midwest girl
This post is based on the blogging prompt "What do you like best about your hometown?" from IndieBizChicks' September Blogging Special.
The photo of the flat land you see above was taken in Western Kansas. Not exactly my hometown, but close. There is nothing I can do about it, I am a midwest girl - born in Saint Louis, raised in Kansas City, college in Iowa, vacations in Chicago - and everyone can tell. In New York, people go out of their way to tell me I am the most smiley person they have ever met, or that I am too polite, or that I am definitely NOT a native New Yorker. I just don't think they were prepared for the midwest invasion...
I always wanted to explore the world. I had aunts and uncles who traveled nearly everywhere and I intended to follow in their footsteps, but now that I am away from my hometown in Kansas, I have definitely grown to appreciate it more.
A few of my favorite things about suburban Kansas City:
♥ The wide open spaces. ♥ The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art where I had my wedding reception. ♥ The running/hiking trails, which are remarkably flat! ♥ The large and numerous movie theaters. (without bedbugs!) ♥ Inexpensive real estate. ♥ The Country Club Plaza. ♥ The freedom to drive anywhere and buy lots of groceries! ♥ My family! xoxo
There have got to be more.... what am I missing?!
I think the thing I like the very best about my hometown is just how comfortable it is. I guess that is what everyone would say about their hometown... even if it is bustling New York City!
p.s. I thought I should add, that while a lot of my personality traits could be traced back to my midwest upbringing, there are also a lot of ways in which I am not a typical midwesterner... my religious and political preferences being two of them. I guess it is never quite accurate to stereotype someone, even when the person I am stereotyping is myself!
September Blogging Special
In an attempt to improve my personal blog and try to increase my blogging enthusiasm, I signed up for IndieBizChicks.com's September Blogging Special. It is a month-long "eClass" that includes daily emails with blogging tips and prompts. I may not be able to do all of the blogging prompts, but I am going to try to do many of them - starting today!
Today's Challenge: Get out of your blog reading rut! Crissy challenged us to visit our three favorite blogs and then visit three totally new-to-us blogs that are outside of our comfort zone.
First, 3 of my favorite blogs:
ljcfyi - a daily blog with lots of photos
[i]LoveLife- an artist's blog on creativity
Oh joy! - a premier design blog
Now, 3 new (and cool) blogs:
100 Layer Cake - This is a very popular blog about weddings. I got married seven years ago, so I don't really read wedding blogs, but this one is so beautiful! Lots of design and party inspiration.
This Girl is Losing It - A weight loss and running blog (found via). The author has had a lot of success (lost 38 lbs!) and is training to run a 5k, which is very interesting to me right now as I train for a marathon!
Conversion Rater - So this is actually my friend, Pat's, blog, but it is a bit outside my comfort zone. It is a tech blog with a focus on online advertising and internet startups and Pat really knows his stuff!
So, I didn't move outside of my comfort zone too far, but I have added these three new blogs to my reader and hope to gain a fresh perspective by expanding my blog circle. What are a few other new-to-me blogs I should check out?
30 before 30
I am getting old. I can't remember when this photo was taken. I must have been three or four, still living in Saint Louis, and totally rocking a sparkly unicorn face painting. Where did I get it? Did I request to have this photo taken? Why is my shirt so dirty? It is so funny to think that I lived inside that little girl for years and can't quite even remember what it was like... Someday will I forget what it was like to be me, now, at 29?
I got this idea of a "30 before 30" list from one of my favorite blogs, Making It Lovely, and thought it would be fun to do since I am turning 30 in February...
