Volunteering

The brown part to the left was a part we were already working on, still not quite to the fence at that point. this was only a 4 foot chain length fence and the vines stood about 5 feet tall.

Sorry I haven't been posting too much on here. With the majority of you being on Facebook, you have been getting your updates on me that way. But I need to be better at blogging so those who are not social networking can be in the loop as to what is going on in my busy life.

Today I volunteered for an organization called Impact NW with 9 of my co-workers. Impact Northwest’s mission is to help people achieve and maintain self-sufficiency and to prevent and alleviate the effects of poverty. We helped clean up 2 back yards. One yard was neatly manicured and only needed a few bushes trimmed back. The other yard was crazy! It had been taken over by vines. The vines stretched the full length of the chain length fence. There was about two feet of vine before you could even get to the fence. The vines went up and over the guys shed and took over all the ground cover. In the vines we found a boat oar, boat anchor, (we totally thought we were going to find the boat), two tires, a wheel barrow, the support beam things for camping tents, a roll of carpet, a tarp, and every bug imaginable. None of that stuff was visible before starting to cut back the vines. We removed ALL of the vines. It took us 5 hours. Lots of cutting into the vines, pulling and pulling to get them loose. Man, what a job. As most of you know I don't even do yard work in my own back yard. Yes, I have mowed a few times but nothing like this. The cut back vines filled 2 large pick up truck beds. I should have taken an after picture. It was amazing. You could see the whole fence, and the ground was just loose dirt. Needless to say, I feel accomplished.

Tomorrow, I am getting up bright and early to walk a 5K for Race for the Cure with 11 girls from work. That should be a fun time. It is supposed to be raining so it will be even more of a memorable experience. Hopefully, I will be good and remember to post stuff about that tomorrow.

One month from today!!!.....

...I am going to marry this guy!!

2....count 'em! Two months from today....

.....I am going to marry this guy

..wait...no...this guy!!

3 Months from today....

.....I am going to marry this guy!!

My little orange cat is only about 4 months old in this picture. He just turned 2.

Tonight is pizza and a movie night! We have a pizza place close enough to walk to. We will walk over there, get our pizza and then veg while watching "She's Out of my League"

Happy weekend!!

S'mores Cookie Bars

I got a new pan for my bridal shower from a friend who was unable to make the actual shower. It is this super awesome 9x13 metal calphalon pan that comes with a lid. The pan came with the s'mores recipe on the wrapping. Tomorrow is my co-workers b-day so I decided to try this recipe out! It was rather simple and the batter is tast-eee! I wish I could show you the inside but I need to keep these puppies in one piece for now.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

16 oz Hersheys milk chocolate (4 of the large bars or equivalent amount of smaller bars)

6 cups miniature marshmallows

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF

In large bowl, cream butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough in a prepared 9" x 13" pan. (Reserve remaining dough) Bake 15 minutes.

Arrange milk chocolate bars over baked layer, breaking as needed to fit. Sprinkle with marshmallows; skatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallows, forming top layer.

Bake 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes 16 bars.

Enjoy!!

4 months from today.....

...I'm marrying this guy!!

Justin as bacon for Halloween...I was a fried egg :)

Blue Lake Duathlon

They put every competitor race number and age so you knew who was your direct competition

waiting for the race to start

leaving the bike tent to start my 12 mile ride

ungracefully mounting my bike after running 3.1 miles

off I go!

Today I completed in my first duathlon. "What the heck is that?", you ask. It means run, bike, run. For this race it was a 5K run (3.1 miles) 12 mile bike ride, and another 5K run. I am not sure about my finishing time because the results were not up when we left the park. Justin joined me as my cheerleader and camera man. Such a sport waking up at 6am on a Saturday to support me. I had a great time competing in this. Oh man did my legs feel like jell-o during the transition from biking back to running. I felt like I was running like a muppet for the first 1/4 mile, haha. I am already scouring the internet for more races like this one. I had a blast! Yay!!

First week of new job...COMPLETE!

I had a four day work week packed with job training. I was working at an office with 2 other new hires. We learned tons about the credit union and how to use their computer system etc. Our trainer was fun and entertaining. I am sure it would have made for a long week otherwise. We got to tour the credit union branches that we will be working out of. Each one is a little different and the company will do lots of employee rotation if another branch is short staffed. So it was important for us to become familiar with all the work spaces. I am really enjoying it so far. This company has great morals and ethics and I look forward to a long relationship with them.

Monday I officially get my own desk, phone line, and many more things that will be customized just for me. Super excited!! Oh, and I received so much free stuff with the credit union's logo on it. They gave me a green and navy blue tote bag, travel coffee mug, pen, highlighter, mints, and I get a company allowance to buy clothing with the logo. I ordered a cardigan sweater (of course!).

mmMMMmmmmMmr

Sheri bought me this AWESOME pan for my bridal shower gift. I think Justin was just as excited about it as I was. Justin bought an espresso chocolate chip brownie mix and baked these Friday. :) They came out perfect! I cannot wait to bake more cute individual treats. I am going to use it again tomorrow to bake some treats for my new co-workers.

Bridal Shower

My bridesmaids, Stephanie and Hallie threw me a bridal shower with the help of mine and Justin's mom. We had about 10 guests at our house. Justin skidaddled and went to a coffee house to study for school. Steph and Hallie did so much work! They made tons of appetizers and desserts from scratch. Steph and my mom made homemade salsa, Steph made cupcakes with buttercream frosting, Hallie made deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms, and little cherry chocolate "mice". The girls organized games with great prizes and party favors. I had so much fun. My mom's cousin Jackie and her daughter Sheri came all the way down from the Seattle area to be at my shower. It was so nice to see them.