Thrive

I’m hoping you’ve all made it through this Monday so far and have landed your happy little ass on the couch with the remote and a beer… but if you haven’t, then I hope you’re already in bed. Or maybe you had an awesome Monday and can’t wait to continue on with the awesomeness. Mondays are pretty hit or miss, that’s for sure. As I sit down to write tonight, I just feel – blah. I wanted to talk about every awesome thing I did in the last couple weeks (clearly “awesome” is the only adjective I know how to use tonight… maybe it’s because I watched quite a few episodes of HIMYM this weekend…) but I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe I’m just tired, or maybe I just want to read my book instead. Just a slump for the overly wordy blog entry for the day. But I did find something that made me happy, and opened my eyes a little bit. I know I’ve said multiple times that I wish I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I realize I may not be a “grown up” for many years, but I just wish I knew what I wanted to do forever. I’ve always wanted a CAREER. I don’t just want a job. I want to find something that I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to be challenged. I want to learn new things. I want to meet new people. I don’t want a sedentary lifestyle where I’m unhappy with what I’m doing. I want to be active and try new things. I just haven’t figured out what exactly that entails. Does that involve me being my own boss? Does that mean I need to move somewhere else? Or does that mean I just need to find something that works for now, and until I have the resources to do my forever job, settle? I don’t know what it means. I’ve got an ongoing bucket list, and my list for things I want to do this year. I also realize that I’m 26 (and a half) and there’s no hurry for me to figure out what I want to do FOREVER, right now. I just don’t know. I get on social media sites daily, hourly (depending on what I’m doing) and I see people getting new jobs, getting engaged, having babies, getting divorced, going back to school, complaining about how “hard” their life is, and I just want to punch people. Is that terrible for me to say? Probably a little bit. But it’s how I feel. I’m happy with where I am in my life – I just wish I had a little more direction. Maybe I’ll have an epiphany some day and just wake up and BAM – I know what I want to do forever. I just want to THRIVE. I don’t know what I will be doing while I’m thriving, but I have extremely high hopes for myself. Back to what made me happy and open my eyes a little, my quote. Well not MY quote, Reba’s quote. The one that opened my eyes and made me happy. “To thrive in life you need three bones. A wishbone. A backbone. And a funny bone.” Like I said – I want to THRIVE. I want to be happy and healthy and challenged. I have high hopes for my future. Maybe my future is 20 years from now, or maybe it’s 6 months from now. To get what I want (whatever it may be) I need a backbone. Stand up for what I want and love; and stand up to people who don’t care about you. That will never get you where you want to be. And most importantly – a funny bone. Make sure you’re able to laugh at yourself, or with yourself – whichever you prefer. I don’t understand how people can go through life being SO unhappy. Laugh, be happy, and spend time with people who bring out the best in you. So – my goal for the rest of the year: thrive. No matter what I’m doing – whether it’s work, getting in shape, or my to-do list. Thrive. Do things that make me happy, with people who make me happy. Challenge myself with things I’ve never done before. Or challenge myself with things I want to perfect. But by the end of the year – I will continue to thrive. Remember: all you need are a wishbone, backbone, and a funny bone. Sara

Time Well Wasted

Well kids – we’re halfway done with 2013. How’s it feel? Do you feel accomplished? Anxious? Hopeful? Or do you have an overwhelming feeling of “what the hell have I been doing the last six months?” I think I’ve got a combination of all of the above. Accomplished because I’ve done a lot of new things this year; anxious because I don’t know where to go from here; hopeful because I think I’m on the brink of something great. And then of course the “what the hell have I been doing the last six months” because it feels like just yesterday I was nursing a New Year’s hangover. The last six months have flown by, and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year.

And now, for you tonight: a recap of the end of June. And I will have you know – I actually wrote an outline of what I wanted to put in this entry. Usually it’s just a fly by the seat of my pants type post – but I felt like being a little more organized today. Perhaps it was the green tea flowing through my veins that helped keep me on track – or the fact that I got more sleep this weekend than I have in a LONG time. Either or.

Monday was my typical Monday. Too tired from the weekend to wake up early for a workout, and no time the rest of the night to work out since I’d be at work till 10. While I was at work number one for the day, I came across a little blurb of information: “7000 jumps with a jump rope burns ONE pound. Do 1000 jumps each day during the week and lose one pound.” Well shit. I can totally handle that. So I decided that for my work out that night, I would do 1000 jumps. Surely it can’t take that long – I can do it in 200 jump increments and be done in no time. Well as it turns out – I am TERRIBLE at jumping rope. My feet hurt, I wanted to throw up, and I nearly Hulked out and tore a jump rope in half because I kept screwing up. Maybe I won’t get this done. I got my 1000 jumps in and headed home so I could wake up for an early trip to the gym.

