Easter in St. Louis

I am so excited for this Easter weekend! I am going to St. Louis to see the Malones! My parents are also coming from Kansas, so it will be a terrific weekend. The Fithians and Malones - (mostly) together again. :) I will be sure to take lots of pictures of the fun times and share them next week. Here's what I'm happy for today:
Hooray for short work weeks (this week and next)!
Hooray for the freedom to travel!
Hooray for weekends with family and friends!
Hooray for Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made on the cross for my sins and for your sins!

"He is risen!"

"He is risen indeed!"

HAPPY EASTER

The Joys of Cooking

Goin' to keep on blogging while I'm still motivated... :)

One of the things I have learned to enjoy the most about living in my own apartment is...

COOKING!

When I graduated from high school, my mom gave me a book of recipes with all of our family favorites. Throughout college, I didn't have much use for it because the dorm kitchen was not very user-friendly (okay, it was usually nasty). I would have loved to have had a place to cook during college; I avoided the cafeteria (except for breakfast!) like the plague. Anyway, since moving into my own place 22 months ago, I have been working my way through the recipes. Every time I try to make something for the first time, I make numerous calls to my mom. The questions I ask her are quite hilarious. I'm sure my mom wonders how I can cook at all! One of the first things I made was my favorite - Mexican Chicken - for my 25th birthday party. I invited my friends over for dinner and game night, and I made the food. (Everyone thought this was stupid: why not make someone else cook on your birthday?!) I must have made 10 calls to my mom while trying to prepare the food, even after watching her make it over 100 times at home! Thankfully, the Mexican chicken, queso, and guacamole all turned out fantastically, and everyone loved it!

Since that night, I have tried my hand at making green bean casserole, chili, Grandma's (AKA tater tot) casserole, Nancy's hamburger bean casserole, pizza casserole, and taco lasagna. I also found a great homemade mac & cheese recipe online! In the dessert category, I have made 7-layer cookies, microwave chocolate "oat"rageous snack cake (my fave!), peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, candy cookies, puppy chow, and dirt cake. Everything has turned out pretty great. I have yet to make ham rolls, baked potatoes, and peas (my brother's favorite) or spaghetti with meatballs (my dad's favorite).

Tonight I made my first "Seaworthy Casserole" (AKA tuna noodle casserole). It was mighty tasty, especially with crescent rolls. I only made ONE call to my mom, but I probably asked five questions. :) Hey, I'm making progress!

As you may have noticed, a lot of the recipes in my book are for casseroles. I really like casseroles. I like the way all of the flavors mix together. I'm definitely NOT one of those "my food CANNOT touch on my plate" people. I like eating steak and potatoes or chicken and rice, but I prefer a good 'ole casserole! This is probably why Mexican food (lots of yummy, mixed-up flavors) is my favorite, followed closely by supreme pizza.

Do you have any great (and fairly easy) recipes that you'd like to share? Would you like to try any of the "Fithian Family Favorites"? ;) I'll gladly share... we don't have any secret recipes!

BcT

Today I'm going to share about my current favorite obsession: BcT or Bootcamp Tulsa! I must be crazy to enjoy getting up before 5am twice a week (and 7am on Saturday) to work out, but it is truly my most favorite time of day. Why do I love it?

I love getting an amazing workout without having to think about it or plan it.

I love Coach Mark's coaching - always motivating us to do more and go harder.

I love the mix of cardio and strength training.

I love that we do different things and use different equipment every. single. day.

I love the team, "let's do this together" atmosphere.

I love Coach Mark's random "history" facts and bootcamp axioms.

(i.e. "Do you know what they used to do in Ancient Egypt? Jumping Jacks!"

and "Kicking your neighbor is a bootcamp sign of affection!")

I love that it's outside, and it's okay to get dirty, muddy, and sweaty.

I love pushing and cheering on my "teammates".

I love how my body feels and how I look.

I love the fun and encouraging group of women who share in this craziness!

If you live in the Tulsa area, you should check it out! Bootcamp Tulsa was created by my former strength coach at ORU. He is a terrific guy, and he has hired some great Bootcamp Coaches. I can honestly say that if I wasn't doing BcT, I probably wouldn't be working out at all. I just can't motivate myself to consistently work out on my own. I'm very thankful for BcT!

Again?

Well, its been nearly a year since I actually posted on my blog! At this point, I'm trying to decide if I should try blogging again or just give it up for good. I would say in general that the main reason why I haven't blogged is because I don't really have much to share. I lead a rather boring life. I really enjoy reading other people's blogs, but never feel like I have anything "blog-worthy" to write about. I do enjoy writing though, and I know my blog could be an outlet for my more creative side.

So anyway, after contemplating for a few agonizing hours (sarcasm), I decided to try blogging again. =) I even came up with a list of blog subjects, since writing about my every-day life would not be very exciting or newsworthy. A lot of these subjects are in the "top 10" genre, such as: Top 10 Favorite Vacations/Trips and Top 10 Favorite Foods. Therefore, I guess one of the goals of my blog is to learn more about myself and why I like or don't like certain things. This blog will definitely be less about the actual events that occur in my life and more about my thoughts, memories, and ideas. I was going to add "feelings" to that list, but um, I'm not sure how much I'll share my feelings. I'm just not the "feelings sharing" type.

