Michelle's Moments

Making a House a Home...

2012-01-22T18:30:00.002-06:00

Over the last few months, I've had the pleasure of having one of my BFFs live with me and while she has looked for a place of her own. Well, it worked out that she's going to rent a house from my mom's friend. It's super cute and lots of potential, with a spare bedroom and a MASSIVE backyard for her dog to run all day. Added bonus is that it's close to my house! My mom's friend wasn't looking to become a landlord, so the house needs a little love, especially in the paint department. The fun part is that Lindsay got to pick out the colors herself (with a couple other friends' expert advice).

So, today we finally got started after a couple of months discussion about this possibility. We painted the ceilings in both of the bedrooms and did some spackling. We took a radio over and one of the first songs to play was "The House That Built Me" by Miranda Lambert....not obviously a direct correlation, as Lindsay didn't grow up in this house, but if definitely resonated that this is a new chapter of her life that's opening up. She was brought here for a job, but I'm excited to see my friend find her spot here and feel more at home. I can't wait for the fun times that will happen for you in this sweet little house, Linds!!

Grateful

2012-01-18T21:10:00.008-06:00

As I'm over a week into my 30s, I am really thankful for all of the love and celebration that has been aimed at me for my birthday! The weekend before my birthday, I made the trip to Dallas with my parents for the Cotton Bowl. We had a great time and got to spend lots of time with my sister.

My actual birthday started with my friend Linds decorating my living room with balloons and streamers.....what better start is there to a birthday?! After work, my birthday was capped off with my choice of Chipotle and my parents got me a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Mmmm!

Last weekend, I had quite a few friends show up to have a drink or two or.....for my birthday celebration. So thankful for everyone who came to hang out, especially my friends who decorated yummy cupcakes and cookies, and the ones who did decorations as well. Such a special day I'll fondly remember.

Adorable cookies my friend Kylie made....and they were tasty too!!

My birthday bakers, Kylie and Sarah. Sarah made the delicious dense chocolate cupcakes.

Me.....getting older. Thankfully.

Looking forward to my next birthday! :)

Diet Coke Update

2012-01-03T21:53:00.004-06:00

Sooooo, 72 hours into 2012 and I'm Diet Coke free. It's been rough. Last night I had the WORST headache! Thank goodness for my friend Linds who is staying with me right now. She was super nice, even though my behavior didn't warrant it, and got me some Tylenol. So, I went to bed with a gnarly headache and woke up with a little one that has tried to stick around today, but I am finally starting to feel better!

Now, several friends have asked....what constitutes a "Diet Coke"? What size? What about refills? What about rum and Diets? All good questions....

I've decided to have 30 "Diet Coke Experiences".......so this means that if I order a Route 44 at Sonic, that counts as one. If I go to a restaurant and have 37 refills, that counts as one. I think I am counting rum and Diets in "the count", but I don't drink them but maybe a few times a year, so that's not really the main problem. Some of you might be saying, that's not so bad! She will have refills or big sodas at the Kwikshop and she'll be fine! But it is a big change for me, as I usually would do all of these things without much though.

The reason I've had to get strict with myself is because I've gotten in the habit of having one in the morning, as my morning caffeine, and that would potentially be an okay thing, but then later in the day I'll have something for lunch and/or dinner and think, "A Diet Coke would be perfect with this." So.....just really need to get away from the habitual drinking of it...some side benefits mean that I'll be drinking more water and also, some foods don't sound good to me without a pop, such as Mexican, pizza or cheeseburgers, so maybe I'll eat less of those sorts of foods. And if you glance at that list, none of those above listed really would be declared as health foods.

I would like to say I'll get to the point of not even liking it or wanting it, but I think any step toward a positive direction, is good! I'll keep you all posted on this riveting topic. :)

2.0.1.2.

2012-01-01T19:51:00.012-06:00

My main vice in life is Diet Coke. I've made a conscious effort (without always suceeding) lately to drink less of it. A couple years ago, I gave it up for Lent. However, I've slowly got it back in my day-to-day habit and routine. Bottom line is that its no good for me and I initially thought about cutting it out completely, but I think that is a set-up for failure and too extreme for me.

Sooooooo, since I'll be turning 30, I'm going to have 30 Diet Cokes/pops/sodas in 2012. I made myself a little sign to put inside the cupboard to help me keep track. I also cut little numbered tabs at the bottom of the sign that I can tear off when I have one. Cheers to whatever goals/resolutions you make for yourself this year! I look forward to finding out what 2012 will bring.

A Look Back at 2011's Resolutions...

2012-01-01T19:12:00.008-06:00

So, this is what I posted last January....my resolutions for 2011. And here are the outcomes...

Resolutions for 2011
1. I will remember to take my reusable bags into Dillons. I am chronically a failure when it comes to this. I will do better.
***I did better with this. Not as well as I would have liked, but better. I had to call this off when a friend started knitting with plastic bags. Hard to explain, but I got them for her.

2. Complain less. Be thankful more. Pray more.
***Definitely more prayers this year and of all things, 2011 showed me how much I have to be thankful for.

3. Keep my checkbook more balanced-ish. Used to be SO good at this but haven't been so good since vacation this fall. Should be an easy fix. Should be.
***Um, fail.

4. Be kinder to my parents and sister. Might be hard to believe, but I can be perfectly, downright unpleasant. It's true. And in my world, I'm the harshest with those I love the most.
***Depends on the day, but I would say all in all, a better year. It was a rough year that I think ultimately brought my family closer together.

5. Find a local church that I am excited about and get involved!
***I got more excited about a local church and have attended there more regularly, but haven't gotten involved outside of going to services.

6. Keep my office/craft room more organized. (It's somewhat my "Monica's closet" for you Friends fans.)
***Major headway in this department. It's been a work in progress.

7. Read more. Watch less TV.
***Bit of a setback with this one. When my friend Lindsay moved in, I got into watching "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and have watched a bit obsessively. Hoping to start a book club or exchange this year, so maybe I'll do better.

8. Less multi-tasking. More focusing on a single task wholeheartedly.
***I'm still completely horrible with this. I usually do five things at once and think about 15 things at once.

9. Run in an official 5K race.
***Didn't get this done, but race about 5 miles in a relay race in April. It's definitely going on the list of plans for 2012.

10. Find a volunteer mission I'm passionate about....suggestions welcome.
***Epic fail. I still want to do this.

So, looking back at 2011, there was room for improvement as far as these resolutions go, but I feel like I'm not definced by this little list and overall, 2011 made me a better person and made me want to keep improving....what more can any of us ask for?

Pinterest = Obsessed

2011-12-07T14:52:00.030-06:00

Once again, I have been failing miserably with keeping my blog updated. Boo! Yes, I have been busy this fall with trips and going to football games I have a new obsession I can blame....

Like so many of you, I spent an unthinkably large number of hours and minutes each day looking at the cyber world of Pinterest. I frequently "pin" items that I haven't gotten around to making/trying/etc, but when my sister was home over Thanksgiving weekend, we helped my parents decorate their tree and house for Christmas and while we did, we made several recipes I had found on Pinterest, so I wanted to share the results. I have seen a few friends sharing on their blogs some Pinterest successes. I wish there was a way to mark on Pinterest that you have completed something!

Here's my sis decorating the tree....

And here's the mantle...

Here's what we made that day....

1. Homemade Pretzel Bites

Verdict- We didn't loooooove them, but I would probably make them again; especially since I have more Rhodes Rolls in the freezer. We all liked the cinnamon and sugar ones better than the parmesan, but I expected it to be the other way around. The sweet sauce was okay but the cheese sauce was pretty gross. My overall score = 6.

2. Chicken Pastry Puffs

Verdict- These were better but again, not my favorite thing ever. Kind of bland....maybe would be better with green onions or some spice added? My overall score = 5.

3. Buffalo Chicken Bites

Verdict- My dad thought these looked good, so we made them and I got my first experience of using Panko, an Asian breadcrumb. I would make these again and they are relatively low-calorie, which is always a bonus. My overall score = 7.

Other recent Pinterest experiments.....

My mom hosted bunko in November so I made just a couple sweet things for her to have there. I had these at my bunko group in November, and acorns too, which were apparently a big hit. Fyi, the cookie gets soggy after a few days.

I made a wreath I found on Pinterest for a decoration this fall. It was fairly easy, just more time consuming than I realized it would be. And, it was cheap...yea! I bought a $3 wreath at Michaels and then used scraps of fabric that I had at home. I forgot to take a picture of it and apparently didn't pin it to my board, but it turned out pretty cute.

Last week, I made these Homemade Butterfingers to take to work and people liked them. I wasn't wild about them for how much labor was involved and I'm pretty sure I didn't get the candy corn melted enough. They had the flavor of butterfingers, but the texture of a Baby Ruth.

Another Pinterest find I recently brought to life was something my friend Sarah shared that she had found on Pinterest and made. It's roasted broccoli, which I have heard of doing before this, but never actually got around to doing. I left out the pine nuts and squeezed too much lemon juice on after, but I'll definitely make this again. Love how fresh it is!

Okay, that's all I can think of right now to share, but am loving trying some new things! Have anyone found anything on Pinterest that they are wild about?!

And that's why I don't write about dating....

2011-10-12T21:30:00.003-05:00

So, within the week of even mentioning that I was dating someone new.....I realized that it wasn't gonna work and ended it. Sorry for the false alarm! I'll be more sure of mentioning someone next time before involving them on the ol' blog. :)

In other news, I've just been working a lot and enjoying this beautiful fall weather and a so far (knock on wood) great K-State football season.

Thanks to my new OBSESSION of Pinterest, I'll hopefully have some new recipes and crafts to share soon.

Well, hello...

2011-09-28T19:01:00.004-05:00

It has been "awhile". I have been the worst blogger EVER! Some of you have dutifully posted about a variety of topics, including babies, recipes, vacations and all sorts of lovely bloggy topics. Um, so much has happened since my last post in July. So, in the name of efficiency, here's a brief run-down:

In August, I went on a road trip by myself to see my sis in Dallas, stopping in Wichita on the way and Oklahoma City on the way back to see friends. I got to see my new sister's apartment, lounge at her pool, and eat some great food. It was fantastic. :)

I met at new fella at the end of August and have enjoyed getting to know him. Thus far, he's kind of amazing. Enough on that topic...

My mom retired a couple weeks ago. Hooray! We had cake and cheered her career. She is beginning her journey of no alarm clocks and wearing sweat pants all day long if she chooses. I'M JEALOUS!

K-State football is back in action...the third game of the season is this weekend and I'm loving it!

Regarding my lack of posts, I have to confess I have a new LOVE....one that many of you have discovered as well and actually encouraged me to check out: Pinterest. Ah, I have to limit myself how much I'm on it because it's easy to get sucked in and hours to fly out! If I actually get it together and actually do any crafts or make any recipes from there, I'll be sure to share.

I'm really loving fall so far after a super toasty summer! Hope you all are too. Looking forward to taco soup, apple crisp and all things pumpkin!!

Things have to get better, right?

2011-07-25T20:05:00.003-05:00

It seems like the last week and a half has been nothing but bad news around my work. One of the doctors I work with died in a kayaking accident, one of my coworkers lost her dad, a coworker had a friend get shot and killed, another coworker found out her daughter with MS has breast cancer, a coworker's dog died this weekend and another coworker's son has a brain tumor and needs chemo. Seriously?! It has just been one thing after another and really awful to see people go through so much sadness. It has also made me (and all of us) appreciative for all the good we have in our lives. I keep thinking things are going to turn around, because they have to....history has shown that they do. I'm hoping someone wins the lottery. :) Fingers crossed for some good luck heading for my friends and coworkers.

Happy 4th!

2011-07-05T12:17:00.010-05:00

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! Besides working Saturday and on the holiday, I can't complain. And honestly, I can't complain at all. I took a long lunch yesterday to go to my neighborhood's parade, which I love. This is the third year I have went and really think it's super sweet. Gotta love long-standing traditions and this parade has been around a lot longer than I have. Also, when I went into the hospital yesterday, one of my patients, who had a stroke yesterday morning, said, "Thank you so much for coming to work to help me on the holiday. Who has a stroke on the 4th of July? I am supposed to be at a bbq." She was super sweet and full of life. She is an 88-year-old that drives 30 miles 3 times a week for yoga, so clearly a motivated spirit.

Anyway, my sis is here from Texas and we've had lots of family time! And LOTS of good food! My cousin made some homemade vanilla ice cream, which was awesome and seems so appropriate for summer. Here are a few pictures. I'm off today and going to the pool with my sister when she's done running errands....wish the weekend could go on forever!

A homemade American pie and the United States flag on my house....what's more American than that?

This is me with my mom, sister and cousin at the parade. The other picture is one of my good friend's kids who walked in the parade. They were pretty excited about it!

Makeover Time!

2011-06-21T21:29:00.011-05:00

Somehow I luckily ended up with my friend Sarah's old family rocking chair that her family wasn't ready to part with, (it's been around a long time) but they didn't really have a good place to keep it. So, for now, it was at my house to use until the time came when Sarah wanted it back....problem was that it needed to be recushioned and recovered. As of tonight, problem solved! A couple months ago, I bought some fabric to recover the chair, but I was lacking the skills on how to do it. I have another rocking chair that's going to be recovered with the same fabric. It's fun how a little change can give a room a whole different feel. Here are a few before and after pictures:

Before-

After-

N'awlins!

2011-06-07T18:30:00.019-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, my parents and I met up with my favorite (and only) sister in New Orleans for Memorial Day weekend. We had a really great time together. I'm glad we made the trip but it's definitely not somewhere that I'm dying to see again. Bourbon Street is an experience (lots of interesting sights and smells!!), but we had a great hotel and good location. We took some time to do a bit of sightseeing. Let me tell you one thing though....it is so HAWT down there!!! Hot and humid. We practically melted! Here are a few pictures and a little recap of our trip.

One of our adventures was a swamp tour where we went out onto the river and back into the swamp. We got to see a few alligators and other wildlife creatures up close and personal! Kinda fun!! A little scary but we left with all of our limbs intact. :)

One of my favorite stops was to the following cafe....it's open 24 hours a day and it served french donuts called beignets. They are amazing!! It's like a really, really awesome funnel cake and there is always about 100 people in line to get 'em. Worth the wait.

We had some tasty drinks, as you can imagine, in New Orleans....including some test tube shots and Hurricanes!

We had some great food in New Orleans, including lots of seafood and this is one of the THREE bread puddings we tried while we were there...pretty tasty. The crawfish below were my dad's. Ugh. He seemed pretty happy about it though.

We toured the warehouse where quite a few of the Mardi Gras floa ts are stored. I saw a few familiar faces in these guys....

Besides the trip, summer is in full effect here. I've spent some time at some friend's pools and also made a trip to Wichita last weekend to see friends. Looking forward to a trip to KC this weekend for my 5-year reunion for my grad school class at KU. I'm really excited to catch up with some friends I haven't seen for quite awhile!

Leaving, on a jet plane....

2011-05-28T08:40:00.003-05:00

I'm minutes away from vacation time....very excited to be going to New Orleans for the first time! My parents and I are meeting up with my sis there and should have a few days of fun. It's been a busy week and it will be nice to get away. One big announcement is that my friend Lindsay and I decided that since Kim Kardashian met her guy and got engaged 6 months later, we're probably gonna both be engaged by Christmas! Very exciting, I know. This isn't the formal announcement, but just saying, if Kim did it then it seems like a good plan! Hope everyone has a very happy long weekend and take time to remember why we have it. Later!

