my holiday

It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the night before I must return back to work, and the hour after I indulged in far too many nachos and one too many beers while dining with my Lovie. Time to reflect...

This holiday weekend did me good, but it definitely did not start out so well.

On Thursday morning, I woke early as I was excited to wear my newest skirt and spend an extra fifteen minutes curling my hair for the day's special occasion. Trent and I left our house about twenty minutes later than planned (which is good for me...), and started the trek to my hometown. We drove separately, though, as he had to be back a day earlier than me.

I stopped at the grocery store on my way out of town as I needed to pick up a few ingredients for the appetizer I most recently pinned and wanted to prepare before our gigantic feast. Unlike my usual stops at the grocer's, I was outta there lighting fast and excited to get home and start the weekend.

About a year ago, I bought a new (to me) car which has a keyless entry and keyless start. Literally, KEYLESS. My car unlocks whenever the "fob" is near it and I start the car with the push of a button. Theoretically, this is a fantastic idea as one would never have to stand in the cold and dig through a purse or a pocket to find their keys. But, on this day (Thanksgiving day), this great invention did me no favors...

As I reached for my car door, with grocery bags in mitten-covered hands, the usual *ding!* did not sound as the doors unlocked (as it should when the "fob" is near). Frustrated and cold, I walked to each and every door and tried to open my car doors. Nothing. Annoyed, I walked back inside the grocery store and called Trent.

Trent was already 15 miles out of town. Luckily, though (and a bit frustrated himself...), he turned around to rescue me. Meanwhile, I walked back and forth to my car trying and retrying to get into my car. By the time Trent arrived, my precious curls had turned to frizz and my runny nose (...this was the fourth, miserable day of a cold) had made me look (and act) like a three year old as I found creative ways to stop the dripping without a tissue at hand...

Anyway, after driving across town in search for a new battery, we finally gave up our search (every place was closed), and drove to the next town where we found a replacement. Thank god.

THEN, my grumpy attitude and I started the way back to my hometown. We arrived 2 hours late. Ug. So much for that appetizer...

ANYWAY, enough sulking! The rest of the weekend was great! I ate WAY too much food, played games, and shopped my little socks off. Most of my shopping was done on-line in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. But, my mom, sister, and I still couldn't resist our Black Friday shopping tradition. We left the house at 10:00 PM and returned after 4:00 AM. Successful it was.

Friday was spent eating leftovers, more shopping, and watching "Frozen" in the very front row of a very packed theatre with my baby cousins, brother, and someday-sister-in-law.

Saturday was BAKING DAY!!!!! Several family members gathered together for an afternoon/evening of baking and sharing a dozen or more different Christmas cookie recipes. It was so great and will definitely be an annual thing...

 

Today I was lazy. And sadly, after looking closely at the picture of me above, I noticed an odd bulge near the bottom of my shirt. My belly. Good god. NO, I'm not pregnant. I went and bought my very first Cedar Falls gym membership a few hours ago. It's time to get serious.

Weekend with the Fam Bam and the Friends Schmiends

This weekend was a good one. A really, really good one. Friday evening was spent catching up with three of my old (favorite) co-workers. If I haven't said this before, I love these girls, and I really, really hope we stay in touch for the next fifty years.

Laura (the one standing next to me in the photos below) hosted our get-together this time and served us a deliciously good chicken and dumpling soup. After eating, talking, drinking, and laughing with these witty girls, we all headed to bed. Just like the slumber parties I used to have as a kid (but the drinks are stronger now). The next morning, we went out for breakfast at a tiny little mom and pop place in Ames, The Grove.

Maggie, Leanna, Laura, and me

 

After breakfast, I went to Colo and worked for a couple of hours (not because I had to, but because I really like what I do now!) and chatted with my familia.

 

That evening, my sister, brother-in-law, brother, and *someday*-sister-in-law came over for dinner. THEN, the party really started when our neighbors, the Edel's, came over with their son and his fiancé, Colby and Ashley. We played Settlers, drank, ate, and laughed lots. Then, at 11:30, my brother nonchalantly said "that Hewitt kid" was playing at the Colo bar.

 

WHAT???

 

The Famous Neil Hewitt?!?!?!

 

I jumped from my seat and into the shower and frantically made myself half-way presentable. However, being unshowered for 40 hours straight is probably pretty common at the Colo bar, so in hindsight, I regret that shower (it caused me to miss at least 40 minutes of tunes). Regardless, we made it there, drank terrible tasting shots of whisky, listened to some amazing music, played pool, and walked our butts back home.

 

 

For some reason, I can't get these last two pictures to get any bigger or allow me to write captions. SO, the first pic is of Neil (duh). It's not the greatest pic, though, as his eyes look incredibly creepy (I can't tell if they are open or closed) and I looked creepy taking the pics, so I just accepted it. The second picture is of me and Ashley. We didn't look so happy after we swallowed those gross shots. Sick.

