girls' weekend!

My mom and I just got back from a weekend in Omaha with Blendy. It was unexpected and fantastic! I thought I'd tell our story through pictures ...

We're excited to see Blendy!!!

As soon as we got to Omaha, we headed to Chick-fil-A. It had been way too long since I'd had their delicious chicken!

Then we headed off to the Omaha Symphony. We were given free tickets to see Play!, a video game symphony (the unexpected reason for our trip). I'm not a gamer, so I figured I wouldn't know much of the music. I figured right.

Here's what I learned: most video game music (at least the music played by the symphony) sounds like it was composed by Hans Zimmer. Also, whoever wrote the narration seemingly tried to write it using only cliches. By the end, we could barely contain our giggles! 

As the performance ended, I did find myself feeling a little cheated. This picture from the program, while not promising anything, certainly seemed to imply that the Mario theme would be part of the performance. But Mario was nowhere to be found ... and now I have an incredible urge to play some Super Mario!

Dad got us a hotel room so we wouldn't have to drive home late. We stayed at the Comfort Suites, and, though they were in the middle of a major renovation, the rooms were nice. Sadly, though, the breakfast left a lot to be desired.

One of the highlights of our trip was being able to attend Blendy's church this morning. It's very small, and the people are so nice and welcoming. I think she'll really thrive there. Then we headed to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Our server, Alex, was one of the best ever! If you're ever at the Council Bluffs Cracker Barrel, look for Alex—he'll give you the greatest service! I also had perhaps the best fried chicken of my life. It's the Sunday special—two boneless breaded and fried chicken breasts. I could only eat one, so now I have lunch for tomorrow!

Following a rather extended trip to Walmart, we took Blendy back to the dorm and headed home. What a fabulous weekend! (And the icing on the cake? My cats, who were left alone inside for more than 24 hours, didn't destroy anything or relieve themselves anywhere but the litter box!)

my (current) favorite things, june 2013 edition

This post has been a long time in the making. I've been thinking about it since before school got out, but then I had yearbook deadlines, book review deadlines, the excitement of searching for and buying a house, and an obsession with Covert Affairs that kept me from blogging. But finally, here we go—my current favorite things!

• Vaseline Spray and Go Moisturizer: I have just about the driest legs on the planet. I also can be incredibly lazy when it comes to moisturizing my skin. So the instant I saw the commercial for Vaseline's new spray lotion, I knew I needed to try it. It is absolutely fantastic! It does everything the commercial claims ... and it seriously takes like 10 seconds. Even I can handle that!
• ipsy: ipsy is one of those $10 monthly subscription boxes that's been popping up over the past couple of years. I went back and forth between ipsy and Birchbox, but I ended up choosing ipsy because most of the bloggers who compared the two favored ipsy. It's so fun to get beauty products in the mail! My first ipsy glam bag came in May, and I am currently using or have already used up four of the five items. The June glam bag wasn't so much "me" as the May bag was, and so far I've only used the Cailyn eyeliner. I'm going to stick with ipsy through the summer and then reevaluate. (I'm working on a post that talks about my items, but for now these pictures will have to suffice.) If you're interested in trying ipsy, you can sign up here.

My May glam bag.

My June glam bag. I got an extra item (the Baublebar bracelet) for referring people to the service.

