Nine Years...

As of today, Ryan and I have been dating/together for nine years. NINE YEARS.

It's hard for me to imagine life without Ryan (how boring that would be!), but that's insane. Deserving of a blog post, for sure. Love you, babe!

(And with as busy as I've been lately, the irony of this blog's title and description is really getting to me. lol.)

Tempting Fate at 28

Tomorrow I turn 28. Like other years when I've been either super excited for or even somewhat dreaded my birthday (or looked for hidden meaning/had an existential crisis), this year is different. I feel very calm with my life and where I am. In fact, I've never felt more sure that I'm doing this dang thing my way, and it's the right way. Shit, have I grown up? Or am I just delusional? OR am I just tempting fate? At 28? (Catchy, eh? Well, it's better than "Oh God, I'm 27.")

This year, I've decided to go with "Tempting Fate at 28" for a number of reasons. First, I feel like for the last 10 months or so, my life has changed dramatically and even though I work really, really hard, it's all totally worth it. FBG is kinda my baby, and Erin is the other parent. Not to mention that I recently landed a new, more rewarding day job where I'm respected, complimented when I do a good job and just generally valued. It rocks.

In addition, Miss Siena has been a joy to have in the house and watch her grow and change. It's really hard to imagine that at this time last year, she was just a fur ball. And while the Nut renovations are by no means complete (failed to meet a lot of these resolutions, whoops, lol), I love our house, and we've made great strides.

I also have the best family and friends possible. From a hot, loving husband to super supportive parents to friends I can't thank the universe enough for, I'm a lucky, lucky gal. Throw Obama in the mix and it's almost too much! [Head exploding with hope and happiness!]

However, I feel like things are only going to get better in 2009. FBG is gonna be bigger and better this year (read: profitable!), Siena might actually stop destroying things and the atrocious daisy wallpaper in the bedroom could get removed. I'm seriously so thankful for every moment and for every person in my life. And at 28, I'm only tempting fate to continue the mad love and grow it.

Since I never did an obligatory New Year's resolution post here, I thought I would do a combo resolutions/new-year-of-life goals to coincide with my birfday. Here goes:

1. You've probably already heard, but I'm vowing to run a 1/2 marathon this year. Running has always been my workout nemesis, and it's going down Saturday, March 28 in Olathe.

2. Eat more local fruits and veggies. The garden will continue and be expanded, as well as Ryan and I's consumption of produce from the KC area. I'm planning to join a CSA and hit up the farmer's market often.

3. Drink less. I love wine, so this one will be challenging. lol.

4. Play more. The computer must be off 30 minutes before bed. No exceptions!

5. Read more novels. I read an ishton on the computer and in the news, but there's nothing better than a good novel. A secondary goal to this is finishing Gone with the Wind. Only 100 more pages to go...

6. Replenish my soul/build creativity. These kind of go hand in hand, but this year I'm gonna love myself up by taking more breaks, doing less, buying less, taking more long baths and watching bad TV when I need to. Life isn't a to-do list. 

So, with that, I embark on 28, renewed, happy and very excited. Bring it fate. Bring it.

(My next post will look at my dream board...how darn near everything I put up there last year happened and what new things I've added to the board for this year. Stay tuned.)

Friend Feast and a Belated Anniversary in Lawrence

As if everyone hadn't had enough turkey on Thanksgiving, Ryan and I had the KC peeps over the Sunday after T-Day for what I call "Friend Feast." The name is a little misleading as we didn't feast on friends (ewww), but it was a feast fit for friends. Check the bird:

For the first year, Ryan and I brined our turkey. If you're not familiar with brining it's basically dunking your bird in salty, herby water overnight. We did it in a cooler that was left out over night. Classy!

But, the technique resulted in a really moist, tender and tasty bird. Definitely a repeat. As per the generous nature of our friends, everyone came with tasty dishes and wine galore. AKA: Heaven.


This was also the first year that everyone had a partner for the holidays. Yes, it was a little sickening sweet, and Mike and Katrina decided to emphasize that by dressing alike. How cute.


Here we are before the meal. Unfortunately, no pics after, but just imagine us full and groaning. You know, a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Last weekend, Ryan and I celebrated a belated anniversary in Lawrence. Isn't it just lovely? We were totally wrapped up in nostalgia from Ryan's grad school days.


