted I mentioned that it was starting to get cold so we had butternut squash soup in bread bowls. Well the truth is, I have been on a bit of a soup kick lately. I just keep making them! This month I have made:

Roasted Butternut Squash and Shallot Soup

If you make this one I recommend you add a little milk or cream to finish it off.

2% would be a responsible choice.

The verdict on this soup was that the flavor was great,

but the texture was closure to butternut squash puree.

Get some dairy in there for creaminess.

Roasted Cauliflower and Aged Cheddar Soup

I made this one just because I wanted to.

Only seven ingredients*.
*EVOO and S&P don't count
Delectable as is.
No changes from me. Rare.

Chicken Verde Stew with Hominy
aka- Green Chicken Chili

I made this one because I had the ingredients.
I almost always have carrots, onions, peppers, chicken broth.
 I had leftover celery from a batch of curried chicken salad
and just needed a few extras to finish this one off.
Verdict? A little spicy but the sour cream is a great touch.
Good flavor and very fresh!
My preferred modifications?
Replace the big can of hominy with a little one and add a can of garbanzo beans.
Get yerself some extra protein.

Am I talking too much? Okay fine I'll cut to the chase.

I made chili for some college students that came over.
I usually make beef-free chili, but that isn't as publically acceptable
so I made the real stuff this time.
All American Chili

This is not the speedist chili recipe, but it is delish.
Definitely a crowd pleaser. Don't change a thing.

Today for lunch I am eating
Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup

I accidently let this simmer a little too long and it turned it into
a chicken noodle/ potato soup hybrid.
This is about as hearty as soups come. Filled with protein and veggies.
Plus the creaminess of potatoes and... well... cream.
Brett likes to call it a "casserole soup" just to ruffle my feathers.
It's not a casserole. It's a soup. K?
Verdict? Awesome,
but don't expect a classic brothy soup.
Modifications? Pull the chicken off last night's rotiserrie chicken.
Way easier than cooking your own just for this soup.

I'm forgetting one soup... oh well.
Our favorites in order:
1. Roasted Cauliflower
2. All American Chili
3. Chicken Noodle
4. Green Chicken Chili
5. Butternut Squash.

Next up? My favorite soup cooking tools!

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sweet friends and their sweet baby ray*

Okay so maybe the baby's name isn't really Ray. But I can't tell you what it is. That would break all my rules about using names around here. This is public interneting, people! I can't just be tossin around names like they are salads...

Back to what I was saying...

We have some great friends. Nine weeks ago they had their first baby boy. Let's call him Sweet Baby Ray. Because they do call him Sweet Baby and because Sweet Baby Ray has a BBQ sauce so I know those words just roll off your tongue.

On Thursday night we got a note from them announcing an impromptu trip to our side of the midwest! Hooray for meeting Sweet Baby Ray! I didn't mean to make that rhyme. Sorry about that. We got to hear all about life in their "new" town (where they have now lived for almost two years...) We enjoyed butternut squash soup in sourdough bread bowls and sipped on hot tea while we caught up on jobs, life with the little guy, and just life in general.

Sometimes in life I just think I wish I had more time to spend with these people. And more time with those people. And I just wish I had time to get to know them better. Oh and that girl seems so sweet, I want to get to know her better. I hope you have people in your life like that. Life is all about people, you know. That's why hubs and I run around like maniacs all the time. Because we love spending time with people.

When we graduated from high school we stopped seeing our families daily. When we left college we stopped seeing our friends weekly. When our friends moved away we stopped seeing them monthly (Iowa and Texas, I'm talking to you!) We now see our families and our friends when we can. Sometimes its often, other times it is only once or twice a year. And no one holds grudges or asks why you never called. You just pick up where you left off. Except maybe you cut off 10 inches of your hair and have a baby. You, of course, not me.

Speaking of family and friends, I know you want to know about our trip to the Royale... More on that later.

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treat yo self... and my dog

My birthday was last week. I had a treat-yo-self day. 

Never experienced treat yo self?

I stopped at Starbucks to get a latte. 

Thanks, Starbucks card, for my free birthday drink.

Treat yo self fail.

I went to get my nails done over lunch and invited my sister. 