Flash forward to Tuesday morning when my alarm went off at 5:00 am. That shit wasn’t happening. Back to bed until 6:30-ish. Finally I crawl out of bed and get ready for work. I was excited for dinner that night – yes I was ready for dinner at 6:30 in the morning – because I was trying out a new recipe (thanks Pinterest!) Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Bake. YUM. Worked out and died a little after work – then headed home to mix up my concoction. This was a DELICIOUS meal. Chicken, Frank’s Hot Sauce, crumbled blue cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, and tater tots. It looked pretty AND it tasted good. That rarely happens. Followed dinner up with She’s All That – which reminded me that each movie I watched in the 90s gave me unrealistic expectations for what the real world was going to be like. So disappointing.

Wednesday ‘s work day needed to get here and get done – I was taking the day off from working out so I could head to Mickey’s downtown for the launch party for the new Juice. I was so nervous I wasn’t going to get a Juice glass that I left work a few minutes early to make sure I was one of the first 300 people through the door. Well I was plenty early – got my glass and got to spend some time chatting out on the patio while I indulged in some delicious Summer Shandy. We spent a good hour talking about food and I was getting hungry – so to follow Mickey’s, we headed to Wasabi Tao. I’m really starting to LOVE sushi and can understand how people develop an “addiction” to the stuff. We started off with spicy edamame – which is SO MUCH BETTER than regular edamame. Holy crap. Then we decided to go from plain sushi, to sushi sushi, and “OMG I LOVE THIS” sushi. Let me elaborate. Plain sushi = the California roll. Sushi sushi = Tiger Roll. OMG I LOVE THIS = Out of Control roll and the Kirkwood roll. I was seriously drooling. They were so good. I love sushi. And that was an amazing end to my Wednesday.

Thursday was going to be another long and exciting day and night. (Clearly I wasn’t scheduled at either of my part time jobs so I had some more time for fun things. Not that folding and refolding clothes isn’t fun… but you get what I’m saying.) After an early morning and long day at work, I headed to the gym for an all weighted workout. Haven’t done one of these in a while – I was definitely in for it. After plenty of squats, bench press, an ab circuit, and other lifts I forgot about, I was ready for a good laugh. We had some free tickets to the Funny Bone that night – and I was pretty excited to laugh my ass off. And that I did. I was cracking up – and terrified that sitting right next to the stage would be cause for a huge amount of embarrassment. But there was only a little embarrassment. And as if I hadn’t had enough fun there, we decided to head downtown to Pints for a while to people watch. I can only handle so much people watching before I need to go home – so it was a fairly early night.

Friday sucked. I mean work was work – but I was super tired. I had zero plans of doing anything exciting that night. So after a trip to Jimmy John’s for some sammiches, a trip to Hy Vee for some honeydew melon, crackers and hummus, and a short trip to Redbox for some movies – I was so ready to take off my pants and bra and not do a damn thing. It was wonderful. Two and a half movies later, it was bed time for this girl.

Saturday’s wake-up call didn’t come till 9 and it was AWESOME. I definitely needed a full night’s sleep. I drank some coffee and got ready for a quick shift at the mall. After work, I really wanted to go to the Art Festival that was in town for the weekend. However – rain off and on the whole day didn’t really appeal to me. So after work, it was another sushi night! This time we headed to the East Village for Miyabi 9. I’ve heard only good things about this place – so I was so sure I wouldn’t be disappointed. Sadly though – I was a little disappointed. I mean don’t get me wrong, I loved the sushi – but I didn’t love it more than other sushi that I’ve had. We again went for the plain sushi, sushi sushi, and OMG I LOVE THIS sushi. Plain sushi = Hawaiian roll. Sushi sushi = Tiger roll. OMG I LOVE THIS = Acapulco roll and the Miami Heat roll. Very good place – but more expensive than Wasabi Tao, Sakari, Haiku… and it wasn’t my favorite. So now I’ve got that checked off my bucket list – I can move on to try more sushi places! To follow our GINORMOUS amount of sushi, we headed to The Rooftop for a drink while we decided what to do with the rest of our night. I forgot about that place until I looked up during dinner and saw it. On a hot day that place would be PERFECT. There’s an awesome breeze flowing and an open patio to work on my tan. But when it looks like it’s going to rain – I got nervous. After lots of discussion, we decided to hit up a movie. And not just ANY movie – we were going to see Monsters University. Yes I realize I’m 26, but I am a serious Disney/Pixar kid at heart. Always have been, always will be. As I’d hoped – Pixar didn’t disappoint. I still like the first one better – but I’m probably going to buy this one when it’s out on DVD. Another early night for me on Saturday – awesome.

Sunday was an unexpectedly busy day. Another late wake-up call, and then a trip to Gateway Market for brunch. It was a gorgeous day so I thought a walk to the Art Festival would be a great morning activity. A loop through Western Gateway Park was a good start to the day – to get my creative juices flowing. Because after that I was heading to a bridal shower and I knew I’d need an extensive vocabulary for the shower games. (Scattegories and “How Well Do You Know the Bride?” were on the docket for the afternoon.) So many talented artists and great works of art – I wish I could be so creative! Sadly though – my creativity is in my writing. Looks like that will have to suffice for now. I did finish out my night with some laundry (super exciting) and some homemade breakfast sandwiches. I had one for breakfast today and YUM – definitely an A+ in my book. Home run FO SHO.