Here are 30 things I would like to do before my 30th birthday:
♥ Redesign the Swap-bot homepage. ♥ Go to dinner at Al Di La. ♥ Get super-comfortable using our DSLR camera. ♥ Run the NYC marathon! ♥ Be noticeably sweeter to my husband. ♥ Take my donation pile to the thrift store. ♥ Visit The Cloisters. ♥ Lose 15 pounds. (Isn't this on everyone's list?) ♥ Buy a really beautiful and practical dress. ♥ Make marinara sauce from scratch. ♥ Take an overnight trip with my husband that is not at a relative's house. ♥ Visit the Bronx Zoo. ♥ Watch every episode of Tosh.0. ♥ Get the Florence + The Machine album on vinyl. ♥ Make Crusher a super-cute Halloween costume. ♥ Try to live in the moment. ♥ Make blueberry pancakes. ♥ Start taking a weekly yoga class. ♥ Figure out how to style my hair in loose waves/curls. ♥ Watch Meet Me in St. Louis again. ♥ Do all of my mending! ♥ Drive upstate to see the autumn foliage. ♥ Make cupcakes with some sort of filling. ♥ Reduce my internal negativity. ♥ Call my brothers and sister-in-law every week (or at least more frequently). ♥ Visit all five boroughs in NYC (should happen during the marathon). ♥ Get a new laptop. ♥ Read a novel. (Maybe this one?) ♥ Reduce the amount of time I spend on Facebook. ♥ Vote! ♥ Promote peace. ♥ Get a unicorn face painting!
What else should I add to the list?
tourists!
Last week, Travis and I had guests in town! Travis' sister, Chelsea, and her husband, Scott, were in New York for a wedding and we got to spend a few days hanging out with them. I love having friends and family visit because it gives me a reason to get out of the office and explore the city!
Chelsea and I played tourists for a few days. (Like in the photo above - ha ha!) We explored lower Manhattan, including the World Trade Center site and Saint Paul's Chapel, Soho, Union Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, Rockafeller Center, 5th Avenue, Bloomingdale's, and even a bit of Central Park. We enjoyed MANY Starbucks drinks and visited three different cupcake shops (Crumbs, Baked by Melissa, and Magnolia Bakery). Yum! The Magnolia cupcake we shared (seen below) was the best - so fresh and the icing was superb!
Chelsea and Scott had to sleep on our couch and air mattress - not the best arrangement, but they didn't complain. They both even said that they would like to live in NYC! (Although, probably not in our living room on an air mattress.) We had a lot of fun. The time went too quickly!
marathon training update - August
Yesterday I had an enjoyable morning completing a 2.5 hour long run with my Team in Training. Enjoyable, you ask? Yes, it really was fun.
We ran over the George Washington Bridge and then through the Palisades Park in New Jersey along the Hudson River. For most of the run I hung out with my running buddy, Lauren (that is the two of us with Jillian above), and we chatted about all sorts of randomness. We took it easy and didn't worry about our speed. We thought that was the best idea since we had run two races within the past two weeks and were tired of stressing over our pace... So instead of stressing, we just had a good time. Our teammates said that we were laughing and smiling whenever they passed and one of our coaches even suggested that we host a radio show while we run to show others how fun it can be... we MUST have been having too much fun! Despite the huge and numerous hills on the course, I felt great.
We even took the time to do a little photo shoot of us running under the bridge:
So, all of that sounds excellent, right?
After 24 hours of reflection, I am not so sure. Remember two weeks ago after the Bronx Half Marathon when I said I was going to concentrating on improving my running during practices and try to talk less? Ya, I need to keep that in mind.
When I got home from the NJ run yesterday, I tried to map it out to calculate our distance. It turns out that we didn't go quite as far as we had hoped, which means we were going slower than we had hoped, too. Not terrible, but not an improvement. I am starting to feel frustrated because despite my commitment to the training schedule, I don't seem to be improving. Of course, I have been increasing my distance, I just haven't been improving my speed. Perhaps it is too ambitious to want both, but I am tired of feeling like I am made of lead. Plus, I want to be totally prepared for the marathon. I want to feel like I accomplished something on November 7th, not like I just barely made it to the finish line alive. I am re-re-committing to increasing my training efforts!!
