May Photo Dump

Soooooooo many wedding projects
these are some of the meal tags for the reception

Camp is now open and we have our first
payment for renting the camp!

Dakota has no clue she is a dog

My freshmen catechism class
I don't want to confirm them because I want to keep them in catechism
I have had a marvelous time with this class

Dakota loving the green grass

Applying for a marriage license

My fiance designed this sweet gate and fence to surround our garden
Goal: keep out Dakota and Rabbits

When remodeling the new men's side of the bathhouse
we realized a problem we hadn't considered
6 foot 4 inch men looking over the stalls

Fargo finisher Medals
I love my medal display that proudly hangs in my living room

Grilling

I love grilling season and I love that I have begun to get a little experimental with what I have Marc grill (he loves to man the grill - so I let him). I have slowly but surely been exploring all sorts of things such as marinades, seasonings for meat, kabobs, veggie pouches (veggies wrapped in tin foil with a little seasoning), potatoes, and whatever else I can figure out how to get cooked on the grill. I am in love and obsessed. Not to forget that it is ridiculously easy and for the most part takes VERY little prep time, other than thawing the meat - which in a bind I have found can be skipped (although it tastes better after the meat has been thawed first.

I know in theory you can grill all year round, however I feel horrible sending Marc out to grill when it could be mistaken for Antarctica outside - not to mention in the winter crock pot food is my favorite. I am apparently realizing that I am a seasonal eater.

Complaint: I wish my town had a great farmers market, we sort of have one, they call it that - however usually there are only one or two stands there and they are open at weird times - mid day on Tuesday and Sunday mornings, neither really works for me all that well. I miss Dubuque's Saturday morning farmers market.


What do you like to grill?
Do you have any grilling secrets your willing to share?
Do you grill often?

FFA Corn Feed

Linnea & her corn - seriously too sweet

It is a tradition in our area that the FFA kids host a corn feed towards the end of the year. This is the second one I have attended. It is a GLORIOUS tradition. They cook up thousands of ears of corn and host the event out at our fair grounds (which are conveniently only about a mile from my house). The charge for the event is $2.00 per person! RIDICULOUS! The way they figure out what to charge is they charged based off of how much a farmer would get for selling his/her product to another company who in turn sells it for more and what not.

I think Tuck out ate me in terms of
numbers of ears of corn consumed
yes, he is only three & ate four ears

This year's menu:

• CORN ON THE COB (my favorite)
• pulled pork sandwich
• ice cream

And to make it even better it is all you can eat! Seriously delightful!

Ordination Anniversary

Click here to view this photo book larger

Today I sit back and remember this day with great humility, I am thankful for the call to ordained ministry and I am humbled to serve in full time paid ministry. It is an honor and a joy, I give God thanks and praise for all the ways in which I have been led and guided and look forward to the future. I am posting a copy of my ordination photobook today. The video tape never got started to record the service, so I created this semi-lengthy photobook to capture and help me remember the day and the details of the day.

Hope you enjoy a glimpse into my ordination day.

Thanks be to God for the call to ordained ministry.

Nine: Pictures of you and your spouse/bestie

For the next few Tuesdays I am linking up with Lauren at Life. Love. Lauren and Tiffany at The Austin Family Diary for their Tuesday Topics. This week's topic is "Nine: Pictures of you and your spouse/bestie" While I am totally indecisive and have friends and family who mean the world to me, I have decided to go with nine pictures of some of my favorite people, I couldn't pick just one - plus I am not married (11 days and counting) yet, soooo I am altering the questions slightly. Soooo without further delay, please meet 9 very important (groups of) people in my world (listed in no particular order). I. AM. BLESSED.

My Parents: JT & KT
& I seriously can't forget Mickey & Minnie Mouse

BFF: Suz
Goofy - Seriously love all Disney Characters

My Fiance (only for another 11 days - till we get married)
My Sweet Puppy: Dakota 

More BFFs: Stacy, Linnea (who is now much bigger), Vicki
And of course the Minnesota Twins

This group of people is where the line between family & friends gets blurred
these people are as much family as those who I am blood related to
LOVE THEM

My St-End (as in the second half to Best Friend)
remember the necklaces that broke in half that you had when you were twelve
yeah, he gave me one & is definitely on the BFF list
And I cannot forget the Green Bay Packers

BFF: Molita (some call her Trish)
Seriously LOVE this girl - everyone needs to be BFFs with her

Seriously, I feel bad for everyone else in the world because
I have the world's best family

BFF: Hartj (nick name obviously, part of her maiden name)
most people call her Kate or Katie

This list just reminds me time and time again how blessed I am. I could have posted 12,000 pictures of people who I love and adore and can't fathom life without! I give thanks and praise for the people in my life!