I was cleaning out my phone today – deleting pictures of sayings from my phone, multiples pictures of Toby (don’t judge) and extensive food shots – and came across a lot of great words of wisdom. And I think this is a perfect way to start out the halfway mark of 2013:

“Time is precious. Waste it wisely.”

Like I’d said before – these last six months have completely flown by. Time is so precious. But if you waste it wisely – spend it wisely, whichever you choose – then it’s worth it. Although half the year is gone, I enjoyed it. I have loved nearly every minute of it. Sure – shit happens. But you get over it. And other AMAZING things have happened. Waste your time wisely, with people you love. Don’t spend your time doing something you hate with people whom you cannot STAND. Waste your time doing something awesome, with people who are equally as awesome as you are. You won’t regret it.

Have a wonderful Independence Day/week – ‘merica

S

Hops, Sunburns, and People Watching

I’ll be honest with you – this week was not very exciting. I worked Monday night, made spaghetti and watched Double Jeopardy on Tuesday night, relaxed on Wednesday night, ate sushi and celebrated a friend’s birthday on Thursday night, and ended up eating half a frozen pizza, drinking wine, and watching Bachelorette without my pants on for my Friday night festivities. These were all enjoyable activities (especially the ones where I don’t have to wear pants) but the REAL fun started on Saturday afternoon. What was on Saturday you ask? Well – I shall tell the tale.

Saturday was the Iowa Craft Brew Festival. And I was a VIP entrant for the event. Super exciting. I couldn’t wait to drink as much brewery beer as I wanted and work on my tan while I was there. As a VIP person for the event, you got an awesome testing glass (not just a big shot glass like the REGULAR people) and an early entrance from the rest of the crowd. Because why wouldn’t you want to start drinking an hour earlier than everyone else? There were 45 different breweries featured with over 200 different beers available to try. Sadly – I did not make it through all 200+ beers. I think I would have needed to have someone carry me home after that business. But I did do quite well with trying at least one from each brewery. There were a couple that I cut short – because I’ve had a Sam Adams or two in my life, as well as Leinenkugel’s. There were 16 breweries I didn’t quite try – I just counted to see what I missed – and looking through those, I’ve had about 6 of them so really… I only missed 10 breweries. Pretty good for being out from 1-5 pm on a sweltering 95 degree day in June. Speaking of that – I got a nasty sunburn too. Was it worth it? Obviously. I should probably remember to wear sunscreen next time I’m out for more than 30 minutes on my lunch break.

My grading scale went like this:

·         Duh = of course it was delicious

·         Eh = I’d drink it… but it’s not my favorite

·         A Checkmark = yep I’ll do it

·         Completely Scratched Out = not a chance I will ever drink this again OR I dumped it over the bridge it was so bad

·         Write In Brews = there were a few of these not in the book that were write-in BIG WINNERS

·         A Question Mark = we weren’t sure what to think about it. Didn’t quite elicit a check mark, but also didn’t really deserve an “eh” either

(The grading was pretty cut and dry at the beginning, but as the day went on we begin to add in grading option. That’s what happens when you start tasting delicious brewery beer at 1 pm!) So. Some of the obvious “Duh” grades went to Angry Orchard (love me a sweet, cider beer), Confluence Brewing Company, Exile Brewing Company, Samuel Adams, and Leinenkugel’s. Confluence and Exile are the newer breweries in Des Moines and come HIGHLY recommended by me. Definitely worth a trip downtown to hit up these places.

Now for some of the “eh” grades. Overall, there weren’t BAD breweries. There were definitely bad beers (in my opinion – maybe not for everyone) but no real breweries that had been completely crossed out. Goose Island Brewing Company in Chicago got some checkmarks for their 312 (duh) and an “eh” for their 25^th Anniversary as well as their Summer beer. I’d drink them… but not forever. Madhouse Brewing Company in Newton got an “eh” grade for their Honey Pilsner and a HELL NO for their Coffee Stout. Now I’ve had some DELICIOUS coffee beers before, but this one was definitely not one of them. Which is a bummer because I’m all about the local brews. Millstream Brewing Company in Amana, Iowa is going to probably be a road trip sometime this year. They got a Check for the Double IPA (better than a single IPA apparently) as well as a write in for their Hefeweizen. DE-LISH. Pretty sure that’s worth a 2 hour drive for some yummy beers. Possibly to bring home in a growler… possibly. Let’s see… some others that are worth talking about. Looking through my notes, I can tell that I had started getting lazy with my judging. Not with judging people there – I got plenty of that done. Definitely a great place to people watch.  Third Base Brewing Company in Cedar Rapids got two checkmarks for their Beggar Jon’s and Black Cobra. Mostly I just liked the names they had for their brews – with Czech Your Head, Flying Aces, Jedi Braid, and Red Rocket. That’s how I was deciding which beer to try at most places. If it had a creative name, I’d try it. I don’t know if that’s exactly how you’re supposed to choose your brew… but that’s how I roll.

