So after all of the excitement in mid-December, I drove to Michigan with Nigel and Nacho on December 23. It was a long drive, as usual, made longer by the fact that I was the sole driver, but Nacho was a great travel buddy and stayed awake chatting with me the whole time. We did make the mistake on the Ohio turnpike of holding out for Panda Express (we really wanted to get lunch there), only to find NONE! I swear they used to have Panda Express restaurants in the highway oases on I-80…but perhaps I am confusing them with the ones on the way to Chicago/Wisconsin. Oh well.

So after a less than fulfilling late lunch at Burger King, we rolled into Fenton, where Corner awaited our arrival. He flew to Michigan from Ohio that afternoon since he had been in Bethel for another 4 weeks of work.

As usual, we went to Grandma’s house for Christmas Eve.

Grandma's Christmas tree

I received a lot of great gifts. Mom made me an awesome Michigan State quilt and throw pillow using my old Spartan Marching Band trumpet shirts. I also received a Kindle Touch from Corner’s Aunt Koreen, a Jawbone UP wristband from Corner’s parents, and the Urban Decay 15th anniversary eyeliner set from Mom & Les. I received many others gifts as well, but I’m feeling too lazy to list them all out right now, so those are just the highlights.

We took care of a lot of wedding-related errands while in Michigan. We visited the ceremony/reception venue and met with the photobooth company. I went dress shopping with Mom, KC, and Kathy. The bridesmaids dresses are ordered and perhaps the most exciting news of all is that I FOUND MY DRESS! I don’t want to say too much about it and spoil the surprise, but I will say that it is NOT white and it makes me feel like a Hollywood starlet. I can’t wait for it to arrive (in 5–7 months…who knew these things took so long?)!

I didn’t get a chance to skate while in Michigan, but I did go to 5 of Abby’s fitness classes with Mom (kickboxing core, body vamp, spin, and 2 Zumba classes).

Corner and I welcomed 2012 by eating a 4-course meal with wine pairings at the Fenton Winery with Mom, Les, and Adam. Blackberry merlot…YUM! 2011 was such a great year and I can’t wait for this year to top it!

It also snowed a bit while we were in Michigan.

Snow in Fenton

Meanwhile, it still hasn’t snowed much here in New York. I was thoroughly enjoying the mild winter weather, then it reached 18 degrees on Sunday and it was freeeeeeezing! I went out and bought Nike Therma Fit tights for those cold derby practices at the Crashpad.

And in closing, happy birthday to KC!!! How is my baby sister 21 already?!

Today I arrived home from work to discover that Nigel had opened his Christmas present. Last night I started packing for my upcoming trip to Michigan; I had gathered up all of the wrapped Christmas presents and placed them in a reusable shopping bag, which I left on top of the coffee table. Nigel’s gift is a new toy and an individually wrapped stick-shaped treat. Well, when I got home today I found his gift bag strewn on the floor. Tissue paper was everywhere. The toy was ignored, but the remnants of the treat packaging were scattered all over the living room.

I was actually on the phone with my mom when I walked in the front door and surveyed the damage. I had just finished telling her to remind everyone at home that they need to hide their dirty laundry when Nigel arrives at Mom’s house on Friday. He is a Houdini dog and can open duffle bags and even pull clothes through the tiny holes in plastic laundry hampers.

Usually, I know better than to leave smelly items within his reach, but today I just forgot.

Here is a picture of the perpetrator (this photo does not show the aftermath of today’s present-opening, but was taken a few mornings ago after he got done rubbing his face around on the comforter).

And yes, Nigel will be getting a haircut while we are in Michigan.

This post could also be titled “The Best Christmas Gift Ever!”

I have been bursting at the seams to share this news with everyone, and now that all of my ducks are in a row, I finally can!