She paid for mine. 

Treat yo self fail.

I was about to go pick up some cookies from the Plaza 

when I got a call that my cousin had delivered 

cupcakes and flowers 

to my office. 

First flowers delivered at work and 

not one, but two cupcakes from Cupcake a la Mode. 

Treat yo self fail again.

So I gave up on treat yo self day. 

And enjoyed wonderful family treating my-self. 

My sister make me and all the family 

butternut squash casserole with kale and gnocci

pan seared scallops

and served us  all chantilly cake.  

And the whole fam chipped in to get me a nice camera.

Hooray!

Mack got to be my model on Saturday while hubs went for 

a two hour long run. 

Yes. I said two hours. 

Anyway, these shots are straight out o' the camera. 

Smiiiille Mack-a-doodle!

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Don't try it on.

What is the same about trying on wedding dresses, looking for houses, and cooking?

I'll give you a clue. When we got married a friend told me not to do anything the first week of marriage that I didn't want to do forever. For example: putting down the toilet seat, picking up dirty socks from the couch where they were taken off, turning off lights as your dear loved on walks from room to room. Once your lover-bunch-kins experiences the wonders of having a maid, he/she might never be able to not have a maid.

So let's apply that to life, shall we? When you bake mac and cheese and it calls for 4 cups of heavy cream and 4 cups of extra rich cheese, just use the low fat. If you make it with the fully-leaded stuff the first time, you'll never be able to go back. You might as well just buy a new pair of pants with that pint of cream.

When you look for houses, don't set foot in the houses that are out of your price range. You won't be able to forget how nice that large closet was or how pretty that granite looked. We'll all seen how that turns out on House Hunters, haven't we? It gets ugly real fast.

When you go to look for wedding dresses, don't try on the ones you can't afford. Of course a dress that is $1,500 is going to be prettier than the one that is $500. Durr. Then you'll never be okay with the one that has factory made lace instead of silk from specialized chinese worms.

I am usually pretty good about this rule. Usually.

So I wandered into J Crew the other day. I had been looking for a Chambray shirt and they had one so I thought I'd just try it on. Danger zone. Okay, I'm in love. So I splurge. Just this once. I don't do that often.

But of course it doesn't look right with my jeans so I ask hubster to grab a pair of colored pants for me to try with them. He has a knack for picking out things that I love, so of course he comes back with a pair of bright red cors and they made the chambray look totally fab. "Don't worry..." I told hubs, "I can find knock-offs like these cords somewhere else for cheaper." But I had already broken the rule. J Crew cords will never be like the knock-offs.

So I got home and was stoked to find that Old Navy was having a sale on cords for only $19. Hoolllerrr! I tried on a pair in green. Wait, these are like latex on my legs. Go up a size. Go up two sizes. Yeah, these will work. Even though they still look like suction cups, they are way cheaper. Got home, put them on with the new top. Negative. Won't work. I look like I have moss growing from my legs. And they make my legs look chubby. Like the kind of chubby you see on a 6 month old's legs and call "cute" because they have all the ripples that make them look kind of like a bulldog puppy. Who knew bulldog puppy legs weren't attractive on adult women? So I returned them. And scoured the internet for an alternative.

And bought the J Crew red ones.

Lesson of the day? Don't try on wedding dresses you can't afford, don't look at houses you won't buy, and don't cook fully leaded food if you don't want to eat it like that forever.

And don't wear pants when you try on shirts.

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Nagano

One of my favorite parts of the trip was our visit to Nagano.

We went to Nagano with Kevin, one of the pastors of All Nations Fellowship, and his wife Nozomi and their baby Lia. Kevin has lived in Japan for 9 or so years and know this older Japanese man named Mr. Ishi. Of course he is older and wiser than us so we all called him Ishi sensei which means master or teacher. We stayed with him in his beautiful home. I am kicking myself now for not taking a picture. Anyway, Kevin kept telling us that the most Japanese thing we would experience while we were there would be Ishi Sensei himself. He was right.

