There's a lot of ways you can spend any given Saturday morning. Sleeping in, visiting family and binge watching my TV show du jour are the usual suspects. However, this Saturday morning was different; I was going to pull a UPS airplane.
You may be thinking: "Why in the world would you do that?"
My response: "Why wouldn't I!?"
For the same reason I rappelled down one of the tallest buildings in Des Moines last September, the Plane Pull was also to raise awareness and funds for Special Olympics Iowa. This was the inaugural plane pull. My employer, Two Rivers Marketing, loves to support different non-profits in our community, including Special Olympics. Over the past two months, our agency raised more than $1,000 in order for our team of 20 to pull this massive plane a whoppin' 12 feet.
We weren't the biggest, baddest team in the world - or all of Iowa for that matter. We figured we'd give it our best shot, and just appreciate the experience. Well, we didn't do half bad. We had one long rope to grab a hold of (think tug of war). We didn't have much of a strategy in terms of positioning, except to put the strongest people in the back. It took us about two seconds just to get the thing moving. Once we did, I was able to speed up to a backwards jog to keep it moving. Our total time was 8.5 seconds. The winning team - which included law enforcement officers and Iowa State football players - pulled it in 6.6 seconds. Like I said, not bad.
The event had 36 teams participate and raised $90,000! I would consider that a success. Apart from helping out SOI, it was also a cool event to do with co-workers, their spouses (including mine) and their kids. Our agency has about 100 employees, so this was a great way to get to know each other more outside the confines of 8:00am - 5:00pm.
If my assumptions are correct that this event will return next year, and someone asks you to pull a plane, how will you respond?
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... til the sweat drop down my... Don't you just love when you get a good song stuck in your head?
Anyway! Our house is starting feel more and more like a home every day. This weekend we finally (we've only owned the home two weeks) put some holes in the walls. I have plenty of decor from my previous apartments to hang up at our house, but I'm being very strategic about what I want to use. I envision a rustic, vintage, colonial feel for the house. In order to achieve that, the decor has to be just right. At this point, we've hung paintings/portraits in three rooms. I know you're thinking the group of four Asian landscapes doesn't go with the rustic flavor, but we really like them and felt they were a good fit for the guest bedroom. I'm on the hunt for a mirror for the living room and am hoping to create some art myself to hang in the dining room. I purchased new curtains for the living room and fining room that bring the outdoors inside with nature patterns. Both sets are sheer so they allow a better flow from inside to outside also. Man, curtains aren't cheap! Luckily, I got the dining room panels on sale at Kohl's for $20 each (plus used my 15 percent off coupon). The drapes in the living room were about $35 each from Bed, Bath and Beyond (also used my 20 percent off coupons). That's eight panels in total, plus we had to purchase four curtain rods. Although more expensive than this thrifty gal would have liked to spend, I'm super happy with how much they add to the room and increase our privacy from our neighbors. "... two countries, four states, 10 towns and 15 houses/aparments." I never liked moving as a kid. We didn't move a lot, but it was still more than anyone else I knew. By the time I graduated high school, I had lived in two states, four towns and six houses. In the last 10 years since I graduated high school I have increased those numbers quite a bit. Today was my last move in what I hope to be many, many years. Lucas and I did not want to get a starter home and out grow it in a few years. Instead, we bought a home with awesome potential and room to grow as our family (hopefully) grows.