Kick Some Asphalt!

This post is about a week late, but this past weekend being our first weekend home in a loooooooooong time meant that we were going to take a break from all things...even social media...sort of. So back-up to last Monday and pretend I am writing about the week before.

We had a BIG weekend. On Thursday evening, Troy's Aunt Gretta, Cousin Grettchen, her son, Camden and his other Grandma, Nancy, arrived at our place to stay for a few days. They were planning on spending the weekend in the Des Moines area, doing some shopping, taking a trip to the zoo and checking out the downtown Farmer's Market. They were such awesome guests, and gave me an excuse to go out to eat a lot! :) We checked out Guttenburger's, Jethro's and of course Scratch cupcakes, which doesn't hold a candle (pun intended) to Grettchen's cupcakes if you ask me. Little Camden was such a doll and he loved the kitties, but he REALLY got excited when Troy came home and constructed a slide out of our extra air mattresses. Gretta also brought us her AWESOME vinyl collection (SCORE!!). Troy and I wasted no time trying out a few on the turntable! (I still can't believe we get to keep these!)

After bidding adieu to our guests, we took off for Grand Rapids, MI for Troy's first marathon. After 7-ish hours of driving (and a few too many pit stops...), we arrived in MI around 7:30PM which gave us just enough time to have dinner and buy some groceries for breakfast the next morning. Troy's race took off at 8AM...

He finished in 4hrs 40min!

Oh yeah! Troy Brockenstedt!

I am SO proud of him. He is always reaching new heights, never afraid to tackle anything! And he accomplishes EVERYTHING he sets his mind to. With his crazy busy work schedule and driving to and from Ottumwa several times a week, Troy wasn't able to train as much as he had originally planned. I remember asking him a few weeks before his marathon if he was still going to do it (and I honestly thought he might say no), but he looked at me with a confused expression and said, "Well, yeah...why wouldn't I?"

Once Troy was done running 26.6 miles, he took about a 2-minute break, ate half a banana and said, "Alright...let's go." and about 2 minutes later, we were in the car headed back home. We arrived home around 8:30PM Sunday night and that was our trip.

In our 24-hr trip to Michigan, I learned about 4 things:

1) The Interstate is lined with BEAUTIFUL trees in the Fall.
2) It is really easy to get lost trying to drive around downtown Grand Rapids (no comments about how I could get lost driving around Wilton, please)
3) Their Applebee's tastes just like ours.
4) They host a pretty awesome marathon...at least according to Troy.

Well, that is all for now, folks! Hope everyone is well...and getting excited for Halloween this weekend! I enjoyed a festive brewskie all the way from Portland, ME. This was my favorite beer when we were out in Maine - always served in a pint glass with a cinnamon sugar rim....mmmm. I was so excited to find these at The World Market. CHEERS!

Hello Fall...

I figured that today was as good a day as any to write about fall. Especially considering the beautiful 66 degrees we have outside in Waukee. The sun is slowly setting and the leaves are changing colors. Such a gorgeous time of year! Is there anything better than sweatshirt weather? And the first time of the year when you get to tuck your skinny jeans into boots, throw on an over-sized sweater and a scarf, grab your coffee and head out? I am always very excited for fall activities. But, this year, I am even MORE excited than usual!

The trees that line the parking lot at work are so pretty right now!

Last weekend, we attended a wedding for Troy's cousin, Grettchen, and, by golly, it was one of the most beautiful wedding locations I've been to. The ceremony took place at Bellevue State Park overlooking a landscape that was to die for. The reception location had a deck that overlooked the Mississippi River and there was a pretty purple sunset that evening. And, of course, Grettchen was gorgeous as well! We are excited to have Miss Grettchen, her son, mom and a friend stay with us this week too!

Seeing the beautiful fall colors in the cute little town of Bellevue is what really got me into the fall spirit.

So, I decided to do a little decorating around the apartment. Most of my things (including my 4+ tubs of Halloween decorations) are packed away in a storage unit in Dyersville, so I had to use some of the canvases I painted while we were in Maine and my chalkboard. I also picked up a few Cinderella and White pumpkins from Hy-Vee that are just adorable! The galvanized milk pitcher was a last minute purchase from Target for $3 - can't beat that!

