May: Done

This was one CRAZY busy month. I am not even sure when I had time to shower. But I did. I mean really. I promise.

Had a chance to speak at the Maple Run Friends Mother/Daughter Banquet - which was a wonderful evening with my friends. I was thankful to be invited to share!

Went house hunting with Abby (my realtor) and found a house I LOVED. Loved, loved, loved. (Will it love me back? I don't know.)

Spent a day at the Cherished Moments Craft Hideaway - with good friends, and accomplished a TON.

Got my first cold in over a year and was NOT happy about it. Sore throat...fever...sounded like the Allstate Man and Bea Arthur all rolled into one. Attractive for a job in radio.

Started my official training for the 10K this fall...and was pleased with the progress I made along the way...and surprised at some of the obstacles.

Worked the Secret Keeper Girl event in Ohio, and managed to get pulled over on the way home...STUPID BURNED OUT HEADLIGHT!! :)

Enjoyed a VERY fun birthday with all my work buddies, my friends, and my parents. Loved feeling so loved!

Went on a weekender vacation with Miss Lynne, checking out the worlds of Granville and German Village in Ohio. AND - fulfilled my summer livin' list item of going to a Farmer's Market! YAY!!

Took a day trip to Shipshewana where I not only had fun, but added to my embarrassing moments reel. It never ends.

Enjoyed a scrapping day with Miss Marie... and got all caught up on my little scrapbook.

Picked up my sister at the airport and got us lost in Indianapolis the night before the Indy 500. Brilliant. Then we spent a quality weekend together hanging out and SHOPPING!!

Bought my first ever hammock - which probably seals the deal that I'll be SO LAZY now.

Got to interview my mom on the chocoholic Mid-Morning show.

And last but NOT least - got to see my best friend! She was in town for a bit and I loved having dinner with her and her husband!

And that, my loves, is the month of May. Whew. I need a nap.

Cheesy Mexican Dip

How in the world have I NOT posted this recipe before now? It's one of the very first things I learned to make when I got out on my own. It's a recipe I got from a lady at our church; her name is Kathy. She brought this to every church carry-in and party and it was GONE every time.

Of course I wouldn't break the cardinal rule of taking someone else's signature dish to a church dinner, but I started taking it other places and it was a hit! This is one of THE easiest things to make in the entire world and it's so good. You can customize it a little to fit your tastes too! Winner all the way around!

The Recipe

1 pound ground beef
1 large box of Velveeta Cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can enchilada sauce
Bag of Chips.

In a slow cooker combine pound of browned ground beef, Velveeta, soup, and enchilada sauce. Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Move slow cooker to warm and serve with chips!

I used lean ground beef and 2% Velveeta (although face it: when eating processed cheese, does low fat really matter? But it made me feel better). Enchilada sauce comes in mild, medium, and hot, so pay attention to that detail! I got regular chips to take this to work, but I ADORE lime chips, so for me, that's what I'd get!!! Velveeta also makes a queso cheese, and one of my friends used it to make this and I heard it was also very good

Brown the ground beef. (This particular batch browned at 5:30 in the morning!!) One nice thing about this recipe is if you're taking it to work or church, you can brown the beef ahead, put it in a container and take it with you - and then assemble when you get there.

Cube the Velveeta so it melts faster.

You will never forgive yourself....NEVER EVER EVER...if you don't use a slow cooker liner with this recipe. Do you know the horror of cheese sauce burned on a slow cooker? Trust me. USE THE LINER. Add the enchilada sauce and soup.

Then add the ground beef.

Now and then, stir the dip. It will be chunky at first - until the cheese melts. But it will eventually look better!

Add chips and ENJOY!!!!

Woopsie!

Just in case the busting-in-on-the-dude-in-the-bathroom adventure from yesterday wasn't enough to keep you occupied....I'M BACK!!!!

So. My sister is visiting this week and I was her taxi home from the airport.

You can already sense the trouble, can't you?

I argued with Cal (my GPS) all the way to Indianapolis because he did NOT approve of my route of choice. (Like THAT is anything new from everyday life.) But I knew what I was doing and somehow I made it to the airport.

Word of advice. Don't drink a 32 ounce Coke prior to an hour and a half drive to an airport - where you will not have access to a restroom upon arrival. I waited in the cell phone lot for her to call, and when she did, I zoomed over to the main building to pick her up. Got a bit of a glare from the no-parking police. I think they wanted her to jump in as I drove past about 20 miles an hour. I think the fact that I actually STOPPED and (heaven forbid) popped the trunk for her to throw in her suitcase was the issue of the day.