Hi, my name is Michelle and I used to write on my blog.

2011-05-11T18:32:00.000-05:00

Geeze, where did the last month go?! Last week, I was thinking, I haven't written on my blog in a long time. Then, I didn't write anything. The same thing happened a few days ago and I still didn't write anything. Finally, my sister said to me today, "You need to write on your blog!" So, here I am. It's not that I haven't been doing anything and don't have anything to write about....actually, quite the opposite. It seems like it's been non-stop lately. Basic recap:

The middle of April I went to KC for my friend Nichole's bachelorette party. We stayed in a hotel on the plaza, went to Kona Grill for some awesome sushi and then to a piano bar in Westport. So much fun!

My baby sister came home for Easter (yea!) and I got to eat sweets again after a very loooooong Lent of no sugar! We had a good time hanging out together.

Some of my best buds in Wichita came to visit and we had a blast. We made our way through some shops on Mass in Lawrence, ate at Freestate Brewery and had a low-key evening of hammock-ing, Coldstone and a movie. You can't go wrong! It was really nice to see them.

Last weekend, I went West to Hays for my friend Nichole's wedding. We went to K-State together for a year and then we were both at KU Med for a year while I got my masters and she got her nursing degree. It was great to see her and spend time with her wonderful family. She is currently honeymooning in Cancun. Ah, sounds lovely!

I'm going to KC this weekend to do the Crawl for Cancer with my friend Kelly. Looking forward to seeing some friends I haven't seen for awhile! Hopefully will have more blog updates sooner than later. :)

My BIG Surprise.....and B2B recap!

2011-04-04T17:28:00.019-05:00

As I mentioned Friday, I have had a secret/surprise I've been keeping since the end of February. My friends that I work with and me were preparing and planning to run in the Brew to Brew, which we did last year as well. That wasn't the surprise though. The surprise was that one of my good friends that worked at the hospital with us before moving to Colorado last May, came back for the race. She agreed to join us and we decided to keep it a secret from the rest of the team. Such an awesome surprise for everyone and we were all SO pumped to spend time with Amanda. The surprise:

We had a pasta dinner at my house Saturday night to carb-load before the race Sunday. We left Topeka about 5:40 Sunday morning for KC. It was a great day with friends, minus the 20+ mph wind we ran directly into. Not a nice time. I ran 4.8 miles in about an hour....I'll take it considering it was the farthest I've ever ran and it was more hills and wind than I'm used to. We had a good day enjoying hanging out and having snacks and just relaxing. I was done running by noon so had several hours to just cheer for my teammates. We are already excited to do it all again next year! After the race was completed, we went to The Salty Iguana, a mexian restaurant in Lawrence and had LOADS of water and some mexican food. We got back to Topeka a bit before 7:00 and were all SO exhausted! Thankful for a fun day with my friends!

The team before we ran:

Me before I ran:

The team after the race:

Things that make me happy....

2011-04-01T17:45:00.001-05:00

Tulips blooming in my breakfast nook on a Friday after work...

Shhh!

2011-04-01T11:30:00.003-05:00

I have a HUGE surprise/secret that I've been keeping for over a month! It's going to be revealed this weekend and I couldn't be more excited!!! Also, this weekend is my second time participating in the Brew to Brew, a relay race from KC to Lawrence I am doing with a group of friends. I'm pumped to spend the day with friends in what is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL weather...also excited to get my 4.8 mile leg behind me! Will fill you all in soon on the big surprise! Oh, and happy April Fools Day! Any good pranks?!

Neat idea...

2011-03-27T20:42:00.004-05:00

My mom saw an article in The KC Star about a group of folks in Kansas City that have a group who go to different restaurants and rate the food. They blog all about it here. First, they went to different pizza places and are now trying out different burger places. One of my bffs Lindsay started a breakfast club in Wichita a year or two ago (I can't remember how long it's been going) but one Saturday a month they go to different restuarants and try out the breakfast menu. Love the ideas and inspired to do something similar here in my city! Nothing like enjoying a meal with friends and trying new places.

Internet intervention...

2011-03-22T18:54:00.003-05:00

There was a time when I was a productive human.....that was before I recently discovered Jersey Shore. I'm embarrassed to admit how addicting it is. The last couple nights I have watched several episodes on Netflix, but tonight, the website is messing up and won't connect. Since other websites are working and it's not just my internet, I think God is hosting an intervention and telling me to resume my regularly schedule life programming....like doing laundry and washing the dishes, perhaps brushing my teeth....tasks that have clearly become imposing since I have become addicted to the ridiculousness that is JS. I can't even believe the things that the cast says or does and I seriously cannot believe how much I love to watch it! Hopefully I see all of the episodes soon so I can get it out of my system. :) If you can't get ahold of me, you now know why.

Happy St. Patty's Day weekend!...Minus that whole KSU loss thing...

2011-03-21T19:15:00.016-05:00

I had a great St. Patty's Day weekend and hope everyone else did too! On the actual day of, I had to work. Boo. But afterwards, I met up with friends for a couple green beers and later got to see K-State win their first round game in the NCAA tourney. St. Patty's is also my friend Kristen's birthday, so it was fun to help her celebrate. Happy b-day KFan!

With two of my buds since high school. Glad Lacey and Andrea could both come join the fun!

The fun continued.....and the Kristen birthday celebration.....on Saturday night. We celebrated her 30th birthday but SADLY K-State lost their second round game....BUMMER! Kristen is a KU fan but everyone was being fairly civil about the loss and following sadness.

With Sharee and Megan and our K-State stickers!

Last night, I celebrated St. Patty's with my parents in our tradition style (minus Meg)....with mom's homemade reubens. They.are.awesome.!!!! Massive sandwich and tater tots.....only do it once a year but oh so worth it.

Aren't the napkins SO festive?!

Yep, Dad's got a tot in his necklace...

Mom and me....don't be mad I posted this. :) It was a casual evening....as in I had just got out of the shower after the gym! Btw, what's going on with my hand in this picture??

Oh yeah, and welcome spring! So ready for some great weather!!

God loves us and therefore created The Rotisserie Chicken

2011-03-16T14:27:00.011-05:00

Monday night I picked up a rotisserie chicken on the way home from work and some salad stuff and it has totally rocked my face off all week! Can't beat it for a $5 purchase. I bought carrots, tomatoes, onions, an avacado and a hard-boiled egg, and made some great salads the last couple days with added protein from the previously mentioned bird. Tonight I made some chicken quesadillas (is there anything easier?!). I love how many things you can do with them and they're still pretty healthy. Cheers for easy, quick and healthy dinners as we welcome in some nicer weather and don't want to spend evenings cooking in the kitchen! :)

I can't believe.....

2011-03-15T20:05:00.005-05:00

We're barely into Lent and as I mentioned before, I gave up "desserts" for these LONG 40 days. My friend Sharee gave them up with me and we went ahead and defined desserts as "cookies, brownies, cake, candy and ice cream, plus cinnamon rolls, etc". I've been doing pretty good with it; I definitely love some sweets but can go periods of time without them. However, 40 days without any is tough! You know you're desperate when sugar-free jello is sounding kinda awesome.

So, today at work there were some glorious looking donuts and THEY LOOKED SO GOOD! Ugh! Funny thing is when I was growing up I didn't really like donuts and especially not icing. My have times changed! It got me to thinking about all of the other foods that I didn't like when I was younger and now can't imagine not liking them!

-hummus (I could literally eat my body weight in it!)
-guacamole (um, hello?!)
-grilled cheese
-tomatoes
-sushi (yum-o!)
-squash

I still can't get into crunchy peanut butter or coconut though! Any foods your taste buds have changed their minds about over the years?

If I were...

2011-03-14T13:09:00.004-05:00

If I were a month, I’d be October.
If I were a day of the week, I’d be Sunday.
If I were a time of day, I’d be the moment I wake up.
If I were a sea animal, I'd be a seal.
If I were a direction, I’d be East.
If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be a china cabinet.
If I were a liquid, I’d be Diet Coke.
If I were a gemstone, I’d be a pearl.
If I were a tree, I’d be an oak.
If I were a tool, I’d be a saw.
If I were a flower, I’d be a lilac.
If I were a kind of weather, I’d be a spring shower.
If I were a musical instrument, I’d be a set of drums.
If I were a color, I’d be green.
If I were an emotion, I’d be excited.
If I were a fruit, I’d be a banana.
If I were an element, I’d be fire.
If I were a car, I'd be an SUV.
If I were a food, I’d be anything Mexican!
If I were a place, I’d be a Kansas wheat field.
If I were a material, I’d be cotton.
If I were a scent, I’d be fresh flowers.
If I were an animal, I'd be a giraffe.
If I were a facial expression, I’d be a blush.
If I were a pair of shoes, I’d be comfy slippers.

I found this random tid bit over at www.ohcaptain.com; it's a great blog I ran across and makes me desperately want to spend more time on our East coast! Until then, Happy Monday and hope everyone enjoyed springing foward, although I'm not sure Mother Nature got the memo. It snowed today!

Chicken and White Bean Stuffed Peppers

2011-03-13T20:06:00.006-05:00

I tried another recipe last week off of http://www.skinnytaste.com/; which is where I found the recipes for both the Chicken Parmesan and Zucchini Sticks that we loved. This was a recipe for Chicken and White Bean Stuffed Peppers and is basically a twist on beef and rice stuffed peppers. We thought these we maybe a little bland but not bad. I would probably add some sort of spice if I made them again. They were definitely really filling and pretty low calorie, which is a plus. If green peppers are your thing, then you would probably like them!

Something new....verdict = Tasty

2011-03-13T17:52:00.006-05:00

I've been wanting to try some new recipes lately and ran across this recipe for Chicken Georgia on another blog. If you like mushrooms and onions, you might like it. :) I cooked it for my dad when my mom was at her monthly bunko group, as he is on Team Mushroom with me and my mom wants nothing to do with them. Pretty tasty.

Resuming....

2011-03-09T20:11:00.005-06:00

It seems like life (at least in blogging world, and kind of outside of it too) has been on hold for me lately. A lot has been going on in my world, namely someone that is one of the closest people to my heart has been diagnosed and begun a battle with cancer, as well one of my best friends since high school was killed in a car accident on Valentine's Day. I was Tisharria's maid of honor at her wedding in January and her sudden death has seemed so very surreal. Her husband was in the car with her and is recovering slowly back at his home. We've been in contact through phone/text; T couldn't have picked a better guy and his positive attitude is helping him through this awful time. Right before Tisharria walked down the aisle, she and I were alone in the dressing room in the church and I told her what an awesome guy she was marrying and how he the two of them set the bar for the kind of relationship I want in my life. It gives me comfort knowing that when she died, she was so truly happy and with the love of her life. I really want everyone to know that while it's definitely been a rough month, I have genuinely appreciated all my friends' support and loved my family even harder than usual. Times like these shock us into evaluating our lives and look at what we're doing and not doing....and most of all, remind us what's important.

So, I haven't felt like blogging but feel like it's a good way for me to vent/remember/document/process everything that has been going on. I also didn't feel like I could resume writing without at least briefly acknowledging what's really been going on in my life. It would seem fake/disrespectful to start posting about the usual....which honestly is a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter, without being truthful. I don't plan on my blog being a place to focus on my family member's cancer fight, as I want to respect their privacy or to focus on Tisharria, but I would like to start up again and see what inspires me. If anyone had ever met "T", they know that she was SO MUCH FUN and one of the happiest people I know. I want to honor her and our friendship by trying to include a little bit of her spirit in my life. To do that, it means finding/continuing what makes me happy and doing it with a huge smile on my face, just like she did every single day!

WW Chicken Parmesan, Baked Zucchini Sticks and Diet Coke Cake

2011-02-13T20:32:00.009-06:00

Tonight I had my parents and cousin over for a Valentine's Day Eve dinner. I have been pretty into trying some new recipes lately and had stumbled across a few Weight Watcher ones on Skinny Taste and based off of tonight, I'll be trying more from it!

I made Baked Zucchini Sticks and they were AWESOME! I like zucchini but get sick of fixing it the same way and this was a really nice change of pace. My sister has had them before and had said they were tasty- turns out, she was right. I would definitely recommend them!

For the main course, I fixed Baked Chicken Parmesan and LOVED it. It is by far the best WW recipe I have ever tried. We had a hard time believing that it was low calorie, but I guess the whole not frying it thing helped. I'll definitely be making this again. I served it with a bit of spaghetti but definitely didn't even need that.

For dessert I made Diet Coke Cupcakes. I wanted to make chocolate ones but didn't have a chocolate cake mix on hand, so I did yellow cake and used leftover chocolate frosting from the last cupcakes I made. This is not my favorite low-fat dessert but the cake was really soft and the frosting helped. I'll be taking the rest to work tomorrow for Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!!! xoxo

Merry Christmas in February!

2011-02-13T12:42:00.002-06:00

My aunt, uncle and cousin in Colorado gave me a Penzeys giftcard for Christmas and I just placed my order. SO excited! If you haven't been to a Penzeys (it's a national company, you should check it out, or even look online. It's an awesome spice store with all kinds of stuff. Today I used to my giftcard to buy poppy seeds (I have a recipe to try called Poppy Seed Chicken), black peppercorns, Old World Seasoning (which they claim is their lower salt answer to Seasoning Salt, which I frequently put on my cooked broccoli), Pasta Sprinkle (says it's good to put on pasta or chicken too!), and I got some Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon (how exciting is that?! the website said it's super strong cinnamon and perfect to use when cinnamon is the main flavor- like with cinnamon rolls). With the giftcard, they also gave me some dried minced garlic which is awesome. I've used it a couple times and would recommend it. Thanks Colorado family! I'm excited to get cooking with some different flavors!

No Carb Left Behind...

2011-02-11T21:07:00.000-06:00

I FINALLY ordered and received my pictures from my trip to Australia and New Zealand that I experienced this fall with Megan. We had an amazing time getting to travel around, looking at awesome scenery and......of course, trying out the amazing cuisine and beverages of another country! While looking through pictures, I realized how MANY pictures of our tasty treats I took over our the course of our three-week trip....perhaps too many per my lovely sister but I'm glad I took them! I'm also super pumped that I wrote down a description of everything. I thought it was about time I share a little about our trip. I wrote up our basic rundown of everything we did but I'll try to put some posts up with more interesting stories so you can get a feel for the trip and so I can remember more when looking back. Here's a smattering of what we ate (what didn't we eat?!?!) during the trip- shocking that we didn't gain a ton of weight....definitely thankful for all the walking we did during our sight seeing! So here goes......you've been warned; it's quite a few pictures. Look at your own risk. Could be time consuming!

City #1- Perth, Australia:

This is a beer Meg had at her apartment that she lived in while in Perth. It's called "Little Creatures" and brewed there. She was pretty into it. I thought it was "okay".

During our daytrip the second day I was in Perth, we took the train up to Fremantle, where there are tons of shops and little restaurants. Meg and I split a chocolate-banana shake....much thinner than our shakes here in the U.S......and we also split an order of churros! So good!

Mmmmmmmmmm!

Some things you can count on.....no matter what continent you're on! My delicious staple of Diet Coke.

This is a "Beef Pie". Oh my goodness....they love their pies! It's essentially a chicken pot pie idea, but with beef. Meg's friends there were shocked to find out this isn't something we "Americans" survive on during winter. They can't imagine living without PIES! They were like, "What do you eat in the winter?!?!? It didn't taste badly, but I didn't love it either. It's beef and gravy but tastes really salty and is packed with sodium. Tricky to read the nutrition labels there though as they list units of "energy".