• NCIS: Back when I had cable (almost three years ago now), I watched NCIS fairly frequently. Then I moved, and I no longer had TV. NCIS is one of the shows I didn't bother to keep up with online. Then in February, I came down with the flu, and I spent a week on my parents' couch. USA runs NCIS marathons several times a week, and I started watching them. Suddenly, I was completely hooked. Blendy and I are taking an accounting class together this summer (a decision I seriously regret...), and we decided to reward ourselves after completing our assignments by watching NCIS episodes. I picked up several seasons on sale on Amazon, so we started with the pilot, and we're working our way through. Currently, we're in season two. Honestly, the promise of more NCIS is just about the only thing motivating me to do my homework. (On a side note, I've often wondered if I missed my calling and should have gone into accounting. The answer to that question is an unequivocal NO!) 
• Covert Affairs: Not since Dawson's Creek have I been so entirely addicted to a TV show. I watched the first three seasons of Covert Affairs in about three weeks, and I'm now eagerly anticipating Season 4, which premieres next month. (And I'm ever so thankful that my parents now have cable, which will enable me to watch the show as it airs!) Blendy calls Covert Affairs "Alias lite," and I suppose it is. (Lead Piper Perabo even bears a striking resemblance to Jennifer Garner.) But it's also a whole lot of fun. Christopher Gorham as blind CIA operative Auggie is adorable as usual, and if you didn't know he could see, you'd swear he was blind. Then you have the fabulous Peter Gallagher (Sandy Cohen from The O.C. and Peter on my favorite movie of all time, While You Were Sleeping) as CIA bigwig Arthur Campbell, a great love triangle, and intriguing story lines ... basically, you end up with a show that may not be as mind-bendingly awesome as Alias, but it sure is fun to watch! If you have Amazon Prime, you can stream the first three seasons free. Check out the pilot here.
• Xtra Bacon: Sometime during the last season of The Bachelor, I stumbled across a hilarious podcast that recaps/mocks the show. That podcast is part of the Xtra Bacon Network, a group of pop culture podcasts and blogs. If you're a fan of The Bachelor/ette, I highly recommend you check out Knox & Jamie's hilarious commentary. They even mentioned one of my tweets (at 15:45) in this episode!
• Steel Cut Oats: I have always thought I hated hot oatmeal. Then several months ago, I stayed overnight with my aunt, and she made steel cut oats for breakfast. Oh. My. Goodness. They were so good! I've started making them about three times each week—I just throw 1/4 cup of steel cut oats and 1-1/2 cups water in my little crockpot right before I go to bed, and it's ready in the morning. With a little brown sugar and cinnamon, it's fantastic ... and it keeps me full throughout the morning.
• That Guy ... Who Was in That Thing: When I decided to dump Netflix, this was the only item in my queue that I knew I wanted to watch before my subscription ran out. It's a documentary about character actors, and it features lots of people I recognized, including Timothy Omundson (Lassiter on Psych), Gregory Itzin (Henry Wilcox on my new fav Covert Affairs), Xander Berkeley (Percy on Nikita), and Bruce Davison (he's been in a million things, including X-Men and X2, but I'll always remember him as the teacher in The Wave, an ABC Afterschool Special that we watched in my college speech class). I really enjoyed it! You can watch it here.

Are any of my favorites your favorites? Now that I've finished Covert Affairs, do you have a show I should binge-watch? What are some of your favorite things that I should check out? Let me know in the comments!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

my (current) favorite things, march 2013 edition

It's been a very long time since I've done a "favorite things" post ... though I do have two that I started to write last year and never posted! Here are some things I've been enjoying lately:

• French press coffee. Last week, I finally bought a French press. I'd been wanting one for a while, but I just never got around to buying one. What took me so long? French press coffee is awesome! Plus, I can make however much (or little) I want. I ended up getting the Primula Classic Glass 8-Cup Coffee Press, and I'm glad I got it when I did—the price has jumped $7 since I ordered it!
• My cats. I've been pretty silent about them on the blog lately, but they're still here, and I still love them! I'm not sure if Isis will ever forgive me for taking away her chance to be a mother, but the changes in Hammond and Skaara since I got them fixed have more than made up for whatever hatred Isis shoots my way! Also, Sam is still around—she's the stray who showed up last fall looking like she was at death's door. She's fully recovered and is now definitely one of the crew ... though I wouldn't find myself heartbroken if she disappeared! (Hammond is another story. When I lose him, my heart will break.)

See those eyes? They are definitely not saying, "I love you, Becky!"

• Pushing Daisies. Several years ago, my cousin Beth told me I should watch Pushing Daisies because I'd really like it. I didn't really want to join a show mid-season, so I just filed away her recommendation. Then the show got canceled, and I forgot about it. A few days ago, I was looking for something to watch before bed. Netflix didn't have anything that called to me, so I checked out Amazon Prime Instant Video. And there it was: Pushing Daisies. I watched the first episode and was entranced. (I blogged about the episode here.) Pushing Daisies is whimsical, funny, and beautifully filmed. If you have Prime, you should definitely check it out! 
• Chicken pizza. I recently "invented" the most divine (and simple) chicken pizza. It can be made in 20 minutes, start to finish. It tastes wonderful, and it's actually pretty healthy! Look for the recipe on the blog soon.
• Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer. My sister Val introduced me to this primer when we visited for Thanksgiving. It is absolutely wonderful! I bought my own just before Christmas, and I'm still on the first bottle ... so even though it costs $36, it lasts a long time! (I only use it on days I wear foundation. On other days, I use Avon's MagiX Face Perfector. At $10 a bottle, it's a bit more economical!)
• Lizzie Bennet diaries. I first heard about this YouTube series on Annie Downs' blog. It's fantastic! Check out the first episode below, and then I'm sure you'll want to watch more. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

what's in the mail? 5-31-12 edition

I got several things in the mail these past two weeks—more cereal, a movie, and lots of books!

