"the feast" @ quarterdecks

all you can eat crab.

so good, yet so much work.

Memorial Day

 

i woke up extra early on monday morning to meet up with some friends at arlington national cemetery.

each person received two roses when they walked in. you were to place one on a grave and keep one for remembrance. 

we were shuttled up to the amphitheater, sat down and waited in the basking sun for two hours until president obama spoke.

(best part was that michelle was there too...!)

definitely got my first sunburn of the summer.

following the ceremony i went to a bbq at my friend kyle and catharine's apartment.

they had a wonderful spread of food AND air conditioning.

it was much needed after spending the whole morning outside.

white trash bash.

I'm so glad that our group of friends love to get creative with parties.

We decided to have a white trash/swamp people/redneck themed party Friday.

The outfits people came up with were hilarious.

Mr. Jordan Raffety's was probably my favorite.

Extremely short shorts, plaid cut off, with a red solo cup in hand.

Dave and Brady made a big batch of summer brew and we sat on the front porch listening to good ole' country music.

Cheer to the last week of college!

yesterday i climbed this.

 

 and it was adrenaline rushing, heart pumping, and incredibly awesome!

 I decided to race these two boys.

I got the 'easy track'

Joe got 'medium'

Chris got 'difficult'

 I made them give me a 30 second head-start.

 

 I made it to the top!

I threw my body over and hung there for a few seconds in shock.

 Then I decided to 'free fall'

I don't know how high I am in the air, but basically I pulled a string and swung back and forth at a very fast pace.

 Visiting the MOERA ropes course at Mozingo Lake was on my college bucket list.

I can finally check that one off.

BBQ.

 we had a BBQ friday night at Big Blue complete with...

yard games,

tons of food,

&

summer brew.

it was perfect weather to sit on the front porch and enjoy each other's company.

two weeks until graduation ... sayyy what!?

lee & vern.

 

This is Lee.

The sweet lady I recognized at Pilates from church.

She invited me over for lunch on Sunday and told me to bring a couple friends.

Her house reminded me of my Grandma Kerkvliet.

Her prize possession consists of her beautiful plates depicting Our Savior's life.

She had the table set up as if it was Christmas dinner.

She said a beautiful prayer before we ate.

She made us French Silk Pie.

Lee and Vern (her husband) will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary soon.

She told us that even after 60 years, they are both still in love.

visit from bearcat alum!

i had an incredible weekend.

two of my favorite bearcat alum visited me.

they are from my hometown, used to be my old neighbors, and i babysat their kids.

they partied and "pre-gamed" this weekend with my friends.

 my lovely ladies.

we helped them relive their college years.

they blended right in.

bar hopping.

playing 21.

talking Bearcat talk.

come back brad & angie.

we had a blast.

once a bearcat, always a bearcat!

matching is always cool...

when you don't plan it.

iowa city weekend.

 

 iowa city with the fam bam for the weekend.

body pump with teresa early saturday morning.

shopping. shopping. shopping.

i cut six inches off my hair.

dinner at the vine.

met jessica's boyfriend. (keeper)

church in the am.

blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

love is driving 4.5 hours by yourself to see your family.

it was most definitely worth the trek.

Super Bowl Sunday!

 Instead of watching the Super Bowl in the stadium this year, I watched it side by side with some of my closest friends. Last year, when I worked at the Super Bowl, all employees received a name badge with a photo ID and job title. I dusted off my official NFL name badge from last year and wore it to the party.

I thought it would be fun to have a little craft time before the big game began...!

So, I made everyone at the party also make a name badge for themselves.

(The boys were so thrilled with me ... :)

We had some clever job descriptions ranging from peanut server to drinker of beer.

We had way too much food.
How many crock-pots can you find in the photo above?

First person to guess correctly receives an official name badge made by yours truly :)

lazy.

Lazy Saturday night.

Movies, Chinese delivery, and nail painting with Nat, Melanie, and Rach.

Mother-Daughter Shopping Weekend

Des Moines.

Sisters.

Mama.

Shopping.

Food.

Loved my weekend.

Sunday Sightings

1. Yummy strawberry-orange lemonade from the farmer's market.

2a. Farmer's market valet bicycle parking.

2b. Adorable restaurant that Blaire and I had brunch at.

3. Beautiful flower tree - I spotted it on my walk back to the apartment.

The farmer's market today was extremely crowded due to The 405 being closed. 

Have you heard about it? Carmageddon?

Farmer's Market

 Sights from the Farmer's Market we went to this afternoon.

Can't wait to go back next Sunday.

Guess who accidentally went to Mass in Spanish this morning?

Good guess.

Me.

The only words I understood: Wal-Mart, Kohl's, JCPenney.

Who knows where he was going with that homily...

Better luck next week.