Ishi sensei and his wife worked in an orphanage for years before they built a house in a mountain community and settled in with the intention of hosting friends. His wife died of cancer only 3 or 4 years later. The man spoke almost no English, but told stories while Kevin or Rob translated. He told us about Japanese tea ceremonies, soba, ant hell bugs, and World War 2. He wasn't afraid of large bumblebees or buyos but was not eager to encounter mafia men. Understandably so. Oh, and he does carpentry and gardens. No big d.

While the boys were talking- in English or Japanese at any given time- Nozomi, Tara, and I [attempted] to get dinners ready. They included japanese barbeque with a pit in the middle of the table, japanese curry, and shabu shabu. Oh don't you know? Shabu shabu is when you boil meats and vegetables on the table over a hot plate. Again no pictures. Lame.

I don't have pictures of the food, but I do have pictures of a few other highlights (in no particular order and excluding family time which is a given):
1. Ishi Sensei
2. Hiking
3. Flower Garden


1. Ishi Sensei

He is around 75 and very kind. He played poker with us and put on sunglasses so we wouldn't see his face. He taught us about the war and matcha tea ceremonies and various kinds of plants (while Rob translated). And together we discovered spaghetti squash. This picture was taken at 5:45am so forgive us for our moderately unexcited faces.

2. Hiking
Ishi Sensei kicked our pants on this hike. I think we climbed 127 stairs. Well, I climbed. He practically ran. Slight exaggeration, but still. Anywho, It was raining on and off so we all got to wear sweet rain jackets and carry umbrellas. Only the Japanese, and their American visitors, would carry umbrellas on a hike...

3. The Flower Garden
The last day in Nagano we went outlet shopping. Don't let the word outlet deceive you though. Everything is still very expensive. I found a few Zara shirts I loved for around 4500 yen. That is about $58. Tempting, but no. After that we went to a flower garden. It was free, overgrown, and vacant, but still beautiful. There is something fun about seeing the same flowers that I have in my garden half-way around the world. Plus the views of rice and soba fields with mountains in the background were refreshing. I must be a country girl.

Our two trips to onsens did not make my list. What is an onsen, you ask? A public bath with 105 degree water and friendly people. Pre-wash here (I'll spare you of a picture with actual people bathing.)

Relax here. (Ours were gender specific, but you get the idea.)

Enough said.

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Heading home

I'm currently sitting in the airport in Tokyo. I've only seen one American woman so far. She was watching me in the mirror when I was washing my hands in the restroom. Very cheeky. #MaryPoppinsJoke #ImFunny.

I am currently wearing jeans and a 3/4 sleeve shirt. They stayed tucked away in my bag for the duration of my time here in Japan, but today they were the only clean clothes left and since I knew I would be spending my day indoors in air conditioning I figured it was safe. Don't get me wrong, I still wore a tank top until I arrived safely at the airport. Those were clean too since Japanese women only show skin on their legs, not their shoulders. And I couldn't take any chances of overheating in the taxi or on the train I took to get here.

I love to sleep through alarm clocks so I have a habit of waking up every 30 minutes to an hour the night before an early flight. So that was fun. The boys took me to the train station this morning to make sure I didn't get lost. Very kind of them to get up at 5:00 with me. Considering we got up at 5 yesterday morning (Thursday) and again at 5 today and didn't go to bed until 11 either night we are all a little tired. I'm trying not to sleep much though cause I want to be able to sleep when I get home so I can avoid jet lag. However, if I don't sleep at all it will be a long day by the time I get home. I'm using the term "day" loosely here. If my math is correct, I woke up at 3pm central time on Thursday to catch my train and after a few flights and some lenghtly layovers I'll be landing at at the airport at 11pm central on Friday.

Maybe I should sleep. Wait. Maybe that's why I'm making dumb jokes about seeing an American woman in the mirror. #SleepingOnPlanesIsFun. #NoItsNot.

Whatever I do, I should stay away from Coach, Burberry, Svarofski, Cartier and the like. There's no telling what this crazy lady might do when I'm low on sleep.

I'm excited to sleep in my own bed, but mostly I'm really excited about this

Oh 70's. How I love you.

 

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Off to Kyoto

Warning: this post is a little scattered and the pictures are poor quality, but it's better than nothing.




