Only boys...

DPP #24: Welcome to family Christmas. (Actual post to follow, but these kids exhaust me)

DPP #23: Simon Pegg is Awesome.

I had an exhausting morning, but my afternoon was family filled at the flicks! I had some pretty decent expectations going in, and it definitely fulfilled them.

DPP #22: Well, I just got home from a 3+ hour, six course dinner. I wasn't expecting it to take that long, but it DID photograph well.

DPP #21: Kitty Crinkley Chaos.

Hyperactive cats + tissue & wrapping paper + fresh air = Complete Christmas Mayhem of a Hot Mess.

Just send my stuff!

The postal service is really annoying me these days. First I get ripped off in mailing gifts off to people. One day a package is $1.88, and the next day, the same exact package is $2.22?! Boo that. My grandmother’s gift took an extra week to get to me after I paid extra for quick shipping, and the same with Tim’s. I spent extra for 2 day express, six days ago. And I find out today that they are just now shipping it. Ugh.

They think that putting out a free baked goods table while you wait in line at the post office is going to make up for it. No amount of M&M cookies makes me get my mail faster!

DPP #20: Even my Panther Purple kicks didn't help at tonight's game. But the boys cheered them on anyway!

DPP #19: Pour some sugar free in meeeeeeee

Protein shakes and coffee drinks just got a whole lot better.....

DPP #18: The fourth wiseman?

I'd like to see you try and touch my baby Jesus.....

DPP #17: Scratch that, I want my own!

The illusion of sharing....because actually sharing a Scratch cupcake would be a Christmas miracle!

DPP #16: Good Friday Morning.

DPP #15: Art Hour!

When feeling like your stomach is about to turn inside out, what better to do than have a little crafting hour?

DPP #14: My baby has an Owie!!!

My treadmill belt started tearing awhile ago. It is quickly disintegrating and that is quite possibly the scariest event of the year. Its been mine several years and several thousand miles (roughly 10 a day). I have searched and found no suitable replacement. Desperate measures have been taken. Hoping for a Hello Kitty Miracle.

DPP 13: Bag of Chocolatey Joy

The little goodie bag of chocolate that lay on my plate tonight at dinner. The event was OHC's Women's Holiday event. Mom bought a table, decorated it beautifully with some holly and candles. The event itself was.....lacking. But the decor was festive!

DPP 12 & 12.5

Yolk might be giving First Watch a run for its Ultimate Breakfast Place money......I would have eaten every meal both days there if I had known!

December Photo Project! #11 &11.5 : Cold and Windy City

I'll have a proper Chicago post this week hopefully, but for now, you'll get a sneak peak DPP style.....
DPP #11: Chicago!!!!

DPP #11.5: Ruth Chris Steakhouse. Gluttony at its best. Even for those who didn't have a single ounce of meat!

DPP #10: Santas Helpers at Half Time.

DPP #10: I worked the UNI Mens basketball today (As I do every game). But not every game has dancing lip syncing little elves as the half time show.....

DPP #9: Helpful smile in every aisle!

Nothing like a late night shopping trip to HyVee to get food that you totally forgot you have to make for the next day with a cohort that clearly loves some Curtis Stone action in the meat department.....(pun intended?)

DPP #8: A pretty pink protein drink!

Today's protein shake got a little bubbly in the blender. But light and airy is so much better than concrete sludge when it comes to a pretty pink protein drink!

Simon's Cat in 'Catnap'

A new Simons Cat always makes my day brighter.

DPP #7: Santa could be a snack.

With 23 minutes to spare. DPP #7 Christmas Kitty having deep deep Christmassy thoughts. Or she hears Santa. And wants to eat him.

DPP #6: Gift box Galore!

A perk of a family only business. All gift boxes are up for sharing!

DPP #5: Twinkly Toys

The small furry ones love Christmas. If only because it means EVERYTHING is a toy. All the balls to swat and all the lights to pounce! I'll deal with it. Christmas lights make everything that much more homey.

Thanksgiving 2011: Feast!

We take a break from our regularly scheduled DPP to bring you Thanksgiving. Over a week ago. Almost two weeks ago actually. Oops. But between my parents leaving the day after, multiple added games at UNI, my brother's knee surgery, and whatnot, I have been a rich busy going to and from and from and to everywhere.

