Christmasy catchup

want to hear something exciting? earlier this month, my blog got 80 views. 80! in one day! i wish that i had said something funny or intelligent. . .or anything at all. obviously, my travel schedule has meant that there has been very little blogging lately. so, whoever those people were pretty much just got to see old postings and photos. sorry, new friends. i hope you come back. and i hope you leave comments :)

i feel a little bit more like i can breathe now. in the last five weeks, i've been in 11 states and 2 countries. i've been on 19 planes.  i've found a dry cleaner. i know exactly how many days of parking i can pay for until taking a cab is less expensive. i ate duck for the first time. i broke in my new passport. i read three novels (now that we're in de-icing season, you can really spend forever on the ground without access to electronics). i revised a manuscript. i have a newfound appreciation for the importance of amoxicillin. i got some pretty pictures. i got a haircut. i got a dry cleaner. i got some pretty weird pictures (to be shared later). AND i somehow finished my Christmas shopping.

so far my favorite sign from traveling

there is an equally long list of things that i haven't done in the past 43 days. not the least of which is keeping up my running. i think my last good run was at the end of october. i'm supposed to have a "running meeting" with the program director early monday morning. so, we'll see how that goes. i'm not even sure that i have the appropriate winter running attire (actually, there are many things i need before this, but look at how smart this cap is. why have i been trying to fit my ponytail UNDER my cap for all of these years?!). the goal is to be back in shape enough to do a 10K training program in the spring. so, if you're lucky, you'll read me whining about that in just a few short months! :)

belated share from Lacey's wedding

now i'm just hoping to settle in for a few weeks at least. i, of course, have a "to do" list assembled for the rest of the month. and then i suppose i have to get back on a plane and go on my honeymoon. you know. . .hard times.

i am checking off a few things weekend, i hope (including maybe posting some more of the beautiful wedding photos that melissa took). however tonight i'm settled in with an unpacked suitcase, my first quart of apple cider for the season, and either friends reruns or some basketball games (my fantasy team is currently about even [18-20-2] and i'm playing against matt this week. go, my team!) i can't tell you how long i've been waiting for a low-key night like this one. hope everyone else gets a chance to relax this weekend, too.

travel, wedding, travel, travel

i'm making a quick update on what feels more like a 3-day layover in madison rather than time at home. i have two interviews down, two to go, and three "outstanding" phone interviews that i haven't heard back from. i'm trying to keep most of the details off of the interweb just given that you never know who might end up with access to your facebook page, blog, etc. yet, given that that is pretty much all i'm doing lately, that leaves me with little else to comment on.

i am not going to share site-specific stories yet for the aforementioned reasons, but i will share this pic that becca snapped for matt and me at the hilliard-starr wedding last weekend. we had a great time in texas and even put in some QT with the schlegel-hicks clan. it had been far too long since we had seen cole. i am sad to report that i missed what was probably the cutest photo-op of the weekend, which was cole making friends with the flower girl and both of them playing in the dirt at the end of the aisle. however, i did get this video during playtime after some texas bbq. to really get the adorableness, you have to listen for cole's "wheeeeeee" at the top of the slide.

the most perplexing moment came yesterday, i think, when i was waiting in line for the drugs that will supposedly subdue my sinus infection in time for me to fly out again tomorrow (keep fingers crossed about that, please). the target pharmacy was pretty busy and i was waiting in a pool of several people who had gathered. at some point, an older woman approached the counter and got into what turned into a fairly heated argument with the pharmacist. the short of it was that the woman had a prescription for eye drops that was supposed to last her for a month and a half, but was only lasting her about a month. she wanted to get two months worth of drops at a time, which her insurance company wouldn't allow. she was pretty fiesty about it, because she had apparently received two months at a time before (and claimed that is what her doctor wanted) and she wanted the pharmacist to just fix the insurance claims to say that she was picking up her drops at two different dates. the pharmacist kept explaining that they wouldn't do this as it was essentially filing a fraudulent claim. to the pharmacist's credit, she stayed pretty cool throughout the conversation; however, the eye-drop woman kept getting more and more upset, more and more confrontational, and started to claim (and probably believe) that this was all happening because the pharmacy had "screwed up" at some point.

you could tell that all of us who were waiting were getting uncomfortable, feeling sorry for the pharmacist, and were pretty clear that no matter how this eye-drop woman argued or how many insults were hurled, things were not going to work out in her favor. at one point, one of the other women waiting beside me interjected, "lady, you just need to move on."