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to our family and friends who helped us move today! The only people who might be equally excited about me being done moving as I am are my parents. They have been a part of almost every move I've made in my lifetime - and that's saying a lot seeing that my current count is at two countries, four states, 10 towns and 15 houses/apartments. This also means it's my first time having a backyard to call my own. I broke it in the only way I knew how - rolling around and doing cartwheels. Yesterday, I bought a house! My husband and I woke up feeling excited and well-rested after spending the first night as homeowners in our living room on an air mattress. It was going to be a busy day. Our reinforcements (aka family and friends) would be over by 8:00am to start the makeover process. Our home has been loved by only one family in its 53 years in West Des Moines. The bones are great, but the cosmetics needed a little updating. We decided it made more sense to paint and rip up carpet before moving in all of our belongings. Once the crew arrived, we split up into teams and got painting. We used the Valspar Signature line of paints in a satin sheen for all the rooms. In the first room my team was painting, we got really nervous as the paint started to dry. It was all different shades and you could see our brush strokes. We were not excited to have to paint a second coat. As we continued around the room, the paint dried perfectly. No splotches, no streaks and no strokes. We are by no means professional painters so we did have to go over some areas again that we skimped on during the first coat. In 10 hours, our crew of 10 painted two bedrooms, two hallways, the living room and dining room. We also pulled up the carpeting in the three bedrooms to reveal hardwood floors. The floors aren't perfect, but they are pretty damn nice. So much so, we aren't even going to refinish or stain them at this time. I'd like to stain them darker in the near future - it's on the to do list. Later this summer, we will pull up the carpeting in the hallway and stairway. However, there is not hardwood under the carpet in the living and dining rooms so we have to decide what we want there. The carpet is an old gold and not in great shape. If we can hold out til the holidays, I'm hoping to score a sweet Black Friday deal on new flooring for the main level. As the saying goes: it's on the to do list! In case you've been hiding under a rock for the past several, several years, you are well aware that Google owns the Internet. Whatever your feelings are on Google, this blog takes aim at how surprisingly difficult it is to change your email address. You just can't change your gmail address like you can your Twitter handle or Facebook name.
Instead, you have to create an entirely new account - which means I also have to create a new Google+ account. I contemplated creating a hotmail account or yahoo account but just couldn't do it. I've had gmail since college and am not ready to give up that history. I would keep the same email address, but since it includes my maiden name I've decided after 14 months of marriage it's time to get with the times. It's going to be a slow transition but it's now or never. Thank you Google for owning the Internet and making this as difficult as possible. As a single lady, I understood there was a decent chance any man I married would be a Star Wars fan. Out of the - I don't know - 95% of all men that like Star Wars, there's a smaller chance - say 10% - my future husband would be a groupie. Lucky me, I found one of the 10%!
I knew Lucas was a Star Wars groupie pretty early in the relationship. Considering all of his other wonderful qualities, I figured as long as he never made me wear a Princess Leia costume, I could live with this fault. Up until now, all he's required of me was to watch a couple of the movies. I could handle that. Then, he found out the Science Center of Iowa was having a "May the fourth be with you" party. He batted his long eyelashes and put on his nicest smile asking me if I'd go with him. I said no thinking he just wanted me to go to torture me. He asked again the next day; I said no. He asked a third time; I said no. The day before the event, May the third, he told me he really wanted me to go because he loves Star Wars and at least wants me to appreciate it. I realized how lame I was being and agreed to go. Lucas does a lot of things I want to do - so spending an hour or two with a bunch of fictional characters wasn't going to kill me. For $11 each, we got free reign of the Science Center. I'm pretty sure we were the oldest people there without children. Lucas and his friends didn't seem to mind. They were just as excited as most of the kids while I played the role of the mom taking pictures and making sure they didn't get into any trouble. When it comes to house hunting, second time is the charm!
