Slice of Life

For work the latter part of last week through the weekend our routine got changed up and we hit up Columbus for a few days. My boss had a conference/lectures to attend at the Hilton Hotel at the Easton Town Center and the kiddos and I went along. This of course included my own hotel room, going to Cosi & the Columbus Zoo, swimming, a trip to Der Dutchman & their heritage festival, and bringing along two friends + visiting with a few others. It was exhausting, but super fun! 

  Celebrate Local--a darling shop at Easton with all things Ohio.

 Meet Meredith, a sweet friend that lives in Cbus and we got to have dinner before she heads to Afghanistan for the summer!

 Sweet friends!

 More friends + dinner at Flip Side where the specialty is grass fed beef hamburgers. So good!  Lauran & Bella stayed with us Thursday through Sunday...so the kiddos were happy to have an extra playmate along.

Cass rode up with me Wednesday night, helped me wrangle the kids at Cosi and headed home Thursday evening.

 

 At the zoo waiting for the kids to tire of petting the goats.

 You might be living the high life, when you are 4 and get to order room service chips & salsa at 9pm and eat them in your rocket ship jammies. 

  Final night's sunset

 Brutus & Bella after church on the OSU campus

 & today I am playing catch up on laundry &...

relaxing poolside! 

Praying your week is off to a wonderful start! 

"Teach me your way, Lord,
    that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
    that I may fear your name."

Psalm 86:11

Rising To The Challenge [i.e. the biggest cookies you ever saw]

 By nature, I am not a super competitive person, especially when it comes to anything in the athletic department. But say I can't bake something, and I'll try my hardest to prove you wrong. Yesterday, the bro-ski, trying to be smooth says, "Me and Brian [farmhand #1 at the farm he works at] don't think you can make as good of chocolate chip cookies as Hickory River. They're huge and have giant chocolate chunks. And we don't think you can make them." He may as well have said, "Me & Brian want you to make us chocolate chunk cookies," and saved himself the drama of trying to make me want to prove him wrong. Though, either way, I caved & he got his cookies. It really takes little to convince me to bake for people...especially when they pay for the ingredients. Bam. So I give to you....

Paul Bunyan Chocolate Chunk Cookies:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup [1 1/2 sticks] unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 king sized Hersey's milk chocolate bars, chopped

1. Preheat your oven to 325F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, & salt.
3. Cream together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until well blended.
beat in the vanilla, egg, & egg yolk, until well mixed.  Mix in the sifted, dry ingredients--
just until blended.
4. Stir in the chocolate chunks by hand, using a wooden spoon or spatula.
5. Drop cookies dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Approximetly
three inches apart...I suggest 4-5 on a sheet at a time.* 
6. Bake for 15-17 minutes...until the edges are just turning golden brown. Cool on the
cookie sheets before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

*Helpful hint: To prevent cookies from spreading out and becoming too thin, before slipping the cookies into the oven, pop the cookie sheets with dough on it into the freezer for  5 minutes.

 Yield: 16 cookies

 Eat them while they are still warm with 1/2 gallon of milk. No joke peeps. These are amazing.

You can not go wrong when the cookie is the

 same size as your hand & bigger than a cats head.

Weekend Remnants

  

Finally got my official race picture....& was quite pleased to have been captured with a smile & both feet off the ground. 

 We also posed for one of the event photographers, I plan on framing it....such an awesome day with one of my favorite girls!

 & because I am half crazy, i signed up for a 5K this past Saturday. & it was FREEZING out...i actually could see my breath! I ran my fastest mile time [8.07] & my fastest 5K [27.26] & I won 3rd place for females 20-24! So I am seriously considering not running another 1/2 or a full marathon in the fall and really work on getting my 5K time faster.

 Shopping antique stores with mom & Morgan....we loved the nest sign made entirely out of different fabrics.

 I tried super hard to convince my mom she needed this scale..no such luck.

Friday Files--Living Room Jam Session

I came home the other evening to an impromptu jam session of a new level--my dad & brother-in-law. Not bad for never having played together, and since dad never does duets....he actually doesn't get the chance to practice more than once a week. And he is just going to be thrilled that this went on youtube, facebook, & my blog, since he never plays in front of people. =) Happy friday!

WIWW [Edition #9]--& morning realities.

 

Stats:

Maxi skirt: Target-$4 on the clearance rack

Flowered sandals: Old Navy-$12 last summer in the girl's section

White tank: Target-$7

Yellow/Green t-shirt: Target-$7 

Jean jacket: Goody's-$20 originally $50.

 

 This maxi skirt has saved me from a major fashion bomb on at least two occasions. See the black stuff, that's kinesio tape, it helps hold and support my muscles where they are suppose to be. It is applied by my chiropractor and stays on for several days at a time. It has proven to be a challenge to hide it with warmer weather.

 Stats:

Shirt: Rue 21-Gift from my sister in my maid of honor bag from her wedding.

Jeans: Thrift store-$8

Boots: Justin Bent Rail-$$$

This is what I wore the evening before the race...I like being countrified when I go to big cities, ha! Ended up walking about 20+ blocks in them which was maybe not the wisest decision the night before my half. 

  & this week I was thinking about how I spend so much time to make sure I look all pulled together--every hair is in place and sprayed to the hilt, clothes are just so, and make-up is highlighting not overpowering. & how exhausting it can be to care so deeply what others think of me. so I am currently working on not caring so much, not in a "I'm going to look like a ragamuffin" kind of a way, more of a "stop being vain and trying so hard to make sure people like you because of how you look, not who you are." I get so wrapped up in myself sometimes that it ends up stealing my attention away from genuinely loving and caring about others.

 As females we are constantly hit with waves of insecurity from comparing ourselves to those gracing the cover of check out line magazines or our closest girl friends, & the counter message from the Christian community is that we are beautiful, valued, and worthy. Leslie Ludy says it well when she says...

 "The danger of that message is that it promotes self-esteem &we're looking [within] ourselves trying to find our value, our beauty, and our worth."

[dagger to the heart moment as the truth of the statement sinks in, now watch the video for more nuggets of conviction to gnaw on]

       

these photo's were all taken on the same day. the left is just rolled out of bed, literally, and the other is later in the day. given, even with my hair and make up done in the mornings, my eyes still look squinting and not awake. a trait I have inherited from my dad. there is no make up trick i have found to ward it off, other than time. 

so there you have it. me. no make up. & really crazy hair that took some time to tame.

What do you think of the Leslie Ludy video? 

Is vanity/insecurity something you struggle with?

If yes to 2., 

How is the Lord working in your life to help you overcome those things?

13.1 [Capital City 1/2 Marathon]

My first time to try Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream.

Bramble berry crisp & almond caramel brickle

 Dinner outside by the river as the sun set.

 Milestone 229....if you are ever in Columbus, I strongly suggest doing dinner here.

Super delish. Go with the 229 Margherita Pizza.

 Got to check out the finish line the night before!

 6:15 rolled around and I popped out of the bed quicker than I ever have at that hour.

Excitement was pumping through me. 

& the sunrise was quite gorgeous!

 Pre-race

 Ready to roll

 We got a bit crazy at mile 8.

 Right after we finished

 2hrs. & 19min. which equals an average of 10:30 miles. Not as fast as we would have liked, but we were both still really happy.

I know for certain that my time would not have been as good if this gal had

not pushed me to keep moving. Miles 7-9 were especially killer....

but everything past 3 wasn't easy. Currently debating if I want to do

it again, or even a full one in the fall. Or just stick with strength, short runs, and biking.

I am running a 5K this coming Saturday morning & a 10K the first day of June.

 Awesome friends who got up early to come watch.