Oh, the stories I have to tell (once I get unpacked, caught up on sleep, and my brain isn’t so foggy)….

For now, I will sum up the Russia trip in one word:

AMAZING.

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Well, I’m off on the adventure.

My bags are stuffed to the brim.

Green one is clothes. Blue one is lots and lots of this fun stuff:

Snap bracelets, glow bracelets, whirlygigs, paper, googley eyes, face paint, pencils & pens galore…..etc.

There’s another larger suitcase full of fun goodies that had to be dropped off at another house earlier since it won’t fit in our car with both of us and these bags.  The kids will be happy.

Thank you to all who have donated money to help with this mission. I appreciate it SO incredibly much.

With God, I go. Catch ya in two weeks!

Большой. (which means ‘great’. Although I have no idea how to pronounce that.)

Those 7 years of Spanish won’t help me any this time.

And I’m okay with that. These 2 weeks in the heart of Russia will be my time to disconnect and be 100% in the moment. I’ll kiss my phone and email goodbye until I return back home.

This trip has taken on a whole new meaning for me following a series of unfortunate events we endured this past week and I’m even more uncertain about how I’ll handle such a long period of time away from my loving husband and contact with family. But I’m anticipating this being the most awesome time with God and those children who I’ll come to love so much. So how can I not look forward to that?!

That’s all to say, I can really use your prayers even more now than I thought I needed them before.

And for Todd also, two weeks of bachelorhood can be tough.

And if you would still like to make a monetary donation to help us out, you make a secure one through PayPal here:

  
  
I should probably start packing soon.
  
  

yeah, Russia.

And no, Todd will not be traveling with me, but I’m certainly not going alone. I will be traveling with 6 other people from our church to Dyatkovo, Russia to help at a children’s camp. Not just any children’s camp, but a former Communist camp that is now operated by Christians. An exciting opportunity for everyone involved, and I feel blessed that God called me to be a part of this.

I know 3 words in Russian:
да (Dah) – Yes
HeT (nyet) – No
спасибо (cpa cee ba) – Thank you
Oh, and the sound they make to describe a cat. But I can’t spell that one out for you.

Should be interesting, that’s for sure.  God will be with us too, so despite my anxiety and fears of what lies ahead, I know it will all be okay.

Here’s where I ask you for your help. I’m asking for donations, if you feel compelled to give, please do so. We still need money for travel expenses and sending the Russian kids to camp.  Many of them can’t afford the daily fee, and we want to give them this wonderful opportunity.  Whatever you can give will be so very much appreciated.

But more than anything, I really want your prayers. Prayers for a safe trip, prayers that we can connect with these kids and teach them about God in ways that they can come to know him. Prayers that we can just make some kind of positive impact on their lives.

It will be awesome. Of this, I am sure.

спасибо! (Thank you!)

You can make a secure donation through PayPal here:

It’s big. And blue.

I have more hydrangeas than I know what to do with.

Seriously. I wish I could just give you all some of them.  I have already made/given away several bouquets and you can’t even tell we clipped any.  Not that I’m complainin’….just sayin’, I wish I could give more away.

This is a young one. Working on blue-ifying itself.

Mom H says I can change the color for next year by altering the pH of the soil. That’s chemistry….I don’t know if I should delve into that.  But good to know that if I tire of the blue, I can have pink/purple ones instead.

They look lovely grouped in large bouquets.  Especially in my pretty purple birthday pitcher from the in-laws.

Unfortunately, if you have cats your pretty bouquets may not last as long as you’d like. They like to play the game of “lets pull mom’s flowers out & leave them all over the house for her to pick up after they’ve withered away all day”.

Who me? I’ve just been sleeping here all day. Not being mischievous whatsoever.

I love seeing my mom & dad without months in between.  It’s nice.  Like living close to home.

They brought along their close friends Linda & Norm, a couple of Seattle newbies (not counting that Norm was stationed nearby here in the Navy many years ago), so we did the introductory sightseeing stops.  And it seemed like I made them walk a lot, not realizing that I’m used to walking everywhere downtown and they—well— they were on a leisurely vacation, not a sprint race.  Oops.

Our time was short and sweet, but I’m thankful for what time we could spend together.  Maybe next time you’ll take us along with you on the cruise??

And even better, Todd’s parents are here this weekend, so its like 3 weeks in a row of seeing parents.  Sometimes you just need a good heavy dose of family.

28 years ago today I was born, making my mom & dad super happy to have a sweet little girl to balance out the craziness that is my brother (they’ve never said those words exactly, but I’m pretty sure that’s how they felt/feel).

Where has the time gone?

