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!

fancy nancy

Look who came to visit us in Iowa!

My best friend, Nancy. Whoop!



Nancy and I have known each other since 1st grade. We both were proud members of Girl Scout Troop 159.

We became really close during track season spring of our freshman year. We were the distance queens. Well, I'll give that title to Nancy, she was (and still is) quite the superstar athlete.

As any best friends, we've had our ups and downs, endured many fights, and have picked each other up when the other needed a hand.

Nancy followed suit and found herself a NicK to marry after I snatched up the original Nic. She will marry "Nick 2.0" this August. And in keeping with a not-at-all-planned tradition, will marry her Nick the same weekend in August that I married my Nic, and the same weekend in August that Leah married her Nic Tony. (Leah - it would have been way more cool if you could have found a Nic or Nick to marry! :)

We have many anniversary trips to look forward to in the future.



Come back soon, Nancy!

give it to us straight

This post is going to be quick and dirty. I (Kier) have got to pack up my things and hit the road back to Iowa.  Oh, I didn't tell you?  I totally made a surprise visit to Minnesota to surprise my bestie while she was shopping for wedding dresses.  Oh I got her...got her good!  Thankfully her response to my presence was one of near tears and not what the heck are you doing here, I didn't invite you.  I was slightly worried, I mean, thinking that you, yourself, showing up somewhere is going to make someone's day is a little big-headed, no?

Anyway...quick and dirty, remember?

You might remember that one of our goals for 2011 is to NOT get another dog.  However, wouldn't having a puppy around be fun and cute and cuddly? :)

Seriously, Nic and I have talked about getting another dog for sometime now, but keep going back and forth.

What are you thoughts on adding a second dog to our household?  Do you have two dogs - is it just crazy at your house?  Are we crazy to want to go through the process of training a puppy again? Do you see benefits as to having a second dog (like finally, Maia would have an animal other than the cat to play with?). Do we find a specific breed, or do we adopt?

So weigh in...we want to hear your thoughts.  The good, the bad and the ugly, give it to us straight, lay your opinions out there.  

a perfect wednesday afternoon

Today was pretty much the perfect day.  Weather was gorgeous, got some stuff done for work, snuck in a great run & walk with the pup, ate a delicious dinner and experimented on dessert.  My only problem is that it's already 10:30PM (now 11:15!!) and I am still up!  Looks like I'll be skipping my morning run in favor of an afternoon run tomorrow!

My Run::
On the schedule was 4 miles.  I decided to do the same route as last Wednesday's 4 miler (an out and back) and was determined to come out with negative splits - like last Wednesday as well.

Stats:
mile 1 - 7:53
mile 2 - 7:35
mile 3 - 7:27
mile 4 - 7:19
cool down (.41) - 7:10 <----walking
Total distance: 4:41 miles
Total time: 37:23
Average pace: 8:29

Whoop!  Pretty much rocked that one out!  After seeing my two mile split, I wasn't sure if I could manage the negative splits...so I focused and channeled my inner high school athlete-self, along with two people who have had huge roles in my running "career" - bff Nancy and high school track coach, Gorham.

Yup, I for sure imagined them standing somewhere in the corn fields yelling at me and telling me to run faster. :)  Totally worked.  Now if I could only get the two of them down to Oklahoma for my marathon in November I have no doubt I would qualify for Boston...

Our Walk::
After my glorious run, the hubs and I took the pup for a walk and continued our discussion on all the stuff in our house that we want to get rid of.  I think by the end of our Fall cleaning, we will be able fit all of our possessions into a shoebox! :)

Dinner::
Before heading out for my run, I threw dinner in the oven. On the menu for tonight was the Pioneer Woman's Beer Braised Beef with Onions.  I made a few alterations, but nothing life-changing.  Holy delicious!  The meat literally melted in your mouth.

We served this up with a side of coconut oil & thyme roasted carrots and potatoes.  Also delicious.

Dessert::
I picked up some cute little, almost local, apples today at Hy-Vee and the cooler temps were urging me to make apple pie.  We don't keep any form of butter in the house (or we rarely have it) so I was forced/inspired to come up with a butterless crust on my own.

For the crust I used:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup oats
1/2 cup oats that have been pulsed in the food processor about 10 times
1/2 t salt
1 T packed brown sugar (could have been 1 t - can't read my writing!)
4 T coconut oil
5 T iced water

To make the crust, mix the first five ingredients. Cut in the coconut oil (the temps here are cool enough where my coconut oil was pretty much solid) and then stir in, one tablespoon at a time, the iced water until dough forms into a ball.  Chill in fridge while you get the apples ready.

For the "innards" I used:
3 small apples - thinly sliced
1 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg
1 T cornstarch
1 T maple syrup

Mix the first 4 ingredients and stir in maple syrup.

In a greased glass 1 quart serving dish, push 3/4 of the dough around the bottom and edges to form a crust.  Fill with apples and somehow manage to create a top with the rest of the dough...

Bake at 350 for 1+ hours.



Results - the pie was really actually quite good!  The apples were perfectly seasoned and cooked.  The crust was a bit on the crumbly side, which I knew before I baked it, but had good flavor.  The recipe for sure needs some tweaking and with apple season upon us, I am sure I'll have ample opportunity to do just that. Next time I will for sure add a few more tablespoons of water, a bit more sugar (or maple syrup?) and maybe some cinnamon to the dough.





Hmmm....now that it is already 11:15PM, I must hit the hay and catch some Zzzzzs, after reading a few pages of the eery book, The Passage.

just because i know leah won't...

...and will hate me for doing so...

...take a look at these photos of us + nancy...

...the first is pre-Isaac...

...the second is from just last weekend...

What a difference in just a year + a few months, eh?

I wish I would have saved the text conversation Leah and I had about the first photo...quite hilarious!

happy happy day

This is how I feel about today.

-Nice and cool weather

-An unexpected call from Ikey

-Productive, yet a little frustrating, day at work

-Huge grocery shopping trip

-Mini dance party with Nic while we cleaned the kitchen/put groceries away

-Less than 24 hours until Mom and Maddie get here for a long weekend

-Less than 20 days until Ike gets home for two weeks

-A mowed lawn

-A clean house - almost

-Baking some sweet sweet treats for the weekend

-Planning a Sunday BBQ with friends

-A little bit of baby time

-A mini dance party...oh wait, I already said that. Must have been my most favorite part of the day. Should do that more often...now if only I wasn't such a biatch in the kitchen, hmm need to work on that one.