Compassion International

I was sitting at work, reading a blog TheNester.com when I heard about Compassion International. This story, Decorating Truths From a 10 Year Old Boy, story brought me to tears. It was so beautiful that before I knew it, I was on their website looking for a child to sponsor. I've always been drawn to books on Africa, so I decided I needed to find a child from Rwanda. That's when I found my girl Niyogushiwa. She was waiting over 180 days for a sponsor, so I knew she was perfect for me. Isn't she the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?!

<3 I love her so much! <3

At my grandmother's 95th birthday, my mom thought it would be fun if we took a picture with all the ladies and a hello sign for Niyogushimwa.

Here I am holding my first letter from Niuogushimwa and her family!  

Lisa, Donna, Me, Grandma, Carol, Mommy, Kathy, Cindy, and Carol down below

A little bit about Niyogushimwa...

A little bit about Rwanda...

My Girl! <3

My First Letter

For more information on sponsoring your own child, check out Compassion International. And thanks to The Nester for bringing this beautiful girl into my life! <3 <3 <3

Run a mile... or 13.1

Around January, my best friend Shana suggested we run a half marathon. Shana's a regular runner and I was the complete opposite. The only time I ran was... never. She convinced me that we would be able to do this and that if I ran every day I would be able to run the 13.1 miles required. Shana also knew that I wanteed to lose some weight, so I decided okay! I'm gonna do this!

The first day running Shana had to practically push my ass to run a mile and I think it took about 37 minutes, but I did it. So I continued to run every couple days. Everyone kept telling me that I would start to love it and soon I would be addicted. For once in my life I was dedicated, but at no point did I ever start to get that feeling. Every day I continued to hate running, more and more and more. On top of that the girls at work said I looked like Tarzans wife after each of my afternoon runs. I was huffing and puffying, my face was red, and I couldn't even breathe.

Then my life had a change at the end of March, I broke up with my boyfriend and on top of that I decided 2 days later I was going to move out of my moms house and head downtown! That's when the running stopped. OOPS! and I started to forget that I needed to be running 3 miles consistantly, so that I could start pushing the limits. Well that went out the window.

Fast forward to July 22 the day of the Rock-N-Roll half marathon, well actually fast forward to the day before. Veronica, my best work friend who also decided to run with us, asked if I was actually going to show up? Of course I'm going to go! I'm dedicated to showing up and attempting this stupid run. That night Shana and I went out to Japonais with my exboyfriend and his friends.

Prepping for tomorrow's marathon!

Thankfully Shana and I were serious about the next mornings run and we went to bed at a reasonable hour... 2:30AM! Oh and did I mention that Shana was broken and unable to run even a mile because of bad knees? When we got home the door me couldn't believe that we were going to attempt to run 13.1 miles in 3 hours! I got up with a bit of a struggle. I dragged Shana's ass out of bed and we left without breakfast or even going to the bathroom (bad move on our parts!). At 5:30 AM I was hip hopping around the lobby of my building waiting for a cab.

Best part of our cab ride... watching all the people out, leaving the clubs/bars

Eventually we found out numbers, but not Veronica.

It was too late to look for her because the race was off...

Shana and I ran about half a mile, when we decided to slow down the pace to a walk. Around the half way mark Shana and I were complaining about our need for using the bathroom, how hungry and slightly drunk we were. So we did the only logical thing we could think of... We went to Duncan Donuts!

Thanks to my best friend Haider, who created this great picture.

 Now in my own defense all I had was a banana and a poweraid. Then Shana and I started wandering back to the starting line, but before that we stopped off at The Bean.

After relaxing a bit, Shana and I decided to go to the finish line to find Veronica. We decided that we would run in the last half mile with her. This is when the most exciting part of my day happened. Shana and I were observing all the runners headed toward the finish line, amazed at the drive and determination in each of their faces. We also observed the different gaits and outfits of all the people. That's when Shana saw something amazing... a man in spandex. She must have been staring for a while because as he passed us he said, "I saw that!" I looked at Shana puzzled. She said she was thinking about why this man was in spandex and as a result she was staring at his short shorts... he thought she was staring at something else (HAHA Shana's a pervert!).

