pinned it, rocked it. january edition.

a few weeks age, i was browsing through my friends pins on pinterest and i saw this fake fireplace. i thought, man that would look awesome under our new tv. jeremy came downstairs right then, so i showed him. he said, "how much would something like that cost?" i looked at some places online, and found the cheapest one for $350 and they went up from there.  the ones i loved were all above $600. in other words, not really in our "spur of the moment i pinned something i want" budget.

then jeremy said, i bet i can make that. so he sent me and jessie off to get our nails done (i know, right?) and he and jakey went to home depot. when we came home, this was in the garage.

after jessie left, we started painting. i had to help with this part.we decided on black for the frame and a yellow for the background. we found some pretty little curlicue things to add some apice.

finally, after what seemed like years of drying time, it was ready to bring downstairs. yes, thats iron chef dismantling some massive piece of meat on the television. and i havent fully accessorized yet. but look what we made!

pretty awesome, right? i LOVE it! and i love the fact that jeremy made it in like ten seconds! and for waaaay less money than buying it.

just another day at the park...

jakey and i ran up to the horsey park this afternoon (aka eastview park). i think it was his first time at a park, but we didnt play - mom was on a mission. my training schedule said 5 miles for today and we made it about 4 1/2 before it was nap time.

it was a BEAUTIFUL day to be outside. i was surprised that no one else was at the park when we got there.  there was only one other guy doing the exercise route there. i noticed him in the distance doing the sit up station. by the time we ran around to that station, he was finishing up and walking away. when we got close i noticed three incredibly odd things about this guy. first, he was wearing a sports coat. really? to do sit ups at a park? and he was also wearing khakis pants that were rolled up to be man-pris. ugh.  the strangest thing of all though was the fact that as soon as he finished exercising, he lit up a cigar as he walked to his car. bizarre, no?

as ive been doing the gorun training program, my mileage has been increasing although my speed has stayed a lot the same. we had a seminar the other night about the physiology of running and one of the mantras he gave us was "start slow, then taper off." i can totally buy into that philosophy. :) but anyways, ive been running a lot more than before (usually 5 days a week) and my workout playlist has been getting a lot of usage. and boy am i tired of hearing the same songs over and over. i need some new tunes.  suggestions? i usually run to hip hop/r &b or rock, but am open to new ideas!

the exercise related portion of my new years resolutions have been going swimmingly, but we are only 24 days in after all. :D are you keeping up with your resolutions?

New recipe

On sunday night I made spinach, cheese and pesto stuffed chicken. SO good. And kinda fancy! It was fun banging the chicken out to be flatter. :) I didn't use an actual recipe but just made it up, but I'm still counting it as a new recipe since I've never made anything like it before.

january tri wrap up

51:53. i killed it this month. it helped that for the first time i wasnt sick and that jakey decided to wake up only once at 5:30am for sure.

december's time was 56:09 and november's was 57:42. that means this month i was almost 4.5 minutes faster!

swim: 10:14. thats only a few seconds faster than last time but i felt better the whole time and finished first out of the girls in my group and before the guy that was sharing my lane. i was in a faster swim heat this time so beating at least the girls made me feel pretty good.

bike: 20:10 thats a couple minutes faster. i pushed the resistance up and pedaled my heart out, to the point where i can barely stand up today. my thighs did not appreciate the hard biking after almost no training.

run: 19:43 i broke the 20 minute mark! go team me! thse first couple of laps after the bike are challenging so i play a little mental game to keep focused. 1/24 ok thats like 4% done. 2/24 = 1/12. way to go. 3/24 = 1/8 that's 12.5%! 4/24 = 1/6. the fifth lap is stupid because 5 doesnt go into 24. lap 6 - 1/4 done, half mile ran yay! etc. almost every lap is a fraction that can be reduced, and then i can spend the rest of that lap trying to calculate approximate percentages. crazy? maybe. but it seems to be working okay for me.

after all that and a great time, i missed placing int he top three in my age group by about 30 seconds which means no tri cup points for me this month. and next month the tri falls during our los angeles trip so none next month either. march and april i better bring it hard in order to finish in the top three!

baby play dates

 jakey's friend carson came over to play with us.they laid on the turtle blankie and held hands, jakey showed carson how he could sit up by himself, carson ate breakfast and jakey took a nap.  thrilling, huh? its a little bit ridiculous to call it a playdate, but i loved having anna and carson come over and see us anyways!

a few days later, we got together with mark and lanelle at my parents house. carly and ava have grown a TON since we last saw them in june and it was awesome to be able to spend time with them! trying to get three littles to look at the camera when there was a dog and toys and not-toys everywhere wasnt as awesome.