To help motivate myself and to give you an idea of what is in store for me, check out this video of the NY marathon course condensed to seven minutes:
cloudy with a chance of...
the blahs...
It has been rainy in Brooklyn ever since my (icky) race on Sunday and it is not helping my mood or my motivation. It is not a good sign when a few days of cloudy weather in August can sap my energy... how will I survive the winter?! Let's not think about it. Let's also not think about all of the work I didn't complete today, or the angry emails I can't bring myself to respond to, or the stacks of ironing I told myself I would get done. Instead, let's draw silly rain clouds and drink diet coke! Yes!
NYC cupcake review: Cupcake Stop Truck
I have an impromptu cupcake review for you today! On our walk home from my road race yesterday, Travis and I came across this CupcakeStop.com truck in Park Slope. The truck was so cute with its pink and blue paint, like it was painted just for me!
I actually wasn't feeling so great after the run and did not have an immediate desire to eat cupcakes - astonishing, I know - but I couldn't let a surprise encounter with a cupcake truck pass me by!
We ordered four cupcakes to take home: S'more, Oreo Cookies and Cream, Boston Cream, and the Elvis - a peanut butter banana flavor. The flavor selection was actually quite impressive for a food truck, with about a dozen choices, but not quite as good as what a brick and mortar cupcake shop can offer. The presentation of the cupcakes was reasonably nice as well, with piped icing and some decorative toppings, like sprinkles and marshmallows. And since we were carrying them home, I was especially pleased that they offered cupcake travel boxes!
We waited until evening to dig in and taste test the Cupcake Stop cakes. I tried the S'more flavor first (of course!) and immediately loved the chocolate frosting. It was quite sweet, but very smooth. I also really enjoyed the marshmallow filling inside the cake, but I wished there had been more of it. I continued on and tasted all four flavors, but the S'more cupcake remained my favorite. The cake part of all of the cupcakes was a bit dry - especially in the Elvis - and they were all somewhat small and flat. The Cookies and Cream cupcake had real cookie pieces throughout the tasty icing and the cake, but other than that it was fairly boring. The Boston Cream cake had filling inside, but just barely - probably less than a teaspoon - disappointing.
Overall, the cupcakes were fine. All of the flavors were good - not bad at all - but they just didn't wow me and they weren't as "special" as cupcakes from other bakeries, like Robicelli's. I would visit the truck again if I had a super cupcake craving and it was nearby, but I wouldn't search it out or make a special trip to the CupcakeStop.com truck.
One of my other (small) complaints is that the CupcakeStop.com company seems a little overly commercial - like it only exists to capitalize on the cupcake trend. But hey, I am writing a cupcake review on my blog, so I don't have much room to criticize!
CupcakeStop.com was created by Lev Ekster, a recent law school grad, and the company has two store locations and multiple trucks in the NYC area. You can also order their cakes online and have them shipped anywhere in the US for free. They have a Twitter account that announces their truck locations, plus a Facebook page. One last cool fact about CupcakeStop: they donate any leftover cupcakes to City Harvest.
I enjoyed the entire CupcakeStop.com truck experience and am glad I stumbled upon the truck. Have you found one of the trucks in the city and tried their cupcakes?
Battle of Brooklyn
Despite my crazy-person smile seen in the photo above, today's "Battle of Brooklyn" 10 mile race in Prospect Park was killer. I think it may have been my worst long run of the season, and I have only myself to blame. Travis and I took a lovely trip to Rhinebeck yesterday for our friend, Sarah's, birthday party. (Happy birthday, Sarah!) We had a great time, but I definitely did not eat the correct pre-race foods (instead I had a lot of delicious food, like ribs and cake) and we stayed out very late - getting home well after midnight.
