I Learned to Crochet!

I'm not really sure where I get my crafty side from. It's possible it just runs in my blood since my mom's side is made up of full-blown Amish and Amish Mennonite, but maybe not? The only thing that I was ever given that was made for me was a baby blanket my grandma on my mom's side made for me. It was pretty simple. Not even one of those fancy Amish quilts. I know my grandma can sew, but I think that was the extent of it. Sewing clothes for her nine children. I really know her more for her cooking. She made delicious food and amazing cookies and pies! I don't think my grandma on my dad's side is crafty either. Don't really know to be honest.

Anyway- growing up I was always doing some sort of craft. Coloring (is that considered a craft?), making pot holders with a loom, braiding friendship blankets, etc. But as I got older, I grew out of those things. I had attempted to teach myself to knit, but I couldn't figure it out by reading the instructions. I'm much more a visual learner. So I gave up on that. But when I went to Washington, I found out that my sister likes to crochet. So when I did, I asked her if she would teach me. She said she would so we went to the local Walmart and picked up some supplies.

My sister and I didn't exactly grow up together. I always knew I had an older sister, but growing up on almost opposite coats (Nevada/Indiana), it didn't exactly allow for us to bond. So the inner child in me was more than excited that I was given the opportunity for her to teach me something.

Below is a picture of my first project. I took this baby apart many times, and after finishing it, realized that I was doing the stitching wrong. It still looked decent.

Meine Schwester

I can't believe I forgot to add a picture of my sister in my last blog! Of course, the whole reason of going to Washington was to spend time with her, nieces, and brother-in-law. Below is a picture of us before I left for the airport.

While looking at this picture, it brings to mind a reoccurring thought I have: I look more like my (half) sister than my sister. (...should I start referring to my sister as my "whole" sister?) Anyway, below is a picture of all three of us on Christmas in 2007.

Krissy, Me, and Andi

Do you think we all look alike? Or does one look more like the other? Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! My dad and I always argue about this and it's time to put it to rest. ;)

Washington to Oregan

In August of 2011, I decided I would treat myself for my birthday with a trip to see my sister that lives in Washington with her husband and my two nieces. There are many pictures that I am not posting out of respect, so unfortunately you wont be able to see how adorable my nieces are. Also, I, for whatever reason, didn't take any pictures of their adorable little town. We spent an afternoon strolling around downtown and then another morning at the farmers market. Anyway, below are pictures from my trip. I think some of them are out of order because I used three different cameras (my really nice, but rather large, camera; my point and shoot, and my phone) on my trip. Nonetheless, the pictures are still pretty.

So, Washington (at least the part I was in) was not what I had imagined. I don't know about you, but when I think of Washington I think of lush green mountains covered in pine trees. Yes, they had green and pine trees, but it was not nearly what I had thought. It was more brown and sandy looking than anything.

Okay, so this picture is freaking adorable! We were at the school park and the little girl was upset for some reason and the little boy was consoling her. He was so worried about her. As you see, he is touching her back and after this picture he gave her a hug. It was so cute. I think he is going to be a great man someday. 

The next pictures were actually taken in Oregon. We went up to the mountains for a family picnic.

This deer ran up to us and was literally a few feet from me. It was really cool but a little intimidating at the same time as you're not sure what they're going to do. Most likely, it was coming for food, considering we were in a park, but still.

The next few pictures are from flying into and out of Seattle. It was so pretty. On my flight back from Seattle to Chicago, I sat next to a Seattle native who happened to be a writer. He told me his name, which I jotted down, but when I got home and googled him, I couldn't find him. Maybe he uses a pseudonym, or maybe I just didn't know how to spell his name. Either way, we had a nice talk and he told me that everyone is wrong about Seattle. He says that it does rain often, but it's not rainy and dreary everyday. I believe him because the two times I was in and out of there, it didn't rain once. It was always sunny. AND, to top it off, a survey was done showing the most depressing city as Las Vegas not Seattle. I would love to visit Seattle someday. Maybe I could spend a few days there next time I go visit my sister. Which is a must do in the next year. :)

The rest of the pictures are just pretty pictures taken of the scenery while I was flying. This is the only part about flying that I like.

Picturesque Cali

As you may know, I ran a marathon in San Diego, California which allowed me to check two things off my bucket list in one trip! I absolutely loved San Diego. From the moment I walked out side the airport I could see myself there. The weather was perfect, around 75 degrees every afternoon. It would start off chilly and often cloudy, but by mid afternoon the sky was clear and the sun was warm. It was my kind of place. Take a look through a few photos of my trip and decide for yourself.

Although there are clouds everywhere, I couldn't not post this picture. It makes me wish my bed was made of clouds. Don't you wish you could lay in clouds?

Another view from the plane above the Rockies. So pretty.

The first view of San Diego.

This was the picture I took first stepping out of the air port. LOVE!

View #1 from our balcony

View #2

Poolside! 

This was a picture taken close to where our friends live. It's not in San Diego but it's amazing.

We went to visit our friends family in a third location.

The "marathoners"

Didn't the pictures make you want to move to San Diego? Heck. Anywhere in California will do!

Bieber Fever

Don't judge me because I am a fan of the Biebs. Yes, I own his CD. So what?

However, I do find this Groupon to be hilarious.

