2014 in One Word

Happy New Year Friends! Are you excited about the year 2014? A chance to refresh, start over, begin a new year and push that reset button. It's a pretty cleansing feeling if you can embrace it right? Do you guys do New Years resolutions? I love the idea of self-improvement, but with our long list of changes coming in 2014 it seems overwhelming to add more goals on top. We have some big things coming this year. We are moving in February, welcome a new baby in May, and trying to settle in in a completely new place. I'll be working to finish my master's degree, and building my business with Rodan + Fields, and Nick will be adjusting to his new role in the company and working hard to grow he accounts he has. So a New Years resolution wasn't something I was really going to do this year.

Have you heard of One Word 365?  It's a nice way to take on the new year and focus on one word that affects all parts of your life. You're word for the year. I like the idea of only one world, and as I was thinking about it my word came straight to me. Check out he community at the link above!

My word for 2014 is LOVE.  I will spend this year approaching all things with love.  This will help me let go of negativity in my relationships, spend oodles of time loving on our new addition, be kind and warm and only focus on LOVE. This will help my relationship with my husband grow stronger in year 3, as well as strengthen friendships and relationships with family. We could all use a little more LOVE, right? I think so :) What's your word? Remember to hashtag your words, and your blogs, and your tweets, etc. #oneword365

Really Great Friends

You know what is awesome about really great friends? That they do awesome things.  I have been thinking about my circle of really amazing people a lot lately. We've moved a lot. (A LOT).  Friends who have stuck around through that (or that we met through those moves!) have been around a while, and they just mean the wold to me.  I am so thankful that they have time and energy to put into our friendship even when life is crazy and there seems like there isn't much time or energy left.  Really great friends are simply really great.



Last weekend I also had a pretty awesome few days! One of my nearest and dearest, my maid of honor (because she hates the word matron- and I don't blame her) Jenny got a little surprise.  After careful preparation and coordination, a couple of her friends drove to visit for the weekend and planned a Saturday full of girl time with lunch, a little shower of baby and mommy presents, and pedicures.  It has been a while since I saw Jenny (in real life) and I don't know that I've ever surprise-visited anyone so it was really fun! She is super close to being due with baby #2 and between that and being mommy to the most adorable and personality-filled little 2 year old, life get's crazy.  Her darling husband coordinated everything thanks to the magic of facebook and definitely wins husband of the year!  By the way, if that weren't enough, he also cooked us delicious apple cinnamon pancakes and made chicken tacos for dinner- you rock!

I just love this family, and I cannot wait for them to welcome their newest member at the end of the month.  I wish them moments of somewhat-quietness, and as much rest as possible before #2 makes his/her arrival!

Of course Target has the coolest Baby stuff- so we ended up with duplicates, but they are different sizes :)

Just a note that these pictures are compliments of Jenny's cousin.  This is why I always usually take pictures of my own, but somehow this weekend was too fun for me to remember to do that.

The Biggest Birthday Celebration

No, not my birthday celebration, my Dad's!  We had probably one of the best birthday celebrations last weekend than we have in a while.  As far as family birthdays of, usually a few presents and a meal out are about th extent of the celebrations.  This year we went big for dad's day. We'd actually been thinking about it for about a year, but our timing was off so we sat on it.  I think it was my brother's idea but Nick and I jumped on board immediately.  Tickets to a Cleveland Browns game and the whole fun experience = Happy birthday to Dad!

You see we grew up watching dad cheer (or curse) the browns games every Sunday.  I vaguely remember going to a game in the bitter cold back in '96 which was one of the last games they had before the team was moved to Baltimore.  That was a long time ago, and I'm not sure dad's been back since!

Mom and dad came up to Cleveland the day of the game and we went to tailgate nice and early, around 9. We had so much fun tailgating, and then the seats for the game were spectacular!! Not to mention the weather was outstanding and WE WON!! It was an awesome game and an awesome day!  I love that Matt was able to come home and we were able to do his as a Family!

