Happy Hippy Day!

Or, Happy Earth Day!

Things are getting dirty over here. Dirty as in... hippies. We are dirty hippies. I'm sorry, but you had to have seen this coming, right?

Drew built me a compost bin!

You may notice that he isn't as excited about the transition to tree-hugger as I am:

Composting is super easy, and so good for the environment! Not to mention that when next Spring rolls around and I go to plant my veggies I'll have super-soil which will give me super-veggies. Its a win-win here.

Drew built the box, I filled it up:

Dirty! You can compost lots of stuff including: old nasty leaves from under your deck, grass clippings, and kitchen waste like fruit and vegetable scraps. I didn't realize how much kitchen waste we actually had until I started collecting it. It is a lot.

You just dump the stuff in there:

Then you toss in some worms (I know, right?), cover it up, and let nature do its work. You kind of stir it up once in a while too. Easy as that, you're a hippie.

Fun Facts:

• Composting keeps organic materials out of landfills which frees up space for the rest our junk.
• Up to 50% of household waste is organic, and therefor compostable.
• Keeping organic materials out of landfills prevents the build-up of methane.
• Methane contributes to the greenhouse effect 21 times more than carbon dioxide. Hello climate change!
• Composting prevents the pollution of water sources.

So, if you aren't converting to hippie-ism, what are you doing to celebrate this Earth Day? Are you making any changes to help the environment?

You got jokes?

When I was younger, my dad told me once that God likes to play jokes on humans so he can sit up in heaven and laugh at us.* I'm pretty sure this is one of those jokes.

Hey. There's my gym:


Looks like a lot of construction going on in front of my gym. What are they building in front of my gym???


Wait... does that say what I think it says???

This is a joke, right?



Are you kidding me??? They are building a Dunkin Donuts in front of my gym. A Dunkin Donuts. This could get ugly.

While I can talk a mean game about eating clean and going organic, I turn into Homer Simpson the second I even get a whiff of a donut. My saving grace has been that there are no donut shops in our area. I would literally have to drive to Mission to get a donut... and I'm a bit too lazy for that... but don't think its never happened.

Oh, and look! They have a drive-thru! Fabulous! I won't even have to get out of the car! This way I won't have to subject the other hungry donut customers to my post-gym-stink... or, more likely, my just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-hungry-for-a-sugar-fix-crazy-eyed-self.

So, if you happen to notice me getting a bit more round in the face and plump in the tummy this summer, you'll know why. And if anyone is wants to join in the fun, you know where to find me. Its not at 24 Hour Fitness.

*My dad shared this gem of wisdom while we were having our one and only "sex talk". So if you were ever wondering why I make dumb jokes when I'm in awkward situations, its because I was taught to do so from a very young age.

**Oh, and please imagine me driving back and forth through the intersection at 75th and Metcalf, trying to get a good shot of Dunkin Donuts. Its not safe. Not safe. Steer Clear.

La Hora De El Poder

Meet Kait:

Kait is always full of fun ideas, especially when she's drinking. She's also up for lots of picture taking... which suits me just fine.

Drew told me that his friend Jeff invited him to a barbecue on Friday night. I invited Kait. After we picked her up, Drew started heading in a direction that was not towards Jeff's house.

Me: I thought we were going to Jeff's house.

Drew: No, he's not having the BBQ.

Me: Who is having the BBQ?

Drew: I don't know.

Me: Is it his girlfriend?

Drew: No.

So, we showed up at some random person's house for a barbecue. Good thing we brought cookies. Kait and I were hanging out in the back, with mostly people we didn't know, and she had the brilliant idea of playing Power Hour.



Our game started with the idea that every minute we'd take turns making a toast and both taking a drink. Our toasts quickly turned into a random splaying of Spanish words and phrases. Kait likes to speak Spanish when she's drinking. And it was good practice because she's going to Guatemala this summer to teach.

People soon joined our super fun game, even if they didn't know much Spanish. It was interesting what words and phrases people could recall from Spanish classes of the past.

Hilarity ensued:

Drew's hable espanol:

We recorded the really good ones on a paper plate... because no one had a notepad.

We gave up the game when it got too cold and we'd driven everyone else inside with our shouting and laughter. And we took a Captain picture with my favorite neighbor Emily:

The "write that down" paper plate:

Reviewing the plate:

Some favorites:

"Mi abuelo verde en Hays."

"Me gustan gatos con queso."

"Que la mierda?!"