Toppling Goliath Brewing Company in Decorah got DQ’d in the process – they ran out of beer by the time we made it to their booth. Sorry guys – I was ready to try pseudoSue or Tsunami Pale while I was there. Better luck next year. Number 7 Brewing Company in Ankeny intrigued me with their lack of advertising, a “TBD” note in the book when listing the brews they brought, and their back story. Number 7 is basically the 7^th thing on the owners’ bucket list – open a brewpub. They’d been home brewing and BBQing for years, so they decided to cross “Number 7” off their bucket list, and here it is. Now I need to try their food and see what it’s really all about. Such a great thing for another locally owned business. We tried their Number 7 American Amber (got a checkmark) and the Drunken Sailor IPA (that got a ? ranking). They also offer CoCo Bessie Milk Stout (hopefully a boozy chocolate milk) and the KB Kolsch. Worth a trip up north to try it for sure.

Some honorable mentions for ICBF 2013 include Albia Brewing Company (a write-in “roadtrip?” note), the Arrogant Bastard from Boulevard Brewing, Moose Drool and Brushtail (a write-in) from Big Sky Brewing Company, Boone Valley Brewing Company with their Dunkelweizen (I’ve never met a Dunkel I haven’t liked), Roxie Red Ale and Stout, Chew-Baca from Confluence (comes out in a few months and I cannot WAIT), and Twisted Vine Brewery’s Swashbuckler Summer Ale.

So there we have it, folks. My two cents worth for Iowa Craft Brew Festival 2013. I hope some of you were out enjoying the sights and tastes and sunburns like I did. Worth it. If you have any questions or suggestions on brews I should try or steer clear from, let me know. I’m always up for a challenge, even if that includes crappy beer nights.

The quote I’ll go to close this out is something I’d love to tell people, without it sounding like I’m being rude. But with so many people complaining, whining, bitching and moaning I see on social media, I think this seems fairly appropriate. (And I apologize ahead of time… for the profanity.)

“Life is so damn short. For fuck sake, just do what makes you happy.”

The end. Off my soap box. Now go enjoy a beer, don’t bitch about your “terrible” life, and just freakin enjoy it. Drink beer,  make friends.

Love Love,

Sara

Nerd Status

I know you’ve been wondering “is she dead? We haven’t seen a post from her since MAY. I bet she died during D2D4.” Well – you are partially correct. I did, indeed DIE during D2D4… but I came back to life after a nap, some food, a shower, and some beers. My body sure took some convincing, but I made it out alive. But I need to go back in time… I’m so far behind I don’t even know what I did between now and my last posting. Maybe I should make it a rule that I post at least once a week – no matter what I’ve done. That way I don’t get nearly a MONTH out without any updates on my oh-so super exciting life. So. Here we go. A brief synopsis of some things, and too many details of others. You’re welcome.

May is a big birthday month for my family, so we had a get together at Smokey D’s with a bunch of us. I snuck my cupcakes into the restaurant – Cookie Dough Filled Cupcakes – and had zero to take home after dinner. They must have been a hit! But seriously – they were effing good. Not pretty by any means… but they were GOOD. The dinner I had made the night before – not as good as I’d planned. It was a Chicken and Asparagus pasta with a creamy lemon sauce. Meh. I’ll use less stuff next time, or just a bigger pan. I mean I ate it – so I didn’t HATE it, but it wasn’t my best. That weekend was Mother’s Day. I did a lot of working and made an impromptu brunch. Breakfast pizza (with too many eggs), hash browns, and a fruit salad. YUM. Breakfast is so fun to make. And you can have breakfast any time of day.

The next week was D2D4 week. I worked, had a nail appointment (I could have done it myself), and a night to prep before the run. Not a very exciting week – but it was okay since I’d be running my ass off Saturday morning. Saturday morning about 4:15 am my alarm went off. Time to get up and moving! We left my place around 5 to walk down to the bus pick up. Grabbed a coffee on the way at the sketch QT and made it out to Saylorville with nearly an hour to go before race time. Time to have a little snack, drink some water, lace up the runners, and use the potties. Basically you just hurry up and wait. Once the race started, I felt pretty good. The first couple miles went by quickly, and then all of a sudden, we were only on mile 4. We were 1/3 the way done and I was ready to be done already. We made it up the first big hill without any issues, and decided a little walk was in order. After that, we did much more walk/running. About mile 9 or 10, my foot started to hurt and I could feel a massive blister coming in. I wasn’t sure if I should run faster or if I should go slower to ease the pain of what I knew would be a TERRIBLE blister. But I kept going – wanting to cry, throw up, and die the whole way, and not necessarily in that order. Once we heard the Isiserettes I knew it was almost over. We wove in with the 5k runners and all crossed the line. All I wanted was a bathroom, water, and to get my freakin shoes off my feet. Again – not necessarily in that order. I spent the majority of the day on my couch – knowing I should refuel and rehydrate, but instead – I took a nap. So naturally, I woke up feeling spectacular…ly awful. Go figure. Some year I will learn that you don’t immediately take a nap after running that far. Your body will hate you. FOR-E-VER.

