I Did It! {13.1 miles}

On the Sunday after Leah's birthday party, I got up bright and early so I could see this view.  Just kidding, I was up bright and early to run my first half marathon and cross #3 off my "to-do" list. It's been on my to-do list for quite a while and for some reason I decided now was the time to do it.  I had several friends in Kansas City who were training for a half marathon too, so I used them as motivation and "training" partners. (I use the term training partners loosely because I only ran with Dara once, but I chatted with both Dara and Krissondra multiple times about running.  I'm so thankful they were only a phone call away and could give me some motivation!) 

I signed up with my friend, Erin, and we rode down to the race together.  Erin ran it last year and it was so nice to have someone who knew where to park and what was going on.  

I thought the sunrise through the Arch really was pretty and I tried to focus on it instead of the pre-race nerves.  

After the race!  I was so glad to be done.  I'll spare you all the race details and give you a condensed version: around mile 4 or 5 I started feeling my knee hurt, no big deal, I kept running*.  Around mile 8 or 9 my knee started really hurting, it hurt to run and even hurt to walk at times, if I stopped running and walked it hurt and was hard to get going again.  About this same time, I didn't know if I could finish it, but I kept going, knowing Tim and Leah would be at the finish line and knowing that I would be done.  Somehow I managed the last 4 miles and finished, but it wasn't pretty.  Overall I'm happy that I finished the race, I'm somewhat happy with my time.  This being my first half marathon, in the beginning I set a goal to finish under 3 hours, I did that, after my training I re-evaluated my goal and set it at 2:30, which I finished just shy of.  Will I run another one?  Who knows, I'd really like to finish under 2:30 and I think I could do it, we'll have to see what's wrong with my knee and whether or not it can withstand the training again.  One thing I do know for sure, if I run another one, I'd like to lose a few pounds and do more cross-training and strength training instead of just running.  

Erin and I after the race

 I signed up for the Rock n Roll half marathon clear back in June, and I remember thinking after signing up, "Am I really going to follow through with this and do it?"  In June, October seemed so far away, but the day finally came and I did it!

*I'd felt a few knee pains like this after some of my training runs, but nothing like I felt at the end.  I could barely walk back to the car after the race and it still hurt on Wednesday after the race and still occasionally hurts.  I'm scheduled to see the doctor for my physical next week, so we'll see if he has any suggestions.

Land of Lincoln

While we were in Illinois for Christmas, we decided to cross #45 off my list and visit the Lincoln Museum in Springfield.
Before heading to the museum, we decided to stop for a visit at Lincoln's New Salem, even the pouring rain and cold temperatures couldn't keep us away. New Salem was a settlement where Lincoln spent his early adulthood. There are several log cabins that have been recreated to show what it might have looked like in the 1820s when Lincoln lived there. Tim and Robyn called ahead to make sure they were open on the 23rd, and I think they were glad to have us. The lady at the front desk told us we were the first people she had seen in two weeks, I'm guessing winter is a bad time for them.

This is what some of the cabins look like. You can't tell from the picture but it's pouring down rain.

Tim and Robyn exploring the cabins, thankfully we had umbrellas and warm coats.
After finding out they finally had visitors, this nice man lit a fire for us in the tavern/hotel and it was so nice!
After visiting New Salem we headed to Springfield for lunch and a visit at the Lincoln museum. I didn't take any pictures at the Lincoln museum, (I'm always afraid the museum people will take my camera, so it stayed in my bag). I loved the museum, I've always been a fan of Abraham Lincoln as a president, so it was nice to learn a little more about his life, maybe now I'll tackle "Team of Rivals".
Thanks Tim and Robyn for our organizing our Lincoln "field trip".

Paper or Plastic?

Neither! One of the things on my "to do" list is to find 4 new ways to go green and implement them. Here are the 4 ways I've started "going green":


1. I use these bags whenever I head to the store and I love them! I love the feeling at the checkout when I get to hand these over to the cashier, plus I get paid to use them (only $.05, but it's something).

You can fit so much more in one of these than a plastic bag. Now if I could just find something to do with my cupboard full of plastic sacks.

2. I only use 1 paper towel to dry my hands. It sounds silly, but after I watched this video and realized it can be done, I now do it all the time. You might be thinking what's the point, it's only 1 paper towel, but I'm saving at least 60 paper towels each month and that adds up to over 500 towels each year. Not only am I saving paper towels, I'm saving money too! Think about it!


A co-worker sent me this video to share with my class on Earth Day two years ago. One of my biggest pet peeves is kids using 3 and 4 paper towels to dry their hands, so I make it a point to show this to my class and make a big deal about only using 1 paper towel.

3. We recycle. When we lived in Olathe, they had a curb-side recycling program and we used it, but not like I wish we would have, because now I miss it. We don't have a curb-side recycling program anymore, so it takes a little more work for us to recycle. Luckily, my school has a recycling bin behind it so that's where I take all of our stuff and it works out great!

