Girls Weekend!

Every summer I tend to forget how busy the school year actually is. I mistakenly thought that since I was done with my master's classes I would have more time than I knew what to do with this year...wrong-o!!! I will always just be one of those people who fills up any and all of my free time, because I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I wasn't busy :) I'm going to attempt to catch up on blogging, but I have a pretty busy couple of months ahead of me, so we shall see how that goes!

I'm going all the way back to June for this post, and just looking at the pictures makes me miss the beginning of summer and a whole weekend with a few of my favorite ladies :(

Since my friend Jackie was turning 29 (again) she wanted to do something special for her big day. Lucky for us one of her student's parents own a condo on Table Rock Lake and agreed to rent it to us at a discounted rate!!!! After a few glorious hours in the car singing along to songs I forgot even existed...and even one I learned the actual words to (and will never be able to sing again!!) we arrived safe and sound. Once we all got there the fun never stopped....we learned to drive a boat, drove around for hours looking for ice cream, watched Clueless, invented a ridiculous game, and most importantly we had a wonderful weekend together :) cheesy yes, but 100% true...I have great friends!!!




Literally minutes after arriving we headed straight for the wine....when Jackie declined we knew something was up....and we were right....SHE'S PREGNANT!!! We all hugged, cried, and most importantly toasted to the new mom to be! Over the last few years I have given her plenty of practice on being a mom (I still need help ordering a cheeseburger) so I know she will be fantastic!


Captain Emily...after nearly giving the boat rental guy a heart attack, she safely navigated our boat on the high seas...that is until the boat wouldn't start :)



Enjoying an afternoon on the boat :)

Birthday Girl

Erin is definitely a much better driver than Nick...and she most definitely looks better doing it :)

Dinner at the Landing for Jackie's birthday

While walking around the Branson Landing we saw this little jewel. It is a hurricane simulator...and seriously WHO could resist?? Kala wanted to try and I thought "What the heck...Why not?" It was only $2 and now we can both say we survived a hurricane :)

Kala wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about this ;)

There goes the hair

We couldn't stop laughing...and with the wind it made it hard to breathe!

We survived!!

That night we made dinner...and I just included these pictures to tease my widdle fwend Kawa :) She struggled with those darn corn cobs ;)

Success!!

Below I have some words from our completely ridiculous game (a spin off of bananagrams) that completely describes our entire weekend....

We all "philt" so lucky to have such great friends in our lives...

When we all get together we just want to do "zabughe"

The Dirty Duo

This particular event started with a voicemail from my dear friend Lauren...if I knew at all how to upload sound to a post or take a voicemail from my phone and put it on an audio file I would let you listen to it...it was in her panicked something might be wrong voice... She is a bit of a drama queen...maybe that is why we get along? ;)

Her voicemail went a little like this:

"Heatherit'sLaurencallmebackASAPthereissomethingINEEDtotalktoyouaboutsomethingIreallywanttodoandIneedyoutodo itwithme (insert quick breath) okaysocallmeback!

I immediately begin worrying about what she could possibly NEED me to do with her...so I call her back and she asks me "D0 you want to do the Dirty Duo with me?"
Excuse me say what? The dirty duo...absolutely not...after hearing a little more about this and realizing it was a race I decided "what the heck...why not?"

Lauren explained to me that it was going to be a 6 mile partner race that includes running, biking, obstacles, and a mud pit at the finish line. This sounded doable and at the very least fun...even though I haven't ridden a bike since middle school.

So Lauren and I decide to register a few days later, and while reading the fine print I notice that we will need to wear a helmet for the entirety of the race. So yes...we were going to have to run in helmets. Oh, but don't worry it gets better...I kept reading and it says we will need to wear the helmet because the obstacles may require extra safety...WTF? I immediately started regretting my decision to sign up for this race with her...but she was looking at me with sad puppy dog eyes and I didn't have the heart to back out. We finally got registered and there was no going back...and I then realized we were going to need a bike...like I said I don't have a bike, and haven't ridden one since middle school...which as scary as this is to admit was almost 15 years ago! Lauren tells me not to worry because her parents are going to get her a bike as an early birthday gift and we can use hers, and that I am welcome to ride it for training purposes before the race.

