Christmas 2011

Our first Christmas as a married couple was hectic! But so amazing! And of course, I didn't take pictures of any of it. It actually started on Christmas Eve. We had both of our parents over for dinner. We did the same thing last year too. It's like our combined family Christmas because for now, we're still doing separate family celebrations.  I want to combine them, but no one seems ready for that yet.

So- much to everyone's chagrin- we split up in the morning. Brian went to his parents' house to do their little family gift exchange and I packed Kevin up and went to my parents'. Our families thought we were crazy for splitting up, but we both saw it as our final hurrah with our families as "kids"... you know, because next year, WE'LL be the parents.  Still weird to think about! Anyway, I spent the morning with my parents, Jeff, and Jenn, the dogs all behaved, we ate Monkey Bread and bagels, and I got some awesome gifts including a Cricut craft machine.

I still need to open it up and learn all about it, but I'm pretty excited and you can bet I already have some ideas lined up.

After I left mom and dad's, I headed home to take a shower (because mom's house on Christmas morning is a PJ party!) and drop Kevin off. Then it was time for Brian's house where his parents, aunt, uncle, and grandma showered me with way to many gifts and great food. I picked a good family! We were there for about 4 hours when it was time to head back to my parents' house (together this time) for MORE food and gifts.

My mom does an Italian Christmas dinner, so there was lasagna, sausage, meatballs, and other deliciousness. Oh, and my aunt made this chocolate peanut butter cheesecake that should be illegal. It was so good.

We told Brian's family about Buzz on Thanksgiving, but we didn't really get a chance to tell mine, so we decided Christmas would be the best time. And my mother made it so awkward. We're all sitting down for dinner and she shouts out- from across the table- "Kristen, do you want some wine?" My face turned as red as said wine and I replied, "No, mom."

"And why aren't you drinking wine tonight?"

Aw, jeez. So then I had to turn to everyone and say all sheepishly, "Because we're pregnant."

But everyone was super excited and that was all anyone wanted to talk to me about for the rest of the night. Thanks, mom. :)

We left that night exhausted, full, and happy. It was a really great day with family.

Oh, and we decided to get ourselves a bug family gift this year, and then fill each other's stockings with smaller gifts... So we got...

A DSLR!!! Canon Rebel T2i

It's a little intimidating, but I am so looking forward to using it! Both of our point and shoot cameras have crapped out on us, so I've been using my iPhone for everything... not so hot.

So now, I'm off to learn how to use all of my new toys- any tips would be appreciated!

I hope you all had awesome holidays too! What did you guys do?

Momma's Birthday

Saturday was my mom's birthday and today is actually my brother's girlfriend's birthday, so we spent the weekend celebrating! But before we get to the fun, first things first...

Smiles where you least expect it

I tend to get wild hairs up my butt from time to time (where did that phrase even come from??) and I'll decide to paint a random wall in the house, or hang up a bunch of random pictures, or rearrange furniture. Luckily for me, Brian is pretty easy going and just laughs at my randomness. This weekend was no exception. Like 2 years ago- I'm pretty sure before I had even met Brian- I bought this cute cabinet from Bed Bath and Beyond to replace my medicine cabinet. My current medicine cabinet is in the middle of the master bedroom and I think it is so ugly...

My bed is just to the left. Lame.

So on Friday afternoon, I finally decided to switch out the cabinets. This took some more of my magical strength )that I only have when I have no around to help and all the dog can do is laugh at me) as I held the ugly cabinet up while simultaneously unscrewing it from the wall while leaning over the counter that is full of a bunch of crap.

In the place of the cabinet, I found this:

Someone (dad) was trying to be cute when we painted the house! But it brought a smile to my face and on I struggled.

I had to assemble the new cabinet which was both entertaining and mentally draining. (I screwed a couple of parts in backwards. It took a good 5 minutes before I figured out why the doors wouldn't close. Nobody ever said I was smart.)

Anyway, before long, the newer, prettier cabinet was ready for it's debut. Turns out hanging a much wider, heavier cabinet is much more difficult than taking down an old one. But I managed as Kevin supervised...

Success!!! Much more aesthetically pleasing, no?

Nope....

That right there is about 4 inches of open wall. $h&#! F*c%!

So now I don't have either cabinet in the wall. But at least I have Wallson to keep me company.

Get it? Like Wilson? Silly me.

Anyway... 

Mom's Birthday!
Onto the fun! Since mom's birthday was Saturday and Jenn's is today, we combined to have the major celebration yesterday. We went out to dinner and it's always nice when we're all together like that. After ward, we went back to the parentals' house for cupcakes and ice cream. I made the cupcakes... and I was pretty proud of myself.

