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!

Weekend review.

I decided not to give into the growing need I've felt to work on the weekends, and boy am I glad I didn't--I was one heck of an accomplished girl over the past few days!

On Friday I had an interview with a company in Waverly, IA. Immediately after the interview, I felt like it had gone well. But, as the weekend progressed and after I had time to analyze every single word that was said, I slowly lost my confidence. Seriously, though, this job would be perfect for me, and I'd be perfect for the job, I just hope they realize it. BUT, I won't know until sometime this week (hopefully sooner than later), and I feel like the more I think/write about it the worse my odds get. So, topic over.

On Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday I made multiple trips to Target, Scheels, Wal-Mart, Kohls, Hobby Lobby, Hy-vee, antique stores, and even did a bit of shopping on Main Street. In addition, my friend, Christy (from now on, I am going to stop saying "my friend" before referring to my friends; if relationships are unknown, hopefully you readers can use the context to figure it out), came over and did some serious rearranging and redecorating in my household. Since I don't have a before picture, here is a visual: at this time last week, there was a purple wrestling poster, framed photos of cartoon dogs, and an oddly hung black and white dock scene hanging in the living room. Just in case I haven't said this before, I'll say it now--Trent is not a designer. Not. at. all.

Yesterday, I did some serious cooking. I made some SUPERB chicken enchilada soup, chocolate chip cookies, and brandy slushes. However, with the exception of a few taste-testers, the entirety of my produce was tucked away in the freezer where it currently awaits the upcoming "Fab Four Friday" which will be held at my house this time. In attendance, will be my three favorite co-workers (and me, of course). Boy, it sure does take off some stress to have an entire meal already prepped and ready a whole freaking five days in advance. I'm not used to this feeling. 

Random.

I am writing this post while sipping my third large glass of wine for the night, so I apologize for any slurred words or run-on sentences in advance.

I currently have no plan for this here post, but I can't describe the relief I feel to finally be writing again, regardless of the lack of subject or purpose.

Random thought number one: I may be an absentee blogger as of late, but I definitely don't go a day without reading the posts of my four favorite bloggers--the twenty minutes I spend catching up on their lives really is a daily highlight of mine. I mean, seriously, who the heck wouldn't get a good laugh while reading about the daily adventures of Kerri Andersen?!

Random thought number two: The most awkward auditing experience happened to me today. I walked into the office of one of my clients to find no one was sitting at the front desk and, although a sign stated, "Please ring for assistance," no bell was available to ring. So, I patiently waited for someone to walk to the front and notice my presence. While waiting, I heard several people talking in an office or hallway that was just out of sight. The topic of their conversation was, of course, the auditors (aka: me). I nervously waited while they loudly discussed the auditors' need to "dig through everything with a fine-toothed comb" and explained how "they wrote me up for buying a box of Kleenex last year" and mentioned that "they won't leave here without finding something wrong" and finally, "I'm sure they'd let us know if we bought the wrong kind of toilet paper." FREAKING GOOD GOD! Yes, us auditors probably are guilty of some of these things (not the toilet paper remark!!), but seriously!?! Anyway, while fearing that one of these individuals would come around the corner and get caught talking about me, I stood at attention with a giant, goofy grin on my face for a few seconds. Then, after deciding I really didn't want to have that awkward confrontation, I slowly stepped back towards the door, opened it, and slammed it as loudly as possible, announcing my presence. Then, I briskly walked towards their voices and announced myself (and tried to hide the annoyance I felt as they attempted to divert their conversation to something other than the wrath of "The Auditors." This, the fact that I am presumed to be a nuisance/soulless bitch, is probably number five on the mental list I have called, "Why I Hate My Job."

Random thought number three: I am going to Vegas is just about two weeks and I AM SOOO EXCITED.

Random thought number four: I may or may not have an interview on Friday and I AM SOOO EXCITED.

Random thought number five: I have stared at number four for three minutes now, contemplating whether or not I should delete it because a) I don't want to jinx myself, b) I don't want to announce any future failures (if it comes to that), and c) I really don't want to jinx myself. Hopefully this acts as a qualifier/"knock-on-wood" substitute.

Random thought number six: I just stood up and knocked on wood.

Random thought number seven: There are so many work-related things I should be doing right now (yes, even after working a 12 hour day and working 58 hours last week) and it's really stressing me out.

Random thought number eight: I really miss all of my friends.

That's all for now.

Peace out, Schmeace out.

A little bit of TLC // my new vanity

As soon as I moved in with Trent, I took it upon my self to remodel (mostly just paint) the spare bedroom and turn it into my dressing room/closet. This project seemed to take FOREVER since I travel during the week and there are only 48 short hours during the weekend (and painting takes about 700). However, I am officially DONE with all of the hard stuff and now just need to pick out some new bedding and decor, which, thanks to my indecisiveness, will probably take another couple of months.

ANYWAY, the whole point of this post, is to say that I have created the perfect little vanity for this room! Thanks to my good friend, Christy (who has one heck of an eye for antiques/seeing the potential in other people's junk), we turned this piece of crap desk:

Into this cute little vanity:

I can't get over how great it turned out! I took this picture before it was one hundred percent finished (the old nail holes by the knobs have been painted over now), but you get the picture. I bought the desk for $10, bought 15 bucks worth of paint, and spent $8 on new knobs, for a grand total of 33 big ones. I saw a comparable vanity at Bed Bath & Beyond today for $179. Holy crapaloni, I scored.

If you're reading this, Christy, thanks for all your help!!

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!

Weekends Galore

I've failed to document several of my latest weekend adventures, so I fully anticipate this post to be a long, unorganized, post full of too many pictures and faint recollections. So bear with me.

