Girls Traveling

i met someone famous

Thursday, March 29, 2012

alrighty, don't blame me for bragging but i've had my fair share of celebrity encounters. okay, you can blame me, because i'm clearly bragging...

ryan gossling
michelle williams
joseph gorden-levitt

...to name a few.

but the best/latest celebrity encounter (yes, i'm calling her a celebrity) was by far my most favorite and most magical.

i love her.

creepy? yes. overboard? yes. entirely warrented? MOST DEFINITELY!

but do you know what made it even more memorable? she was kind. she was sweet. she was surprisingly taller than i thought. and she called my sister and me "cute girls." and i was like, uh, yeah...we've heard that before. KIDDING!

my celebrity encounter was with the most fabulous...

isn't she a doll! she writes a blog called the pioneer woman. and if you've never heard of that, perhaps you've heard of the food network? she has a show. she cooks. i don't cook. but i like to eat, and so does she and that's why i know we would get along so well.

so, i met her. i just happened to be in denver when she was doing a cookbook signing there. what a coincidence! well, not really. when i found out she was going to be there, i booked a flight to visit my sissa kelli and it was two birds with one stone. blah. blah. BLAH. i'm a creep.

saturday was magical: kelli and i woke up and first thing that morning we both got massages. my very first profesh massage. O. M. G. perfection. loved it. then we ate breakfast at this glorious little restaurant. fresh squeezed OJ is my friend. fast forward through lunch because that was very uneventful...

we arrived at the store where ree was doing the book signing. kelli and i were in a sea of 45-50 something women. and they. were. HOSTILE. people...don't mess with the 45 to 50's. they love their pioneer woman. i was shoved, glared at, beat over the head with a cookbook. not really, but i think she wanted to. in addition, i've never seen a store employee receive such a tongue-lashing. i thought i was harsh and/or aggressive...not compared to these ladies. yikes. i'm pretty sure that boy is in counseling.

so kelli and i waited and waited (for about 30 minutes) and decided we had plenty of time before our number was called to line up for the signing. we left for an hour and came back. the line had barely moved. we ended up getting her oil changed, visiting costco, eating a hotdog, and stopping at tj maxx to say hello. we thought for sure some progress would have been made by that time. uh, nope.

that's when kelli said, "karli, get in line, i'll distract them." so i sneakily sneaked my way into line. to make a long story longer, i was not assulted by any women, although i'm sure they wanted to. but i pulled the "i'm from idaho" card and badda-bing! i was at the front of the line. it was my turn!

in my 30 second conversation ree learned the following about me:

i write a silly, little blog
my husband is a farmer of wheat, alfalfa, and corn
i don't cook and he starves
my sister and i are "cute girls" (her words, not mine)
i'm from idaho

i'm expecting an e-mail any day with an invite out to the ranch so her and i can be besties.

so, she signed my cookbook that i fully intend to cook from:

it says, "Love to Farmer & the Bell! May your husband gain weight! (heart) Ree

i could not have been more thrilled...or nervous. she's a doll.

st. patrick's day was awhile ago...

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

st. patrick's day was awhile ago but i made my friends pose for pictures...so i have to write a little post about it, right? right.

several weeks ago the farmer and i left the farm (GASP!) and traveled to a bigger town to participate in a charity race with some most excellent friends of ours.

i offered to drive for my farmer since he had been working on the house/driving a tractor all day. i'm nice like that. unfortunately, it started POURING/POUNDING rain...and it was dark...and i like to drive 90 miles per hour. this is a deathly combination. oh, did i mention i have night visiton problems?

so as i was driving along, white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel but a smile on my face as to not alarm my farmer, farmer asked, "do you want me to drive?"

"no no no! i'm fine! i just get a little freaked out about hydroplaning."

to which farmer replied, "pull off at the next exit, we're switching...and please slow down."

needless to say, with farmer driving we arrived safely and the rain finally stopped...for approximately eight hours...then it started again the morning of the race.

you can't see from the picture but the wind it was a-howlin' and the river was NOT smooth.

but the runners forged ahead. we dressed in our toastiest clothes and put on our best attitudes...

weather report pre-race: wind - 100 mph, rain - a lot, temperature - cold

so everyone gathered in the gym to see if the weather would break long enough to start the race...

the weather did not break. so we stretched and prepared and...yes...we ran.

that's my farmer on the right. he had high hopes of a win. he didn't win. but he did run a 10k which i believe is the second farthest distance he's ever completed. i think he would also like me to share that he did it with zero training. athlete.

we all finished our respective distances. i completed the little 5k (it was cold!). i ran it with the gal on the far left.

i believe she was 33 weeks pregnant in this shot. as we were running along she was chatting up a storm and i was gasping for air. but she was so sweet and stayed with me the whole time...even when i asked her if we could slow our STAGGERING pace down (9 minute miles). athlete. thanks for sticking it out with me liz!

it was such a fun weekend with fantastic people. i can't wait to get together again!

adieu denver

Monday, March 26, 2012

guess where i've been? in denver visiting this long-legged thing on the left. my sister: kelli-belli-smelli. it's been 80 degrees and amazing. i definitely packed all the wrong clothes. i've been sweating a lot.

guess where my farmer has been? tiling our shower and doing all the other manly things farmers do in the spring time. he's a keeper over and over.