Quaker Oatmeal Squares, Cinnamon
Apparently Vine has discovered I like cinnamon ... I've gotten cinnamon-flavored cereals two newsletters in a row! This one doesn't hold a candle to the other. It's bland and not very cinnamony. Don't get me wrong—I'll eat it for breakfast ... but I definitely won't be buying it in the future! Here's my review.

Coriolanus
I thought this adaptation of a Shakespeare play would be my cup of tea. I was wrong. So, so wrong. I haven't posted my Vine review yet (because I'm a bit afraid of getting my review voted down—all the less-than-glowing reviews are getting voted down like crazy!), but I did post about it on Cinematic Survey, where I can be completely candid. You can see the post here.

Tarnished by Daniel & Christina Morrison
Earlier this week, the Morrisons did a guest post about their fantasy novel and the Kickstarter project to fund the audio book. My book arrived yesterday; I'm looking forward to reading it as soon as I finish the one I'm currently reading.

The Anniversary Waltz by Darrel Nelson
When this book arrived earlier this week, I had no idea where it came from. I'm not so in demand as a reviewer that I have unsolicited books arriving at my door, so I knew I must have requested it. And I did—a mere 18 days ago! How quickly we forget ... Anyway, it appears to be mainly set around WWII, which is my favorite historical era to read about, thus explaining why I requested it from Glass Road!

After All: A Hanover Falls Novel by Deborah Raney
This is the book that I mentioned last time—the one that got sent to the wrong mailing list. I loved After All and finished it in one afternoon. Here's the review.

Prize of My Heart by Lisa Norato
Some of you may have picked up the Kindle edition of this book for free a couple weeks ago. I did! I requested this from Bethany House in March. I never got a confirmation e-mail, so I assumed I didn't make the cut. Then this showed up last week ...

Legacy Road by Graham Garrison
I'll be reviewing this for Kregel in July ... which means I probably won't read it for another five weeks! It's about a journalist, and that's all I know. I signed up for this tour because I really like working with Kregel.

One.Life: Jesus Calls, We Follow by Scot McKnight
This is the lone book on the list that I purchased myself. I bought it because it was quoted in an article I recently read, and I was intrigued. Now that I've flipped through a few pages, I think I will be challenged by what I read. I haven't read a book that I really have to think critically about in a long time, and I'm looking forward to it!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received some of these products free in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review and received no monetary compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

blendy's birthday bash

You only turn 21 once.

To celebrate her 21st birthday, Blendy and I spent a fabulous weekend in Wichita. This was supposed to be a surprise, but she guessed it months ago when I said, "You'll never guess what I have planned for your birthday!" She proved me wrong with the very next words out of her mouth: "You're taking me to the Warren to the balcony theater."

I hate when my sisters guess their gifts! I suppose I could have changed it to something else, but I was anticipating it as much as she was, so I just went with it.

Due to our crazy schedules (work and speech), we couldn't actually go for her birthday, so we went a month later. And it was the perfect weekend to travel—temps in the 80's the entire time!

We left on Saturday morning and arrived in Wichita around 3. Our first stop? Chick-fil-A, of course!

Forgot to take the camera or phone inside the restaurant ... and apparently we don't know how to turn our cups to show the Chick-fil-A logo, either. You'll just have to take my word for it that we stopped there!

Then we checked into our hotel—The Hampton Inn & Suites on Greenwich. Nice hotel. It was also the site of a wedding reception on Saturday, and when we arrived, several guests were well on their way to getting wasted. Fortunately, we had our own plans on Saturday night, so they didn't bother us at all!

We met up with cousins Jon & Lauren for shopping, a movie, dinner, and drinks. (Never fear, Mom—Blendy and I drank Diet Coke!) It had been a long time since we'd spent any real time with them, so it was nice that they wanted to come hang out with us!

We saw Mirror Mirror at the Warren ... it had a decidedly Ella Enchanted vibe to it,
thus ensuring cousin Jon's enjoyment!

We had supper at Il Vicino Wood-Oven Pizza. It was excellent pizza. And the cannoli? To die for! 