After my first beef pie experience, we took a boat over to Rottnest Island which is completely a no vehicle island. Basically just a place to go hang out, have some lunch and take in the scenery. This is a picture of our glorious "chips". Instead of eating their "fries" with ketchup, which is of course common in the U.S. or even with ranch, they use either sour cream or mayo (Greek aleloi). At first we were a little grossed out, but turns out.....pretty tasty! Nothing like dipping a fried food in a vat of fat!

Along with our chips, we split this sandwich, which had chicken, cheese and avacado on it.

Our last morning in Perth, Meg and I went to breakfast and each had pear and cream stuffed french toast with strawberries. Uh-ma-zing!!!! So good!

This is Meg and a "Tim Tam". Oh my gawd. My sister LOVES these!!! She has since discovered them in the states and couldn't be happier about it really. It's a wafer cookie covered in chocolate and the protocol (which she is trying to show me in the above picture) is where you bite off opposing ends and suck coffee or hot tea through it and it becomes soggy and you put it in your melt where it essentially melts and goes directly on your hips. ;)

We had a day of wine and brewery touring....this is a pic of Meg with her Skippy Light beer at Elmer's. Really good.

Our last night in Perth, we went to dinner at "Must" with Meg's friend Crystal that she worked with and had some surprisingly great food. This was my dinner, which was actually an appetizer (and plenty of food) since the meals were like a bazillion dollars. It was a cheese tart, salad and the biggest piece of asparagus EVER.

City #2- Sydney, Australia:

After our first day of sight-seeing in Sydney, Meg and I found some AWESOME Italian food to share at "Giovanni's". Makes me hungry for pasta and pizza just looking at the pictures! Neither of us had any idea how much Italian food there is in Sydney! Insane amounts!! We split the above tortellini stuffed with sausage and had cream sauce and mushrooms and proscutto, as well as the sausage and pepperoni pizza below.

Day 2 of Sydney including a stop in Sydney Harbor for lunch. REALLY crappy service. There is not much motivation for servers or waiters to do a good job as there isn't any tipping in Australia or New Zealand. Anyway, Meg and I split some bruschetta and also had the above pictured sausage and sundried tomato penne, as well as the chicken crepes. Too much food honestly but we survived.

We did NOT have this while we were traveling abroad but we had to take a picture of the MegaMac! It was insane! Who eats 4 beef patties?! Australians apparently!

These are Singapore noodles. My sister was addicted to them while she lives in OZ. They are as good as they look.

Fish and "chips" are a beachside tradition on Mainly Beach so of course we checked them out.

This is actually from the winery we went to outside of Perth but we shared it with some take out pizza in our Sydney hotel room.

Speaking of pizza and crazy amounts of Italian food, Meg and I split this pizza and pasta our last night in Sydney. (Do you see what I'm saying about all the carb action?!) This food was good enough to fly back to Australia for and endure the 24 hour trip! We knew we were onto something when there was a line out the door when we got there. Our order was Four Seasons pizza and chicken spaghetti. We met a couple from Georgia. The ONLY other Americans we saw the whole time we were in OZ. They were super friendly.

City #3- Cairnes, Australia:

This was the spread we had on our boat while our snorkeling and scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. We had a lunch break and they had a buffet set up and it was good. If you can't tell from the picture, this was a slice of ham (Meg passed on it), a chicken leg (again, Meg said no thanks), pasta, salad, cold beets, potatos salad, couscous and a roll.

City #4- Queenstown, New Zealand-

Meg and I were PUMPED with the food in Queenstown after everything being pretty crazy expensive in Australia. Queenstown revealed itself to be a host to many backpackers and you could tell the town was catering to that fact. There were lots of lunch and dinner specials at various restaurants. We found this Thai restaurant our first day there and it was SO good and SO cheap. We split some spring rolls (including the carrot flower), as well as some fried rice and lo mein noodles.

Man, oh man. This was a BURGER! Queenstown is pretty small and everyone is always walking around checking out the shops and activity. We had been there for a couple days and walked by "Fergburger" a few times and no matter what time it was, it was ALWAYS packed! So on our last day in NZ, we got a burger and fry to split and it was AWESOME! I guess it's local to Queenstown and a local favorite. We enjoyed the burger on the patio and watched all the people walk by.

This last picture is from our last night in Queenstown. After the above mentioned burger earlier in the day, we did some window shopping and packed up for our long flight back to the states. While we were out shopping, one of the local girls working at a shop told us about a pizza place in the middle of town and RAVED about their pizza. We figured we should give it a try....when will we cross this way again, right? It was amazing....we ate it sitting on the beach looking at the water and mountains. Definitely a unique pizza but surprisingly tasty. On the pizza was chicken, green onion, brie, red pepper, and to dip there was chili sauce with pistacio sour cream. Very rich.

Now, don't worry...we have also sampled pretty much all of the gelato and ice cream shops in all of OZ and NZ. Not to mention the airplane food.....will mention that more when I tell about our CRAZY traveling experiences!

How cute are these?

2011-02-09T18:38:00.006-06:00

I was looking around on the ever-popular Pioneer Woman website and ran across this adorable, although potentially labor-intensive, recipe. I thought about making some tonight, but then I sat down and it seems like an terribly daunting task at this point. However, maybe someone else is up for the challenge? I would definitely like to do some Valentine's Day baking at some point this weekend for my sweet coworkers....also considering making these or just traditional frosted and decorated sugar cookies. We'll see what the week brings. Does anyone have any favorite Valentine's desserts? I always think you can't beat chocolate-covered strawberries....too bad they're not really in season! :(

Happy STF Anniversary!

2011-02-09T17:58:00.004-06:00

This morning I realized it's been two years since I started working at St. Francis. This blows my mind that two years have passed! I miss my Wichita friends, of course, and am grateful that I still see many of them fairly regularly! I am also grateful for the new friends I have made in Topeka. It seems hard to believe that two years ago I didn't know any of them.

So, how am I celebrating such a big event you might ask?! I'm having a meal tonight that I was probably pretty into when I was 8 or 9. A hot dog, cheetos and cottage cheese and diced peaches. Yum. Well, it's probably a little different than when I was a kiddo- it's a Hebrew brand hot dog. Not sure what's in it (probably don't wanna know) but my mom told me about them awhile back and I think they're pretty tasty. Can't go wrong for only 40 calories. And those glorious Cheetos are the baked kind but I really like 'em. And you wanna know the perfect way to have cottage cheese and peaches? Make sure the peaches are at room temperature and the cottage cheese is nice and cold. You'll thank me later.

Anyway, so on this day of celebration, it was the most crazy busy day in the history of the world. I am grateful. I will definitely not complain about overtime when I had an unexpected bill at the Ford shop yesterday when I had to buy a new air/vent/thingy that attaches to the engine and sucks air in. (Make sense? Yeah, me neither, but the people that know stuff tell me it's crucial to the engine.) Work definitely seems like a feast or famine kind of deal sometimes.....rarely is it just a steady, predictable caseload....which, in general I like. I really like how every day is different and it's dynamic and you constantly are "on" and having to think. I had a couple really tricky patients today and although they are challenging, it makes me go, "Oh yeah, that's why I do this." One of my VERY FAVORITE PATIENTS EVER is going home this weekend. He couldn't be more excited and I'm really happy for him but I'm really going to miss him!

In other breaking news, in case you happen to not live in the Midwest....it snowed. Again. Last night we got 4.5" of snow here and the meteorologist proudly reported that we have received 30" in the last month in Topeka. I'm sorry, but that's too much. I definitely find myself dreaming of warmer weather, grilling outside and even of mowing the grass! Gasp! Remind me I said that in a few months when I'm complaining about how much I hate to mow!

In further disturbance, one of K-State's main players is rumored to have failed a drug test and out for the rest of the b-ball seaon. Seriously guy?!?!?!? What a disappointment for a season where dreams were SO big! I'm not gonna stop cheering but I get so sick of trying to defend the team. If things get much worse, I might have to play in the match up against KU on Monday. Now that would be a game! Speaking of KU, has everyone seen the Flash Mob clip that is going around from the KU/MU game on Monday night? I absoultely LOVE a Flash Mob and thought this was pretty impressive!

Hope everyone had a Happy Hump Day! Countdown to the weekend is on!!

WW Chicken Pot Pie

2011-02-07T20:39:00.009-06:00

As I'm awaiting the snowfall tonight (seriously, I can't believe it's gonna snow again!), thought it seems like a good night to make this Weight Watcher dish that I think is pretty good. Here's the recipe if you wanna give it a try:

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

1 tsp butter

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. dried thyme, crushed

1/2 tsp. table salt (more to taste)

1/4 tsp. black pepper

2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

1 cup canned chicken broth

3 cups cooked chicken breast, chopped

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/2 cup fat-free evaporated milk, divided

Reduced-fat crescent roll dough, undivided

Preheat oven to 375' F. Coat a 10" round shallow baking dish with cooking spray.

Coat a large pot with cooking spray, add butter & melt over medium heat. Add onion & mushrooms and cook, until tender. Stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Stir in paprika, thyme, salt & pepper. Add vegetables, broth and chicken. Cover & simmer 15 minutes.

In a small cup, combine flour & 1/4 cup of evaporated milk, stir into chicken mixture. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly for approximately 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup evaporated milk & cooking until mixture is slightly thickened approximately 2-3 minutes more.

Spoon chicken mixture in baking dish. Bake approximately 15 minutes. Serves 6.

Resolution Check-In....

2011-02-07T14:05:00.011-06:00

At the beginning of the calendar year, I wrote 10 resolutions to work on, in order to improve my overall Michelle-ness. I am going to give an update, mainly to keep myself accountable. So, here's where I'm at with things so far.....

1. Hmm, well, I have DEFINITELY increased my use of reusable bags from 0% of the time to approximately 50% of the time. It's not an automatic yet but better, and my GIGANTIC pile of plastic bags under the kitchen sink is starting to decrease. Yea!

2. I have been actively working on complaining less.....still room for improvement. Been thankful for lots lately and lots of praying going on.

3. I'm back on track with my checkbook balancing. Hopefully I can keep this up.

4. Doing better with my niceness towards the fam (at least maybe a smidge better??) but I guess I'd have to check with them to see what they think?!

5. I have only been to church ONCE since the start of the year out of SIX Sundays. Epic fail. Granted, I was out of town a couple of them and worked a couple, but still....not good. I went to a church yesterday that I have been to before and made the decision that it's just not for me. Moving on.

6. Not so good....boo. Still fairly messy. I'm in a holding pattern of avoidance about it.

7. Regarding lessening my TV watching, I feel like I'm doing better and limiting how much I watch during the week. Thank goodness for my DVR! I have been making an effort to read more and read a few pages of a book each night before I go to sleep. Room for improvement here...

8. Um, need to continue working on less multi-tasking. I had several friends say "I think multi-tasking is a plus!".....well, in general, it's true....but I get to doing TOO many things at one time and get going in a frenzy! One instance of multi-tasking that didn't work out since I set this goal, was that I was shoveling my driveway and talking on my cell phone, put the phone in my pocket when I was done....it fell out and I buried it in snow! No worries though, I found it! :)

9. My sis and I have made plans to run in Wichita's 5K during the River Festival the first week of June. My friend Linds is planning on running too! Hopefully more friends will join us. My sis and I have actually started a weight loss competition that goes until then and whoever loses the biggest percentage by the time of the race will be the Biggest Loser! Hopefully there will be confetti like there is on the finale for the show! :)

10. Haven't found my cause yet, but still excited about this!

Super Bowl Weekend....and new (to me) recipes!

2011-02-07T11:48:00.023-06:00

This weekend FLEW BY! That could be largely associated with the fact that I worked Saturday, went to the gym Saturday and Sunday and spent most of the rest of the time at my parents' house.

Friday night I went to see "No Strings Attached" with a few friends. It was cute. Natalie Portman was funny- who knew she had that in her?! More vulgar than I was expecting for a little romantic-comedy but still a movie I would recommend.

I cooked dinner Saturday evening for my parents and cousin and tried a couple different recipes. I found this Laughing Cow Chicken recipe on Cara's blog. I LOVE Laughing Cow cheese and finding new ways to use it. So low in calories, but really tasty with crackers, pretzels, veggies, etc. I love trying new recipes and while not my favorite, would recommend you give it a shot. I also had made a Chocolate Chip Pound Cake Friday after work that I found on a blog of a friend of a friend. I made it to have a little dessert Saturday night, but ended up giving some to my friend's kids who shoveled my driveway last week as a thank you and then took the rest to work Saturday. You could say it was a hit. Definitely recommend it next time you want some serious chocolate!

Yesterday brought the SUPERBOWL! I went to my parents' house for the game. One of their friends, along with my cousin and my friend, Sharee, joined us. Sharee decided to cheer for the Steelers "cause she thinks their coach is cute and probably nice" so I got onboard with that plan....before realizing K-State's Jordy Nelson plays for the Packers. It was fun though since the Steelers' colors are black and yellow and there just so happens to be a song right now with that title.....so, for the majority of the game, you could hear us singing, "Black and yellow, black and yellow....". It turned out to be a close game, which is fun.....but I was a little disappointed with the commercials. :( I liked the Doritos ones the best....especially when the guy licked his co-worker's cheesy fingers. INAPPROPRIATE!!!! :)

Some of the biggest talk post-game is about how Christina Aguilera flubbed up the lyrics for the National Anthem. REALLY Christina?!?!?! I know some people think it's harsh to think she should sing it correctly, but I'm sorry....if you're going to be on national TV and it's the biggest professional sporting event of the year- YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN'T MESS IT UP! I know if they ask me to do it next year, I'll nail the lyrics!

Of course the best part of the Superbowl (well, for most girls) in addition to the ads, is the snacks! Sharee brought over two dishes, including a new recipe for a "Hot Seven Layer Dip" which was really tasty, as well as some BBQ weiners. Mmm. My mom also made a bunch of stuff (of course) and we ended up with a good variety of stuff.

Sharee and I got festive by dressing in our team's colors. Too bad for the Steelers I picked them to cheer for....as that usually doesn't tend to work out for whatever random team I pick. She even painted her nails in team colors!

Here are a couple other pictures from the evening....

As promised, I made my first veggie pizza, and it was pretty good too. There definitely was not a calorie shortage. I worked out hard yesterday in preparation and actually just hit the gym tonight after work. Whew! Getting back on track today after a treat-filled Sunday! :)

At the current moment, I am watching "Glee!" from last night and just made a Weight Watcher Chicken Pot Pie and I will share the recipe later (tonight hopefully). I made it once last winter when we had a chicken pot pie cook-off and I thought I posted about that, but I can't seem to find it. Oh well, I think it's post-worthy even if I have before. Low calorie and tasty!

Weekly Wrap-Up

2011-02-04T17:15:00.004-06:00

This week could largely be summarized by "brr!" and "snow!". I am trying to stay positive about the snow, but man, it's tough! I finally went to the gym yesterday morning after not going M-W, it felt good to go, but the temperatures are so crazy. On the way homefrom the gym, my car read -11 at 6:30 and it warmed up to a balmy +23 degrees on the way home from work....who else is ready for spring?! I have logged quite a bit of couch time this week and will have to report on how my resolutions are going, as some of them (watch less TV) took a hit during my hibernation! One BIG task that I did accomplish was that I ordered pictures from my sis and my Australia/New Zealand trip this week. Took me quite awhile to pick which ones I wanted!! Excited to get those in an album!