Katie Elizabeth – 1 year old

I have a couple things to say about my glamour shot:

1. I was pretty cute and chubby. And slightly red-headed, thanks to my grandma Leola passing those genes on down to us.

2. Dearest mommy, maybe you could’ve taken a comb or something to the photographer? What in the world is going on there with my hair and how come nobody fixed the baby bedhead look I was rockin’?!

Gonna party like it’s my birthday…..and by that, I mean I will be working all day and then enjoying a quiet evening at home devouring a red velvet cake Todd is supposedly making me.

I like stuff that has a story behind it….even if I don’t know what that story is.  When I lived closer to my parents, my favorite place to find good, cheap free stuff was in my dad’s shed.  I still have a few pieces that I cleaned up, repainted and cherish deeply.  And I like stuff that I can build on the foundation of and make it my own.

My most recent furnishing creation was a quick & easy pillow. Anthropologie was having a sale last week so I bought a couple fabric items (okay, contrary to my earlier statement, I’d love to buy everything from their store. But I can’t afford it anyways, so what’s the point in trying?).

I found this pretty painted and embellished placemat for $6 (originally $14).  Would I pay $6 to actually use it as a placemat?  No.  But I knew it would make a lovely & cheap accent pillow for the living room.  Bonus about this one is that it has two different sides.  That’s like getting two pillows for the price of one!

(By no means am I a skilled seamstress, so I’m convinced that anyone can handle this project)

Step 1. Have the item inspected by your minions.

Step 2.  Iron it smooth if you feel like it.  I did not feel like it.

Here you see our model, Stig, displaying the two different fabrics. Purple on back!

Step 3.  Use a seam ripper thingy (see, I don’t even know the technical term, that’s how amateur I am) to create a hole big enough to fit your hand through.

Step 4.  Stuff the thing with polyester filling until it’s nice and full.

Step 5.  Now sew the opening shut.  Do not expect perfection. That’s my crafting motto.

(notice the minions in the background fighting over who gets to help me)

Step 6.  Once you are all sewn up, tie a knot of some sort with the thread and throw on the couch. Simple as that.

Look at that expensive beading on my $6 pillow (well, $10 when you add in the price of polyester filling, but I also have enough of that leftover for another placemat-to-pillow conversion).

Step 7.   Brag to your husband about how you gave a placemat an exciting new life as a pillow and become frustrated when he doesn’t get as enthusiastic about it as you do.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

I actually did this next project awhile back after I found this sad looking side table for $10.  The minute I saw it, I knew I could give it a breath of fresh air with a new darker stain.  Speaking of fresh air, it’s very important in any project like this when you’re working with stain.  Otherwise you might pass out.  Or grow a third hand or something.

I don’t have a step-by-step lesson, but it was pretty easy, just a little time consuming.  Sand, clean, apply wood stain (I used Minwax Red Mahogany) and let dry, about 4-6 hours. Or, if you’re impatient like me, about 1 hour.  Apply another coat to get an even darker finish.  Let that coat dry for 24 hours (I suggest moving the item into a garage so you don’t get pine needles sticking to the table).

Finally, apply a good coat of Polyurethane to give it a protective finish. Let it dry for at least another 24 hours or until it isn’t sticky.

Ta da!  All done.  A unique side table for about $20 once you add in the cost of stain, brush & polyurethane.

It has a cozy new home in the living room. Right next to the Anthropillow.

Are they perfect?  No way.  But I (kinda) made them myself and that’s what counts most.

I was not about to miss my favorite Seattle festival a couple of weekends ago, so we dropped everything on Sunday afternoon to face the slightly smaller 2nd day crowd.

The tourist mobs aren’t fun and the lines don’t move very fast—or at all—but I will fight tooth and nail to get me some of that dairy goodness.

Ok, not really ‘fight’ per say, but we’ve come to learn that the proper Seattle way to get your cheese is to forego the lines and cut right in and grab your sample(s). If everyone did this, things would move so much faster.  Trust me.

Hey, we never claimed to be very polite when free cheese is involved.  You live, you learn. And this is what we’ve learned from the past several years:

There’s not enough time to try every cheese, so don’t even attempt this feat.  Don’t go on a full stomach—or an empty stomach, for that matter. You’ll make yourself sick either way.

Toothpick in hand, slip in line (but say ‘excuse me’), grab your cheeses, step back to savor the goodness and move on to the next vendor that sounds appealing.

If there’s more than one of you, split up.  Use both ends of the toothpick and quickly stab multiple pieces to take back to your comrades waiting in the less crowded area.  Sometimes you can only get one sample of each cheese, so that’s when you divide them up and describe the tastes to each other.  Sharing is caring.

Skip the stuff you can find at the grocery store and go for the local farmers and interesting sounding varieties that you can’t find at Safeway.  Mozzarella? No thanks. I already know what you taste like*.

