December Update

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. I've been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, and that is my only excuse for being such a bad blogger.

In December, I have:

• driven across Kansas to return to Colorado from Missouri, where we went for Thanksgiving break
• suffered through proctoring tons of district assessments with my students (BORING)
• spent a wonderful weekend with Dan and friends in Steamboat Springs
• skied my very first BLUE run (Heavenly Daze at Steamboat Springs - thanks again, Aaron!)
• fulfilled 10 magnet orders from shoppers on Etsy (and made over 250 magnets for those orders)
• completed seven canvas collages for buyers from my Etsy shop {click here to visit my shop}
• celebrated the completion of the first semester with my students and colleagues with food, Elf, foosball, ping pong, and dancing
• tried a new (and delicious) cookie recipe
• celebrated Dan receive PILOT as his job and finish his ninth out of ten semesters at the Air Force Academy

As of this this evening, I have ONE work day left for the semester... and it's a teacher work day! Yay! We will soon leave to visit Dan's family in Portland and then a couple friends in Philadelphia. Both trips should be fun, and it'll be nice to experience a new city (never been to Philly).

I just wanted to post a quick update since it had been over a week... oops! 

Marathon, Here I Come!

I can't believe I am actually doing it. FINALLY, I am really going to do it. I am going to accomplish a LIFELONG dream on April 27th, 2014, just one month and three days before my wedding.

I AM GOING TO RUN A FULL MARATHON.

That's right. My amazing friend Lizzie (who blogs over at Seis Matters) and I decided to finally bite the bullet and do what we've been talking about. We registered for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, and I booked my flight there. I'll be staying with her that weekend in Enid, about 90 minutes from OKC. We are STOKED, nervous, and excited!

I started running when I was very young. I ran with my dad in the afternoons. Then, in seventh grade, I joined cross country and track. I ran both events until I graduated from high school. I have run countless 5Ks and one half marathon. I have ALWAYS dreamed of completing 26.2 miles, and now I finally have my chance.

I'm slow. I've never been great at running; it's just something I do to ease the stress I have from daily life. It's not going to be easy, but it is going to be completely worth it.

I'm scared, and training is going to be tough, but I can't wait to kick asphalt next April! 

Exciting Air Force News!!!

As many of you know, my fiancé is graduating from the United States Air Force Academy on May 28th, 2014.

We have been in suspense for a while now, waiting for his AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code... or job title), especially since the government shutdown happened in October when the Firsties (seniors) were originally supposed to find out.

Well, they had their AFSC Drop Night tonight, and it's a darn good thing his butt looks so cute in a flight suit because...

DAN IS GOING TO BE AN AIR FORCE PILOT! 

We will find out in early 2014 if we will move to Texas, Oklahoma, or Mississippi for his pilot training, and we will head there after his graduation/our wedding. 

I am SO proud of him. He has worked his butt off for the past four and a half years, and all of that hard work is finally paying off! God is good. 

Wine & Painting Date

A few weeks ago, our friends Rianna and Aaron invited Dan and I to go on a double date. We love hanging out with them, so of course we went! We ended up doing a wine tasting at The Sweet Elephant in Old Colorado City, followed by a group painting class, where we painted the Kissing Camels at Garden of the Gods with Pikes Peak in the background. We all had a blast, and I wish they weren't moving away so soon!

This is the painting we were trying to recreate. Beautiful, right?

And this is the one our instructor painted while he taught the class. Gorgeous.

How ours all turned out -- looking good!

Here's Dan's. It's actually not bad at all! Notice the disproportionate F-22 above the Kissing Camels, haha.

This is my finished piece. I really like it, but I was also VERY frustrated while painting it.

Side by side! :)

Looking silly side by side over the fireplace... no, I did NOT leave both of them there!

Holding mine proudly! :)

• Have you ever been to a painting class?
• What is your favorite thing to paint?
• Do you have any ideas for fun, creative double dates?

The Holiday Week

This week has been different from normal, and it has thrown me off completely. 

I'm going to back up JUST A LITTLE BIT, though, and go to last weekend. I started receiving several orders from my Etsy shop (Christmas gifts, I assume), so I'm feeling overwhelmed there, but it's also a great feeling. It was wonderful working on those orders in the sunlight of my home with my two fur-babies. 

Gilligan always has to be near me - even to help me make magnets!

At least Stormy stays away and lounges in the window... in awkward positions.

On Saturday, I drove over an hour away all by myself to see a movie that was out on limited release. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one of my favorite books, so I headed to a suburb of Denver to see it, and it was INCREDIBLE. Seriously, guys. IT is definitely the best book-to-movie adaptation EVER. Read the book. Go see the movie. Just do it. 

After the movie, I headed to Denver International Airport to pick up Dan. He had been in California at Edwards AFB for one of his classes, and he had a BLAST out there! We stayed in a hotel in Denver that night and headed to Winter Park to hit the slopes with a friend all day Sunday. Skiing was amazing, and the mountains were beautiful, as always.

I had to work on Monday and Tuesday, which is unusual for Thanksgiving week, but it was fun because Dan came in and did physics experiments with my students during their science class, and I got to help out with that. They had a BLAST and paid SUCH good attention to him. It was incredible. I took a ton of pictures, but I can't show their faces, so I'll leave you with this one of three of my rowdy boys completely engaged with what Dan was telling them.

On Tuesday, as soon as school was out, we left to head to Missouri to see my family in Kansas City for the holidays. We always take the cats with us when we drive, but we normally drive all the way through at once. This time, we couldn't leave until close to 5:00PM, so we had to stop in a hotel for the night. Because of this, Gilligan and Stormy got to stay in a hotel room for the very first time. They were skeptical, but I don't think they minded it too much. 

We spent Wednesday and Thursday hanging out with and talking to my family. Thanksgiving was fun, and we are hanging out with some friends tonight. Having five days away from work is nice, but I am ready (already) to get back into my routine. I'm such a creature of habit. Winter break will definitely throw me off this year, as it is two weeks long, and we will be flying to two different places during it. 

Stormy hid from us, of course, but Happy Thanksgiving from us to you.