As far as training goes, I run just about every day and I wasn't at all worried about my 3 miles of running for the race...it was more the biking I was concerned with. A few days after Lauren got her bike she offered to let me ride it...so I ran to her house (which is luckily just over 2 miles away) and hopped on the bike to ride it back to my house. Well, let's just say I am not the sturdiest or most confident on a bike...I teetered and tottered just trying to get the bike going, and had a very difficult time staying on the sidewalk or even riding straight. Turning was a whole other issue in itself...I took VERY wide turns :) I finally made it home and felt very accomplished, dragged the bike in my house and set her up for the ride back the next day. Come to find out, my bottom is not used to riding bikes and the next morning it was rather painful to walk, to sit, to stand...basically to do anything...let alone ride a bike. However, I promised I would have her bike back that next morning so she would be able to go for a ride...let's just say that was the most horrific 2 miles of my life! I dropped the bike off and let Lauren know that I would not be riding the bike EVER again...at least not until race day!!

Race day finally arrived and I was dreading the bike portion of the race...my bottom was begging me to never sit on that bike seat again...but there was no way out of it, we HAD to alternate running and biking!! The good news was Lauren had bought a gel seat cover, so it was actually a little bit better.

Alright, I know I got a little winded with my post and I will spare you any more of the boring details...and I will just get on with the fun part...the pictures!! Even though I whined and complained about riding a bike the Dirty Duo was a blast. I am so glad I let Lauren talk me into the race and I cannot wait to do it again next year!

Our day didn't start out too promising...first we struggled getting the bike out of Lauren's trunk...and then it started to rain, and then came the lightening!! We sat in the car for over an hour HOPING that we would still be able to race!

Good news, the rain stopped and the race was ready to begin! Bad news...it was COLD!

We've decided that we look REALLY good in helmets!

Here we are at the beginning of the race...we decided I would start on the bike so I could end up running...I am not sure that was the greatest idea...me in a giant pack of competitve women on bikes? I was so afraid of crashing right away and being crushed by bikes! Good news is I didn't fall...bad news, I am a terrible bike rider and got passed by ALOT of people!The obstacles were not bad at all...nothing like the disclaimer eluded too...we didn't need helmets!!

WEEEEEE!!!!

SO SERIOUS!

After 6 miles of biking, running, and obstacles we made it to the end and it was time for the mud pit!

Yummy!

As we got to the end of the mud pit, I hear someone yelling "tackle her" and I know this means Lauren is going to do it...here I am trying to get out before she can get me!

I was too slow...she got me!

At this point the crowd is cheering and the announcer can't decide if he wants us to stop or not....

FINALLY....

CHAMPS

Yes, I did have mud in my teeth, in my eyes, in my ears...pretty much EVERYWHERE!

After we finished the race they had garden hoses with FREEZING cold water for us to clean up...this was an interesting site. We stood in line in awe of the people around us and their lack of modesty...lol!

This race was probably one of the most fun running events I have ever entered. I cannot wait until next year, and we are already thinking up fun costume ideas!

I love summer :)

Now that summer is coming to an end I am reminded that I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. Every summer I start out with a to-do list a mile long and lots of motivation, and before I know it hardly anything is checked off this list and summer is over...As a teacher I love having my summers off and the extra free time, but I always manage to fill up all this "extra" time. One of these days I vow to take an entire summer off...usually I fill up my time with grad classes, tutoring, or a part-time job. I always tell myself "next summer is the year" but honestly I am not sure I will ever have a summer like that, I am not good at sitting still...I get bored and I love having things going on...even if it is working :)

One of my goals this summer was to get my blog caught up, which MIGHT still happen...I am only about 5 posts behind (eek!) I HAVE to force myself to get caught up because school is getting ready to start and I am going to have an especially busy year this year....but I will save that for another post ;)

For the purpose of getting caught up I am going to combine two posts: Crawl for Cancer and T-shirt Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium.

First, Crawl for Cancer...

Crawl for Cancer includes two of my favorite things...raising money for cancer research and drinking beer with thousands of my closest friends...so how could I say no? This organization not only provides lots of fun and beer, but raises LOTS of money. Check out this link and seriously consider putting together a team! crawlforcancer.org

When I was asked to join the team I didn't really have to think twice and I definitely didn't need anyone to remind me of my New Year's Resolution or push me into saying "What the heck...Why not?" so if you think this isn't blog worth or NYR worthy, I do not care ;)

Kala and I starting off our day...

