High Five for Friday in Barcelona!

1. I'm writing this from Barcelona! This is my 3rd trip this year and although my site seeing was next to nothing this trip, I did get to do a little window shopping and enjoyed some delicious meals with great views.

2. This week has been extremely productive. We got through everything on our agenda this week and training went very smoothly all things considered. It's so nice leaving here knowing I accomplished what I wanted to.

3. I get to go home tomorrow. This is for reals. I've been here a week and I'm really just ready to go home, eat a salad, and sleep in my own bed next to my husband. In approximately 10 hours I will be in a taxi on my way to the airport. Perhaps I should be packing instead of writing this....

4. The internet is working! My morning started with an alarm going off in the hallway of the hotel and then the internet not working when I logged on to Skype with C. In our Barcelona office, the power goes out when it rains more than 30 minutes at a time. Life is a little crazier here and I learn every day to cherish the small victories.

5. I found Mexican food near our hotel. I didn't eat there tonight, but I now have some fresh restaurant choices and possibly some mexican-like food when I come back at the end of October. That will likely be a 2-week trip so I'm really going to need a lot of options...

What's your high-five for Friday? Be sure to link up with Lauren!

High Five for Friday!

I figured the Friday after a 4-day week is the perfect day to post my first High Five for Friday, linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk!

1. My weekend ahead has no official plans booked. This is rare. Despite a growing To-Do list (currently 11 items), I might actually have time to relax a bit. I like to add menial tasks or errands to my To-Do list. It makes me feel really productive when I get to cross them off the list.
2. I had 0 meetings at work today, which meant I had time to get some lingering projects done. I love being able to leave on a Friday afternoon with my inbox mostly cleaned out from the week. 
3. My blog reached 5,000 views today! Woo hoo! 
4. Grocery shopping at Walmart is approximately 500 times less stressful on Friday evenings than it is at any time on Saturday or Sunday. My groceries for next week are purchased and grocery shopping is officially crossed off my list. Life is good.
5. And finally, Friday nights are better with 30 Rock on Netflix streaming and a bottle of red wine with the guy I love. Thanks to C for hiding out in our room with me to get a little quiet "us" time. 

    Post your own High Five for Friday post and be sure to link up with Lauren! 

Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead

Today C and I got to spend the whole afternoon babysitting our nephew A. Since it rained all day Friday and Saturday and he was stuck inside, we decided we needed to get him out of the house. A loves animals so we took him to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead in Overland Park, KS. He was excited. Aunt "Sissa" and Uncle C were just glad our house wasn't being destroyed for a few hours. It was definitely worth the $2 per person admission fee. 

A can't really read, but he likes to think he can. He got to "read" a book at the one-room school house. 

This was supposed to be his "happy" face, but I'm not sure it was successful.

For $1 he could get a bottle and feed the baby goats. The goats tried to eat his shorts for free, but he wouldn't let them. 

For 25 cents, we bought some food to feed the ducks. 

For another 25 cents we got to buy food to feed the "big" goats. This kid is fearless. 

Overall the day was really fun. I wish it had been a little cooler, but everyone really enjoyed themselves. A enjoyed his time seeing all the animals and playing on the various playgrounds. He even met a nice little 6 year old to help him navigate his way through the playground. He colored some fake money in the bank and got to put it in the vault for safe keeping. And he got to go down some big slides attached to a barn. 

The Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead was a great value for the money. I had always heard about this place from coworkers with little kids but hadn't had a reason to go until now. It was much better than what I expected and had tons of activities. We'll have to take him back when it opens next spring so he'll be able to do the pony rides and tractor rides (you have to be 3 to do those activities). The farmstead is open until the end of October so be sure to check it out if you're looking for an afternoon of family fun!

Life with a toddler

A 2 and a half year old monster moved into our house today. He immediately pulled every toy out of his toy chest and threw it on the floor. Then he refused to eat his dinner while acting out scenes from Toy Story. After a LONG walk (about a mile), he came home to have a little ice cream, take a bath, and is now sitting on my lap watching Despicable Me on my sister's Kindle Fire. Yes, I'm typing this with him sitting on me. This is life with a toddler. C has no idea what he just got himself into.

I will admit that my initial goal was to just run him around a bunch and wear him out. Unfortunately, I think I'm the one that got worn out. Well played little guy, well played.

Other happenings around here:
1. C had a dinner with his thesis group last night, which meant I had dinner with 10 physicists, a chemist, and the thesis professor's 12-year old daughter. Physicists are exactly as weird an awkward as I thought they were.

2. My grandmother had another break in her hip and after a long weekend at the hospital is now at home with the help of hospice. It's been a long couple of weeks but her spirits are much higher now than they were a few weeks ago, so we just keep praying for her comfort. My mom is amazing and worked really hard this weekend to help get her in a wheelchair and outside some, so she was pretty happy during my visit this afternoon. Prayers are still very much appreciated.

3. I'm traveling back to Spain in a few weeks which mean work is as busy as ever while we prepare for our visit. In addition to work, I'm trying to keep our house picked up and clean so it's not overwhelmingly dirty when I come back from my trip. I'm starting to understand why people hire maids.

