A Weekend of Firsts...

As the snow continues to prevent the progress with my day (I have about 6 inches sitting on my car and it is not letting up), I thought I would write about my weekend.

After a nice Friday afternoon of being the lone ranger in the Finance/HR department, Ben and I ventured to Utah gymnastics meet where we had our first week of sitting on the front row. Lisa Western and Co. always go super early and save seats in the student section. Lucky for us, we put in requests and got the chance to sit with them on the front row. Unfortunately for Ben, he needs glasses and still struggled seeing...poor thing.

Saturday morning I had another first with my running routine. I made it 11 miles and would have continued going had the tredmill not turned off as well as my foot bleeding all over my shoe. I felt awesome afterward, which I think is a good sign. Only 2 more miles to go and I'll be there! What a great feeling...then we move to 26.2!

My favorite part of the weekend was Saturday night. Since Ben and I don't really get the opportunity to see each other during the week, due to the hectic school and work schedules, we try to do fun things on the weekends. This weekend we decided to make Chicken Tikka Masala from scratch because it is just so expense to go out. We were thrilled with our results, which I'm sure was partly due to the fact that it took us just over 2 hours from start to finish. I definitely recommend it if you feel you have time and the desire to try it. We just had it with basmati rice, but it would taste awesome with some naan as well. Here are some pictures of our fun creation!

10 miles and an epiphany...

If you have read any of Rebekah's blogs recently you have found that she is getting ready to run the Salt Lake Half Marathon and me, feeling as though I cannot be excluded from any of the sort, decided that I would stop dreaming about running it and actually train for it. Thus, I have spent the last few weeks working with a running routine that will help to promote my half marathon excellence. Last Saturday as I am starting to feel this wretched illness approaching, I hit my longest distance that I've ever run. I ran 10 miles in about an hour and a half, which if I have done my math right comes out to be about an 8 and a half minute mile.

While contemplating this run, I kind of related it to life...I know, look at me trying to be all intellectual, but hear me out.

I have found that the first 5-7 miles are pure bliss. I have such energy and so much drive to accomplish more than I ever have. Then around mile 9 I start to lose that momentum and keep thinking "Oh heavens, I just need to be done. I think if I finish now it will be okay because I will try to go farther next time." Though I continue to press through all I can think about is the end. I just want it all to be over so I can have that satisfaction that I did it, and did more than I have before. I realize that sometimes thats how I look at life. Take school for example, at the beginning of a semester I have so much motivation to do the best I can and to work as hard as possible to get the best grade. About 2/3 of the way through I want to pass out and just be done. After noticing this, I have come to see that I'm missing a lot of what life is about. Everyone says life is about the journey, not the destination...ya ya. But if you really think about, if you don't enjoy the "getting there" portion of the trip, how are you going to truly enjoy the end result? If I bust my booty every semester or on every project at work or in every relationship, but have such a downer attitude about it all, how am I going to really going to feel successful when I get that grade I deserve, the promotion I want, or the happiness that comes with caring for someone that cares about you? ...just something to think about...that is all for the dorky rantings of Kati for the day.

A homemade cake for the big 2-5

I've decided I live for birthdays...usually other people's. I love to spoil people and feel that your birthday is the one day you can do whatever you want and no one can say anything about it. For Ben's 25th birthday, which is today, the fun started on Saturday. I decided to be a cute domestic girlfriend and make him a cake...from scratch. All he said was he wanted a chocolate cake. Thus, I thought "hey! Ben went on his mission to Germany, and therefore, he should like German chocolate cake." It wasn't until half way through this extensive process that the thought came to me...what if Ben doesn't really like German chocolate? Regardless I continued the process and finished it right as he got to my house, just in time to see the topping melting off the sides because I hadn't cooked it to a thick enough consistency (I'm still learning) ...Have no fear, he loved it and is still eating it today. (He even said he was going to specifically ask for German chocolate cake, but thought it might be too hard. I'm awesome :)
On Sunday the fun continued when we stopped in at Ben's office to find that it was decorated by his sisters. They had bought some of Ben's favorite foods and scattered it all over the office. He was really surprised. It was good.

To wrap up his birthday, I took him to lunch today at the Cafe Rio and then gave him his gift. He seemed to like it all so hopefully he just wasn't trying to please me. I love birthdays. how fun.

The Holidays and The Death of Me...

I have found that I have been such a slacker posting on this because it seems that I don't have even five minutes to sit down and actually write something worth reading. Thus, I have decided to just write as much as I can so people think I am actually alive...

The holidays have come and gone and sadly I feel that I missed the magic of the season...I guess there isn't much holiday cheer when you sit at a desk for 9 hours a day staring at a computer and just when you think you will get to do as you wish you are stuck sewing a quilt for someone you don't even know (which is now commonly referred to as the death of me). Regardless! I did find the time to get together with some friends and spend some quality time with the family.

At the start of December, Ben and I decided to get all dressed up and venture to the Wasatch Holiday Party not thinking of the snowfall that was upon us and the fact that my car has summer performance tires on it. On the way home, it took us about 30 minutes to get up South Temple and just as we round the corner onto 13th East we soon realize that Lola the Corolla is not going to make it up that nice hill. So we did what any insane couple of 20-somethings would do, get out and walk. Luckily Ben's apartment is on 4th South and 12th East or I might have gotten hypothermia. As we walked into his apartment I glance at my hands to find them completely purple and I can't feel my feet. Needless to say, after Ben spent some time on the snow covered road under the car with chains and a nice man that shoveled the car out, we got Lola to his apartment where she resided for a couple of days until the snow stopped.

Ben and I had fun at the party dancing and eating ourselves silly on the biggest, fattiest desserts around. All in all, it was a good night!

The Wasatch party was the start of a whirlwind of parties for Ben and I. After that we attended his murder mystery work party at Snowbasin, which sounds a little random but the lodge is beautiful and it turned out to be a lot of fun (we only missed one of the clues or we could have won it all! but we did guess the right amount of jelly beans in the jar, too bad we don't like jelly beans.) Shortly after the Roos and Heiner Christmas parties on the same day, both of which we ate too much and even played babysitter for the cute Raybould girls. Ben fell in love with Claire (shes Noelle's age), but she wouldn't give him the time of day.

Then comes Christmas Eve...I spent the entire night trying to finish the death of me quilt (which I neglected to even take a picture of) and by the morning it was falling apart. Thus, it was unpicked and I got to try it again, not my favorite project, but it is now done and I can relax. I digress. Christmas day was kind of a blur as usual, but I had a good snow run and spent the day playing the wii and rockband with the fam. I even dropped in to say Merry Christmas to Jesse and Jared at the evenings end. It was a good christmas and I am grateful I got to spend it with those around me.

With Christmas whizzing by I barely blinked before it was New Years Eve. Again, I was working on the death of me quilt and had a minor come apart when Ben came over to start our New Years Eve festivities. He was so great. He helped with the quilt and we got it to a point we could enjoy our evening without worrying. We decided that though his parents party sounded fun (they all got sick at that party fyi) we thought that spending the night with Nick, Caeli and their friends sounded like a good time since we (more like me) hadn't seen them in a long time. We played the wii and did some karaoke while eating more than a week's worth of calories waiting for that fateful minute. When it came we drank our sparkling cider (which gave his both a stomach aches and me the burps, TMI I know), and of course the New Years Eve kiss.

Now it's back to work (though I have worked through it all) and I have one more thing to look forward to...Ben's birthday, too bad it's on the first day of school. But anyways, I got the day off and we are going to celebrate the big 2-5 in style!

*More pictures to follow.