We exited the airport and headed for the Sonic. You know how I love Sonic. You know how I don't have a Sonic. But there is one not that far from the airport. Or at least there was. I've been there. Kristin took me last year after I flew home from Florida. I plugged that baby into Cal and we zoomed that way.

Or we tried.

I missed the first exit because I was dialing my Mom to tell her Lori had arrived. I missed the second exit for reasons yet unknown to me. So we finally found our way there...

...and the Sonic did not exist. We looked everywhere. No Sonic.

And did you remember that I really had to go?

So finally we gave up and I plugged in the home address and we took off in search of restaurants in familiar territory.

Cal told me to turn left on Georgetown Road.

How in the world was I supposed to know that Georgetown Road was Indy 500 central???

Well I learned pretty quickly. Campers everywhere. Tents everywhere. People everywhere. Beer everywhere. And a really questionable game that involved getting topless - and the dude in charge gestured my way as though I should participate.

I did not.

So...here was our view the night before the Indy 500!

Good grief.

Hey! Anybody need a taxi driver? I am highly recommended....

...for the scenic route...

Shipshewana, Baby!

Last Wednesday I headed to Shipshewana, which is in northern Indiana. It's an Amish community, but they have tons of really cool little shops and then a huge flea market. I went with some friends, but they're blognonymous (feel free to use that word if you'd like) so while this post looks incredibly self-indulgent, please know I was having a good time with my friends.

We ate lunch at this cute little place, WHICH provided my "this would only happen to Bekah" moment of the day.

They had tables inside and outside, so we elected to eat outside. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. One of my friends went to the bathroom and when she came back to the table, I asked if it was a multi-person restroom. She said no; in fact the restaurant was so small that there was just one bathroom period. One for everyone. She said no one was in there, so I hopped up and went inside. Walked past the very full room of people, right by a table full of people - and opened the door to the restroom just in time to say hello to a man inside.

Oh. My. Word. Yes. There was a man in there! He was just getting ready to wash his hands, so I missed anything that might create irreparable damage on either of our parts, but it was still UBER embarrassing. I mean how do you even recover from that? I said sorry, closed the door and stood there (with the entire room of people looking at me, I'm sure) until he was done and then we sort of traded places. Good night, Irene.

(To his credit, he probably thought he'd locked the door but it was a weird "push in and turn to lock" sort of knob, so it um...didn't work.)

Here I am waiting on lunch:

And THIS was lunch. It was a "teeny weeny panini" plate. Or as I stated in my order: "I'll have the ham and swiss panini situation." (They laughed at me.)

And um....THEY HAD CUPCAKES!!!!!! I was the only person in my group who got dessert. Does this look like a girl who cares? NOPE! I mean, seriously, do you see the cupcake???

It was chocolate peanut butter in case you were wondering.

So then we went to some of the little shops in town. I walked into this one and saw a grouping of windchimes and thought...I wonder...

...yep! Woodstock Windchimes! I interviewed the owner of the company a few weeks ago. Really great guy with a fascinating story of how he got into the windchime business. So I took my picture with them because I'm just a dork like that:

Then I walked into another store and saw these and thought...I wonder....

...Yep! Red Letter Words! Lynne and I interviewed Dee Kasberger, who creates these when we did our Etsy show a few months ago. I told Mom later that my job is once again taking over my life, but this time I don't mind! I love it!

Then I saw this and willed myself not to buy it:

Hee hee hee!!!!

And at the end of the day, I rested on a glider on the porch of the Blue Gate Restaurant to ponder my adventures...you know...like busting in on a guy in the bathroom.

A fun day with fun friends!

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Last Sunday was chaotic! I did something I've never done before in my life - I went to an early church service! (I've never been to an early ANYTHING in my life. Who are we kidding?) That afternoon, I went with my friend Amber to the Broadripple Art Fair in Indianapolis. 91 degrees + sun + no wind + little shade + sunburn + heat of the day = almost dead Bekah. We finally left when I wasn't sure if I was going to throw up or pass out, but either way, it wasn't going to be fun. This could be a very long summer, my friends. (And there will be no photos of this endeavor.) You can however, look at my "cuddle up with the kiddo to watch last week's Army Wives" picture:

* Monday I had to go back to work to get some rest! :) And then after work I played the part of the responsible adult and mowed the yard and planted flowers. (That counted as half a workout, thankyouverymuch.) I won't lie. The flowers add a lot to the yard! And then in the waning moments of daylight, I squeezed in a one mile run, and y'all, I did it in 10 minutes. Again - for me - that is very good!