On an upnote, I am chipping away on my Pantry Project 2011 and getting more and more room in my freezer and cupboards! Hooray!

One nice surprise this week was that my friend's kids shoveled my LONG driveway while I was at work Wednesday! These are the same kiddos I referred to last weekend....in my head I was thinking, "It will be good for me to shovel....good exercise." But, I'm not going to lie, I was really excited to see that snow gone when I got home. Oh yeah, for all of you "snow day" people- the hospitals NEVER have snow days. Turns out, people still get sick even in crummy weather!

Things perked up yesterday when I went to my parents' house for dinner and my mom had made her homemade scalloped potatoes. SO GOOD! It's her mom's recipe and a treat we only have it seems like every few years. Made my day!

In a bit I'm going to meet friends and go see "No Strings Attached". Looks cute and who doesn't love Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher?!

I'm working tomorrow during the day and then going to log some time at the gym as I'm trying some new recipes at my parents' house tomorrow night (more on that later!) AND looking forward to watching the Superbowl (okay, let's be honest, the commercials) on Sunday. I amtaking a veggie pizza to my parents' house for the game and PUMPED about using my new food processor that I got at Christmas (first time use!) to chop veggies for it. I've actually never made this recipe, but it makes me think of my college roommate Katie because she introduced me to it our junior year of college. She made it to take to the K-State game at Nebraska that we road-tripped to and I thought it was the BEST THING EVER! Shockingly, I have never made the popular recipe but excited to try it.

Hope everyone has a warm weekend with family and friends!

This dinner is brought to you by: Jenny!

2011-01-31T21:24:00.008-06:00

My awesome friend Jenny gave me a pre-made bean soup mix in a mason jar, including the spices, and tonight seemed like the perfect winter night to use it. Add a piece of cornbread and it made a great warm meal! Thanks J-Bomb!! You're the best! :)

Step #1: Admire the pretty beans in the jar.

Step #2: Rinse the beans off in a colander...

Step #3: Cook the beans in the microwave covered in water for 15 minutes.....

Step #4: After rinsing the beans again, put them in a pot, add 8 cups of water, the spice packet and a can of diced tomatoes and you will soon have a million servings of soup!!

Step #5: Enjoy! :)

Who needs a snow day, when we've got cookies?!

2011-01-31T21:04:00.003-06:00

So, tonight it's cold and icy and gross out.....what else are you supposed to do but make cookies to take to work to get through the fact that hospitals never have snow days?! I found this recipe on a blog that is great! Cara shares tons of recipes and actually gets to cook for a living as a high school cooking teacher. I bet the school kitchen has tons of interesting sights with lots of learning taking place! Anyway, I tried one (just to make sure they're okay) and I am a fan. I think whenever you combo peanut butter, chocolate chips and M&M's....things are going to work out!Hopefully my friends at work feel the same. :)

Good help isn't so hard to find....

2011-01-29T15:27:00.017-06:00

This afternoon I have the pleasure of hanging out with one of my friend's kids....it's a mighty group with spirited personalities! I love spending time with these guys and they are really into the helping mood!

We are all VERY excited for the big K-State/KU match-up tonight. I actually went to my parents' house this morning and had pancakes and watched College Gameday. There is a lot of purple going on! So, the kiddos showed up this afternoon full of energy and ready to help decorate cupcakes for the game tonight. They did a great job helping! They all wanted to do the K-State ones. ;)

After the kitchen duties, they were still itching for more stuff to do....and my dad had told me to shovel the sidewalk before it snows again next week. I'm not one to deny him a task (I know...I'm generous).....but Lutey did it with no complaint!

Geo noticed that my table was dusty so she did some dusting of it and my glass tray. She does FINE work and informed me that she can clean my house, "no problem, just call my mom."

I had picked up two more dining room chairs last week at NFM and still hadn't put them together....man do kids love sorting screws and bolts and nuts! Such good help!

After all the hard work, they relaxed with some popsicles, Snow White, played in the snow and we also did our nails. Way more productive afternoon than I would have predicted! Good luck to the Cats tonight!!

Over stocked...

2011-01-28T19:49:00.008-06:00

The other day I came home from work and was absolutely sick of my kitchen pantry and the lack of organization that is going on in there! Turns out I have FOURTEEN cans of soup....btw, I don't have any roommates or anyone else living here. I, Michelle, am a soup hoarder. It's out of hand all of the non-perishable items that I have collected in the year and a half of living here. Wouldn't be a problem if I had a massive pantry like some folks, but my teeny space just can't keep up. Here's what happens....I buy stuff thinking that "might be good sometime" or "that's on sale, I'll buy 3" or "I should buy soup in case they stop selling it." What ultimately happens is that I buy things I know I like and I eat those instead of whatever other stuff I already have at home. For example, I have a freezer full of Lean Cuisines to "try" that I now think sound SICK!

I am envoking the Great Cupboard Clean-Out of 2011 at my house. This means, I am not going to buy an more non-perishable items at the store until these are gone....going to see how long it lasts but I am guessing probably for most of February. I am still going to buy fresh fruits and veggies and dairy products as I run out of those, but I'm going to clean this place up! I would really like to decrease how much processed foods I rely on for quick and easy things and start doing more natural foods.

Hopefully this will result in thoughtful meal planning, equally weight loss, more pantry space and a smaller grocery budget! :)

Here are a few pictures to show the massive quantities that I'm talking about....

My pantry with all of the following foods taken out....there's no room!

A sweet drawer for a sweet tooth...

2011-01-26T18:25:00.003-06:00

I am seemingly always trying to eat healthy, lose weight and make good food choices.....and along with that, I need something SWEET in my life! I have developed a sweets drawer in my bar area and don't really have many other sweet treats in my house (with the exception of recently delivered Girl Scout cookies). This candy is not something that I have purchased to "just have around" but nevertheless it's on my property. It's mostly from leftover bunko snacks people have left when they have hosted at my house, my Christmas stocking, etc. It is not realistic for me to resist them all together as some people can with their crazy strong will power (Linds)....as that would be setting myself up for a binge of sweetness at some point down the road. So, I have developed the rule that if I am really craving something sweet, I can go get THREE and three only, pieces of candy. I have to eat them in the other room in a civilized fashion, not cramming them in my mouth as fast as I can over the drawer.....and then after that if I think I want more, I make myself really think about how badly I want them. It's working well so far! Nice little bit of sweetness at the end of a meal but I'm not committing to a bunch of calories! Wish me luck that this "program" continues with success. :)

Show Us Your Singles- Dallas Style!

2011-01-25T19:51:00.014-06:00

So, I heard through a friend about a blog called Kelly's Korner. It's widely popular all over the country and rightfully so, she does a great job. Anyway, last week she did a post for people that are singles or who have single friends. She did it previously and there are three couples that have come from that, including two engagements. I thought that was really awesome that those connections happened through a blog post, and I thought, who better to write about than my baby sister Megan?! Here goes...

Meg (as I call her) recently turned 27 and has been in the Dallas area for several years. She is a CPA by trade; more specifically an auditor. This keeps her pretty busy during the accounting season and since she moves around to different sites and rarely works with the same people, it's difficult to make connections......so I thought I would do it for her!

Meg (on the left) and me in New Zealand...

Megan grew up in Kansas and still bleeds purple for our K-State Wildcats where she got both her bachelors and Masters degrees. She is an athletic, kind, funny and smart girl....oh yeah, and beautiful!! Whoever ends up with my sis will be one lucky guy!

Meg by the Opera House in Sydney....

My sister enjoys going to concerts, spending time with friends and traveling. She recently worked abroad in Australia for three months and I was lucky to get to go visit her and travel a bit when she was done. It was such a great experience together!

Meg and me in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge...

I could go on for days, but that's a little snippet about my sis- love you Meg! :)

Meg and me before the K-State vs. North Texas in Dallas this fall...

Non-Wedded Bliss....

2011-01-23T21:50:00.003-06:00

So....I don't typically write about dating....nor do I plan on making it a habit, but just need to vent about how tough it can be! It's such a complicated and complex process that I think only gets more difficult. I'm fairly particular when it comes to what I want AND don't want in a person, but there are really only a few things that I am strict about. I wouldn't say I am picky (some may disagree) but I just know what I'm looking for and there are certain things I won't compromise on. Not that I don't love what I've got going on in life and at times really value being single and the freedom that comes with that, but dating can be a daunting task!

Anyway, I went out with a guy last weekend that I had met through a month membership of one of the dating websites. I've done them before and had some rocky encounters but this guy seemed promising and it was actually a really good time! We even talked about how he had a crummy date the night before and how much fun he was having. And he said he would call. And he didn't. Not the end of the world. Obviously not the right guy for me if he's going to do that.....but SO FRUSTRATING! Why go through the antics of acting interested and saying you're going to do something if you're not going to? Life will go on and I'll meet my Mr. Right sometime, but I'm so sick of having to deal with all these frogs in the meantime!

Another example of poor behavior....a good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) met a guy, went out for drinks with him, and he goes as far as setting a day and specifies a location where they should go to a movie the following week and leaves it as, "I'll call you." And.....he doesn't! And she doesn't hear from him again. WHAT THE TRUCK!?!

Now, I know that there could be other things going on with these guys or things that change in their life, but bottom line, "He's Just Not That Into You" and that stinks. I try to stay excited about meeting my prince, but geeze, life makes it tough! Any words of wisdom on where to meet the guys that are worthwhile?!

Wedded Bliss

2011-01-23T21:33:00.004-06:00

One of my BFFs got married this weekend in KC and I had the pleasure of being her Maid of Honor...Tisharria and I played basketball together in high school and have been friends ever since. She married a cutie pa' tootie Reis....they are so sweet and he is so kind to her. Definitely sweet to see. I only teared up a couple times during the wedding and once was when he was crying during his vows. T made an excellent choice in Reis and I'm very excited for them! Congrats you two love birds! :)

Holiday Baking

2011-01-10T11:04:00.018-06:00

Perhaps a bit late, but wanted to share a couple new things I tried in the world of baking over the holidays with my family....both are treats that I would recommend.

I have had my mom's breadmaker for quite awhile but have never used it. My friend Sarah has the same one and uses it a lot. She frequently makes cinnamon rolls for her kids and I thought it would be good to learn how to do it. So, she showed me and I replicated my lesson the day after Christmas for my family. I ended up using cream cheese in the frosting, which surprisingly, I didn't care for....but the rolls were pretty good!

Also, a few days before Christmas, my sis said she was really wanting some homemade bread pudding. I have never made it, but our grandma did frequently and we LOVED it! I know it's not a dessert that everyone would probably like (for those that don't like desserts without chocolate....ahem, Kylie), but it brings up lots of good memories of growing up and sneaking a bite of it from our grandma's stove. :) So, I found a recipe online and tried it out. We didn't put the sauce over it, but maybe would try that another time. We ate it Chrismas evening while we watched "The Holiday"....will definitely make it again sometime. But we won't have it anytime soon as my sis and I are having a Biggest Loser battle that started this week.....more on that soon....

Resolutions for 2011

2011-01-01T22:22:00.003-06:00

Welcome 2011! Today is 1-1-11. Craziness. As many people do, as we bring in this new year, I am in the mood of reflecting, processing, and contemplating my life, as well as what I can do to improve it as we are given this fresh start in a new calendar year. I feel like 2010 was a good year for me and have many blessings to be thankful for. Here are some resolutions I've made for the upcoming year. Hypothetically, I would like to check back to them a few times during the year and see how I'm doing. I couldn't narrow it down to one or two. Perhaps I think if I make enough of them, then my odds are higher at meeting a couple of them. Hope everyone is pleased with 2011 so far (it's been 22.5 hours as I write this). My best to you all. xoxo

1. I will remember to take my reusable bags into Dillons. I am chronically a failure when it comes to this. I will do better.
2. Complain less. Be thankful more. Pray more.
3. Keep my checkbook more balanced-ish. Used to be SO good at this but haven't been so good since vacation this fall. Should be an easy fix. Should be.
4. Be kinder to my parents and sister. Might be hard to believe, but I can be perfectly, downright unpleasant. It's true. And in my world, I'm the harshest with those I love the most.
5. Find a local church that I am excited about and get involved!
6. Keep my office/craft room more organized. (It's somewhat my "Monica's closet" for you Friends fans.)
7. Read more. Watch less TV.
8. Less multi-tasking. More focusing on a single task wholeheartedly.
9. Run in an official 5K race.
10. Find a volunteer mission I'm passionate about....suggestions welcome.

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-28T21:49:00.004-06:00

Hope you each had a perfect holiday with your family. I got to spend time with my sister and parents and am thankful for it! Hope 2011 brings joy and peace to everyone!

Meg hosts Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-01T21:03:00.009-06:00

I cannot believe today is December 1st! Last week I was lucky to get a few days off so my parents and I could go to see my sister in Dallas for Thanksgiving. Proud to say my sis made some awesome food, we got to hang out in her place, do some Black Friday shopping and even got to go to the K-State vs. North Texas football game. Great weekend and so glad to see Meg!

Meg's beautiful table....via Michaels.

Mom and the turkey!

Me with the host....
Meg and Dad at the K-State pre-game party in Denton.

Meg and me at the pre-party. Go State! :)

Oldies but goodies....

2010-11-15T16:35:00.012-06:00

This weekend I got to see some of my favorite people....my college roommates (minus Julie). These girls know me better than the majority of people on the planet and I really MISS them! Living together several years in college, you go through the good, the bad and the crazy. We don't get to see each other as often since I moved back to Topeka, but we had a great weekend of shopping, eating and even saw "Life as We Know It" (such a good movie!). It was a great time relaxing before the holiday season and before Kylie has baby #3!

Now, my friends aren't the oldies, but we went to an antique mall together Saturday afternoon and saw (and smelled) LOTS of oldies to buy. I absoultey LOVED it and had to constantly resist the urge to buy everything! I took a few pictures for laughs and of my ONE purchase. I will remember this afternoon fondly. Take a glance at the great stuff we found and somehow managed to pass on buying.

Lindsay kindly poses with "the cart". As a group we maybe bought six items, but we hauled that cart all over the store and you could definitely not lose the person who was pushing it. It was definitely not "quiet."

Who wouldn't want these creepy feet salt and pepper shakers on their table?! Um, not me!

Now, this hoof on a plaque is so versatile.....it could go in any room of the house! Temptation isle- I had to walk away before I bought it. ;)

Katie modeling the dress she found to wear to Lindsay and my future weddings....she will look so fancy!!!

Three pretty ladies in one of the booths....please note the "Merry Christmas" decorations strung above their heads. They are stamps mini pie tins. Our brief plan was to go buy a bazillion pot pies and eat the beJesus out of them and stamp 'em up so we too could have our own beautiful decorations. Alas, we got distracted and our master plan did not come to fruition. Maybe next time!!!

Me in front of the mall with my prized possession!

My new kitchen decoration!! :)

Chicken Spaghetti Cook-Off 2010!

2010-11-11T19:59:00.007-06:00

Some of my friends at work decided that we should have a chicken spaghetti cookoff this fall. They also decided that we should have it at my house....I said that was fine, but that I didn't want to compete....wouldn't be fair since I would win. :) Just kidding!

I was in a contests of sorts last spring for chicken pot pie...it wasn't as official as this set up though! This cookoff involved a ballot box and voting- very official! A few other folks brought over some salad, some others bread....and I made a few desserts. Needless to say, there was plenty of food! Congrats to Kristen for her victory; her chicken spaghetti involved some Velveeta and rotel. There was already some discussion sarted for the next cookoff...chili this winter! Mmm!