There were also a lot of English phrases written down on the plate that I'd said. Looking back, I think there was a lot of making fun of me going on. Something about a Charlie Horse...

Team Tomahawk

Today was the first annual Steps for a Cure in Prairie Village. I ran with the Greenes AKA Team Tomahawk.

It was Melinda's first race!!!

This was my second 5K ever and my first one that wasn't run with a baby stroller and mischievous baby. The weather was perfect for running: cool and sunny. The course was pretty hilly, but always lovely because duh, it was in Prairie Village! I just think it is the most beautiful place on Earth, despite the hills. :)

Big surprising news: I was the second female finisher!!! Okay, there weren't really that many people running the race, but still, kind of exciting. I'm still waiting for the results to be posted so I can see how much faster the other gal was! My time was somewhere around 21:37. Woot woot!

***UPDATE*** My official time was 21:35 and the girl who beat me came in at 19:38. She was two minutes ahead of me! It makes me feel better that she was so far ahead because there is no way I could have run that fast, even if I hadn't spoken so much Spanish the night before. I ran my guts out and am pretty proud to come in second! :)

Some Mysteries Solve Themselves

About two years ago we had a couple move in two houses down. We found out they are approximately our same age and also went to K-State. I naturally assumed we'd be best friends. Why wouldn't we?

Fast forward two years later and I think we've spoken to them like twice. I'm always asking Drew why we aren't friends with them. What's the problem here? Same age, similar interests... they even have a dog who looks to be about as well behaved as Ari. So it couldn't be his fault (sometimes I feel like we're judged based on the fact that our dog lacks manners). But no, not our friends. I have no idea why.

This weekend I walked out onto the deck in just my shorts and sports bra and proceeded to water my plants. You know how I've got issues with getting my plants to grow? Well, they were looking really good and growing well, so I started telling them that. Yes. Talking to my plants. Saying things like, "Oh Mr. Basil, you are doing so well! We'll be having you for dinner very soon!" "Look at you cucumber! You're almost ready to go into the ground!" You know, just your average word of encouragement.

Then I looked up and saw that there were our neighbors, two houses down, on their deck with company, staring at me...

So maybe there is a reason we're not friends.

Hail To the Captain

I haven't talked about school for awhile. I know you're all dying to hear about Hookah Girl's crazy antics. Here's a quick recap on what's going down at community college:

• It's hot. At community college, hot weather = butt cracks. I've seen more BC in the last few weeks than I have in my entire life. And I think the girls know it. I just don't think they care. Here's my theory: low rise jeans came about when I was growing up (middle school? High school? Not sure.) so I had to make the transition to the potentially BC baring jeans. These girls have never known jeans to be anything but low rise, so I think they just assume your crack is supposed to show. During the winter the cracks were mostly covered up with coats and big sweatshirts. But now that the weather is warming up, they've all started donning their best sparkly halter tops that do nothing to conceal the derier. Crack kills.
• Last week a lady from Planned Parenthood came to our Human Sexuality class to do a presentation on STIs... which apparently is the new name for STDs. Weird. Anyways, I figured we'd get some good stories from Hookah Girl, since she's always so open with us. But she didn't say a word. She sat down and pulled out a gallon size Ziploc baggie of Captain Crunch Berries and munched on them slowly while the woman demonstrated how to properly use condoms and dental dams. I just picture her at home pulling out the box and stopping to think, "Maybe its weird if I bring the whole box." So she dumps the entire box into a huge freezer bag. I told you about the time she brought a family size carton of orange juice and drank directly from it during class, right?
• Today in Sex Class we were discussing marriage, divorce, and blended families. People were sharing stories of their own experiences with parents divorcing and transitioning into families with step-parents and step-brothers and sisters and the difficulties they had. Hookah Girl raises her hand and says, "Its like in that movie Step Brother where Will Ferrel has a really hard time getting used to a step brother." Ummm... wow. Our teacher has just started nodding and moving on.
• All chemistry presentations continue to have a slide about pets... thanks to me starting the trend! A guy went last week and his presentation was on ethyl alcohol. He didn't have any pets, so he thought it was funny to make every other slide a picture of a cat getting drunk from I Can Has Cheezeburger. It was not funny. It was totally inappropriate. One picture = funny. An entire presentation based on drunk cats = you fail, dummy.
• My Chemistry lab partners always think I'm dumb. Do I give off that vibe? You know in Mean Girls when Cady asks Aaron Samuels to tutor her in math and she keeps saying, "Wrong." in her head? Its like that, but I didn't ask for help. Any time I have a guy lab partner, he tries to let me copy his work, or tries to help me when my answer is different from his, and I always think in my head, "Wrong". Any advice on how to start giving off a genius vibe? Because seriously, I already landed my Aaron Samuels.