Best part of my day...

Listening to jakey sing during the entirety of our three mile run today. I seriously love this kid.

resolutions, week 1

i've been running (three times this week), going to yoga, and i have gym plans for tomorrow for biking and swimming. thats as good as it gets as far as my exercise goals. next weekend is my first tri of the year so lets see what happens!

we made a new recipe tonight - jeremy made chicken fried steak and it was great. SO not mdf, but i didnt have to cook it so its all good!

also. i made two things this week from pinterest. i havent finished my toilet paper roll wreath yet. if it looks even half way decent after a coat of paint and some sparkles i will post a picture. if not, hey at least i tried, right?

one week in - how are you doing with your resolutions?

book review: radio shangri-la

Radio Shangri-La

by Lisa Napoli

from the back: One woman's story of reaching a crossroads in life - and finding happiness in the last shangri-la. Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a mid-life crisis when a chance encounter lead her to the adventure of a lifetime. Leaving behind her job in public radio and her life in Los Angeles, she moved to the tiny Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan to volunteer at the country's first youth radio station. Along the way, she found the world is a beautiful and complicated place, and learns to appreciate life in a way she never imagined.

my review: i enjoyed this story. it was refreshing to read a nonfiction book in the middle of all the fiction i typically enjoy. the stories of her culture transition and the radio she helps with are funny and endearing. the people she meets chage her life and return the favor. shangri-la is a very interesting culture, once rated the happiest place on earth but since the invasion of the western world and the internet, cable, and the like their happiness quotient has slowly faded. that was the sad part of the story, but it really made me think about what makes me happy and why.

this book was released last year so go find it in a book store near you! :D

2012... bring it!

things i'm thinking about for the new year...

1. restarting the maker's diet and following hard core. no more sugar for me at all. its going to be hard but i already know it is so worth it.

2. by the end of january, i will have achieved inbox zero in my yahoo email. thats right. it seems impossible but i think i can do it.

3. we have four bookshelves in our basement. they are a mess. i will tackle one per month and reorganize and clean them out so by the end of april (and jakey's first birthday party) they will be beautiful and clean and neat.

4.there are indoor triathlons in january, february. march and april at local ymcas. i will sign up for all of them, and continue to PR at each one. by april im going to have to really work hard to shave more time off my total but i think i can do it because...

5. i am signing up for a running group through a local store with the goal of running the river run 10k. i have run a couple of 10ks back when we lived in la. i think my best time was around 56 mins (i'd have to look it up to be more specific) so i definitely want to pr in the may race.

6. i had this goal once before, but i want to try a new recipe at least once a week. i can be a side or salad - it doesnt have to be a main dish, but i get tired of cooking the same thing all the time. a bonus goal would be to blog about it so you all can join in the fun!

7. I've been obsessed with pinning things lately, and have done a few things based on things ive pinned. 2012 will be the year to really accomplish these things. at least one new craft type project per month based on my boards. a blog about those would be a nice bonus too.

8. you can tell that i havent been blogging as much lately, but jacob is getting to an age where i have a better handle on being his mom and working from home and keeping up with all the housework all at the same time. so i want to be better about this in the new year, but im not sure how to quanitfy this goal. i know i want to post more book reviews and more posts about jakey's day to day life, because, lets face it, my kid is the single most interesting thing in the universe.

