workin' out

For those of you who know me personally, you know that I am really into working out. I love to work out! I was big into running in high school for cross-country and I still have that love for running. I thought I would share with you my workout gear! As you can see in the picture I have a pretty sweet Eddie Bauer bag I use to go to the gym with and my Asics. Asics are my shoe, I will not/cannot run in anything else but my Asics! Love them! Also in the picture you can see a pink Polar watch. I finally got it today! I am so excited about being able to track my heart rate and calories each day. Definitely a workout booster.

Working out makes my day so much better! I start every morning off with Kosama at 6:15am which gives me the energy I need to get through my 8am classes. Sometimes in the afternoon I will hit the gym to get another workout in or just to go for a jog. I encourage everyone that reads this to go for a little work out or even just a walk outside. Here in Iowa it is a beautiful day! No excuse not to take in some fresh air :)



Here is a little update on my 365 day inspiration notebook:
I started 1 week ago today. Here are some pics of how it is looking to inspire you to start yours! (if you haven't already, which I highly encourage you to do)

the raccoon who could...

Today I am going to tell you a little story about what happened in our house last night. I have two roommates and we live in a rather large some-what creepy house. (at least at night) At approximately 11 pm last night I was awaken by the sound of my roomie, Katie, running up the stairs. I could hear her and my other roomie, Kirsten, talking about something being in the house. Naturally I freak out and get up to go see if we can figure out what is going on. Luckily, Kirsten has a mag light on her at all times so we took that and the three of us went to the kitchen to see what was going on. On the other side of the basement door there was scratching and the door had been cracked open a bit. Katie took the light and shined it in the cracked door and there was something furry in there! She kicked the door shut really fast and by the movement of the creature we confirmed there was definitely something down there. So... who do we call? Ghost Busters! or the next best thing... we all call our boyfriends to see if they will come help us! Katie and Kirsten's boyfriends came along with two groupies (aka their roomies). They throw open the basement door to see what it is and low and behold it is a HUGE raccoon!! Of course us girls are freaking out that a raccoon got into our basement because can you imagine what would have happened if we hadn't caught him at this time! He probably would have ended up in our rooms! ahhh! Thankfully the boys got out brooms and made a clear path out the back door and scared him back outside. We were saved!

Props to you lovely boys!

Best Coffee in Town!

Merry Monday everyone! Today I am going to tell you about my favorite place to get coffee in Ames, Iowa. Its a little place called Lorry's Coffee. Literally the best place ever! Not only is the coffee fabulous, the atmosphere and the service is spectacular. Lorry, the cool guy who runs the place, is probably one of the nicest guys I have ever met. If you want to meet somebody who is 100% committed to great customer service go to Lorry's Coffee. He also has the best staff members too! They are so friendly and always have smiles on their faces. It is truly the best coffee shop in Ames. If you have not been there yet do yourself a favor and go today!

Superbowl Sunday

Happy Superbowl Sunday! I don't know about you but I was up really late making all kinds of goodies for our Superbowl party today. I'm not the biggest fan of football but if there is a party to be organized and beautiful food to be made I am all over it! I thought I would share some of the things we will be having at our party today. Maybe you will have time to pop some of these treats out before tonight!

brownie bites

brownie bites

cake ball truffles

deli sandwiches

sugar cookies

more sugar cookies

veggie tray

I am pretty proud of my creations and especially my deli sandwiches. I thought it would be inexpensive and delicious to go buy Jimmy John's day old bread to make the sandwiches on. So, if you need to make some quick deli sandwiches go grab some bread from JJ's it is only 50 cents a loaf!!

Backyard Candle Company

Good morning! This morning I woke up to make breakfast and my candle from Backyard Candle Company was just waiting to be lit in my kitchen, which inspired me to do a feature post on this adorable chic little shop in Washington, Iowa.

I had the joy of going into Backyard Candle Co. over Christmas break when I went to visit my friend, Abby. I had never been to the shopping district in Washington, Iowa so we went to the square and she took me to the best places in the town. I by far have to say that the Backyard Candle Co. was my favorite. I bought myself a delicious candle and a scent for my Scentsy. I have been in love since!

Backyard Candle Company Bio:
We are a small candle boutique in Iowa, where each candle is, 100% soy and hand poured with love right in the store. We have over 50 scents to choose from as well as an assortment of eclectic decor, gifts, accessories, one of a kind vintage pieces and so much more.

(picture from Backyard blog)

(picture from Backyard blog)

Make sure to check out their blog and become a fan on Facebook! 

Backyard Candle's Blog 

Backyard Candle's Facebook Page 

flash back

Happy Friday everyone! I hope your week has been filled with many joys :). I am going to spend a moment and reminisce on my trip to Spain in 2009 and share some photos with you!

I loved Spain so much, it was incredibly beautiful and inspiring to me. It was a neat experience to learn about a new culture first hand, and the people are just magnificent. I hope one day to go back to Spain so I can see and learn more about the Spanish culture.

the good in everything

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is having/had a wonderful Wednesday. My day did not start out the best due to my lack of waking up in a happy mood. However, there is good in everything... that is, if you want to find it. About 9:30 a.m. my day started looking up because I decided to shake the unpleasant attitude and I found the good/fun in what I was doing at the time. I was in my art education class and we had a task of being assigned a random object and we had to come up with other options for what it could be. This seems like a ridiculous task but really it was eye opening. I was reminded today that if you just let go of the things that do not matter and become creative, almost child-like, you can make a better day for yourself. You are in control of how your day will turn out. My advice for you today: don't waste anymore time being unhappy because you are wasting time that you could be enjoying the beautiful life you live.

this was the ridiculous task we had to complete today. we put 3 random objects together to make a machine that was able to file seashells. Let your imagination go wild ! The joys of being and elementary education major :)