fancy feet

 Zebra!

 America!

What girl doesn't love a pedicure? And if you're going to get one, why not go all out with a fun design?! My sister and I got pedicures together for the first time on Saturday, I went with bright orange, she went with black!

baby boy Brylen

One thing that has changed our family forever is the recent arrival of my little nephew. On July 18, my sister gave birth to Brylen James, I saw him this weekend for the first time and I couldn't believe how tiny he is! Brylen is absolutely adorable and I fell in love instantly. It was so hard to leave him!

wise words

My mom's birthday was July 4th and my dad's July 9th. As a late present for the two of them, I painted them this canvas...This quote just spoke to me after some recent happenings in our lives.

french cafe

Who knew Kearney had such a quaint place for breakfast and lunch? I sure didn't until Mikki suggested we go there for their fabulous food. I had their beach croissant while Mikki enjoyed their gourmet grilled cheese and tomato soup. For dessert...chocolate raspberry coffee cake for me, and turtle cheesecake for Mikki! Mmm...

destination: st. pete's

My good friend Jackie is an interior designer and has a knack for modern creativity, not only in homes, but also on paper. She designed the most unique save-the-dates and wedding invitations I have ever seen for her destination wedding. The wedding will be at St. Pete's Beach in Florida on February 10th so she included luggage tags in the save-the-dates, and the invitation was in the form of a brochure, how clever!

float.

Cora ventured up to the Niobrara river with me to go tubing, and we both made it back safe and sound. This was the third year I went and the groups 6th or 7th year for the trip-- there were 25 of us, a new record! We had another successful float, and definitely made some memories. Mikki and I made beergaritas, I got the recipe from my friend Samantha, they were ah-mazing!

Cora the Fedora

Well hello there, I'm sorry for neglecting you these past few weeks, I've had quite a few life changes lately which have kept me away from the computer. The good news is that I am DONE with summer classes and clinic and I now have 3 weeks of summer left until everything starts all over again! So here I am taking advantage of some "free time" (which is very rare) to update my life!

Yes I got a fedora, and yes I named it Cora. Mikki also got one and named hers Laura-- we're cool, we know. I bought a plain fedora and added a ribbon, that way I can switch it out for different occasions.

fabulous 4th

I had and absolutely wonderful 4th of July weekend and I hope you all did as well! The weekend started off with Kilie and Tim's wedding (see previous post) on Friday, followed by a day at the lake on Saturday. Our lake, by Morse Bluff, NE, had our big firework extravaganza that night, so a lot of my dad's family spent the day at the cabin, it was so good to see all of them! My aunt and uncle just moved into a lake house by Valley, NE, so I ventured over there on Sunday. Their lake had it's first annual 4th of July celebration with a slip n slide, raft races, horseshoe tournament, DJ, and free keg of beer, followed by fireworks-- can't beat that! I got up early the morning of the 4th to head out to my mom's family farm by Uehling, NE where we have our annual 4th of July bash which amounts to food and slow pitch softball in the pasture all day long. The fun didn't stop there, that evening I went to Seward, NE "America's 4th of July City- Small Town USA" or so they say...I will admit, out of the 3 firework displays I watched that weekend, Seward's were probably the best ; ) There's just something about the 4th of July that I absolutely love, maybe it's the fact that it's my mom's birthday (yes, she's a firecracker), or maybe it's because I'm a pyro, although it has been a few years since I blew off fireworks, or maybe it's the simple fact that everyone is decked out in red, white, and blue to show their patriotism, Happy Birthday America!

meet the Donovans

On Friday one of my best friends from high school married her new best friend. I almost melted at their beautiful outdoor wedding in the blazing Nebraska heat, but it was absolutely perfect! Kilie, her twin sister Karisa (who is getting married next July) and I have been best friends since 7th grade, which means we have several memories together, and I can't wait to continue those memories with her and her husband Tim!

blog buddies

I want to apologize for my lack of blogging in general this summer...My summer hasn't really felt like "summer" considering I am just finishing one online class and will be starting another one next week, not to mention I have 5 clients for therapy, that's right, I said FIVE. In the meantime, while you're waiting for me to post about the latest happenings in my life, check out these great blogs from a few of my wonderful friends!
glitter by my cousin Jennie
meatless with a man by my friend Kelly
sweetology by Trisha
Be sure to check out my other "favorites" on the right side of this page, and don't forget to "follow" all of us!

successful internship interview!

Two weeks ago I had an interview at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln for a spring 2012 speech-language pathology internship position. Last night I received an email saying I was selected for the internship and I couldn't be happier! Knowing there were at least four other people interviewing, I tried not to get my hopes up, but after seeing their amazing facility, I couldn't help but want to be there! (After watching this video, I'm sure  you can see why!) I can't wait for spring 2012 to get here and I would LOVE to be placed in their Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) unit!

longest day of the year!

Today is the longest day of the year and tonight is the tournament for our sand volleyball league...if we win at 7:00 we play at 8:00, if we win that, we play at 10:00! Good thing the sun will be out extra long for our extra long night of volleyball!

fun in the sun...on the farm!

My good friend and classmate, Mikki, lives on a farm north of town with two of her close friends (Adam and Renae who just got married in May). Saturday afternoon Mikki and I laid out to soak up some sun and the chickens joined us too!

LIVE LIKE LINDA.

I'm not really sure where to start with this post and I guess that's why I haven't written it until now...Exactly a month ago today, 5.11.11, my mom lost her best friend Linda in a car accident. Linda was terrified of stormy weather; and while driving in a storm that day, she lost control of he car.
My mom and Linda have been best friends since they were about three years old. They went to high school and college together, and their families were close growing up. Perhaps the most amazing part of their story is that they went on to marry two guys, my dad and Linda's husband Kurt, who were very distant cousins and had the same last name...result:  my mom and Linda ended up having the same last name! Better yet, Kurt and Linda's kids and my siblings and I are very close in age, and we have grown up to be great friends as well.
Needless to say, our world has turned upside down by the unexpected event that happened a month ago. In the words of my mother, "I take great comfort in knowing that Linda had such a strong faith. I don't think I've known a nicer, easier to love person than her. I feel blessed; she was a great example of how to live a full life." And as her 21 year old son Tyler said, "I look forward to catching up with you, I hear Heaven's parties are the best!" We all need to remember to LIVE LIKE LINDA.

cathleen and travis

Last weekend one of my old roommates got married and I was her personal attendant! It was a gorgeous wedding and the weather was perfect!

minnesota

For as long as I can remember (since 1996 to be exact) my mom's entire side of the family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) have spent the last week of May, including Memorial Day Weekend, fishing in Minnesota. We go to the same resort every year and it never gets old. We all used to fit in the big lodge but now that the family has grown and some of us cousins have started bringing friends or significant others, we now have to rent out the lodge and 3 other small cabins! I only stayed for the weekend, but caught a few while I was up there!

goodbye 12, hello B1

I moved! Just across town, but I no longer live by myself : ) I now live with two of my cousins in a three bedroom apartment! Needless to say I had to downsize my amount of stuff...

mayhem in may

Well, as you might have guessed from my lack of posts, the month of May did NOT go as planned! I thought I would have plenty of time to blog and do all of the things I didn't get to do during the school year. I even had hopes of reading some of the following books, and haven't finished one of them : (