blogs of the past

every once in a while i look back at my old blogs from the same month or day but back a few years.
its always interesting to see what i was up to.
last year i was overwhelmed working two full time jobs.

and two years ago this month we had tons of weddings to attend and i went on kayla's birthday hayrack ride and almost died because of my horrid allergies.

but my favorite was from 2006...from right before our wedding.

love it...love him.

delayed rip blog

thank you for not letting anyone put baby in the corner.
you will be missed p.s.

schlegtoberfest 2009

last weekend was schlegtoberfest 2009 and a german good time was had by all.
here are a few of my favorite pics.
(sorry it's taken me a week to get them uploaded to my blog! its been a busy first week back)

10 things i learned on my first red cross disaster deployment in georgia

1. i heart sweet potatoes and wish i wasnt denied them as a child.
2. disasters can ruin everything you own, but not your spirit.
3. people in atlanta drive like they are in fast forward.
4. next time i should bring earplugs...so i can sleep.
5. floods are insane. the damage they cause is mindboggling...and i will never forget how they smell.
6. chicken and waffles do go together...and they are amazing.
7. we have the best volunteers at the red cross.
8. always pack extra batteries and shoes with arch support.
9. the red cross is so much bigger than us. its amazing to see people smile when we show up to help...and its even more amazing to meet the people we help first hand.
10. i cant wait to deploy again.

i am home...

sorry for the delay in blogging.
i got home wednesday night and have been busy ever since.
we hosted a husker party thursday night, so i spent my first day home cleaning, doing mountains of laundry and cooking goodies for the party.
friday joel took the day off with me and we watched the last 3 weeks worth of the office and grey's anatomy. then more cleaning...and my dad arrived from oklahoma friday night and we went shopping for pretzels and german wine.
today we woke up to snow!!!
yes it has been 80's in atlanta and i wake up to snow today.
ugh.
dutch loves it though...she was like a little baby puppy again...so cute.
now we are just getting ready for the 2nd annual schlegelmilch oktoberfest (schlegtoberfest)...so more cooking and cleaning! :)

in love: the atlanta cupcake factory

lovvvveed everything about it.
its cute little midtown hood.
its cute cases
the cute halloween decorations
and cute cute (and tasty) cupcakes.
the owners were super rad (and from okc to boot)
i will be back for sure!
i told them about my cupcake obsession and they said im not alone.
they even took a pic of my johnny cupcake tattoo (for their blog)
i told them i would put them on my blog- so here you go!
cheers to cupcakes!
ps- the first 5 friends i see when i hit omaha get a tasty treat!

atlanta deployment: day 11 (last day in the office)

while in georgia i have had the pleasure of meeting many amazing people.
red cross volunteers.
flood survivors.
red cross staff.
strangers.(who are now friends.)
you have read a few of their stories here over the past 10 days.

here are a few more of the videos i got in the last week or so.
amazing stories from amazing people who have in someway been touched by the red cross.

the faces of the georgia floods

young flood survivor kristian hernandez


city employee lance mullis


mayor joe jerkins


red cross volunteer luther gooden


more to come as i decompress...

fat matt's rib shack bbq

today kate and i hit up fat matt's rib shack on referral of mr john nania (atlanta red crosser who was transplanted into omaha)
thank you thank you thank you thank you john.
this place was ammmaaazzzing.
i got the combo plate (1/4 chicken and 1/4 slab of ribs) and baked beans
kate got the pulled pork sandwich and mac n cheese.
we immediately went into a foodcoma, which wasnt good because we were so exhausted from working nonstop...
i was literally choking on chicken for a few minutes and kate didnt notice because she was zoned out/texting...and then i never noticed she got up to get a refill, and i was covered in bbq so i never got a refill. (not good, when you are so exhausted that you have no idea what is going on, besides all of the bbq sauce on your face.)
sidebar: i did end up leaving a few hours early because i was feeling insanely tired, dizzy and like a zombie, i kept misspelling my last name and kate had the afternoon off...so we were no longer a hazard to society.
overall great lunch.
we decided we want to go back for every meal before we leave.

my awesome plate

bathroom sign (and my dogs name)

my buddy johns picture on the wall...he's the grooving bass player

atlanta deployment: day 10

things are finally starting to slow down for us...and ive started to think back on the people i have met in my short time in georgia.
these are people i wont ever forget.
i admire their strength, perseverance and spirt.

this is kristen anderson.
she works for the church of the good shepard in austell.
we filmed this video with her after things started to slow down at her church.
her church was another one of our great partners.
they helped us deliver meals in austell to people who couldnt leave their neighborhood.
kristen hadnt slept much since the flood, since she was helping to keep the church doors opened for people to come and stay if they needed a place...but let me tell you she had an incredible spirit.
she was practically flying when she was telling us about how the red cross had helped her help her community.
it was great to see how one person can help extend our mission.
...and this is just one of the people and one of the stories i heard. :)

atlanta deployment: day 10

we have had some great local partners helping us out with this disaster.
today i went to the mobile kitchen that cooks all of the food we distribute.
it is set up in a local church's parking lot.
we have an awesome partnership with the southern baptist churches and their disaster relief folks.
they have been fabulous. we ship all of the food in and they cook it up and get it ready to take out to serve the masses.
they make around 3,000 meals a day. (we have served 33,780 meals so far!)
yesterday was lasagna.
today was salisbury steaks or bbq sandwiches.
they put all of the food in large red containers that keep them hot and then pack them onto our emergency response vehicles (ervs).
it was neat to see them all line up and get filled.
volunteer dan chandler, the manager of the site, is an efficiency expert and has these puppies loaded in under a minute each!
then our drivers head out into neighborhoods, the shelters, etc to feed people.
the great thing about the red cross is that all of our disaster services are free and available to anyone.
it doesnt matter where you are from or who you are.
we serve everyone.
and let me tell you, disaster make you hungry.
we are blessed to have the southern baptist church, and the many other local partners help us serve others during this operation.