 

I spent this morning sitting around with my mom talking about nothing and everything (really, mostly just about food). I spent the evening cooking and freezing some soup (which I have made twice this week now. it's that good.). Anyway, th th th that's all folks!

Another Summer Memory: spontaneity

If I had to pick one weekend of my whole entire life that I will never, ever, ever forget, this would be the one. However, only a handful of people know the details of this event/weekend as the majority of the details are top secret. I apologize, but I can't even break my oath of secrecy on this here blog, so what I am about to describe is the filtered version of the events surrounding this ultra-spontaneous, ultra-memorable weekend.

Here we go:
It was a Thursday night. I arrived home after a long, stressful week of work and was incredibly disappointed that I had to go back in the following day (which was supposed to be a day off) to wrap up some unfinished business.

Like clock-work, I ran (literally) directly to the bathroom to relieve my bladder's growing pressure, changed out of my work attire, and went to see what my parents were up to. I found my dad sitting in the office, staring at our desktop computer, and working on the top-secret event (which will be referred to as a "project" from here on out) which, over the past few months, we had only discussed briefly.

He spent the next hour explaining what he was doing and how he thought he had made headway with the project earlier in the day, but after a discussion with his brother/partner-in-crime (don't worry, not actual crime), realized he had made a small (but very important) mistake in the work he had done thus far. It was very obvious that my dad was disappointed and incredibly frustrated.

The next morning I was not-so-pleasantly surprised when I was woken up at 8 AM by my dad--it was a Friday, and he typically starts work at 7 AM, so it was odd that he was home.

"Andi, wake up! Come here, I've got to show you something!" he said as he swung open my bedroom door. I tried not to let him see the annoyance I felt (yes, I was going into work, but I still wanted to sleep in on my "day off"!) as I drug myself out of bed and back into the office where he sat, again, staring at the computer.

"Look at this," he said as he pointed to the computer screen, "What do you see?" I stared at the screen for a few seconds and answered him. Instantly, his face lit up and he smiled--I gave him the answer he was hoping for. He considered my response confirmation that he wasn't crazy or seeing things and called his brother to explain his newest development. I stayed in the office for a while as they spoke on the phone, and, as the excitement and giddiness of my father grew, so did my interest in the project.

After a while, I headed into our sun room to get my weekly Today Show fix. Meanwhile, my dad could not sit still; he paced our house and our yard for almost four hours while talking off and on to himself, to me, and to his brother. After contemplating calling the loony bin for a good twenty seconds (okay, probably only three...he's not really crazy), I convinced him to sit down and relax for a bit. This lasted very, very briefly. After another short phone call, he had made up his mind, he was going to Montana.

Montana!

Montana is a good fourteen hour drive from our house, and yes, my dad was going to drive there, non-stop, by himself. The thought of him driving all the way there alone frightened me, but there wasn't much I could do--I couldn't go (I had to work) and there was no way he wasn't going. My dad had his things packed in five minutes and was out the door. He headed to my mom's office in Ames, twenty miles away, to trade vehicles (for our more dependable and more fuel-efficient option) and I frantically tried to get ahold of my brother as I was still incredibly worried about my dad making this fourteen-hour-journey on his own.

Five minutes later (which felt like forever), my brother returned my call. You could imagine how strange the conversation was:

Me: "Hi Dane, what are you doing?"
Dane: "Heading to Des Moines, why?"
Me: "Do you want to go to Montana with Dad?"
Dane: "What? Why?"
Me: "I don't have time to explain right now, but can you go?"
Dane: "Uh...when?"
Me: "Right now."
Dane: "No really, Andi, what do you need?"
Me: "No really, Dad just left. He is going to Montana. Can you go!?"

Subsequently, Dane called my dad and was told the same thing that I tried telling him, and, what do you know, Dane turned around and headed to Ames to pack his things and meet my dad. Whew. I was instantly relieved by this news. Finally, I got out of my pajamas, threw on some clothes and headed to work.

During my drive into work, I started feeling left out of all the excitement. As I said earlier, I had listened to my dad ramble all day long about this project, and I wanted to see it through. My dad is very, very, very laid back and it is not common at all for my dad to get worked up about anything, so it was fun to see him like this--really, really excited about something; I decided I didn't want to hear about this adventure second-hand. So, what did I do?

I called up my boss, asked for Monday off, got it approved, and instead of heading into work, drove to a random parking lot to meet up with my dad and brother. All I had packed were the clothes on my back (and I hadn't even showered for the day).

