4th of July weekend in Omaha!

For the 4th of July weekend, I headed home to Omaha for a Family Reunion and my 10-Year High School Reunion. It was such a great time to see everyone! Both of my sisters and their husbands and kids came, my mom and dad, my Aunt Char, Uncle Joe and Jason came from California and Philip's parents drove in from Clinton as well!


When Philip and I first arrived on Friday morning after a dreadful evening of sleeping in the Minneapolis Airport, I had brunch with my favorite friends: Kellie, Shannon, Lisa (with her little girl Taylor!) and Melanie met me at my mom's house afterward with her little Urban! I had never met Urban yet and was so excited to see him and hold him! He is SO ADORABLE! I think he must have really liked me too, cause he spit up a little on my shoulder. :) Above is Kellie, me with Urban and Melanie at my mom's house afer brunch. And on the left is Kellie holding Taylor at lunch.

On Friday night my entire family all went to Maria's (my favorite Mexican restaurant in Ralston) for dinner. We all sat in my backroom and Mark's parents joined us as well. Afterward we all hung out in my mom's backyard playing some outdoor games, watching the kids run around and just hanging out and talking. It was so great to have Philip's parents here too as they got to meet the entire family!


Here's a photo of Kari, Philip and Jason while we were all outside. And here's one of my favorite photos of me and Philip.

2nd Trip to Amaganset - Hamptons

Philip and I made it only one more weekend in the Hamptons this summer, but it was yet another FUN WEEKEND! We went out there with our friends Kevin and Kenta on a Friday afternoon and stayed in the famous "Shack" house right on the beach. It was really nice weekend and we got some great beach time on Saturday.


Philip was really excited too because he learned how to shuck oysters! Here's a photo of my very proud boyfriend shucking oysters on the beach! And other photos of our group on our perfect beach day.

The photo on the left is one I just took of the guys walking along the lush green street among the beautiful Amagansett homes.

It was yet another fun and relaxing weekend in the Hamptons! Hope we can make it for more than two weekends next summer...

Movie in Bryant Park

Every summer Bryant Park hosts Movies in the Park on every Monday night. Bryant Park is this big green space in the middle of Midtown Manhattan (where most corporations are located)and is this little relaxing oasis among all the chaos of the city. It's a great place to go to study, eat lunch, take a break or they have entertainment, yoga or something going on there every day, especially in the summer. They even have free internet and have been voted the nicest public restrooms! The Park is located right near my work on 42nd Street between 5th & 6th Ave.



It has been one of my goals to make it to a movie this summer and Breaking Away was playing there so Philip and I had to go! Breaking Away is one of Philip's favorite movies where this group of "cutters" win a college bicycle competition. We planned on having a group of us there, but it ended up only being me and Philip...making it a fun date night! :) We had some cheese and crackers and wine. It was a great night!

Girls Night Out!

Philip had a Bachelor Party one night for his friend Jakub, so I decided to have a Girls Night with some of my favorite gals! We had dinner at this Tibetan restaurant in the East Village called Tsampa, and it was amazing. Then a former co-worker from Hess, Amy, was organizing an 80's night with her husband and friends at the Alphabet Lounge on Avenue C. There were four of us girls and we had a really fun time dancing to the 80's music! Here are some photos from the evening. (Pictured from left to right: Erin, Amy, Kiersten and me)

Women's Mini 10K with Hess friends

One weekend two of my co-workers and I decided to run the New York Road Runners Women's Mini 10K, which is the oldest women's race! It was really cool. There were 10,000 women runners and we all started on Central Park West and ran through Central Park. Olympian runner Deena Kastor also welcomed us at the Starting Line and ran it. I loved it! My co-worker, Linh runs often and we both decided to do it, and then a co-worker, Janet, decided to run and this was her first race ever! Afterward we all went to lunch at this Vegetarian place called Blossom with a couple other friends/co-workers who supported us at the race. It was a great day! Here's a photo of four of us who ran: (Janet's friend, Janet, me, and Linh)

Biking in NYC

I decided this year that I wanted to buy a road bike to potentially do some triathlons and to cruise around the city. So Philip found me the perfect bike on Craigslist and luckily he called right away so I was the first to see it and I bought it! It is a 2008 Specialized Dolce - Women's bike and I love it. It's white and pink and I got a matching helmet and of course, all the essential gear: padded shorts, clip shoes, gloves and butt butter :). Philip and I were pretty geared up and looked like official bikers. Check out our photos!

I am not the strongest biker, but I'm decent and have a lot of endurance and potential. My biggest problem is my fear of falling. When I first started taking some practice rides, I was learning to use my new clip pedals (which I actually like) and learning how to change gears and get a good feel for the bike. I was enjoying riding, until my second practice ride and well...that fear came over me when I decided to take a drink from my water bottle. I grabbed the bottle and was drinking when in slow motion I fell off my bike! Philip watched me fall too. I forgot to pedal while I was drinking...so of course, I fell. I had a nice bruise on my butt and on my elbow, but I was a okay - just a little sore and had an even worst fear of falling now. Check out my battle wounds on the left.

But after a fews days recovery, I decided to get back on the bike again. One Saturday Philip organized a bike crawl that started at our apartment where we had a beer at Becky's, a bar right around the corner from our apt, then we rode over the Queensboro Bridge into Queens to stop at the Bohemian Beergarden then back over the Triboro Bridge to the upper east side, where we picked up some friends and then through Central Park to the west side where we stopped at the Boat Basin for some food and drinks and then down the westside highway walk/bike path to this old dive bar called The Patriot on Chambers Street. Then we ended up in the Lower East Side at some bars and ate some Mexican food and rode home in the dark getting in around midnight! It had been quite the bike crawl! Here's some cool photos of us on the Triboro Bridge and one at Becky's Bar where we had a beer before we headed out. Pictured below is Philip, me and our friend Danny who is from Queens.

Jakefest Charity Golf Tournament

Every year, Philip's Eastern District has been raising funds for charities and in the last few years, they have been raising money to support Cure Search, a charity for children with cancer. One of the VP's of Kiewit recently lost his son to cancer and ever since then, the company has been raising money for this cause. The entire Kiewit Eastern District raises money for the cause and different jobs compete against each other for the most dollars raised. Philip's job - Willis Avenue - is one of the largest and they had some very successful fundraisers, but the culmination of everything ends at the Jakefest Charity Golf Tournament. The tournament is named in memory of Jake, who was the son who passed away from cancer.

This was Philip's first year to participate in the golf tournament and they needed volunteers, so I eagerly accepted! We rented a car with some other Kiewit guys and drove to New Jersey at 5am to this beautiful golf resort. Philip headed to the golf course right away and I started organizing all of the raffle and door prizes for the awards celebration afterward. Then I headed to the course to sell drink and food tickets. It was a beautiful day and I had such a great time volunteering and realized how much I actually missed it.

The day turned out even better when Philip and I ended up winning big in the raffles. We each won a golf club valued at $200 (which I exchanged at the golf pro shop for clothes and some other items and Philip ended up selling his on Craigslist) and I also won a women's golf shirt (I think the only one there) and Philip also won a Blue ray player. It was awesome!

We had such a great time and I hope that we can make it again next year! Also, Kiewit ending up raising over $125,000 for Cure Search and $25,000 came from Philip's job. That's impressive!