The Lesson of Patience

I think that our life has been an exercise in patience lately. An exercise- meaning an ongoing practice. We meet obstacles, make decisions, meet new obstacles, grumble with frustration, and come to a place of content waiting.  Seriously, that pattern over and over and over lately, maybe with some more grumbles, a few fights, several angry runs and some deep breaths.  We are stuck in a place where we have a few balls up in the air, and a few things we'd like to change, but we cannot do anything about any of them at the moment.  Waiting for others to do their part, or for time to pass, or the chips to fall where they may before we can move forward (or possibly backward I guess) at all.

It is a lesson I am now convinced we need to learn due to how difficult it is for us. We are working on it.  I rush through things, chores or checks on my to-do list, and don't reach the result I want.  Then, in time, I get there.  These last couple weeks I am continuously reminded that sometimes things are in place and you have to send them out there in the world and be patient as the stars align.  I came across the above quote somewhere in the social media world and thought it was perfect. I am used to saying "it's and exercise in patience" but then thinking whether or not I have patience doesn't affect what is happening, it affects how I feel.  Ahh a good attitude while waiting...

The experience is refining us for our future. If we spend so much time waiting, I absolutely do not have the energy to spend that time upset, frustrated and beating my head against the wall.  Somedays, I will fail.  But I get a new day to try again, and I will take this opportunity to count my blessings and hone in my skills for patience.

Guinness Cupcakes with Baileys Irish Creme Icing

We celebrated my husband's birthday last week.  Interestingly enough the week before that I had to ask him if we were turning 28 or 29... when exactly do you stop remembering how old you are!? Anyway, after he reminded me that we were 28 and turning 29 I was ready to plan a celebration.  With the move and all the hoopla, we decided on practical gifts this year.  For his birthday (and because we need one) he picked out a grill.  It's a pretty nice grill, too! 

Breaking in the Grill

His birthday was on a weekday, which was not the most fun, but I made him a delicious dinner and set out to make a "surprise birthday dessert"- Guinness Cupcakes with Baileys Icing!  He loves Guinness so I knew he'd want to try these. I found a bunch of pictures of these cupcakes on Pinterest but couldn't find the actual link.  Eventually I did find a recipe on the interweb, but I adapted it to what I thought would fit him a little better.  Feel free to play around with the ingredients too :)

Ingredients for Cupcakes:
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1 cup Guinness (I used almost one whole bottle because I wanted to be able to taste it)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsb baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

- Melt butter on medium heat, then mix in Guinness
- Add cocoa powder, whisk, and let cool slightly
- Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt
- Beat eggs and sour cream until mixed, add vanilla
- Add Guinness mixture to egg mixture
- Add flower mixture to Guinness and egg mixture
- Pour batter into cupcake pan, about 3/4 full

Bake on 350 for 15-17 min. Makes 20-24 cupcakes 

Then we waited for them to bake...

 Bailey's Icing:

- Mix one container cream cheese frosting with enough baileys to taste. You can google to find a recipe from scratch, but this was my short cut- and Nick commented on how he liked the taste. 

Ready to Eat!

A Few Little Changes

You guys. Ok it's been forever. I'm sorry. We have been so very busy that I hardly have time to think! Ok we moved, hubby's on terminal leave, he started a FANTSTIC new job. We've been blessed that our career transition from the Army to the civilian world has been seamless and the new job is rewarding and challenging and great! Moving back to my home state has been rainy, but good. We are in nice company with family and friends, and fellow sports fans. 

Our living situation has been rough. Quite honestly, I'm so tired of being wrapped up in the millions of little (and big) crappy things that I can't waste more energy on it. So if something was going to be difficult I'd rather it be the house that we rent than the job that we moved here for. 

We got a new puppy! After weeks of practicing his sales skills on me, I caved and welcomed the most adorable little boy yellow lab into the family. He's growing very quickly, and is ALL puppy. Biting and barking and peeing everywhere, ha. Lily took a few days to warm up to him; he's a bit of a pest to her.  I told her that's how little brothers are supposed to be- I have one too! But I wouldn't trade him for anything in the whole wide world (my little brother and hers!).  The first day they actually played together I quietly and discretely did a cheer! I do love the little Jory, and Lily is learning to be a great big sister. 

