Project 365: Day 172

Just walking through the University of Minnesota's campus today...

I have to admit, I went to bed pretty pissed at myself last night. I had a 7am flight today from Des Moines to Minnesota, but instead of staying in Des Moines, I booked a hotel in Ames. I had to wake up at 4am to drive an hour to the airport (wish I knew Minneapolis is only a three hour drive from Ames!) and then had three rapid-fire meetings as soon as i landed in Minneapolis - one of which I felt completely unprepared for.  On top of that, my meetings for tomorrow were cancelled and I'm not going home until Thursday. The icing on the cake was that I didn't get my first cup of coffee until 2pm (after all my meetings) so I was dragging to say the least. This is just not my week.

But all went well, life goes on, and on my way to my car this afternoon I came across this pretty little flower. Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses.

Project 365: Day 171

Visiting Iowa State... check out the sculpture in the biochemistry building - I think it's some sort of mother-nature figure holding up two sides of a DNA molecule... cool :-)

Project 365: Day 170

Saturday hike with my boo!

 lots and lots of aspens... got me so excited about the aspen grove that we're getting married in!!

After the hike we went to the movies and were SERIOUSLY disturbed by the RIDICULOUS size of the concessions these days.... this is what is wrong with this country! (not to mention the $12 profit margin on them!)

Project 365: Day 169

Seriously Denver!? What kind of art is this? It's seriously disturbing.

Project 365: Day 168

Friday night we got together one last Friday for Olympics viewing at our place and spent the last hour of the evening at the piano bar next door enjoying a 2-for-1 happy hour and some great sing-alongs!

 Picture of the day - Nick is smiling in a picture! Yay

me and my olympic-watching-buddy Jackie!

Project 365: Day 167

Nothing in life makes me more grateful to work for Bruker than seeing a steel building. Praise the Lord that I am lucky enough to have a job that I do not dread every single day. Thank God that I no longer cry on my lunch breaks.  And thank Nick for sticking with me through my most miserable period in life and still wanting to marry me!

Project 365: Day 166

6-hour drive from Ames, Iowa to Chicago, IL with stops in Mt. Vernon, IA and DeKalb, IL along the way.  Took this shot while I was driving down the road in Iowa, just thinking about my fiance....not a bad view!

Project 365: Day 165

Busy day in Iowa - customers all day from 9:30am to 7:15pm - but i caught a nice sunset on my way back to my hotel:

Back on the road tomorrow with 6 hours in the car as I head to Chicago for the night. Hopefully I'll find something worth photographing along the way :-)

Project 365: Day 164

Ahhhh, Ames, Iowa. Back on the road for work and I have to say, today wasn't too bad. Flight to Iowa, one meeting, and I was at my hotel in time to find a local yoga studio and take a class.

I've been trying to do this more and more these days (I've taken yoga in Omaha, Nebraska and Burlington, Massachusetts this summer as well).  Sometimes when I'm on the road going from hotel to hotel, always eating Starbucks oatmeal for breakfast and Subway for lunch, and dinner alone (all unless I'm with customers, of course), I start to feel a bit like a robot.  Yoga helps me to feel a little less alone on the road, a little more relaxed, and a little more.... human. So it's good. I'm going to try REALLY hard to get up for the 6am class tomorrow, but that's a 5am class in my timezone, so we'll see....

Project 365: Day 163 (Crayon Art)

Another pinning day with my bestie Aimee!!

Melted crayon art is all over pinterst these days and yesterday I saw some in real life when I visited Katie's apartment. I was inspired by Katie's crayon art, so Aimee and I decided to "Pin" today and take on this project ourselves.

All we needed was a box of crayons, a hair dryer, and a canvas. Aimee brought over some paint, magazines, and Modge Podge for some mixed-media fun. 

Turns out, crayon art is actually really easy. All you have to do is hold the hair dryer up to the crayon and let it happen.

I chose a razzelberry pallet and ended up with a pretty nifty piece of art:

I had so much fun, I kept going and made a matching pair. After I was done with them, I did a watercolor wash over the whole thing - to give it a bit of depth. (Thanks to the great direction of my personal art teacher!)

I think they're pretty cool!

Project 365: Day 162

Pool Side at Ashley's place!

Project 365: Day 161

Friday night Olympics-viewing party! U-S-A, U-S-A!!!

Followed by Armida's Karaoke and a (might I say) rousing rendition of "Proud to be an American"

dedicated to Missy Franklin, Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, and Gabby Douglas!