Before we knew it, Veronica was coming down the path! I was so excited, Shana and I jumped back into the race to cheer her on. She said she was in a lot of pain and wanted to give up, so she's glad we found her when we did. Can I just say, I AM SO PROUD OF HER! She ran thirteen point one miles! Fucking rediculous!!

Veronica, Shana, and Me

Our matching shoes!

But wait... there's beer! 

CHAMPION OF THE DAY!



Mud Run

My work friends came up withe the brilliant idea that we were all going to do a 5K Mud Run. Seeing as how my last run didn't go so well (you can read about it HERE!) and the fact that I hate mud, I decided to sit this one out and THANK GOD I did. It was disgusting. My poor teammates had mud coming out of their orifices for weeks! YUCK!!

Showing my support!

Jose and Veronica helping each other through the mud!

Go Jose!

Get it V!

The rope wall

The trenches

I'm so proud of them!

Time to hit the showers

After the run is when the real shit show began. Poor thing didn't have any where to change, but thankfully her wonderful husband Todd put together a makeshift changing station in the back of their car.

She's obviously thrilled about this

 Did I mention that it was also Veronica's Birthday? We headed over to Bandito Barney's to celebrate the amazing run and my best buddies B-day. Nothing like getting drunk at noon on a Sunday!

Besties

With the B-day Girl

My favorite Hains

Shot for a picture - YES PLEASE!

Tequila

Maybe we've had too much?! 

Nahhh we're good

Ohhh

This lady really liked Todd's hair

or maybe she just liked Todd LOL

And here's a little snippet of the shit show in action...

How I Made Pinata Cookies... Longest. Process. Ever.

Have you see the Pinata Cookies that are all over Pinterest yet? (PS you can follow me on Pinterest HERE) Well Veronica and I thought it would be fun to attempt this baking project (why is it that we always try to bake the most difficult things?!). Little did we know, what a bitch these mini cookies would be!

First, it started with having to find mini M&Ms. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find mini M&Ms when it's not around a holiday? I'll tell you... very hard! I went to multiple stores trying to find these and even spoke with an M&M representative. She was of no help to us! Luckily Veronica was in line at Target, when she spotted tubes of mini M&Ms at by the food area. She literally whispered to me over the phone that she could not run over to the counter fast enough because she was afraid someone else was going to swoop in and buy them all. She calls me asking how many she should buy, I said maybe 3. What does she buy? THE ENTIRE SUPPLY! LOL

Because we were tight on time Vero prepped the dough the night before. These were just good old fashioned sugar cookies. She said it took forever, because she had to split the dough into multiple piles, dye them, and then smash them into mini loaf pans. Then she had to refrigerate them. I guess this process takes quite a while.  The only casualty that day was that her hands were dyed a multitude of colors.

Don't worry we have tons of pics and videos!

The next night when I came over, Veronica and I removed the dough from the pans and cut it into thin slices, as seen above. Then we put about 10 slices on a cookie sheet and popped them in the oven. This is when we had to start moving fast and we implemented what I like to call a Hott Mess Assembly Line. As the cookie slices were coming out of the oven, we had to cookie cut them with our "burro" cookie cutter - yes, you must attempt to roll the "r." We also had to remember to switch the cookie cutter over because a dumb pinata cookie consists of not just 1 or 2, but 3 pieces of cookie. After the cookie was cut, we had to remove the center of one of the horses so we could make a pinata. I know this make no sense and that is why I provided a video.

See what a mess we are! HA! Now that everything's cut into pieces, we have to assemble. We did this by attaching a full piece and cut out piece with frosting. Then after the frosting was dried, we add in the M&Ms and seal the cookie with frosting and a top layer of "burro". Are you confused yet? Check out the next video...

AMAZING RIGHT?! Longest cookie baking experience ever. 

Did I mention that we are never going to bake pinata cookies ever again. We only made 12 cookies, but used 3 pans of dough. So much cookie was wasted making these pinata cookies. The amount of left over cookie was crazy, we had cookie coming out of our ears. Everyone was eating left over cookie (IT WAS SO GOOD!).

All of that, for only this! 

Leftover cookie pieces

Fat-est cookie EVER.

YAY!

Dr. Todd and Uirrel

Uirrel likes it!

We're so proud of ourselves for our hard work.

Yummy

Break it open

M&Ms inside!

Never Again