That's it for today. I'll leave you with a few recent pictues of my kitties. They are fun!

Oh, and if you want to encourage me on my new-found enthusiasm for blogging, that would be great too!

Spring Update

I'm at work this morning, but I have nothing to do... so I thought I would update my blog for once. The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity - mostly just lots and lots of basketball games! All three Bishop Kelley girls teams - varsity, jv, and sophomore - had great seasons. I was very impressed with how hard the girls worked this year and how much they improved. The varsity finished with a 19-8 record and a trip to the Oklahoma State 5-A Basketball Tournament. We lost in the state quarterfinals by 6 points, but it was a close game throughout. This is the first time the Bishop Kelley girls basketball team has qualified for state in 4 years. We have already set our sights on winning that State Championship next year!

We had spring break last week, and I went to Boston to visit my brother Jordan and his fiancee Jen. I had never been to Boston before, so it was a great new experience - not to mention the quality time I had with Jordan and Jen! Jordan and Jen live just a few walking minutes from the Prudential Center in downtown Boston, so everything was within easy walking or subway distance. Jordan works at the Top of the Hub on the 52nd floor of the Prudential Center, so we had dinner up there one night (while Jordan worked). We also walked around the 50th-floor Skywalk Observatory, so I could see all the sights in Boston. Boston has a Tall Girls Shop!!! so I forced Jordan to go there with me, so I could pick out some new pants for work. Jordan does a fabulous job of giving his opinion on clothes! We ate sushi one night, and we also had a great Italian dinner at Lucia on the North End. I had such a fun time and was so thankful that I got a chance to know Jen better and spend time with my bro. I was very sad that I had to come back to Tulsa. :(

Now, its back into the swing of things here at work. I don't have a lot going on right now in the business office, but I'm sure things will pick up as we start to wind down the school year and start to prepare for next fall. I'm pretty sure I'm going to help coach BK volleyball next year, so I will have additional camps and responsibilities this summer. I'm already trying to get everything scheduled and mapped out for the summer. I'm really sad that I won't be lifeguarding this summer (for the first time in 9 years!), but there's just not enough time.

The kitties are living large! They still like to snuggle with me and sleep on my lap and play, play, play! They are quite the jumpers - they like to hang out on top of my kitchen cabinets. I am soooooooooo glad I have them. They aren't too much trouble, and I love coming home to them. They have gotten to be scardy-cats around other people though, which is a habit I'm going to have to break. Maybe an Easter trip to see the "grandparents" (haha Mom and Dad) will help.

Well, I guess that's about it as far as updates go... I hope you're enjoying this year's March Madness! I'll be cheering on my Jayhawks tonight and hoping that my bracket picks win. On a side note, I think the UConn women are pretty much unstoppable - if you want to watch good basketball, you should watch them play on Sunday and Tuesday.

TGIF!!!

Happy New Year!

Hellooooooooooooo!

Well, I have successfully put off blogging for almost 3 months! Boo! But now, its a new year, and I am determined to be a more regular blogger. I have tried numerous times over the years to start a journal to record my daily life events (just like my Mom) :), but that never seems to last longer than a week or 2. So, here's another attempt... I'm sure my posts will still be sporadic, but I am going to try!

The biggest change in my life over the past several months is that I no longer live alone! That's right, I have 2 furry roommates. They are 2 adorable male kitties, who go by the names of Mowgli and Mayan. Mowgli - from the Jungle Book - because the Jungle Book took place in India (where I traveled with Athletes in Action) and I love the name. Mayan - after the Riviera Maya in Mexico (my all-time favorite vacay place) - because Maya sounded too feminine for a male cat. Here's a picture of my cuddily roommates; Mowgli is the grey tabby and Mayan is the orange tabby.

Cats are perfect apartment companions - especially for someone like me who isn't around most of the day. Every day, I look forward to getting home to play with them and to let them sleep on my lap. I took them with me to Kansas for a week over Christmas, and my parents loved them. They are very playful and funny, but they also don't mind being held and loved on. I think I have officially become a cat lover!

I hope your 2009 has gotten off to a great start, and I hope you will be reading more on my blog this year!!

ST. LOUIS

I spent this past weekend in St. Louis with the Malones: Rodney, Gina, Will, EJ, Michael, and Yuri! I had a great time seeing everyone (dogs included), playing with the kids (of course!), eating fabulous Thai food (for the first time), getting smoked at Tiger Woods wii golf (thanks, EJ and Michael), watching Mexican league futbol (Rodney tried to hurt people, lol), and drinking tea from Paraguay. I did not so much enjoy watching football - as both the Sooners and Broncos lost - even though the corned beef hash was yummy and meeting new people was fun.

Here are some pics of the ADORABLE children - I don't think I took very many pictures of anyone else. ;)

I think that pretty much sums up my weekend. I'm already planning my next visit and wishing I just lived in St. Louis!!

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!