Resolutions

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to begin blogging more.
I even set a goal for myself that I would blog at least three times per week.
I thought this seemed like a reasonable goal.

Apparently not.

So I decided that before I get halfway through the year without blogging, I should get a start on that resolution.

On the subject of resolutions, I have also decided to get back on the weight loss kick I was on last summer. I have realized that my life is just far too out of control from January through mid-April to be too hard on myself about losing weight. I'll be happy with maintaining through the craziness that is interview days and file review time. Now that it is summer and my work life is much less crazy, I'll be returning to my weekly weigh-ins in Tuesdays because that seemed to work really well last time. I have hired a trainer at the gym Matt and I joined a few months ago, and I am committed to reducing my portion sizes and focusing on more fruits, vegetables, good proteins, and whole grains. I am trying to shed processed foods, and junk from my diet. I will always have weaknesses (salt for me), but I can learn how to control them.

We enjoyed a fun-filled and very busy weekend. I joined my friend and co-worker Mackenzie for some sushi at the Urban Wine Company and then sat in the THIRD ROW for a performance of Wicked! It was phenomenal! Amazing show, incredible cast - I would have watched it twenty times if I could have!

Saturday we enjoyed a nice trip to the farmer's market for tomatoes, salsa, cottage bacon, and ciabatta roles - YUM! I love, love, love the farmer's market. After we walked around, made our purchases, and enjoyed a gorgeous spring/summer morning, we met up with Pell and Bren for a trip to the Urban Wine Festival (hosted by the Urban Wine Company - are you getting the weekend theme, here?). We were able to taste several different wines and enjoyed more of a gorgeous day. Our day of fun did not end there though - we enjoyed a late lunch at M's Pub (yes, I had to have some lavosh!) and then headed to Lincoln for some Ivanna Cone and to watch my friend Michelle compete in a women's rollerderby match. I can honestly say it was my first rollerderby match - and I am very thankful that they included a demonstration of how it all works prior to the start of the match. Those girls are viscious! There was one girl taken off on a stretcher during the match and Michelle told us that two girls on her team are out with broken legs, and one is out with a separated shoulder - all caused by roller derby! Michelle's team did not win, but it was a unique and interesting event to attend.

We hosted a small gathering at our house last night and had a great night celebrating the beginning of summer with friends and family. Matt made some homemade ice cream (vanilla and maple-grapenut) and we grilled hamburgers, chicken, and sausages and everyone brought something to share! Fun times!

My camera is out of commission at the moment so I don't have any photos of our fun weekend to share :(

Back from the silence

My sister informed me that I need to update my blog because I am not in California anymore. She is correct...it is 3 stinkin' degrees outside which is definitely not characteristic of most of California. Matt and I went to the Creighton basketball game with Dan and Becky last night and then went to Barley's Tiptop for some drinks. After driving them back to their car (we left it at California Pizza Kitchen after dinner so we only had one car downtown) we arrived home at about midnight. The gauge on our car indicated it was a balmy 48 degrees outside. I remember not buttoning my jacket when we walked out of the Qwest.

I woke up this morning to the sound of wind howling so I turned on the tv to find out what the temperature was and discovered it was 10 degrees. I think that was our high for the day. Matt and I headed out to do some Christmas shopping and froze running in and out of buildings. But, we got some very important Christmas shopping done! Ma tt talked to his sister this afternoon and they went from 60 degrees to 20 degrees in about 30 minutes!

I also finished decorating our hearth tonight. I started working on it last week and bought the finishing touches today. I included a picture below just for fun.

In January, our household is growing! Pell and Bren have decided to move back to the midwest and Omaha was on their list of possible cities to move to. Matt and I let them know that they would be welcome to move in with us until Pell finds a job and they are able to sell their house in Oregon. They have taken us up on our offer so we are gaining three roommates (they are bringing their cat with them) around January 25th! We are excited to have them close by and thrilled that they will be able to live with us while they figure things out! We will be spending some time over our holiday breaks getting the house ready.

I am working a 4 day work week this week (I'm taking Friday off to finish some Christmas shopping and get some things done) and then I only work Monday and Tuesday the following week. I love working in Higher Ed - especially Creighton because we were supposed to be off until January 2nd, but the university imposed a mandatory vacation day so I don't have to go back until January 5th. Twelve straight days off! And I need it - especially since we have plans to go to Shelbina for a few days and then thought we would head to Saint Louis because Gregg is home for the holidays and there is a Jameson baby we haven't met yet!