On November 19, I tried out for Gotham Girls Roller Derby for the second time. I think 80-some girls tried out, and about 30 of us were invited to callbacks the following day. I made it to callbacks last year, too, but there was another round of cuts after callbacks, and I was not asked to continue on in the process. This year, however, I was invited to be part of the Fresh Meat pool! So for the past 3 weeks, I attended 3 practices/week with the 20 girls in the Fresh Meat pool. I also got to participate in a scrimmage with a bunch of World Cup skaters from around the world (I was a bit awestruck at the fact that I was sharing the track with Bonnie Thunders, Donna Matrix, OMG WTF, and Fisti Cuffs). What a great night!

It was an amazing experience overall, and I felt like I could see a difference in my skating after just 9 practices.

The final practice was on Sunday — and it was just scrimmaging. I say “just” not because scrimmaging is easy, but because that’s all we did. So the potential Fresh Meats scrimmaged while the coaches stood around in the middle of the track making notes on their clipboards. Nervewracking, for sure.

On Sunday evening, I eagerly awaited the phone call that would determine my fate. Ariel Assault called at 6:19 PM with good news. I am so, so proud to announce that I am one of 13 girls who make up Gotham’s 2012 Fresh Meat class!

Thank you to Bonita for allowing me to borrow her jacket for this shot. Next year at this time, I will have my own. :)

So while I am sad to leave my friends at Suburbia, I am thrilled that I will no longer have a 1.5 hour commute to and from practice. More time spent with Corner + Nigel = happy Kristen.

I can’t wait to skate with the best league in the country. I’m going to learn so much. Who knows where my derby career will go from here?

I just used my lunch break to run up to the library and pick up 5 books that I had placed on hold. My friend Sarah pointed out that the New York Public Library system allows you to find and reserve books online and have them sent to a designated library location, where they can be picked up at your leisure. BRILLIANT. So I am officially working on my Day Zero goals of re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia and the Little House books.

As I walked out of the library, I noticed a dog store next door that looked hip and fairly upscale. I popped in on a whim thinking I could kill some time browsing designer dog toys. And what do I find? A squirrel tail, which I immediately purchased for Nigel.

Allow me to explain: while we lived in California, there was an awesome holistic pet food store that also carried a few toys. Corner and I bought Nigel one of these squirrel tails and he LOVED it. So much so that he chewed the ball portion of the first toy apart after a few months. So we went back and bought him a new one because it had quickly become his favorite toy. Fast forward to now, we’re living in NYC, and we sorely need to replace Nigel’s squirrel tail toy because the elastic that holds the tail piece to the ball is breaking. But I just can’t bring myself to throw it out because, again, NIGEL LOVES THIS THING. So what do I see hanging on the shelf when I walked into the dog store today? SQUIRREL TAILS. I was so excited the two salesgirls must have thought I was crazy.

I’m going to have one excited puppy on my hands when I get home today.

Corner is in Ohio again for the month of December (he actually flies to Michigan on the day that I will be driving to Michigan for the holidays…jerk).

As you may know, Corner does the majority of the cooking in our household, so it’s been interesting for me to figure out what on earth I’m going to eat while he’s gone.

Last week, on the Sunday before Corner left, he helped me prep these freezer-friendly bean and rice burritos. I opted not to freeze them, since once frozen they have to be baked for 35-40 minutes! I don’t have that kind of time…the whole point of prepping these beforehand was so I could rush in the door before or after derby practice and have something ready to go. I stored these in the fridge instead and heated them up in the microwave for about 3 minutes at 50% power. I made sure to flip them over a few times during the process to help alleviate sogginess. I added a bit of hot taco sauce to spice them up a bit. I will definitely be making these again.

I am also a big fan of this baked pumpkin pie oatmeal, which I bake in a small glass baking dish and then distribute into mason jars for serving sizes that are easy to grab and reheat each morning.

Later in the week I made these peanut butter protein balls to stick in the freezer and to eat post-practice. They are pretty yummy, and the taste of the whey protein is pretty well masked (that or I’m just getting used to the taste of whey, haha).

Yesterday, I made this skinny zucchini ziti. It is a crockpot recipe that only takes 2ish hours to cook. Which, come to find, is sort of inconvenient because I had a hard time finding an opportunity to make it (you can’t just turn it on and leave for work…bah!). So once again, food prep was relegated to Sunday afternoon. Anyway, this turned out pretty well, except that the various layers of pasta noodles did not cook evenly. Luckily I don’t really care, and this made a pretty delicious dinner last night (and I have enough left over for at least 3 more meals this week).

