"Miss You" mugs

I completed this DIY a while ago, but couldn't post it because Patrick would have seen it.

I found the tutorial for these here.  I just loved the idea.  It was actually really easy and didn't take long at all.

You just use a sharpie and bake them for 45 minutes.  

If you're going to try it, here are a few tips:

-Print out a state outline to trace (work smarter, not harder)

-Use eyeliner to initially trace the state, then trace around it with the sharpie.  The eyeliner just wipes off!

-Get rid of all your long distance friends/boyfriends except for the ones that live in states like Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico.  Totally kidding.  But seriously, who decided on the shape of Maryland anyway?!?

The possibilities with a mug and a sharpie are endless.  

Thanks for reading!

That light at the end of the tunnel. I see it.

So I haven't written for a while, but I have an excuse, I promise.

Last week was crazy.  I had my very last lab practical on Tuesday.  If you know anyone in any kind of medical related field, you have probably heard about lab practicals.  They are my least favorite part of school.  You study and practice and study and practice some more.  Finally the day of the practical comes and you can't think about anything else.  Food doesn't have any taste, you are sweating even though it's 30 degrees outside, you have to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes, and going to your morning classes is completely pointless.  Your time FINALLY rolls around and your hands are shaking as you pick the case you will be presented with (praying it's not that one topic you forgot to look over a second time).  You somehow stutter your way through your case, remember all of the things you forgot as soon as the timer goes off, listen to your teacher's critique, and pull your concentration together to write your documentation.  Torture I tell you.

Anyway, I AM DONE with these horrid things.  Celebrate everywhere!

On Friday, everyone in my class had to present our research projects that we have been working on for the past year.  The last few months have been so busy getting data, writing the paper, and putting together the poster and presentation.  The presentations lasted most of the afternoon and I am sooo happy it's finally over.

Here is a picture of my amazing capstone group I have worked with over the past year (our poster is in the background).

Jacque, me, Sophia, Ginny, and Alexa

Alexa (from Mad Wife Skillz) and I decided to have a little photo shoot since we happened to be dressed in Christmas colors.

A normal serious one

Reindeer

A Bluejay and a Loper

Rudolph and Santa

A Christmas tree and a present

And the best part of the weekend was that Patrick got to come :)

21 days left! Can't wait!

Tales of tilapia: Part 1

Fish and I have not had a strong history.  I'm pretty sure I never even heard of tilapia until like 6 months ago.  My childhood fish consumption consisted of fish sticks during lent and the occasional tuna sandwich when we were out of bologna.  Somehow I started to eat it regularly over this past year. (I'm sure this has something to do with the cheap prices and me being a broke grad school student.)  .

I usually just bake it and have some rice with it, but I've been getting bored with that.  Unlike some people (shout out to my sister, Stacey), I get really bored with the same foods over and over again.  My current favorite way to eat tilapia is to put it in a grilled cheese sandwich.

Just bake the tilapia filet first and then put it on your grilled cheese sandwich.  Add avocado because avocado makes EVERYTHING better.

And now just grill it like you would any other grilled-cheese.  UH-MAZING I tell you. 

No, I did not burn it.  I just really like it black.
Just kidding, I burned it. 

Let's take a moment to remember where this great meal came from.
                                         
                                                 

Thanks for reading!!

Antioch Park

I know, I know... "Not another park post!!"  Sorry, but  these are the parts of KC that I would really like to remember, so deal.

Not until recently have I really appreciated fall.  I have always associated fall with the end of summer, start of school, and intro to winter.  No thank-you to any of those options.  But fall is just so pretty down here, and it's the perfect running weather.

Antioch Park has always been my go-to.  It's really close to my apartment and it's always buzzing with people.  It was actually one of the reasons I picked the apartment I'm living in.  I see at least 5 engagement/family/kid picture sessions every time I'm in the park.

And then, of course, there is this adorable little town for the kids to play in. 

Ice Age anyone?