I have decided to give candy making a try this year and will be starting with english toffee. I bought a candy thermometer the other day and plan to make a batch sometime in the next week. I need to figure out when the humidity will be the lowest - maybe next Sunday since the high is supposed to be 5!

Last day in Seattle

My last day in Seattle and in the Northwest. Part of me is a little sad because I love this area of the country, but I’m very ready to go home for a few days. And I literally mean a few. I arrive home at about 2pm tomorrow afternoon and depart on a plane headed to Chicago at about 1pm on Tuesday. So, two nights in my own bed and in my own house – I’ll probably spend most of my time doing laundry, repacking for Chicago, and preparing for our guests who will arrive on Wednesday. Jason, Sara, Samuel and Lauren will be visiting us for a couple of days and I have full confidence that my husband has our house all ready to go for them. We have never had to child-proof before so I’ll have to double-check all the things we never have to think about. I’m planning to make some banana bread before I leave so that the kiddos have something to snack on (not to mention the fact that my husband loves banana bread) and my butter making experience with Alice has inspired me to give it a try. I’m planning on trying out a cinnamon spice butter (with cinnamon, nutmeg, etc – I might just use pumpkin pie spice to make it happen) and I think it will work well with the banana bread. Jason, Sara, Matt and I will be attending the Nebraska-Mizzou game next Saturday. As Jason and Sara are both huge Mizzou fans and Matt definitely leans that way, I will be in the minority in our group. I believe we will be meeting up with some of Jason’s college friends (more Mizzou fans) so hopefully the Husker “hating” is kept to a minimum. We are thrilled that they are coming to visit and really look forward to showing them a little bit of Omaha. The last time they were here was for our wedding which was a short trip, in the middle of the winter (it rained all day on our wedding day which turned into an ice/snowstorm the morning after as everyone was leaving town) and we kept them a little bit busy with wedding activities, so this will be a great time for them to visit. Matt and I both arranged to have Friday off from work so we can show them a little bit of Omaha. I’m thinking a trip to the zoo might be in the cards for Friday, or perhaps a trip to the Children’s museum. I’m going to recommend they do both while they are here, it will just depend which one they want to do on Thursday by themselves and which one they want to do Friday when we are around. The game Saturday is at a horrible time – 8pm! A great time as we won’t have to get up at the crack of dawn, BUT the trip back to Omaha is going to be interesting. Even more interesting considering I have to work the next day for our Fall Open House. I don’t have to be at Creighton until 11am, but we likely won’t arrive home until 2am or later. And that might be hopeful thinking. Lincoln and I-80 can be a little nuts on game days. It will all be worth it though – I haven’t been to a Huskers game in a long time (3-4 years) and it will be great to have guests at our house.

The last day of NACAC was fun. I sat in on a presentation that I didn’t expect to be very good which turned out to be a great presentation. It was such a great presentation that our office is going to order the CD of the presentation so that everyone who was not able to attend the conference will be able to hear it. It was a panel discussion that discussed the basics of admission counseling. It was a good reminder for a seasoned admission counselor, but would also be a great resource for someone new to admission counseling.

I ran into a former co-worker at NACAC today - Chris Ramsay. Chris and I worked together at Truman for 2 years and then he left for a couple of years and then returned last year to work in the office again for a year. Now he is a college counselor at a high school in Saint Louis. It was great to see him and catch up for a little while. He will be visiting Omaha next month for a visit at Creighton and hopefully I will be able to see him again.

Kim and I attended the membership meeting for NACAC this afternoon, and then the conference ended. Before the membership meeting we walked down to Pike’s Place Market. Kim had never been there before and was as amazed as I was last year when Matt and I visited for the first time. We got to see some fish being thrown, and she picked up a couple of souvenir items to take home. The membership meeting was fairly uneventful, although it seems that there was anticipation that it might be. NACAC was voting on reincorporation in Delaware and away from the current incorporation in Iowa and I got the feeling there was the possibility of protest because the Midwest tends to feel that they always get ignored in favor of the coasts. However, this situation had nothing to do with the location of the state and rather with the political climate, rules and regulations for non-profit organizations. So, the amendment passed without protest and we got out of our meeting an hour early.