We ate at Free State Brewery for a lovely lunch and beer, did some shopping on Mass and just generally got away. It was fantastic.

We stayed at the historic Hotel Eldridge and loved it. The staff was nice, the rooms were clean and spacious and it was quiet. Even on a Saturday night.

No mint on the pillow, but that's okay.

Granted the view wasn't much, but whatev. 

Before out night of gorging ourselves on pad thai from Thai Siam (simultaneously the best and worst restaurant in Lawrence) and drowning our sorrows from the MU game (or lack thereof) in a bottle of scotch, we stopped by campus for some serious reminiscing. Here's Marvin Hall. Where Ryan spent 90% of his time (including sleeping) from 2004-2007.

We had such a great time. And although I took no pics in Henry's, they still have sangria, and it's delicious. Well, the red is. They added white recently, I guess, but avoid. It's terrible. 

What we be up to

Seeing that it's already Wednesday, this weekend update is a tad late. But, as they say, better late than never, right? Here's the weekend roundup, photo-essay style:

Friday afternoon was gorgeous weather-wise. I slipped off my flats...

And actually ran around the backyard barefoot playing with the dog. Ryan had recently picked up poo, so it was safe. While I was out, I noticed that the mystery plants had grown a considerable amount. I'm beginning to think they may be some sort of bush rather than actual flowers. I say that because I looked outside again today and they are probably two feet tall, which seems tall for flowers other than sunflowers, and I know what sunflowers look like -- these aren't it. Maybe they're mutant flowers. We did have radon in the basement...

The next outside attraction is our new composite pile. Thrilling! Please contain your excitement. But it is a green effort, so I'm patting myself on the back.

After Siena and I's play and photo session, she crashed, finding a sunny spot in her bed.

Later that weekend, I continued transforming our drab office into office extraordinaire, with a strong MU theme. Here I am amazed by what, at the time, I thought would be the last coat: a coat of gold leaf paint. Too bad there aren't pictures of me after the fourth coat of the shimmery stuff; believe me the charm wore off pretty quickly.

Here's a sample of the gold paint trim on top of "bundled rye." Seems innocent enough, right? Looks are deceiving. This paint rolls so that you can see every single imperfection in your rolling and trimming. Although the gold effect is cool, it's not a quick project. (We basically have the room done now--thank God--but I'm saving my before and after pics for our housewarming party.)

While I was battling the office, Ryan was ripping carpet off our stairs. Siena "helped," too.

After a hard weekend's work, Ryan and I enjoyed this fantastic bottle of wine. It was one of the bottles we took back home with us after the honeymoon. It was just as delicious as we remembered (the winery was amazing by the way), which made us...

Happy as clams!

Pasta Extravaganza

After touting the virtues of celebrating a private Valentine's for all the right reasons, I'm going to be a total hypocrite and share photos from Ryan and I's V-day celebration. We used the holiday as an excuse to buy some fresh tulips and two bottles of good wine, and to finally use the pasta attachment for Bert that Liz and David got us as a wedding gift. (Yay!) Below is a photo essay of the glutinous evening.

First, we make the mix the ingredients for the spinach pasta dough in the food processor. Next, we roll it into little balls. (I'm so immature. That made me giggle.)

Then, we flatten it out a bit with a rolling pin, followed by the real fun. Here's Bert working his flattening magic:

Next, I get the uber fun part of running the thin dough through the pasta cutter attachment:

Check out that fettuccine..

While the pasta cooks, I whip up the vodka cream sauce. Delicious...

This is one serious feast:

Close-ups of the tulips:

Afterwards, we were stuffed. (And no, Siena didn't get to try any pasta. Poor girl.)

Puppy close-up:

In both celebration and defiance of Valentine's Day

Yesterday, Tish wrote an awesome poem about Valentine's Day. Although I hope to post it or at least link to it later (with her permission of course), it inspired me to write my own own.

It reads:

Today is said to be the big day of love,
brought down to the mortals from cupid above.

As the card companies profit and flower sales boom,
I’m at work working, and about to get the heck out the room.