The trip was totally worth it, but I woke up groggy and sore this morning. To make the run even less appealing, it was overcast and rainy out. I am trooper and I made it out to the park anyway. As usual, my teammates were a great source of encouragement. I ran with my friend and running doppelganger, Lauren, and I managed to make it around the park for the full three loops. It rained on us, I was stiff and sore, my previously most trusty pair of shorts caused chaffing issues, and my pace time was the slowest of any of my races so far... ugh. But thanks to my husband and dog cheering section and the encouragement of my coach for the last half mile and my team at the finish line, I completed the run. Thank goodness.
The icky-ness of today's race really reinforces the importance of race preparation in the days leading up to a big run. Nutrition, hydration, and sleep definitely make a difference. I have recommitted to staying vigilant about those things in the future -- especially for the marathon!!
Look at this awesome team:
I have received so many generous donations from friends and family for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through my TNT fundraising page, but there is still time to help me reach my $5,000 goal! Help us find a cure for blood cancers and support families struggling with the diseases.
Little fish, and big
Yesterday when we were out at the woods, Amber volunteered to take on the tough job of beginning an inventory of the kinds of fish we have in our lake. I admire her selflessness in this task.
We have some old fishing tackle from 25 years ago that miraculously was still in mostly working order, and Amber devoted more than an hour to casting a small lure into the lake over and over. She caught the little sunfish you see above on one of her first casts into the lake, and then it was pretty much hits the whole time.
That fellow is little, but she caught several that were as large as this very pregnant female:
We've never stocked our lake. The man who worked on our dam recently said that he found some catfish in it as well. There are three likely explanations for the presence of the fish. The first is that they came downstream from our tiny pond at the top of our property. After strong rains, that can overflow and wash whatever is in it downstream. Many years ago we cast a line in there and pulled out a couple of tiny sunfish. There could be other monsters lurking there.
The second explanation is that the fish came to our lake as sticky eggs, caught on the feet of visiting waterfowl. I understand that's pretty common, though it's pretty random too. Who knows what kinds of fish that would provide, and until Amber completes her inventory, it will be anyone's guess.
The third explanation is that my neighbor, who swears he never goes on our property but whose truck shows up on my hidden game camera a lot, has been secretly stocking it so he can fish it. He as much as admitted it once but then backed off. I don't know if that is true, but I think maybe it isn't. The reason I say that is because of that large sunfish in the second photo. Sunfish are generally used as feeder fish in a lake like ours. They are put in so the bigger game fish -- usually bass -- have something to eat. The fact that this sunfish is so large (and Amber caught a couple more) suggests there are no bass chowing on the sunfish, so they can grow large.
I'm sure Amber will continue on her inventory work, and I'll help her in the months and years to come. She wasn't able to cast into the deeper water where other fish may have been staying cool on that hot August day. Maybe I'll have other news to report.
(Also, sorry that second photo is not well focused.)
On Call
One of the required rotations for our final year is a Sub-Internship. The intentions of this month is to be given the same duties and responsibilities as an intern (first year resident). Among those duties is staying overnight at the hospital, on call. My Philmont rotation also counts as my Sub-I and so it came as no surprise that I would share 30 hour call responsibilities over the course of the month.
Now, this wasn't my first rodeo, as I've had to spend the night at the hospital before. But in all of those instances I was paired up with a resident so I didn't really have any responsibility. I did have to remain awake throughout the night, but it was more of learning experience than anything else. At Philmont, on the other hand, we were thrown into the fire.
Around 10 p.m., after a full day of clinic, the other medics leave and the on-call medic is left in charge. The clinic is closed but the infirmary is still open for walk-in emergencies. Besides handling these emergencies, the two other main duties of the on-call medic is to monitor the handful of inpatients and answer any radio calls that come in off the trail. Officially, there is also an on-call physician, who is available for questions over the phone and to come in if required. Of course, there's kind of an unspoken badge of honor over making it through the night without having to wake the doctor (without seriously harming any of your patients). It's amazing though, no matter how small the decision, it gets magnified when you're the one responsible.