I was fascinated by the people I was seeing....

The final stop

The "cops" were by far my favorite lol!

I literally could not get enough of the disaster some of these people were...the only other place that compares to the people watching was the 80's cover band concert my dad and I went to last summer.

As we are standing around Kala...or maybe it was Derek ;) recognized this girl from The Bachelor. While I watch EVERY season religiously, I just wasn't sure. After discussing it and looking her up on our phones I decided to just ask her, and what do you know...it was her! So then, like the classy person I am I asked her for a picture...her 15 minutes of fame at the CFC will never be forgotten :)

It's T-shirt time...

Royals T-shirt Tuesday that is!! (sometimes I crack myself up...lol) Now, I have been to Royals games, but it's been several years and I have never been to a T-shirt Tuesday so when Brandon told me he had extra tickets I was like "What the heck...why not?"

On T-shirt Tuesday everyone gets a free t-shirt when they enter the game...the only problem is they only have a handful of medium shirts and a bazillion extra larges! We got to the game early for tailgating and even headed into our seats early so we could get medium shirts, however we were not one of the lucky 12 people this week...darn-it! Reguardless of the size of my t-shirt I still had a blast and even got to check out a few baseball players...or to be honest ALL of them ;)

Brandon, Kala, and I tailgating!

Kala and I inside the stadium

I love baseball games :)

Mullet-ly delicous

So, when my friend Shawn told me he wanted to go to a karaoke bar before he moved back to Iowa I was up for the challenge of finding the perfect place. I googled "Karaoke bars in Overland Park" and found several different places. I finally decided on The Red Balloon for a few different reasons: 1) Free admission 2) They had karaoke EVERY night and 3) The reviews on this places made it impossible to pass up. I am going to share a couple of the reviews I read so you know what our expectations were walking in to the bar.

The bartenders look like cheap prostitutes, so don't mistake them for anything but your friendly neighborhood alcohol supplier.

If you suffer from ADD or ADHD then this is the place for you.

My favorite dive bar in all of KC. The only place I have gotten close to getting in a girl fight in.

If your having a rough week and need to feel like a million bucks, The Red Balloon is the "support group" you've been looking for.

A friend of mine got picked up by a guy who was driving the Oscar Meyer Weiner mobile across the country at the Red Balloon.

Now the following reviews were enough to sell me on this place, but when I came across this last beauty I knew I was set....

The Red Balloon is an institution. It's gritty, it's smoky, and mullet-ly delcious.

Now, even though I sang onstage at Laura's wedding (see earlier post) I have NEVER sang karaoke and honestly never really had the desire. I was humoring Shawn and figured I would sit back and watch the fun. However, after reading the reviews I thought to myself if I were going to sing karaoke, this would probably be the place to do it. I mean "What the heck...why not?"

The view walking into the bar... one of the reviews I read said that none of the tables or chairs matched and it looked like they had found all of them in a dumpster. That review was spot on.

Kala's friend Andrea was in town visiting and she wanted to show her a good time, so naturally after I told them about the bar they couldn't pass it up!

An hour or so into the night Shea, Erin, Laura, and Nicholas decided to join in on the festivities.

Before karaoke even began we had a mini-dance party. I believe this was the Cupid Shuffle?

Obviously enjoying ourselves already, but little did we know the fun had only just begun

This gentleman encompassed every review I read...he would get on stage to sing his songs and rip open his pearl snap shirt to give the ladies a show...it was hard to resist let me tell ya!

Shawn wanted to be friends with this guy

Shawn singing "Trashy Women"

Coincidence?

Shea, Laura, and I

During the Electric Slide, the flasher decided to dance right by me and let me know that he "liked the way I moved" If you can't tell by my face, I was a little freaked out.

My karaoke debut..."Any Man of Mine"

Let me hear ya say YEAH!

Kala and Shawn decided to do C'mon N' Ride the Train, and I decided to start a train throughout the bar and suprisingly...or not SEVERAL people joined in.

The night was not complete without a little 2-steppin'

I have no words...

"Queen of my double wide trailer"

If you have never visited The Red Balloon, are afraid of being judged while you sing karaoke, or love to people watch this is most definitely the place for you. I would highly recommend it.