Backyard Love

We've missed not having a backyard for 5 years.  Our current backyard is a huge upgrade from the one we had prior to apartment living.  This one was totally worth the wait!  

This is the deck right outside our sliding back door from the mudroom. 

Another view from close to the back door.

We spend a LOT of time out here.  = )  

 We seriously LOVE our backyard!  

Our small, but fabulous vegetable garden.  Next year, we'll turn this entire grass area into a vegetable garden.

Growing Organic

One of the things I missed most while living in an apartment was not being able to have a garden.  We haven't had a garden in 5 years, so we're a little rusty, but we managed.  = )  

This year we planted tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, and a bunch of herbs.  We had a storm that shredded all the plants pretty good, but they managed to pop back and produce for us.  All of our veggies are organic, meaning that we do not use pesticides.  Our veggies also don't have that wax junk on them like the ones you pick up at the grocery store.  

The cucumbers and zucchini have been the best we've ever eaten.  

Tastiest cucumbers ever!

 Me with our first zucchini.  

I either picked a large zucchini or we have a small dog.  = )

Our tomatoes are SLOWLY starting to turn red.  Finally.   

In the meantime, we've been enjoying a nice supply of tomatoes from our neighbor's garden.  Have I mentioned that we have THE BEST neighbors?  Well.. it's TRUE!  

It's OURS!

Home, Sweet Home! 

We sold our first home and most of our belongings in May 2007 and have been living like poor college students ever since. The dream of owning a home again seemed to be exactly that... a dream.  

It turns out that dreams do come true.  

We purchased our first home TOGETHER today.  The closing was at 4 pm.  Everything went fabulous and we couldn't be more excited.  Thank you for your prayers along the journey.

We won't be moving in for a few weeks because we're having the original hardwood floors refinished.  The company we hired will start on the floors on Tuesday, Sept. 6.  After that, I'm hoping to hire a professional painting company to artistically paint the kitchen and the 2nd bedroom.  I look forward to seeing the finished product.  I'll be sure to post more photos soon.  

Apartment Living

"Luxury" Apartments are overrated.  


10:30 am:
GOOD: A vocal major that practices. BAD: The vocalist is your upstairs neighbor who practices while you're trying to sleep. 
If David weren't sleeping after working a 24+ hour shift, I'll pull out all my instruments and declare an obnoxious musical war. There's a reason I DO NOT practice while living in an apartment. Praying we close on our house on Wednesday at 4 and can get out of this awful place! (more firetrucks here this morning)

8:45 pm:  
Our neighbor just came to our door to inform us that she's a vocalist and will be practicing late tonight because she has auditions tomorrow.  My reply:  Aren't there practice rooms at OCU?  She replies, "It's OKCU and the practice rooms are really dead."  seriously.....  I feel like I'm living in a college dormitory.  

SOLD!

It's official!  Our offer was accepted on a house today.  We're set to close on August 31.


This is the first home that David and I are purchasing together.  Our first home was purchased solo by him when he was 20 and only 4 days before we were engaged.  We lived in that home until May 2007 when we sold it to move to St. Louis to pursue a dream.  Apartments have been our home ever since.  


We've moved so much in the past year that the idea of doing it again is absolutely exhausting.  At least this time it will be the last time for quite a while.  Seriously, we don't plan on moving again for at least 5 years.  


Here's a lovely photo of our home...

It's a historic home (completely redone) in OKC that was originally built in 1920.  It's 2 bed/2 bath in a highly sought after neighborhood.  It still has the original hardwood floors, Frankoma fireplace, original glass doorknobs and so much more!
The kitchen currently has an antique stove/oven, but we're having them remove it prior to closing.  The actual oven space was too small for what I do, so I'll be shopping for a new one soon.  Yippee!
The garage has an air-conditioned room that's separate and we'll eventually use that as a home gym (Note to my DH: I would LOVE an elliptical for Christmas).  The master bedroom has a private door that opens up to the patio where our hot tub is located.  We'll use the 2nd room as our "media room" for 2-4 years until it's time to have a kid.  lol!  
This home was so well taken care of and we just love it!  It's on a corner lot and about 3.1 miles to DH's work and 6 miles to mine.  It's also super close to the bakers supply store I've been shopping at lately.  I feel there are more cookie orders in my future.  lol!
The backyard is absolutely gorgeous!
Please pray the inspection and everything else goes well. 

13.1

The 11th Annual OKC Memorial Marathon was set to begin at 6:30am. There was a 20% chance of rain and would you believe that it started raining as soon as I got out of the car at 5:35am?!?!?  It was cool, windy, and now rainy.  

All runners were told to seek shelter immediately.  We all crammed in wherever we could.  They even backed up the start time to 7am.  