Our recycling station

We recycle bottles,

cans,
(can you tell someone at our house drinks a lot of pepsi?)and boxes.

4. I pledge to reduce bottled water waste.
I've had a Nalgene bottle since college, only because they were the "cool" thing to have back then, but now it's a basic nessesstity for me every school day. I usually drink two of these each day, I fill it up from my Brita in the morning and the school's water cooler in the afternoon. (Luckily, my school has a water cooler that we pay to use, hopefully this will keep me away from some of the kid germs.)
Now if I could just get Tim to start using a water bottle instead of drinking bottled water.

#52- Find 4 new ways to go green and implement them- done!
My next green step is to get my parents to recycle and find even more ways to go green, so if you have any good green tips, send them my way!

I've Been Bitten by the Bug...

The sewing bug! I'm not sure when it happened, but I can't get enough of fabric and patterns. I know it's gotten bad because Friday night Tim asked if I wanted to watch a movie and I declined, because I wanted to sew. What! The start of school is looming, so I've been trying to get in as much sewing time as possible, so much so that I keep putting off working in my classroom. (This is bad, because I had a dream about the first day of school and it wasn't pretty.)

Anyway, here are a few of the things I've been working on.

I have so many friend/ relatives/ co-workers that are expecting babies that I thought these burp cloths and baby blankets would be perfect gifts. My mom helped me get started and showed me a few sewing tricks. I've got two more sets of fabric to work on.

I found the pattern for this purse on-line and thought I'd give it a try. This is the example my mom and I made. We just used fabric she had to see how it worked out. It turned out to be surprisingly easy and cute!

Here is the second bag I made. I stopped in Lawrence at Sarah's Fabrics (I love that place!) and bought some fabric. On accident I ended up getting the same fabric as the lady who made the pattern. I also made a few modifications from the first one, shortened the strap and added a few more pockets on the inside. I have more fabric for another bag and I'm hoping to make a little bag to go with it.

This bag originally started out as a $9 Wal-Mart t-shirt. I had a different idea in mind when I thought about this bag, but I couldn't get it to workout right, so this is was I came up with. I'm thinking this bag will be great for Cardinal games. I'm not a huge Ryan Ludwick fan, but I couldn't see myself cutting up a Pujols shirt, especially when I wasn't sure how it would work out. (Not to mention that Ludwick t-shirts were $9 and Pujols t-shirts were $14.)

I think this takes care of #11, sew 5 things!

Pie Making 101

My friend Tina, offered to help me out with #7 on my to do list, which is to make a pie from scratch. So my other friend, Dara, and I headed over to Tina's for a pie baking lesson and a night of fun.

Tina giving us a lesson on making lattice crust.
Tina and her example pie ready for the oven.
My pie ready for the oven, I'm not sure it looked exactly like Tina's example, but I tried.
Dara and her pie
I love the chili pepper apron!
My finished apple pie, yum-o!

Dara and I are the first official graduates of Tina's pie school. We're thinking our next class will be cake or cookie decorating 101. Thanks for the great lesson Tina, we had a wonderful time!

This Takes the Cake

A couple of weeks ago, I made a trip to Salina and with the help of my mom I accomplished #10 on my "To Do" list: Buy a sewing machine and learn to sew. Well, my mom actually purchased the sewing machine for me and provided the sewing lessons, I'm not sure what I'd do without her!

Here is my first project/ sewing lesson. While at my mom's house I completed this table runner. I'm hoping to have it completed by the 4th of July to put on my table, but we'll see if it gets finished or not. It still needs to be quilted and bound, two things I can't do on my own. Looks like I'll be making another trip to Salina to get it finished up. Here is my new-to-me sewing machine. According to my mom, it's a pretty simple machine, something to get me started and to learn on.

This is my workspace, I've set up shop in our guest bedroom in the basement. This keeps the mess out of sight and I can leave my sewing machine up all the time.
This is my second workspace. Tim's not too thrilled I've taken over his desk, but it's usually only temporary.

#53: Make a quilt- Done
This is the second project I've completed with my sewing machine. The title of this pattern is "This Takes the Cake", hence the blog title. It still needs to be quilted and bound as well, but the hard part of piecing is done.

South Beach, Miami & the Marlins vs the Cardinals

On Tuesday morning, Tim and I left the world of Disney and headed south to Miami. Our hotel was in South Beach and just a few steps from the beach. It was wonderful! While the city of Miami wasn't quite our favorite city, the South Beach area was really nice and interesting to see.

This is our hotel's beach, which was literally right outside the back door. The beach was free, but just about everything else was not. The first day we were there Tim and I grabbed two chairs and an umbrella, only to have a hotel worker let us know that would be $10 for each chair and $15 for the umbrella. Being the cheap skates we are, we politely laughed, said "No thanks" and made our place in the sand.