Be Our Guest

Reservations have been made for our sit down meals while we are at Disney World for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon.

We have reservations at:
Thursday: Tony's Town Square Restaurant
Friday: Tokyo Dining
Saturday: Chef Mickey's
Sunday: The Garden Grill
Monday: Artist's Point
Tuesday: Mama Melrose's Restorante Italiano
Wednesday: Liberty Tree Tavern (Lunch)
Thursday: Coral Reef Restaurant

I am pretty excited to be headed to all of these restaurants. They should be good. The first night we are eating at Tony's and I haven't eaten there in years, when I was younger, I LOVED Tony's and my parents agree that the food was amazing. Then in the not so distant past (5-8 years) the food just hadn't seemed awesome or anything and so we quit going there. HOWEVER, I have heard that they have made major improvements to Tony's so, I'll keep you posted & we'll see how it is. Hopefully it is back to as good as it once was.

I am not certain how Be Our Guest is filling up so quickly. We tried 180 days out from our first night on property and tried for any of the nights that we are at Disney World to get reservations at Be Our Guest. We even went to the point of staying up late so that we could try to get in, we were 100% flexible on time and wanted a table for either 2 or 3, so we weren't even looking to fit in a large family. I can't figure out who is getting in and how! Seriously. Slightly frustrating that they are booked out so far in advance.

This is our plan for now, once the fireworks and Fantasmic schedule (which I suppose could sort of be classified as a fireworks show) is posted, we may need to revise our plan if Fantasmic is only offered once or twice while we are there. It would be ideal if it happens to be on that Tuesday, but we'll see how it plays out in the next month or so. They currently have the Fantasmic schedule posted out until the end of October, so I am anticipating the schedule to be released any day now.

Two Weeks

Two Weeks.

I can't believe it. We are two weeks away from the wedding. I am now getting ridiculously excited.

It is a bit surreal for sure. I had my "practice" hair yesterday, seriously a little crazy how everything is falling into place bit by bit.

This Weeks To Do List:

• Finish my bridesmaid gifts 
• They are about 95% done - so I just need to squeeze in some time to finish them
• Pick up the bulletins for worship
• they are printed I just have to get to the printer during business hours
• life has been crazytown around here and I haven't had time
• Make the meal tags for the reception
• This shouldn't take long - I have the tags all made they just need the appropriate color placed on the bottom of them
• Pay the flower lady and give her the twine to wrap around the base of the flowers
• Pay the cake lady and give her the ribbon for the cake
• start cleaning my house
• I am starting with the upstairs because I really don't use it all that often and I have company coming so it is time to buckle down and get that cleaned up
• double check to-do lists
• wrap bridesmaid gifts
• write thank yous from last weekend's shower
• I have half done
• write thank yous for people helping with the wedding
• lots of these to do

Living the Dream

Why is it my basement begins to take on water on the Saturday of Memorial Weekend? Seriously, no calling for professional help till Tuesday. R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S. {or no calling for professional help without paying an arm, a leg, and a kidney}

Also- the camp I am helping to co-manage opened today - over the top jazzed we managed to pull this off - I will include a long post about this camp here shortly

I have a random project: Operation Sandwich - I'll fill you all in on it soon - we launch June 6 - essentially we are going to feed kids who are normally on free and reduced lunches at the school during the year - crazy how this has fallen together

I had my "practice hair" done for the wedding today - it was okay - some things need "tweaked" - Marc's reaction wasn't quite what I was hoping for

It has been a long week already. While some are rejoicing it is the holiday weekend I am doing a funeral tomorrow, working Sunday morning, and again on Monday. I do love my call, (95% of the time I wouldn't trade it for the world) however tonight I find myself dreaming of an 8:00-5:00 with no on call, no weekends, no holidays, or holidays with holiday pay.

Alright. This post was a bit crabbier/overly exhausted than I wanted but I am going to post anyways.

An Open Letter in regards to road races

Dear Race Volunteers,
   Thank you, thank you, thank you, YOU are an integral aspect of any road race. You make the race, and I seriously couldn't run the races I run without you. I am thankful for your cheers, your water/poweraid that you hand out, I am thankful that you stand at street intersections controlling traffic so I don't have to watch for cars or worry about being hit. Thank your for your willingness to get out of bed ridiculously early so that I can run. Thank you for the ways in which you encourage and inspire me. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for the ways in which you faithfully show up race after race. Thank you for sitting at medial tents for those who need it. Thank you for your enthusiasm. You make a race amazing.
   Love, an appreciative runner

Dear Race Spectators,
    Thank you for your willingness to come out and stand along the roadsides as we run along your streets. Thank you for sitting outside in the heat, the cold, and even the rain. Thank you for cheering me on, when most of the time you have no clue who I am. Thank you for your encouragement, it really matters and makes a difference. Thank you for your creative signs that make me giggle and chuckle as I run along the roads. Some of my favorites from this past race include:

• I always appreciate the Grim Reaper standing at mile 11.5 with a sign that reads "the end is near"
• "less than 5% of all Americans will ever run a half marathon and less than 1% of Americans will ever run a full - congrats on being among this small group"
• I was surprised by these statistics
• "Left. Right. Repeat."
• "Go random stranger Go"
• "There is a Zombie behind you"
• "Pain is temporary, Pride is forever"
• "every step you take is one closer to the finish"

I am thankful for race spectators.