The storm kept me from getting to the Survivor Tree at 5:45 so I could meet my friends.  I eventually braved the elements and ran to meet them there.  The pavement already slick!  A bunch of us girls huddled together and chatted until it was time to go to the starting line.  We were all so cold! I cannot say enough good things about this wonderful group of gals.  When one of us would start toying with the idea of ditching the race to go have a hot breakfast with coffee, somebody else would step in and be the strong one.  That is a true friend!

Here are some photos of today's adventure...

Me and the girls at the Survivor Tree before the run (minus a couple).

Me with Jenny and Cathy waiting for it to start!

 This is where my husband will be working.  = )

Gorilla Hill!  

Just FINISHED my 2nd half-marathon!!!  

Cold and wet!  Fig Newtons are best when enjoyed post-run.  Try it sometime!

My time.  I shaved almost an hour off last year's time.  It would have been even better without all the stops for water, potty, photo opportunities, phone calls, and the bit of walking I did at the end.  I'm hoping to improve complete the half between 2-2:15 next time.  

 MARATHON tie-dye COOKIES!

 Yes, I thought I'd be festive.  

I made care packages for my runner friends.  

I have the best running friends ever!

 David drove me down to the event and stayed for the entire thing.  He was soaking wet and freezing.  What a trooper!  He truly is the BEST husband ever!!!

 This is me showing off my medal before I enjoy a delicious brunch.

 Dave's meal at Classen Grill.  Soooo good!

 My post-run meal at Classen Grill.  YUM!

My route!

Completing 13.1 in the chilly wind, frigid rain, lightening, & hail makes me feel stronger (& possibly stupider). Never had so much fun while being completely miserable at the same time! 
Definitely a race to remember!
 I'm already looking forward to the 12th Annual OKC Memorial Marathon. Bring it!

Lake Hefner Run

My day started out by sleeping in 

and sipping a nice cup of coffee on my patio.

 Ethan wanted to soak up some sun with me.

 Then he went in and brought out his 

stuffed turtle to chew on while in my lap.

After coffee, I got dressed and 

drove to Lake Hefner for a run.

 You can see the lighthouse in the distance.

 I was several miles into my run.

 At the end of my run around the lake.

 Sailboats and restaurants by the lake.

A final view.

Stretching and still smiling!

This was my first time to run the ENTIRE lake. I've biked it plenty (years ago), but running was a different story.  It took forever with winds of 25-35mph and a temperature above 80 degrees. My pace was horrible, but that wasn't the focus of today's run. Today's goal was to run the entire lake and I did it.  

Yesterday, I ran 5 miles at the lake for the St. Paddy's 8k.  That makes a total of 15 miles this weekend.  Not bad!  I hadn't planned on running that much... it just happened.  The weather was too good to not want to run.  

The St. Paddy's race left me with a blister under the arch of my right foot.  It's extremely painful and I could feel it every step of the way.  My right sock was a bloody mess when I finally removed my shoes when I arrived at home.  Apparently I need a little TLC this week.  : )  My run also left me with what you see in the photo below.  I'm hoping it's just a sunburn even though I DID wear SPF 70 all over my body and SPF 50 on my face (Cetaphil facial moisturizer with sunblock). 

Only 42 days until the OKC Memorial Marathon!  

Snow Day #7

Yes, today was snow day #7 for my district.  


David and I were tired of being prisoners in our own home so we attempted a trip to Penn Square Mall yesterday.  The highways were alright for the most part but all of the other roads were horribly slick.  It seemed to get worse the farther east we traveled.  Many stores were closed and those that were open closed at 5 or 6pm.  It was odd, but very awesome to shop with so few people at the mall.  I've never seen it so dead.  
On a happier note, we made some fun purchases.  I spotted an awesome casual sports coat at Dillards for David.  It fit him wonderfully and he loved it so it's now part of his wardrobe collection.  We also purchased a couple of OU jerseys and I bought some OU sleep shorts.  Now, as much as David is excited about all of these purchases, he's most excited about his new UGG slippers.  I really am not kidding!  I have two pairs of UGG boots and always go on and on about how toasty my feet are.  He's been jealous that he didn't have anything to keep his feet toasty warm, so I've been trying to convince him to get his very own shearling slippers.  He finally took my advice and said it was the best $100 he's spent in a long time.  LOVE it!  
The main store I needed to visit while at the mall was Teavana.  I was completely out of Earl Grey black tea.  So I bought some of that and also bought some Earl Grey white tea to try.  It's really good and is 100% decaffeinated.  It keeps me cozy warm.  Mmm.....
It was while we were at the mall last night when I was informed that we'd be out of school again today.  The news saddened me.  I love teaching, especially at my school.  I don't think I've taught a full 5-day week of classes since the first week after winter break.  That was a long time ago.  As saddened as I've been about missing school, it's been really nice to relax and hangout with Dave.  His time in OKC is almost over and he'll have to head back to STL.  We're treasuring every moment together.