I had planned out my next week pretty lightly, that way I wouldn’t hate to move around after being sore from the weekend. I got a massage on Monday night – hurt so good. Again – I wanted to cry, throw up and die a little bit. (Do you see a pattern here?) That Friday night is what I was looking forward to though. It was Winefest 2013: Sips and the City. And by that point I was so ready to be “classy” and drink wine all night like a grown up. However, I didn’t remember until later that if you start drinking at 5 pm, you are home and asleep by 10:30 pm. Woops. But it was still fun – lots of good wines, lots of snacks, and some time downtown people watching (my favorite activity). Family pictures were that Sunday and I had come down with the flu Saturday night. Not cool. I ended up staying home last Monday so I could feel better as well as catch up on 30 Rock. The rest of that week – yuck. Well not all of it… but I was busy every night. Work on Tuesday, book club on Wednesday (get ready for the nerd stuff coming up), work on Thursday, and nerd night on Friday. What do I mean by nerd night? Well, if you must know – and you’re going to know because I will tell you – there was a lecture by one of my new favorite authors in Cedar Rapids. Gillian Flynn (pronounced Gill – like fish – ian, not Jillian) was doing a discussion and answering questions about her past, her writing, her future, etc. It was AWESOME. Plus we got her autograph at the end – so basically she and I are BFFs and someday she’s going to be my mentor when I write a book. It was interesting to listen to her talk about how she’s always had a love of “dark” things, and that’s what inspired her writing. She and I are far more alike in our weird-ness than I thought. And weird-ness makes me happy.

Nerd thing number 2 for the week. As I said, we had book club on Wednesday night and needed to figure out what to read next. A fellow blogger and book club member passed along  something to me via Facebook to have an author “attend” your book club. Naturally – I got excited. I looked into it and passed it along to the host. It’s going to be a done deal. We got in touch the author and learned what this was all about. Basically – we would Skype with her and have our own book club discussion with her book – The Year of the Gadfly. Totally one of my nerd fantasies. So – that’s happening. Our July book club meeting will actually be INCLUDING Jennifer Miller, the author of our chosen book. HOW COOL IS THAT?! All right – enough nerd for now. More to come I’m sure.

Things to look forward to in the next month or so: Iowa Craft Brew Festival this weekend, a brunette date down Ingersoll, a bridal shower, Zoo Brew, the 4^th of July, and hopefully a sunburn or two. Hooray for summer FINALLY being here, and coming in FULL FORCE.

 As for my quote, I’m keeping it simple. I don’t think it deserves a lot of explaining, I think it’s just true. Ponder it for a minute – and I hope it resonates with you the way it did with me.

“Whatever’s good for your soul… do that.”

Just think about it. Let it sink in. Listen to what your heart and soul are saying. They’re right most of the time. Just think about it.

Heart and soul,

S

White Hot and Passionate - This is NOT an Excerpt from a Romance Novel

I had such high expectations for my upcoming week. I was going to be SO productive. Last night at work (since I couldn’t get into Jane Eyre) I made a list of things I needed from the store, lunches AND dinners for the week, and my “to-do” list from Sunday to Saturday. Let’s discuss what I have completed on my list. ZERO THINGS. Wait – I take that back. I worked out this morning and packed my lunch for today. But other than that – zero. Zilch. Nada. But I have a legit excuse. For real though – I have a good excuse!

First off – I had planned to go to the grocery store after work and pick up food for dinner and other things I was planning on making this week. Well that got pushed to the wayside because there was a tornado warning. Like a touchdown tornado about 20 miles from here. I decided I should probably just go home and make sure Toby was doing okay with the storm happening. After that I had planned on putting my laundry away (the same laundry I washed last week and still haven’t put away) and make chicken salad sandwiches. Instead – I came home, took off my pants, grabbed a bag (or three) of chips, and watched three episodes of 30 Rock. Not even close to the definition of “productive.” Woops. Well tonight I can’t go to the store – unless I hit up Hy Vee at 10:30 tonight, but I’d rather sleep – so I either have to go on my lunch tomorrow or right after work. Throws off my WHOLE WEEK. Stupid Iowa weather is messing with my organization and productivity! But it will all work out – it has to right? So maybe on my lunch I’ll hit up Hy Vee and grab the ingredients for my Tuesday Night Baking Excursion – yes I’m making that a thing – and that way I can go home right after work to start dinner. I’m excited to tell you how both of these turn out… I’m cooking something I’ve never cooked before (recipe and ingredients) and attempting another bakery item. I really need to get better at documenting my shenanigans. Noted. I’ll actually post pictures of my completions in my next entry. Watch for it!