Leslie, one of the cooks, dishing up some pasta!!

The whole gang....

Sharee, aka "Peachy" and me, counting up the votes....

The peanut butter fudge bars, banana-sour cream cake and carrot bars...

Go State!

2010-10-25T18:14:00.003-05:00

I love, love, love the K-State Wildcats and am excited to have recently received a cute little vase to help me display my love for the Cats. My parents were at Nell Hill's a few weeks ago and my dad picked out this little gift for each my sis and me to show our purple love. It's basically a bunch of purple test tubes wrapped together, and with some white flowers, it looks pretty festive! Excited to go to K-State games the next couple of weeks! :)

It must be fall...

2010-10-25T18:07:00.003-05:00

So far this autumn season, I have used my favorite recipe for pumpkin bread twice and LOVE it! It is now on the black list of foods to not have in my house (along with Oreos, Doritos and Nutella) cause I want to eat the WHOLE loaf! But, for those of you with willpower, I thought I would share the recipe. I made it recently when my sister and I returned home from our trip (more on that later) since Meg requested, pleaded and begged that I make her some. We also like to add chocolate chips for extra sweetness. Give it a try!

Australia/New Zealand Trip....The Details:

2010-10-18T14:54:00.069-05:00

Well, I started writing this blog post over a week ago before I went back to work, but life distracted me and I haven't got it done. So, here we go again....It has been two weeks ago today that I got home with my little sis in tow after two weeks in Australia and New Zealand. Megan worked in Perth, Australia (on the West coast) for 3 months. She is an auditor and her accounting firm has a branch there, so she participated in their exchange program. When Meg finished working at the end of September, I flew over to travel with her.

I wrote down everything as we traveled and I'm glad I did since it was so busy, I would have had trouble remembering everything. I am going to write up our trip before I forget it, definitely way more than anyone on the planet wants to hear about, but I think that someday I'll want to look back and remember all the details of our amazing trip. So, here is the long and dirty version:

Wednesday, September 29th-

My dad drove me to the KC airport to catch a 1:00 flight to Dallas. First hiccup of the trip was when I was getting through check-in, it was realized I didn't have the necessary Visa to go into Australia. Yep, you need a Visa to go there even for tourism, not just to study or work. So, with a quick call to Australia, she got me fixed up so I would be able to enter the country.

After flying to Dallas, I had a two hour layover before heading to Los Angeles and while walking around, I discovered Cereality, a cereal bar like an ice cream shop. I didn't try anything, but will have to next time.

LA greeted me with a 4-hour layover where I ate some crummy Chinese food and anxiously awaited my 14-hour flight to Sydney.

The flight for Sydney left at 10:30 pm from LA. I was SO tired and basically got on the plane and fell asleep. During the flight, they served two meals, a snack and passed water/juices all night. I probably slept on and off for the first half of the flight, woke up and was convinced that we were almost there...bummer that we still had 7 hours to go! Thankfully, there were about 60 movies offered and the chairback in front of everyone had a personal screen. The guy next to me slept so hard most of the flight! He might have rested his head on my shoulder for awhile....awkward.

There was a 2-hour layover in Sydney, during which I had to RUSH through customs, baggage and the quarantine station....slight hold up there was that they are super strict with rules about bringing anything into the country. I checked "yes" that I had food with me, as I had some trail mix....a term they weren't familiar with and I had several people ask me if I had beef jerky in it??? Um, no.

On the last leg of my trip over to Perth, I had a 5-hour flight from Sydney with a choice of 10 movies. It seemed very short comparatively to the 14-hour journey.

I landed in Perth about 11 am on Friday, October 1st...my precious baby sister arrived close to noon. She got caught at work, while understandable, not impressive to someone who was on a plane for 24 hours. Nevertheless, I went to her apartment and napped for four hours. After my sleep, we got ready and met up with her coworkers for one last Friday night happy hour at Fire & Ice, then went to dinner at Han's with her friend Crystal, followed by a drink with a few other friends before calling it an early night before our day of playing tourists Saturday.

Saturday, October 2nd-

Thanks to some jetlag, 8:00 brought rise and shine for me, so we got up and headed to King's Park....a really beautiful park in Perth with great views of the city.

After looking around the park, we took the train to Freo and strolled around the town. We hit up a chocolate shop or a mid-morning churro and milkshake, followed by a quick walkabout through the markets.

We got ferry tickets to go to Rottnest Island, which is about 30 minutes away and is very isolated from the rest of the world. No cars, just bikes and people walking around. Very laid back, with a few restaurants and some camp grounds. We rented bikes and rode around or about two hours. Very fun!

Around 4:30 we caught the ferry back to Freo, then took the train back to Meg's apartment, followed by a teeny nap so I would be rested for our night our with Megan's friends.

Meg and I wen to Julio's for an Italian dinner before going to her friend Crystal's apartment with a few friends. After that, we ventured out on the town and had a great time!

Sunday, October 3rd-

Megan and I were up about 9:00 and did some packing as it was our last day in Perth. We went to brunch at a restaurant by Meg's office building, which was great! We both had pear and cream stuffed fresh toast with strawberries and a side of bacon. On the way leaving, we walked through the farmers market and got a almond chocolate croissant for the road and also went in the grocery store so Meg could buy some of her beloved Tim Tam's...one of her favorite Australian treats, a wafer cookie.

The afternoon was a bit of a mess. We went to the airport to check one of Meg's bag unaccompanied back to Dallas to save her cash and it wasn't an easy task! They were closed on Sundays, but thankfully someone was able to come in after about an hour and get it done for her.

From there, we headed for Swan Valley, which is where we went to find the wineries, chocolate shop and a brewery. Well, it didn't go so swimmingly since we didn't have a map and we got a bit turned around. I was perhaps not a very kind sister, but we found it!

We hit up the chocolate shop and did a tasting of the different flavors of candy. Mmm. We didn't buy anything, as the candy bars are about $12 each. Um, no thanks. We ventured on to the winery where we each paid $2.50 to taste nine wines. Our final stop was to the local brewery in Swan Valley where we split some "hot chips" aka, fries....and had a beer.

About 5:30, we zoomed over to Caudleslow, where there are supposedly world famous sunsets. Wouldn't you know it, it was cloudy?! :( And it was cold...but it was still pretty!After the sunset, we picked up Crystal for a last dinner in Perth and went to "Must". A lovely time with great food.

About 10:00, we returned to Meg's apartment to pack and clean a bit, and finally arrived at our CREEPY motel by the airport at 11:15. Thankfully we were only there one night. Not a good sign when you feel like you should wear your flip flops in the shower. Ew.

Monday, October 4th-

Ugh, up at 5:30 and showered. Left for the airport at 6:00 and returned the rental car. At 8:00 we flew from Perth to Sydney. We lost 3 hours with the time zones, we actually arrived at 3:00, took the airport shuttle to the hotel.

After a quick change of clothes from our travels, we went to "The Rocks" area to explore, as well as Sydney Harbor. We went to the visitors Center and got lots of tourist info.

We ended up at Giovanni's for dinner where we split a sausage/pepperoni pizza and tortellini stuffed with sausage, with cream sauce and mushrooms/proscuitto. Tasty.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and crashed early.

Tuesday, October 5th-

We got up at 8:00, bought a little 24-hour internet at the hotel to get reconnected to the outside world a bit after almost a week without. Eeeek!

At 9:00 we headed for the infamous Opera House Tour; no tours starting until 10:30 so we walked through the nearby Botanical Gardens for 45 minutes. It was hot and humid! Definitely more trees/shrubs than flowers, but very pretty.

10:30 was the start of the hour long Opera House tour. Really amazing! The internationally known building was completed in 1973 after 16 years of building and a 103 million dollar budget, which was initially set for 3 years and 9 million dollars. Oops. A Danish architect designed it and it is the biggest site of tourism in Australia.

At 12:00, we ate lunch at a restaurant on the harbor. Afterwards, we bought some post cards and mailed them in the city before we took a harbor cruise. It went all around the harbor and gave the history, including the Darling Harbour.

After the harbor tour, we took another ferry over to Darling Harbour where we went to the Sydney Aqaurium...it was neat, but probably not worth the $35 each. We took an excessive number of fish pictures and learned lots of random facts, including that the male seahorses carry their babies. Post aqaurium, we walked around the harbour and got some chinese take away to eat while we hung out people watching....nice ending to a full day.

Wednesday, October 6th-

Rise and shine at 6:30 to get ready for our 7:45 pick up for our tour of The Blue Mountains. Such an amazing day trip! We're so glad we did it. It started out with a stop at the Featherdale Zoo where we got to pet koalas, kangaroos, penguins, etc. Lots of pictures!

After seeing all the cute animals, we went to a park where our tour guide showed us how to throw a boomerang...it was tough!!

About 10:30 we continued to head into The Blue Mountains, which is a range West of Sydney. We went to a lookout, where it was initially cloudy, but it quickly cleared and was gorgeous! They took us to the country club and served lunch. From there, we went on the scenic railway, saw The Three Sisters and the rainforest at the bottom of the mountains. After a quick stop at the candy store we went by the site of the 2000 Olympic Games before taking a ferry back to Sydney harbor to finish up the tour.

Since it was a full day, we grabbed some take away from "George's on Jackson," a restaurant not far from our hotel, went by the grocery for snacks for an upcoming beach day, and we went to the hotel room and had dinner with wine we bought at the winery in Perth.

Thursday, October 7th-

This was definitely one of our more low-key days on the trip. We went to the Paddy Markets and looked around at ALL the stuff they had, incluidng an outfit I bought for Halloween to be a geisha girl. I also bought a sundress....couldn't resist.

Things went very wrong as we were leaving the markets, we saw a man unloading skinned goats onto a cart in the street in Chinatown. My sister, a pseudo-vegetarian, was mildly traumatized. Possibly ended her days of eating in any Chinatown....ever.

The afternoon brought another ferry trip; this time to Manly Beach, which is one of the famous beaches in Sydney. We had heard from several people about a fish and chips place on the beach, so we got that and found a sport to hang out. Unfortunately, it was SUPER cold and windy. :( We were looking forward to a day of sun, but not meant to be. We called it a day early and headed back to the hotel hot tub!

For our last night in Sydney, we got spruced up and went out on the town for dinner. We found a German bar we a great bartender and each had a lemon beer before going to a FANTASTIC Italian dinner in The Rocks area. We met the only other Americans we found on our trip while in Australia...a little older couple from Georgia. Very nice.

Friday, October 8th-

Another early morning....we got up at 6:30 to get the airport. Our flight for Cairnes left from Sydney at 9:00 and arrived at 11:15. We got picked up by our hostel shuttle and checked in to the room at our first hostel ever at 12:30.

We quickly booked a tour of the rainforest there as it is one of the "to see" places in Australia....we caught a shuttle to the Skyrail at 1:30 and took a gondola up to the top, then took the train back to town. We arrived at the train station at 5:30, then we looked around the town, including the pool and coast.

We ate at Outback Jack's for dinner...mmm! We returned to our hot and humid hostel room about 7:30. We paid $1 for 3 hours of air conditioning in the room. Called it an early night before our big day on The Great Barrier Reef the next day...

Saturday, October 9th-

What a fun day!! We got picked up at 7:15 by The Reef Experience shuttle for a day on the ocean! We were taken to the dock and were greeted on the boat with breakfast. There were about 40 people on the boat and 10-15 crew members. We had an intro to ship safety and rode approximately an hour to the first dive sport. A marine biologist did a presentation on the reef. We had an intro to scuba diving lesson and had our first intro dive into scuba diving. It was definitely scary at first, but our guide was great and stayed with us the whole time. We went all the way to the bottom of the ocean; about 6 meters.

After scuba diving, we ate lunch before going to a second spot. We snorkeled for 30-45 minutes. They served wine, crackers and cheese on the way home and we relaxed on the roof of the ship. I missed some sunscreen on my chest and shoulders, which resulted in some burning. Oops. :(

We returned to shore about 4:00, we walked around Cairnes, and returned to our hostel about 5:30 to get cleaned up. We walked around for an hour looking for somewhere we wanted to go for dinner....and ended up settling on chinese at the food court. After dinner, we went to a bar and had a beer before going home to bed....exhausted after a long, but fun day!!

Sunday, October 10th-

Sadly, it was our last day in Australia! :( . This day was essentailly lost to travel. We got packed up in the morning and checked out of the hostel at 1o:00 before our 1:00 flight to Brisbane. We left Brisbane at 5:15 for Auckland; in that process, we lost 3 hours in the time change. Our flight didn't land in Auckland until midnight and by the time we got through customs and got our bags and to the hotel, it was 1:30. It was a Holiday Inn and only about a year old. By far the best beds, pillows, sheets and comforters ever in the history of the world!

Monday, October 11th-

Too bad that we only got to stay in the best hotel ever for about six hours. We had to get up about 8:00 to catch our flight to Queenstown. Auckland is on the North Island and Queenstown is a popular tourist spot on the South Island.

We landed in Queenstown about 1:00 and took the airport shuttle to the hostel there. It was really nice and seemed like a very clean dorm with two twin beds and a shower/toilet in our room. We walked around town and found a $10 lunch special at a Thai restaurant. Pretty good and cheap!

After we ate, we went to Bob's Peak Gondola and it had the most amazing views!

That evening we tried to cash in on the free dinner they served in the hostel and about 7 minutes after they started serving, they were out of pasta. So, we hit the streets and found half-price pizza across from our hostel...split that and two Diet Cokes for only $20. Pretty good for New Zealand prices!

Post-dinner, we walked around and found where we needed to go for our tours on Wednesday.

Tuesday, October 12th-

Up and at 'em at 6:30 or our day trip to Milford Sound. We had the most amazing day and enjoyed really beautiful scenery! It was four hours each way and Meg managed to sleep about half of the time on the bus. About 10:30, we stopped for a coffee break....well, I bought water and chips while the rest of the planet had coffee.

After our pit stop we ventured onto Milford Sound. We made several stops on the way to take pictures, incluidng looking at The Chasm and Mirror Lakes.

At 1:00 we arrived in Milford Sound and got on our ship for the day. We had picnic lunches including with our trips and it was SO amazing!! We saw penguins, seals, dolphins, waterfalls and had a great time.

About 4:00 our ship returned so we got back on the tour bus, where Meg promptly fell asleep for 2 hours. We got to Queenstown about 8:15 that night and went to "The World Bar" to redeem our coupons for free beer from our hostel and had some dinner. We felt super old as most of the folks there were the 18-year-old backpackers. What a life they have! Hang out all day and go out at night....

Wednesday, October. 13th-

We were up and showered at 8:15 in order to meet up for the Segway Tour at 9:45. Two other people were on the tour; a couple on their honeymoon from the North Island. The guide showed us how to use them, then we had an hour and a half tour of the town. We went up and down hills, through gardens, played disc golf and went around the lake. I screamed for a good portion of it.

At noon we rushed over to get picked up for our "Skippers Canyon" Jetboat Tour. It was an hour drive to the canyon, about half an hour on the water and it was very fun! Another hour back to Queenstown.

We got back to town and shopped a bit, ate at Fergberger, which is a local burger joint that is really popular and so good! We split a burger and fries.

Later that afternoon, we walked by the bay, grabbed a couple $2.50 beers and looked at the shops. For our last evening in New Zealand, we split a pizza from Winnie's....a favorite pizza place of locals and ate by the bay.

We returned to the hotel to pack up and ended up watching "The Dutchess" and sadly couldn't sleep until 11:00....flight early the next day!