     Love, an appreciative runner

Dear Race Organizers,

   Thank you for your attention to detail. Thank you for your dedication and time you put into every event. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for picking out amazing t-shirts and fabulous race bling. Thank you for the up to date communication and clear directions on what to expect and how things will go. Thank you for your ability to raise money for countless wonderful causes. Thank you for the ways in which you inspire health and fitness.

   Love, an appreciative runner

Dear Cities across the nation,

   Thank you for opening your arms and being hospitable to millions of road races across the globe. Thank you for moving your cars off of the street and allowing us to have closed roads to run on. Thank you for changing the way in which you get places while we run through your streets. Thank you for allowing people to put port-a-potties on your lawn so if nature calls we have an option. Thank you for letting us fill up your hotels and take over your towns for a couple of days. Thank you for showing us the beautiful places around your city and allowing us to run all over. Thank you mayors for the ways in which you welcome us to your cities.

    Love, an appreciative runner

Dear family and friends,

    Thank you for the ways in which you click "like" on facebook and instagram to show your support. Thank you for driving and sometimes even flying to come and watch me run. Thank you for the ways in which you ask questions and care about my most recent race. Thank you for checking to see how my legs are doing for days after a race and pretending to care about the toenail I am about to lose. Thank you for listening to the countless stories I tell about actual races and the crazy things I have seen while out training. Thanks for not minding about my sweat and stink when you give me a hug post race. Thank you for looking through the pictures and stopping to admire my medals that adorn my living room wall. Thank you for being willing to walk through every shoe store and letting me drool over shoes. Thanks for planning travel around amazing races! Thanks for your love and support.

   Love, an appreciative runner

Wedding (not mine)

As I stated yesterday I had to book it back from Fargo to get to my office managers wedding at the church I serve. It was a glorious celebration and I wouldn't have wanted to miss it for the world. It was a little strange in the sense that he got married at Bethlehem and then had his reception at the lodge in Baxter. I feel like in a few weeks we will have role reversal and he will be sitting at our wedding at Bethlehem and then we are off to the reception at the Lodge. Too funny.

This is actually the first wedding that Marc and I have attended together. The next will be ours which is nuts to think about. I can't believe that we are under a month and only a few weeks out. Sadly I failed and didn't take a single picture, which is crazy!!! I think I seriously was way too exhausted to think about much beyond the exhaustion in my legs and getting through the rest of the day.

The wedding was beautiful, the bride looked gorgeous (her dress was amazing on her, although not at all what I expected her to be wearing - which makes me wonder what people expect me to wear) - the groom was cute and so excited to see her. IT WAS LOVELY!

Marc and I had a marvelous time and were slightly caught in the disbelief that it would be us in a mere three weeks! Because they had their wedding in the same church that we will be married in and they had their reception in the same location that we will be having ours it left Marc and I plenty to talk about!

Sunday night we had a small shower with some folks from church and it was marvelous and exciting to hang out with everyone and hear how excited everyone is for us. It is humbling to know how many people are holding us in prayer as we begin our final journey to our wedding day!

And because what is a post without a cute picture of my favorite puppy. Here is a picture of Dakota from last night. She has been so ridiculously tired at night it has been MARVELOUS. She is getting so much exercise because we are playing outside all day and have been getting in a ton of runs. She thinks she has died and gone to heaven! I love this sweet picture of her snuggling next to me on the couch.


Do you have many weddings you get to attend this summer?
Have you had the opportunity to be outside a ton with this gorgeous summer weather?
What is your favorite thing about summer?

Fargo Half Marathon Review

Love race bling

Confession: Winter got the best of me this year and I freely admit that I wasn't as well trained as I wish I was. The treadmill and I are no longer friends. I need a good long summer and fall to forget my hatred for the treadmill before next winter comes. I am full excuses for this one. Blah.

With that being said I ran the Fargo Half Marathon - I love running Fargo, it is soooooo gloriously flat. I love the people in Fargo, I love that it is a Rock n' Roll Half Marathon. I love that many of my friends participate in many different races - I love that we are supportive and push ourselves to do what we can and push just that last little bit.