Kim and I headed back to the hotel after the membership meeting to drop off our stuff and change into more comfortable clothes. Then we headed out to find a sports bar with the Nebraska-Virginia Tech game and found a great little place where we could actually sit in comfortable chairs and relax while watching the game. At halftime, I received a phone call from the mom of a friend of mine from high school that I had run into earlier at the conference. Callie lives in Washington with her husband now and they drove up to see her mom at the social event that evening. I haven’t seen Callie since sophomore year of college and it was great to be able to catch up! We wandered around the Experience Music Project (where the social was held) and caught up on 7 years of life – crazy.

Corvallis

I visited Oregon State University today. Unlike Salem, I have spent time in Corvallis before. Matt and I stayed there for a night when we were here last year, and I visited Oregon State last spring for Creighton. I met with two advisors in their exercise science department about Creighton. Both appointments went well. I met Stasi for lunch after my appointments and she took me to a fantastic Vietnamese Baguette restaurant. We enjoyed a great lunch and some fantastic conversation. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay long, but it was great to catch up with her during my short time in town.

I drove back to Portland and returned my rental car. After I left the rental car facility I had to walk about 6 blocks to pick up the streetcar back to Alice and Nick's. As I was crossing a street, a car made a right turn around a corner and suddenly I was looking straight into the the front of a minivan, with a woman at the wheel who was looking at me like I was in the wrong. Regardless of the fact that the walk signal was lit and pedistrians ALWAYS have the right-of-way. After gathering my heart from the ground, I continued to walk across the street and a guy standing at the corner made several comments about how I had the right-of-way and how he didn't understand why she was so upset with me. Crazy...

On the way back to Alice and Nicks I passed by Cupcake Jones - a wonderful cupcake shop I visited the last time I was in Portland. I picked up their Friday "Happy Hour" special - a set of 6 cupcakes, three of which have a "happy hour" theme. This time I got The Pearl, which is a vanilla cupcake, Chocolate, Chocolate Covered Pretzel, Grasshopper, Lime in a Coconut, and Mocha Mudslide. Nick, Alice and I shared two of the cupcakes tonight and they were heavenly. I'll post pictures once I have the ability to do so. The cupcakes are as pretty as they are delicious.

Nick and I met Alice at Laurelwood for happy hour. We shared nachos (cheap), and a beer, and then we all ended up order dinner as well. I had some chili and some parmesan garlic french fries. I ordered more than I could eat and ended up taking most of the fries home. It was a beautifull night in Portland and we were able to sit outside for happy hour and enjoy people watching and the wonderful Oregon climate.

We enjoyed a quiet night at home watching Michael Clayton - which I had seen but Nick and Alice had not. It is the type of movie that I could watch multiple times, though, because you catch something different everytime you watch.

We have planned a day of wine tasting tomorrow. Unfortunately all of us are tired, so we will have to see what time we get going in the morning.

Portland/Salem

I visited Willamette University today in Salem, OR. I’ve driven by Salem several times during my travels in Oregon, but I’ve never stopped in the state’s capitol city. I enjoyed some NPR on my way down – good liberal commentary J My visit was good. I had a table in their university center and saw a couple of students who passed by. Willamette is a beautiful campus – lots of green space and tons of trees! Gotta love Oregon!

On the way home I stopped at a Banana Republic Outlet and found some great items for work and a sweater for my husband. I’ve been avoiding buying clothes because my size has been changing, but these were items that will continue to fit even if I lose a little more. I’ve been working out while I have been traveling, but my eating has definitely not been as good as it was while I was at home. As long as I can maintain for the next 6 weeks, I’ll be happy and then once I return home I can resume the good work.

I arrived back at Alice and Nick’s to some wonderful smells. Alice was in the kitchen making a potato casserole with sliced potatoes and a wonderful homemade cheese sauce topped with breadcrumbs. She also made a fantastic fennel dip – based off of a recipe that my mom made a couple of years ago for Christmas. Except that she ended up changing just about everything in the recipe except for fennel and bacon. I think it is pretty difficult to screw up dip :) and this was no exception. Nick and Alice’s neighbors Shyler and Devin came to dinner along with their friends Joe and Becca. Devin is a chef at one of the wineries outside of Portland and contributed the chicken for the meal – DELICIOUS! It was incredible chicken to begin with, but was also topped with a fantastic homemade barbeque sauce. We enjoyed some great conversation, a wonderful meal, and lots of laughter.