Back to reality....

As many of you know,

I'm starting school....

tomorrow.

Back to work for Mrs. Bowers

(I haven't been called that yet by students!)

I spent my last week of summer with family, friends,

and of course, food.

Movies, birthdays, sunshine, reunions, and new recipes.

All in all, it was a great week.

Cooking out with my family in Wadesville

Class reunion with friends.

(10 years, agh!)

We had friends over for ribs! (yum!)

I learned how to cook pumpkin flowers!

Bowers family reunion in Michigan

Joel and Ethan fishing.

It was a great week and an awesome summer.

I love being a teacher again....

hopefully I still feel that way next week.

:-) kb

A Happy Birthday Blog :-)

Today is my lovely friend,

Stephanie's birthday.

I'm ecstatic to be heading to Indy to celebrate with her.

(thank God for one last week of summer vacation!)

Not only have I known and been friends

with her since Pre-School,

but we've also seen each other

through so many of life's changes.

She is (by far!) one of the best teachers I know.

She's caring, a great listener,

and also a kickass running partner.

(she got my lazy butt to run two Mini's!)

Stephanie, I love you dearly.

You're truly gorgeous both inside and out.

I feel so blessed to call you my friend.

I hope 29 is your best year yet. :-)

(This is her dog, Ollie...he's awesome as well).

*kb

On a small side note,

I am, of course, on the Mega bus.

It's raining outside,

and somehow also inside, on me.

When will I ever learn to just hop in the car and drive?

garden goodies.

As many of you know,

we have a lovely garden.

And as you can see,

there are so so so many goodies in there!

So the other night,

we excitedly harvested some peas

for one of my new favorite recipes.

(It's so easy and delicious!)

Little did we know exactly how little

our pea plants would produce....

but luckily the recipe was still a hit

(with Ma and Pa Bowers as well!)

We also had some friends over for dinner last week

(check out their FANTASTIC engagement pics!)

and Anthony taught me how

to make artichokes and make a rhubarb pie

They were delicious!

He even let me make the turtle to go on the top!

I love having a garden!

*kb

Fly Me To The Moon....

About a year ago,

(July 18th to be exact)

I married my best friend.

And although that day was one of the

best, happiest, most love-filled days of my life....

I can't believe how much my love has grown for him in the past year.

Yes, we had a lot of changes.

At times, it was really hard.

New city.

New jobs.

New life.

But it has been a blast.

And I couldn't imagine it any other way.

Anthony, I love you.

I can't wait to see where life takes us next.

This past weekend we spent our first anniversary celebrating.

Paper anniversary means paper concert tickets, right?

*kb

Summertime.

When I think of summer,

there are a few things that always come to mind....

being by water

grilling out

reading

biking everywhere

(and of course)

fresh food

in this case,

Strawberries.

I love Strawberries as much as the next person.

But Strawberry Pie has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid.

Luckily for me,

dear Momma B has the easiest,

most to-die-for recipe.

I've already made it a couple of times this summer.

I'll use any excuse in the book as the reason.

Cookout at Steph and Molly's?

Of course Strawberry Pie would be a hit.

Liam's Birthday Party?

Who doesn't like Strawberry Pie on their birthday?

Nice man on our street corner 5 feet away from the door

selling fresh strawberries?

(by now I'm sure you know the answer....)

Unfortunately, I only have one shot of anyone actually eating the pie.

My good friend Greg used every excuse he could think of

to eat over half of the pie at Molly and Stephanie's.

It was hilarious, and I couldn't have been more amused.

(and yes, he was singing a song on his t-shirt keyboard while eating)

*kb

How do I love thee. Let me count the ways.

Reason #325 as to why I love Anthony.

I came home one Sunday from a long day at work.

"Come outside and see what I did today," he says.

Love him.

*Can you figure out why I said "325"? :-)

A Three Hour Tour.....

I decided to go out of town this past weekend
to visit some of my friends in Indy who I was missing dearly.
I had heard great things about the MegaBus,
so I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon.
(Plus I knew that I could read my book, which was a huge plus)

Arriving right at 11am,
I noticed that there were a TON
(at least 150)
of people waiting.

Hmm.....I guess these buses are really big.

Much to my chagrin,
someone informed me that uncharacteristically,
the buses were running late.

Super late.

The 9am departures had not left yet.

Crap.

So, I decided to chronicle my time waiting.

11:20am
Watch Megabus arrive (3 times total)

11:22am
Watch people get off bus looking happy and refreshed from their journey.

11:27am
Watch as everyone (not so patiently)

runs to get to the front of the door to board,

just as the driver switches the "Indianapolis" sign to read

"Not In Service"

Grrrrreat......

11:45am
Scope out cool Chicago-themed tattoos.