On my first night, I saw my last Scout in the clinic, checked on all the inpatients, and wrapped up all of my paperwork around midnight. At that point I decided I should try and stock up on sleep while I could, preparing for the inevitable life-threatening emergency that was going to come in. I decided to keep my uniform on because I reasoned that the 30 seconds it would take me to put it back on could be the difference between life and death. I placed my phone, which doubles as my alarm clock, under the pillow where my ear would rest so there was no way I could sleep through a page. And there I laid, in bed with racing thoughts. I obsessively went through all of my duties in my head, double and triple checking everything I was supposed to do. When I was satisfied, I tried resting my eyes but they would snap back open with any noise. Every sound, my mind would transform into something more sinister. A car passing by turned into an ambulance speeding into the ambulance bay. The cleaning lady working outside my room became a walk-in stumbling through the infirmary to find me. The grinding of the ice machine morphed into the post-concussive patient in the room next to me having a seizure.
Then the morning came. I had been ready for anything but nothing happened. After the dust settled, I had made it through my first call unscathed. Sure, I had gotten up to answer a few radio calls and I had compulsively checked on all the inpatients a couple of times, but everyone survived and so did I. I didn't get Scouts walking in with life-threatening injuries. I didn't get any asthmatics that needed a surgical airway. I didn't get any advisors having a heart attack. And of course, I didn't get any sleep.
Seaport Crafts
I went to an unconventional Etsy Craft Night yesterday at the @Seaport! space in lower Manhattan. The craft was hosted by Jessica from Miniature Rhino (one of my very favorite Etsy shops) and sponsored by Hancock Fabrics. All of the supplies were provided for us to make nautical-themed embroidery and we even received goody bags with fabric and yarn. How generous!
I didn't get my embroidery project completed, but I did get some good chatting time in with Lisa and Thais. (Click through on their names to read their excellent blogs.) I also met the two other women at our craft table who just happened to both be named Rachel! We had to take a photo.
As usual, the Etsy craft night was a lot of fun and a great reason to get out of the house and meet new people. I strongly suggest attending one if you live in NYC. If not, you can download all of the project instructions and special coupons from Hancock Fabrics on Etsy here.
Back to School night - 15th Edition
I don't think the Lambles have been going to these all 15 years, but last night was Blue Valley Back to School Night among the Johnsons, the Johnsons, the Manns, the Lis, and the Lambles.
We tried a new venue last night: Sweet Tomatoes. Fuddruckers, the traditional gathering place, closed in the last year, so this may be our new tradition. I can tell you that the food was fine and the conversation was excellent.
We didn't even think to take a photo until the little ones -- Gabe and Sadie -- were already gone, so I'm sorry you don't get to see them here. I'm in that photo somewhere, but I'm not sure where.
Let's play!
Since I was asked to post some photos of the dogs, here is a photo of Flike doing what he loves best: playing with a stick.
I took this picture on Sunday when we were out at the woods. While we were all busy getting the fire going and the weenies organized, Flike wanted to play fetch. I would throw the stick up the road and he would chase after it, doing his usual skidding stop, this time on fresh gravel. He hasn't been limping, so I don't think he hurt his pads the way he had when he was younger.
Anyway, since we had a fire, I wanted to start burning a lot of the deadfall and debris from the knocked down trees around the cabin. They're a fire hazard for a wooden cabin, and I wanted to get rid of as much as I could while there.
Unfortunately, every time that I came out of the trees when a branch in my hand, Flike grabbed it out of my hand to play fetch with. What a dog.
Here's a gratuitous photo of of Queequeg. He was out at the woods with us, but I didn't manage to take a picture of him.
Improvements around the cabin
How do you like these sandstone steps leading up to the cabin? I had these put in when we had the repair work done on the dam and road. You may remember the steep, rocky slope that was here before. No more. Now we have these lovely stone steps.
