Baby, Rest and Fun

My week was pretty slow last week, which I was thankful for.

Tuesday I had fraternity dinner and meeting after work. Since it was an 'off' night, Tuesday instead of Monday, attendance was low for dinner, but still nice. They served ribs and we spent dinner talking about Disney World. If you ever wonder what is discussed at fraternity dinners, I'm guessing Disney World would not be your pick, but that's what we talked about. Many of the guys had been there before. Some hadn't. Some never want to go there. But it was still fun. The meeting was great and I'm super excited for the next calendar year and to see all the big things they're going to do. I watched the end of the State of the Union address when I got home, but then fell asleep on my couch. It's a horrible habit I've picked back up these days.

Kayla brought this Georgetown Cupcake to me from DC! Yum!

Wednesday I didn't do anything after work. Literally. I read. I watched Chicago PD and again, probably fell asleep on the couch. I didn't have plans to do anything on Thursday night either, but then little Miss Millie was born early Thursday morning, so Molly and I made a trip to the hospital to see this beautiful baby and her lovely mama (and Corey, too!). I have no pictures of Jess, but I hope if I ever have kids that I look as good as she does 12 hours post delivery.

Little baby Millie.

Millie was born on the birthday of my friend Erin's grandma, who passed away 10 years ago. Her name was also Millie. So it was a nice coincidence provided by God that made us all smile.

Friday night I caught up with a few college friends for happy hour and then visited with one of my bosses from my last job over dinner. I was in bed by 9:15pm. Actually in my bed, too. I slept for about 12 hours. It was glorious!

On Saturday morning Molly, Kayla and I went to Ohio Stadium to celebrate the Buckeyes' National Championship. It was cold, but it wasn't that cold. I wore my new Kenneth Cole black puffy coat that I got at the blue Macy's store closing sale! Love that coat! (I also love that Macy's and am SO SAD it's closing.) The celebration was fun.

I love this graphic from before the ceremony. And then while Zeke was up there!

I tried to do the Sam Ponder/Erin Andrews high ponytail. No, not happening.

Here comes the team.

Our selfie with Zeke.

Saturday afternoon I was so productive. I did tons and tons of laundry. Basically washed everything in my apartment - dirty clothes, sheets, blankets. And then I folded it and put it all away! haha. Later that evening I was invited to go skiing at Mad River Mountain and after turning down the offer a few times, I decided to go. And I'm so glad I did because it was so much fun. I was really feeling it though on Sunday and Monday. For the most part I did good skiing, probably had the least falls in the group, but I had a few wipeouts when I went over some ramps, including one really embarrassing one in the terrain park. And then one when I was just skiing on flat ground to get to the car. I have no idea how that happened. And because my iPhone does this great thing where it shuts off when it's cold, I have no pictures from that evening.

I've gone skiing twice in the past week. More than the last 6 years combined! And I just love it! I wish it wasn't so expensive and I wish Ohio had bigger resorts so it didn't only take you two minutes to get down the hill.  Buying skis might be next on my list of 'items to save for'. So we shall see. 

Snoozing with my girl.

Sunday Molly and I went home for the day to visit the family. Dad has been cooking something new in the crockpot every Sunday and this week it was meatloaf. It was so good! I used to hate meatloaf, but now I love it! Although, I do think it's one of those meals you make for a lot of people to eat and I'm just one person and would be eating it for weeks. We also visited with Payton and Avery for a few hours about prom dresses and ACL surgeries and got caught up on the latest high school gossip. Then we went to hang out with Mam, Papaw, and Uncle Randy for a few hours. I love visiting them because we giggle and laugh so much. Most of the time I'm laughing because Mam will start laughing so hard she'll be crying. I'm so blessed that I can visit with them and we have such a good time at their house. I need to start doing it more often. In college I talked to Mam on the phone almost every single day. I had a lot of down time in between classes then. Now I talk to her about once a week. I don't want to call too late, which is usually when I get home from work.

Monday I woke up to lots of snow. And very sore muscles from skiing and the insanity workout I did over the weekend. Thank goodness I had a chiropractors appointment on the calendar for Monday morning!

And also, I found out one of my good friends is expecting a baby! I wish she'd update her blog a little more often now so I can stay up to date on what's going on! :)

Got a new postcard for my board at work!

Three Day Weekend

I had a three day weekend since my work observed Martin Luther King Jr Day on Monday. A three day weekend after being back to school for a week was welcomed!