Because Valentine’s Day is unpleasant when you’re working with ladies.
They get all competitive and hotter than Hades!

Heaven forbid your man forgets to get roses
or chocolates and goodies covered with all kinds of bows-es.

Society says real love is shown through a fat credit-card swipe.
But I’m going against the grain. I won’t be that female type.

I’m celebrating privately, at home with my man.
Be it with friends or family or loved ones, I suggest you do what you can

to make this day what’s it supposed to be instead of all the drama.
A day filled with love -- not just more stuff -- is good for your karma!

Two more bits information: embarrassment edition

1. The baby gates have come down, folks. But not because Siena is so advanced in her puppydom that she no longer needs a place to be corralled. No siree. It’s because I’m a clutz*.

Monday night, after teaching my core class at KCFitnessLink, one of the gates literally came crashing down. I mistakenly thought the gate was unlocked and, like I always do, pushed my hips “through” the gate, hoping to open it up and step right through. But, the gate was locked and I fell to the ground in what Ryan calls, “the slowest fall I’ve ever seen.” Funny as it is now, it hurt like a mo-fo, and I have the bruises on my feet to prove it. (The brunt of my fall was on the sides of my feet that crushed down on the baby gate’s bars.) I shouldn’t complain though. Ryan said that from watching the incident and then seeing me wither in pain as he quickly rushed over to help, he was certain we’d be going to the ER for a broken bone. Nonetheless, Siena finally got her revenge for puppy jail.

2. I got duped. Ever since Ryan and I bought our new camera in October, I’ve been on a huge photography kick. I’ve loved capturing the weather, landscapes, my friends, my family, my hubby and of course the pup. Earlier this year, I entered the picture of Siena romping in the snow with her tongue out to an amateur photo contest. In the contest, you didn’t give up your copyrights and, if chosen, could win some cash. I had kind of forgotten about it until yesterday when I received a letter in the mail saying that my photo was a semi-finalist in their winter 2008 contest. I didn’t have to do anything but send back in a signed sheet that it was my original work. Also, the contest wanted to publish my photograph in a coffee table book, and I could buy that if I wanted but didn’t have to.

At first, I was like, wow, I do have talent at this photography thing! But then, I got to thinking that it all seemed kind of strange. The font seemed a little suspect (like one of those pre-approved credit cards or get-a-second-mortgage mailers) and generic. And the letter kept mentioning how you didn’t have to buy anything.

Thank God for Google. One quick search for The International Library of Photography, and I found this. Can you say scam?

I was a bit disappointed though. I really wanted to be a semi-finalist! Thankfully, Ryan was nice enough to say that I was already a finalist in his contest, and Siena had already won cutest puppy of the year because of it.**

*For further proof read the post, “Can’t help it. The girl can’t help it.”

**I almost deleted this last paragraph, but tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so what the hell.

Oh God, I'm hungover.

I seriously had the best birthday yesterday. Friday evening, my parents came over to drop off my birthday gifts and go out to dinner. They got me the latest Biggest Loser workout DVD and Guitar Hero for the Wii. So awesome:




Saturday morning, I opened my package from Tish. It's this awesome photo album along with stickers with words like hyperbole, food for thought, bad as I wanna be, and my personal favorite, beans and toast. The idea is that I take a photo to represent each title in my own creative way. How cool is that?!


I spent the afternoon at KCFitnessLink, celebrating Yoga Day and the studio's open house. After enjoying an hour of yoga, I spent a couple hours chatting with new clients and promoting my core class (Mondays, 6-7 pm, btw. hehe.). I also had a delicious lunch of sushi and this ginormous cupcake that Darryl got for my bday.

Note how its size dwarfs my hand:


That afternoon, I came home to a clean house (yay Ryan!). I took a leisurely 40-minute nap, talked to some friends and family on the phone, and played some Guitar Hero. (I'm still on the easy level, but I'm getting better.)





Then we went out to Lulu's for a tasty din-din. That's when the drinking began. lol. The circumstances that lead to the above title are as follows:

• Mojito at Lulu's
• Sangria-tini at Swizzel
• 2 K Ciders, upside-down pineapple cake shot, lemon drop shot and 2 irish car bombs at Hoopers

Here's some of the gang after a couple shots:

And here's Ryan and I towards the end of the evening. Ryan is in pensive mode, I'm in feelin-it "happy cow," as Ryan calls it.