* Tuesday night I stayed in Fort Wayne with Lynne. I never know quite what to do with a night spent in the city because I always feel like I have so much extra time! I even went shopping for a little bit...because, you know...birthday gift cards!!

* Wednesday I went (with some blognonymous friends) to Shipshewana. If you're not from around here and have no idea what I'm talking about - it's an Amish community in northern Indiana. Tons of cool shops and a big ole flea market. There were definitely some adventures that day. More on that later! (Meanwhile - this was me resting on the porch of the Blue Gate Restaurant.)

* Thursday evening I got my hair dyed because it was um....pretty much completely white at the roots. I am TOO YOUNG for white hair, thankyouverymuch. My bangs are a little short, but that's okay. They'll grow! I took a picture but the lighting was bad and the color looked exactly the same as the picture above. But it's really a lot darker!

* Friday I had the chance to interview my Mom on Mid-Morning! We were both nervous, but I think the interview sounded pretty good. It wasn't her radio debut, but it's been a long time since she's been on the air.

And that night I ended my two year drought at Skyline Chili. YUM. That is some good food!

* And yesterday, I had a scrapfest with Miss Marie. We hunkered down at my house with homemade pizza, lots of snacks, and the Mary Tyler Moore marathon (because we're cool like that) and scrapped the day away! Then (check this out!) I hopped in my car and headed to Indianapolis (yes, the night before the Indy 500) to pick up my sister at the airport! We uh....got a little lost and look where we ended up:

One Thousand Gifts: You're going to laugh at me for this, but the night I got to stay at Lynne's house, I set the alarm on my phone and it said "this alarm will go off in 7 hours and 29 minutes." I could have cried! It has been WEEKS since it said anything more than 5 hours (most nights 4). I loved that night of sleep. It was so refreshing and definitely felt like a gift!

Pinterest Inspiration: I realize this may not be new for you, because there's no way it's a new idea, but it was new for me:

Source: oprah.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Storing sheets inside pillowcases! So when I did laundry this week, that's exactly how I stored them!

Observations in Running

Well...I'm a little ways into my "training" for From the Tubby Tummy to 10K adventure. I feel that this qualifies me as an expert (please insert hilarious laughter here) and I thought you might want to know what I've learned thus far.

* As I suspected, I was not capable of beginning the "novice" training program I found online. I could not run 2.5 miles on day one. I couldn't even run .5 miles. So creating my own pre-novice-novice program was definitely the way to go and I'm glad I did it.

* Running with a cold is brutal. Zero lung capacity. Runners in training run anyway.

* Don't add hills too soon. I have a few paths I like to run and one has hills. It was removed until I'm capable of breathing. Flatlands are challenging enough when you're new. (And when I say "it was removed," I mean I removed that option from my selection. I did not remove the hill itself. I am not allowed to play with earth movers.)

* Don't eat dinner before running. And if you do and think 1/2 hour is enough time for it to settle, it's not. Just trust me. P.A.I.N.

* You cannot possibly hydrate enough. Okay medically you probably can. But as a girl who doens't love water, I THOUGHT the amount I was drinking was enough and I found out it just was NOT. Someone (and if you are "someone" - please remind me who you are so I can give you credit!) told me that you actually need to start hydrating a week before an event because you can't possibly get there in even a day. Who knew?

* Improvement comes more quickly than expected. I pushed myself a little bit more every day and was shocked when I was running farther, longer, than I thought I would or could.

* Slow and steady. My method in running had always been to run hard when I ran...and then walk the rest. I'm learning that (duh!) if I just slow down, I can run longer.

* And here's the kicker that I do not even WANT to talk about on the el-blog-o but I wish someone would have told me, so I'm telling you! One morning I woke up (with the alarm) and my stomach was a MESS. A sick mess. I felt fine but it did not. I didn't even make it to work that day without stopping along the way. When I got to work (scared out of my mind about why my stomach was upset), I told my friend Sheryl what was happening. Her immediate reaction was "Are you running more?" Of course. Apparently that can mess with your digestive tract! WHO KNEW??? I googled it and it's true. Those very symptoms can come from lack of hydration and improper diet and (sob) too much caffeine. So all you thinking-about-it-runners out there - take note!

German Village

We left Granville late in the morning and drove about a half hour back to Columbus, because we wanted to visit German Village, on the outskirts of town.

We just so happened to visit on the day they had a giant rummage sale throughout the Village. So there were people EVERYWHERE!!

We went in search of cute shops, but they were hard to find (perhaps covered up by rummage sales??) - although we did find this piece of happiness:

Books...books...EVERYWHERE!!!!! There were dozens of little rooms in the Loft, each categorized. Pretty cool.