I had an idea for a brief moment this weekend – it hurt my head with all that thinking, but I still had an idea. Start a cupcake business with my sister! I could bake and she could decorate – she’s basically a cupcake decorator extraordinaire. Then I realized that I’m not THAT good at baking. And then I thought about Two Broke Girls and realized that’s already been done. Plus – my boobs aren’t big enough to be the lead and I am not a once-rich girl to play the blonde. Nor am I blonde. So there’s that. But still – wouldn’t that be fun? Maybe after I practice some more I could at least make them for friends and family parties. That could be fun right? (But not for two years because SOMEONE had to sign a non-compete… FOR CUPCAKES OF ALL THINGS.) Anyway – fun thing to think about.

I tried out a couple new breweries in the past couple weeks. I have to say – brewery beer is SO MUCH BETTER than regular beer. Confluence Brewery and Exile Brewery were my stops – and I HIGHLY recommend both. I’m trying to broaden my horizons with food and drinks and activities… so both of these trips were new to me. Two thumbs up to Exile food as well – holy crap. When you go, if you go, be sure to get their “Dunk Dunk” sauce. It’s mayo and… something. I can’t quite pick up what it is… but oh em gee. Delish. So – go out and drink some more… it’s freakin good.

So my running… I’m sure you’ve all been patiently waiting to hear about how my training for D2D4 is going. Well – it’s not. Like at all. Like I hit my peak at 8 miles-ish and haven’t run since. HOWEVER I have been doing Kosama very regularly, and I have convinced myself that the cardio from that will make it so I don’t die during the race. I’m sure I’ll feel differently come 12 days from now. Barf. Also – there has been talk of a pact (signed in blood) for NEVER running this race again.

I feel as though in my last few posts I’ve gotten really wordy and rambling – so I’m cutting this one a little short. Not necessarily short, but I’m not just going to write to write. I’ve gotten out what I needed to, and now it’s quote time. As I write this, I’m debating which one of two I should use. They both made it to my “Happiness” board on Pinterest. And they’re both similar – yet different. One deals with regret and the other, enthusiasm. Today I choose enthusiasm – because I think enthusiasm, in this case – life enthusiasm – have a direct correlation with happiness. And who doesn’t want to be happy? I have a sign hanging directly next to my door that says “Do one thing each day that makes you happy” so I see it each time I leave for the day. It’s a nice reminder for me – and I’d much rather be happy than sad or angry. So back to it: life enthusiasm = happiness. Or is it: happiness = life enthusiasm? You be the judge.

“I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life… if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”

From one of my favorite authors, Roald Dahl knows what’s up. Why go through life without some sort of a passion? Whether it be something as simple as reading a book or cooking a dinner; or as extravagant as living out of the country or going back to school to pursue your career, I think you should find what makes you happy and then do it. Forever. I have many things that make me happy but I have yet to find my true passion. My calling. But until I find it – I’m going to do what makes me happy. Cooking, reading, spending time with friends, working out, relaxing, watching crappy TV, drinking wine, trying new food, devouring any food, laughing till I want to pee my pants, watching new movies, watching old movies and quoting them, people watching, writing, listening to thunderstorms, shopping, working. It’s what makes me happy, and what makes me – me.

So – if you haven’t found your passion yet, I urge you to find it. Until then – be happy being you.

Sincerely yours – life enthusiast

S

Remember Me? Weekly Recap

Remember me? I know, I know… big disappointment. Yeah – I’ve been slacking… big time. SO sorry. So let’s get back on this gravy train and catch up on my oh-so exciting life. Let’s see… it’s been exactly two weeks since I’ve written. How lame. And the majority of what I’ve been doing since then – working. But no one wants to hear about that… because then I’d be whining and I had a whiny post prior to this one… so I won’t do that. This one will be happy, funny (hopefully), intriguing, all that fun stuff. Mk? Mk then let’s get at it.