Now that things are settling down I hope to be back. Summer's halfway over and I hope to have more amazing adventures to report. 

I appreciate Me.

Driving through Kansas State University's campus a few weeks ago, in sunshiny whether, I was annoyed at all those college kids.  I noticed how they'd just step of the street in front of a car, how they wore way to short of shorts, and how young they all seemed.  It's been 7 years since I graduated college. SEVEN?! WHOA.

But you know what, I think I decided today that I am happy I'm not college-aged anymore.

On a quest to be a more authentic version of myself, I've tried to become comfortable with who I am, what I am, all of me, right now, in this exact moment.  Even though we are all working to be better versions of ourselves, I want to be happy in my shoes, now.  That's all I get for certain, and it makes for a more happy life.  This morning in yoga I set the intention to just appreciate me.  No negative self-talk.  I initially meant this just as "in yoga" like when I use a block for a side angle pose and wish I was as strong as the girl I'm facing because she's not using a block and also looks amazing in those yoga pants.  I tried to just say "great job with that chair pose, you kicked its ass!" and "nice job coming to practice today, you will definitely benefit mentally and physically. I'm proud of you."

I'll tie this together, let me get there.

Tonight I shared drinks and stories with some of my friends I hadn't seen in a while.  Since I'm leaving soon we're trying to soak it all in now.  After some food, we decided to wander through Aggieville (think downtown college area with bars and shops) and shopped a little bit.  I tried on clothes that were cute and summery and also maybe a bit to young for me.  I felt bloated from mexican, and awkward in the smallest clothes on the universe. (seriously, they are made for elves.)  I felt old, and fat, and not the same as I was 7 years ago.  I felt a little down on myself.

Then I thought about my earlier intention. You know what?  I'm not 21.  I've got a few years and a few hundred million more experiences on me than I did 7 years ago.  But I am damn proud of who I am right now, and all of those crazy, happy, horrible, sad, thrilling, lovely experiences.

Maybe we should all make lists of things we are proud of ourselves for.  Here are some of mine.

• I have an honest, true, deeply loving relationship with one of the best men in the entire world.  I get to call him my husband. We had a kick-ass wedding filled with love, laugher, drinks, fun, great music, and the most outstanding family and friends who traveled far and wide on a holiday to celebrate with us. 

• I own a dog, (at one point all on my own) and she is one freaking awesome dog. 

• I have 2 homes in my (our) possession. And yes, it's a pain we have them and don't live in them, but how fortunate to have 2 roofs to be over our heads, should we need them.
• I love my family. 

• I've jumped out of an airplane.

• I lost the love of my life. And I hated it. I was dragged kicking and screaming back into life. I didn't die. 
• I've made some of the very best friends in people I only knew online for a while.

• I have run a 10 mile race in DC in honor of an amazing man.  Twice.

• I have run countless 5K and other races, all of them with my teammate by my side.
• I have moved 4 times in the past 2 years.  I'm pretty good at it now.
• I started my own business.
• I was able to provide support to 2 of my closest friends as they welcomed the most beautiful baby boy. 

• I have gone back to school to pursue a dream I didn't even know I had 7 years ago.
• I reached my original "goal career" 2 or so years after college. 
• Earned my own Spurs.

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• I can travel with the best of them.
• My music taste is so. much. better. 
• I swam with dolphins.
• I've conquered my migraines (it's an ongoing process). 
• I'm a yogi :)

So ya, I'm not 100lbs, wearing short skirts and running through the snow to mad jacks (read: college bar, no longer there). But I'm ok with that. College was awesome, and some of the friends I made there are unmatched- I wouldn't trade them for the world.  But I really like where I'm at.  Friday night blogging at 8:30pm. :)

I'm definitely fine with this.

I appreciate me.