We went back to Oscar's Lounge at the Warren to hang out a bit longer. The paintings on the wall are of movie stars, and there's one that I swear looks like Chris Harrison ... I didn't snap a picture, but if you follow this link and scroll to the last picture, the painting of "Chris" is on the left. If you know who it's really supposed to be, please tell me!

On Sunday, we got down to business—the business we went to Wichita for—we saw The Hunger Games in the Warren's balcony theater! Ever since we started going to the Warren several years ago (I think Pride & Prejudice is the first movie we saw there, so it's been a while), Blendy has wanted to go to the balcony theater. Since you have to be 21 to get in, we had to wait. Until now.

Trying to decide what to order. She ended up with a pizza; I got a grilled chicken sandwich.

I think it was everything Blendy was hoping it would be—huge screen, food & drink service at your seat, and a great view. However, she didn't get carded, which I think was slightly disappointing!

Then, we went shopping at Bradley Fair. Following a fair amount of window shopping, we ended up at Cocoa Dolce, a local chocolate shop, where we each purchased three $2 chocolates. They were really good, but I'm not sure I'd pay $2 for a tiny chocolate again!

Left to right: Sinful Mint, Lemon, and Mocha.

Then we made my favorite food stop of the weekend—Marble Slab Creamery, where I got a scoop of lemon frozen yogurt. It tasted exactly like the lemon ice cream my grandma used to buy me at Braum's. Speaking of Braum's, why on earth didn't we stop there on the way home?

Given a choice between lemon and chocolate, I'd choose lemon nine times out of ten.
Why isn't there more lemon ice cream in this world?

Next, we started the serious shopping—Barnes & Noble, World Market, and Target ... with another movie thrown in for good measure! After spending more money than either of us intended, we headed back to the hotel to relax and snack on the insane amount of food we bought at Target. (If you're wondering, I took a complete break from my diet over the weekend. As if you hadn't gathered that already!)

Time for snacks, Battleground, and toenail painting!

On Monday, we slept in, hit Chick-fil-A once more, and headed home. We stopped at the visitor's center in Belleville (the last town before the Nebraska border), where I picked up some Jayhawk earrings to match the ones Blendy bought on our way down. I had high hopes for the championship game ...

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend ... and I'm pretty sure Blendy will always remember how she celebrated her 21st birthday!

i love aloe juice!

Yes, the title of my post is a lie. Let me explain ...

In my ESL class, we have a "question of the day" nearly every class period. Sometimes I choose the question, and sometimes a student chooses the question. Either way, we all take turns answering. A couple weeks ago, I asked: "What is the strangest food you've ever eaten?" I learned something that day: pig blood is considered a delicacy in Vietnam. They mix it with flour, cook it, slice it up, and eat it. But that's not the point of this post ... When it was my turn to answer, I couldn't think of anything. I mean, I've eaten my share of strange foods, but on the spot, I couldn't come up with anything. Except ... aloe juice.

A few years ago, one of my students gave me a bottle of aloe juice. Before that point, I didn't even know you could drink aloe ... my experience with it extended to my mom's aloe plant—she would use the pulp from it on burns. Well, aloe juice itself isn't bad—it has kind of a nondescript sweet flavor—but it contains that same pulp. Lots of it. I'm a girl who buys the pulp-free orange juice. So pulp-loaded aloe juice is not my cup of tea!

When I went to class on Tuesday, one of my students presented me with a bottle of aloe juice, amid much laughter. Then he asked me to post on facebook that I love aloe juice. I thought I'd do him one better ... Kyle, this post is for you!

See the lighter stuff in the bottle? That's the pulp.

the end of an era?

My parents have attended the Kansas State Fair every year since 1981-- when I was three weeks old, and Mom carried me around in a front pack. I never missed a fair until college, and then I only missed twice before beginning a new eight-year streak. That streak may be over now, though. See, we always went to the fair with my grandparents. Once they stopped going, we still went and stayed at their house. But my grandma died last Christmas, and her house is on the verge of selling. Once it does, we won't have any place to say--or really a reason to go down to Kansas. So it's possible that today's trip to the Kansas State Fair was our last. Just in case, I decided to document it through photos.

We had to get the fried cheese curds--it's become something of a tradition for Mom and me! (I looked for fried butter for the 35 before 35 project, but I didn't see any.)