My friend Suzi and I post race
Please ignore my afro - I had been sweaty & in the rain

The Running Reformers - our self proclaimed name - a group of graduates from Wartburg Theological Seminary who meet (generally in Fargo) to run races, we even made shirts. We come together to work on our health and fitness, we come together to unite, we come together to try to make a dent in the statistic that often claims clergy as one of the most obese professions in the USA. I love this group of friends, we span several different graduating classes from WTS and are inclusive to wives, husbands, and children of graduates, as well as anyone else who wants to join our tomfoolery. I am a little sad that I didn't actually get to see many of this group this time due to having to rush back to church for a wedding.

2013, 2012, 2011 Fargo Marathon Finisher Medals

The race was what it was. The course had been altered a few times due to flooding and so I wasn't certain what to expect in terms of the route, it wasn't one that I had run before - although it wasn't as horrible as it could have been. I didn't PR this race - and going into it didn't think I would. However, given the circumstances I did run better than I anticipated and not as well as I wanted.

It had been thunder storming all night before the race and rained buckets for about the first six miles or so. Not to mention there were places along the course that we had to jump through some pretty big puddles. It was worth it and it was lovely in the end I am ALWAYS thrilled to have finished and have that medal hanging around my sweaty neck.

I had to book it home from the Half Marathon to attend my office manager's wedding. See tomorrow's post for a full report on that.





Do you have any favorite races you run every year?
What is your favorite distance to run?

Homemade laundry soap

Confession: I. Am. Frugal.
I don't want to spend money on things if I don't have to. Some probably would call me cheap in some senses. I also really care about the environment, I like to run, bike, hike, ski, walk, camp, and be outside, so I personally try as hard as I can (some times it goes better than others) to be as environmentally conscientious as I can.

Today's post is brought to you by my frugality. A couple years ago while living on a graduate student's budget (read that line as "ridiculously small") I needed laundry detergent and as I was in a big box store staring at my options of detergent I became frustrated and decided several things: I don't have a clue what 90% of the ingredients actually were, this was going on my body, and I hated the price of a gallon of detergent. Sooooo I began to do my research and started looking at some make your own options for laundry soap. I soon realized I needed to decide liquid or powder. Previously I had ALWAYS used liquid laundry detergent, why?, because that's what mom used. As I began reading about the make your own liquid detergent I realized I wasn't really interested in having a five gallon bucket of liquid detergent sitting around my dorm room (read ridiculously small space) and began pondering the powdered stuff.

Then it happened, I stumbled upon someone's recipe (I wish I knew who I got this recipe from, but due to it's ridiculous simplicity I have it memorized and no longer have any idea where I got the recipe from).




RECIPE for HOMEMADE DRY LAUNDRY DETERGENT:
1 cup washing soda
1 cup Borax
1 bar of ridiculously cheap soap - I use dove with no fragrance or lotions in them (the no fragrance or lotions is key)

I think I have calculated it costs me about 3 cents per load.

I use an old plastic container from my kitchen to store my detergent in and make two batches at at time (because that is what my container will hold). I first put in two cups of washing soda, two cups of borax, and then shred up two bars of soap. I use my kitchen cheese grater and wash it well when I am done. I have used it for a couple years and it is fine.

Once I have everything in the container I mix it up well and call it a party.

I use one rounded tablespoon of the detergent per load.
I do pre-treat any major stains just as I would anything else and I use whatever stain treater is on sale when my previous bottle runs dry.



Do you make your own laundry soap?
Do you have any diy recipes you want to share?

Three Weeks

I am no longer in the months count down to our wedding but rather in the weeks and not too far off from the days count down. Seriously mind blowing that time has flown and crawled by so quickly.

We are now down to three weeks until we get married (yes, you may as well brace yourself for a weekly update now because I am writing one).

I have a bedroom upstairs in my house that sort of looks like all thing wedding has puked - I will be ready to have my room back upstairs when this wedding is over and to have all of these jars out of my house. Also ready to be able to focus on other miscellaneous projects beyond wedding stuff - it's been real, its even had a couple fun moments (food tasting), I am not sure that I would give wedding planning a real fun rating though.....anyways. It soon will be over.

This week's wedding related goals are:

• finalize worship bulletin
• work on bridesmaid gifts
• drop off twine to the flower place
• type up a weekend schedule for everyone
• start dipping dinner meal tags for the reception
• contact the rest of the people who haven't RSVPed

Unrelated news:

  Today is the Fargo Half Marathon and I seriously love this race and couldn't be more excited to be running it. Fingers crossed for good weather and not too many flooded roads and speedy legs (full review to come early next week).

Disney on the brain

Sarah & Merida

I find myself with Walt Disney World on my brain a lot lately. As I have begun to prepare for the Walt Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon I find myself thinking about past memories of Disney and dreaming about this upcoming trip and even trips to come.