11:46am
Wonder is she thinks tattoo is still as awesome as when she got it.
I mean, I love this city.
But enough to ink the skyline on my arm?

12:07pm
Take self portrait.
Because one can never have too many shots of themselves
sitting on a sidewalk waiting for a bus.

12:09pm

Look at said portrait.
Realize that my sunglasses are GIANT.

12:15pm-12:37pm

Shoot from the hip.

For all of you who aren't into photography,

it goes a little something like this...

1.Place camera near hip.

2.Take pictures.

3.Check out your cool pics.

I for one, love doing this.

It felt a lot more adventurous when using film

because the outcome wasn't instantaneous,

but I still enjoy it.

12:45pm.
Count number of girls wearing oversized button-downed shirt dresses.
1,2,3,4,5,6.

12:58pm
7,8,9

1:01pm
Realize I am behind the times with this trend.

1:07pm

Realize that I am not,

nor ever really will be a trendy girl.

1:08pm

Resolve to not care and instead take pretty pictures of buildings.

1:15pm

Realize that the bus is over 2 hours late.

1:16pm

Grumble because of lateness and hunger.

1:17pm - 1:23pm

Contemplate Indian food.

Contemplate Indian food + 3 hour bus trip.

1:25pm

Thumbs down to Indian.

Stomach issues and portable bathrooms do not go well together.

1:27pm

Make friends with others who are waiting.

Realize we have tons in common....

Most importantly, our hatred of waiting for this bus.

1:48pm

Continue discussion with new friends.

Realize waiting isn't so bad when you have someone to talk to.

I mean, at least it's nice outside.

1:49pm

Stare at sky.

Spot impeding storm.

1:50pm-1:52pm

Rain.

Use pillow for cover.

Hey, at least it only lasted 2 minutes!

1:53pm-2:15pm

Talk with new friends about how awesome Chicago is.

Get really excited to explore new places.

2:17pm

Bus arrives!

3 hours and 17 minutes late!

2:18pm

Happily board a very packed bus.

2:30pm

Bus leaving Chicago.

I guess I might as well read my book now.

7:00 (Indy Time)

Arrive.

Get off bus.

Have awesome weekend.

~kb

A Sweet and Sassy Blog*

*Sorry, but there is only one mention of hot dogs in this blog.

Hot Dogs...I need to eat/blog more about them....

There. Happy? :-)

But more importantly....

As many of you know,

I've been working at Sweet and Sassy

for about 9 months now.

I've learned how to

create killer rock star up do's,

sing every Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and Justin Bieber song,

wear a tutu as a 28 year old,

and spot lice (ewe!)

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY.....

(*above photos stolen from the lovely Miss Ashley Spencer )

I've gotten to meet/work with/befriend

some amazing ladies.

Although they may not know it,

I needed them just as much as they say they needed me.

I feel so blessed to have had them in my life.

and although I am over the moon

about getting a teaching job (yeah!)

I just wanted to say that leaving yesterday was so so difficult,

and I'll miss all of you very much!

I am confident that we will still stay in touch ladies,

and I am excited that now we can be

"real friends" outside of work!

I love you girls! <3

A Night on the Disorientated Express....

My friend Katie hosted a Murder Mystery Party the other night.

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about participating.

Especially when I found out my character's name was KiKi DeLeggs

and she loved to can can.

But, I put my best game face on and took the challenge.

One of the best parts was that everyone's characters had accents.

As you could probably guess, it was hilarious.

In the end, we all had a blast,

and a special thanks go out to Katie for putting it all together....

and convincing us it would be fun :-)

And guess who was the murderer????

Caution, this blog will make your mouth water....

Remember how Anthony and I went to AZ last month?

In my busy schedule, I have yet to post the most relevant pictures....

(No, I'm not talking about the giant blue skies)

(they are quite nice though, aren't they?)

My dear father-in-law fully supports my love of hot dogs.

So he did some thorough research trying to find something

that could live up to the Chicago Hot Dog.

Now, that doesn't look like a hot dog.....

Well, you're right dear readers, it's not.

Not yet at least.

On our way to seeking out the best Arizona dog,

we stopped by a Spanish Mission to attend mass.

Little did we know that they served food afterwards.....

and Anthony and I never miss the chance to try the local fare.

(even if it means eating two meals in 1 hour)

Dang, it was quite tasty.

And now, on to the main event....

Other than the long long lines,

the first thing I noticed about El Guero Canelo

was that they offered two hotdogs on one bun.

Of course I want two!

Wait, Wait...

They wrap their hotdogs in bacon?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

We aren't in Chicago anymore Toto...

Dare I make this claim....

but it was the best hot dog I had EVER eaten.

I had to fight with myself because I wanted another one.

I fought my urge, and found this hidden gem in the corner.

....their very first refrigerator....

oh, how I love this place.