After our offer on another home did not get accepted last week, we found this adorable home in West Des Moines Wednesday and put in an offer on Thursday. Another family also made an offer, but the sellers chose us! They didn't even negotiate; they just took the offer as is. It's not all said and done as the inspection is this week. We are buying the house "as is" so if there is anything catastrophically wrong with the home, we'll have a hard decision to make. My father-in-law walked through it already and gave it his seal of approval so we are feeling pretty damn good about it. It's not like we are already picking out paint colors and furniture… OK, we are definitely already doing that. Homeownership, here we come! It's amazing how fast 365 days can fly by. Based on the age old saying, "Time flies when you're having fun," I guess it's not a bad thing that our first year of marriage is now in the history books. Lucas and I are so blessed for how many great things happened in our lives this year. And while we have many happy moments, I won't lie to you and say every moment was happy. We are real people. We get upset, frustrated, annoyed, sad, etc. We each experienced all those emotions this past year - sometimes together and sometimes because of each other. With that in mind, there are several things I learned this year that I'd like to share. 1. One year is not enough time. No one is perfect. Everyone has an Achilles' heel. I hate washing the dishes; Lucas plays too many video games. We've both had the past ten years of adulthood to get set in our ways. Lucas pretty regularly gets on me about not doing the dishes because he doesn't like doing them all the time. I get on his case for gaming too much. I've realized that one year is not enough time to change them. We both want to break these bad habits. It's just going to take longer than one year. 2. Lingerie is overrated. Receiving a slew of nighties, negligees and robes at a bride's bachelorette party is practically a right of passage to get married these days. Don't get me wrong - I'm truly thankful for all the wonderful gifts I received. However, if I can be completely honest, they haven't gotten used as much as I thought. And no, it's not because we are too busy fighting over the dishes or having a power grab for the remote, but because it just doesn't get used. When the mood hits, there's just no time. 3. Say yes. The proposal and the wedding ceremony shouldn't be the last times you say yes (or I do) to each other. I once read that the key to a solid marriage is to keep dating your spouse. I think this is wonderful advice. When your spouse suggests to do something you may not be super keen on but you know they really want to do it, say yes. If you were still dating, you probably would have said yes without hesitation. Lucas knows I enjoy dancing while we wait in the check out lane at the grocery store, that I like to go out to the bars, that I love watching my Mizzou Tigers play football, that I love taking pictures. He doesn't necessarily enjoy any of those things, but he tries to do them for me to make me happy. He also just recently admitted he should say yes more. And so should I. 4. Do things just because. This takes saying yes to the next level. It's easy to get complacent in your relationship. It's easy to take your spouse for granted. It's easy to forget that today could be your last day together. Lucas knows how much I love back rubs, so when he just offers me one out of the blue, I gladly accept. When I write him little love notes in the morning, he sees how much I love him. It doesn't take much to show your love and appreciation for each other. It's the little things you do "just because" that makes every day better. 5. Keep the faith. I truly believe God brought Lucas into my life. We make it a center part of our relationship to attend church, pray together and try to show God's love to others. The foundation of a Christian marriage has been huge for us this past year. I know our faith will continue to keep our marriage strong during the second year of marriage and every other year going forward. What did you learn in your first year of marriage? I'd love to hear from you! The metro has some really wonderful restaurants. I make a poignant effort to eat at as many different places as possible. Going to one new restaurant makes me happy; going to two new restaurants in one week makes me ecstatic. After grabbing sushi at Wasabi Chi on Sunday, we took in a nice long dinner at Baru 66 in Windsor Heights to celebrate our one year anniversary.
Baru 66 has been on my To Eat At List for the past three years. It's a pricey place so we tried going last year during Restaurant Week. Reservations were needed, and they didn't have any openings. Here we are about seven months later finally sitting down to a meal I'd been so patiently awaiting. The menu options were divine. I wanted a bite of everything from the quail to the duck and the steak to the salmon. You could choose the "menu du chef" which included your appetizer, entrée and dessert of choice for $45. There were two daily specials that were four-course meals for $35. There was a bit of a catch in that we both had to do the $35 special or neither of us could. As we perused the menu, I was afraid of two things. 1) The food couldn't possibly live up to 36 months of hype and expectations brewing in my head and stomach and 2) The typical, smaller French portion sizes wouldn't fill us up. After much deliberation, I went with the menu du chef including French onion soup, wild Alaskan salmon with beets and bacon snow, and the salted caramel ice cream. Lucas chose the Saint Jacques scallop soup, the sirloin with fries, and creme brûlée. Holy moly. Who knew that salmon and beets would be so amazing together? Apparently Chef David Baruthio at Baru 66 knows what he's doing. But don't take my word for it, go taste it yourself. My two fears turned out to be completely unfounded. I walked away completely satisfied and completely full. Five stars! … and we do not own a house. I repeat, we do not own a house. The seller husband was very upset with our offer and didn't even want to counter offer. The seller wife was willing to negotiate. However, since they are going through a divorce they have to be on the same page. He wasn't willing to budge so we don't have a house. It was crushing to get the news. Our only option was to up our offer. We'd previously discussed we'd only go up another $3k. Well, that wasn't going to be enough to please Mr. Husband. So we just walked away. Maybe if it's still on the market in a month - because it's overpriced - we'll consider another offer.
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