The weekend following my cry-baby post (real sorry about that – but I had a bad day and I figured the best way to get rid of that bad day was to write about it) – I had tickets for the Jason Aldean concert in Omaha. Halfway through the week my date got sick so I needed a replacement, like asap. Pulled some strings and got it planned. The trip west was LAAAAAAAME… not much to see between Des Moines and Omaha. But we got to the hotel at a decent time (and it was awesome weather) so we had some time to waste before we headed out to the restaurant/bar by the venue for the pre-party. You’ve got that right – Jason Aldean pre-party. So many cowboys and cowgirls and people who weren’t sure what event they were going to. But it was lots of fun. Plenty of people watching happened – one of my favorite pastimes. We got to the show just in time to miss the opening act (Thomas Rhett) and time to get the lines for the bathrooms and beer. The seats were waaaaay up in the nosebleeds – but definitely worth it. Jake Owen (middle act? Second opening act?) was FANTASTIC. I forgot about all the songs he had out until I could sing along with each one. And then it’s time for Jason. I’ve seen him before at the state fair – and again, he sure didn’t disappoint. At this point in the night I was definitely a “woo-girl” (if you don’t know what it is, Netflix “How I Met Your Mother” and there’s nearly an entire episode dedicated to the “woo girl.”) I was singing along to all the songs, woo-ing at inappropriate times, and dancing like I was trying not to fall all the way down the seats. That actually made me a little nervous – as high up as we are I got scared each time I’d walk down to the bathroom or to refill my adult beverage that I’d end up face planting and making it on YouTube. And that ain’t how I want to get famous. Sure it may be a good start – but I’d rather be known for more. I’ll continue to work on that one. Back to the concert – it was a long night, but so fun. Plus – anytime I get to wear my cowgirl boots it’s a good time J Sunday was a day of relaxing, luggage shopping (a lot harder than you would think) and watching some movies. I was up early Monday morning to drop the world traveler off with another group and I spent some time reading at Caribou with a breakfast sandwich and a delicious latte. Not a terrible start to that Monday morning.

This past week was pretty insignificant… lots of work (again) and we had to reschedule book club. But I’m very excited for the make-up meeting this week! And to see what we’ll be reading next… very interested to see what’s next up on the docket. Speaking of books – I’m through 14 books for 2013. I got stuck a little on Jane Eyre and had to take a break for a bit… but I’m thinking after I finish up Bossypants (Tina Fey is hilarious – highly recommended) I can get back with good ol’ Charlotte and finish up with Jane. (That sounded slightly inappropriate lolz.) But like I said – the rest of the week wasn’t too exciting, had a minor hiccup and spent a couple days getting poked, prodded and shot up – but all’s well that ends well. And I’m good to go. Maybe it was just an expensive way for me to learn that I’m not as young as I thought I was and can’t get too crazy anymore. How lame. I spent Friday relaxing and after a short shift on Saturday I thought it was time for some sushi. That shit is good. You know what’s not as good? Sake bombs. I mean don’t get me wrong – they’re delicious. But they sneak up on you. Ouch. So after so AMAZING sushi and some even AMAZING-ER cheesecake, I was in a pretty good mood. A few more cocktails at the Hawkeye bar (gag) and a quick trip to Carl’s left us sprinting back to my house in the rain. It’s barely a block – but still. No one wants to get caught in the rain. Unless of course you’re doing a reenactment of The Notebook with a Ryan Gosling look alike… now that I’d be into. FO SHO. Okay I should probably get off that subject before I sprint home and pop in The Notebook and watch that part on repeat till daybreak. Not a terrible idea… but I’ve got things to do. Yesterday was also a lazy, awesome day. Yummy breakfast from Gateway Market (I love that I can walk there without breaking a sweat), a movie, pulled pork sandwiches for lunch, another lazy movie, and some meatloaf for dinner. I should have gone straight to bed after that awesome day, but instead I turned on the TV and watched at LEAST 4 episodes of It’s Always Sunny. So addicting.

Bright and early today – my alarm went off urging me to “get my ass up and out of bed” at 5 am so I could hit up Kosama Strong today. I made it in plenty of time for class at 6:10… but my workout buddy did not. Something about the alarm not having any noise settings… who knows. I think it’s bogus but whatevs J Tomorrow is another day – and I’ll be there bright and early. I know I said this before – but now I’m seriously getting serious about fitness again. For real this time. D2D4 is less than a month away and I’m hoping the strength and cardio I’ll be doing in class will help with my run… fingers crossed.

Ooh I forgot!! Yesterday I got to meet the newest little lady of my group of girls. Miss Koda is PERFECTION and I can’t wait to buy her little pink clothes and tell her all her mama’s secrets. Just kidding… maybe J

Also – a little random – but if you haven’t checked out the Juice from last week (I’m sure you could still find some lingering about) you should check it out. This issue is the “list” for what to do in Des Moines this summer. A list of 161 things. So I’ve been going through to make a list of each thing I want to do this summer. That will be coming up in posts to follow. Keep your eyes peeled!

Now it’s quote time. I didn’t have a real direction I wanted to go with – and my life is at a pretty okay place right now. I’m not settling, but I’m not soaring either. I just – am. So. This quote I’ve seen in a few different places lately and I just liked the way it sounded. So here goes. From an unknown source:

“Work for a cause, not for applause. Live life to express, not to impress. Don’t strive to make your presence noticed, just make your absence felt.”

I just liked the way this sounded. Just doing your own thing without thought of where you’ll be once you’re done. Be selfless, work with your whole heart. Find something you love and do it because you love it, not because you’ll “make it to the top” in a few years. Sure – that would be fantastic. But if you love what you’re doing, then just do it. Strive for perfect happiness.

