These two sure do love their naps in the sun! This is definitely one of their favorite places to lay down.
I spent Friday morning getting ready to defend my proposal to my dissertation committee members. I am in the last year of my PhD program, so I am getting ready to do my final research study. I get to wear this super awesome headset every time I meet with my committee so we don’t get weird audio feedback…awesome, huh? ; )
Ready to go! I reserved a room on campus – I’m going to Mizzou in Columbia, so my committee members, and then I used Zoom, which is like Skype, to connect to them. It works really well! This is also how I connected to most of my classes. I usually drove to Columbia for the first and last class meetings of each semester, and sometimes for one in the middle when I would present a project or something. But for the most part, my professors really worked with me to connect to class digitally, that way I didn’t have to drive to Columbia, about 2.5 hours every week!
After 2 hours of presenting and discussing my study, I got the go ahead to start!!! I have some edits to do, but I was expecting that. Let the craziness of conducting a big research study begin! I was pretty worn out after our meeting – it really drained me for some reason, so I made myself a celebratory drink and relaxed on the couch until Jake got home!
When we were in Colorado for Jake’s races, I found this super cute, comfortable dress at Marmot. I hadn’t worn it yet, so Jake told me to put it on and that he was taking me out to celebrate!
He walked me to his truck and this was sitting in the seat for me. Isn’t he the sweetest?
YAY! Wine and bourbon. He knows me well! Excuse my scratches, bruises, and mosquito bites from my trail race two weekends ago, haha! My wounds are healing nicely, I just have some ugly bruises.
Jake and I decided to go to some of our favorite places to have a drink and appetizers. We started at Metropolitan Grill and has this deliciousness. Ground beef and cheese on mushrooms – SO good. My Mom texted me as we were leaving and said they were having dinner by our house, so we surprised them and had a drink with them while they ate, then we headed to our second destination!
I’ve been craving sushi for weeks, so we went to Ocean Zen for some rolls and nigiri. This. Was. AMAZING.
Our last stop of the evening was Touch. I had an oyster shooter – it just sounded good! Then we got the bacon wrapped dates and some truffle french fries. I’m not a huge fry person, but they were pretty good! I let Jake eat most of them. Then we headed home! It was a really fun night and I am so thankful that Jake and I enjoy the same things.
Then it was up to run long Saturday morning! I was starving, so I had half a bagel with some peanut butter on it. I’ve been REALLY struggling to get out of bed lately, so I got started about an hour later than I was wanting…I knew it was going to be hot.
And it was! I could not stop sweating. But I got my 10 in! I can tell I’m still a little sore from my trail race over Labor Day. My joints were hurting really early on in this run, but I stretched a lot after, so I’m hoping that helps!
Jake had taken Aspen with him to Two Rivers to run trail while he rode his mountain bike, so Lu and I had some mother-daughter time playing frisbee in the backyard! I had sweat dripping in my eyes like crazy, which I HATE. It burns so bad.
After our frisbee time, I got ready to speak on a panel with my sister about our adoptions. We went to Lutheran Family and Children’s Services to speak to parents looking to adopt. It was a really special experience and I hope our stories, which are very different, helped them! We were both adopted from different families when we were babies – I was a newborn and Piper, my sister, was two months old. I think adoption is one of the most amazing things and I truly hope more people consider it.
I listened to Thomas Rhett’s new album on repeat all day Saturday.
Saturday night, Jake’s parent’s, Jeff and Penny, hosted an engagement BBQ for us! It was perfect and we loved getting to spend the evening with our families. Thank you both so very much!
Check out this smoker! We had some of the most amazing meat – Jake’s Dad, Jeff, is a grill/smoker master! For real. It was some of the best meat I’ve ever had!
Look at this plate of goodness! I was SO full. But it was SO worth it.
I failed to get a lot of pictures, we were just having too much fun talking with everyone! But here we are with Jake’s parents, who hosted our perfect party. <3
Here we are with my parents! Love you both!
This is Jake’s sister, Chelsea. We call her Chelsea #1 because she was in the family first and I am Chelsea #2 – I think we have had those nicknames since Jake and I first started dating! Now everyone just calls us 1 and 2, haha! I love it. She’s the sweetest!
This is Dawn, my birth mom, and her boyfriend, Mitch. They’re so special to us, too! Mitch and Jake were being goofy in every picture we tried to take…men! ; )
Our official wedding date is 5.26.2018! <3
We slept in a little on Sunday because we were up pretty late celebrating with everyone Saturday night. Jake and I grabbed brunch from Farmer’s Gastropub. I love coffee with milk in it, it’s so pretty!
We each had this for breakfast – and they brought us out ALL of the hot sauces!
Then it was home for me to work on the online classes I’m teaching right now and do some of my dissertation edits. While I did that, Jake organized the garage and fixed some stuff on my bike. He put bigger tires on it because I didn’t really like the other ones…because I was falling…a lot. It’s probably all mental, but I think these will help! ; )
About 5 PM, we realized we hadn’t had lunch, so we decided pizza was a good choice. We went to Pappo’s and had their house Italian salad and a spicy chicken cholula pizza. They were super yummy!
Then we did something bad…went to Coldstone. Whoops! Balance, right? It just sounded SO good…
Mouths full of ice cream!
This little girl…pretending to be asleep so I wouldn’t move her. No joke! She’s something else.
I struggled to get out of bed AGAIN this morning…we went to bed before 9 PM last night! I don’t know what my deal is – maybe I’m still recovering from staying up late Saturday. I drank a little coffee, worked on my dissertation edits, and then drank my BCAAs and hit the road!
I got 4 miles in at a sub 8 average, which felt pretty good!
Chowing down on the last of our breakfast casserole before I hit up the grocery store!
I have a meeting later about my dissertation edits. I need to get them approved ASAP so I can fill out my application with the university to start my study. Fingers crossed they are all approved today! So, the rest of today will be spent doing a leg circuit workout, finishing edits, and meal prepping!
How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?
Any good recipes I should try?
Happy Monday!