And look what's gone up around the back of the cabin. This retaining wall is the result of a lot of hard work by Mom, Amber, Aaron, and me. I wanted to define a clear, wide path around the back of the cabin, most for wheeled things that we couldn't take up the wonderful stone steps.
I may extend the wall a bit toward the car parking area, but before I do that, I need to put another retaining wall in the front of the cabin to keep the slope there from draining away into the lake and undermining the foundation of the cabin.
Yeah, it's where I go to relax.
Ouch!
The last time we were out at the woods, this happened to the rear tire on the Prolechariot. We were on our way out, ready to head home. We needed to get scrubbed up because we were catching the train to New Mexico later that evening.
Ironically, we had just had fresh gravel spread on our road to make it more driveable. I think this was one of the pieces of that new gravel.
Since I'd never changed a tire on this truck before, we had to take some time figuring how to use the dainty jack and how to lower the spare tire from its nest under the bed in the back. And, of course, it was miserably hot out. And I was parked on a dusty gravel road. So my sweat combined with the dust to coat me and my clothes with a thin layer of mud. Fun!
We had intended to stop in Iconium to pick up some Peach Nehi soda, but this delay prevented that little side trip.
So we're headed down to the woods again today. I have a new tire on the truck -- they couldn't plug a hole like this -- and the good spare is back in its nest. Plus I know how to use the dainty jack. And we don't have to catch a train tonight. Maybe we'll get some Peach Nehi soda.
This scared me!
Somewhere west of Taos there was supposed to be a great gorge in the earth that was fascinating. We were driving through the flat sagebrush, looking for the bridge over the gorge, but all we saw was flat, flat land that stretched far ahead of us.
And then suddenly we were on the bridge and the ground fell away from us.
It's really hard to appreciate the sense of scale from these photos. That drop is more than six hundred feet; fools go whitewater rafting on what looks like a trickle down there!
This photo shows some of the bridge railing that keeps the gawking visitors from plunging to the bottom of that chasm. Plenty of folks left notes on the structure. I was happy when I got off the structure.
Here's another view of the bridge. Those pillars holding it up do not go to the bottom. They are merely on an escarpment far above the bottom.
The road engineers clearly had a sense of wonder when they sited this bridge. There are narrower parts of the canyon nearby, and about a mile to the north it looked as though the drop was far less deep. But they chose to take the bridge over the deepest, widest part.
Back home
We're back in Overland Park, having survived the train trip home from New Mexico. Above you see the final sunrise I witnessed at the bed and breakfast where we stayed. The colors were much more vivid than my camera could capture. I guess you'll just have to go there to experience them for yourself.
Trinidad, Colorado was the closest train station we could go to that had a rental car for us. So we took the train from Kansas City to there and disembarked. The car rental people met us there, and after a few minutes of paperwork, we were on our way south to New Mexico and Cimarron. Once we managed to reach the bed and breakfast (they have a gated entrance, and you have to know the code to get in) we settled in nicely, as I've mentioned in recent posts.
At the end of our week, we had to drive back to Trinidad (an hour and a half of scenic driving) and leave the car at the rental shop (a ten-minute walk from the train station). The photo above shows the Amtrak arriving in Trinidad. That's Fisher's Peak in the background. The train was about a half hour late getting in, so we almost missed our dinner call. Fortunately, they found a spot for us. The photo below is taken from our dinner table on the train. It's the last New Mexico Colorado sunset we got to experience.
So now we are home again, doing laundry and getting back into the routine.
Somewhere down there Adam is hard at work!
This is a photo of base camp at Philmont, taken from the meadow behind our bed and breakfast. Somewhere down there Adam is hard at work, helping sick young people get better.
I think the health lodge is one of the red-roofed buildings on the right. If you look closely, you might even see him waving.
Just about every scene in this part of the country is picture postcard worthy. We've seen rainbows nearly every day, and even the rainstorms are dramatic. We need to think of a reason to come back.