Hometown Series - Me

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, yesterday was running 12 miles following a delicious reward of homemade cinnamon rolls. Don't worry I'll share the recipe.
I have asked a bunch of you to share with me and other bloggers about your hometown, writing from the perspective if I was coming to visit you what would you plan for the two of us. Now I want to share with you a few of the towns I have lived in. Being an Air Force brat, I don't have a particular a town I would call home. It is a clique but for me home is where the heart is but the fortunate thing for all of you, I have a few hometowns to share with you all :-)

Today I will be sharing with you Colorado Springs, Colorado. I lived there 1987-1990 which was kindergarten for me. We then moved to Lawrence, KS and then back to Colorado Spring from 4th grade until 1 month into 7th grade when we moved to Monterey, CA. We lived in the same house both times, my parents just rented the house out while were away. I went back to the same elementary school I went to for kindergarten and had some of the same friends.
If you came to visit me when I lived in Colorado Springs, I would first take you for a run in the beautiful Garden of the Gods. I always start my day with a run and Garden of the Gods is so breath-taking and I would point out the kissing camels.

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The beautiful white capped mountain in the background is Pikes Peak.
Here are the kissing camels.

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When living in Colorado Springs, we didn't live on the Air Force Academy even though my dad was teaching cadets there. We certainly spent a lot of time at the Academy especially Wednesday nights when I took ice-skating lessons on the rink.

I did ice-skating competitions, those cutesy little outfits, the fancy white skates, yup I did it all. I even got to meet Nicole Bobek when she was training there once. If you google her now, you would see she is known now for her drug issues rather than her ice skating abilities. Soo much for my role model when I was younger. 

If you came to visit me in Colorado Springs, I would probably take you ice-skating at that rink or if we would see an Air Force Academy hockey game and listen for the announcer to say " LET'S PLAY HOCKEY!!"
While at the Air Force Academy, I would take you to the gorgeous chapel they have, which has 4 worship areas, a Christian, Catholic, Jewish and all faiths.

Source: google.com via Cynthia on Pinterest

After the chapel visit, we would probably check out the rest of the Academy because it is such a beautiful campus.
After the Air Force Academy, I would take you to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and we would feed the giraffes some wheat crackers you can buy.

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Following the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for dinner we would head to Phantom Canyon Brewing Co. It is a microbrewery and they make their own root beer too. When we were children living in Colorado Springs, we would order a root beer but not drink it until dessert when we ordered vanilla ice cream and had a root beef float. My favorite dish I would highly recommend you order would be the beef pot roast with mashed potatoes. It is beyond amazing!

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If you didn't get enough dessert with the root beer float and also because two desserts on vacation is totally acceptable, then we will head over to Josh and John's Ice Cream, which is so freaking amazing and naturally produced without hormones.

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These old fashioned ice cream churners are in the store.

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That would be how I would show you one of the hometowns I lived in growing up as a child. Colorado Springs was a wonderful city to live in and I have wonderful memories from there. Hope I have enticed you enough to check out the city if you ever get a chance to visit it. I'll be sharing a few more of the different cities I lived in growing up in the next couple of weeks, keep your eyes open for more hometown series Meg Henning edition!

April Sponsor

Happy Sunday friends! 

I have one April sponsor to introduce to you all Kira of Rain or Shine. She lives where I would love to reside one day, Oregon. I have only been there once and it was definitely a very cool state. Kira has an adorable daughter named Pearl and I would love for you all to stop by and check out her blog!

For my sponsorships, I asked each blogger to provide a blurb about them and their question and answer one question which changes each month. The question of the month is how do you stay dry during April showers?

Hi, I'm Kira and I blog over at Rain or Shine.  I'm an apparel/accessories designer by trade although I am currently taking some time at home with my daughter Pearl.  I live in Portland, OR and I love it so much that I have a weekly series on my blog called "Portlander Problems".  Other than Portland related posts, you will find a lot about my daughter, DIY tutorials, photos of our home remodel, and creative inspiration.  Stop by and say hi, I love making new blogger friends!

How do I stay dry during April showers? Well, I'm from Oregon...so I don't!  As a true Oregonian, you won't catch me with an umbrella, but I do believe in the power of a great jacket (or maybe 10) and boots to keep me as dry as possible.