This year, we had a solid 12 people. We usually only have the eight of us, (grandparents, uncle, my immediate family) but this year, the Gilbertson family joined in the festivities. It was a nice addition, and it gave me quite the reason to go out and make extra food. If you are new to this (very new, cause it doesn't take long to figure out) that I love baking, cooking, anything food related. But I don't have many occasions to make as much as I want to make without becoming 400+ pounds myself having had to eat it all. So this was the occasion! I started a few days early, making a little bit each night, but in the long run, my contributions were: broccoli salad, corn pudding, cubed sweet potato casserole, a cream mushroom tart, an onion apple puff pastry, cranberry sauce, cherry pie, goat cheese pumpkin cheesecake, and a carrot cake.
So clearly plenty of food was to be consumed!
The unfortunate part was that I had a volleyball tournament that same afternoon (all weekend really, of the holiday, totally bogus) so we had to have an early meal, and it was virtually a race through it all, straight into the massive amounts of desserts before I had to zoom off to work for the rest of the day. Needless to say, I don't think I have to comment on how I feel about working on a holiday like that. Weekend of, a little more acceptable. But 3pm on Thanksgiving....ugh.


I did get my favorite part though, feeding the outdoor cats their yearly turkey carcass. Its always a brutal massacre and AWESOME to watch.

DPP #4: Meals and Muppets!

DPP 4: My wunderbar parents got back from Germany late last night. They went for a week of Christmas Market hopping to celebrate both their birthdays.

We celebrated today with family meals and the Muppet movie (at his request).

DPP #3: Finally someone else's turn!

Fives times summonsed myself, finally I get justice by watching Tim get his own! Mwahaha!

DPP #2: Gooey Appley Goodness

Day 2: It's the season of cinnamon apples, walnuts, and raisins. (But its ALWAYS the season for raisins)

Happy December!

Last cat post today, I promise. But they wanted to say Happy December!

December Photo Project! #1

It's that time of year again! Time for the December Photo Project! I actually really like this challenge. I did it two years in a row and then took last year off? Well, this year, its back on! I promise not too many cat or food pictures, but I can't help what I love!

DPP Day #1:


Its 5:45am. I have one diva thinking the sink is her chaise lounge, and one thirsty cat that thinks she's a dog drinking from the toilet.

Few things to touch on.

Ok, so who had the best Thanksgiving? Or at least who had the best food? Between trying to make sure my thousand dishes didn't suck, my parents leaving the country the next day, and me having to work most of the holiday, I'm going to assume that most of you win over me. Not to say mine wasn't perfectly fine, just not overly fantastic. I do enjoy pecan pie though, and even though I force myself to stick to one slice, yum!! I'll post some more later though, with pictures!

My brilliant brother tore both his ACL and lateral meniscus in a football game last week. We found out this morning that he has surgery tomorrow. My parents made it to Germany just fine, but of course my mom is less than thrilled learning about the surgery. I'm hoping it doesn't affect their trip. Few things could affect a birthday romp across Deutschland visiting Christmas markets. But of all things, this could. Luckily this first surgery is an outpatient one. They are only fixing the meniscus first, and then going back in for ACL in a month or so. Poor kid. He's so physical that it's going to be rough, we'll have to keep a good eye on him though. He is one to try to work out when sick and injured, and this is definitely NOT the time to pull that.

Being a Nordyke, I am well versed in this injured field of reference. When we moved back to Iowa, my first few months were playing nurse/babysitter/chauffer to my mother who had just gotten done shattering her leg in Africa and was basically out of commission for half a year. Plus, with my own ankle injuries all growing up, if anyone is ready to take on the task this week, its me! And Tim, not to exclude him. He is totally helping out a lot. Its majorly helpful that his current job has the hours that it does so he can take over for me when I should be at the office for at least a little while.

As a side note, its the last week of this Next Level Extreme Fitness session. And what do I do yesterday morning? I SLICE my finger on a brand new Ninja blender blade. Massive tears. Half pain, half because i thought I would be out of kickboxing for the last week. I mummied out my finger this morning with plenty of gauze, and other than a few twinges, I was good to go! No outpour of blood like yesterday morning. Which is good, cause that was NO GOOD!

Look at me! Look at me!

This progression explains her so well.