Last weekend we went to Kyoto for a day. So of course I had "we're off to Kyoto, like Dorothy and Toto..." in my head the whole time. Mom and sister- you'll appreciate this:

Look! It's Big Bird!

Menus were hard to read. And I don't speak Japanese. Good thing you can just pick the food out of the cases. We'll take that one aaannnd that one.

We found the bamboo forest, but we couldn't find the princess.

Oh wait! Princesses! I snapped a quick photo while they were stopped to buy matcha (green tea) ice cream. Ick. I just got chocolate.

Okay now for to the non- Big Bird references.

We took a train to get there. Trains here are so funny. People line up neatly to get on, then sit quietly.

Everyone is very considerate so they keep bags on their laps or in front of them; they don't take up more space than they really need. It was raining outside so the quiet and the rain made for a great napping atmosphere. However, I refuse to show you the incriminating photos that my bestie took. Can you tell what this goon is doing?

When we got there, our first stop was at the Monkey Park. It was a significant hike to get to the top, but there were tons of monkeys roaming around when we finally got there, so it was worth it. You could even go inside a little hut to feed them.

(just a tid bit warm and humid in Kyoto)

Smart of them to allow food only in the hut, because otherwise the monkeys might get a little aggressive outside. I'm assuming they learned that one the hard way. Anyway, the park was up high enough that it had a great view of Kyoto. Pretty, huh?

For lunch we had okonomiyaki. Try saying that one 3 times fast. Or just try saying it at all. (All Japanese words sound like that to me). It is essentially a pancake made of a bunch of veggies, then covered in miso sauce, mayo, and fish flakes. Sounds delish, right? Well it is actually. And it is large. This one is probably 8-10 inches in diameter.

Our final stop was the golden temple. It is a zen Buddhist temple covered in gold plating and surrounded by a large garden. The garden wasn't that impressive, but the building was pretty! Too bad there were a bajillion tourists swarming me, or I could have spent more time looking at it and less time hyperventilating...

Sunday was more low key. We went to church, ate pizza, and watched Huger Games. Then Monday we went to Nagano. More to come on all of that.

Sayonara!

(PS- Pardon the crummy photos. Phone pictures with no iPad editing. I'll fix it later.)

 

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Intro to Japan

Alright let's just get the awkward out of the way: No, I don't have any pictures to show you. You're just going to have to get over it.

Sunday we made the trek to LA. We saw a candy apple red Ferrari and ate at Burger King. They have sweet potato fries now. Did you know that? Then Monday we went from LA to Tokyo. As expected, it was a long flight. Just short of 12 hours. We read, ate plane food, watched movies, ate plane food, and tried to take a short nap. No avail. I've never been one for napping. We arrived in Tokyo, made it through immigration and customs, and settled down to wait for the next flight to Nagoya.

At this point, though, I was due for a bathroom break. Toilet= hole in the floor. Right. Almost forgot about that. Meanwhile, Hubs went off to find something to drink. I know that you dont get much to drink on planes, and I brought along a large water bottle that I rationed the whole way, but nothing can prepare my body for only receiving 3 oz of water every hour or so. I just don't function that way. I needed rehydration. So as I was saying, hubs went to procure some. He got what looked like green tea. Naturally, it was barley tea. What does barley tea taste like? I thought you might ask so I tried to think of a way to describe it. There are no words. I went back and got what looked like water. Luckily, it was. We sat and waited for the next flight. Ya know what I started noticing here? Japanese women worked all the airlines, we're all the same size, and all smiled a ton. Think PanAm, but Japanese. But wait, its not just the airport staff. Everyone is the same size and is smiling a lot! There was one other American woman in the same terminal. She yelled at me. Coincidence? Don't think so.


We arrived in Naygoya and claimed my bag. First international flight without losing my bag= success! Thanks, orderly Japanese people. And then I saw the mirror image of my hubs standing outside baggage claim. I hadn't seen that face in over a year. We exchanged big hugs with Rob and Tara and ventured off to the subway and to the bus to their apartment. I've been in plenty of public transportation situations, but things are a little different here. No one pushes to get on the subway. People waitin single-file line to get on the bus. And everything is clean. Overall, it makes the experience much more positive except that people don't really talk on public transportation. So you have to be very quiet. Boring.