Once I got there, we decided to take my car (since it was the roomiest option), filled up my tank, and by 2:00 PM, we were headed to Montana. Initially I started driving, but my dad was so anxious and excited that he couldn't sit still in the passenger seat. So, two minutes into the trip I pulled over and let him take over.

Obviously, the first hour (of fourteen) was spent explaining to Dane the urgency of this road trip. Our second hour was spent deciding what to tell our significant others; I had already told Trent where I was going, but he had no idea why I was going. Dane hadn't told his girlfriend either of these things, so we spent another hour pondering any potential consequences, and he eventually called her to explain where he was headed.

We all took our turns driving, but I can say with 99% certainty, that I drove the majority of the trip, straight on through the night--I didn't sleep a wink, and the most my dad and brother slept was an hour or two. We arrived in Montana around 5 AM the next morning and met my Uncle Mike (my dad's brother), who lives in Texas and flew in the night before (luckily his daughter works at an airline and could get him a cheap ticket).

I sprawled out in the car and, FINALLY, was able to take a little nap. I was awoken 45 minutes later by my dad, brother, and uncle who were ready to get started on the project.

Within the first five minutes of our work on the project, we all knew it wasn't going to be a successful day. Still, though, we continued to work on it for the next several hours before calling it quits and hitting up a tiny, small town bar.

This is the outfit I had on as I drove into Ames (for work) the day before (don't judge). This is also the outfit I wore until Monday. Ew.

We sipped, talked, ate tons of peanuts, and eventually drove my uncle to the airport and started our fourteen hour journey back home. Kill. Me. Now.

The ride home was 100% less enjoyable than the ride there (like all drives home are, but times ten). We were tired, cranky, disappointed, and FREAKING tired. By the end of the trip, I couldn't stand straight, definitely couldn't see straight, and had told my dad and brother (multiple times) that I would never go on another road trip with them again. It was the Tired talking, I promise.

I was back in Colo, IA and in bed by 8 AM Monday morning, slept the entire day, and went to work the next day like nothing had ever happened.

The end.

**Epilogue**

The very next weekend, my dad went back to Montana. He flew that time. Thank god.

Hello again!

I'm back! I have been the busiest bee as of late! This is what I've been up to:

MOVING: I have officially been a resident of Cedar Falls for ten days now.

This is the note my dear mother left me on the day I moved out (it was a Friday and she was at work). My nickname is Penelope, nobody knows why. My mom's phrase (every time one of her kids walks out the door) is, "Drive careful, buckle up, stay with angels, miss me, love you." She altered her phrase this time, though--probably because she added the "don't text" part and then lost her train of thought...anyway, my mom is so cute.

Okay, I'm not a diva, I swear. I'm exaggerating about the mac and cheese part. But just a little (mac and cheese really is my favorite meal of all time). BUT, the point of this picture was to show the cute text from my mom on August 9th (the day I moved out).

PAINTING: I started painting my enormous closet/dressing room/spare bedroom the day I moved in and it's STILL not done. So far, I've painted the trim, the ceiling, and covered all of the nail holes. I'm hoping to finally get the walls painted this weekend. Here is the before picture:

I can't wait to show you the after. If it's what I envision in my head, it's going to be beautiful!

TRAVELING: My most recent schedule has me set to travel (overnight) for the next two and a half months (with the exception of one week where I have a 20 minute commute and another where I have a 45 minute commute, each way). This is almost a quarter of the year. So, after learning of my schedule and having a minor emotional breakdown about it, last week I finally decided this was the last straw. I can't be happy living in a hotel.

HANGING WITH THE FAM-BAM: Last week, my Uncle Kris and Aunt Krista (who live in California) happened to be visiting my grandma in Algona while I happened to be working in Emmetsburg, just 25 miles away. So, being the nice family they are, they came to visit and gamble with me in Emmetsburg! I won thirty-nine big ones at the black jack table and my grandma lost two tiny ones at the slots.

Then, this weekend I went to the state fair with my sister, brother-in-law, aunt and uncle, grandma, and mom. I, along with Abby and Dave, were informed that our friend was in a weight-lifting competition that started at 7 AM. So, I woke up at 4 AM, left Cedar Falls at 4:45 AM, and made it to Des Moines in time for the competition THAT STARTED AT 9:30 AM (and our friend didn't lift until 10:30 AM). It wasn't all that big of a deal, though, because we managed to find an open beer stand and a bag of donuts by 8 AM. What a day!

I had to pull over (somewhere between Huxley and Zearing) to take this picture. No editing was done on this baby--that's Iowa at its finest.

Nothing like a $10 beer at 8AM on a Saturday morning.

The man of the day!

My Aunt Krista and grandma enjoying a respite from the sun.

Me and my Uncle Kris showing off our prideful cheeks.