Thursday, October 14th-

Up at 7:15 and enjoyed the free breakfast at the hostel. PBJ! We got picked up at 8:15 by the airport shuttle. Meg ended up paying $80 in overages fees for the checked bag weight. We dodged a lot of potential charges throughout our travels for overages in baggage weight!!

We landed in Auckland about 11:30 and drama ensued when there were two Megans booked for the flight to LA and no Michelle. It took over half an hour to find out that was the hold up, and eventually it was sorted out, but I was stressed out! We finally boarded our 12 flight from Auckland to LA at 2:30 New Zealand time and arrived at 6:30 am to LAX. Meg didn't sleep at all, but I managed about 3 hours.

At 9:30, we flew out of LA to go to Dallas and got there 2:30 Central Time. At 5:20, we left Dallas for the very last leg of the trip and got to Kansas City about 7:00. Our parents picked us up and we went to a bar in Zona Rosa for dinner and to watch K-State beat KU in the football game.

What a great trip....memories that Meg and I will always treasure. I'm so thankful we were able to have this time together and can't wait until our next trip!

Meg and me at Milford Sound in New Zealand...

Wow! Ten years already?!

2010-09-13T20:48:00.010-05:00

This weekend was my ten year reunion for my high school. I cannot believe it has been TEN years! I helped with putting the reunion together and as good as it was to see everyone, I'm glad it's done!! Friday night, we were supposed to watch our Topeka West football team get beat, I mean play, Manhattan High School. They suspended the game 3 minutes in due to lightning, so we headed to a local bar early and had about 50 people turn out.

This is me with the other girls in my class that were on the basketball team when we won state my senior year- Kelly, Casey and Tammy. Two other girls in my class were on the team, but weren't there that night. Tammy and I actually played basketball together ever since we learned in third grade. That's a LONG time!

This couple is Andrea and Jesse Razak....they have essentially been dating since our days at Landon middle school in 7th grade. They're married now and have a little boy and Andrea recently joined the bunko group that I play in here in town.

This is me and my friend Alex....we went to school from preschool through graduation; until we parted ways for KSU/KU respectively.

Saturday night, we had an appetizers and bar at a hotel in town and had about 60 people show up. Some people came who I am still friends with and see on a regular basis, but there were others there that I literally had not seen in 10 years. So, lots of chatting and some drinks and mission accomplished. Can't wait to see what the next 10 years brings for my fellow TW alumn.

Here's my friend Lacey with her husband Chad. Lacey is one of my closest friends from high school and fortunately we are both in Topeka now so I get to see her some, including bunko nights! They recently welcomed their second little boy, so they are busy parents!

This is a picture of Casey and her husband Matt and our friend Kelly.

Here's me with Jacob, who came in for the reunion from Atlanta and actually helped out quite a bit with planning. It had been a long time since I had seen him! Good to catch up.

This is one of my best friends from high school, Tisharria, and her fiancee, Reis. She was also on the basketball team (she basically was our team) and we're still good friends. Great to get to know her fiancee a bit better; seems like a keeper. :)

Labor of Love

2010-09-11T17:00:00.006-05:00

This past Labor Day weekend was spent by my family at a wedding in KC. My sister flew in from Australia to be a bridesmaid to the bride, one of her best friends from KSU. It was an absolutely perfectly gorgeous day for a wedding and it was really lovely. I'm so glad we got to see Meg and help Libbie and Dru celebrate their marriage.

Me and Meg
With my family....
Meg and me with the bride Libbie. Congrats!

Road trip to Mmm....

2010-08-26T22:05:00.010-05:00

This week some of my good friends at work (who all happen to root for the Jayhawks) and I took a little drive over to Manhattan for dinner at So Long Saloon. This bar/restaurant was a favorite when I went to K-State and judging by the crowds Wednesday night, it's still doing pretty well. My KU friends haven't been to Manhattan very much, except Leslie who lives between Topeka and Manhattan....and Jenny's daughter is a senior on the cross country team there. Anyway, I'm so glad we made the trip and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great place to stop in Aggieville for good food.

Leslie and Kristen

Jenny, Sarah, and me

We had to wait for about 10 minutes for a table so we decided to order a drink....I asked for Old Style and pinnapple, since that's what we drank there in college. My sister and I LOVED this combo! The bartender sadly informed me they don't carry Old Style anymore since it has went up in price, but now mix pinnapple juice with Old Milwaukie and they call it a Nancy. We all had one and loved it! Just as good as I remember.

A couple of reasons we went there are for their fried pickles and the black bean raspberry dip. Both are really good and super popular! We split some of each and enjoyed an evening out of Topeka. I look forward to going again sometime soon. Visiting Manhattan makes me really excited for the upcoming football season!! Go Cats!! :)

7:30-

7:32

Before:

After:

The day my parents bought pork chops at Sam's.....

2010-08-22T21:46:00.012-05:00

My mom casually mentioned that my parents had went to Sam's this weekend. She said they happened to get a "good deal" on some pork chops there. Well, if you have ever been to Sam's, you understand that they sell in bulk. And lots of it. I think my parents forget they don't have 18 children. Whoops.

My cousin Jennifer recently moved here from Denver and I mentioned we were grill some pork chops at my house tonight for dinner so she should join us. I had no idea what I was promising. Jenn came over and shortly after my parents show up with the better half of a pig. Holy moly. Their idea was that we would have dinner tonight and then all have leftovers. Granted, my dad didn't grill all of them (some were saved for the freezer), but it was slightly overwhelming and I think Jennifer was like, what kind of family do I have in Kansas?!

In addition to the chops, I grilled some veggies and we had baked potatoes. Turns out, we needed a spare plate for the chops....what a mess! We discussed how in fancy restaurants, they give you a nice little side for plate for bread or salad. Apparently when you eat at my house, you get a Pork Plate since all of our pork wouldn't fit on the main plate. Geeze!

Anyway, thanks for dinner Dad (tonight and for the rest of the week!). Welcome to Kansas Jennifer and good luck starting law school tomorrow (pictured below with her first day of school picture)!

A visitor and celebration

2010-08-08T09:27:00.007-05:00

Last weekend my friend Amanda drove to Topeka from Colorado for a wedding celebration of my friend Megan. Amanda worked with us until May when she moved to Colorado. It was good to spend time catching up and the wedding was beautiul, as well as Megan. Here are a couple pictures:

The beautiful cake....

Most of the gang from work....

Me with the beautiful bride....

Our little Coloradan with the Martins. Congrats Megan and Anthony!

Answered Prayer

2010-07-28T19:46:00.001-05:00

I recently posted about a friend's dad who went missing in KC July 8th. An article came out this evening that he was found on a trail in a Shawnee Mission park. Although he is disoriented and dehydrated, he is alive. God Bless Kristen and her family as they reunite!

Old friends, new recipes and the French Press!!

2010-07-26T18:25:00.011-05:00

This weekend I had a few friends from grad schoool over to my house for dinner. Out of the four, only one of them had seen my house since I moved in last summer. We had a blast. Not much that I love more than having some of my favorite people over, sharing a meal and catching up. It had been quite awhile since all five of us had gotten together and I'm so glad it worked out for everyone to come over.

My friend Gena offered to bring dessert and said she was gonna whip up a key lime pie. And did she ever! It was SOOOOOO good! She said the credit goes to a Betty Crocker recipe. So, since she was making something light and sweet, I found a recipe for Tequila-Lime Chicken on the super popular Pioneer Woman website. That woman knows what she is doing! I would highly recommend it! So, to round things out, Maha looked up an amazing Corn, Avacado and Tomato Salad on Paula Deen's website....really tasty! Leah and Teresa completed the meal with some wine and it all went together really well.

Gena and her beautiful pie!

To finish off a delightful evening, my friends taught me to use a French Press that my friend gave me. As a non-coffee drinker, I have not had much interest in learning how to use it, but they were VERY excited. My friend Amanda that gave it to me also had given me some Caramel Creme coffee from World Market. Again, all these coffee drinkers were VERY excited. I took a couple sips and so badly wanted to like it, but no luck.

Maha getting things started with the coffee....

Brewing....

Me wanting so badly to like coffee.....guess I will be sticking to Diet Coke for a vice.

I was super glad to spend time with these girls and look forward to doing it again! :)

Me with Leah who I lived with for a year after we graduated from KU....
With Gena who had baby Lydia in December....

Maha and Teresa.....Maha just got a new apt by the Plaza in KC and Teresa is getting married in November. Lots to celebrate!

With 3 of the 4 ladies...we figured out the self-timer! Ta-da! :)

Rough week...

2010-07-16T16:58:00.002-05:00

It's been a doozy of a week and brings a whole new meaning to TGIF. There has been several things that have been going on around me that have been really sad. First off, a high school classmate has been in the hospital and very sick. It's hard to see someone and their family go through that. Last week, my sister's friend from K-State's dad disappeared. He has been missing for over a week now and she was supposed to get married tomorrow but because of this, has postponed her wedding. Tuesday, the hospital I work for laid off 105 people. The environment is definitely one of sadness and anxiety. It's sad to think about that many people losing their livelihoods and it's scary to think about what this might mean for future layoffs.

So, as much sadness as there has been, I guess it's good to remember the good things and be thankful for the positives in our lives. One person laid off was one of our unit secretaries on rehab. She is one of the most youthful 82-year-olds I have ever met. Mariam is always dressed beautifully and looked about 60 years old. She told me her secret is to sleep with your head against the north wall (I do) and to drink a cup of carrot juice with your lunch (I am still contemplating this). Anyway, she got let go and she was reportedly okay with it. She wasn't doing the job for the money, but to have something to look forward to. Yesterday, she came back to the hospital as a volunteer secretary, just glad to have something to do. One of our food services gals apparently sang "When the Saint came Marching Back".....glad I wasn't there for it; she's an amazing singer and more than a few of my coworkers and I have cried hearing her sing "Amazing Grace." Point of the story, I admire her determination to make her days worthwhile and come back to "work". I am thankful to have a job and last night when I was mowing (one of my least favorite tasks on the planet) I told myself be grateful that I have a house, that has a yard that needs to be mowed. Love to all of you good people in my life and for all of theblessings that I have. Prayers to those that are having a tough time right now.

USA Proud

2010-07-06T18:30:00.005-05:00

I LOVE the little neighborhood parade that is an annual tradition in my neighborhood. The paper said it was the 38th year for it. Only about half an hour but really cute and there are usually lots of familiar faces there. I thought it was about the cutest thing ever:

My attempt at being patriotic and decorating my house for my bbq involved some streamers. My mom and I had seen this in a Better Homes and Garden magazine and she was like, that would take forever, so of course, I had to prove to her that it wouldn't. :)

Something not very patriotic is my sister left Dallas yesterday for 3 months to go work in Australia.....she landed today and I hope she LOVES it!! I am hopefully going to get to visit this fall. It will be different not being able to obsessively text and call her since there is a 13 hour time difference and texts each cost $$. I look forward to seeing if she gets an accent during her short time. :) I will miss you sister!!

Pretty sweet 4th...

2010-07-06T18:24:00.005-05:00

There has been quite a bit of baking in my world with the recent holiday. I had a BBQ after watching the neighborhood parade Sunday morning and went to KC Sunday night for a friend's party....and I'm hosting bunko tonight (in 34 minutes). So, with all of these events I needed some sweetness to go with them. I made an apple pie for my house, cupcakes for Gena's party and my mom helped me whip up some star shaped fruit pizzas for bunko.

Here and There...

2010-06-28T19:48:00.010-05:00

I have clearly done a lack of blogging recently. I think I am in full summer mode, including going to BBQs, pool parties and a couple of trips. In May, my parents, sister and I went to San Antonio. We stayed on the Riverwalk and had a great time. We enjoyed a bit of shopping at the outlet mall, ate some great food and even saw the Alamo. Here are a couple pictures:

A couple weeks ago, I packed a few outfits in a carry-on bag and jumped on a plane with some friends from work for my friend Megan's bachelorette party in Vegas. And fun, did we have! The 48 hours we spent there were crammed with exploring the strip, video poker, laying out at the pool, shopping and the very popular Thunder Down Under male strip show....it was pretty crazy and entertaining at the least! We had a great time and I look forward to going to Megan's wedding the end of July....here's some evidence of the fun that took place:

Memories.

2010-05-29T19:28:00.002-05:00

This Memorial Day weekend I planted some flowers in the planters on my front porch....impatients. I helped my grandma plant them every year in her sturdy white planters. Today when I went to Lowe's it seemed appropriate to pick out her favorites.

She lived down the street from us since I was in grade school and died when I was a junior in college. Today putting those flowers in, I thought a lot about her and all the time we spent together. Going to her house after school, watching Miss America and eating pizza, calling time and temperature, sleepovers at her house, getting candy out of the jar on her coffee table and an infinite list of other moments. She was essentially a third parent to Meg and me and it's crazy she's been gone for seven years.

A friend lost her dad to cancer this week, an unbearable thing to go through, I'm sure. I see people die every day in the hospital and their families going from having that person in their life to becoming a memory, someone to honor at times like Memorial Day. Let us all embrace those we love and spend time with them while we can.

Prayers to a friend...

2010-05-16T18:02:00.003-05:00

This weekend one of my friends in Wichita received devastating news. Her dad went into the hospital there Tuesday with sepsis and by Friday they had diagnosed him with Stage IV cancer and gave him two weeks to live. Many of you know Mandy and already have her and her family in her thoughts and prayers, and for those of you that don't, please take a few moments out of your busy lives to send love and support to her family. Mandy is a very strong person who lost her mom a few years ago. She has very enthusiastically and publicly shared her weight loss journey over the last couple years and been a support to many other people. Prayers to you Mandy as you go through this very difficult time. Lots of love to your family.

Feel the Burn!....Together!!

2010-05-16T17:52:00.004-05:00

I have mentioned it in previous posts, but my parents' gym recently started offering a weight lifting class called "Body Pump" every Tuesday and Thursday nights. Anyway, so when I was talking about the class to my coworkers, my friend Leslie got SOOOOOO excited as she had done it in Texas before. Since this revelation that she LOVES it, she has convinced 5 other girls I work with to get memberships there for the summer so we have essentially taken over the class (at least the left side of it) and we have a blast together! We also enjoy the next day of complaining about all of our sore muscles together at work. It's great to have people to go with that enjoy the same classes. Hopefully it will pay off this summer! :)

Leslie and her dimples, plus her Texas accent...how can you say no to that face?!

The Month of Linds!

2010-05-16T17:42:00.004-05:00

Yep, people....if you didn't realize this, May is technically "The Month of Linds", as in one of my bff's Lindsay's birth month. Her birthday was yesterday so I went to Wichita Friday to celebrate with Linds and a few other friends.

Since I see that Molly just posted about the evening, I will refer you to her blog so you can get the scoop. :) All 5 of us that got togehter have a blog, so I had had to laugh at one point during the cooking class we took when everyone had their camera out. Thanks for a fun time girls! Happy Birthday Lindsay! Enjoy the rest of your month!! :)

My fellow bloggers with their camera out and ready to capture the moments...

Adios, farewell...

2010-05-16T17:35:00.003-05:00

One of my very favorite people at work moved to Denver this weekend. Amanda is an occupational therapist originally from Arkansas, so she comes complete with a Southern accent! She is a sweetheart and we are all very sad to see her move so far away. Amanda has lived in Lawrence and while her husband was already in Colorado this winter, she stayed in my guest bedroom when there was bad weather or if we all got together in Topeka socially, so we have become close over the last 6 months especially. I had a going away party for her Thursday night (as you can tell from the last post)....and we had a great time having a last evening with all of us together. I know we'll see her, as she is already coming back a couple times this summer, but it's always hard to see friends move. We will miss you Amanda!

