No More Bad News... Only Good.

As I was getting to leave work on Friday I went to KCCI.com to check the weather for the weekend. Only problem is, when you do that, you go to the main page of news and these were the headlines:

Missing Girl's Stepfather To Be Charged

Twin Babies Die In Bathtub Incident

Police: 15-Year-Old Arrested In Gas Station Robberies

Stocks Tank In Worst Week Since 2008

Photos: See Who Got Arrested

Officials ID 4 People Killed In Crash

No wonder people are depressed. I can't handle seeing this stuff. It makes me sick. Are there good things going on in the world? I know there has to be... so I will no longer check KCCI.com to get my weather, I will go to the weather channel where they do not bombard me with negativity when all I want is a forecast.

So, in order to keep my thoughts happy I decided I would blog about things that make me happy. Things that make me KNOW there are good things and good people in this world.

Number 1 - my dad and his twin brother, two of the greatest men in the world, turned 59 on Friday. This is them laughing at each other. I love this picture. It makes me smile!

Two: Boston. Enough said.

Three: Presley. Enough said.

Four: Pumpkin Beer from Rock Bottom. The put cinnamon and sugar on the rim of the glass. It is SOOOO delicious and 'fall' like. If you have this restaurant in your area, I highly recommend you trying this beer!



Five: The Kia Soul commercial with the hamsters dancing to Party Rock OR just the Party Rock video.

This song makes me want to dance and dress funky. Infact, I think I know my Halloween costume! :)

Six: Finding ice cream named Schweddy Balls!

Seven: New books by my favorite author Harlan Coben.

Eight: Football Sunday's with my family. GO PACK GO!

 What things make you happy? What things make you smile? Make a list, I'm sure you'll be amazed at how many simple things make you feel good. Oh, and don't watch the news.



The Last Hurrah at AK's

In Beaverdale, there is a small corner bar... that after 25 years, is closing.

I have a lot of memories at this bar, with Brendan especially. When we were roommates he'd have a 'guest' stay over and then in the morning when that 'guest' would leave...

he'd wake me up to go get breakfast at AK O'Connors.

Good food, laid back environment and cold beer.

I LOVED their mac and cheese... with bacon on top. I ate most of it before I remembered to take a picture.

Brendan's cousin Nicole and her hubby Kevin, plus Brendans old neighbors, Kristin and Mike, frequented this establishment with him as well.

Kristin and Mikes son, Liam, enjoyed our last night there so much,

he even did the chicken dance from his high chair!

I'm sorry to see AK's go, it's one of the few places in the neighborhood that hasn't changed. It may be slightly my fault since I went over to Saints, right across the street from AK's for the last 9 months...

This t-shirt says it all:

Saturday Football

Saturday was a busy day. Beaverdale fall fest plus a party and Nicole and Kevin's and Sandy and Katrishas.

I wasn't eating meat... these are what I passed up. They were even smoked with the apple tree wood from MY trees!! I must have been crazy to not eat them...

Kevin and Boston - just chilling!

Boston just playing... trying to destroy the flowers...

Samantha and Boston... ok so so far this blog has nothing to do with Saturday football.

BUT the Hawks did end up winning!



My cousin Kelly and ME.... we could be sisters! I think we look so much a like!

At Sandy and Katrisha's they had jello shots and also a shot in a plastic syringe. It was, enjoyable. :-)

I made it PAST 6 this weekend. I think it was closer to 11 when I finally crashed in bed.

See, I'm growing up!

Vegetarian/Vegan Status 2

I QUIT!!!!

EPIC Fail!

After 15 days of eating veggie/vegan like, I just couldn't take it any more!

Reasons why:

Saturday, I stood around all afternoon smelling smoked ribs and smoked salmon on the grill and ate NONE of it. People devoured the hunks of flesh in front of me and it looked so good......

I WAS STARVING all day Saturday, even eatting veggies all day and some chips - it was never satisfying. I JUST WANTED TO EAT SOME FREAKING MEAT!