Friday evening I went to see Gone Girl! Finally! I had read the book back in the Spring before I knew it was going to be a movie and marked October 4 on my calendar to go see it the night it was released into theaters. Well, wouldn't you know, here it is almost 4 months after it was released and I just saw it. It was actually released to stores the same day I saw it at the 'dollar theater'. 

It was such a good movie. It was very close to the book. There is only one park I remember being a little different, but since I read the book so long ago, I'm not even sure if what I remember happening in the book, actually happened. 

And then I caught up on some Dateline when I got home from the movie. And fell asleep on my couch. That's been a real problem lately! 

Saturday day I babysat for two cuties. They're getting ready to become big sisters any day now, so while Mom and Dad had one last date, we had a 'picnic' (on my dining room table, so basically a normal lunch) and baked cookies. 

 

Bowie was not sure of this little person who kept yelling "kitty cat" and chasing after her.

I may have taught them to take selfies back during the fair. Whoops.

My mom got them aprons for christmas a while back, so they brought them to wear.

Someone just liked to eat the icing right from the spoon. :)

While someone else liked to use a lot of sprinkles in decorating!

The girls were at my house for around 4 hours. Before they left the older one said she didn't want to go. I guess they had a good time! I was also not supposed to show the above pictures to their parents because they 'want to come back and bake again.'

It wasn't all joys, they also told me I needed to go to their mamaw's house and take baking lessons because she makes the icing with ingredients. Or basically, I bought a can of icing and that did not work. BUT Mamaw doesn't let them eat a cookie and lick the icing spoon! So I got that on her...

Saturday night I went to the Miranda Lambert concert with Molly and a few friends. It was a last minute plan, but ended up being a lot of fun. We had a good view of the stage and great company too. Justin Moore opened for her and RaeLynn (whoever that is) opened for Justin. I ran into a lot of people from Piketon, but no one that I knew from Columbus. 

Our view.

With Molly Beth post concert.

 Molly's birthday was Sunday, so we also celebrated her birthday too with a little outing. It was pretty casual, but nice to be with fun friends.

On Sunday, Mom came to town and we went out to dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse for Molly's birthday and then to the mall. We also had ice cream cake! Yum. Then later that night I went to visit my college roommate who was in town for a nieces birthday. We watched the Patriots/Colts game with her family and I got some baby snuggles in because there were plenty of little ones there to snuggle with! :)

On Monday, Molly and I continued her birthday celebrations and went skiing. We have been talking about doing this for years and we finally just did it. I love skiing. I wish I had my own pair of skis so I could go more often. I also wish we lived closer to a bigger resort because I felt like we spent more time waiting on the lift than we did actually skiing. Maybe another time we can go somewhere else bigger.

Our first run was a little shakey, but after that, we were pros. I did a large ramp like thing (didn't jump or actually ramp, just went over it) and we both went down a black diamond...well, an Ohio black diamond. So my skills came back pretty quickly.

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn and Picaboo Street

I capped off the long weekend by working in the children's ministry at Bible Study. It wasn't my best experience with that, but it does make me realize how much more about God I have to learn because these kids know SO MUCH! And it confirms that I want my children to be involved in Bible study. :)

2014 Goals: How I Did

I made my resolutions for 2015, but forgot to go over what I completed from my 2014 goals.

Things that are definite on the calendar for 2014:

• Visiting DC in early January for a late Christmas with the nieces. I visited DC and spent a weekend with the girls. We didn't get to go to the Children's Science Museum because it rained and iced, but we had a good time. 
• Long weekend trip to Florida to visit Erica. I did go to Florida. Even went to Tampa where she lives! BUT she was in Ohio while I was there. 
• Spending the 4th of July in Washington DC on the mall! Spent the holiday in our nation's capital and had a great time. Fireworks on the lawn are a definite must for everyone.