Wonder what's so special about this? It SINGS! Ohhhh yeahhhh!! So, for the low cost of $14 you can not only be the owner of ONE of these amazing singing J. Biebs toothbrushes, but two! So throw a pajama party, invite the gals over, and sing along with your toothbrushes! Don't act like you don't want to...

Ok, well, I don't. But I'm sure this little girls does:

... and possibly even this groom and his groomsmen:

And that, my friends, is a wrap.

Running Music

My friend Angi is awesome. If you don't know her, you should.

A few days ago she posted to her blog about running music. Not sure how she came across it, oh wait, yes I do. She's just that cool. She finds the coolest things all the time. I don't know if I just don't have the patience to explore or what, but I am always stealing her ideas.

Anyway, she found a website called jog.fm which lists songs and their beats per minute (BPM), and then gives you suggestions on what songs/BPM would be best for your pace. They have compiled lists for walking, running, and cycling. How cool is that?

I for one think it's an awesome tool since I am horrible at pacing myself. I'm not sure if this will help me keep a better pace or not, but I'm certainly willing to try. So I checked out the website today. I love their idea. I love the fact that I can type in my pace and it pulls up numerous playlists for me to choose from. The only issue I have is that you have to purchase the lists. I don't know about you but I don't have tons of money to spend on new playlists. Not only that but the list might include songs I don't like. It would take far too long to compare my music library with the songs listed on the website to get the BPM.

So I did some searching of my own and found a website called beaTunes.com that runs your current music library through its software and determines the BPM and has many other cool features. I decided I would give it a try today and ran my entire music library though it. You can download a 14-day trial version to start and it gives you the basic features. It also shows you what else it is capable of: finding duplicate songs or discrepencies, however, those features are not unlocked in the trial version. After the trial is up or if you HAVE to have all the features to start, you can purchase it for $31.95.

I wasn't super concerned about unlocking ALL the features right now so I opted for the trail only version. I also didn't want it to take all day to complete, so I chose to analyze my playlist right in the middle to start. If I think it helps, I will do the more accurate option for the BPM I need.

This is what my playlist looked like when my library had been fully analyzed :

The BPM in my library range from 70 - 140 and the color codes, according to the website, are used to show you what songs sound more alike the others. For example, reds sound more alike then green.

I'm excited to try this out and I hope it helps! I need to get my butt back into gear and start training for.... well, for something. Haven't decided what races I will be doing this year, but its never too early to start!

Freak Out Moment

Okay y'all. I had a serious freak out moment a few days ago. Why? Because I watched this video :

For as long as I could remember, I had a mole on the back of me leg. I was never really concerned about it because I have freckles so to me it was just a larger freckle. Well, back in 2008 my friend Angi posted something about a discolored toenail she was concerned about. I looked into what she was talking about and become concerned about the mole. I went to my mom (a nurse for 25+ years) and told her that I thought it was melanoma. She wasn't concerned and said that it wasn't anything. So I forgot about it and that was that. Well, that is until June 2011.

While running the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in June, I forgot to put sunscreen on my legs and I paid for it with second degree burns. When I made it home, my oh-so-loving mother was there to take care of me. While she was draining my blisters, spreading burn cream on my legs, and wrapping them in gauze she saw my mole. She asked me about it and I told her that it had been there for as long as I could remember and she said that it never looked like that before. (Just so y'all know, the mole was not on part of my leg that got sunburned.) She told me that when my legs healed she wanted me to set up an appointment with the dermatologist to have it looked at, I said okay.

I pushed off setting up the appointment and my mom kept the pressure on me telling me I needed to have it looked at and it needed to be done before my insurance ran up at the end of August when I would be removed from their plan since I would be turning 26 early that month. I made it to the dermatologist on August 3 where the mole was examined by the Dr, who said "Does it look like melanoma? No, but I want to be sure so we are going to go ahead and remove it." I left the appointment feeling confident that it was nothing.

Two weeks later I received a phone call from my Dr. I didn't think it was strange that she was calling because she sounded so chipper. Then she spilled the beans and told me that it did come back positive for melanoma. She told me that I would need to have surgery to have it removed and that she would be referring me to another doctor to perform the surgery because she felt he did a better job when it came to the leg and would leave minimal scarring. I explained my insurance situation to her and they were able to get me in for the surgery just in the nick of time, August 31.

My initial biopsy was about the size of a dime and for the surgery they had to remove about 5mm around the initial spot. He partially closed it with a purse string stitch by going around the wound weaving the stitch in and out and then pulled it tight, reducing the size of the opening but leaving a hole the size of a small egg. Two weeks later they called and told me that they had removed all the cancerous cells.

I felt relieved but at the same time I need to go to the oncologist. I need to be sure that it didn't spread and that nothing was missed. I mean, yes, the Dr. told me I was in the clear but we're all human right? No harm in double checking.

The biggest frustration of this whole thing was that I have never been one to tan so I never laid out in the sun or went to tanning beds, and I almost always wear jeans during the summer. I have childish moments saying its not fair, but cancer does not discriminate. And although I didn't tan easily, I can recall burning pretty badly a few times. So for all of you that have had a serious burn once in their life, lay in the sun or use tanning beds on a regular basis, please keep an eye on your skin! If you see a mole that is changing shape and color, contact a dermatologist. There is no harm in having it looked at. It's better to be safe than sorry.