Sunday my mom made chili and apple dumplings. I ate none of it. I ate carrotts and chips. I. was. so. hungry.

So today, I woke up and decided to QUIT! I don't care that I am a quitter. I made it 15 days, and I'm done.

Hello medium rare steak.. I'm coming to get you!

Deep Thoughts

I have realized what really matters is the moments when I hold my nephew and make him smile or watch my niece and all her attitude, play. Seeing my little sister become a beautiful, unselfish, wonderful person and mother. Hoping to become like my older sister, a great wife, wonderful mother, a confident, strong and beautiful person.

Not sure if it’s the cloudy, cold weather or that this weekend is Beaverdale Fall Fest, or that I’ve just been so strong for so long now. But today… I miss my friend. It hurts today, and I’m crying. I guess sad moments are allowed, but I’ve just been handling it so well for so long that this has come out of nowhere. I will allow myself today to be sad, but tomorrow it's back to being Holly.

Vegetarian/Vegan Status

Update: I am 10 days in to my 21 day Vegetarian/Vegan life style.

·         I  feel Good.

·         I don’t feel skinner really, but I do feel healthier.

·         Vegans can eat French fries… enough said.

·         I ordered vegetable fajitas last night at El Rodeo. I ate green peppers, onions, a little guacamole and rice on nice warm tortillas and I actually enjoyed it! I don’t even like ONIONS! But they were yummy.

·         Since my diet is a little bit more restricted, I MIGHT have not had enough to eat and too much to drink last Saturday during the Iowa/ISU game and was home, in bed, passed out at 6pm. That has nothing to do with the fact that I am old and need to realize I can’t drink like I’m 21 still.

·         I think being a vegetarian isn’t that hard. Being a vegan is a LOT of work and very difficult. I applaud anyone that lives a full time, all the time, vegan lifestyle.

·         11 more days and then I plan on having a nice glass of skim milk. I do plan on sticking with the vegetarian diet, for the most part and I want to keep my diary and egg intake to a minimum. For no other reason than this life style forces me to make smarter meal choices and to eat a lot of veggies and fruits.

UPDATED: 12 New Restaurants

I want to visit 12 'new to me' restaurants in the next 12 months.

This is what I have on my list.

1.       Mi Patria (9/2/2011)

2.       Zombie Burger  (10/4/2011)

3.       Chucks  (2/29/2012)

4.       Baby Boomers Café

5.       Thai Flavors

6.       The Rusty Duck (Dexter)

7.       Kirkwood Lounge (or whatever the restaurant there is called) (11/2011)

8.       Miyabi 9
9.       Norwoodville Tap
10.    Luccas

11.    Cafe di Scala

12.    The Radish

Watch for my 'reviews' of these restaurants!

Rocky and Football

Thursday night I had a 50-ish birthday party for my dear Rocky Feller Moeller. His birthday isn't until December, but no one wants to stand outside that time of year. Rocky even wore a black tie for this event!!

We had a great time with friends and family!

Treats for the dogs....

And treats for people!

We had a great turn out! Rocky's friends and my friends showed up to wish him a happy birthday.

See the great crowd of awesome people!! And... where is Rocky? 

Oh... he's anti-social..... (see him on the right?) :-)

It was a great time, a beautiful night and awesome people!!

Thank you everyone that came to celebrate!

After everyone left I cleaned up and got ready to watch the Packers on channel 13. (I do not have cable).Only problem is, I only get channel 8 and 23 with my flat white antenna hanging on the wall. So I had to move the antenna round until I found the place where channel 13 came in.... it just happened to be in the middle of the room, 2 feet off the ground. Good thing my 'coffee table' was that height or I would have had to stand there holding it.....



The Packers won... but I can't say the same for my Hawkeyes. It was a good game against the Cyclones on Saturday. Went in to 3 overtimes. It was a short day for me... I drank a bit more than I should have and was home before the sun was down.