"stay out of my business," replied eye-drops.

"i don't care about your business," responded the other customer, "but i do care how you treat this woman and the way you're acting is [expletive]."

the two breifly exchanged words and eye-drops eventually huffed away. truthfully, the customer didn't need to resort to her own nasty language, but in her defense, we'd been standing around watching the altercation for close to 25 minutes. and while i wasn't thrilled with her methods, i found myself admiring this other customer for standing up for the pharmacist. and further found myself wondering why i hadn't done something myself. we all saw the same thing unfolding - why had only one of us interjected on behalf of the poor pharmacist, who was holding her own but by the end was simply enduring the customer's insults? it was almost embarrassing, really. i still don't know what it was that kept me from saying anything, but it has made me think a lot over the last day about the extent to which we're really willing to put ourselves on the line to defend someone else from an attack. i'm not sure if other people have found themselves in similar situations. i would like to think that i'd do my part to step forward to help someone who is not necessarily in a position to help themselves. but i didn't. and so now i find myself how to moving forward with resolve to be - not aggressive - but more willing to at least step forward in defense of others. it's just not totally clear to me what my own "tipping point" is as far as being willing and able to step in and lend a hand. maybe this is something other people already know about themselves? or maybe we all continue to struggle with similar things.

anyway, the next few days are another travelpalooza, followed by thanksgiving, followed by more travels. if you're counting, we're heading out for our honeymoon in 47 days. now THAT is a trip that i'm looking forward to!

for the masses: a recipe and a question

what does this even mean?
i feel like this is not the first time that i've been stumped by such a scenario. the perfectly-spaced parallel lines say, "park here. you're welcome anywhere there is an open space." yet, i've also been trained to recognize the yellow curb as strictly prohibiting the presence of my car any any other. (seriously, i ended up with 100% in driver's ed - - you can trust me on this). so, i ask you, what the heck?

please stop sending me mixed messages, neighborhood gas stations! you're hurting my brain. and you make look dumb as i drive really, really slowly through gas station parking lots trying to figure out where i am (and am not) supposed to park.

okay, end tangent.
how about something a gazillion times easier than that?

i realize that some people have instant anxiety about recipes that contain a cream of soup. i get it. it comes out of the can as a a glob that holds its own shape. it doesn't smell like food. and it's not good made as a soup on its own (on this i am also a self-proclaimed expert, as saint mary's served me cream of mushroom soup after my back surgery). however, it's coming on winter here and where i'm from winter is casserole season (affectionally called "hot dishes" if you're from minnesota and "bakes" if you're from pennsylvania. are there more names like this?) and casseroles/hot dishes/bakes almost always contain cream-ofs. so, they don't scare me. and now that i know that i'm supposed to be eating more salt in my diet, i don't even spring for the low sodium selections.

but i can guarantee you that this cream-of-including recipe is delicious. it takes almost no time to assemble, it never turns out wrong, and it always tastes yummy. i got it and about 7,000 taste tests from my mom. bon apetit!

Chicken & Asparagus Casserole

Ingredients:
3/4 pound asparagus spears (12-15)
1 1/2 cup cubed cooked chicken
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 can cream of asparagus soup
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
1/3 cup milk

Directions:
1. Trim, cook, and drain asparagus (boiled or steamed, i've done it both ways and they're both fantastic).

2. In a 9" pan, arrange asparagus and chicken.

3. Combine soup and milk.

4. Pour soup and milk mixture into pan over asparagus and chicken. Top with cheese and bread crumbs.

5. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbling.