Aggie Soup

Guess where we went last night!!!


Yep, that's Manhattan. I took this picture because we sat at this light for like 20 minutes and I was reminded of the remarkable urban planning in my favorite town ever.

So what are we doing here? Let's start with back story: I've mentioned before that Drew and I are kind of homebodies lately. So much so, that we have a very stringent Friday night routine which involves a lot of sitting on the couch, usually eating pizza, and watching The Soup. We LOVE The Soup. We don't even watch most of the shows that Joel McHale makes fun of. I think we're just bad people and enjoy laughing at others' expense. When Joel announced that he had a new sitcom starting last fall, we added DVR'd episodes of Community to our Friday night routine. My twenty-one year old self is cringing right now at my lameness.

A few weeks ago Joel announced at the end of The Soup that he was going to be performing in Manhattan Kansas and Drew surprised me with tickets! I was so pleased. :)

We drove up early for dinner at So Long Saloon:


I would consider moving back to Manhattan just for easy access to the So Long Black Bean & Raspberry dip:

Drew was super excited for the Resist Temptation burger. It has an egg on top:

True story: So Long was our first official "date". We'd been seeing each other or whatever you call it in college when you get drunk and go to date parties together, but had never actually gone to dinner together.

After a Wednesday morning final Drew called and asked if I wanted to go to Pillsbury Creek with him and some friends for the afternoon. I blew off studying for finals and spent the afternoon drinking with my cute boyfriend instead. When we got back to town Drew suggested we go out to eat at So Long and insisted I had to try this burger that had an egg on top. I thought he was nuts. Again, I'd been drinking all afternoon and have no idea if I actually tried it that day. But So Long still remains close to my heart as our first "date".

Back to present day, boring me... I ordered the Crank It Up and Head South with a portobella mushroom instead of burger. It was so spicy I was literally chugging my beer and demanding more from the bartender.

We had just enough time before the show to do a quick walk through of Aggieville and stop at our favorite bar for a drink:

After gushing about memories of walking in and knowing everyone at the bar and everyone who worked there, Drew asked if I'd like him to start singing the Cheers theme song. Smart ass.

Then we headed to McCain to see Joel! So excited:

Our seats were in the balcony, kind of far up. I think Joel referred to it as "steerage".

He was far away, but so much closer than on TV. The show was AWESOME. I thought Drew might pee his pants from laughing so hard. Some highlights:

• Joel opened the show by referring to the Jayhawk as an abomination of science... which really endeared him to the crowd... except for the folks who drove in from Lawrence for the show.
• He used the word "douche" about a thousand times, much to Drew's delight.
• He gave us the inside scoop on phone calls he receives from angry celebrities about what he says on the show. The most frequent caller? Hugh Hefner.
• He did a delightful Hef impression.
• Joel talked all about his wife and son Eddie. Hilarious. I didn't even know he was married... I kind of thought maybe he was dating Ryan Seacrest.
• He made a lot of fun of Ryan Seacrest.
• He kept referring to Ed Hardy t-shirts as "douche-capes" and then after saying it like a thousand times, noticed that a guy in the front row was wearing said douche cape. Hilarious.

Joel was on stage for a good hour and a half. He had us laughing the entire time and it was really fun to see a more candid version of him. I'm just sad we couldn't stick around and stalk him after the show to see which bar he went to.

Oh! And he announced that Community will be on for a second season! Score!!!

Olathe Half Marathon

This morning was the Olathe Half Marathon!!! Unlike our last race, we had perfect weather. Seriously, it was gorgeous. The day didn't exactly start out well though... we almost didn't make it.

The race started at 7:00. I picked Brooke up at about 6:15... plenty of time to drive to the Garmin Headquarters, park, stretch, warm up. Neither of us got directions because you can see Garmin from the highway. So how hard could it be to get there? Pretty hard, apparently. We kept exiting the highway and having no idea how to actually get there. Do you know how infuriating it is to see where you want to be... need to be... and have no idea how to actually get there? I said the F word a lot. A lot. I'm sorry Brooke.