In honor of "National Dessert Day," I thought I would post a fall-friendly dessert I recently tried...and couldn't get enough of here: Martha Stewart's Rhubarb Crisp. I only had about a pound of rhubarb, so I used some tart granny-smith apples to make up the other pound (and I would highly recommend doing that anyway...especially for fall). I also didn't have cinnamon (looks like someone needs to do some grocery shopping), so I used nutmeg and a little extra brown sugar instead. And it was the bomb.com! (In fact, we ate it so fast, I was unable to get a picture...so the picture to your right is Martha's...shhh!)

More on my Fall Favorites coming soon! This weekend, Troy and I are headed to Grand Rapids, MI for a marathon he is competing in! I am excited for yet another get-away for us! And to snap some more amazing pictures of the beautiful state! More on that when we return!

Working Girl

Good evening ladies and gents! It's almost Friday!!!

This week has been CRAZY busy for me at work. But, I LOVE it! It reminds me how lucky I am. Not only to have a job (especially after the whirlwind this past year has been)...but to have a job I LOVE! 

As most of you know, I started working as a Project Coordinator at Hy-Vee Construction (yes...the Hy-Vee that we all know and love...aka the best grocery store chain EVER!) last February. I work with a GREAT team and I honestly look forward to going into work because of it!

To think back to where I was a year ago...it's crazy where life has taken me. A year ago I was in Maine and I was just starting a part-time job at JCPenney on this very day. I worked as a Support Specialist for the upcoming Holiday Season. Basically, I would get up every other day at the buttcrack of dawn to unload clothes, bring them to the shop floor, and arrange them. And, I loved it! I loved the people I worked with. I loved getting up early and having the rest of my day off. I loved getting a first look at the new clothes. Most of all, I loved that I had something to do.

A few of my friends from JCPenney

When we first decided to travel...one of the hardest things to leave was my job at Allsteel; especially because of the people I worked with. In addition to that, the whole idea of NOT having a job when we got to Maine was scary. I knew that it would bother me to have to rely on Troy here and there (especially considering the sale of my house was pushed out a few months more than expected). I didn't know, however, how BORED I would be. I looked for jobs before we left and even set up a few interviews. Unfortunately, the fact that we shared a car and Troy's job was 30 minutes away from our apartment didn't help and I eventually had to turn those options down. 

There were several different events to take part in, but most (if not all) of them involved spending money (shopping at the local Farmer's Market, dance/yoga classes, going out to eat), and while I was still making house payments with no income, it was hard for me to spend anything. It got to the point where I looked forward to "laundry" day because I had made friends with the ladies who worked at the local laundromat. The laundromat was always filled with interesting people, so it became my social event each week!

Do not get me wrong...I enjoyed the free time. And, I am eternally grateful to Troy for bringing home the bacon for those two (LOOOONG) months. But, I started feeling worthless. I have the utmost respect for Stay-At-Home Mom's, but taking care of three cats (who thoroughly enjoyed having me there to play and snuggle, but only TRULY needed my to fill their food bowls and clean their "toilets") was not enough to make me feel like I was doing something important. 

"Where's my food?"

The highlight of my days...watching the "kids" play with the top of a freezer bag.

I picked up a few hobbies: painting (which I am slowly getting back to), cooking (which I am slowly going away from..whoops), Netflix binging (which I am still trying to get away from)...etc. But, working at JCPenney gave me the burst of energy I was missing.

Flash forward back to the present...
I was so lucky to have made connections fairly quickly once we moved to Waukee, and through one of them, I was able to land this amazing job at HVC. I, like most of the people I know, had no idea that Hy-Vee had their own General Contractor. But...that's what we do! We build Hy-Vee's! A large part of my job involves setting up jobs, writing contracts, etc. But, I am also in charge of HVC's Facebook and Website (coming soon)! Please be sure to check out our Facebook page here to see some cool pictures and Hy-Vee projects that are ongoing/coming up! 

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! I will be meeting up with my gal pals for a crazy weekend in Iowa City! I can't wait!!!!!