You can serve over rice, potatoes, noodles, or toast, but it's totally delicious just as is. For real.

meet the team

i was all geared up to edit some powerpoint slides while watching another world series game last night - and then i realized that the world series was over.

blast.

and when the hawkeyes start the season by losing to central michigan, it's not clear  whether college football is going to be super fun this year or not.

so now who are we cheering for? well. . . .luckily i have a fake team to root for now that the NBA season has started. want to get on board? of course you do. here's who we're rooting for.

blake griffin, (LA Clippers) who made this awesome video during the NBA lockout.

kevin love (MN Timberwolves), who sometimes has a sweet beard

dwayne wade (Miami Heat). i know you already know who he is.

tyreke evans (Sacramento Kings), because i apparently can't shake reminders of PA

marcin gortat (Phoenix Suns) - doesn't he look really happy? i like that he's not trying too look to tough to smile.

tyson chandler (NY Knicks). which at least gives me a partial excuse for my weird attachment to the knicks.

gordon hayward (Utah Jazz). i'm sure you remember the sweetheart that he was during the "butler years." i'll bet money that you were cheering for him to make this (scroll to about 5:40).

jeff green (Boston Celtics). maybe this will be the year the celtics don't bug me.

shawn marion (Dallas Mavericks). uh. . . how could you not cheer for this face?

wesley matthews (Portland Trailblazers) who is totally from madison.

kawhi leonard (San Antonio Spurs). i'm not gonna lie. i don't know much about him. but i will if he ends up being good.

i also have danillo gallinari, chauncey billups, and derrick rose who are all either currently iffy or injured. whatevs.

so that's the team.
here's hoping that i don't end up last again. although if i'm honest with myself, just getting a couple of wins will be an improvement.

PROJECT!

project! it was a toss up between this quote from clueless and ben haper's with my own two hands, but i'm pretty sure that ben is talking about saving the world. and while this turned out pretty well, i'm not quite on that level yet. so, clueless (and karen broman) is the big winner.

matt and i had decided that we wanted to personalize as many things as possible for the wedding. thanks to some inspiration from pinterest, one of the most flexible opportunities for this seemed to be the guest book. we fashioned ours as part guest book part scrapbook. we really love how it turned out, because anyone who found it intimidating could sign as usual, and we get to read a little something extra from a number of our guests. we got everything from sweet, sentimental lines to "i'm missing notre dame for this." :)

the thing is that i have since realized that this could be fun and practical for a lot of celebrations: weddings, graduations, baby showers, birthdays, etc. any time that you think it might be fun to go back and see what kinds of things people had to say about your special day. and it really wasn't difficult. the hardest part was definitely picking out all of the supplies at the craft store. a book, stamps, ink, a few sheets of scrapbooking paper, little cards and envelopes, some card stock, and a lot of the roll-on glue/tape.

i used scrapbooking paper to decorate the inside cover and then laid down pieces of cardstock (left) in different orientations to form the background for each of the individual pages. people who are more ambitious than me could probably create pretty amazing patterns and designs for each page.

then i stamped one of the envelopes for each page, glued them all down, and viola!, lots of pages for people to write down their names and or wedding-related thoughts. assuming that we might have some guests like myself, i also cut down some of the card stock to make a few extra cards in case things got lost, mistakes got made, etc., etc.

we had people seal the envelop with the small seals that one is supposed to use on the outside of their wedding invitations. so far, these have been the primary challenge - it's hard to open those tiny envelopes without ripping the seals. but, we have extra, so i'm not overly concerned about it!

things came out pretty well, if i do say so myself. we've had lots of fun looking through the cards already. i'm sure they'll be fun to reread during anniversaries as well!

pop quiz, hot shot

Q: what do you do when you've officially been married for a week and have *almost* caught up on your sleep?

A: run a 5K in the cold, wind, and rain.
duh.

okay, maybe that's not actually the optimal way to celebrate being married for a full week, but it definitely is what i did. to nobody's surprise more than my own, too, given that when i woke up on saturday morning, i hadn't really gotten a good run in for over a week and this was the forecast:

10 AM start time, of course

yeah.
gross.

post race

but, my friend lauren really wanted to do the run and i'd already paid my registration fee, so i went with her. i actually avoided a lot of the color stations (that stuff is a little tough to breathe through, so if you're thinking about doing a color run, consider ways to cover your eyes and/or mouth) and didn't do the big color throw at the end. the good news is that i survived, my time was slightly better than my time for dam to dam, and since it was a local run with a morning start time, i even had time for a nap in the afternoon.

i'm not even mad at the girl who took this photo from the worst possible angle (top down, people!! always top down!)

i'm glad i did it though. if nothing else, it was pretty rewarding to realize that i'm at least at a place where i can get up and go run three miles if i need to. although i'm clearly going to need some heavier clothes to keep running this winter!!

this week i'm hoping for the same kind of bounce-back at work! :)

unofficial documentation of the big day