We pulled into a parking lot down the street from the start at about 6:50. As we ran to the starting line I told Brooke that I had to pee. Like, I really really had to pee. The line to the porta potties was maybe a mile long. They made a big stink on the website about NO LATE STARTS ALLOWED and we knew we weren't going to make it through this line... so we ran across the street to a Subway. It didn't open until 8:00 but there was a nice lady who let me use the facilities anyways. We made it back to the start just in time for the National Anthem. And then we were off! Who needs to stretch or warm up, right??


I ran this race a couple of years ago, but thankfully they changed the course to a loop. You used to have to park at the finish in downtown Olathe and be bussed to the starting line 13 miles south. This year the race started and ended at Garmin. They didn't, however, get rid of my most favorite part of the race where you run around the Great Mall parking lot for a couple of miles. I think it was a bit of a stretch when they said on the website that the course was "scenic".

They didn't lie when they said the course was flat. It had some rolling hills, but nothing terrible. How cute are Brooke and I in our pink and green??? We didnt' even plan that, I swear.

The course ran along streets most of the time and was marked off with orange cones. The space provided was enough to fit two runners, no more. So it was really difficult to pass anyone. If there were two people running together, we'd have to step outside the orange cones and into traffic. Brooke almost got hit by a car. That would not be cool. I'd have to find a new running partner and that just sounds like a lot of work. And what if my new running partner didn't read my mind and wear matching colors on race day?

We finished the race somewhere between 1:48 and 1:49. They haven't posted official times yet, but that's a PR for both of us! Woot woot!

I was seriously disappointed when we got to the "finish line festival" where we were promised Boulavard Beer, and there was none. None. I call that false advertising, Olathe. They also promised food from Taco Johns. Gross. Whoever thinks nachos at 9:00 in the morning after running is a good idea, is wrong. Wrong.

Jack enjoyed the free bananas though:

He entertained us with his sweet dance moves:

Fun fact: I'm bow-legged. Which I sometimes forget until I see photos of myself:

After the race we went to First Watch for breakfast. Jack had been a little upset that every time he saw his mom that morning, she'd run away from him. So he insisted on sitting in her lap while he ate his ice water with a spoon:

Olathe Half Marathon:

Pros:

1. Good organization, fast course.
2. Lots of bathrooms along the course.
3. Good crowd support for this size race.

Cons:

1. Broken promises: I was promised Gu at mile 10 and beer at the finish line. I received neither.
2. Super Duper Expensive. I don't know who you think you are Olathe, but last time I checked, you aren't that cool. This race was expensive. The most expensive half I've done. Almost as expensive as the fulls I've done. For that price I would expect some pretty good swag and a beer, at the very least, at the finish. They even went really cheap on the t-shirt. The last race I did was way cheaper, and they gave us a tech shirt. Goodwill should expect an influx of ugly race shirts after this race.
3. Skinny course markings. I sometimes wonder if the people who put together races have ever actually run a race. The tiny space we were confined to was annoying and kind of dangerous.

Even after all that complaining (Me? Complain? Never.), I would say that this is a really good local race. Its got a lot of potential. They are rebranding it next year as the Oz Marathon (OMG.) so maybe there will be some improvements that come along with that.

For now, I'm off to nap. Drew and I have a big fun night ahead of us!

Running: It's Contagious!

I was chatting with an old friend from high school over Facebook (what did we do before FB??) and she was telling me about training for a marathon this spring. We started tossing around the idea of getting together to do the Wichita marathon next fall. I did the Wichita marathon in 2008 and it was kind of... lame. Running through an air force base is not as thrilling as it sounds... especially when spectators aren't allowed and you don't get food or drink for 10 miles. Apparently Wichita has stepped up its game and redone the race for 2010.

So my friend and I were chatting about how it would be fun if we got a bunch of girls from high school together to run the various races that day... I believe they have a half marathon and 5K, and then go out that night to catch up over drinks and dinner. We were tossing out names of people we could recruit to run and she asked if Nicky would be interested. The only exercise I remember Nicky ever doing was practicing a kick dance to Mariah Carey, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

I sent Nicky a message (FaceBook!) asking if she wanted to do the race... maybe the 5K? Her response: "YOU MUST HAVE LOST YOUR DAMN MIND."

Okay... so that was a no go.

This was maybe a month ago. I dropped it.

THEN, last night she posted on my FB wall: "I started running..."

Yea!!! Now I'm expecting a 5K in the fall, Nicky!

In other new runner news: Congrats to Meg for running her first race!!! AND, good luck to Melinda who is training for her first 5K! Woot woot! I love to hear about people taking up running! Any other new runners I should know about???

To quote my favorite marathoner:

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it."
-Oprah