I've been cooking and baking up a storm during the snow days.  I'll save that for a future post so all of my "wordiness" doesn't get in the way of those who are just waiting for my foodie posts.  lol! 

Snow Day...

TOMORROW!

Can you believe that tomorrow will be our sixth snow day of the year.  This is absolutely crazy!  Apparently I brought all of that St. Louis snow back with me.  Too bad Oklahoma isn't better prepared to handle this stuff.  

The hot topic for conversation today was how we're going to make up all of these missed instructional days.  I'm glad I'm not the one who has the responsibility of making these decisions.  With that being said, I pray that I will have patience and understanding when everything is decided.  

Here are the current options up for consideration:

Extended school days (so we can make up instructional time before state testing)

Saturday school

Using some or all of Spring Break

Adding days to the end of the year

Snow Day #2

It's still cold.

 Heatwave! 

I made homemade protein bars last night.  Yum!
I'm still working on perfecting the recipe, 
but here's what I have so far....

Jenn's Running Protein Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup (heaping) honey*
• 1 1/4 cups protein powder** 
• 1 1/3 cups quick oats
• 2 Tbsp. flax seed

Directions

• Microwave honey and peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl for about a minute. 
• Stir well and add protein powder and oats until well blended.  
• Add flax seed and stir well.
• Mix might be kind of crumbly.  
• Pour mixture into a lightly pammed 8x8 pan and pack mix down. 
• Chill for about an hour and cut into bars.  
• I get about 25-30 bars out of this recipe.  They are small, but are rich and filling.
• These freeze well!

* The honey (glucose) will be burned off quickly during a workout.

** I combine vanilla and chocolate protein powder.  Banana is great too!

OK Weather Update

Snow Day in Photos

Blizzard 2011

We're having a blizzard in OKC!

The first 2 photos were posted on facebook by a friend.....

Many people freaked out about the coming blizzard and loaded up on groceries.  It's a good thing I'm lactose intolerant and rarely buy milk.  Ha!  

The bread isle at Walmart.  It's a good thing we don't eat bread.  In fact, I don't think I've even purchased any in about two years.  Plus, if I wanted bread, I'd just bake it myself.  It tastes so much better!

These are the conditions I woke up to this morning.  Brrr......  
Laugh all you want, but Oklahoma is NOT a state that's prepared for this kind of weather.  


School is closed for today.  Luckily, they cancelled it last night so I didn't even set my alarm this morning.  Everything is going great with us so far.  We still have electricity and are relaxing in our pajamas.  It's awesome!


I've already enjoyed two cups of coffee and made southwest eggrolls.  David is about to heat up some tamales I ordered from a lady at school.  She sometimes takes orders from teachers and we LOVE that!  I plan to work on lesson plans today and there may even be some cookie baking in my near future.  I also plan to make more protein bars.  The last batch I made disappeared quickly.  YUM!  

6 Miles

My SIL, April, and I completed a 6-mile run on Saturday, Jan. 29.  It was the farthest distance she's ever run.  (Go, April!!!) Our starting point was at the new Devon Boathouse.  It's really neat and has quite the view.  Beautiful! 
We ran along the Oklahoma River Trail and it was gorgeous. We even ran under a train!  Kinda weird! 
Our run started out really cold, but we warmed up.  Afterwards, we grabbed some delicious snacks at the Boathouse.  It was wonderful to have a warm facility to warm up in with restroom facilities.  We were spoiled last Saturday.

Post Run Photo

Pageant

Mrs. Oklahoma City

David and I enjoyed a unique date last night.  We went to the Mrs. Oklahoma and Mrs. Kansas Pageant. My dear friend, Emily, was competing for the title of Mrs. Oklahoma so we wanted to show our support by attending.  She was absolutely beautiful and did a fantastic job in her first pageant.  Emily didn't win the crown last night, but she enjoyed the journey and may do it next year.  

Me with Mrs. Oklahoma City, Emily  

I'd like to give a special shout-out to Mrs. Melinda Meadows (Mrs. Edmond).  She's the mother of one of my HS classmates.  She also competed in Mrs. Oklahoma 2011 last night.  Melinda is a woman that has it all... personality, beauty, kindness, grace, style, elegance, and a freakin' 6-pack!  She was the third runner-up in the pageant and received six additional awards.  What an inspiration!  I may have to see if she'd like to share her beauty and fitness secrets with me.  She is amazing!  I hope she continues to compete in pageants.

After the pageant, David and I had a late dinner at Hefner Grill over by Lake Hefner.  Everything he ordered was great, but I wasn't impressed with my food.  I don't think we'll ever eat there again.  

Even though I didn't care for the restaurant, it's always good to try new places.  It was a fun evening because I spent it with David and some friends.  ; )