Things I want to do during 2014:

• Go skiing. Well this didn't happen again in 2014. Maybe 2015 will be the year.
• Run at least 8 5K's this year (one more than 2013), the Big 10K in Chicago, and possibly run another half marathon. I did run another half marathon, but I only did three 5K's. 
• Chaperone the PHS trip to Washington DC in June with Molly. They didn't go. 
• Get a new stamp in my passport. Didn't leave the USA. 
• Chaperone the study abroad trip to Honduras in May. Didn't go on this either. 
• Go ziplining at Hocking Hills or the Wilds. Didn't do this either. 
• Pay off my student loans before 2015. I'm down to $900!
• Take the GRE. Apply to the HESA graduate program in December. I did both of these!
• Cook more instead of eating out/plan out weekly meals. I still ate out a lot. Trying again in  2015. 
• Pack my lunch at least 4 days a week. I did good at this sometimes. 
• Go to the gym BEFORE work at least 4 days a week. I didn't do this. 
• Never drive with my gas light on. Definitely didn't do this. Even ran out of gas once and had to have AAA come bail me out.
• Have at least one "me night" per week. Did much better at this.
• Go to church every Sunday. I did much better at this too and went fairly often. 
• Spend more time volunteering and giving to others. I did this more often, especially at Colony Cats for my class project, but still need to do it on a regular basis.
• Get my Bible study lesson done each week before class on Monday. There were very few weeks when I didn't have it done. 
• Continue to work on me - doing things out of my comfort zone, speaking up when I feel the need to, basically have no regrets about not doing something. And continue to trust God that he has a plan for me and I shouldn't be worried. :) I did this some, then maybe forgot for a while, then remembered. :)

Buckeyes are National Champions

If you pay attention to college football at all, then you know that the Ohio State Buckeyes won the National Championship last night. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, we are #1! Thank you playoff system!

If you don't pay attention to college football, just know this - everyone gives Ohio State a hard time about being 'overrated.' We aren't as good as the SEC teams. "Even the worst SEC team is better than the best Big Ten team" they say. Well, WRONG! Ohio State is the best team in the country. We beat the top ranked Alabama team and we beat the #2 Oregon team. We would have beaten Florida State and TCU if we had to play them too! Go Buckeyes!!

I didn't go to Dallas for this game like I went to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. As much as I would have loved to have been there, I'm ok that I didn't drain my savings to go. A face value ticket for this game for faculty/staff was more than what I paid for my ENTIRE trip to NOLA two weeks ago. I can't even justify spending that money.

So instead of being in sunny Texas (just kidding, it was 30 there yesterday), I watched the game with friends at a local pub. It was great to be together with college friends again. :) And it was even better to see them under exciting circumstances.

Molly and Cara before the game started.

Sarah, Abra, and Cara during halftime.

Me and Kayla - that Badger turned Buckeye.

Late in the game (Cara is 'catching a ball as a WR')

Our game watching crew. We decided we're lucky and have to get together for every game.

Oh Urban. Why are you making it so hard for me to not like you anymore?

I had read online yesterday that Dick's Sporting Goods was going to open after the game to sell championship merchandise if we won. So since we did win, we all headed to Dick's after we left for home and got the 'Undisputed CHAMPS' t-shirts.

We are at Dick's at 1am! Why, cause we're the camps!

I wore mine to work today, but paired it with a striped skirt and cardi. #dressycaus

Of course I went home immediately after leaving Dick's and went to bed. I missed all the ruckus around campus, but did hear about it thru social media. So I visited campus today and didn't really see anything out of the ordinary. We heard that a goal post had been torn down so Kayla and I went to investigate and sure enough it was gone!

No goal post in the South endzone!

Wearing my championship shirt in the Shoe! Go Bucks!

Now we have to wait a whole 7 months until football starts again in August. Wah! At least we've got basketball right now. I want to make it to a few games this year and attend a few Blue Jackets games too!

Bible Study

It seems like this week several of the blogs I follow posted about Bible studies they were starting or have enjoyed and I felt really encouraged to share about the bible study that I attend, as well as to invite anyone reading this to come with me! I also wrote about it a few years ago.

I started going to Bible Study Fellowship in March 2012. At the time I felt like my life was kind of a mess and I was looking for something. I had started going to church on my own and out of no where a former coworkers wife called and invited me to come with her. At first I was unsure, but I thought 'why not give it a try.' At the time I was really struggling with having close friends in Columbus and I was definitely interested in having a better and more regular church experience.

That first year was great for me. I met a few friends that were in my class and really met other girls that were going thru the same trials in life as me.

The following year (2012-2013) my friend Abra came to the first Welcome Night of the year and she also has really enjoyed it. She's still coming and we've been in class for two years now. My leader that second year was great and I had a good class that I liked visiting with once a week. this year we studied Genesis and I loved learning about the beginning of the bible.

