Backgrounds!

I have been wondering where all my friends on here get their super cute backgrounds.....and I finally figured it out!!!!! I went to The Cutest Blog On The Block blog and they have such cute and festive free backgrounds for blogs, I LOVE IT!  Just wanted to share that;)

I should have some new pictures to update my somewhat drabby (of late) blog by this weekend.  Saturday is the Meyer family Christmas and EVERYONE will be there, including my new little nephew Gage!  Then the next weekend is the Brunner family Christmas and our own little family Christmas (which Nate is coming to!) so, never fear, there are more pics to come;) I have all my Christmas shopping done, thank God, so it's smooth sailing from here on.

Not much...

Not much out of the ordinary has been going on lately!  It has been pretty busy at work the past few weeks which makes the nights after them just the opposite....uneventful!  I just feel like laying on the couch I'm so wiped out. Plus Nate doesn't get home from work until around 10:30pm so I feel like I should be up and spend time with him for a little bit too. So, I have gotten used to taking naps in the evening....not the best, I know. 

Nate and I are also "busy" planning our trip to Dallas.  I am taking the third section of my prosthetic boards there on January 8th so we are making a little vacation out of it.  Nate loves history so we are definitely going to the Book Depository Museum for some JFK info.  My friend Maja and her husband also live in Texas (Austin) so we are going to meet up with them sometime, somehow! Any suggestions on good hotels and other things to do there???

On a different note, I'm kinda sad tailgating season is over:( Even though my Hawkeyes pissed down their own legs at the end of the season I was hoping we could redeem ourselves in whatever bowl game we went to. Now, after the announcements for the bowl games yesterday, I'm not so sure that will happen. Mizzou???? Yikes! That will be pretty hard for us even if we play one of our "good games" like we did against Michigan State. If we play like we did against Northwestern or Minnesota you might as well forget it and go to bed. It would be nice to go to Arizona for the bowl game-in the middle of winter-but seeing as we are already going to Dallas it is not really feasable.....if it was the Rose Bowl it would be a COMPLETELY different story!

Curtains

Last week I finally bought the rest of the window coverings I needed!  Nate and I hung them up and here's a look at them;)

downstairs deck door....the downstairs is still kind of a work in progress...



Office. I love these curtains. They are a champaigne color in a zebra print.



Kitchen window

This past weekend I also visited my friends Maddy and Tom in Chicago.  We tailgated for the pathetic Iowa/Northwestern game and had a fun time just hanging out!  I am also studying up for 2 of my prosthetic boards which I am taking this Friday on the computer.  The boards are made up of 3 different tests, 2 of which are multiple choice on a computer and the third is only offered twice a year.  I am taking it in January in Dallas. That portion actually has patient interaction and you cast for a below knee prosthesis, measure for an above knee prosthesis, etc.....yikes! wish me luck!!

Gage

My brother Nick and his wife Jill had their baby yesterday, November 6th. Its a boy! They named him Gage Nicholas Brunner. He was 6lbs 14oz and 19 inches long.  He's perfect;) I went and visited today with the fam, here are some pics:

Too school for cool

So, it's been awhile, huh.....What have I been up to you might ask? Well, to tell you the truth, nothing much.  Last weekend was a GREAT Iowa Football game against Michigan State and that pretty much made my weekend AWESOME.  My friend Kacey and I also went to a Halloween party Friday night (which made getting up at 5 to tailgate a little difficult the next day). I dressed as some random masquerade ball lady with a mask and boa and Kacey was Katy Perry on Sesame Street and she carried around a tickle me elmo all night, hahahah!!! The party was at our friend Erica's apartment (the hippie pictured below) and was really fun!


Our group at Erica's halloween party. Janelle was a cat, me the wonderful masquerade/carnivale lady, Kacey as Katy Perry, Elmo, Erica as a Hippie, and Erica's friend as a punked out Dorothy....


This weekend I am on call so there will not be very much going on, except hopefully painting my office, doing laundry and watching the Iowa vs Indiana game uniterrupted (cross your fingers!).  My second week of the C2K running program went very well, I'm impressed with myself even though it wasnt very much at all I haven't really just gone out and ran since high school track!  Although I seemed to have developed some pes anseine bursitis (self diagnosed) in my left knee so this week I decided to stay on "week 2" of my workout and not up the running too much so I wouldn't inflame my knee more. 

So, I just saw a preview for the movie "Unstoppable" on TV and I really want to see it! It has Denzel Washington and is about a runaway train and is a true story.....I also want to see Toy Story 3 and want the "digitally remastered" Beauty and the Beast and How to Train Your Dragon. FYI.

Bedside Lamps....