It's tough to find good help.

2010-05-16T17:00:00.007-05:00

So when I threw a going away party last week for my friend Amanda, I asked my dad to come over and assist me when some party prep on Wednesday night. Bob stepped up to the challenge and I put him to work! It would have been a much more overwhelming task without his assistance. He browned the sausage, cut fruit for sangria and dipped strawberries in chocolate. Thanks for your help Dad! :)

Bobby sporting my apron to protect his shirt...

Lots of fruit to cut!!

Trying a strawberry after he finished his chores...

Where the hell is Waldo?

2010-05-10T21:07:00.003-05:00

Or anyone else for that matter??!?!?! This is my current situation in my living room:

Can anybody see themselves in these pictures of mine from the last TWO years that are now sorted by "event/date" on my floor?! This is not what we call "organized" or a "good time". I finally got it together and ordered from Shutterfly since I am SO behind and when you order pictures in that large of quanity....they. send. them. in. a. completely. random. order!!!!!!!!! This is not helpful in the overall process. So, if anyone needs me for the next 3 months or so....you can find me on the couch, trying to get this mess under control! Never (well, not for awhile anyway) will I get this behind! :(

Happy Day to my Mom!

2010-05-09T14:37:00.003-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to my mom! I am a lucky girl to have a supportive, involved and loving mom in my life to look to. She has been an example for me of a sacrificing and devoted mom, whether driving us to basketball practice when we were younger, teaching me how to cook or even just taking the time to go on a walk together. I'm very blessed and hope to one day be a mom and be half as fabulous as she is!

Blessing of the Hands

2010-05-05T20:43:00.002-05:00

So, I work at a Catholic hospital. I'm not Catholic but there are some things that come along with working in a faith-based organization that I really like. I work side by side with both ministers and priests everyday, which I think adds something to the environment when there are so many sick and injured people who need God on their side. I love the morning prayer every day at 8 am. There is a gong that goes off on the overhead system and one of the chaplains says a short prayer for everyone beginning their day, including patients, staff, doctors and families. Last week I made my first pot of coffee....I think ever. It was for one of the priests who wanted some and they were out. Apparently it turned out okay.

Today was an annual ritual called "Blessing of the Hands". The Catholic Priests and protestant chaplains alike went around to all the staff and said a prayer over each of our hands. It basically said, God, use these hands for healing and for helping the patients who need it, as well as acknowledging that he ultimately is the Healer. It is good to recognize that and to remember for everything that man and medicine can do, it is ultimately in His hands. I wish all of my friends in other work environments had this spirit of enrichment in the workplace. I appreciate it more and more everyday; for all the sadness and death that we see, in the end, it's God who is in charge.

Newsworthy!

2010-05-05T20:33:00.003-05:00

Last time I went to Dillon's...I saw a new "Skinny Cow" item; individualized small low-fat ice creams. Um, delicious! At about 3 points each, some of the best calories I have had in a LONG time! There are 5 flavors (Caramel Cone, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Cookies & Creme, Dulce de Leche and Strawberry Cheesecake) and I have worked through 4 (all except the Strawberry Cheesecake). No complaints....would recommend any of them. Just had to share!! :)

Brain Dump

2010-05-02T15:31:00.003-05:00

I saw this idea from Julie that I worked with in Wichita...seemed like an appropriate blog format considering I had lots of random thoughts running in my head but nothing too exciting for a full post.

I am very excited for summer! It's so nice to actually see neighbors out and about. I look forward to some time out on the deck in the nice weather, softball (I joined 2 teams), garage sales and going to the pool. Not excited to mow the lawn.
Two of my best friends at the hospital have given their notices. One is moving to Colorado and the other is going to drive to Lawrence and work at a clinic there. Makes me sad.
I made two Pioneer Woman recipes for a dinner party tonight. I did the lasagna again and also tried her chicken spaghetti. Looks fairly fantastic.
I am counting the days, hours, minutes until my family's vacation in San Antonio this month. Can't wait for some quality time outside of the daily rush of life, as well as seeing my sister.
My coworkers and I are looking for a 10K to do this summer....since the Brew to Brew is now over, we are all wanting something else to look foward to and train for.
I started going to a new toning class at my parents gym last week and it is AWESOME! I couldn't sit down without wincing for several days from leg pain. We all measured our parts (chest, hips, waist, arms) and my coworker who has done the class before said she lost 8 inches in two months last time she did it.
I need to get my car cleaned. It grosses me out whenever I get it in. Dirt/debris from winter needs to go!
My cousin, aunt and uncle made a quick trip here this weekend. My cousin is going to law school at Washburn this fall and was here to find an apt. Proud of her and glad it's not me! Look forward to seeing them hopefully more often.
I am ready for TV "season" to be over. I can barely keep up with my DVR. I am loving Glee, Modern Family and Biggest Loser right now.

Brew to Brew...

2010-04-14T20:29:00.006-05:00

Last weekend I took part in the "Brew to Brew" run with some friends from work....this was my first race....since track in high school....so it's been awhile! This run is a relay from The Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City to Freestate Brewery in Lawrence and is approximately 44 miles. I ended up running the first leg of it, which was marked as 4.3 miles and it was tough! The whole day we cheered on our teammates and drove along the race trail dropping off a runner and picking up the one who just finished. It was perfect weather for this all-day outdoor excitement and since my work was done by 9:30 I got to relax and enjoy some snacks and cheer on my friends! We are hoping to do it again next year....definitely worth it!

Did I mention they gave us free beer at the Boulevard before we ran?! Yum! Nothing like beer at 8:00 in the morning!!

We survived! Here is us in Lawrence. Happy to still be friends after 7 hours in a car together!! :)

This holiday is brought to you The Pioneer Woman.....and Jesus.

2010-04-14T20:05:00.010-05:00

For Easter my sister came up from Dallas and we had a low-key weekend of shopping, going out to dinner and then Sunday I hosted a non-traditional Easter lunch before Meg flew back to Texas.

When we were trying to decide what to have to Easter, we decided to pick something out of "The Pioneer Woman's Cookbook" that my fantastic friends Lindsay and Kylie gave me for my birthday. I so LOVE this cookbook! I love to look at it, read it, imagine that I have time and calories to cook something from it every day. It is marvelous....and my family is equally enthusiastic about it, even my dad.

So, since we're not big ham lovers, I finally decided on the non-traditional lasagna.....and it was GOOD!!! It involves making your own sauce, adding fresh spices and cooking sausage and hamburger. Yum! I also made the French Pastry Puffs in the book for breakfast Saturday morning. Very sweet and delicious (sorry, no pictures of those little guys). Here are a couple pictures of the lasagna and my favorite people on Easter. Oh, and I had given up Diet Coke for Lent, so of course it was a part of the Easter celebration! :)

A Night with Taylor....

2010-04-14T19:53:00.006-05:00

A couple weeks ago my mom and I had the awesome opportunity to go see the Taylor Swift concert in Wichita! Her friend won tickets from the local radio station and we rode an Arrowhead bus down and back and got to see an excellent performance. Kellie Pickler opened for her and on a bonus we got bumped up to the media section and had amazing seats! It was more than a concert; with 9 costume changes and a ton of set changes, there was always something going on. Here are a couple pictures from a great evening:

Results

2010-03-21T12:39:00.002-05:00

I keep meaning to post an update with the Biggest Loser contest at work....it ended on March 11th and I didn't win but I did lose almost 25 lbs in about 2 months. I hope this friendly contest at work will help me continue with this journey. We are starting a second leg this week so I think the competition will help keep me motivated. Stay tuned. :)

Snow Bird

2010-03-21T12:22:00.005-05:00

My sister is in Kansas this weekend for a bachelorette party in Lawrence. And she apparently brought snow with her. Whenever she is here for the most part....it snows! Glad to see you Meg, but next time leave the snow in Texas!

Hard to believe this is my backyard on the first day of spring!

A beautiful thing

2010-03-08T17:24:00.002-06:00

I was off work today. Well, I was off from my full-time job today but worked a little bit of PRN work at a nursing home. Point being, I really enjoyed being off work on a weekday. I felt like I was much more productive.....I made dinner for friends for tonight, ran errands, got my teeth cleaned, worked out. Now, of course I am off today because I am working this Saturday, but it was a really relaxing enjoyable Monday! I would be okay with more workdays like today!

I might be becoming my uncle...

2010-02-25T20:19:00.004-06:00

....and not like in a way of liking KU and living in Colorado. However, since starting the Biggest Loser competition at work and actively trying to make healthier choices with eating, I find myself following my Uncle Roger. He started following Weight Watchers several years ago and lost quite a bit of weight and he has done it by sticking with a routine. Everyday he has a turkey sandwich, carrot sticks, pretzels and some almonds for lunch (or something like this). And so...I have started my own routine lunch that seems to be working for me.

Most lunch days I have been taking to work cottage cheese and peaches, some baked chips and a mini bagel with a bit of cream cheese and turkey on it. Sometimes I had a piece of fruit too This combination really seems to fill me up and I like when I am rushing around in the morning to not have to think about what to pack. For breakfast I am doing a similar routine meal of english muffin with an egg beater and cheese on it, with maybe sausage. Anyway, hopefully I can stick with this; although I am still not "winning" the contest, I have lost 21.5 lbs since January 7th (2 more weeks to go). On the right track! Thanks for the inspiration Uncle Roger! I think of you whenever I am counting out my pretzel sticks or baked chips. :) I may never cheer for the red and blue but I think you're on to something here.

Come out, come out wherever you are....

2010-02-22T16:53:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we got another round of snow.....probably 3-6 inches (I am horrible at guessing). I am SO over winter! The cold, the snow, the slush, the extra layers of clothes....etc, etc.

To entice spring out, I have put away all winter decorations and put out my centerpiece for spring and bought a basket with flowers for the front door. This ought to bring the temperature up, right?!

Ash Wednesday....

2010-02-17T21:29:00.003-06:00

I am actually going to address two topics- 1) recycling 2) Lent. These go together because I recently set-up my "recycling center," aka- I bought a new trash can to recycle cans in after my friends Lindsay and Kylie visited last month. Well, it's been going really well and I have recycled oodles of cans....but today I decided to give up Diet Coke for Lent. I'm already anticipating the withdrawls. The headaches, oh the headaches! So, will keep you posted on that front. Maybe it will help with the Biggest Loser contest at work....one lady is plowing ahead and doing well each week and I think as of last week I am in second place. Anyway, really random post but that's the latest "news" here!

For the Love!

2010-02-15T21:46:00.011-06:00

As I mentioned in my last post; I made dinner for two of my good friends here in Topeka. My friend Amanda actually lives in Lawrence but the weather was bad here so I invited her to stay in my guest bedroom Sunday night, especially since her husband is in Colorado for work (where she will be moving soon- sad face). My friend Sarah also came over for a nice evening of food and talk. They are two of the kindest and most genuine people I have met since moving here and I really enjoy spending time with them.

A few weeks ago, I saw a recipe for "Creamy Tomato Soup" in the newspaper. Crazy enough, I have never had any tomato soup (yes, even Campbell's) but I was inspired to try and make this. As a bonus, I got to blend everything with my hand mixer I got for Christmas and I have a mild obsession with....don't tell anyone. Anyway, they braved the snow and cold to come over for some soup and they brought some tasty rolls and wine. My mom had made some chocolate-covered strawberries for church and gave me some of the leftovers to share (yum!) and I used a heart-shaped pan to make some brownies to go with a scoop of ice cream. A great evening shared with friends! Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day with some sweet people!

Some craft action to make the party more festive!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T20:55:00.008-06:00

For Valentine's Day I copied all the recipes for my mom that she had given me...hers were sadly misplaced when they moved into their house last year. Labor of Love! But she is now reunited with her favorite recipes (can you imagine not having your favorites?!?!) and in return she offered to buy me a new recipe book for all of my favorites. We share a love for cooking and I have her to thank for it. I got to pick out my new book Saturday and I really LOVE it!

I also treated myself with a new apron that I adore...got it at a cute little kitchen shop here in town. I wore it cooking a Valentine's dinner for a couple of friends so my friend Amanda thought we should take a picture. I will hopefully use it to cook many future dinners!

Addiction

2010-02-08T18:09:00.002-06:00

I have quite possibly found a new love for dinner....homemade pizzas. Mmm. There are several variations to keep it interesting. My mom LOVES the Flat Out tortillas which are really good and when you put them in the oven with whatever topping, you get a really thin crispy pizza. My baby sister enjoys the english muffin pizza. You toast your english muffin, top and then put in the oven. My friend Kylie told me that bagels are the way to go and I am planning on trying these soon....surely you can't go wrong with this. So, moral of the story....if I enter rehab in the near future, I think it might be for homemade pizzas. There is a bit of protein if you use low-fat beef or turkey pepperoni, some veggies and some carbs and cheese. All of this could be yours for only 250-300 calories (or 5-6 WW pts). What more could you want? Did I mention the cheese? :) Pictured is an english muffin pizza...

Boston-Cream Peanut-Butter Breakfast Banana Split

2010-02-08T17:51:00.002-06:00

I tried another recipe from the Biggest Loser cookbook. It is from the breakfast section and was pretty tasty....I would say 3 out of 5 Mmms. You place banana halves in a bowl with cut sides facing inward. Spread peanut butter evenly over the open bananas. Spoon the yougurt in the middle and top with 2 tablespoons of crunchy low-fat cereal, such as granola or Grape-Nuts.

Per serving it has 294 calories, 8 g of protein, 7 g fat, 5 g fiber

I ate it awhile before working out and it really gave me energy to get through it. Worth a shot if the ingredients sound good to you.

Recipe #1 from The Biggest Loser Cookbook

2010-02-05T16:39:00.003-06:00

First of all, wanted to update that the egg casseroles turned out great (pretty sure they don't surpass Glory Days pizza though Kylie). I had a co-worker from Lawrence stay in my guest bedroom Tuesday night after bunko so she didn't have to drive home late and she had one and loved it. I also gave a couple to my parents and they too thought it was a keeper.

Anyway, Kylie and Lindsay gave me "The Biggest Loser Cookbook" for my birthday and I have spent the week looking at recipes to try. So many choices! I told them I would post they as I go...the first one up is a low-calorie ice cream sandwich. I would give this 2 1/2 Mmm's out of 5. All you do is put some (1/4 cup-ish) sugar-free Cool Whip between two graham cracker squares and put them in the freezer for at least 2 hours to freeze. I had one today when I got home from work to celebrate surviving the work week. It wasn't bad and hit the spot for something sweet but it wasn't my favorite thing ever. I LOVE the Skinny Cow and Weight Watcher ice cream sandwiches but they are like $5 a box. This is definitely a cheaper choice and easy to make. I think using chocolate Cool Whip would up it to 3 Mmm out of 5. Here is a picture.....anyone else have any good recipes they have tried lately?

Ramekin Love

2010-02-01T22:01:00.004-06:00

As I have been participating in the "Biggest Loser" contest at work, I have been making a very intentional effort to make good choices with food (minus this weekend with the bar food/pizza "incidences" as we will refer to them) and increasing my work outs to get results. I am currently in 2nd place out of 18 people....in case you were wondering. :)

Anyway, a big part of this for me personally is for me to plan ahead for the week. It's so easy to get busy and not have ingredients to make healthy stuff. So, tonight I created some little individual egg casseroles in my ramekins that my sis gave me a couple years back. I love, love, love these little ramekins. I think they are so pretty and I love using white cookware. I think the food just really stands out against the white background. Prior to this historic event, I was only using them to make heaven- aka, chocolate molten cakes.