We arrived at the apartment, ate pizza, quesadillas, and Doritos (no, this is definitely not common) and crashed at 11 or so. We had woken up that "morning" at 7am pacific/ 9am central/ 11pm Nagoya time. So a full 24 hours later we were happily resting on "futons" on the floor. Futons are just thick padding. Kinda like memory foam without the bed, except it has no memory. Well, you know what I mean. Anyway, it got the job done and because we hadn't slept in so long we weren't too badly affected by jet lag. 6am wake-up, equivalent to 8pm central, is a good start to the time change. Too bad we keep waking up at the same time each morning...

Anywho, there is plenty more to tell you, but it'll have to wait cause typing on my iPad is slightly less than comfortable. Besides, I want to get some breakfast.

Over and out.

Ps- Yes, it is all like they portray in Big Bird in Japan. No joke.

Pps- I'm not proofreading so you'll just need to ignore typos and poor grammar, please and thank you,

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2:30 at 12:30

I have a serious case of the 2:30's right now. Oh, you don't know about the 2:30s? Have you seen the 5 hour energy commercials about feeling like you're going to fall asleep at 2:30? That's what I'm talking about. And there is no good reason either. I went to bed at 10:30 last night and didn't get up until 6:45. And I took a nap* yesterday.
* Loose definition of nap, here. I layed down for 30 minutes and played on my iPad. That totally counts.

Today I would like to:

• Do laundry
• Sew cloth napkins
• Make wine glass charms
• Cook food for the week
• Find cheap bedding for the guest room
• Read at Loose Park
• Make a lemon pie
• Buy and paint frames for the pictures I ordered
• Clean out my car
• Paint the basement orange or something. For realz...

But I'll just sit here at my desk. Writing a report. Editing Visio diagrams. Yawning.

Maybe I'll go walk a few flights of stairs to wake myself up. Sounds de-light-ful.

Pardon the sarcasm. I'm just a little delirious.

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Kids these days

Ya know the trouble with kids these days? They buy too much organic. Ya know the trouble with organic food? Not enough pesticides.

Ya know the trouble with not having enough pesticides? Too many pests.

Brett found a fly. I found a worm and two ants. On my broccoli.

THIS IS WHY KIDS DON'T LIKE VEGETABLES! Cause broccoli eating experiences are wrought with images of black slime and crawling things.

 

Last weekend hubs and I tried to do a 3-day lean meat and vegetable cleanse. This is not one of those liquid cleanses that forces you to... Um... flush your system. No no. This is more of a detox from carbs and sugar. Now those of you that know me - read:all of you - understand that those are fighting words. This is like...

I don't even have any good analogies. But it's SERIOUS! We started this crazy business on a Friday. And of course hubs was feeling peachy keen after work so he wants to lift weights. I might as well have not eaten anything that day. I'm getting lightheaded and real grouchy. But I forge through it. For the sake of my bestie.

 

Well Saturday morning rolls around and hubs and I head to the park. I'm feeling slightly better, he is feeling slightly worse, but needs to get in his long run. Training for a half-marathon. Nut. But he heads out for his run and I decide to keep my exercise to a brisk walk. I don't function well without my sugar-nicotine. Duh. Well hubs doesn't either cause he makes it back 45 minutes later looking like death. [No offense, babe.] We had to get the kid some electrolytes in the form of Gatorade. That also came with sugar. And a stop at First Watch. We are still recovering.

 

Lesson of the day? Vegetables are overrated. Eat cake.

 

Like this one that is currently baking in my oven:

Roasted Banana Browned Butter Bars? Don't mind if I do.

 

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What I learned today

Today I had to drive to the boonies to get our car back from the shop and to return the rental car. We're talking a 20 minute drive south (or maybe it was west), 10-15 minutes at the shop, and 25 minutes to work. Don't worry. I got there early.

Psych!