 Pretty delicious looking, right? Chocolate with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting. Yup.

And now a word about mom...

My mom has always been my best friend. I didn't always want to admit it, but she is always right about everything. She knows me better than I know myself and because of that, she has always given me the best advice- even when I didn't want to hear it. From the boys I dated to my education to what I should wear, she always knows best and she isn't afraid to be brutally honest with me. We laugh with each other because she is so silly, yell at each other because we are both loud, stubborn Italians, and love each other because we are best friends as well as mother and daughter.

And now for the last 2 and a half months, we've been workout buddies too! She has been working out with me every morning, 6 days a week. She even goes on the days where I just can't seem to get myself out of bed. She has made me so proud with her hard work and dedication, and I'm so happy that she is finally making some time for herself after all of these years of spending so much on time on the rest of us. Plus it's been fun getting to spend some extra girl time with her in the mornings! ♥ I love you, mom!!!

And if you're wondering why I am the way I am, it's because of the people I was raised by, raised with, and will raise future me's with:

Looks like poor Jenn is the only normal one!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yesterday was my dad's birthday! I love that guy! He's truly one of my best friends. He's taught me many invaluable lessons. He's helped me with so many projects. He's supported me through hundreds of softball games, years of school, crazy boyfriends. He and I know what the other is thinking with just a glance. Just today, he spent one of his days off from work helping me clean the garage, repairing my screen door (that Kevin literally ran through like a high school football player busting through a banner at half time), and meeting a plumber with me so I wouldn't have to be home alone with a male stranger. :) He loves me! :)


He loves Brian too, and that's really important to me. I have such a huge respect for my dad (and you too, mom!) and I deeply value their opinion about anything I do. So when Brian asked me to marry him and told me that he had already asked my dad's permission, I knew everything would be perfect.


I not only got to spend this whole morning-into-the-afternoon with my dad, I also got to spend the whole day with him yesterday! And not just him, the entire family!...

We spent the afternoon as the original four Rodners. We got some lunch and then headed over to the Petersen Automotive Museum. Dad really likes cars. Like, really, really  likes them.

We haven't been there as a family since the first year it opened. I just googled it, and that was back in 1994. *Fun fact: the website says it was founded on June 11, 1994 which was exactly 17 years before Brian and I would end up getting married! :) Good date!

Here's dad teaching Jeff some stuff. :)

We saw a lot of cool cars. In fact, we were looking at the sport car section (at like, Bugatti's and Ferrari's that were worth several million dollars) and I commented that they wouldn't be very practical, as there were no back seats, so where would Kevin go...

Then we stumbled upon this little beaut...

 Perfect size for our family. In fact, if I squint a little, I can see it now...

 It works, no?

Anyway, after we left the museum, we met up with Brian and Jeff's girlfriend Jennifer, then headed to Buca di Beppo for some Italian eats. Delicious!

They even gave my dad a cute little sign to sit with, so we did an impromptu photo shoot...

 After dinner, we headed back to my parents house for some cake and ice cream...

Now, about that... I made a cake the night before, but didn't frost it. I just stuck it in the fridge until I could get to it. At the gym yesterday morning, I told my mom I made the cake and she says she did too... wtf?? I thought I always made the cakes? But then when I got home after the gym and went to frost it, I couldn't get the damn thing out of the pans. This has never happened to me before! The cake finally came crumbling out and as hard as I tried to salvage it, the end result was this:

Suck! So I sent my mom the text:

"Your cake wins. Mine is falling apart. Can't ice it."

That's a big deal- I admitted defeat. Hummph.


Anyway, just goes to show that everything happens for a reason. Two cakes = better than one!

Mom also had another win last night- trick candles! My poor dad had to blow them out about 18 times. That's right mom, make him work for it! :)



I think everyone had a good time yesterday! I know I did. I love spending time with my family. Sometimes we get loud and we don't always agree, but we do always love each other. And we always have fun!



Dad, I love you and I hope you had a very happy birthday. 

And you look great for your age!!! (Hooray for good genes!)

30 Day Challenge: Day 1

A recent photo of yourself and 15 interesting facts about you...

This is the most recent photo of me... it was taken about 2 weeks ago at our best man Kevin's (not to be confused with dog Kevin) graduation BBQ. He just got his Masters Degree... he's kind of amazing like that.
I'm posing with two of the best ladies I know... in fact, that can be fact one...

