Friday Night with the Girls

This is my second to last Friday night in town here.  I am very pleased to say that we carried on our tradition.  We were comfortable!  It got kind of crazy as we invited Melissa over and then decided to go to the grocery store to buy lots of yummy calories.  Shannon was in the mood for cookie dough placed into very chocolaty brownies with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on top.  It was a phenomenal idea.  I had a $20 gift card to Dillon's from my wonderful Mama who sent it during finals week!  What a great gift, food!

So, we loaded up all three dogs and all of us, in our sweats, and headed to Dillon's.  We did accomplish just about everything at Dillon's until we got back into the pickup and I realized that I had forgotten what I initially needed at the store to finish up my beef and bean stew.  LOL!  So we finished up at Aldi's.

We ate supper, baked, I painted my toes, we put in a movie that we didn't watch because we were all chatting and catching up on life as we currently know it.  It was so much fun and I will definitely miss these times with my roomies.

In case you were wondering, Shannon's desired dessert turned out awesome!  She is a great chef if I don't say so myself.  My stew was really good too.  I am trying to eat up what I have here in my freezer so I do not have to tote it back to Nebraska.  I just started putting stuff in the crock pot.  What an amazing invention!

• Nebraska beef, hamburger to be exact
• Nebraska Great Northern beans
• Spices recommended by Shannon
• Yellow garden squash that I froze last season-sauteed in olive oil with parmesan
• Shredded zucchini that I also froze last season
• Frozen corn (store bought)-I did finish it off so it is out of the freezer!  One less thing to take home!
• Fresh spinach
• Fresh garlic
• Parmesan
• Diced tomatoes (from a can, yuck)
• Tomato juice (from a can)
• Chicken broth (also from a can)

I served it with awesome cast iron skillet jalapeno corn bread that Shannon made and shared with us!

306

Last night the house on the hill was quite a site to see.  The girls of 306 and myself were all home as well as my good buddy Nick.  Nick, Shannon, and I were all on the couch waiting for Miss Hanna to help us with the TV since neither of us are capable of making the DVD player work and it was time for a little Duck Commander.  So, when Hanna walked downstairs and saw us all sitting there, she simple took a look at that DVD player and said, "Well guys, typically it helps to plug it in, power is good!"  Wow, 4 veterinary students needed to watch a movie.  So, we began our hunting movie with the dogs resting beside us.  Beau, our boxer mix, is 99.9% love and needs attention 100% of the time.  Oh, and he loves men.  He was awkwardly belly crawling into Nick's lap, hoping that this would be acceptable.  Nick being the nice guy he is, helped him the rest of the way up onto the couch.  Now little Miss Maggie, our little 8 pound 13 year old terrier, has had an extremely hard week and is recovering from 2 major surgeries.  She is all curled up in her bed next to Shannon.  And, well, that leaves Briggs.  He of course is a little large for the couch with 3 people and 2 dogs already on it.  Turns out he had helped himself to 2 bowls of Beau's food today and 1 yesterday accounting for about 3 days worth of meals for this little "brunch" he decided to have.  I know exactly when it happened too.  I went out for a long bike ride and forgot to put the food up so it was like a free buffet for him.  I'm pretty sure he regretted it last night as he was lying miserably on the floor....LOL!

Shortly after we were all settled in watching Duck Commander, Hanna came down frantically looking for her keys to her car that she had just gotten out of a couple hours before.  She was trying to get to the gym after some searching resorted to her spare key until she got outside and almost in her car when she realized that she remembered where her normal key was hiding!

This is just one small example of all the things I will miss about Manhattan!  :)

P.S.  Don't judge!

Linear Trail

Today, I discovered 10 more miles of my favorite trail in Manhattan.  It was so incredibly gorgeous today, I couldn't help but take out road bike on a tour!  Instead of taking my traditional/typical running route down Colorado over to Linear and turn left....I turned right.  This is the part of the trail that Heath and I just briefly discovered over Christmas break by accident during a walk.  Until that point, I have been running and biking in Manhattan for the last 6 months and did not even know the trail continued in that direction.  Linear Trail is the same trail that I ran my honorary Monument Half Marathon (when I couldn't get back to Nebraska to run the real thing due to school).