WEEKEND 1
June 21: Baby Day
My sister and I had a baby day adventure! We started the day at Brookside Park where we ate a picnic lunch, played on the play grounds, climbed on the firetruck, dug in the sand, and splashed in puddles.

I can hardly stand how cute this is. He is going to be a heart-breaker someday.

Abby and Baby Quinn!

Afterwards, we surprised the babies and headed to the pool. As soon as we pulled in, Kennedy said in her cute, concerned voice, "but we don't have our swimming suits!" ...and when she learned her mama had secretly packed suits and pool toys for her and her baby brother, she couldn't contain her excitement.

Just look at that cute little bottom!

I took this video about five minutes later...

Later that night the babies asked if we could visit their great grandma (they love her so much!). She was so happy (obviously!) to answer the door and see two cute little ones staring up at her through the glass! After visiting with grandma, we snuggled up with popcorn and Stuart Little. What a perfect day.

June 22: Cedar Falls
After dropping off the babies at their mama and papa's house, I headed up to Cedar Falls for the day. A few days earlier, Trent had five trees cut down in his yard. Five HUGE trees. And, of course, he made sure to wait till I was there before disposing of all of those trees. So, guess who got to help? This red-haired girl. It was a long, tiring, and extremely hot day, but, I have to say, it did me good; living with my rents means I do zero yard work. And, holy crap, I was so appreciative of my parents after that day. ALSO, I stole several slices of tree for some fire wood for the 4th of July. So, for the next week, my car looked like this:

After our miserably hot day, Trent and I headed out for a date. Trent is so cute. He absolutely loves taking me out on dates. He's like a little giddy school girl each time we go out. I swear, he actually likes waiting for me to get ready. It's always the same...he'll be sitting in his chair, legs on his ottoman, beverage in hand, sports on the tele, and I'll come out in whatever disheveled outfit I happened to pull out of my suitcase (I am a terrible packer), and say, "ready?" and up he jumps, all giddy like, and ready in a second. He'll give me some sort of compliment, I'll brush it off like it's nothing (but inside I'm blushing), and out the door we'll go. Then, once we finally decide on a place to eat (he always makes me pick), he'll ask me ten thousand times if I'm sure that's the appetizer I want and if I'm sure I don't want another one. I love him.

Anyway, this night we went to Tony's--a cute, modernish looking pizzeria. I pick this restaurant, every time, for their calamari (even though it requires several strong shakes of salt). Then, my dear friend, Christy, and her fiance, Marcus, joined us for a drink. Afterwards, we had a quick drink or two at Toads and called it an early night.

WEEKEND 2
June 26-28: Sturgis Falls
This weekend is always one of my summertime favorites. If you're from central Iowa, "Sturgis Falls" is the equivalent of "Colo Fun Days" or "Lincoln Highway Days," but in all honesty, there are few close comparisons to be made. Sturgis Falls is a thousand times bigger and a million times better. Sorry, Colo, but you're dinky beer garden and little kid blow-up-bouncy-thing just doesn't do much for this girl. But STURGIS? I feel like the angels sing when I say that word.

Natalie and I headed to Cedar Falls on Friday afternoon. Once there, we tried and re-tried on seventeen outfits, made a pit-stop at a local martini bar with Marcus and Christy, then headed to the beer garden. My favorite part of the night, for sure, was when Lauren and I started a line dance (traveling four corners--aka, the circle dance) in the crowd; whilst weaving/dancing in and out of people, we accumulated about ten other fellow dancers. We all loved it. And of course, so did our audience ;)

The cute, almost newly weds, Marcus and Christy

Christy, Lauren, Me, and Nat

Me and an old Carlos regular, Troy; I ran into him and his wife, Lisa, every day of Sturgis weekend.

After closing that place down, we hit the bars. I think. Obviously, my memory is a bit foggy--I'll blame this on time, not drinks. 

The next day:
Natalie and I walked around the festivities for a while.
Natalie and I hit the mall (where I purchased seven of the same sweater in seven different colors. really.).
Christy and I got pedicures/manicures.
And, then...the beer garden again.

WEEKEND 3
July 4th weekend: Eldora Tubing Extravaganza

WEEKEND 4
July 12: This night consisted of four ladies, one baby girl, sushi, margaritas, a small town bar in Kelley, IA, and live country music from our local celebrity, Mr. Neil Hewitt.

 

July 13: On this night we had an impromptu, gluten free barbeque at my house. I've never hosted a gluten-free party before, but my mama and I pulled it off--complete with gluten-free chocolate chip cookies (who knew that was possible??)!

After hours of card games, we brought the party to the beer garden/street dance in Colo. I have to admit, I loved this night--mostly because I spent the majority of the evening being swung around the makeshift dance floor. 

Amy!

WEEKEND 5
July 18: I spent the evening with my old friend, Nate. I had a ton of fun, which ultimately depressed me, as I knew it was the last time I'd see him in a really, really long time (he's moving to Arizona today). It's so difficult to describe the relationship I used to have with him; it's the kind that is still comfortable today, even if we only see each other every few months. We spent the night talking, laughing, drinking, playing Mario Cart, and hanging with another friend, Tyler, until 4 AM.

July 19: Another day of goodbyes :( My friend, Laura, and I went to the pool and had such a fun, relaxing day! Laura is another lifelong friend and everything just comes so easy with her. But, sadly, she moved to Colorado a week ago...everything around me is changing way too freaking fast!

Holy crazy hair!

July 20: This day was spent tubing in Boone, eating gizzards and pizza, and watching movies at Natalie's house.

It seems like all five of those weekends were over in a blink of an eye--I wish life would slow down!

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.