Yesterday, I watched Princess Merida become an official Disney princess, what I wouldn't have given to be there among that crowd. My personal favorite Disney princesses are: Mulan (hands down top of my list), Merida, who is closely followed by Tiana. Another one of my favorite characters is Jesse from Toy Story. While not a princess she also has a warm place in my heart for one reason or another. I also do have an appreciation for the classics as well. I have a book on shutterfly in progress, with my friend Suz, and we are on a mission to get our pictures with as many characters as we can and we are creating one big book of only photos with characters. We also have a rule that we don't wait in any line that we think will be longer than about seven minutes to ten minutes. The only time we have broken this rule is after we ran the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in Disneyland last January and we desperately wanted our pictures with our medals with Tink.

Suz &  I at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
in Magic Kingdom

I have found myself thinking about Disney as I am running and swimming as well as spacing out at work (let's be honest we all space out from time to time at work). My mind has been floating between the delicious restaurants, the different parks, the characters, the fireworks shows, illuminations, the rides, and the experience as a whole.

I am a huge advocate for runDisney! I love the different runDisney events and on my bucket list is to get a complete set of all the half marathon medals. Also if I ever decide that I am crazy enough to earn a full marathon medal you can bet it will be a runDisney medal! I love the runDisney experience and the ways in which they offer such an outstanding experience. I recommend runDisney events to everyone I talk to end end up talking about running to (seriously most conversations seem to revolve around running to some degree or another).


Who is your favorite Disney princess?
Who is your favorite Disney character?
Do you runDisney?
What is your favorite runDisney event so far?

Nervous

I run the Fargo Half Marathon this weekend.
I am nervous.
I have spent far too much time on a treadmill and not enough time on the roads.
My excuses are lame.
I will run anyways.
I will finish.
I will get my medal.


I am excited to have a day in Fargo to hang out with friends, tomorrow and into tomorrow evening. I will go watch the 5k runners. Hopefully they all do well and the heat index is exponentially lower than it was last year, it was crazy town for sure.

The day or two before a race is always hard for me. I am awful at tapering and I think about the race with every moment of my day - or so it feels. I pick out my race outfits (yes, I pick out a few due to the uncertainty of the weather), I make sure my watch is charged, I review my running playlist and make changes to it as needed, I charge up the Ipod, I go for some easy runs, and I pack my bags. I try to pack oatmeal so that I can heat it up with hot water from the coffee pot in the room, I have found that oatmeal seems to sit fairly well in my stomach while I run.

Unrelated excitement: This wedding deal is getting real fast. I am picking up my wedding dress tomorrow. It seems a bit surreal since I bought it back in October. Now the question is where to store it for a few more weeks until we actually get married.

Ice Out date

My sweet lime green kayak taunts me every time I go into the garage
as she sits beautifully behind Dakota's travel kennel and some yard tools
Marc's kayak is on the ground below mine

I think (knock on wood) that spring/summer may have actually arrived in Northern Minnesota. We have FINALLY gotten rid of the ice on the lakes around here, I hear up north there are still a few lakes with a few remains of ice in them. I never ever would have predicted this late of an ice out date. Fishing opener was over a week ago and there were some very unhappy fishermen due to the amount of ice still on the lakes as their beloved boats sit on shore and they make plans for how to catch the largest walleye.




While I really don't care a whole lot about fishing, although I do appreciate when a friend shares a fish or two for me to grill up, I do care that the lakes and river gets warm enough so I can put my kayak in the water. I am willing to go out paddling when the water is cold but not sooooo cold that hypothermia creates a real fear and reality if I were to tip over for one reason or another. Every year it seems that someone goes out on the lakes too early, flips over for one reason or another, and dies of hypothermia. The threat is real and so I impatiently wait, my kayak taunting me every time I go into the garage. I have my rack on top of my car all ready to go at first word that the lakes have even slightly warmed up from freezing temps.

Fingers crossed by the end of the month or early next month we will be able to put our kayaks in the water and do some serious paddling.

Asics to Brooks

Asics betrayed me. They quit making my beloved shoes, the Asics Gel Frantic 5 in green and black version. I seriously wore through seven different pairs of this beloved shoe. I LOVE those shoes, I still have one pair that I have basically worn thin - however I refuse to get rid of them, I LOVE them and no longer run in them however I do still wear them to go shopping, or play at the park with my little cousins, or take a short hike. The bottoms are smooth as a babies bottom and I LOVE them. It is probably to the unhealthy point buuuutttttttt I LOVE those shoes.

Brooks Pure Cadence 

I tried a new pair of Asics and I don't love them, they are heavy and uncomfortable, I tried on about seven pairs of shoes in the store and these were the most comfortable. They aren't comfortable for a long run, they are fine if I am just walking the dog or doing something short, but the long runs in these shoes are out of the question.