I also decided to make my own protein bars yesterday afternoon. I have been trying to keep healthy snacks around since I am always ravenous after aforementioned derby practice. I already had most of the ingredients for these bars onhand. I will say one thing: this was one messy recipe. I ended up with sticky oatmeal all over my kitchen. And after I took the frozen mass out of the freezer, it was hard to cut it into bars. BUT, I did get 20-some pieces that are sized something like a regular granola bar that you would buy at the store, so I should be set on these for awhile.

Upcoming meal attempts will include the following:

• Hummus melts
• Potatoes and peas in red curry sauce

(Notice I don’t cook any meat? The only meat I am willing to use when I cook is ground beef because it doesn’t require any prep…prepping meat grosses me out! So it’s almost like I’m a vegetarian when Corner is gone.)

I’m starting to feel like I may be leaving Fresh Meat purgatory very soon!

I am out of pack hours and into scrimmage hours! In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, Suburbia Roller Derby requires members of the Fresh Meat class to complete 10 pack hours, followed by 10 scrimmage hours. At the end of this, there will be a vote…and then hopefully I will officially become a league member (and get to register my name! FINALLY!).

Imagine my elation when I found out on Wednesday that, even though I am still technically Fresh Meat, I have been rostered for next Saturday’s bout! That’s right, ladies and gentlemen…I will be making my skating debut at Suburbia’s charity bout next weekend! It’s a Dogs vs. Cat bout that will benefit the Hudson Valley Pet Food Pantry, and I am on the Dogs team.

Suburbia Dogs vs. Cats Charity Bout

So, my dear friends, if you are free next Saturday and located in the near vicinity, come watch me skate!!!

Tryouts for Suburban Brawl (Suburbia’s travel team) are at the beginning of November. I signed up, and I am pretty excited.

And in case you haven’t seen the photos of Suzy Hotrod in ESPN’s body issue, please go check it out (feel free to ogle the other athletes, too). She motivates me to train harder (those ARMS! My goodness!).

The past two weeks, I’ve been trying out Derbalife. It’s an Herbalife program designed for derby athletes. Riggs affectionately refers to the various stuff she sees me drinking as “weight gain shakes”, but really I am just trying to get leaner, tougher, stronger, etc. We will see if I get any results.

In other news, today is cold cold COLD here in New York! I busted out my winter coat this morning, thinking it would be warmish again by midday and I would be overdressed…but I just walked to Chipotle for lunch with a couple other derby girls, and it’s still quite brisk outside. Brrrrrr!

Today when I get home, Corner will be waiting for me. He is finally back from his work trip to Ohio (although he may be going back in December or January). Looking forward to a fun (derby-filled) weekend!

Corner is in Ohio for work, and the other night we had a rather long wedding planning discussion via Skype that got us nowhere. We talked about our proposed budget for the event and decided that we want to pull off throwing the party within a year without sacrificing our lifestyle in the meantime. Not that we live extravagantly, but I like to dine out once or twice a week and not feel guilty about buying an occasional item of clothing or something for myself.

When I was first reading up about wedding budgets and learned that the nationwide average is $26k, my first thought was, “That’s ridiculous — that’s almost as much as the loans I had to take out to attend Michigan State for 4 years.” My unspoken goal became to get married for less than this amount. However, we soon learned that the average amount spent on a wedding in New York City is much, much more (something like $70k! Holy crap!).

We checked out a few venues in NYC (NOT super expensive ones, either…I realize I could never afford a wedding at the Plaza without winning the lottery) and marveled at how little our money would buy us here. Not that this is a huge shock considering everything in New York is expensive, but I want to be able to put on a nice party so that we can celebrate with our family and friends. To me, this means:

• A beautiful space for the ceremony/reception (preferably a place that doesn’t require a lot of decorating)
• Decent food
• Really decent drinks
• A photobooth
• An awesome photographer to document said events

This is pretty much my list of “must haves”.

