a few things

Life has been busy lately.

As if you haven't noticed.

Summer is my "busy season" with work and last week I dove in head first. I won't be able to come up for a breath until the end of September.

So if my sporadic posting gets even worse, send an oxygen tank and a bottle of wine my way. I need it.

I am taking a few hours of "me time" during work today - to make up for many a 12-16 hour days last week, and thought I'd share a few things with you guys.

Prison
Yep, prison. Last week I spent three mornings hanging out with a bunch of offenders in Mount Pleasant. It was a lovely time. Seriously. If you want to read more about, check out this article. One of the offenders in the article, the one in prison for felony murder, presented me with this absolutely beautiful handmade leather wallet.



Sure, it is a little weird "walking the yard" with these guys (and women), but you quickly get over it because you can't be anything but impressed, inspired, amazed, and awestruck at what they are doing to give back to the community. (Oh, and you be sure not to wonder why or ask why they are in there...that is when it gets weird).

How amazing are they? $40,000 amazing. Sure thing - they raised $40,000 to benefit the American Cancer Society. A population of about 500 men. You do that math.

New Job
Nic started his new job last Wednesday and is totally rocking it! Here he is on his first day of school work. Barb - these photos were taken for you!



Isn't he so cute?! :)


Group Fitness
I, along with Nic, am now a group fitness instructor at the Y. Together we are tag teaming three "Absolutely Spin" classes each week - 45 minutes of spin followed by 15 minutes of pure plank torture.

I love planks - they are fun.

Apparently I am crazy.

I am also teaching a 45 minute "ABC Circuit" class on Friday mornings. Today was my first class and boy did I sure kick their butts, and mine as well! I am hoping that I can add an additional circuit class each week and hopefully a few more time slots.  It is f-u-n.

Lawn + Garden
Check out my garden! Despite a bit of rabbit damage...



...it is looking really good. (Is it looking really good? Things are growing bigger, so that is good in my book!)









The other day I mowed the backyard, a chore that is typically reserved for the husband (I do the front). Before I began, Maia discovered a rabbits' nest. After wrangling her in to the house, I took a gander and saw a itty bitty baby bunny stretch its little arm while sleeping. Adorable.

I almost decided not to mow, frankly little baby animals kind of freak me out (baby birds - gross.), but rain was forecasted for the next few days and it was already beyond long. So I mowed around the nest and got to work on the rest of the yard.

For about five minutes.

Ummm...yeah, my name is Kierstan and I am a bunny murderer.

In a totally different part of the yard, I nearly stepped on a little bunny (intact) that I must have mowed over or scared out of its nest.

I quietly shut off the lawn mower (ummm the neighbors were out so I could do my girly scream) and notified Nic of my new bunny murderer status, asked him to take care of it and told him that I absolutely could not mow the rest of the lawn.

Eeeewwwww.

I did put on my big girl panties and decided to finish the lawn after scouring the yard for more bunny nests. And then out of the side of my eye I saw Nic "taking care of it."

Dear bunnies (however many of you there were) - I sure hope you are enjoying your new home, frolicking in the meadows, at the farm upstate. I hear the weather is just absolutely beautiful there this time of year...


Oh, and if I am a bunny murderer, Nic is a bunny serial killer. I had Nic call our good church-going friends to ask them how many hail marys we had to do in order to be forgiven...

Rotary
Raise your hand if you belong to a service group? ::crickets....??:: Well, I am a very proud member of the Rotary group here in town, and most likely the youngest member. Last night we had our annual awards dinner and honored five high school students who were awarded scholarships through Rotary. On our way out at the end of the ceremony, some lady I didn't know said, "Congratulations!" Huh? Yeah, apparently I look like a high schooler?



Please tell me this outfit works...I never tuck in t-shirts, but this one was too big and looked a little disheveled with it un-tucked.

This weekend
We are heading up to Minnesooooooota this weekend for a variety of events.

Nic is going up to his bestie's cabin for a few fun filled days of fishing and bourbon.

And I am throwing my bestie a super duper fun bridal shower. There will be games and mimosas. I am excited for the mimosas. Not so much the games, but you just have to have them.

Here is my bestie, Nancy.



Here is one of the eats that will be devoured.
Before:


After:


Yummmmm.

Note to Nancy - I bought butter and sugar just to make you some yummy desserts that I won't even eat. I hope you love me.


After the bridal shower I am going to scoot over to my high school track coach's retirement party. This will deserve a post in itself. But for now, I will show you what I am going to wear.



Note to G-dog - if you read my blog, please act surprised when you see my super duper fun t-shirt that I made just for your party. kthanks.


Yeah - trying to get a good photo of yourself in the mirror is kind of hard. And then when you figure it out things can start getting silly. And I totally cleaned the mirror prior to taking these photos. If I hadn't you'd be looking at a very blurry Kier right now.

After the retirement party is when the real fun begins. Nancy's bachelorrette party! (seriously, how do you spell bachelorette??)  I can't divulge any specifics, but I can tell you one thing - glitter, massive amounts of glitter were used to make something for the party.



I really don't know any of the specifics except that we will be frequenting The Shout House sometime that evening.

Funny story - last time I was at the Shout House, I totally vommed when I got home. Yeah, apparently running a half marathon and drinking beaucoup girly drinks, beer, and not enough water in the same day, does not make for a good combination.

Twins
And finally on Sunday, after recovering from a day of parties for me and too much sun + fishing for Nic, we are heading to our very first Twins game in the new stadium.



Excited.

So very excited.

That is all. Back to work + packing I go.

Happy Friday!