♥1: Of the girls that stood up in my wedding, Rachael and Alexis were the two bookends of the group when it comes to who I've known the longest. Alexis and I played softball together since we were 12 or 13, and it doesn't matter if it's been days or months since we last spoke, we can always pick right back up where we left off. Rachael and I just became good friends within the last year or two. We got to know each other really well because she is Kevin's girlfriend, but I'm so happy we did because she's a great person! In fact, all 4 of my girls are pretty amazing... Brigitte was my best friend in college. We got into all kinds of trouble together and she got me out of my shell. I really credit her with who I have become as an adult. And Melissa is my beautiful new sister. She is basically Brian, but prettier (maybe funnier? Don't tell him!), so you know I love her! She's funny, sweet, smart, and the only thing that's not perfect about her is that she lives in Idaho, so it's not easy to see her... but maybe that will just mean more vacations! I feel so lucky to have these amazing women in my life!
♥2: I would choose to drive alone than carpool for one simple reason- I want to be able to sing in the car as loudly as I can. (Not very green, I know, but at least you know I'm not on the phone!)
♥3: One of my favorite past times is people watching and then making up stories about said people's lives. Sometimes it depresses me. Like if someone is eating alone. And they don't even have anything to read. (How can they do that?)
♥4: I love sandals. I wear them all the time. Once, one of my co-workers called me Mr. Rogers because I would show up to work in my flip flops and then change into my running shoes. And you better believe that as soon as that last bell rings, I'm back in the flip flops... which brings me to...
♥5: I love driving with the air conditioner blowing on my feet on a hot day. (Can't get that with shoes on.)
♥6: I tend to trip over my own feet. Unless I've had a few beers. Then I walk like a runway model...
♥7: I love eating dinner with my family. We laugh a lot and we're very inappropriate. It's fantastic.
♥8: I've been having a difficult time understanding people who speak with an accent. Either it's been getting worse, or I've been talking to a lot more people with accents...

Remember this? I'm totally George.
♥9: I need to fall asleep to the TV. I want to try a sound machine and fall asleep to waves or frogs or something, but that's not high on the priority list. Yet.
♥10: I used to feel like guys would only talk to me about sports. Brian talks to me about everything. I think that's why he stood out to me. I love football, but I can only talk about it for so long.
♥11: I believe strongly in the power of positive thinking. I read the book The Secret and it pretty much changed my whole life. I can't complain about a single thing in my life right now.

Of course, there's always room to improve, but everything is always heading in the direction I want it to, and I believe it's because of my frame of mind. Some people think it's kooky, but read it with an open mind.
♥12: I just had to look up how to spell 'kooky' because first I wanted to type cookie. I must be hungry.
♥13: Speaking of cookies, make it chocolate chip, please. Better yet, chocolate with chocolate chip. Thanks.
♥14: I love to travel. It doesn't matter if it's driving an hour away for a weekend get away at the beach, or flying 11 hours to Europe. I love visiting new places and learning new things.
♥15: One of my main goals in this marriage is to not lose sight of who I am. Sure, among other things, I am now a wife. Soon enough, I hope to be a mother. But I'm also, a tom boy. And adventure-seeker. An educator. I want to keep cultivating my interests, and sometimes, that's hard. I'm also in love with Brian and I hate being away from him and Kevin (dog Kevin). I want to learn how to cook better and to cook more often. To clean better and more often. To decorate, and be a perfect hostess, and a lady in general (there mom, are you happy?) But I also don't want to lose me, because after all, that's who Brian fell in love with in the first place. I wasn't scared about getting married. I was very worried/nervous/anxious about changing my name. That had nothing to do with Brian. It was more because I don't want to lose ME. It's definitely going to be work trying to find this new balance, but it helps that I'm in love with my best friend. ♥

ADD's and ABC's

I have been MIA for quite a while now, so I'm going to be jumping all over the place (hence the ADD)! But enough with the acronyms, I have exciting things to share!...

First of all, softball started and it has been COLD! It was supposed to snow yesterday, but it was a lot of hype for nothing. It really wasn't even that cold at all. In fact, I'm back in shorts right now. But during the week, I bundled myself up to brave the outdoors all day. Between the chilly breeze and my growing fear of UV rays (good luck with that, PE teacher!), I managed to create this monster:

Sorry for the bad quality... cell phone to email to blog... bad combo. Anyway, one of my 9th graders told me I look like an Antarctic gardener. I thought that was pretty hilarious.

Wedding Stuff
Moving on!... Biggest news... MY DRESS CAME IN! I'm going to go see it and try it on sometime next week... gotta get paid first!

I'm pretty sure I have my invites, rsvp cards, table numbers, escort cards designed, so my next step is to create some interesting and captivating programs. As far as I'm concerned, all the wedding stuff that I have left is all of the artsy-fartsy DIY stuff that I've been looking forward too. I think our last major task is to buy our rings.

