Lately...

Alright blog... here's the deal: for the first time in my "adult" life I have been BUSY.

On October 18th, I started a big girl job in an industry that I knew next to nothing about: finance. I say 'knew' next to nothing because for my first two weeks all I have been doing is studying. STUDYING. I thought that I was done with school... what the heck?! But for this new job I have to pass a couple licensing exams and it's pretty much consumed my life. I have honestly never studied this much in my life. The good news is that I passed the first one, and am taking the second tomorrow and, barring failure, will be done with studying!

Another new thing these days is that I am starting to lead Young Life in Liberty, MO. Liberty YL is in a redeveloping stage and so the time I spend mainly revolves around going to events and trying to meet students. For instance, Friday night our team volunteered at the junior high's haunted house. They gave us the job of guiding groups through, which I was incredibly awful at. I'm still getting the hang of YL, but I'm excited for the adventure that lies ahead.

So, everyone who is reading this should know that I went to the University of Missouri. Last weekend Columbia hosted Mizzou's 99th Homecoming celebration. 99th! It is also important to note that my alma mater invented homecoming. INVENTED IT! IN 1911! Pretty awesome if you ask me. Not only was the game a HUGE one vs. then #1 Oklahoma, but ESPN's CollegeGameDay decided to come and help the Tigers celebrate Homecoming. Zach scalped some tickets for cheap and so we got to witness our Tigers beat #1 OU! It was amazing... and of course I forgot to take my camera to the game. Typical. I also got to spend time with my ex-roomies and favorite dog. Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Me with some of my faves- Sophia and Mere

Sleepy Z and his little bro Quint

Matching friends Zach and Mary Kate at Chipotle

Vampire Dog

After mourning Mizzou's first loss of the season, we needed something to redeem the weekend. Cue Chiefs win, and Zach's oldest brother and sister in law's Halloween party. Cute kids in costumes, chili, adult bevs, trick or treating through old folks lane, and eating toooo much candy. Zach's niece and nephew were SUPER cute. Elijah was a piece of pizza (hilarious), and Andi was a fairy (super sweet). 

So there's what I've been up to while missing from cyberspace... now off to bed because I'm a grown up now and am getting up in the 5 o'clock hour tomorrow- ahh! 

Epic weekend. (aka Things I Miss)

I usually don't like "recap" type blog posts, but this is going to be one of those... so deal with it!

Started last weekend off early by leaving KC for Columbia on Thursday night. Upon a warm greeting by one of my favorite pups in the whole world, I caught up on life with my old roomies... and of course the latest in all of my former trashy tv addictions (Teen Mom, Jersey Shore to name a couple) that I haven't had the courage to record on the Osborne's DVR.

Friday consisted of waking up early and spending the morning with Mary Kate. Activities included: bagels for breakfast, checking out the new MU student center (which is freaking AWESOME- by the way), spending money at the bookstore & missing the 'student charge' option for payment, and a trip to Sam's Club for Granny's House supplies. Pretty sweet morning if you ask me. Lots of good conversation and heart probing... oh how I have missed living with that lady.

Also took a trip to good ol' Rock Bridge High School to have lunch with these cuties...! I miss getting to spend time with my K-Life small group girls so getting to have lunch with a couple of them warmed my little heart. Got to hear about their latest crushes, the deets on the Homecoming dance, and what the Lord has been up to in their lives. Love me some high schoolers.

After devouring Jimmy John's with Taylor and Alyssa, I headed over to a little slice of heaven on earth... Sara Haslag's house. I am continually amazed and inspired by this woman! We had a wonderful conversation on her deck. She served me a M&Ms and a margarita- what's not to love?! In true Haslag house fashion, we both cried. AHH! Love and miss her so much!

Spent the rest of the afternoon and night hanging out with sweet Meredith playing tennis and watching little-L-love blossom at 504. Ahem...Querica...ahem. ;) Can't forget mention that I enjoyed POKEY STICKS for dinner! Although I eat pretty dang good here in KC (thanks Gayle!), I do miss picking up cheese-less pepperoni/pineapple and pokey sticks from Gumby's and splitting it with MK. Yum.

The rest of the weekend was dedicated to Ms. Sophia Dyer and her quest to overcome the common cold and conquer the Lewis and Clark Half Marathon in St. Charles. Team Soph, which also included some of her Springfield friends, headed to St. Louis Saturday. We enjoyed a tour of Anheuser Busch (sp?) and a delicious Cheesecake Factory meal.

Sunday was race day! After battling a cold all week, Soph decided to go ahead and run. I was glad because I secretly love being a spectator at half/full marathons. I actually have quite a bit of experience doing so. They are so inspiring and emotional...! Maybe I'll run one some day... hmm... for the record, that's off the record...

Anyway, here she is before the race-not going to lie-looking a little tired... for good reason though, because we got up at 5:45! It was also FREEZING!

But she conquered the fatigue and illness to finish the race! The after shot:

When we got back to Columbia we hit up Chipotle, where she flaunted her new medal with great pride, as she should. So Proud of my ex-roomie! It was great to spend time with her- loved getting to have lots of talk time in the car. 

When I got back to KC I was EXHAUSTED, but it was all worth it for such a wonderful weekend!