As I started exploring, I realized just how awesome this trail really is.  It literally wraps around the edge of town.  You can access it in so many different places.  This part gravel part concrete trail takes you through tree groves, various parts of town, winds you by the Kansas River, and over railroad tracks.  You also have the serene peace of viewing farmland along the same trail.  It is an excellent combination, especially since I can hop on in only three quarters of a mile from the house.  Here is a link:  http://www.traillink.com/trail/manhattan-linear-park-trail.aspx.

Theses are just a few pictures I snapped with my phone along the trail so that I could share with you the simplistic beauty we are surrounded by each day.  Don't forget to take the time to enjoy it....alone, with God, with a spouse, with a best friend, with a sibling, JUST ENJOY IT!

I am so thankful to have the time to enjoy these simple beauties in life again.  My main goal in life is to live a simple life and be happy.  That's it, nothing fancy, nothing extravagant, just SiMPliCiTY!

Know that the Lord is God.  It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.  Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give THANKS to Him and PRAISE His name.  For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. ~Psalm 100:3-5

Roomies!

Monday=back to school with my roomies!  They didn't have school today so we went shopping!  So fun to do with girls....it's been a long time since I have done this.  Oh, we also had ice cream at Orange Leaf too!

Nick took me out for my birthday at the new Texas Roadhouse followed by an exchange of photography inspiration.  He had taken tons of wildlife shots which were beautiful and I shared my water fowl shots!

Return to Kansas

So, I actually headed back to Kansas today.  It was extremely hard for me to pry myself away from the pure joy of Western Nebraska and all the wonderful things that Briggs and I were doing there, but it was time.  Time to face the reality of returning my computer and tidying up the details surrounding my departure from vet school.

Briggsy and I made the 8.5 hour drive back which somehow seemed alot longer this time than most.  I am so very thankful to be headed back to Nebraska soon.

I'm Back!

Hi All,

For those of you wondering where I have been the last 5 weeks, let me catch you up!  I will be back dating some of my blog posts so that I can get you caught up on my life.  I really look forward to sharing where life has taken me these past 5 months since my vet school venture.  I will wrap up my Race Season 2012 with some pictures and stories as well.

Please feel free to comment, email, Facebook, text, call, or whatever you would like!  I would love hearing from you and where you are in your life.  I also need some encouragement to start writing and taking photos again, something I have lost interest in over the past few months.  It's time!

I'm Back!!

Vet School

My buddy had fun going to school with me last week for our LIVE DOG exam quizes....we did really well on them....make a good team!  Everyone loved him and he really loved the attention.  Great dog!

Surrounded by lots of ladies....LOL!

He was exhausted when we got home both nights....one night he ran with me too!  Rough life!  :)

~*BLesSinGs*~

Don't forget to stop and laugh!

First and foremost, I am THANKFUL!  I have been so overly blessed through these last 12 weeks of my first semester of vet school.  For those of you who know me, you know that I am very independent and I do not like to ask for help.  I simply had to put this aside.  Those same people also know that I have been on my  knees humbled this semester of vet school where I am seeking to fulfill a lifelong dream.  My transition from working the past 3 years to going back to school (and I mean SERIOUS school), has been extremely difficult for me to do.  Every Friday we have exams and almost every Friday, I have failed exam after exam after exam.  It has been exhausting.  Over Thanksgiving break, I was able to fully and totally focus on studying several hours each day uninterrupted which proved successful and extremely rewarding last week with excellent grades!  It feels so good!  I was able to celebrate last night with two of my best friends here, Melissa and  Nick.  It is these two classmates who are going to encourage me and drag me to our graduation together.

Heath has been my biggest fan through all these ups and downs!  It has truly been an emotional roller coaster and he has followed me through it all.  He has prayed with me each night for strength and faith as well as for praises for the little things in life.  He reminds me that life is good and no matter what, God has a plan for me to use me where I am needed.  No matter what happens this semester, I know that I have given it my best and will never regret this decision to come here.

All the faculty and staff have also been supportive with their review sessions and continual words of encouragement through the weeks that always seem to fly by.  I have found a wonderful study buddy, Cassie, to quiz each other and talk about concepts out loud.

I know there are so many people in Western Nebraska and back in Illinois praying for me and I want to thank you all for that.  I have learned to trust God, no matter what!  Thank you for believing in me!

*PRAISES*BLESSINGS*THANKSGIVING*