I gave in and went online. I looked at the Asics options and wasn't impressed by anything. I decided to try a new brand, I looked at Nike, but those don't always fit amazingly well and often feel heavy on my feet. I have read a few reviews of the Brooks shoes, and have decided to give them a shot.

They aren't as heavy as the Asics I had been wearing, they fit fairly well, they aren't my beloved Gel Frantic 5's after one run but I don't hate them like I did my Asics. I think with a few more runs, I may just come to love them as a new substitute for my beloved shoes.

The laces through me for a loop at first due to them not running directly down the middle of the shoe, it took me a minute to figure out what I thought about it. Once I had the shoe one it didn't even phase me. The arch support in this shoe is great. My most favorite thing about these shoes is they are SUPER light weight which is amazing!

I have several runs now under my belt in these new shoes and they are WONDERFUL for sure. They are ridiculously light and ridiculously wonderful! I am excited to run in these this weekend in the Fargo Half Marathon.


Have you ever fallen in love with a pair of shoes like this?
How do you pick out new shoes?
Are you brand loyal?
What brand do you prefer?

Zumba

My knees only allow me to run about four days a week most weeks before they start to revolt. We have come to an agreement that if I cross train on the other days and don't run they will behave (try to not swell up too much AND we can get some good runs in on the days we agree to). Now generally my knees are kind and follow by this agreement and so I try to reciprocate. I have gotten creative with my cross training - in the winter I did a ton of swimming and recently (as you have probably read about several times) I got a new bike.

I am loving biking and I do still enjoy a good swim however, last weekend at synod assembly a friend of mine introduced me to Zumba. I had tried it once or twice before but nothing really, I had tried it in a huge group of ladies who all knew one another and apparently were professional dancers, or so it felt like to me (the one who had no clue what she was doing and felt like she was just flailing around in the room and looked ridiculous). My friend brought his laptop and a Zumba DVD and one night as we were all hanging out he said he was off to do Zumba, between our snickers I was intrigued. I wanted to try it. I wanted to try it outside of a ridiculously large group of people who all knew the routines like the back of their hands.

So another friend and I joined him, we tried it. AND I LIKED IT, seriously when I wasn't under the pressure of all the other people in the room and I didn't feel like someone was criticizing my inability to dance  we had a great time, worked up a serious sweat, and laughed at ourselves during many of the moves.

My friend gave me a zumba DVD before we left as a gift! I was jazzed. I have already done the DVD a couple times at my house and LOVE it! What a fun and new cross-training option.


What types of workout DVDs do you enjoy? (I do love all of Jillian's workout DVDs)
Have you tried Zumba? At home or in a gym?
What do you think of it?

Adventures in Composting

We have begun our adventures in composting. I am thrilled and couldn't be more excited, seriously. We have been talking about it and reading lots and lots of stuff about composting. We finally gave in and got a composting bin from our local arboretum for super cheap. I know you can make your own but I didn't have a garbage can sitting around and the price on this was about the same as buying a can that I would have to drill holes into. We had some leaves left over from last year that fell after we did our big raking job and so we put about four inches of dried leaves in the bottom of the can. We then added some stale bread and my banana peel from dinner. Our composting journey has begun. I am pretty excited to see how it works and am excited about the potential of having nutrient rich soil in a few months. This is something I have been interested in for several years and just haven't had the guts to start.

My theory now is that I may as well try and fail rather than fail by surely not trying, at least I have a chance at succeeding by trying. We also have bought some seeds and are going to attempt a small garden this year, nothing fancy and we know that we have to at least attempt to try it. So here is to taking my hand at gardening with two very nongreen thumbs! 

Luther and Dakota playing in the yard while we set up the compost and the
start of a garden

Marriage License

IT IS DONE.

We have applied for our marriage license. BAH! This stuff is getting real fast! (not that it wasn't before but stuff like this makes it seem sooooo much more real) They said we could pick it up in a week or so depending on how long it took them to process it through the system. It is nuts to think that we seriously just applied for a wedding license.

In other fun news today I am meeting up with some friends in a town south of me for lunch. Should be marvelous, I feel like I haven't seen them in eons! It should be marvelous.

a photo from hiking at the Arb last night

Then this afternoon I have a great plan to go running, no watch, no headphones, just Dakota and I. We are going to run and run and then run some more until my legs say we are done. I am excited to finally have a little bit of free time that allows me to go on this type of a run - the kind where you don't have to watch the clock or anything.

I am thankful for a day off as it doesn't really seem like I had one last weekend with synod assembly.
Now to go switch the laundry (the never ending piles of laundry).

After I finish the laundry today I am kissing my wool sweaters and other ridiculously warm clothes good riddance until next October/November (must. think. positively.) and putting my shorts in my drawers. Have you gotten to put away your winter clothes yet?