Fashion Must-Try

Ok you have to know how excited I am for the next season of the Bachelorette. Yes I watch it show each season, whether it the boringly stupid recent season of bachelor Ben or the reason why I am most excited about Emily's season coming up. Her fashion sense!! Yes she is super naturally gorgeous, her skin, her nails, the way she carries herself but I look at her and she is my recent fashion inspiration. I bought Essie Fiji because of Emily thanks to knowing what she wore on her nails over at Possessionista. Side story about Possessionista and Essie Fiji shade. Last summer at a wedding, I was standing in line for the restroom, and the girl in front of me was about my age, looked super friendly and then I paused at her nails. I just had to ask, I said are you wearing Essie Fiji shade? She warmly responded with yes I am and I found it on Possessionista! I squealed in delight because I had found my other half (sorry Sean) of the fashion world. We talked on and on about Possessionista and how we love her blog. Anyways so then I facebook stalked her about the wedding, I did wait the required three day rule and then friend requested, well messaged her first. She wrote me back and back and forth we corresponded over our love of Possessionista and Essie nail polish. Sean began to refer to her as my BFF. Anyways we still keep in touch now, I randomly saw her when I was out line dancing a few weeks ago and what came up during the conversation, you guessed right, Essie Fiji. Ok end of story, back to the topic at hand, Bachelorette fashions and Emily.

Here is my fashion inspiration, a photo of a date that Emily went on during her upcoming season. 

If anyone is looking for early tips on her season, I know Emily is going to Prague on a date. Why because I can tell she is in Prague with the buildings in the background because I have been there. But that is all I know, seriously people I am not Reality Steve. And whoever the man is she is clinging on to, I hope she doesn't give him the final rose, sorry I think she is way too pretty for him.

So look forward to Emily visiting at least Prague during her season, it is one of my favorite cities by the way.

But those sequined shorts, I want beaded shorts after looking at this photo. Of course with those boots and a white blazer, but the beaded shorts are the star of this season and have captured my little fashion heart.

Except I can't own the exact pair of beaded shorts she is wearing, why because the shorts cost $335 alone.

These are the beauties Emily is wearing!

I want to own a pair of beaded shorts but a pair my bank account can actually afford. In my quest for beautiful beaded shorts, I found these:

And these

Another pair

Tan seems to be the color of choice for beaded shorts

Even Diane von Furstenberg is getting in on the beaded shorts

For a different color pick, these lovely pink shorts

Your turn, are beaded short a fashion try or not ever, no thank you?

My Wishlist for a Husband

A little personal story for you today!

 

I always knew I was suppose to get married, it was my dream, my wish to have a partner to go through life with, to laugh with him, have those ups and downs with during our lifetime. I wanted to get married more than having children. I said to myself that choosing the person I wanted to marry would be the second most important decision I would make in my life, the first most important decision was to be a follower of Christ, to have a personal relationship with my Father. 

So I didn't take dating lightly ever, if I didn't see a potential in the first couple of days, then usually I would end it. Going to a Christian college, there is this phenomenon known as Ring by Spring, dating couples get engaged by the spring semester of their senior year and then start planning their wedding after graduation.

That didn't happen to me in college. I graduated without a boyfriend and thus certainly not an engagement ring on my finger.

After college, you got from these huge social circles because all your friends live a few apartments down, your besties are in all your classes, you meet up for lunch, hang out again for dinner and then have all these wonderful weekend plans.

Once you graduated college, those social circles for me at least became next to nothing. I hated the weekends because it meant pretty much hanging by myself all weekend long because my social circles had moved back to their hometowns, or we would make plans and come Friday night my friends would cancel their plans with me. 

Dating was a hit or miss, I tried a few meet-ups through Match.com but in the end I didn't feel comfortable with our story of we met online. I know very successful relationships that met through online dating sites and I am happy for them but it just wasn't for me.

During all these years however, I kept a list in my wallet. I made a list of the top qualities I wanted in my future husband. These are the qualities that were most important to me in my future mate because again I said who I would say yes to marrying would be the second most important decision I would make.

I called it my G-list (no sexual innuendos intended).

In order the qualities I put down are:

laughter

physically active

Christian

responsible

trustworthy

high morals

good family background

loves to travel

experience new cultures.

I write this post to specifically talk about quality #2, physically active.

I didn't write down my future husband had to run, it was just how I am physically active most frequently. I started running my senior year of high school when I would wake up and run with my dad before I went to school and he went to work. Sidenote: when I think back on those times, I am so grateful I had those moments with my dad

However,when Sean mentioned he was a runner on our first date, I checked off that box next to my list.

I went on a 7 mile run yesterday in training for my half marathon coming up next month and while it wasn't a fabulous run, I came back with a thought.