I didn't really have a recipe but just wanted to make it low-calorie and filling. I used liquid egg whites, green pepper, onions, low-fat cheese, and low-fat sausage and they are 4-6 pts for Weight Watchers (200-300 calories) depending on how much cheese/sausage you put in each one. WW is my weapon of choice for keeping track of what I'm eating and a proven method that has helped tons of folks (including myself in college) slim down! I ended up cooking them for 25-30 minutes and will have breakfast ready in the fridge the rest of the week! I think some ketchup or salsa might help to add a some flavor. We'll see tomorrow morning how they taste!!

Vacationing in Topeka

2010-01-31T22:10:00.007-06:00

Yesterday two of my best friends came to visit/vacation in Topeka and we had the best time! Kylie and Lindsay are two of my college roommates and we were bummed our other roomies Julie and Katie couldn't make it, but had a day full of shopping, snacks, watching the K-State/KU game and catching up!

My guests arrive to their vacation home. My friend Sarah (yes, pictured below in that horrible blue color) told them when we were watching the game regarding having a beer or something, "Go ahead! You're on vacation!"....Topeka is nice this time of year. :)

Go State!
Sadly, it's actually true they are #1. :( Dang Jayhawks!!

Me with Tom Hagen, a local weatherman/celebrity. I had to get a picture with him for a friend who is a big fan! He was very nice and apparently a Tiger!

For my birthday which was earlier this month, they brought me the BEST gifts! They gave me two cookbooks that I am PUMPED to use! One, is to plump you up "The Pioneer Woman Cookbook" written by a well-loved blogger from Oklahoma Ree Drummond and it looks fantastic. She is also a superb photographer and there are some amazing pictures in the book. The other book is to slim you down and is "The Biggest Loser Cookbook". Thanks so much girls! Look forward to trying and sharing some good recipes!

Born to Blog....

2010-01-26T20:10:00.002-06:00

When my parents moved last year they still had quite a bit of stuff from my childhood and since I have moved into my house, I have moved it here. Well, we were sorting through some stuff and found some of my journals from when I was 8-9 years old. Pretty amusing. I don't know if I was exceptionally slow in the spelling arena or what, but there was some room for improvement! Hopefully my blog/journal now is more cohesive than some of the entries I have found. It seems I was a bit lenient on where I put punctuation and capital letters. Here is one entry to share, copied exactly from my jounral:

Oct. 31st, 1990-

Sat. my grandma came we had a fun time. I had a sccer game. No one won.

Sunday we went to the curics. It was a great show. I bet everyone toght that that went. People came from Itly and spain to do the show. The hanged by there hair and center ring was named Michelle.

Monday and Tusday we did a play. It was called The Little lost with. I was the witch.

Its Wensday I am about to lose my pants. I evee sit still I am so exiced. I get to visit my aunt after school. I am going Trick-or-Treating tonight.

**Translation***
Soccer game that no one won. Precisely why my children won't know what that sport is. Boring!

Then we went to the circus, not the curics. And if I recall correctly, I believe there was a girl in the center ring named Michelle....the actually ring wasn't named Michelle.

Tusday = Tuesday. Wensday = Wednesday.

And I was so excited that I couldn't even sit still and I think that was in reference to going trick-or-treating, not to visiting my great aunt in the nursing home, but that's just a hunch.

Funny the things an 8 year old find "journal worthy". Maybe 20 years from now I will look back at my blog and think, what was she thinking?! :)

Happy Birthday to me!

2010-01-11T18:09:00.009-06:00

This weekend I celebrated my 28th birthday with some friends and also with my parents. It was fantastic! My friend Sarah had invited me to go have dinner at her house Saturday and it was going to be a low-key event. I suspected something was up and I was right that it was a surprise party with lots of my friends from work! It was great. We had fajitas and my friend Jenny made a low-calorie chocolate angel food cake for the occasion as many of us had just started the Biggest Loser competition at work (which is now up to an $80 pot). It was a lot of fun!

On my actual birthday (yesterday) I hung out with my parents, watched KU lose a basketball game (following KSU's lead) and went to dinner at Longhorns. I was really excited to receive a Garmin from my parents as I have wanted one for awhile!

Thanks for a great celebration and I'm looking forward to my 28th year!!

Day #1....

2010-01-07T19:46:00.001-06:00

Girl Scout cookie orders arrived and our administration sent free pizza to the department. Ugh, not helpful! We all held strong but geeze; challenging first day! The biggest loser challenge seems to have united all of us together...hope it lasts! :)

Not much more motivating...

2010-01-06T21:24:00.009-06:00

....than spending a week in a swimsuit....on a beach....oh, and with my skinny sister. God love her, but seriously. As most of you know, we went on a fantastic trip to visit friends in Jamaica last month. The last month has been full-force holiday celebrations galore and not much of that has been revolving around healthy eating and working out. Shocking. So, 'tis the season to change that! Oh, and apparently 'tis the season for Girl Scout Cookies to come in- could there be worse timing?!?! That's life though.

Anyway, as we are gearing up and starting a new year, it is frequently a time to come down from the junk food high the holidays provide and re-focus on eating healthy and increasing exercise. Today at work, some co-workers and I decided that with the premiere of this season's Biggest Loser Season 9 last night, we will have our own competition. We each put in $5 and I believe there are 10 contestants, so we could potentially net $45. It's of course not about the money, but about losing some weight! We are doing it Biggest Loser style and basing it on percentage of weight loss, since most of my competitors are about 5'2". :)

Wish me luck but I definitely feel motivated. I have gained weight since college and would like to lose some, especially before this summer wen I have a couple trips planned and next fall for my 10-year high school reunion. I have good role models in Kylie, Molly, and Mandy who have all worked hair and maintained weight losses and put it on their blogs for the world to read- proud of you girls for sharing! I will try to keep you posted on the contest and my progress. Hopefully putting this out to the world on the world wide web will help me with accountability, and with writing it down as well. Hopefully I will be $45 richer in a couple months, as well as a smaller version of your favorite Michelle! :)

Souper way to keep warm!

2010-01-03T20:31:00.013-06:00

I am SO sick of this cold weather and snow! It snowed a TON over Christmas weekend and 4-5 inches more this weekend. I was holed up with my family at my parents' house over Christmas weekend and here are a couple pictures from Blizzard 2009!

Outside my parents garage on Christmas morning-

The beginning of the snow-

My parents' backyard when it started to snow-

What better way to get warmed up after being outside than some yummy soup?! Last week while my sis was in town, we made my friend Sarah's recipe of Butternut Squash Soup with Tortellini. Mmm! Here are a few pictures from that adventure of using the hand blender for the first time (thanks Santa!) as well as the recipe so you can give it a try.

Butternut Squash Stew:

Ingredients-

2 tablespoons butter

2 onions

3 pounds butternut squash (poke holes, microwave to soften, peel, de-seed and cube)
1/2 cup white wine (optional)

1 box vegetable broth

1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch cinnamon

1 pinch ginger

1 pound frozen tortellini or ravioli, cheese-filled

1 block lite cream cheese

3/4 cup half-and-half

salt and pepper to taste

In a soup pot, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent.

Add squash, wine and broth. Add the spices. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook tortellini according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

In a blender, blend half the stew and all the cream cheese to a smooth consistency. Add back to stew. You can also blend all of it for a smoother texture. Add half-and-half, heat until almost a simmer, salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T22:59:00.013-06:00

Happy 2010 everyone! Instead of a Christmas card this year, I have again decided to go with a countdown of my top ten events from 2009, in similar fashion to my 2008 post. A lot has happened since the ball dropped this time last year. This year has brought a change in zip code for me, lots of travels, new babies for friends and new adventures- here are a few of the highlights. I hope everyone has had a wonderful time with family and friends over the very COLD holiday season. Wishing you all a perfect 2010!

10. In January, I gave my notice at my job in Wichita and I decided to move back to Topeka. I accepted a job at a hospital here and moved the beginning of February. I continue to work as a speech pathologist in acute care and some rehab as well, doing work that I love and am passionate about most days. I moved into my parents home in early February while I looked for a house to buy. I have many friends in Wichita that I miss but am fortunate to get to visit quite a bit.

9. Before moving to Topeka, I went to Washington D.C. to visit some friends from K-State who had moved the summer before. Daniel and Vicki showed me a lot of the city and it was great to see them!

8. In February, I took a Wilton's cake decorating class at a local Michael's store. I learned a lot of the basic techniques and have had some fun trying some different techniques to make some treats for co-workers and friends. Here are a couple pictures:

A baby carriage cupcake for a friend's baby shower-

Some cupcakes for Easter-

7. I went to Dallas several times this year to visit my sister. I went in February, April, August and November. Meg and I always have fun and it's nice to enjoy some sister time together! In April, my parents went with me and Meg hosted Easter. A mexican brunch on Easter was a nice change! My family also had a staycation the end of June when Meg was back visiting. We all took the week off work and enjoyed a low-key week at home, including a celebration of my parents 30th wedding anniversary!

6. In April I was sent to Boston for training for work. It was a really great visit, although brief....here is an overview of the trip.

5. I found a house that I wanted to buy in April and signed on a contract. In June, I closed on it. It was very exciting buying my first home and I have been settling in after quite a bit of painting and decorating. Here are a few pictures of my new place!

4. When I lived in Wichita, I played in a bunko group with friends there and loved it! This June I started a group here in Topeka with a friend from high school. We have a great time and it's helped me get to know some new friends here. I am lucky to have some wonderful friends and coworkers here!

3. This summer, I played in a co-ed softball league through the city and on a women's basketball team in a city league this fall. Neither team did "well" but we had a lot of fun! In October, I was reminded of my more successful basketball days when my high school team that won a State Championship was inducted into our high school's athletic hall of fame. It was great to see our coaches and quite a few of my former teammates. Here are some pictures from that weekend.

2. In November my Uncle Roger and cousin Jennifer came to Kansas from Denver to look at potential law schools in the area for Jenn. A fun weekend full of college sports- hopefully we will make it to Colorado to visit this year!

1. December brought a warm and sunny getaway to Jamaica for Meg and me. We went to visit our friends Vicki and Daniel that I went to see in D.C. last January. They moved there in March as Vicki is in the foreign service and that is their first assigned post. Such a beautiful country and we had a really great time! It was a nice trip to end the year with, especially when it snowed heavily in Kansas the whole time I was gone!

Wishing everyone a fantastic 2010!

Weekend in Wichita...

2009-12-20T22:08:00.018-06:00

This fall went by so quickly and between working some weekends and K-State games, I hadn't been able to get down to visit my friends in Wichita, so I was really excited to go see some friends there! I have four friends there that have had babies since I moved (well, five including a puppy) and I was really lucky to see all of them, plus two older siblings.

Friday night the grown-ups hit the town and went bowling- something none of us have done for quite a while! What fun we had! Here are a few pictures from our adventure:

Saturday I got to spend quite a bit of time with my college roomies, plus Kylie and Katie's kids and Lindsay's new puppy. They are all really good kids and so cute! They change so much whenever I see them and it's hard to believe how old they are getting. We also got to do some shopping (mildly insane on the weekend before Christmas, but I can now say I am done!).

Saturday afternoon I met up with two friends, Jenna and Libby, that are speech pathologists I worked with when I lived in Wichita. They each brought their daughters and we got caught up over lunch. They are really sweet babies and I am glad I got to see them!

This morning I picked up my friend Dan and we went to breakfast. He was my patient 2 years ago and we have kept in touch since he has returned to his home. Dan is such a genuine person and has become like a grandparent to me. I enjoy the time we get to spend together, as I know it won't last forever. He does really well, but will be 90 this winter.

Thanks for a great weekend in Wichita! Until next time....

Quick trip to KC....

2009-12-20T21:55:00.007-06:00

Last weekend I went to Kansas City and got to see several friends while in town. It was a super quick trip (left Topeka at 5 on Saturday and got back at 12 on Sunday) but it was great to see some friends I haven't seen for awhile! Lots of celebrations going on- glad I was able to be there!!

Me with my friend Gena on her due date with baby Lydia (Dec. 12th). She actually just delivered today (Dec. 20th). S0 excited for her and her husband Alex to become parents.

One of my best friends since high school, Tisharria, with her fiancee Reis at their engagement party/birthday party since both of their birthdays were that week.

Tisharria and me with our friend Kelly. We all played basketball together in high school and then Kelly and I went to K-State together. Tisharria and Kelly actually have been friends since middle school. Good to see some old friends!

My friends Julie and Aaron are parents of this happy little girl- Brooke. She loves bouncing in this toy and was pretty self-entertained throughout my visit. Fun to see her growing up!

Paradise in Winter

2009-12-16T21:39:00.026-06:00

My sister Megan and I got back last week from a FANTASTIC trip together to Jamaica. Besides a weekend trip to Chicago a few years ago, we haven't taken any other trips by ourselves. Well, this was one for the records...we went to visit our friends Vicki and Daniel who are posted there for two years as part of the U.S. foreign service. What a great place to live for two years! 85 degrees year-round...especially nice when I got back to Kansas and it was 5 degrees!

We flew into Montego Bay directly from Dallas and from there took the two hour transporation van to our weekend destination of Negril. We spent Friday night at the villas hanging out in the hot tub and then went across the street to dinner on the cliffs. Vicki and a couple other girls she knows from the Embassy ran the half marathon the next day at 5 a.m. so we took it pretty easy that first evening. We were pretty tired though after a long day of traveling.

At dinner...

Saturday morning we enjoyed the pool at the villas in the morning and hit up a restaurant on the beach and hung out on the beach. It was so nice there! That evening we went to dinner and then to a reggae concert.

Sunday involved more pool time in the morning and then the 5 hour drive back to Kingston where our friends live. Their condo is amazing and we were really lucky to have such a nice place to stay there!

Arriving at the condo:

Monday we took a day trip to Ocho Rios and climbed the Dunn Waterfalls and spent some time at Margaritaville and the beach. That nice we all fixed dinner at the condo and hung out with some other friends of theirs and made Christmas cookies.

Meg in front of the waterfalls....

Tuesday we took another day trip to a place called Frenchman's Cove in Port Antonio. Such a relaxing day....lots of sun and relaxation to finish up the trip. Our jerk chicken lunch served on the beach. Mmm!!

Wednesday we toured the Embassy with Vicki which was really cool and then headed to the airport. We had a great time and it was great spend time with my sis and our friends. Hopefully more trips like this in the future!

Bubbling over!

2009-12-02T23:04:00.003-06:00

My excitement is two-fold tonight:

1) Our basketball team had a fantastic time tonight. We replayed the girls that beat us by 50 our first game and we were only down by 7 at halftime and ended up losing by only 24....a major improvement for us! We all had a really good time and a great workout.

2) I am flying to Dallas after work to my babys sister's and Friday morning we are flying to Jamaica! Couldn't be more thrilled. After working lots of extra hours this fall, looking forward to some sister time, relaxing and visiting our friends who live in Kingston. Nice to escape to a beach when it's about 35 degrees tonight.

Going to finish packing....I bought SPF 100+ sunscreen the other day at Walgreens (yes, I didn't know they made it either). I know for sure it's already in the suitcase. Fingers crossed to no sunscreen misuse and a burnt Michelle. Pictures/stories when we get back! Have a great week!!