walnut creek half marathon

A few Saturdays ago, Ben ran his first half-marathon!  13.1 miles!  His IT band has been bothering him enough to be seeing a doctor for it, so he wasn't sure he'd be able to run.  But he did, and he didn't have any pain!  He ran so great!  He ran the half-marathon in 1:40:03.  Boom baby!!

christmas decor

I made this wreath, and once I added the big red bow I've been totally pleased with how it turned out!  The ribbons are a light tan with green, sparkly Christmas trees on them.

I made this last year and I still think it's pretty great.

These are from Michael's and I think they're adorable.

I put Christmas-y prints in most of the frames of our gallery wall.  Thank you, Pinterest.

This is the cutest little Nativity.  It's from Kneader's, of all places!

Ben's sister Kristi made us these stockings and Ben's sister Ashley made us the advent calendar.  Both totally impressive and totally key to our Christmas decor!

I love our little tree this year!

Target strikes again.

And, again.

thanksgiving

So, we just had the best Thanksgiving ever!  We took the quick little flight from Oakland right into the Provo airport - talk about hilariously little and cute and totally convenient!  One of the things we were most excited about about being in Utah (besides the family, of course) was the food, and within 30 minutes of landing, we had J-Dawg's in our mouths.   Ben's sister, Ashley, hosted Ben & I and Randy & Sandra for the week - it was so fun!  

Monday evening before Ben's parents arrived, we went out with the Pattersons.  Professor Patterson was my study abroad director in Paris and we have missed seeing them for our monthly Sunday dinners.  It was so kind of them to drive all the way down to Provo, pick us up, and take us out to dinner!  I can't believe that Kate was just a little 13-year-old babe when we were on study abroad and now she's a freshmen at BYU!

Ben and Ashley's husband, Jon, spent the Tuesday skiing at Alta and they had a blast!  Ben took a ski class our last semester at BYU and it was so fun for him to be back on the slopes!  And of course, while the boys skied, the girls shopped!

On Tuesday evening, Ben & I got together with 2 couples that we are good friends with and just chatted and laughed all night.  Then we hit up the BYU Creamery with minutes to spare before they closed.  We needed our Graham Canyon fix!

Wednesday morning we all had breakfast at Kneader's - I think Ben was looking forward to this the most - and it did not disappoint!  It was also really fun to look at all of their Christmas decor and Randy purchased our first Nativity set for us there!

After breakfast, Ben & I made a quick trip to the hospital in Provo because I needed to have a procedure done on a certain day, which happened to fall during Thanksgiving week, of course, and luckily they could do it for me while we were in Utah.  I was so grateful!  Doesn't this room just scream "Happy Thanksgiving!"?  Haha.

Wednesday afternoon we all went to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point and Ashley's two kids had a lot of fun.  Ben, Randy, & I had an epic game of Jenga, as well!

On Thanksgiving morning I woke up with the flu - that is just such a typical day for people to get sick!  I know multiple people who were sick that day, too - all the traveling, I guess.  But anyway, I hear that everybody had a really nice day and that the feasting was most excellent.

Friday morning, we made a big trip to the BYU Bookstore and did some major damage (thanks, Randy!).  It was awesome to be on campus again - it really felt like we had never left.  We lunched and ice creamed at the Creamery afterwards, and all left feeling majorly full.

On Friday evening we went to see "Frozen" and it was so fun!  I totally recommend it.  Two thumbs up.

Saturday morning was time for Christmas cookie decorating, and then we hopped back on the quick Provo-Oakland flight.

The week went by really quickly, but we had a lot of fun!  Thanks to Ashley & Jon for hosting us and to Randy & Sandra for coming all the way from Indiana!  We sure love you guys!

thanksgiving decor & dinner for two

Happy November, world! 

I made a few simple decorations this year: painted canvases and Thanksgiving fabric banners.  I love them both - so fun!

I also honestly just couldn't wait another week for Thanksgiving fare, so I spent Friday afternoon making a Thanksgiving Dinner for Two!  Complete with a 3-lb. turkey breast (so tender and cute), mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and green beans!  Instead of pumpkin pie, I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!  We've had leftovers for the last 2 days and it's been a delight.

super saturday & visit to the dorffs

I started a new job yesterday!  I am doing the same thing - activities with the elderly and those with dementia - but now I am working at Mt. Diablo Center, part of Rehabilitation Services of Northern California.  Instead of a home where people live 24/7, this place is a day-care facility where families or board-and-cares can drop off their loved ones for a day of activities from 9:30 to 3:00.  This means that I won't have to work evenings, weekends, or holidays . . whoooo hooooo!!