Things I love about today:

• Killed the Kickbox Gauntlet this morning. I partially thank the playlist. Buckcherry makes me want to punch things.
• Learned that Tuesday is 80s Day at NLXF. Gotta get to shopping this weekend!
• Tried a new protein shake concoction. Peaches and sugar free vanilla syrup. Yum.
• Got in a ten mile run before 11am. The remaining 5 miles took the same amount of time.
• Received the call that I could claim Veterans Day and take the day off.
• Baked a batch of tasty pumpkin cookies for the video board kids tonight. Green sugar decor!

• Mom delivered me the new sugar free peppermint mocha lattes to work, and then when I wasn't there, brought it to the house for me!
• Trying out Dad's new Livestrong bike.
• Getting a full days workout in before having to work a double of games tonight. Volleyball and basketball, but Ill take that over football any day (sadly, Ill do just that tomorrow)

Things I love about today:

• Despite being at 6:30, this morning’s workout was brutally stellar
• New louffas are awesome
• A series of really good emails
• Starbucks now has sugar free mocha and sugar free peppermint
• My work space heater is loving on my legs
• Ally McBeal on netflix
• Planning and researching recipes for Thanksgiving
• Thinking about the chicken curry salad I plan on making for dinner tonight
• The salted carmel hot chocolate that will be the dessert following said dinner

What do you love today?

Nessa in November!

Nessa Pumpkin November!

No extra padding needed....

Things I loved about yesterday.

Yesterday was really good for a Monday, I gotta say. Especially with how crappy I was feeling by Sunday night due to the amount of junk I ate over the weekend (and not even Halloween candy!) All the little things of the day just seemed to add up nicely.

-Waking up at 5:45am for boot camp on a Monday was less traumatic than normal.
-Yoga was slow enough to relax, but still worked out all my poppy kinks.
-The chiropractor got a solid 6-7 cracks out of my neck without scaring me silly.
-My second round of kickboxing for the day was fantastic due to brand new shoes (like pillows on my feet), berry gum for lubrication, and a non achey neck due to pill popping (rare for me, so it REALLY worked well).
-Paula Deen in a monkey suit on The Talk. Making Monkeybread.
-Making a last Four Queens run of the summer season. Except I ate half my shake that was meant to last on the way home….
-Learning about our mid December shopping trip to Chicago.
-My goal to get in bed was 10pm since I've been getting up so early. And I actually made it by 10:20, better than expected!

Throwback Thursday: Energizer Bunny Monster?

As Halloween is coming up here in a few days, I looked for a picture of me in any Halloween costume, and came up totally empty. We weren't exactly a super Halloweeny family. Traditional trick or treating didn't happen.We'd wear the costumes that we wore to school to a few peoples houses that were family friends (read: like three houses and my grandparents). And that was it. Too cold, too rainy, it just never happened. I guess I didn't care much at the time, but now I do! Halloween should be more a adult holiday anyway!

By the time I hit Jr High, Halloween took on a whole new meaning when I was having some....social trouble persay? And one Halloween my dad took me on a shopping trip for new clothes, and it just kinda became a thing. We don't really do it anymore, but I'm pretty sure it stuck through at least high school. Kinda like back to school shopping, only in late October. Late fall and winter clothes are better anyway.

All I came up with is this picture from the jr high talent show. I don't even remember the sketch, it just involved me going down the auditorium in the Energizer Bunny Suit. So for thirty seconds of the evening, I hopped, pink and fuzzy. I gotta say though, I look Monstrous. Not in the Frankenstein way, in the way that makes me say, pink was not a very slimming color. Ugh. We barely got that thing closed. Forget Freddy Krueger, that is more of a nightmare to me.

Throwback Thursday: Snuggly Soft.

November 1986.
This fur blanket/rug/item of delight was at my grandparent's house. As you MIGHT be able to tell, I rather liked to roll around on the softness. Yes, that is me, not my brother. You can tell because by a year old he had way more hair than that. Oh bald baby was I.

And oh how much I would give to curl up on a fur rug like that right now and just take a little snooze....(I'd just wear a few more clothes this time around).

Olivia, the Diva.

This is completely out of place for her. Clearly she is up to something that's no good. I mean, look at that attempt at an innocent face!


We knew when we got Pandora, her and Olivia would become the best of friends. Mainly because they both have the energy level of a five year old cracked out on pixie sticks and Mountain Dew. It took awhile, but they are finally beginning to bond!


How in the world are we supposed to get anything done when this is happening?!?


She poops glitter and eats any crumb. But she is Olivia, our puffy little princess.