I FINALLY bought some lamps to on my nightstands! They were a steal at Gordmans and I just couldn't pass them up.  They are genie type bottoms that are silver and a white shade. I 'm thinking I might change the shade color at some time, but for now white is just fine withe me.  The real reason I was at Gordmans was to get fall and Christmas decor...I love that stuff!!! Anyway, I did buy some of each, but I will wait to post pictures until it is being used;) The fall decore will be in use very soon, as soon as I get the candle centerpiece that I ordered from my Aunt Candy's Longaberger party.....

So, it doesn't quite look silver with my flash on, but don't worry, it is;)




I think it makes the while place look a little homier and nice and cozy (especially on such a windy, cold day like today). Now I just have to do a little something different with the middle part above the  bed and the bedroom will be done! Well, I guess I also want to get a 19 or 22 inch flat screen with a DVD player on the side, but that can wait.



Also, I have decided I'm going to paint my office a shade of purple called either "Ash Violet" or "Mythical" from Sherwin Williams.  The Mythical one is a shade darker than the Ash one so maybe I should go with Ash Violet and it will probably dry a little darker than shown on the strip......yay!

C25K

So, I got this idea from Kaylan's blog when she and her husband, T.J., started it last week and I thought it would be a great way for me to get back into working out and perhaps FINALLY do the Fun Run at Baxter Fun Days, haha.  So, today I started running;) This C25K stands for Couch to 5K and it is a program to help people start running again who have maybe started to "slack" a little.  This is totally me.  My first workout today wasn't too bad at all.  You can check out C25K, but it basically gives you a workout for each week of an 8 week program and it ups the running a little each week.  This first week is: 5 minute warm up walk, then 60 seconds of running followed by 90 seconds of walking for 20 minutes straight.  I have a nice little pond with a walking trail very close to my house so I just used that.  As the program goes on you can either keep going by time (which I find kinda annoying bc I don't have a stopwatch or anything and have to carry a watch with me and keep looking at the second hand) or find a track and go by laps/distance.  I think I might have to switch to the track/distance way of doing things after awhile....plus it's getting kinda cold on my poor throat! 

Iowa vs Michigan

A few friends and I went to the Iowa/Michigan game in Ann Arbor this weekend, IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!! My friend Kelsey, her husband Chris, and his friend Kevin and I roadtripped to Michigan (which took about 9 hours to get there after hitting rush hour traffic at 4:30 in Chicago) and here are a few pics of tailgating and the game. I also met some old friend there who had driven from Minneapolis. It was great to Nic and Erica again! The weather was great, the tailgating was fun, and the Big House was full of Hawkeye fans! I love how our fans travel anywhere and everywhere. We were trying constantly to get on TV but we aren't sure whether it really happened or not. Even after we were stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours, we forgot the brats in the fridge in the hotel, and I dropped a whole beer in my pants while in a port-a-potty.....I would say our first away game trip (that will hopefully turn into an annual thing) was a complete success!!!

Just getting our tailgate set up.  We tailgated on the U of M golf course, which was really nice, but kinda pricey at $30 per car. Still a good time and we had lots of Hawks around us.

The Big House



A closer pic of us going to the game with the stadium in the backround.  This place gets SOOOO LOUD!



The Manzi. DJK. ARob. Need I say more??? Oh yeah, Sash here would make it perfect.

 Happy and winning at the game.

So, these were our freaking awesome seats! Right after this play I said "Oh! I should take a video because I think they're going to score!" Sure enough, they did!!!! Here's the video;)

Followers....

So, I'm having a problem seeing who my followers are.  Does anyone have any ideas or solutions to this problem????? It's kind of annoying.

My weekend...

So, a pretty uneventful weekend seeing as there was no Iowa football game! I am so used to my whole Saturday being "wasted" while I either tailgate and go to the game and then recover.....or while I watch it on TV and then recover. It's amazing how much you can actually do! I finally got some cleaning and organizing done that was waaaaaaay overdue. Friday night I met my brother Nick and my sister-in-law Jill in Cedar Rapids for dinner....we chose BWW;) Even though the whole reason for us to do this was so I could give Nick some tools that our dad gave me we had a good time. Then Saturday I got my hair done, finally!!!!! I got it trimmed a little, but also died it darker for fall.....here's a somewhat "ok" pic. Just a reminder, I had some pretty blonde highlights going on. At first they were fine, but I had to keep getting them to fill in the roots that grew out and my hair just kept getting more and more blonde. It looks kinda dumb with my black, prominent eyebrows, so I went back dark. Much better;) My boyfriend, Nate, told me my hair looked like it did in my senior pictures....yikes. I'm definitely a brunette!

So, it kinda looks like I don't have a shirt on, but never fear, I am wearing a tank top. On another note, I'm not a big fan of this unusually warm weather. I'm a sweatshirt girl, bring on the 60 degree weather!