But before I started this new job, we had a fabulous weekend!

Ben went on a long bike ride on Saturday while I went to ballet class.  Then I had Super Saturday - a many-hour-long Relief Society event where we craft, eat dinner, and do service projects.  Apparently everybody knows what Super Saturday is, but I'd never heard of it until we moved here.  The theme this year was Super {Slumber} Saturday so I got to craft, etc. in my sweat pants!  Best.  Here are the two cute things I made - 

On the left is a wreath made out of paper flowers made out of old book pages.  Let's be honest - Shelley made most of my flowers because I am not that talented . . but I glued them all to the wire-hanger-turned-wire-circle!

On the right is a Christmas advent calendar made out of/on to a 24-count mini muffin tin!  Each muffin space is covered with a square piece of cardstock, with Christmas patterned scrap-book paper glued on top.  Then we stamped numbers on and added any embellishments we wanted.  To secure the cardstock, we cut sticky magnet strips really small and stuck them on each corner.  To count down to Christmas, I will put candy and/or a Christmas-related task like reading a scripture, watching a Christmas movie, etc. in each square.  I'm excited!  It turned out way cuter than I imagined!

~~~

Some of our very best friends, DJ & Laurel, moved to California to attend Stanford Law and we are so stoked to live nearby again!  We spent all of Sunday after church down in Stanford with them.  What fun!  We enjoyed a lovely lunch, a delightful walk around campus, and some good old catch-up chatting.  Oh, and let's be frank - little Lincoln was terrified of Ben, but he sure loved me!

 We also discussed what personality types we are according to the Myers-Briggs test and how they match up to the Harry Potter characters' personalities charted using the Myers-Briggs test.  If you're trying to figure out what I'm trying to mean, look here and here.  Well, Ben & I hadn't taken the test so we did, and it turns out that I match up with none other than . . . Neville Longbottom!  HA!

a few of our favorite things party

A couple of weeks ago, one of the girls in our ward threw a little party titled "A Few of Our Favorite Things."  Each girl brought one of her "favorite things" and we exchanged them white-elephant style.  It was totally fun to get together with all the ladies and see what some of the favorite things were.  I thought it was such a great idea that I wanted to record it for future reference and ideas!  

These are the things that were "favorites" - 

~ pedicure gift card

~ latte bowls from Anthropologie

~ lip balm from Anthropologie

~ candles from Anthropologie

~ Tigi Bed Head hair products: After Party, Head Rush, Dry Shampoo

~ more candles from Anthropologie

~ Cover Girl mascara

~ Argon Oil from Sephora

~ Zoku Slushie Maker from Williams-Sonoma

~ Urbio products

~ See's Candy (that's what I brought)

~ Urban Decay make-up setting spray

~ Essie nail polish

~ scarves

~ toasted coconut chips

~ Australian licorice

~ a Silpat (silicone baking sheet)

~ Popcornopolis

halloween garlands di-myself

Okay so I had so much fun over General Conference weekend crafting some Halloween decor for our apartment.  I don't even like Halloween, but the crafting was fun.  I will say this though - they would definitely all look better and cuter if we lived in a nice house without ugly walls and with a mantle - but, I made them and I think that on their own, they're totally cute.

The first one - Fabric Halloween Banner - you can find the tutorial HERE.

It was so fun picking out these fabrics.  Because you only need 1 yard of fabric total, I picked out 1/8 yard of 8 different fabrics.  That way, I got to pick out lots of patterns and it was really cheap - about $6.

This banner is so cute, it may be my favorite - I call it "little ghosties" - and you can find the tutorial HERE.

I didn't follow the tutorial exactly.  Instead of doing a one layer ghost with a straw on the back for the string to pass through, I did two layer ghosts and glued the string in between each layer of felt.  This way it can be seen from both sides if needed.  I also didn't embroider the faces because I don't have that kind of talent or patience; I drew them on with a black Sharpie.

The two other garlands are way cute, too - you can find the tutorial for the googly eye garland HERE, and the other is a simple paper chain and we all know how to do that.  

For the googly eye garland, I didn't use fishing line like the tutorial instructs.  I saved my money and used the same string I had used for the ghosts.  It's pretty simple - just glue two eyes together with the string in between, and make sure that the string is towards the top of the eye balls or else they will hang horizontally and no one wants that.

When I made the paper chain garland, I used 4 different Halloween papers - one with a pattern and three without.  I also cut the strips a lot thinner and shorter that we did when we were kids - it's a little bit cuter and more mature-looking.  I laid them out in a pattern before using a hot glue gun to secure each link.

I made a good investment for all of these crafts: a low-temperature hot glue gun - it saved my fingers lots of pain!