What do you like to do on your days off?
Do you have a least favorite chore? (mine is matching socks)
Do you ever run without any watches or music?

One Month

The countdown is now down to days rather than just months, and not hundreds of days, one month from today I will be getting married. Whoop Whoop! Seriously this count down at times has felt ridiculously long and at other moments have flown by. I can hardly believe in one month all this preparation and planning will be playing out as it is. There is a large piece of me that is ready for it all the play out, there is another piece of me that love the details and allows me the freedom to work details on something other than mission trips and work projects.



What's Done:

• I have a dress and it has been fitted
• I am picking it up in May when I go to Fargo to run the Fargo Half Marathon
• Church and reception hall are reserved
• Pastors - picked (complicated when many of your friends are ordained)
• Caterer - automatic when you get the reception hall
• food tasted (seriously this is the best job ever - I would love to do this every night for dinner)
• Cake - person selected 
• working with her to go back and forth about selecting exactly what we want - who knew there were so many amazing options
• We are now in the nailing down of the final details portion of this
• Photographer 
•  Fiances uncle and a friend
• Hair appointments 
•  reserved for bridesmaids and me
• DJ 
•  Fiance's uncle 
• Rehearsal Dinner 
• space reserved (at a camp I co-direct in my spare time)
• menu planned
• Guest book figured out
• save the dates sent
• children's bulletins made
• centerpieces done
• reserve transportation for post wedding/ pre-reception 
• Bridesmaid dresses (ordered and several of them have picked them up)
• Invitations
• Groom, Groomsmen, Usher tuxes
• Fabric Banner
• DJ
• need to get him a list of what songs are musts and what songs are not to be played
• figure out usher's gifts
• Closets cleaned out
• Flowers picked out
• set up golf outing for the guys

TO DO:

• make bridesmaid gifts
• in process & almost done
• figure out groomsmen gifts
• Pay the flower place
• Pay the cake lady
• Make labels for reception - who has what meal and what not
• Wash all the mason jars
• Put labels on mason jars for people to write their names
• Make food for rehearsal dinner
• this can't be done until later
• Contact the people who have not turned in the RSVPs
• finish designing bulletins
• Get bulletins printed
• Pick up my wedding dress
• May 17 - before the Fargo half I am picking it up
• Get marriage license
• May 9 - we are going to go get it
• Make a schedule for everyone for day before and day of wedding
• Make a list of info for host couples at reception
• Find someone to light the candles at the reception before everyone gets there

Synod Assembly

This past weekend I spent at my church's synod assembly. Essentially it is all the churches of my denomination who gather together once a year to evaluate, pray, discern and try to figure out what God is doing in our world around us as well as deal with some church politics type stuff. We gather in a centralish location and spend the weekend together.
It is great in the sense that I get to see a ton of my colleagues and friends and I get a weekend where I just get to attend worship without having to have any form of a leadership role. It is a welcomed break, although it is exhausting for this introvert. It is a mandatory event for all clergy and rostered leaders.

The painting that was made during worship.

While it was nice to not have to work in the traditional sense on Sunday it was hard to not be working because I know all of the things I am missing out on and the things I wish I had gotten done. It's a catch 22 - it is great to go away but it is also wonderful to come back home. I can't complain, not to mention I missed my sweet puppy like crazy and getting up early to get my runs in wasn't the same without her. Funny how you get accustom to running a certain way and then when things change it feels different.

One sweet thing that happened during worship was Pr. Paul Oman did a painting during worship (above you see the picture transforming) - it seriously was amazing. He began with a blank canvas and transformed it into this beautiful work of art as the service progressed - worship wasn't more than about an hour and fifteen minutes! IT WAS IMPRESSIVE.



It was a great weekend. It was wonderful to help out with the 5k run/2 mile walk - I was thankful for all the people who showed up to run and help to raise some money for our outdoor ministries in this area.

Race Director

My fellow race director and I

This past weekend I had my first stint as a race director - sort of fell in my lap in a crazy fashion - I learned a lot and have a whole new appreciation for race directors and race volunteers (remind me to volunteer more often at races - volunteers make or break it). Our race was held at our NEMN synod assembly (read a bunch of church folks who get together to talk about church stuff and what God's doing in the world and how we are called to participate in it). Last year there was a 2 mile walk to raise funds for malaria and a friend and I said wouldn't it be fun if we had a full 5k during the assembly to  promote wellness and raise funds for something. And we got put in charge - the money we raised went to our outdoor camps in the area.

Chalking sidewalks at 4:30am

My most favorite pre-race/registration email is as follows:
"I’ll plan to participate in the 5K run, under the giddily optimistic  assumption that I can move one foot in front of the other  that early in the morning with enough persistence to find my way back  to the finish line at Zion before the opening session Saturday am. Good idea, this walk/run venture. I’ll get the check and the registration form in the mail tomorrow ."