RUNNING THROUGH CORN FIELDS: I spent one evening at a bonfire with a few friends from high school. We played drinking games, drank when we lost, drank when we won, played the guitar (sadly, I couldn't join in), and tried our best to hide and scare one another in the corn field. It was a rather good night.

Best picture of the night, if that tells you anything.

MORE: I've also had another baby day, a night out with co-workers, a trip to Adventureland, a day of wedding dress shopping (not for me), and a night out in Des Moines, but all that requires at least another hour of blogging and me finding my camera (which I hope is just lost, not stolen :/), so the "more" won't be discussed until a later date. Which, thanks to the week of vacation I have coming up, should hopefully be soon. I've missed this blogging thing.

Ta ta for now!

Eldora Tubing Extravaganza!

Two Wednesday's ago (July 3rd), I forced myself to leave work on time and practically sprinted to my already-packed-to-the-brim car. I had a much anticipated long weekend ahead of me and I couldn't wait to get it started.

I drove straight to Natalie's house and loaded my already-packed-to-the-brim car with more coolers, a couple of tents, and other necessary camping/tubing things.

Then, FINALLY, we were off! We had a forty-five minute drive to our campsite (which seemed to take years). It's annoying how time slows down when you wish it'd hurry the heck up and flies by when you wish it'd stay the heck still. But I digress.

Upon arriving, we set up our tents, opened our lawn chairs (and our drinks), cooked some delicious over-the-fire food, and played some games.

Only picture from the night...

The next morning, we enjoyed a breakfast of "omelets in a bag." These are so easy and delicious; all you do is take a regular zip-lock baggy, write your name on it, crack some eggs into it, add ham, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, cheese, etc., mush it all together, and throw it into a pot of boiling (or almost boiling for us impatient ones) water over the fire (you can put multiple bags into the same pot of water at once--they won't melt together or anything). You cook them until they look done (probably 15 or 20 minutes), and wa-la!, an omelet in a bag.

Cute Jenna and her pre-cooked omelet.

After our breakfast, we got ready for our first day of tubing and the day was an absolute BLAST...and I took about seven thousand pictures. 

The whole group from tubing day 1

Dave and Abby

Dane, Natalie, and Jenna

The precious couple.

Alan and Amy

Us crazy ladies.

Webb and Natalie's sunscreened bodies. We used ALOT of sunscreen this weekend.

Another precious MARRIED couple--Dave and Abby.

More crazies. Holy crap, I look really creepy/weird here.

Amy looking cool as always.

Sam and Nat

Jeremy (Amy's fiance) and Amy (who was feeling quite good at this point in time).

Bottom: Sam, Nat, Me. Middle: Kara and Amy. Top: Chelsey.

After tubing, we ate my favorite meal of the weekend--fire nachos. Here's how we did it: everyone had their own tin can and went wild layering whatever nacho ingredients they wanted (beans, cheese sauce, taco meat, shredded cheese, etc.). Then, we covered them with foil, put them over the fire, waited ten minutes, took them off, wrapped bandanas around the bottom of the tins (so we didn't burn ourselves), added tomatoes and sour cream, and dipped tortilla chips into that deliciousness. Piece. of. cake. Sorry...I forgot to take pictures.

After dinner, we continued drinking, jumped in the lake, and then hit the hay stacks. Then, Hallelujah!, the next day was full of more tubing!

Transferring some tubes to our drop-in point.

Natalie and her belly.

Troy and Shannon

Sam and me

Ungs (aka Matt).

Webb almost drowning. I laughed so hard at this picture.

MY HANDSOME MAN!

Webb, Ray, Nat, Me, Sam

Natalie almost drowned, too. Luckily, Ungs was there to rescue her.

After tubing we went back to our camp site, ate some mac and cheese, played more games, and ate some more.

Aimee and Chris

Kara and me.

For day three of tubing, my mom and Natalie's mom, Marcia joined us. They loved it.

Marcia, my mom, and Lauren.

Mama and me.

The day 3 tubing group.

You could probably guess what they're doing...

For dinner, we had ONION BOMBS! I did all the prep work in advance and they were incredibly easy to make. Step 1: cut onions in half and pair the outer layers together. Step 2: combine ground pork (not beef!), bread crumbs, ketchup, worchesterscheir (spelling?) sauce, and whatever else you normally put in a meatloaf. Step 3: Stuff meat in onion shells. Step 4: Cover each onion bomb in foil. Step 5: Place onion bombs over (or in) the fire. Step 6: Wait til they are done (30 minutesish). Step 7: Donezo. I used three pounds of ground pork and had plenty for eight people. They were delish.

After dinner, we played a few games and, after three long days, everyone was quite exhausted and went to bed pretty early. All in all, it was a really, really, really great weekend. I'm already so excited for the next tubing adventure...I just can't get enough.

Abby during our "beersbi" game.