So there’s my little soliloquy for the day. I’m off to write up my bucket list for Summer 2013. I hope you all have a wonderful Monday evening and enjoy this freaking awesome weather.

Mwah loves,

S

Just - Blah.

I knew waking up today that it wasn't going to be the best day I've ever had. Sure - not the worst, but not even CLOSE to an above average awesomeness day. I was way too cozy to get out of bed - I mean, I could hear the rain coming down, I could feel Toby curled up on my feet, and there was just NO CHANCE I would be getting out of bed to do anything productive. So I stayed curled up in bed a little bit too long - all my fault, I know - and then had to rush around to get moving. I needed to make coffee, pack a lunch and dinner (double shift Monday) and also get stuff for work tonight. I got everything ready just in time to walk out the door and forget my umbrella. Oh well - I've done it before. Plus my galoshes were in my car - good place for them since I had to step through puddles and mud to get to my car. Whatevs - today will still be a good day. And then I realize that there is precipitation happening and I remember that EVERYONE out on the road (except for me of course) forgets how to drive when there water in any shape or form on the roads. So basically - idiots everywhere. Slamming on breaks, driving 10 under the speed limit, and just being a pain in my ass. So glad I'm perfect.

Made it to work with plenty of time to spare - came in and realized that no one had turned the phones over on Friday to the answering service... which basically means anyone who called in wouldn't get transferred to the on-call doc. First "F" bomb of the day. PS - this was at 7:45. Good start. Well we didn't have any angry voicemails - thank goodness - so that made me feel better. Then Chatty Cathy came in and I just wasn't feeling it. I was crabby and tired already, and didn't feel like having a loud, unnecessary conversation just quite yet. Mama hasn't had her coffee yet - give me an hour. But did I get an hour? Sure didn't. By 8:45 I had already thought about punching three people, threatened to "Office Space" the copy machine, and actually told someone I'd slit their throat. Slightly aggressive. Then to make matters worse - I get to cover for everyone else. Okay not EVERYONE else - but enough people that I'm getting a little sick of it. So here I go, up to the phone room - aka dungeon - until we have clinic at 11. NONSTOP PHONE CALLS. I was nearly in tears after 5 calls because the phone wouldn't stop ringing. (Chalk that up to PMS... thanks Mother Nature... you bitch) So anyway - millions of calls. Then I find out clinic gets moved to one so I'm stuck in the dungeon for another hour and a half. WAHHHHHHH. By this point I'm slamming my pen, banging on my desk, and dropping at least one "F" bomb each time the phone rang. I quit keeping track of those. When I finally got to leave - I was super crabby. Went down to have some leftover pizza from Fong's and a salad (womp womp) and during that time - find out our clinic has been cancelled. Well shit. I'm crossing my fingers that the dungeon has slowed down and I'm not needed. Silly me.

Back up to the dungeon for the rest of the day. Damn near as busy as this morning. I was screaming at the phone by the end of the day. There were two of us in there and we were both about ready to lose it. Not a pretty sight. I had groups of notes to task out to people, and couldn't get a spare minute to get it done. I had to turn off my phone for a minute so I could get all caught up. How obnoxious.

After finally finishing there for the day - I am NOT in a good mood. Once I got to job #2 for the day I actually had a couple people ask me what's wrong. Note to self: stop frowning, otherwise I'll need Botox by 30. Not pretty. Plus - frown lines are way less attractive than laugh lines. Tonight there are just a ton of rude people and people who don't know what's going on. And they all come at the same time. I felt like a brat but I was so over this day by 10 am that I'm just barely making it through right now.

Then to be even more bratty - I was at the point where I was saying rude things on purpose, taking it personally when someone talks about their great job (thinking they're obviously taking a jab at my shit jobs) and just feeling like everyone is way better than me. I'm hoping that it's just a "case of the Mondays" and I'll be back to normal tomorrow... but we will see. Also - I think that if someone told me I had a case of the Mondays today I probably would punch them directly in the face. Definitely that kind of day.

I even downloaded new books today! That should have put me in a great mood! But leading up to that, my "books to read" list had somehow gotten deleted from my phone. So wah wah for me. And after resetting my email password tonight my phone kept telling me I had the wrong password. So that almost got thrown through the window. Basically - I just need to go back to bed, and hope tomorrow is a better day.

So my quick quote for the day - straight up and to the point. A good thought to get you through a shitty day:

"Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit."

Now that I'm done with my crap day - I'll just forget about it. Today happened, it sucked, but oh well. I'll get over it and tomorrow WILL be better. Because I say it will be. And what I say - goes.

Peace out homies,

S

PS - I'm sorry if I threatened you today. I was grouchy and probably hungry. And sleepy. So - sorry about that. I don't think I meant it. Unless you were being a dumb ass - then I probably did. That is directed toward YOU, idiot drivers.