Every year, Turkey Hill sets up a tent where they give away ice cream samples. This year's ice cream was Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup. Yummy!

I've recently discovered I like almonds. Or maybe "love" is a better word. So I splurged on these cinnamon sugar covered almonds. Muy delicioso!

We had to ride on Ye Old Mill one more time. This year, it was actually kind of scary!

When we went into the Domestic Arts building, we saw they were giving away SPAM sandwiches. I thoroughly enjoyed mine ... but Steph refused to try one.

Steph tried out the Mix-N-Match slushy booth.

If this was our last Kansas State Fair, it was a great way to go out!

single shopper on aisle one

I went to Walmart last night to pick up a few things ... which turned into a cart full! As I was walking down the dairy aisle, I glanced down at my cart and realized that anyone who looked at my shopping cart--without seeing me--would be able to ascertain that the cart's owner was a single woman on a diet! The items in my cart:

• nail polish
• feminine products
• concealer & foundation
• diet soda
• skim milk
• yogurt
• a greeting card
• baking soda
• pretzels
• powdered sugar
• hair dye
• Peeps
  

Then I looked at the carts around me and began to do a little guessing. The man pushing the cart containing beer and frozen pizza? Single. The elderly woman pushing the cart full of cookies, pop, fruit, and toys? Shopping for the grandkids. The man looking back and forth between the creamer case and his list before finally selecting a bottle of CoffeeMate? Married and doing his wife's shopping. (Okay, so that wasn't his cart--I didn't even notice what was in his cart because I was so amused by his befuddled countenance!)

I decided you can surmise a lot about a person based on his or her shopping cart. Not only does mine say I'm single, but it also says I neglect one or two of the major food groups and I don't cook a lot.

So, what does your shopping cart say about you?

warm and wonderful weekend

So the Huskers lost (and, frankly, looked like they wouldn't have been able to hang onto the ball if their lives depended on it). But other than that, I had a delightful weekend!

Friday

• Made breakfast for supper with Blendy and enjoyed eating with the fam.
• Looked at a house with Val. She has the opportunity to move into a furnished house for not very much money.
• Watched The Proposal with Mom. She thought the eagle scene was hilarious. (And I thought the preview for Old Dogs was hilarious. The movie will probably be ridiculously stupid, but I couldn't stop laughing at the trailer!)
  

Saturday

• Finished the first season of Fringe. Boy, was Lori ever right when she told me I'd love it!
• Did all my dishes. I so wish I had a dishwasher!
• Made pizza with my sisters.
• Went to Love Happens with Steph and Janae. It was ... OK. Much more serious than many romantic movies, it wasn't actually that romantic, either. I think Janae and Steph liked it much more than I did. (Weird fact #1: There were no previews. I don't think I've ever been to a movie with no previews, and I felt kind of cheated. Weird fact #2: The average age of the people in the theater had to be at least 45--and that's only because of the row of teenagers. Most people were well over 50, I'd say. I think the only other time I saw a movie with so many old people was when Beth and I saw The Horse Whisperer.)
  
• Watched The Proposal with Steph and Janae. Tried to contain myself as we watched the Old Dogs preview ... with moderate success.
  

Sunday

• Went to my high school friend Dorinda's anniversary party in Beatrice. Being a great sister, Steph went with me! It was great to see Dori and her parents again! (While we were talking, I remembered how Dori's mom used to always feed me when I went to community college. I had several evening classes one semester, so I'd go hang out at their house during my break between classes. I'm not big on barbecue, but Dori's mom would frequently make barbecue ribs that were out of this world. If I remember right, she made her own sauce--and it was amazing!)
• Stopped by Andrew & Susan's in Lincoln on the way home. Andrew provided me with the caffeine I needed to squelch my headache.
• Drove through Popeye's for supper. Steph and I split a meal, so we got the mild chicken ... next time I'll be having the spicy!
• Made cinnamon coffee for Janae and Val. Thanks to Jen for the simple cinnamon tip!
• Watched FlashForward with Val. We're both thinking that we may not watch much longer. It's trying to be LOST, but it's not succeeding.
• Realized that since I'll be at work until 8 p.m. tomorrow due to parent-teacher conferences, I don't need to go in until noon!
  

what to do on a completely free day

These things I've done:

• sleep in
• watch Thursday's FlashForward. 
• rewatch the middle 20 minutes of FlashForward because I was distracted.
• watch Thursday's The Office.
• retake the Strong Life Test that goes along with my book review book. Get yet another result for my lead and supporting roles.
• finish my review of Find Your Strongest Life. Per Thomas Nelson guidelines, it will go up on my blog on Monday.
• write an expanded review to also post on this blog. Thomas Nelson requests that all reviews are approximately 200 words, but I had so much more to say about this book that I decided to write a regular review and an expanded review.
• work out while watching the first season of Fringe.
• make a better-than-Egg McMuffin out of a soft-boiled egg and an English muffin.