So I'm leaving to make this whole trek and its already 8:02am and I realize we don't have anything I can just grab and take for lunch since we were out of town this weekend. We have food, sure, but frozen fish doesn't count at 8am. So I stopped by the grocery store on my trek out south (and/or west). I grabbed a frozen dinner and a second one since they were on sale, and I happened to pass by the far corner of the store where the baked goods are held. I didn't want to do it, but alas, the baked goods and the frozen foods are always so close together... sigh. So I had a donut for breakfast. I thought about grabbing a bottled frappuccino, but they looked too sugary to me. I checked the nutrition label and sure enough it is made of 92% sugar. Slight exaggeration possibly, but not a significant one. These suckers were fully leaded with sugar. So I drank my water with my [delicious tasting] donut. And I felt crummy.

So then I got suspicious. How much sugar is too much? Both my dad and hub's pop are pre-diabetic. And we all know my three food groups are fruits, vegetables, and desserts. So I should pay attention to this whole sugar thing. First stop, what is the recommended daily intake by the wise people? You know- the USDA, FDA, American Heart Association, all those people. Well generally speaking, the magic number is 25 grams. Yikesabee! Here are a few foods and how they measured up (Pardon the formatting. I'll fix it later):

Recommended Daily Allowance (Men/ Women)	36 / 24
Hershey's Bar	24
Sara Lee 100% whole wheat (2 slices)	5
Starbucks Grande Vanilla Latte	35
Blue Bell Homemade Ice Cream (1/2 C)	21
Jose Cuervo Marg (4 oz)	24
McD's Medium Dr Pepper	56
McD's Large Orange Hi-C	94
Watermelon (2 C)	20
Strawberries (8 med)	8
Chocolate Frosted Cake Donut	20
My Smart Ones for lunch	10
PB&J (with aforementioned bread)	20
Yoplait Light Strawberry Yogurt	14
Bottled Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino	31

That's intense.

I can't be perfect in my food habits, but it is still very good to be aware. Maybe tomorrow I'll tackle sodium research. 


Just kidding. That's enough smart stuff for the week.  


Over and out. 

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Josh

Josh Groban's voice.

It gets me every time.

Listening to song after song tonight.

Pure beauty mixed with astounding power.

I hope that at some point in everyone's life you are able to physically feel music. There are few things better.

Enjoy

 

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I'm melting

I don't DO heat people. And it's hot. We're talking some serious amounts of heat round here. Right now it is 10pm and its 97 degrees outside. I just took Mack on a walk and when I got back my elbows were dripping with sweat. And I don't DO sweat. Check this out...

 

For serial peeps. I'm melting.

 

In all seriousness...

Pray for a cold front.

Pray for rain.

Pray for people working in the heat like my Dad and his crews.

Pray for farmers.

Pray for people living without AC.

Pray for people living without a roof.

 

 

You can pass on prayers for the weathermen. Their jobs are pretty easy right about now...

 

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Montana cont'd

I'm now 98% recovered from the cold I had, and successfully made it from Montana to Minnesota and back home. I have tons to write about, but as soon as I got home I hit the ground running with work stuff again, so I'm just now sitting down to breathe.

Highlights of the trip:

1. The people. Such amazing friends coming together from KC, Wichita, St. Louis, New Jersey, New York, and soon to be Chicago and New York. We are beyond blessed by these people. 
2. Montana weather in July. 75 and sunny? Yes, please.
3. Mountains. I can't get enough. 
4. White-water rafting. Brings back wonderful memories of family trips :-) 
5. Cooking and eating all the food. Katherine almost single-handedly planned three meals a day for six days for 13 people. And we ate well- quality food and plenty of it. Her skill serves people so well.

There was plenty more along the way. Fireworks, bocce ball, eating chocolate, Quelf, drinking coffee, chopping wood, drinking wine, frisbee golf, teepee building, singing, dancing, Harry Potter watching, and ripping out the rear of my jeans. Real cute, let me tell ya.  If I were to do it all again would I still forfeit my favorite pair of Citizens*? You betcha. (Pst- They were already being held together by patches so it wasn't that big of a deal.) 

Enjoy some pictures. I hope you smile at them as much as I do :-) 

(And I apologize in advance for photo quality. Vast majority were taken with phones.)

As a bonus for sticking with me til the end, I'll allow you a sneak-peak into our silent hike. No talking was allowed, so naturally...

The end. 

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