After I got my hair did, Jill and I went furniture shopping in Cedar Rapids. We did not have the best of luck. Jill was looking for a dresser for the baby's room and I was looking for some kind of dry bar/wine rack for my living room where I have a little bare wall left. We hit up the good ole consignment furniture stores and both saw a couple things we liked, but not for the price they had it marked at......I think I'll keep checking on my wine rack I saw at Bill's Brothers, it already went down $40. If it goes down another $40 or so I might get it. I'll keep you posted;) However, we then visited Smulekoffs....bad idea! Everything I liked was definitely over $1000 and after awhile I think we were both a little depressed:(

So, I also updated my decor a little at home. I got my bedroom shelves stocked and almost done! I still want to put some hooks or something to hang jewelry on under the green wreath, but here is what I have:

and a closeup of my duvet cover and fun accent pillow

However, my newest purchases are set up in the living room and office! So, I don't think I've posted on here about how much I love Pier1, but seriously, I LOVE IT. The next 3 things I purchased there and I asbolutely love them!!! The big lantern is fun and matches my living room great (although the curtains and rug are also from Pier1 so that probably makes sense). The screen is one of my ideas to try to hide my shelves that have all my dvd's and books on them. I think they look kinda cluttered and wanted to get them out of the way but still have the storage.....The office (the room the screen is in) will eventually be painted, the color is still undecided....The hooks are one of my favorites so far.

And lastly, I purchased these 2 ladder shelves from the JCPenny home store online. I obviously don't have them all filled in yet, but don't worry, it'll happen;)

Sunday my mom and I went to a baby shower for Jill that her aunt's on her dad's side threw her in Rowley, IA. I'm sure everyone knows where that is;) She got so much good stuff!!! I, of course, got her some hawkeyes onesies and pj's along with the swing my mom and I went in on together. Then after the shower we went to see Nick and Jill's newly renovated house that is basically finished! It all looked so good!! They added a bathroom upstairs, squared off their bedroom, made a bedroom for the baby, added a linen closet and added closets in all the rooms! Whew! Nick did most of the handywork himself, pretty impressive! They live in a pretty old farmhouse that had no closets and one bathroom that is downstairs so this will be awesome. The baby's room was soooooo cute! We painted it green (we had a painting party earlier last month). Since they are waiting to find out what they are having I guess gender neutrals are the name of the game right now. Our side of the family is having a shower after the baby is born so we can get cute pink girly stuff or sporty blue boy stuff! Can't wait!!!! She is due on Thanksgiving....if you ask me, I think they may be having a boy, but what do I know. I guess we'll see!

On a separate note, after the shower and tour, Mom, Easton, and I went to the movie "Easy A". It was ok. Nothing I would purchase for long time viewing pleasure or anything.....just ok. FYI.

Pics of the house, Iowa tailgating, and the Meyer Fall Festival

So, obviously I haven't blogged AT ALL lately but here are some pics of my house all completed!!! Enjoy;) I am still putting the finishing touches on the "office" so those pics are soon to come!

We've also been doing a bit of tailgating! GO HAWKS!!!

There was also an annual Meyer Fall Festival thrown in the mix! It was a pretty cold, rainy night but we still managed to get the hayrack ride in. I also have a pretty great video of my cousins Jolee and Dan trying to play the apple game;) Enjoy!

I bought a house!!!

This was a very short time in the making, but as of Friday I was officially a homeowner!!!! I really only started the process Monday of that same week....but I found a place I loved, made an offer, and it was mine! It is a townhouse, split foyer, with a two-car garage, a full bath, bedroom, and family room on the lower level that opens to a patio...and the master bedroom, jack and jill bathroom and another bedroom (that will likely be an office) upstairs. The living room/kitchen area has awesome cathedral vaulted ceilings, stainless stell appliances, gas fireplace, deck....I'm still trying to pick out my countertops but I think I'm going to have all hardwood in the kitchen and living room area and carpet in the rest except bathrooms. I'm sooooo excited!!!

First Timer

Soooo......I decided to start a blog! Really, I just joined to follow all of my friends' blogs so I can keep up with them and their crazy families while I might not live the closest. I got bored tonight and decided to make a profile and do it up right;)

So, maybe I'll turn this into my "workout blog". Maybe that will make me do better and be more accountable if I think other people might be watching/reading/whatever! So, tonight I'm counting cleaning up my apartment while watching The Biggest Loser as some kind of light workout....it gets hot in here with the dishwasher and dryer going and me running all around!

Also, I've been thinking about joining Netflix....I watch way too many movies to be able to buy them all. Plus I want to watch Lost from beginning to end but don't want to own it! Any thoughts about Netflix?????

This weekend I am on call, but Sunday my sister-in-law Jill is having a Silpada jewelry party through me!!!! I'm really excited because I just got in a whole bunch of new jewelry from the new 2010 catalog and can't wait to show it off!!!!!!!!!!