When I prayed for a husband who was physically active, I had no idea God would answer my prayer with a husband who coached runners for a living. 

My thought was when I prayed for a husband who was physically active, God provided so much more than that. He provided a husband who would encourage me to run more, run higher mileage and to run harder. He provided me with a husband who knew I could run faster than I thought I could, God provided me a husband who believed in me and my running abilities more than I did.

When Sean and I did the Color Run on Sunday, he suggested holding hands together as we crossed the finish line and this was captured.

 We go through this life together as a team and I am looking forward to many more surprises God has in store for the reason why He picked Sean to be my partner, my helpmate and my husband.

If you are single, I would encourage you to write a list of the top qualities you want in your future mate and if you are engaged or married, make a list of the qualities you love most about your mate and a list of the top qualities that drew you to him, keep that in your back pocket or in your wallet, pull it from time to time maybe during arguments, during rough times to remind yourself why you love your husband, fiance or boyfriend.

Keeping it Classic with Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes when I bake, I try ingredients I don't frequently use, coconut, jam, berries, etc. However, some days you just feel like a classic cookie, chocolate chip, peanut butter or by special request, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. These cookies were made as the request a pregnant lady who is due to give birth any day now to twin boys. 

Apparently there are these things called pregnancy cravings, any former pregnant bloggers or current pregnant bloggers who can relate to cravings? ;-)

I can definitely love a classic anything in terms of cooking or baking. It is good for the soul and good for the tummy. 

These oatmeal chocolate chip cookies originally are meant to be a cookie sandwich with frosting in the middle, but the cookie recipe itself was what I was searching for and I think I have now found my go to oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.

For this recipe, first gather together your ingredients.

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar,
2 large eggs, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup rolled oats, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In your mixing bowl, cream your butter first. Cream it, cream it.

Add in the white sugar then mix the butter and sugar together.

Next add in the brown sugar and then mix it again.

Finally add in the eggs, make sure they are room temperature (trust me, this makes a difference!) and give all the ingredients a good mixing.

Add in the vanilla extract and mix again. You get my point, add in ingredient, mix, add in new ingredient and mix again.

Now you add in the dry ingredients, I added in half of the flour and oatmeal and baking soda. 
Then I mixed all the ingredients together then I added the remaining half of the flour and oatmeal.

After you mixed the remaining dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, add in the chocolate chips and get the batter a final mix.

Scoop out cookie dough into a baking sheet, I get 12 to a pan and these cookies do spread out so space them about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies in the oven for about 11-14 minutes or until a golden tan color. Remove the cookies from the oven when they are finished baking and let the cookies cool on the sheet for about 10 minutes before you remove them. This allows the cookie to "set"  and stay together when you take them off the pan, otherwise if you don't let them set you will have cookie crumbs instead of a whole cookie.

Then serve with a bowl of vanilla ice cream, which we did or a glass of milk, eat and enjoy!

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update on my friend, Rachel, who I asked if you could visit her blog to send her some encouragement, she had the babies last night and they are doing great!!

Colorific Run

Ok folks the Color Run post, the post I know you have all been waiting for :-) I will first start with Saturday I went for a 9 mile run with my running partner and when we started at 9am, it was already 75 degrees. We still got the run in but it wasn't our finest run. I heard that Sunday was suppose to be equally hot but I was very pleased when I woke up when there was cloud cover and much cooler than the day before. I was meeting 5 other girls there, and I was pleased that Sean wanted to come down and hang out.   Leeann, her two friends, Selma and her roommate Marjan participate in the run. While Sean and I were waiting for the other girls, a group next to us had two extra running bibs from two girls of their group who didn't show up. I didn't think twice but told Sean to get one of those bibs so he could participate as well. 

One of the announcers said that there were 12,000 participants that day and we saw people of all ages!

I saw this sea of white t-shirts moving towards the starting line and then before you knew it, they were off and you looked off into the distance and then you saw clouds of yellow, pink and green. 

Our group was up next and we were standing there anticipating plenty of fun and color and we were not disappointed!

Here are some before photos.

And after.

Leaf blowers were used to help remove some of the colored powdered

I love the girl in the pink skirt

So moral of the story, if you want to have fun, be very colorful and even exercise a little bit sign up for the Color Run! You won't regret it.

p.s. stop the presses! I found my wedge for the summer since I couldn't afford those $100 wedges I liked most as pointed as in my Friday post. THESE are the wedges I need for the summer. Thank you Target for you $28 price.