It was very warm that day, and we were hungry, so we stopped at Lindey's Restaurant - because we could eat outside!

We sat under an umbrella and that helped with the sun beating down on us. The food was very, VERY good.

One of the best salads I've ever eaten. Not gonna lie.

Lynne wanted me to experience some of the famous local ice cream, so we got a recommendation to try Jeni's ice cream. If you click on the picture, you can see the menu to the left and you can see they have some unusual flavors. I stuck with something I was familiar with - Salty Caramel. :)

We walked to a nearby park and sat on a bench to eat and rest for a bit.

By that time, we were pretty wiped out from the heat, so we trekked our way back to the car (all the while stopping to ooh and aah over beautiful old brick homes with lovely flowers) and headed back to Indiana. This is a happy girl:

And I managed to capture the Indiana sign at the last possible minute!

On the way home, we stopped at a MASSIVE nursery to purchase flowers so I could plant them in my yard. So glad she introduced me to that place! One very successful two-day vacation that I thoroughly enjoyed - and spending it with Lynne made it even better!

Mornings, Farmer's Market, and Other Adventures

Saturday morning, Lynne got to see "Bekah unplugged." AKA Bekah before coffee. It's a small wonder we're still friends. (I think I scared her.)

Here was our funny story from the morning. We went into the restaurant at the Inn, where they served a continental breakfast. While I was waiting for them to find more coffee (you understand the urgency of that...I know you do...) Lynne and I witnessed the following scene featuring a bride (who appeared to be about 12 years old) and her entourage, including her mother.

Bride: Where's my key? I can't find my key. I need my key!
Mom: Is it in your pocket?
Bride: Where's my phone? I have to call him to make sure he doesn't leave the room! Where is my phone! Give me your phone! Why aren't you looking for my phone?
Mom: Here. And your phone is over there on the table.
Bride (calling groom): I can't find my key! Have you left? Don't leave!
Mom: Have you checked your pocket?
Bride: Oh! There it is! Wow. I am SUPER calm today!

Really??? That is super calm?? I was ready to call the groom myself and advise him to think again.

After I was adequately caffeinated, we embarked on our first adventure of the day, which was walking back downtown to go to the Farmer's Market! I was SO excited, because as you might remember, going to a Farmer's Market was on my livin' list for this summer!

The Farmer's Market was ADORABLE. It lined a whole street and there were all sorts of people selling all sorts of things. Herbs....

Paintings...music...

Gorgeous flowers....

...More herbs. Check out those super cute soup rings at the bottom of the picture!

Proof that I was at the Market! We didn't get to buy anything because we were going to be gone all day and while the car was parked, it would be blazing hot and anything we'd get would die a painful death. But we did dearly love walking through and soaking up the experience.

And as we walked to and from...it was so neat to see all the people out at the sidewalk tables, drinking their morning coffee, taking the dogs for walks, and carrying baskets toward the Market. I'm telling you - most darling place to live!!

And Then They Got Lost

After Lynne and I ate dinner Friday night, it was still pretty early, so brilliant-party-of-one, here, suggested we go for a walk through the campus of Denison University, which is in Granville. We'd walked by it earlier in the day, and the grounds looked pretty, so I wanted to see it up close. Welcome to the up close tour.

First of all, this is your best friend after multiple large iced teas and a massive waffle cone:

We lucked out. It was graduation weekend and the buildings were actually unlocked.

No idea what this building is, but it's representative of the beautiful architecture all over campus.

And these, my friends, were the steps. Yes, they do continue on out of sight there. And guess what? We hiked 'em. In our dress shoes.

But not before we stopped to ponder the amusement of old language where they used V for U. "Vpward."

We made it to the top of all those steps and pondered taking advantage of this bad boy. (But we didn't.)

Lynne, at the top of the hill, doing her Evita impersonation. "Don't cry for me, Argentina!"

Her view. Hard to believe we'd just walked by the front doors of the churches that were just steeples in our view!

Lynne and the 1905 bench made entirely out of cement.

More gorgeous architecture.

An observatory. We just observatoried it from the street.

Every lamp post reminded me of Narnia, so I finally just had my picture taken with the thing.

Gorgeous. (There was a wedding going on in here, I think. We pondered going in to speak as to why this man and this woman should not be wed, but we didn't. See how good we were on our vacation?)

And after getting lost and almost chased by a dog and having blisters on our feet and whining our way back down all those stairs...we noticed the quote SAID, "Nor whine ovt woes." I think ve vhined ovt voes.

And in case the pictures weren't enough...how about a little video? (We are sorry...but this is truly how we are. Please laugh.)