It was a late night, but seriously so much fun. Granted I have a massive headache today, but it was worth it. It's not a good b-day unless you feel it the next day, right? ;)

Also, I'd be a bad puppy mommy if I didn't mention that my b-day marks Siena's 3-month b-day. Here's a few pics of how much she's grown and what she's been up to.

Siena has taken over the papasan, which is awesome because it's really not safe for people to sit in anyways because it's falling apart. Also, we can tell Siena to, "go to papa." And she does!

Siena has two poses, crazy and sad Orphane Annie. Here's two of Annie:

And one of crazy:

In conclusion, here's a Ryan and Siena moment of Zen. Ryan's probably mad at me for putting this on You Tube, but whatever. It was my birthday, and I can post video of him dancing if I want to.

RIP Sable, RIP

In case you haven’t heard, sadly, Ryan’s car has passed away. In remembrance, I have a few words and, naturally, a couple of haikus (the highest honor).

The Sable, fondly nicknamed “The Jellybean” or “The Hoopty,” lived a long and full life. Painted green and bubble-shaped, she was a well-loved car. In her younger years, she was in charge of transportation for an entire family, carting around kids to school and sports practice, and parents to work. In her later years, she served as a reliable vehicle to Ryan, getting him around town in Columbia and to and from Kansas City. In the past six months, her health continued to decline, and she was eventually confined to speeds less than 35 miles an hour. Despite the diagnosis, she still served an important role by going on errands around town and getting Ryan to work. There is no doubt that she was a fighter, brave and strong until the very end. She will be missed by all.

Oh my Jelly Bean
You were loyal, brave and strong
Up until the end

We will all miss you
As you go to car heaven
Look for the wagon!

A Week in the Life of a Puppy

Siena lays:



Plays (with sticks):

Whines (let me out of puppy jail, puh-lease):


Acts demure (don't fall for it, folks!):


Makes friends (Biskette is a good role model):

Poses nicely (Glamour Shots couldn't do better):

And, Siena sleeps (puppy burrito!):

One Week Later

It’s hard to believe that we’ve only had Siena for one week as of today. She already seems like an integral part of the family! In celebration of her 9th week of life, I’d like to point out just a few of her accomplishments. Pretty impressive for a dog that someone (who obviously had no heart or sense) abandoned at a McDonald’s dumpster. There's an triumph for each day of the week!

1. Name upgrade: McMuffin to Siena. Need I say more?
2. Acting ability: Significant improvement in her whining/howling/crying one-dog-act, "Oh My God, Please Don’t Leave Me." I swear she's reached new octaves.
3. The ability to "hold it" for 8 hours: We learned this last night after letting her sleep in her box in our room to avoid said #2.
4. Climbing an entire flight of stairs: Siena was brave enough to try this yesterday afternoon after somehow escaping from the kitchen that’s she's barricaded in with baby gates. (I like to refer to the kitchen as "puppy jail," as she puts her little nose between the wooden bars. Kinda sad but mostly funny because she’s spoiled rotten and got it pretty good.) However, she isn’t confident going down the stairs, so once she’s up, she’s up until Ryan or I carry her back down.
5. Weight gain: Two pounds in one week. Impressive.
6. Multiple nicknames (a sure source of affection): fuzzy face, monster and my personal favorite sassafras puppy pants.
7. Puppy burrito: It’s the best way to travel! (I'll snag a photo of that later and post it. It's too precious. We wrap her up in her blanket and carry her around when she's sleepy.)

New Year's Eve Pics, Puppy Hiccups and More!

Here are a few pics from New Year's Eve. We had a grand time (Siena included!):

Us at Hoopers:

Drinking the good ish. Love me some K Cider:

Nana bought Siena a new toy! She likes it...

January 1, 2008: Chowing down before the 10:30 am Mizzou game. Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and OJ...yay tigers!

Nap time! Paws out and up during the nap. lol.

And, if you're needing another hit of puppy, click here for a short clip of her with the hiccups. Yes, hiccups.