South Beach was a little too liberal for our tastes. We did see several topless sunbathers and a few men in speedos, it was a little different than what we're used to in Kansas.
This is the view of the beach after sunset. The beach area was so pretty.
On our last night in Miami we explored the south beach area and made our way to Lincoln street. Lincoln street is home to some really nice shops and eating places.

This was Tim's meal in South Beach, his favorite from Germany, Currywurst. While walking along Lincoln street and looking for a place to eat, we stumbled across the Hofbraus House. Hofbraus House is a famous beer house we visited while in Munich, Germany last summer. We didn't end up eating there last summer, so we decided why not eat there now. I was a little confused as to why South Beach Miami would have a German Beer House, but Tim loved it so we had to stop. As repayment for eating at the German restaurant, I got to pick the dessert and we headed to the Ghirardelli ice cream shop. Our rocky road sundae was well worth the dinner at the German restaurant, it was to die for!!#42- Spend the day at the Beach- Done
We didn't actually spend the entire day at the beach, just long enough for a swin in the ocean and a sun burn. It was still a perfect day for me!

Tim wishes I'd get to the real reason we were in Miami, the Cardinals!
One of the main reasons we decided (or Tim decided) to vacation in Florida was to watch the Cardinals play the Florida Marlins.

This is what we arrived to the first night, an empty stadium! We were amazed to find the stands completely empty, granted it was raining and it was 30 minutes until game time, but had the game been at Busch stadium, the seats would have at least been half full.
This was the crowd for Tuesday night's game. We're not sure how a city like Miami can't get more than 9,000 people to attend a baseball game, not to mention there were more Cardinal fans at the game than Marlins fans.
The Marlins' stadium is the same place where the Miami Dolphins and the University of Miami have their football games. It was also host to numerous Super Bowls and the Orange Bowl. It was neat to imagine it packed for a sold out football game. I feel a little sorry for the Marlins players, not only can they not draw a crowd, their popular chant is "Let's Go Fish!" We were able to see Chris Carpenter pitch the first night. The Cardinals lost the first game on Tuesday night, but where able to win the games on Wednesday and Thursday.

These were our seats for Thursday's afternoon game. These seats were a great (& hot) view of the game and only $10.
Our Florida trip included a perfect day for me, spending the day at the beach and a couple of perfect days for Tim, watching Carpenter pitch and the Cardinals win.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Last Thursday, I picked Tim up from work early and we headed to the airport for our trip to the "Happiest Place on Earth", also known as Disney World. Our flight was originally supposed to leave at 6:05, but due to a "broken plane", we ended up leaving at 8:05. Not a great way to start a vacation, but better to arrive late than not at all. We spent 4 days in Orlando, 3 Days at the Disney Parks and 1 day exploring Orlando. Here are a few pictures from the Disney portion of our Florida trip.Here is the famous Disney Castle light up for the nightly fireworks. Each park has one main center object, the castle is the center object for the Magic Kingdom. I wanted a picture of the castle in the daytime, but somehow forgot to take a picture, must have been my excitement to see Mickey!

This hat is the center object at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
The Epcot Ball, the center object of the Epcot Park.
The ball actually contains a really neat ride about the history of communication. Epcot was also home to one of our favorite rides, Soarin'. Epcot has a section of their park called "World Showcase" that has parts of several other countries. We ate lunch in Germany and took a picture of this fountain to remember our trip to Germany last summer. Tim was really hoping the German restaurant would have currywurst, but he had to settle for a brat and a pretzel instead.

Jody in front of the Lego Dinosaur in Downtown Disney. They had several sculptures made entirely from legos. Amazing!

Across the street from our hotel was Downtown Disney. It is a neat little Disney themed shopping area, where you can buy just about anything Disney, and I mean anything!On Sunday we took a break from the Disney parks to visit some surrounding Orlando sights. This was a close as we got to the Kennedy Space Center. We also stopped along the beach, but it was storming so we didn't stay long.

This is the "Tree of Life", which is the center object at Disney's Animal Kingdom. You can't really tell from the picture, but there are several animals carved into the tree. There was a cow at the petting zoo at Animal Kingdom. Tim and I both thought we didn't really need to come all the way to Florida to pet a cow.
Right next to the petting zoo was a medical station for the animals at Animal Kingdom. At the medical station they operate on animals and let people watch. While we were there they were doing a routine check-up on a gorilla. It was amazing to see all the doctors working on the gorilla and I was very surprised they let everyone watch.

One of the rides at Animal Kingdom is an animal safari. These giraffes were just a few of the animals on the safari.
Each park (except Animal Kingdom) has a fantastic nighttime show. This boat is from the nighttime show at Disney's Hollywood Studios called Fantasmic. They only do a Fantasmic show 3 days a week and it fills up fast, we got there 1.5 hours before the show started just to get a seat. Of all of the nighttime shows Fantasmic was our favorite, but they all were amazing and well worth the wait time.

#43- Visit Walt Disney World- Done!

Stay tuned, McClelland family Florida trip part 2 coming soon...