So now I'm really struggling to make all of the garlands look cute together.  It may be too much with all four.

I have one set of garland on a blank wall that I am pretending is a mantel over a fireplace.  Ha!

The other set of garlands is in between our kitchen and living room.  It looks like a lot in this picture, but I like these 4 together here.

To help with my pretend-mantel-wall, I made some Halloween artwork to go above the garlands.  Just simple canvases with painter's tape in abstract design.  I used the colors from the fabric, also just Halloween colors, and when the paint had dried, the tape peeled right off.

I'm still playing around with all of the garlands here . . I keep taking the paper chain off and putting it back on and I keep rearranging.  Oh, if only I had a mantel!!  I'm sure it would look good then.  Right?

I think I'll do it like this.

Anywho, it was fun.  Happy Halloween in this household!

lately in september

Sooo, even though I may have quit my job at the end of August, September was a busy month!  I had jury duty for three drudgerous days, I've had lots of doctors appointments because my body (for which I am grateful) is often a silly thing, and then we spent a weekend down the coast at Ben's (totes impressive) triathlon.  Later in September I had some time for myself and I made this way cute wreath.  I'm totally proud of myself.  Every time I come home to this door I smile.

I also tried my hand at flower arranging.  Unfortunately it was for a funeral I was helping with, but it was neat to (kind of) learn a new skill, order flowers in bulk like a real florist, and spend an afternoon working on the arrangements.

Now I'm working with some puff paint and some pumpkins for my next craft and I'm excited. 

I also signed up for ballet classes!  Hahaha ohhhhmygoodnessss - I took my first class in 4 years on Saturday and I am still SO SORE.  I told Ben that after the second exercise my quads were quivering and I couldn't make them stop.  Then he asked me how many exercises there were in the whole class and when I said "like 50!" he died laughing.  I prepaid for 10 classes so I have to go back . . but I'm not sure my body can do it anymore!  I sure am not very graceful, and none of my leotards fit me.  Ha!

Ben's New Year's Resolution was to become a Yelp Elite, and he did!  You'll have to ask him what that is all about.  One of the perks of being a Yelp Elite is free admission to events throughout each month, and last week we got free tickets to the California Shakespeare Theater.  We saw Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" and it was totally fun - it's outside so we got to bundle up and cuddle, and the theater and surrounding area are totes gorg!

The next night my parents came up to the Bay Area and took us out to dinner and then to the San Francisco Symphony.  It was really fun and we so enjoy every time my parents come to visit us!  I love them!

 Then, I went home Sunday - Monday to babysit my siblings.  Mostly they behaved themselves and were really awesome.  ;)  They are so cute and so grown up these days!  The highlight was getting to see Tommy's final cross country meet.  He finished in first place and ended the season undefeated (so proud!!).  Here he is with his gold medal.

Things are good here in the Myers household and I honestly can't believe that it's October.  Sheesh!

my husband's amazing triathlon

Yesterday, Ben competed (fantastically) in the Pacific Grove Triathlon - 1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run.  Here are all the photos!

7:00 AM, Pre-Triathlon

My mom is awesome and came to watch Ben.  She brought her nice camera and got so many great pictures for us!  Thank you, Mom - all photo credit to you.

Coming down to the beach from the transition area.

Getting the wetsuit to fit just perfectly.

Ben was in the first heat (collegiate and ages 25-29) and the first heat wore blue caps.

Ben is on the right, with 2 red stripes on the back of his wetsuit.

There they go on their first lap - each lap was about half a mile.

The swim was through thick beds of kelp - they call it the kelp crawl!

Here they come swimming in from the first lap.

Between laps, the triathletes had to get out of the water onto the beach, run around a boulder, and get back in for the second lap.

Ben is now through the transition area, out of his wetsuit, and into his biking gear.

Gotta get that Strava App started!

The biking stage was 4 six-mile laps down the coast.

This was a great race for spectators - we saw Ben so much!  Each time I rang my cowbell as loud as I could.  ;)

Through transition again, and into running gear.

Looking good and all smiles!

The run was 3 laps down the coast to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and back.

Looking so good!  I was ringing my cowbell!

Here he comes!

Ben finished in 2 hours, 42 minutes.

 Ben finished 12th in his class - that's pretty awesome!

Seriously, so proud of my beast of my husband!!

Ben's training buddy, Ross.

Complimentary 10-minute massage post-triathlon.

I could not be more proud!  I had so much fun watching and cheering on Ben - he was fabulous!  He says it could not have gone any better for him - what more can you ask for?!