These things are yet to be done (and I can virtually guarantee not all of these will happen!):

• do the dishes
• go to the parents' for supper
• read Green
  
• take out the trash
• shower
• watch Ryan Reynolds on SNL
• search for speeches for the new speech season
  
• go to bed before midnight
  

these are a few of my favorite things

No, I'm not going to write about raindrops or whiskers or kettles or mittens. Instead, I'll let you in on some of the products and services I've been enjoying lately. I usually only plug books or movies, but I really do have other interests!

• Special K Chocolatey Pretzel Bars. These cereal bars are so tasty and surprisingly filling that you wouldn't believe they're only 90 calories each! I love the sweet & salty combination. I found them in a special display at Walmart; according to the Kellogg's website, they're a new product, so you might not be able to easily find them. But if you can find them, you should try them out!
• Piperlime shoes. I was a little hesitant to buy shoes online, but Piperlime's sales and return policy made me give it a shot. I love, love, love both pairs of shoes I've bought from the website! Regular prices are a bit steep for me, but sale shoes get as low as $12, and the shoes seem to be good quality.
• Pedicures. Now that I've had a pedicure, I can't believe I went 27 years and 355 days without one! The hour spent getting my pedicure was one of the most relaxing I've had in a long time! I went to Xenon, and I can't wait to go back again! (Well, my wallet can wait to go back again . . .) Special thanks to Melissa for giving me a gift card!
  
• Netflix. I could wax poetic on Netflix for a long time. A member since the summer of 2007, I enjoy Netflix more now than I ever have before. I even wrote a whole post listing all the things I love about Netflix, but then I never posted it because I sounded so dorky!
• My new computer. I finally bought a laptop! It's an HP Pavilion, and I love it. I also now have wireless, which means my sisters and I can all be online at the same time. When I bought the laptop, one of my goals was to write more, which I've definitely been doing. Not fiction, but I'm still writing, and at this point, that's what matters.
  

recent realizations

• I really like curry. I mean, I knew I liked curry before, but I've recently started this diet (I haven't blogged about it yet . . . I will sometime), and one of my favorite recipes is curry chicken and rice. In fact, I'm having it for lunch today. I use a yellow curry powder I got at the supermarket, but I hear there are other types of curry, as well. I'll have to look into them.

• Unfinished websites are really annoying. I was on a camp's webiste earlier today, and the design was great, but most of the pages were blank. Then I realized that's what our website looks like to other people! If only I had time to update it.
  

• Cheese breath is embarrassing. I had just eaten a Tilla-Moo cheese snack when someone walked in, and I had to help her at the counter. I suddenly became keenly aware of my cheese breath. But what could I do?
  

• While I'm not yet ready to go out and buy cowboy boots, I'm becoming a bit more of a country girl. Or maybe I'm just expanding my horizons . . . either way, I'm ridiculously excited about going to the Burwell Rodeo this weekend!

on the oregon trail: day 14

We slept in a bit on Tuesday . . . at least until Mom started calling! We hadn’t told her we’d be sleeping in, so she thought calling at 8 would be fine; I think she was a bit confused when I answered my phone with my sleepy voice.

We had coffee at Wild Boar Coffee, just off the Colorado State campus. I really liked my coffee; Val thought hers was good but not great. It was the last coffee we had on our trip.

When Val looked up the Salt Lake City Starbucks, she also looked up a Panera Bread in Denver. Again, she didn’t find directions; she just looked at a map and tried to figure it out. That would have been OK, except that many downtown Denver streets are one-way. Once again, I pulled out the trusty atlas and got us there.

Stephanie had never been to Panera before, so the guy at the counter gave her a free cookie. We enjoyed our wonderful soup and bread and headed off toward Colorado Springs.

Steph loves Panera!

When I started planning this trip, I decided we should definitely visit Focus on the Family. The visitors center was interesting, but the Whit’s End/Odyssey portion was slightly disappointing. It would have been great for an 8-year-old (or for a young family), but we weren’t all that thrilled. Don’t get me wrong—there were lots of interesting things to see—but I had high expectations that weren’t quite met.