9. we hope to be home owners by the end of the year. actually by august when our lease on this townhouse expires, but you cant really rush these things. :)not really a resolution, but something i am definitely excited about this year!

what are you going to do this year? something new? something hard? same goal as last year?

end of year book round up

as i suspected at the beginning of this year, working a job for 50-60+ hours a week until the end of april and then being a mom to a new baby, moving, and continuing to work at home really cut into my reading time this year.

as close as i can tell, i made it through 261 books this year. that's almost 200 less than my best year, 2009. :D

here are some highlights: (if you want to see the whole list or see my ratings and mini reviews, join me over at shelfari.)


room by emma donaghue
unbearable lightness by portia de rossi
anna and the french kiss by stephanie perkins
divergent by veronica roth
skipping a beat by sarah pekkanen
sisterhood everlasting by ann brashares
secrets of the baby whisperer by tracy hogg
the last little blue envelope by maureen johnson
stories i tell my friends by rob lowe


i also read installmants in series by the following authors:
george r r martin
carrie ryan
holly black
tamora pierce
kelley armstrong
susan wiggs
meg cabot
jenny han
kim harrison
maggie stiefvater


overall, it was a pretty good year. we haev an ipad and i read a lot of free books on the kindle app in the middle of the night while feeding jakey. a lot of those books are free for a reason, and did not make it anywhere close to this list. it was a good move to go from the groton library to the wichita public library system too.  lots of new reading material since the last time i spent time reading here! :D

christmas day

we woke up christmas morning to a sleepy baby. while jakey snoozed away, my santa made coffeecake and we opened our presents together. shortly after we finished, we heard the baby waking up. he wanted to be part of the action. he came out of his room to open his stuff. he  was wearing his reindeer jammers we got at hannah banana for like $3. i love that store! (because how often is a kid going to wear reindeer jammers. prolly not very often.)

after we opened all our presents we got dressed and drove to topeka for the shane christmas celebration. jakey sat on santa's lap for the first time. he wasnt in love with the idea, but he didnt scream in terror either so thats a bonus.

after dinner, we went to great grandma and grandpas for MORE pressies and food. this kid is good to go on toys for a few years! or at least until his birthday in april when i know he is going to get a ton more stuff!

christmas the second

 we celebrated with my family on christmas eve. after going to church at noon, which was awesome because it fit so nicely into jakey's sleep schedule, we went to my parents' house for snackies and pressies. both my brothers and max's girlfriend kayla were there too. after several rounds of gift opening and oohing and aahing, jakey woke up and was ready to play!

 he is still a little scared of the horse because he is too short for the stirrups. but how fun is that? the horse shakes his head and neighs and swishes his tail. i kinda wish they made them in my size.

is he the cutest ever, or what?

christmas part one

 the week before christmas all of jeremy's siblings got together with each of his parents to celebrate christmas. we started the day with brunch at jeff and barb's. after everyone had opened all of their wonderful gifts and eaten lots of food, we took a couple family pictures.

wrangling six kids to sit in front of the tree and smile when they all want to play with all their new stuff is a lot harder than it sounds. probably not as hard as herding cats, unless they are my cats, which will pretty much do whatever you tell them. all these kiddos are growing way too fast and thats all there is to say about that. there are two more cousins this year than last year, and the two oldest are in school! sheesh.

jakey and cora are the babies of the family, and they like to wear matching diapers. or their moms like to put them in matching diapers. either way, during part of the time at cherie's house in the afternoon, amy and i set up a fluffy giraffe bottom photo shoot with our babies. jakey and cora cooperated by holding hands. heart melting over here!

second verse... same as the first...mostly

i was a sickie again for the december edition of the ymca indoor tri series. however, i did manage to shave some time off two of the three parts of the tri as well as my overall time. i am super happy about that!!! 

NOV: Swim: 11:41 T1: 2:33 Bike: 23:22 T2: :03 Run: 20:03 TOTAL: 57:42

DEC: Swim: 10:35 T1 1:30 Bike 23:08 T2: :03 Run 20:53 TOTAL: 56:09

I'm currently in 2nd place in my age group for overall points. Jan 14, i'm coming for you!

feeling a lot like baby's 1st christmas!

 jakey was given most of uncle max's brio train set as an early christmas present.  he loves playing with it (and mom and dad are enjoying it too!). we set it up around the base of the tree and it looks so cute!

 last night we helped jakey open his first christmas present ever! it was a set of freezer cubes for baby food and i needed them because we just bough a huge bag of carrots at the store. :) i rationalized it by saying he needs practice before his first christmas celebration this weekend. also i wanted to be the one to give him his first present, even if it wasn't incredibly exciting for the kid. he was more interested in the paper anyways, as most littles are when opening pressies at 1st christmas and 1st birthdays. :)

thankfully (?) my sweet baby isnt mobile quite yet so i havent had to worry about tree destruction. next year will be a lot different i'm sure.