I seriously laughed aloud at this email as I read it. How funny is that?!

It was a smallish race - 90 people ran and I couldn't have been more excited and massively consider it a success. Money was raised for our camps and 90 people got in a little bit of exercise before sitting in meetings all day. I was doubtful when we began this endeavor and thought we wouldn't have more than about 30 people.

Prepping some volunteers

Lessons learned:

• people will register past the deadline
• always order way more shirts than you think you'll need - you will have plenty of people sign up the day off
• there are a TON of details that go into a race
• it is fun to watch races where people are running for the first time and to celebrate their victories 
• I desperately wanted to run it - when volunteering for a race run a ridiculously good run the day before so my legs are nice and tired and don't want to/can't fathom running
• keep a notebook of the things we want to change next year

Have you ever been a race director?

What is your favorite post race food?

Biking Lessons

So I am several days into my new bike now. It is a little crazy, I sort of feel like a baby giraffe learning how to walk, I am not so good at certain parts of it.

Seriously, while Marc makes getting in and out of the pedals super ridiculously easy, he snaps in and out in a half of a heartbeat, here is how it goes for me. I get my first foot clipped into the pedal, I get up on the bike and then I begin to bike, and for what feels like an eternity I sit and flip the pedal and eventually get my foot in the darn pedal, about at this same time I notice an upcoming intersection and I slowly but surely work my foot back out of the pedal so that at the ridiculously busy intersection I can stop and not get smoked by a car. This is how I progress until we finally make our way out of town or to an unpopulated part of town so that I can actually ride and get some miles under my belt.

The tire feels to me to be able 99% thinner than the tire on my old bike, which isn't bad, it just takes me a little while to get used to the thin tires. With such thin tires it makes the broken up road quite pleasant to ride. It took me a few rides to feel confident on anything other than perfect pavement. I am learning.

Seriously, I feel like a six year old learning to ride for the first time without training wheels. I want my dad running behind my bike holding it up. I know once I get the hang of it I will have it mastered.

A couple of things that I have learned for sure:

• don't assume motorists see you - they probably aren't looking for you - when they do see you chances are they will flip you off (as proven by two guys who were upset that they had to move over slightly on the road as they drove by)
• ignore people's ridiculous comments
• one gentleman driving an older pick up with a "confederate will rise again" sticker on the window pulled up next to me at a stop light, rolled down his passenger side window and yelled out to me "get a job, then you can get a can buy car and get around town and stop being in my way and stop being a drain on federal dollars"
• I chose to say nothing and believe he just got up on the wrong side of the bed - instead I smiled, waved, and crossed the street
• it is much better to bike in capris or shorts 
• pants get caught on the chain part thingy (yes I am that technical) of my bike and that isn't so wonderful
• I do enjoy biking minus the getting my foot in and out of the pedals
• I think once I master that skill set I will be golden
• I am not going to be happen when the snow starts to fall again next winter 
• I AM LOVING the ability to be active outside!

How have you been enjoying the outdoors?

What is your favorite spring/summer activity?

Excitement Abounds

'Tis the season yet again, time to start planning my meal reservations for my upcoming trip to Walt Disney World to run the Wine and Dine Half Marathon. I couldn't be more excited. I have my flight books, I have registered for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon, and hotel plans are in the works, I have a few things stirring so we'll see what option my friend and I decide upon. HOWEVER, we are still allowed to make our dining reservations (which excites me).

On my list sit down dining for this trip is:

• Be Our Guest  
• OVER THE TOP EXCITED to go here
• Chef Mickey's 
• I want to do the dinner option
• The Seas 
• Classic and food is sooooo yummy
• Tony's or Mama Melrose
• I am tempted to go back to Tony's - for a while I was very unimpressed by Tony's but I heard from several different sources that they have dramatically improved their food
• Mama Melrose is a classic and always good in my mind
• Artist Point or Narcoossee's
• I haven't been to either but have heard good things about them both
• They are a two-fer in terms of the meal plan so that always adds into my decisions
• I do like to try one two-fer every time I am there
• Teppan Edo
• yum. enough said.

Those are just my table service choices for now, we'll see how it all pans out in the next week or so. I'll keep you posted! I am excited to say the least. This trip is beginning to become real. 

Semi-related side note: I just downloaded and printed off the training plan I am hoping to use for the Wine and Dine! Whoop Whoop! I prefer the Hal Higdon ones or the ones written by Jeff Galloway on the runDisney site.

What is on your dining plans for when you are in Disney World?

Have you been to Artist Point or Narcoossee's? Which would you recommend?

What am I missing?

What training plans do you like to use when you are training?