We had to decide where we are wiling to make sacrifices. For example, I am willing to get married on a Thursday or Friday evening, but I don’t really want to have a wedding early in the day (luncheon or brunch receptions are considerably cheaper). I am willing to sacrifice location in lieu of being able to afford a nicer event, so we are planning to get married in Michigan instead of New York.

So while I am slightly sad we aren’t going to get married in New York, I am pleased that we are moving forward with our plans. We are (at least for now) planning to have our engagement photos taken in NYC, so there will be some sort of photographic record of our time here.

I took a letterpress workshop at The Arm NYC in Brooklyn. So fun!

Life has been nothing short of crazy lately. The wedding planning process has been slow going, so for those of you who have asked, we do not have a date set and we aren’t sure where the wedding will be. We did have an appointment last week to check out a possible venue in SoHo, and we both really liked it. However, it turns out the amount of money that NYC venues require as a non-refundable deposit is nothing short of ridiculous, so we are still exploring our options for now.

A few things that we do know:

We are hoping for a fall wedding. Maybe with an outdoor portion but definitely with an indoor option in case of inclement weather.

Source: Style Me Pretty

I’d like mason jars. And twinkly lights.

Source: Emmaline Bride & The Hillside Home

And sparklers (venue-permitting, of course).

Source: Wedding Channel & Wedding Wire

I will wear kickass shoes.

Source: Style Me Pretty & Weddings I Luv

And some kickass plugs.

Source: Bodyartforms & Anatometal

Roller skates will also be worn at some point.

Source: Offbeat Bride

Corner plans to wear his kilt, which is making it difficult for me to choose colors. I’m thinking blue or green with some sort of contrasting color.

Source: Style Me Pretty

I am taking a letterpress workshop on Sunday and hope to make a lot of the paper products myself. I went to Paper Presentation last week during one of my lunch hours and had to work really, really hard not to drool all over the paper.

Source: Web Design Ledger

Source: Dolce Press

I purchased a domain and hosting package for our wedding website: kristenandcorner.com. Of course, we debated whether or not Corner should go by “Corner” or “Craig”. We decided on Corner for the website and Craig for the formal invitations. Hopefully our friends and relatives will not be confused. ;)

Corner leaves next Monday to head to Ohio for a month. Nigel and I will get a lot of bonding time, and KC and Zach are coming to visit for a few days at the end of October. I am excited to go wedding gown/bridesmaid dress shopping with KC while she is here. I wish Kathy could come, too!

I’ve told my family and we made it Facebook official on Thursday night, so I think it’s safe to post here to let you know that Corner and I are engaged!

The ring...didn't he do a nice job?!

Wednesday afternoon, I found out that derby practice was canceled. It had been raining pretty much non-stop for several days, and the roof at our practice space leaks. So practice was called off and I found myself spending an evening at home with Corner instead…eating dinner and watching Netflix. The rain let up for a bit, so around 9pm we decided to go for a run. But first we wanted to take Nigel for a walk since Lord knows that dog hates getting his hair wet so he hadn’t had a proper walk in awhile. So we put on our running clothes and took Nigel for a walk around the neighborhood. We were 3 blocks or so away from the house when the sky opened up and it started pouring. We started running back towards the house. I had stupidly taken out my contacts earlier and was wearing my glasses. With the rain coming down so hard, I couldn’t see a thing. Corner stopped very abruptly near the big tree in front of our house and I almost ran into the back of him. I barely had time to ask, “What are you doing?” before he turned around while down on one knee and said, “Kristen Byers, will you marry me?”

At this point my glasses were still covered in water and I kept trying to wipe them. I’m pretty sure I said, “Are you serious??” while he was slipping a ring onto my finger. He stood up and I said, “Yes, yes, of course.” And then we kissed in the rain. It was very cute. Pretty sure I’m the happiest girl in the world right now and have been floating on cloud nine ever since.

Before you ask, we have no idea when or where we are going to be married, but I can’t wait to share wedding planning details with you. Hopefully I will be inspired to blog more.