4. My nephew is seriously pretty hilarious. As exhausting as it is to chase after and "control" the uncontrollable, he says really funny stuff and his vernacular is impeccable at times. It has been awhile since I've been around toddlers and I'd forgotten how creative they can be.

5. I got to meet a beautiful little girl named Harley Jo today. Isn't that such a cute name?!?! She's the newest addition to my cousin's adorable family of (now) 4, only 2 weeks old. She let me hold her while she slept soundly for probably an hour or so. So peaceful.

Back to School Update!

Since I've seen a million back to school photos on facebook today, I thought it was time for an update. I guess this the signal for the end of summer.

I'm starting  to realize that no matter how much I avoid it, ignore it, or wish it not so, life will always be hectic. I like to say things like "Life has just been crazy busy lately"...but the truth is, life has been crazy busy for the past few years and I don't see that changing.

So that's it, I'm accepting the fact that life is busy. And that's okay. Sometimes weekends aren't busy, so that makes life seem a little less busy for a brief moment.

And let's be real, I don't know how many facebook status updates I've read complaining that people are bored or looking for something to do. I guess I'm just thankful I'm not so bored that I update my facebook status 10 times a day. I was bored enough last night to "reorganize" some of my pinterest boards, but that was in between baking batches of cookies. (I'm super productive, don't you worry).

Here are some things going on in our house right now:
1. My sister has moved in with us. It's an adjustment for all 3 of us, but so far my sister and I have not punched each other, yelled at each other (except last night when she ate one of the cookies I told her not to eat) or locked each other in a room. So I'm figuring that's a success.

2. My grandmother fell and broke her hip 2 weeks ago. It's going to be an extremely long and painful recovery, but she's in a nursing home now and while some days are better than others, we have high hopes for her healing process. Prayers are much appreciated.

3. C and I have had some great weekend trips this summer, including a trip to a friend's wedding in Fort Smith, Arkansas (C's first trip to AR) and a trip to visit some dear friends in Springfield. Photos to come!

4. C and I have cooking club this weekend! It's been about 6 weeks since the last cooking club gathering so we're pretty excited. This will be bittersweet though as this will be the last cooking club for some dear friends of ours that are moving away for about 6 months. While 6 months will go by very quickly, it will still be sad not having them around. Here's hoping we can plan a trip to go visit them!

5. Work continues to pick up for C and myself, including additional travel. It looks like I'll be heading back to Spain probably 2 more times this fall while C has various trips around the US planned. I have no doubt this fall will go by extremely quickly and Christmas will be here before we even realize it!

6. (With any luck) C begins his last year of graduate school next week. We are still hoping he can complete his thesis work in time to graduate next May, which will put him on the 5-year program....only 1 more year than his Undergrad took! I don't think he'll know what to do with himself after that, but I'm sure I can find some projects around the house for him to work on. ;)

Closing Ceremonies

As I sit here watching the Olympic Closing Ceremonies, I have to admit, I'm ready to move on from the Olympics. They were wonderful, and everything I had hoped they would be. But it seems my Olympic fever is all burnt up. After 2 weeks of non-stop Olympic coverage I am ready to clean my house, do my laundry, and maybe even get to bed before 11:30. These are real life things that aren't being done around my house.


I didn't get to blog about as many "international" meals as I'd hoped but I promise we have been eating a variety of ethnic cuisine in this house as well as some not-so ethnic cuisine. Life is a balancing act.

Check out this homemade French Bread. Congratulations to France and their 34 medals!

We supported Mexico with these taco lettuce wraps found here via Pinterest. True Mexicans love turkey taco wraps, don't worry.  

I hope you all have enjoyed the Olympics as much as we have. Perhaps now that we must experience life sans Olympic coverage, we can use the motivation we gained watching the Olympics to get back into a normal workout routine. Or perhaps we'll just spend our extra time catching up on all the other neglected shows on our DVR. I'm getting a little anxious to know what's happening in Falling Skies. 

What was your favorite Olympic moment? What will you do with your time now that you aren't watching the Olympics?

1. Favorite Olympic Moments: Fab Five wins Gold!, Mo Farah wins 5k and 10k (I know he's not an American, but his races were awesome AND he trains here in the US!), US Women's 4x100m relay take Gold (and break the record by a half a second!)

2. My time fillers: Perhaps it's time to start that wedding album. C and I are coming up on our 2nd anniversary after all.  



Olympic Pizza

Two years ago, C and I found ourselves at my parents house for a weekend visit during the Winter Olympics 2010. My sister, her husband and their son were living with them at the time so it was a full house. We thought it would be fun to do homemade pizza for dinner, and thus was the start of Olympic Pizza.

2010 Olympic Pizza

This year, C and I decided to recreate Olympic Pizza, and a tradition is born. This is the first tradition C and I have "started" for ourselves, so I'm pretty excited about it. This is going to be a great tradition to experience as our family grows over the years. Feel free to make this your own Olympic tradition, too!

Our Olympic Pizza is made with a premade thin crust by Pillsbury (the refrigerated canned kind). We topped it with a little garlic olive oil, pizza sauce, black olives, bell pepper, leftover diced tomatoes, and turkey pepperoni.

2012 Olympic Pizza