Happy Belated Father's Day, Dad!

I didn't get a chance to blog about Father's Day... We came home from the wedding, moved a bed from our house to Lindsey's new loft downtown, ate dinner at Fong's Pizza with Matt's parents and then picked up my old bed at my parents' house. So we both got to see our dads. And luckily when we were visiting with my dad he was feeling well. Unfortunately, after we left my dad started having severe abdominal pain. It continued throughout the night and a trip to the ER was necessary on Monday morning. Appendicitis. yuck! He went in for surgery right away and was able to go home that afternoon. He rested a couple of days but is back to his usual self now. :) So glad that he's ok!!!!  I saw this video this morning and couldn't help imagining my dad right there with these guys! Too funny! Love you, Dad!  Hope you enjoy...





Or check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2_9H0jzXRM

Congrats TC & Laura

What a fabulously exhausting weekend filled with wedding festivities for TC & Laura! It was so great to be included in such a wonderful event - well Matt was included as a groomsman and I got to tag along and feel a part of it all. We're so happy for the two of them and had such a wonderful time celebrating! Matt decided it's one of the best weddings he's ever been to, besides our own. :) I took many photos and flip videos but these are a few of our favorites!

Teacher Envy

It's days like today that I wish I was a teacher. It is GORGEOUS outside right now. 82 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze. And this morning as I drove to work there was a ridiculous thunderstorm. All those teachers with the summer off got to sleep through that and can go out and enjoy the day now before it turns nasty again tonight. I'm so jealous! I am kinda considering bringing a foldup lawn chair to work. That way during lunch I can plunk it out in the grasssy part of the parking lot and enjoy the summer weather. The only thing that's holding me back is what my boss might think - I don't want this to be the reason why I might not get a good recommendation at the end of the summer internship. :)


But speaking of teachers... My co-instructors and I just figured out our schedule for the fall! yay! There are 4 of us with an assistantship at ISU to teach two required introductory business courses. One is on different majors and careers within the business world and the other is about professional development (cover letters, resumes, interviewing). I'll have 3 classes to teach on my own in the fall and I'm excited to see how they go! This last year we "co-taught" our classes because they ended up not having as many sections as they orginally thought. I really enjoyed it though and am excited to do more. I've also discovered that with a masters degree many colleges will let you teach as an adjunct professor or lecturer. Once I graduate in December I think that's something I'll definitely consider pursuing in addition to a full-time job.

Our first guest!

We had our first real guest tonight! (Sorry family, you don't count.)  TC is back in Iowa for his wedding this weekend and had some time to visit. Unfortunately, his soon-to-be bride has to teach another day before she flies back to Iowa. TC was in our wedding last summer and Matt is in his on Saturday. We are super happy for TC and Laura and can't wait for them to move back to the Midwest in a couple years.

After Matt gave TC the guided tour, we settled outside to chat. We just got our patio furniture last week and we're super in love with it! And it was fun to find out tonight that it works great for conversations. I'm bummed that I didn't think of taking a picture until after TC left but here it is. 

Tonight we also checked on our cherry trees. We know the cherries are starting to ripe because the birds are hanging out there more than usual. Matt grabbed a couple of the riper ones so we could taste them. They're still a little sour but I think they'll be ready soon. Now we just need to find some cherry recipes to try out. Any suggestions?

House Project Number 2

This weekend I decided to start my second project on the house. My first was our bathroom. (I'll do a separate post about that once I put up the new towels.) We have A LOT of wall space to fill up in our family room. For our wedding my grandmother gave Matt and I a beautiful painting that matches wonderfully to the wall color the previous owner's picked out. It's in the most prominent position when you walk in the front door but it's also on the wall with the least amount of space because of the kitchen opening. We've also got a wall of windows without any curtains but I'm not ready to tackle that. The two remaining walls are big and completely bare. After searching around a bunch I've decided the professional artwork I’m most drawn to is just not in our budget right now. I've found a DIY artwork project that I think I could handle. This is a sample pic from Michaels. They have a template you can buy and matching picture frames that are labeled A, B, C...  to match up with the template.  

I won't be using Michael's template becasue even their DIY project is a little too spendy for what I think is reasonable. So I'm going to do it all myself. I like that the frames are all different sizes and the number of photos in each frame is varied too. It’s keeps the look more casual plus I think it’ll be a bit more forgiving if I don’t get them spaced perfectly when I hang them. I plan on using photos from our honeymoon and other trips we’ve been on. It’ll remind us of the fun places we’ve been and hopefully encourage us to continue to put money aside to go on more vacations.

I’m really not all that crafty so I hope this works out! I’ll post pictures when I get it complete.

Cold Beer on a Friday Night

Yesterday Matt and I started our weekend early and drove up to the lake to hangout with our friends Matt & Renee. They have the cutest little girl, Natalie. She's only 6 months old but you can already see her daddy's expressions in her face. She was super smiley but she always saw me coming with the camera. But still, what a cutie! And her mohawk is amazing!

After play time with Natalie, we left her with her grandma and the four of us had a fun evening of "adult time". A few beers (amaretto sours) on the deck, a boat ride around the lake, dinner and drinks at a local restaurant on the water and a late night swim followed by a dip in the hot tub. We wrapped up our super short trip with cinnamon roles and more play time with Natalie in the morning. Matt and I always have a fun time with Matt & Renee but it's hard to coordinate our schedules to get together since we live 2 hrs apart. Even though it was only for a short time, it was a wonderful mini vaca!

Time to dust off the bike

Today at work I organized our monthly lunch and learn. It was on Bicycle Safety and it was my job to setup the speaker. Since I have this weird aversion to talking to strangers on the phone, I used email to set everything up with a presenter from BikeWorld. I don’t know if it was a dream or I was just thinking about this last night before I went to sleep but this morning I woke up slightly freaked out. What if the presenter didn’t show up! I’m not really sure why I was so worried - he said he was coming and he even asked for directions and instructions for check in. But the thought kept nagging me so I ended up calling the shop this morning just to confirm. I guess it was more reassuring to hear him say he was coming over the phone than over email. But I shouldn’t have worried at all because the lunch and learn went off without a hitch! The speaker was entertaining and I learned a bunch. I definitely want to get my bike tuned up soon so I can get out and ride!

Some tidbits I learned...

· There are over 450 miles of bike trails in Central Iowa!
· If the tire become underinflated there's a good chance that you'll get a "pinch cut" in the tire. The inner tube of the tire gets caught between the ground and rim and can cut a hole in the tire. So it's important to check the tire pressure frequently.
· One employee at one bike store in Des Moines hears 3 to 5 stories each year of how wearing a helmet saved someone's life. These accidents are people just taking their bike around the block and a ball or something rolled onto the sidewalk. These stories aren't publicized like car-bike accidents are but are much more frequent and can cause many injuries including brain damage. So, always wear your helmet!
· Bike shorts are made to be worn without underwear. :)