Here are a couple pictures before the game began.

Nicole :)

Jessica and Presley

UPDATED: 12 New Places to Eat

I want to visit 12 'new to me' restaurants in the next 12 months.

This is what I have on my list.

1.       Mi Patria (9/2/2011)

2.       Zombie Burger

3.       Chucks

4.       Baby Boomers Café

5.       Thai Flavors

6.       The Rusty Duck (Dexter)

7.       Kirkwood Lounge (or whatever the restaurant there is called)

8.       Miyabi 9
9.       Norwoodville Tap
10.    Luccas

11.    Cafe di Scala

12.    The Radish

Watch for my 'reviews' of these restaurants!

Stuff

~The pictures, specials on TV and magazine articles of 9/11 make me tear up. I think they always will.
I remember exactly where I was, what I was doing and what was going on in my life on that day 10 years ago. I can't believe it's been 10 years. I have never wanted to visit NY before, but now I really want to go see the memorial there. I added this to my Life List.



~I'm trying out a vegitarian/vegan lifestyle of sorts. No meat, no dairy. 2 1/2 days in and I'm feeling skinnier already. I am doing this with my friend Nicole for 21 days total and then see how our bodies feel. I think the no meat thing will be easy... but the no dairy (CHEESE), will be hard!!
I'll keep you posted!

~I need a hair cut badly.

~ The weather here has been so nice. I want to make chili... with no meat or cheese! :)

~ Packers play tonight... I love football.

Dinner with the Riders

Friday night I met some of my family... and extended family (The Riders), out for dinner at Mi Patria and Ecuadorean restaurant in West Des Moines. The food is like what we ate in Peru... only not quite as good.
Here's the group. (Dad, Jessica and Presley, Susie, Jeff, Andrea and David).

They had Inca Kola. I knew the night would be great after I took one sip of the golden, sweet, calorie filled goodness.

Jessica and I ordered the same thing. A rice dish with, shrimp, chicken, beef and pork in it. It was good! My dad ordered  Carne Azada (spelled wrong?). He really liked it too. But our meals were nothing compared to what came next.... wait for it....

David and Susie ordered the... Cuy (Guinea Pig which is a specialty in South America).
This is what it looked like before.*

This is what it looked like after!

I even tried a bite of it... which I didn't have the guts to do when we were in Peru and David had Cuy there. It was... fatty, but really, just the texture of chicken. Not bad at all!

Susie cut the head off...



And then David thought the Cuy needed something to drink....



I recommend trying this restaurant. It's not 'normal' food, but it's good food!

Live on the edge people!

*The picture of the Guinea pig is not the actual guinea pig that was served at our table.

Just happened the pet store next door had one!

A Little Bit of This... and Food

My sister Sam's dog, Tippy, moved in with me and Rocky earlier this week. She's hyper, but a huge sweet heart. She did misbehave, and ate my wall. The dog has 50 toys laying around, but I guess my paint and dry wall seemed more appetizing. :)

My dad retired from 34 1/2 years at Sysco. His last day was Thursday. The company invited our family to a little retirement party, with cake and gifts. We tried to surprise my dad that us 3 girls were coming, but he figured it out. My family isn't good with surprises... I am so happy for my dad. He worked his ass off for his family (still does) and I never heard the man complain. He's an amazing dad, husband and person. Congrats Daddy!

Thursday night I met my friend Nicole out at Tally's in Beaverdale for a couple beverages and food. It was hot, but the roof top patio, in the shade, was pretty nice.

Nicole ordered the portobello mushroom fries for an appetizer, and I actually tried them. I'm not a fan of mushrooms, but they were pretty decent. Batter and deep fried, can't go wrong with that! We had no problem finishing them off...

I ordered the BLC (bacon, lettuce and cheese) for dinner. Nice crispy bacon, pepper jack cheese and a nice soft white bread. It was SOOOOO good. I want one right now...