*disclaimer: I will eat as many goat cheeses as I possibly can get my hands on because goat cheese is the best cheese in the whole wide world. There, I said it.

Have plenty of cash on you. When you find a cheese you love at first bite, buy it immediately.

We obviously didn’t take enough cash with us because we only came home with two cheeses.  A raw milk artisan cheese and a goat cheese, duh.  But we also bought some Confectional cheesecakes, muscat grapes and rhubarb, all off which were devoured shortly thereafter.

The cheeses? They’re still in the fridge, waiting for a sunny day picnic and a flaky baguette.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

Other activities have included the culmination of Girls on the Run spring season and the 5K run.  I had a different girl and different base location this time, and I enjoyed them both even more than last fall.  I love this program.

We also found ourselves being offered free Mariners tickets a couple days apart, and who can pass up a free baseball game, let alone two? Not us, even if we’re not the most winningest team this season.

This was my first time being there with the dome closed.  The second game they ended up closing it halfway through the game. That felt very much like the movie Independence Day.

The Saturday night game we got free t-shirts but lost the game.  The Tuesday night game we had even better seats, were there with a couple friends, and I savored my once a year hotdog. And we won!

I think we might be getting spoiled, it’ll be hard for me to go back to the cheap seats.

Last week, we went to Denver to see our friends from college, Meridith & Dallas—who was the best man at our wedding. Talk about a small world….I knew both of them before I even knew Todd, as I had them in some of my advertising classes at K-State.  At the time, I never would’ve thought 7 years later that we’d  still be hanging out, but I’m so glad life has worked out the way it has.  Wow, 7 years, I feel really old right now.

For our Thursday recreational activity, we headed out to Roxborough State Park for a mild hike.  In rattlesnake country.

If you know me, you know I have a huge fear of snakes.  HUGE. Thanks to the promise that the weather was too cool for snakes to be slithering around (I shudder at the thought), I pressed on through the threat of snake and/or mountain lion attack.

I’m glad we went hiking, it was gorgeous there, with the red rocks reaching out towards the sky.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

On Friday, I split off to hang out with two of my college roommates, Shannah & Angela, who also live in the Denver/Colorado Springs area.  Man, I really miss these girls.  The years living with them were some of the best (albeit craziest) years of my life but now we’re all grown up and responsible adults.  I was super excited for this reunion also because I finally got to meet Angela’s little girl, Brightyn.  It’s so awesome seeing girls I’ve known for most of my life turn into moms.

After a full day of shopping and catching up on several years of life apart, we said our goodbyes and then Shannah dropped me off to meet the rest of the gang at a lively dueling piano bar.  Quite the entertaining night.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .

Saturday we made a pit stop for doughnuts & coffee and drove an hour north to Ft. Collins.  Why Ft. Collins, you ask?

Well last fall, Mer somehow convinced me to sign up for the Colorado Marathon (I chose to do the 1/2 marathon instead and she signed up for the full but ended up changing to the 1/2 now that she’s 3 months pregnant).

Somehow when I registered back in December I made the good judgment not to attempt the full. Thank goodness.  Let’s just say that my training (if I can even call it that) for this race was very lackluster.  We also got to see Dallas’ dad & stepmom who brought out over 40 runners from their training program in the Kansas City area.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

Sunday morning was race morning and we were all up and out of the hotel by 5 a.m.  Us runners had to take shuttle buses up in the mountains and then run down the canyon to the finish in downtown Ft. Collins.

I wish I would’ve had my camera—but it’s a pain to run with—since the start at sunrise, winding down through La Poudre Canyon, next to the river was just amazing.  It looked something like this:

Once we got out of the mountains, the race was basically flat (thankfully, since I was not prepared for much of a hill challenge).

(photo courtesy of runningmemories)

Surprisingly, I felt great.  My main goal was to have fun and not injure myself, both of which I achieved.  It’s nice not being out to set a personal best or feel pressure to run harder.  I was having a blast, and finally around mile 8, I saw my handsome cheer squad.

Finished in 1:54:54.  Not my fastest time, but for only getting a couple good training runs in, I was very happy.  This was my 9th half marathon and Mer’s 2nd half marathon.  Did I mention she’s 3 months pregnant?!!!

Every postrace calls for a dynamite breakfast, of course, so we checked out of our hotel and went to Mer’s favorite breakfast cafe, Snooze.

I should also mention that the wait for this place was longer than it took me to run 13.1 miles.  Yeah, we waited outside for over 2 hours, not knowing it would be that long when we first arrived.  But it was good.

We headed back to Denver, took a much needed nap, watched Ironman 2, and flew back home the next day. Colorado was good to us.  We had a blast. We’ll for sure be back for more.  I’m hoping next time I can go snowskiing.

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