 And this is where I get to run almost everyday.  How cool :)

P.S. Wanna hear a really awkward story?
So yesterday I went running at Shawnee Mission Park.  I'm just minding my business and running my normal route when I put two and two together and realized there was a half marathon going on.  I figured it was fine and I'd eventually run off their course.  I'm passing all of these people (which is NOT normal for me btw) when I see a sign that says "1 more mile to go."  Wow, I felt bad.  All of these people were on mile 12 of their half, exhausted out of their mind, and some rando girl passes them whom they assume is also on mile 12.  Talk about a buzz kill.  And to top it off, some of them were even cheering me on.  So in order to not accidentally cross the finish line, I had no choice but to turn around and start running back the other way.  Run of shame.  The people that were cheering me on just looked at me so confused.  Most awkward run of my life.  

DIY: Lululemon headband

I have always been jealous of those people that can wear any headband and it magically stays on their head.  This has never been the case for me.  Remember in high school, when it was cool to use pre-wrap as a headband? (Maybe it still is??)  Yeah, it would fall off my head in about 0.785 seconds. So I had to be the awkward one on the basketball team that didn't get to wear one of the cool pre-wrap headbands. (I'm sure there were many other reasons that led to my awkwardness.)

A few years ago, I discovered the headbands at Lululemon and I have been hooked ever since.  These are the only headbands that will stay on my head.  I absolutely think that they are worth every penny.  They stay put, last forever, last through washes, and look adorable.

I have a couple solid colored ones I wear for my runs.  I never want to wear the patterned ones because I would hate to sweat through them.  I have been wanting to try to make them for a while, but could never figure out what fabric to use.

I happened to stumble across the activewear fabric at JoAnn's one day.  I think that you can make anything as long as you have the right fabric. The reason that Lululemon's stuff is so great (and expensive) is because they use the best fabric possible.  That makes all the difference.


And here is the tutorial.

Supplies:
-fabric for the headband (I used a polyester/spandex blend.  This seemed to work the best.  I also tried a cotton/polyester blend, but it seemed to stretch out really easy.)
-Coordinating thread
-Hot glue gun
-Iron

1.  Cut a 19" x 5" rectangle out of your fabric.

2. Fold and pin your fabric together lengthwise (right sides of the fabric together).

3. Sew along the long edge of the fabric.  Start and end about an inch from the edges of the fabric.

4. Press the seam open.

5.The side that is shown in the picture above is the wrong side (the side you want on the the inside of the headband.  You want to slip one end of the tube inside of itself so both ends are together with the right sides together.  It works best to take your fingers through the tube, grab the end, and pull it through.

6. Now sew the width side together with the right side together.  Again, don't sew all the way to the ends.  You'll need this gap to turn it right-side-out.

7.  Nice work! That's my least favorite part.  Now you want to find the gap that you left open and turn the headband right-side-out.

And it should look something like this.

8. Now the only sewing left is the finishing stitch.  I folded my headband so the seam I sewed was in the middle of the headband.  You will be sewing over this anyway.  When you get this in place, iron.  I usually put a couple pins down so I don't loose my shape.  

Take the loose edges of the fabric and fold them under so they match up with the rest of the seams.  Pin this down like crazy.

9. Now you are going to sew over the seams.  This is how you will finish those loose ends.  The seam gives you a perfect guideline to sew along so both sides will look perfectly straight.  I picked out a wide stitch from my machine to use.  If you have a sewing machine with lots of stitches to choose from, experiment with them to see which one you like.  If you have a standard machine, just use the zigzaq stitch.  You can change the size and widths of the zig zag.

I sewed the width seam first.  I thought this helped to stabilize it.

10.  One last step! The grippers!  I have no idea what Lululemon uses on their headbands, but I found that using hot glue works just as well.  I practiced using the glue gun on a scrap piece of fabric.  I tried a couple different patterns (dots, line, zig zags, etc.). Personally, I thought the dots or the zigzags worked the best.  It gives the headband room to stretch.  Keep the glue to a minimum.  Less is more.  Big globs of the glue will just give it a better opportunity to fall off.

Lay out one side of your headband and carefully apply your preferred grippy pattern.  Make sure you let it completely dry before flipping over to the other side.

Let dry and flip the grippy side in.
And you are DONE!

I went running in it after I made it and it stayed put the whole time!

If you don't have a sewing machine or aren't the crafty type, I'm selling them in my etsy shop  Hopefully I will get more colors soon.

If you try to make one (or many) I would love to see pictures or hear any suggestions you have.

Happy crafting!