Working Out & Eating Right?
So lately I've been working out more often than I was before (although if you follow this, you would realize that I've totally bailed on keeping a journal... I didn't mean too! I'll start again!), but it's still not as much as I used to. And that kinda really pisses me off. I mean, last year at this time, I had recently finished a half-marathon and was gearing up to run a full marathon. And now I'm scared to run even a mile because I'm worried I won't be able to and I don't want to find out. Blah. I've been doing my Turbo Kick, but I feel like I need more. With that being said, I just printed out my free 7 day pass to 24 Hour Fitness, and I'm planning on using all 7 days for group exercise classes. Effective tomorrow. I need to sweat and apparently I need extrinsic motivation. We'll see. I hope I like the classes, and I also hope I can talk the gym into giving me some sort of discount because $45 a month kinda blows.

I'm going to add another tab to the top and call it "Eating Right?" (...cue confused Ron Burgundy face)

I want to keep myself accountable for the food I eat (just like I'm not doing for my workouts. Ha!) Now if you know me, you know that my diet consists of chocolate, pepper jack cheese, Nutella, diet Coke, and currently, Girl Scout cookies. The plan is to actually eat more healthfully (healthily? healthy? healthier? Idk.)

I read a blog the other day where this girl lost 12 pounds for her wedding by going on the Paleo diet. She said she followed it very strictly and didn't even have to work out, and the pounds just melted off. (Nice, right??) I googled it. Apparently, you cannot eat any dairy products, any starchy products, any sugars, and it didn't say it specifically, but diet Coke and Nutella are probably off-limits too. Basically- it's all hunter-gatherer food, i.e. fruits, veggies, and lean meats. Hmmmphh. I don't think I'm strong enough for that business. But I would like to follow something that isn't too far off. (With maybe a cheat day for some cheese. And chocolate. And diet Coke.) We went to our favorite farmer's market today and got a bunch of fruit and vegetables. I'm going to make some chicken to put into salads for lunch this week. And I'm looking forward to it! And some thin mints!

So I know I won't be the epitome of a healthy eater over night, but I will be trying. And documenting!

*************************************************************************

ABC's
Like, every other blog I read is doing this, and it brings me back to the fun times of good ole Myspace shenanigans, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Here we go, the ABC's of me...
A.  Age:  27. Oof, that's like, almost 30.
B.  Bed size:  We were on a Queen, but it was like, the most uncomfortable bed ever, so we switched back to the double that we put in the guest room. And hopefully after the wedding, we'll graduate to a King!
C.  Chore you hate: I'm not really a fan of washing dishes. Luckily for me, Brian is!
D.  Dogs:  I love them! Especially yellow labs named Duke, Chloe, and Kevin!
E.  Essential start to your day:  Cuddle time. The best part of my morning is hitting snooze and cuddling in closer to Bri for 8 more minutes. And then again for 8 more minutes. And then again...
F.  Favorite color: Yellow, turquoise, pink... I kind of have a lot. ;-)
G.  Gold or silver:  White Gold... which is a silver color...
H.  Height: 5’5"ish
I.  Instruments you play:  Tambourine, maracas, and I play a mean triangle
J.  Job title: Physical Education Teacher and Assistant Varsity Softball Coach
K.  Kids:  Looking forward to having some someday!
L.  Live:  So Cal
M.  Mom’s name:  Darlene
N.  Nicknames:  K-Rod, Hot Rod, Rodzilla, Rodsky
O.  Overnight hospital stays:  I've never had one (knock on wood)
P.  Pet peeve: I guess right now it would be people who think they can be PE teachers when they don't know how to play any sports and then don't bother to show up to practice the teaching skills that they so desperately need to succeed in a career that they thought would be easy but apparently is just too difficult for their pea-sized brain to handle, and upon receiving suggestions from seasoned veterans for increasing their potential for success, they say, "No." Ugh.
Q.  Quote from a movie:  "Who wants a Mustache ride?"
R.  Righty or lefty:  Right
S.  Siblings:  Jeffers!
T.  Time you wake up:  Well. The alarm goes off at 5:00. I usually hit snooze for like, an hour and 15 minutes or so.
U.  Underwear: Under where?
V.  Vegetables you dislike:  I'm not really a fan of corn.
W.  What makes you run late:  Sleeping in... damn snooze button!
X.  X-rays you’ve had:  Teeth, my head (softball), probably a finger here or there
Y.  Yummy food you make:  I'm actually pretty good at cooking, but my favorite is lasagna!
Z.  Zoo animal favorite: MONKEYS!!!! And although they're not usually at zoos, I really enjoy sea otters! Brian has taken me to 2 aquariums to visit them and they're so cute and playful and fun to be around!