Tate Modern

This past summer, while I was in London, my friend Val and I visited the Tate Modern.  She had been quite recently and knew there was one exhibit that I would love.  She was absolutely right!

They had a whole exhibit on puzzles and manipulatives.  There was a room filled with large slider puzzles - one of my childhood favorites!

But my favorite part of the exhibit was a room with a square of carpet in the middle and stacks of wooden blocks.  They weren't the unit blocks we are used to using at school, they were able to connect to one another; however, it was really cool to see adults manipulating something they normally would shrug off as a children's toy.

The funniest part of the experience was that we had so many people come through while just Val and I were on the carpet building that they thought we were a part of the exhibit!

2013 Year in Review

2013 wasn't all roses, but, looking back, there are so many wonderful memories that I kind of forgot the hard parts of it all.  The first half of the year involved many, many physical therapy and doctor appointments for my knee, but the half-marathon I ran in the fall kind of made up for it.

January

2013 literally started out with roses when I traveled to southern California to watch my Stanford Cardinal play in - and win! - the 99th Rose Bowl.  My friend Kyla and I made the trip together, celebrating New Year's at a fabulous mansion party in the Hollywood Hills before watching our team in Pasadena.

At the end of the month, we celebrated Jas's birthday by going to a pop-up black-and-white masquerade ball and dinner party.  Masquerade ball has now been officially checked off of my bucket list!

February

My second knee surgery in six months happened on February 6.  The first surgery wasn't able to heal the whole tear in my meniscus, so they went back in and re-did the surgery to get the second half to heal.  My friends and neighbors were so sweet to bring me care packages.

 March

In March, I flew back home to South Dakota for "spring break" and Easter with my family.  Baby Sister, my cousin Les, and I had fun with the baby lambs, dinking around on the 4-wheeler, and going shooting with a dear friend of mine.  Holidays in South Dakota are definitely one of a kind!

April
April was marked by the start of the season for our garden.  We spent a day planting and setting up the drip irrigation system, and it was all worth it for the months of fresh veggies we got to enjoy!

May

In May, I had my first Bay to Breakers experience - a "run" across San Francisco with thousands of my closest friends, in costumes, with a lot of beer.  It was definitely memorable, and I'm glad I did it with this guy.

June

In June, I was finally able to go back to work with a mostly-recovered knee.  The same week, I also started graduate school!

Earlier in June, Tall Dark and Nerdy had an aunt and uncle come to visit us, so in showing them around, I got to see Yosemite for the first time.

July

I went to a lot of concerts in 2013, but two really stick in my head as representing the year.  Possibly because one was the largest concert I've ever been to - Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z's Legends of the Summer Tour.  Possibly because I planned the best date night ever taking Tall Dark and Nerdy to see Weezer in San Francisco at an incredible temporary venue.  Possibly because I went to these two concerts two nights in a row.  Whatever the reason, they were a couple of really great shows!

August

August brought an incredible vacation to Europe with Tall Dark and Nerdy.  With our time together in Germany, our long weekend with friends in Munich, my day by the lake in Zurich, my time in Scotland with my grandmother, and my days in London with friends, this trip couldn't have gotten much better!

September

I was able to fly home and be a part of when of my oldest friends' special days this fall.  I have known this girl nearly all my life and we have become such close friends since high school, even with me living 2000 miles away.  It was such a wonderful weekend kicking up our heels and celebrating a great couple!  And I got to spend time with Baby Sister, which made it even better!

October

On October 20th I participated in my second Nike Women's Marathon.  This time I did it pretty much on my own, and I ran more of it than I thought possible.  After all my struggles with my knee this past year, this was a huge day for me.  I couldn't run the whole thing, but it will come, maybe in 2014!

Now, as dorky as this sounds, the other highlight of October was getting our wood burning stove installed at the cabin.  Now I can relax by a fire all winter!

November

Every fall, the school I teach at has a wonderful auction to raise money for our scholarship fund.  Tall Dark and Nerdy and I went, talked with wonderful parents, and had a really nice evening (and even took a nice picture!)

At the end of the month, we headed to Cozumel, Mexico for a mini vacation.

December

The reason we headed to Cozumel was the Tall Dark and Nerdy was competing in an Ironman triathlon.  I'm so proud of him!

My dad came to visit us for Christmas, prompting a trip to Big Sur to see McWay Falls - which Tall Dark and Nerdy has been tempting me with almost since we met!

Wow, 2013 had a lot of memories!  I can't wait to make more in 2014!

#tbt Paris 2008

I'm about to leave for a European vacation and I couldn't be more excited!  In honor of this trip, I dug out a picture of me taken at the base of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France when I was there just over 5 years ago. 

I met a few great guys from Texas in the Louvre one evening.  We instantly hit it off and had fun exploring Paris together over the next few days.  One of them snapped this photo of me.  I was having such a great time, and I can't wait for my next European adventures!