My third year (2013-2014) my friend Jill also attended. We were all in different classes, but I still enjoyed the lessons. That year we studied Matthew, which includes the birth and death of Jesus Christ and so many other wonderful stories that I had heard thru Bible School when I was younger, but had not actually read. So it was also a great year for me. This group was a quiet group and I didn't do great about always having my lesson done ahead of time, so I do feel like I talked a lot some weeks while others I didn't talk at all.

My fourth year (this year) we're studying Moses. There are four books in the Bible that are part of Moses and we've already finished Exodus and will be wrapping of Leviticus soon and then the second half of the year will be Numbers and Deuteronomy. I absolutely LOVE my group this year and our group leader. Marcey has just been such a blessing. When she calls to check in on Sunday I don't avoid her calls and she has been such a support with a few things I've been going thru lately. For the first time ever I give her a prayer request to share with the group. I never did that before because there would only be a few from my class and I didn't want to share my struggles with other people for fear of being judged. This year I've really started opening up and sharing meaningful prayer requests - about grad school, about inviting friends and family to come to class, about having better communication with friends and especially family. I appreciate it so much that these women pray for me and I make it a goal to pray for their requests as well. Every week everyone has an A.S.K. (Ask, Seek, Knock) and it really makes me happy. And I've also been getting my lesson done ahead of time each week, so that's great too! I can feel a real difference when I'm putting Bible Study and God first in my life.

One of my New Years Resolutions is to study the Bible more. In addition to doing my BSF lesson, I've also been trying to read books with a Christian background. I just finished the Growing Up Dugger book by the oldest Dugger girls and found a lot of stuff in there that I agreed with (not everything, but some). I enjoy hearing about others walks and how once they were at the same stage that I am now and God has led them to do great things. I know that if I put my faith in him for everything, I will be blessed as well. But sometimes, it's just hard.

If you're interested in coming to a Bible Study Fellowship class with me, let me know! The class I go to is on Monday Nights at 6:55pm off Bethel Road. It goes until 8:45pm. You have a few questions to answer each day. Or you can just do them all at once. :) There are day classes around Columbus too. Visit the BSF website for a complete listing of classes in your area. I really wish Columbus had a Young Adult class. Or that we could do a fellowship with the Men's class on our same night! :) hehe.

I've never done any kind of Bible study other than BSF, so I'm thinking that this summer I might try to do a shorter study. Maybe a Joyce Meyer or Beth Moore study. Or one for single women. :)

Road Trip to the Bayou

Last week Molly, Cara, and I headed south to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. I blogged about gameday and the game already.

We left after everyone got off work on Tuesday and drove to Birmingham. We all took a 2.5 shift of driving and it didn't seem to take long at all. About an hour outside of Birmingham we got on Priceline and found a good price on a nice hotel and headed that way. It was a Hilton. I just rolled in in my sweatpants and tennis shoes. No big deal.

We got up early the next morning, which was NYE and headed more south. Molly had her GoPro going and we were filming the drive down out of the front window. She also turned it around at some points and we filmed videos to Love is an Open Door (from Frozen) and Shake It Off. It was definitely a girl's road trip soundtrack. But we did break out the early 2000's rap CD's and spit out some lyrics. #wesoghetto

Roll Tide

Go Bucks!

Thank you for making houndstooth stylish on men! :)

We also stopped in Tuscaloosa, which is where the University of Alabama is. It was pretty. Not what I expected, but we didn't drive around long. We just got a few photos with the stadium in the background, cruised thru Greek Row - holy giant houses! - and got back on the road.

We arrived in NOLA and rested and then got ready for dinner. We had reservations at a restaurant in the Garden District and then planned to meet up with some friends after dinner. Before dinner Molly started to get a migrane, so we had to take her back to the hotel after dinner. By the time we got back downtown, it was 10pm, cold, parking was super expensive and we couldn't find our friends to meet up with. Total Fail. So we ended up doing a night cap at the Roosevelt Hotel, then heading back to our tiny hotel in the suburbs. We listened to Auld Lang Syne on the radio while driving on the freeway and watching hundreds of fireworks go off around NOLA.

NYE selfie

Sisters

sisters for the weekend - on bourbon

Roosevelt Hotel

Game day started out much better. Molly's migraine had passed and we were downtown by noonish. We got a great parking spot and headed to the French Quarter to walk around. We went in a few shops, but them made our way back to Bourbon Street and met up with our groups of friends. It was great to have an Ohio State tailgate experience in another state. So much fun!

