cabin time!

Gma Tams and Brylen

My sister, Scott and I

Captain Ron

Samantha, Mikki, and I

I had a few friends along with my family out at our cabin a few weekends ago. We tubed, drank, ate, and golfed, it was the perfect end to "summer".

fluency

One of the classes I am taking this semester is Fluency Disorders which basically amounts to learning about how to work with people who stutter. My teacher showed us this video on the first day of class and it really struck a nerve with me, especially after having a friend who stuttered. I hope you all can take 14 minutes out of your day to view this video.

1st week

Well it is now week 4 of school and everything is definitely in full swing, hence the reason I haven't blogged in FOR-EV-ER! (Get my Sandlot reference?!) My first week back was pretty painless except for a minor speed bump (no pun intended) on the second day. I was heading home for lunch after my first class and got pulled over right next to campus for speeding in a school zone. Apparently there is an elementary school about a block away and apparently in this town the school zone speed limit is 20mph ALL DAY LONG, ugh! I was going somewhere between 25-30mph but luckily I got off with a written warning, the officer even informed me that the fines are doubled in school zones...good to know! The worst part is that I saw someone pulled over in the exact spot earlier when I was going to class so I was aware that they were on the prowl...needless to say I learned my lesson and never exceed 20mph for that block!

dinner and a movie

Tyler and I had a dinner date at his place on Saturday. He provided beer and wine, grilled chicken and corn, and I brought salad : ) We at off the coffee table and watched "Forrest Gump" while we enjoyed our meal...we already decided there will be plenty more dinner and movie dates in the future!

60.

Sixty is the number of seconds in a minute, sixty is the number of minutes in an hour, and sixty is the number of years my grandparents have been married. My grandparents have been tremendous role models for me and the love they have for each other is incredible. I hope I can have the lifetime of happiness that they have been so blessed with. We celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last Friday at Petersen's Bar 75 in Herman, here is pop and gram and the kids.

golfing fools

Tyler came up to Tekamah this past weekend and we golfed Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The glory of living on the course is that you can start and stop wherever you wish and skip around the holes if people are right ahead or behind you. On Friday we golfed holes 2-8 and Saturday we golfed 9, 1, 4, 6, 7, 8...as Tyler said, we golfed each hole once but not every hole twice over the weekend! It's obvious he is a coach because he has a lot of patience with me and has been great at teaching me the game of golf!

don't stop believin'

A week ago we had our annual potluck for the graduate students in our department which is always a good way to kick off the school year and a great opportunity for everyone to meet the newbies (I was one of them last year)! This year, as 2nd years, we took it upon ourselves to take the 1st years out for a good time. We kept it classy, took them to Shooters, and sang karaoke...of course! Only Mikki, Joey and I sang Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" but we had an awesome cheering section!

life is like a bowl of cherries

I picked up some bing cherries the other day for the first time all summer, they are absolutely delish!

about thai-m

We have an amazing Thai place in town right across from campus. I have been craving it all summer and FINALLY ate lunch there yesterday for my coworkers birthday...delish! 

brylen james

My sister's high school softball coach came over on Saturday and took "newborn" pictures of Brylen who is a month old today! They turned out fabulous and I can't help but share!

fairs, fairs, fairs

I don't know if I have ever mentioned how much I love the fairs, but...I LOVE county fairs! I grew up showing sheep and pigs, and cattle for one summer, I've gone to the fairs every summer for as long as I can remember, it's in my family, it's in my blood. A while back, I went with my friend Chelsea to the Eustis Fair and Corn Show, as opposed to their county fair, to play "sand" volleyball. In all honesty, we played on clumpy dirt in the same arena that they use for demo derbies and rodeos, but it was fun and we won the tournament! Check out the classy sign they have hanging in the Eustis bar...

The other weekend I tried to cram in as much fair fun as possible, I played in a slow pitch softball tournament at the Dodge Co Fair, and went to the beef show at the Burt Co Fair to watch my cousins show cattle.

cousin lovin

cowgirl up

My cousin Will fitting calves.

cha cha cha changes

As I have mentioned, my family has gone through a lot of changes this summer...in the past few weeks, I've ended and relationship and slowly started another one with an amazing guy named Tyler, my sister started her first day of her junior year at a new high school, Fremont Bergan, and my family sold our house and we're trying to move back to Fremont. I'm looking forward to moving back to "The 'Mont" but I'm going to miss our home on the golf course in Tekamah...

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.