After Focus, we went to The Garden of the Gods. Spectacular! We only spent about 45 minutes there, but we could have spent hours!

The formations at The Garden of the Gods were breathtaking!

Steph was wearing a KU shirt yesterday; while we were walking down one of the trails at The Garden of the Gods, we passed two college age guys who started chanting, “Rock Chalk! Rock Chalk! Rock Chalk!” It was hilarious.

We found a Chick-fil-A for supper! We don't have them, so this was a real treat :-)

Finally late in the evening, we crossed into Nebraska! We got Blizzards in North Platte, stopped at one last rest stop, and then drove like mad to get home, arriving at midnight.

At our last rest stop, Val & Steph show their elation at being back in Nebraska.

on the oregon trail: day 13

Monday morning, we headed off to Salt Lake City. Val had looked up a Starbucks location, but she hadn’t looked up driving directions—she just looked at a map and tried to figure it out. As we approached Salt Lake, I was driving, and she was navigating. I got off on the road she said . . . which turned out to be the right road, just 10 miles or so north of where we wanted to be; however, I spotted a Starbucks in a strip mall, and we were in business. We decided that, rather than taking I-70 to Denver as I wanted to, we would take I-80 through Wyoming and then drop down into Colorado. My car (Uncle Tommy named it “Toad” before we left, but I can’t call it that because I think of it as a girl, and “Toad” is a terrible name for a girl) didn’t like the mountains at all, and we figured 80 would be less mountainous than 70. All this to say, we looked for a hotel in the Fort Collins area. This time, Priceline gave me the option of looking for a 3-1/2 star hotel, so I did, putting in $50 as my price. I didn’t think any hotel would accept it, but The Hilton did. THE HILTON!

After securing out hotel, we made our way to Temple Square. At this point, Val began driving, while I navigated with my trusty atlas. (I adore maps. I could spend hours looking at them, and I understand them, so we decided that perhaps it would be a better plan to have Val drive and me navigate.) Because of the time (it was after noon, and we still had a good eight hours of driving left), we didn’t stop, but we did drive around, and we saw the Mormon Temple and Tabernacle . . . sort of.

The Mormon Temple . . . what we saw of it!

As we were leaving Salt Lake City, my car got really angry. It got very hot, and lights started flashing, and I was honestly afraid something serious was happening. We began driving in the truck lane, very slowly, with the hazards flashing, and we stopped at the next town for lunch and to let my car cool down. We called Dad, and he said to drive in direct in the mountains, which helped immensely.

We stopped at Coco’s in Rawlins for supper—partially because we knew Nate would be jealous! I didn’t say much about Coco’s before because I intended to dedicate a whole post to it, but that didn’t happen, obviously! Coco’s is in the historic Blake house in downtown Rawlins. (I don’t know what makes the house historic; I just know that it is because of the sign out front!) For the past two years, it has been run by an Asian couple; apparently it’s been several different restaurants in the past 20 years. The cuisine is quite varied—sandwiches, steaks, seafood, pastas, and Asian dishes. The first time we went, I had a French dip sandwich, and Monday night I had chicken fried steak. It was phenomenal! The service is excellent, the atmosphere is cool, and the food is wonderful. So if you’re ever driving through Wyoming on I-80, consider a stop at Coco’s!

Three very satisfied Coco's customers.

We got to Fort Collins around 9:30 p.m., and as we drove through Old Town, we were amazed at how many people were still out and about. The Old Town area looks really cool—it would be fun to explore sometime. Val and Steph had been talking about getting ice cream, so when I checked in at the Hilton, I asked the guy at the front desk where we could find ice cream. He gave me directions to Coldstone and a local place in Old Town; what I hadn’t realized was that Val and Steph really wanted Dairy Queen! I wasn’t about to go back in and ask—I already felt horribly underdressed in my t-shirt and yoga pants. So we drove around for a while without ever finding a Dairy Queen. We did find a Sonic and a McDonald’s, though.

We really did stay here!

The Hilton was amazing. I’m used to Super 8’s and Days Inns—the Hilton was a huge step up! We rode up to our room in a glass elevator. The room itself was awesome. It was decorated beautifully, had a huge TV, a comfy chair, and a nice desk, and overall was just really nice. We definitely enjoyed our stay!

We love our room!