Then we went to the game.

On Friday, we checked out of our hotel and picked up Abra. We went to the French Quarter got beignets from Cafe Du Monde. I didn't know what they were or if I'd like them but they were pretty tastey. Then we went to a few other shops before hopping on our carriage tour. Our tour was an hour long and took us around the French Quarter. We went to see a cemetery. Those things are weird! I cannot believe that after a year, you go back in and collect their bones and just shove them in the back of the tomb. That seems so disrespectful!

Carriage Ride

After the tour we ate at a local little place called The Market in the Garden District, we took Abra back to her hotel and then we drove around a bit more. It was raining and dark. We didn't know if we wanted to stay another night or get on the road. I was leaning more toward getting on the road, so we agreed to head to Birmingham and then stop in Nashville the next day and visit the Belle Meade Plantation there. I would have loved to go to Oaks Alley, but I was also itching to get home to have a rest day before heading back to work!


We stopped for lunch in Nashville on Saturday and then headed to the Belle Meade Plantation for a tour. It was raining, so it wasn't ideal, but it was cool to see the inside of the house and the history. We were insulted as 'Yankees' on the trip by another tourist. Ugh. But for the most part it was educational and makes me again want a giant old house to fix up and live in one day.

Best meal of the trip - BBQ!!

Belle Meade Plantation.

Wine Tasting

Then we headed on to Cincy. We made it there by 11 and back to Piketon by 12:30am!

Sugar Bowl and Bourbon Street

Last Tuesday Molly, myself and our friend Cara headed to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. Our beloved Buckeyes were playing the Crimson Tide for a chance to be in the National Championship Game.

Molly knew we were going to New Orleans, but she didn't know that "I" had won tickets in the lottery at work and we would be at the game. They were her Christmas gift from me and she was pretty excited when she opened them. After she pouted that I had gotten her a travel book. :)

Game day was so much fun. We went to Bourbon Street and it worked out that both my college friends and Molly's college friends were at the same bar. Of all the bars there are on that street, these odds are very, very unlikely. But it worked out perfectly because then we could all socialize with our own friends and still be close.

Molly and I at The Beach on Bourbon Street

Bourbon Street on game day

More Bourbon Street on game day.

We stayed at The Beach and watched Michigan State and Wisconsin whip up on their SEC opponets and the beginning of the Rose Bowl before it was time to head out to our own game.

Ran into my little fraternity boys.

Me and Molly

We wanted to get to the stadium with plenty of time to spare, so we left Bourbon Street around 6pm and headed to the SuperDome in order to get there to see all of the pre-game activities. The game was set for a 7:30 kickoff (central time). 

Getting the entire group to the stadium was about like herding cats. One stopped for pizza and the bathroom. Then a block down the street someone else had to use the restroom. Luckily everyone was in a good mood and we had a great time. And we all made it to the game without losing any tickets. Although, there was a pizza casualty or two.

Group photo on Bourbon Street before heading to the game!

Ladies before the game.

 The game itself was great! It started out not so hot. We did a lot of dumb things and it wasn't anything like the Big Ten Championship when we just took off from the beginning. But it was really exciting and Ohio State fans were really into the game. We cheered and danced and yelled the entire time.

There were quite a few empty seats on Bama's side and with the exception of their "Roll Tide" cheer, they were pretty quiet.

Script Ohio before the game.

Here come our Buckeyes!

Cara was two rows behind us.

 It was a nice change of pace and atmosphere when Ohio State went ahead in the third quarter!

We're ahead!!!

 Then at the end, it got really nerveracking again when Bama almost had the chance to tie the game, but thankfully, they didn't follow thru with that and we won the game!!!! Wooooo!!!

We just won this game!!!

 The stage for the trophy presentation was set up to face the Alabama side, so we only saw the backs of all the poeple that were on the stage.

Trophy presentation!

Successful trip!

After the game was just so exciting! We had a great time and Bourbon Street was so much fun with so many of your Buckeye friends and family around. Every where you went it was Ohio State people and you could make connections of how you know the same people, etc. It was just a lot of fun and I don't think going to Bourbon Street would be as much fun any other time of the year.

Hey there Superdome!

Post game celebrations on Bourbon Street!

I'd really love to go to Dallas for the National Championship game on January 12, but unless some rich guy wants to fly me there and back, as well as buy my ticket, I think I'm out. Those suckers are expensive!!!