(i'm not exactly positive what that entails but i know farmer has been real REAL busy...bless him.)

ahem - did you catch that i'll be coming home to a tiled shower!!! this. is. huge.

so right before i left he said, "have fun on your little vacation in denver without me." (insert sad face.)

i responded, "you're going to have so much fun without me!" i was being serious. i really thought he was going to have fun.

farmer was real confused, "huh?"

i exclaimed, "you get to drive your new sprayer!" people...this apparently is NOT exciting. i mean...i think he would rather be doing anything besides tiling our shower and driving 14 hours a day in this:

i wish i had a point of reference so you could see just how large and in charge this piece of machinery is. i think it's a pretty big. damn. deal. add it to our lineup of arsenal.

i fly home tomorrow morning and leave my dear sister in the big city. but in the week i've been here we've had loads of fun and i can't wait to report on our happenings!

teaser: i TOTALLY met someone famous. stay tuned. well, i think they are famous. they are pretty damn famous.

do you want a $50 anthropologie gift card?

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT! okay...so allow me to give you a little background knowledge...

about six years ago (or maybe it was five) this girl (amy)...

married this boy (ryan)...

then just a year ago they had this adorable present arrive (mr. baby aka brody aka bro bro)...

anywho...what i'm about to tell you is probably going to blow your mind...so brace yourself.

as you may know, i live in a little, itty-bitty town called bruneau. i think the population is just over 100. i moved to bruneau in 2010 when i married my farmer. well...someone was looking after me when i moved out here because the adorable family above...yes...THEY LIVE IN A NEIGHBORING TOWN! we call them our neighbors but they live like 17 miles away...that's close in these here parts.

well, the gal pictured above...her name is amy. and i heart her. i heart her because we really have quite a lot in common. such as, we both married farmers! i REALLY heart her because she dresses totally stylish every single day while i trudge around in sweaties and uggs. my husband is real REAL lucky. (i'm actively trying to correct this character flaw...promise.) and that's typically why i'm friends with people...for how they dress. kidding. so amy and i became fast friends and blah blah blah...

okay...so she and i both write these bloggy blogs. she writes over at the farmer's wife. go check it out if you dig the farm life...no pun intended.

she's doing this SUPER AWESOME GIVEAWAY which is a $50...i repeat

$50 ANTHROPOLOGIE GIFT CARD!

can you even believe it? i couldn't. so just go to her bloggy and follow the instructions she has posted. one easy way to get entered in the giveaway is to follow her blog. you can follow her blog by clicking "join this site" on the right side of the page and entering your e-mail address. and i know it's scary to give your e-mail address out because you're scared of spam or whatever...but i promise...you won't get spammed. it's run by google...and we trust google, right? right.

and when you finish following miss amy's blog...follow my blog too. i'm at a measly 35 followers and i'd really love to grow that popluation! (but the 35 followers i do have...LOVE YOU GUYS!) and then maybe if i get 50 followers i'll do an awesome giveaway as well!

okee dokee - go win a $50 anthropologie gift card!!

sunday fun day = new goals

Monday, March 19, 2012

we'll have five of these kids in just two weeks!

talk about lame. i certainly haven't kept up my end of the deal on the goal-front. pa-the-tic. pathetic. but i have perfectly good explanations:

excuse #1 - we are INCHES away from moving into your house. our original goal was thanksgiving. that got bumped to christmas. which was quickly revised to valentine's day? and adjusted to, "when it happens, it happens." so when farmer's mom said to not pick a move-in date or i'll "just be disappointed," she was right. the lady knows a thing or two...or three.

excuse #2 - during the winter months, there are some really fantastic tv shows. and what with having a dvr and a warm trailer to hide inside...why set goals? i mean, should i cook my farmer a warm meal or watch dance moms? dance moms...every time. unless i'm hungry too.

excuse #3 - i needed a break. what it comes down to is those last few weeks that i was setting goals, i wasn't actually following through. and that doesn't make anyone feel good. no. so i took a little breaky break.

it's time to pick up my end of the deal:

1. i'm going to finish painting ALL THE TRIM for the rest of the upstairs tomorrow. i'll also do some touch-ups and put the second coat on the doors.

2. take pictures of our house as it stands right now. we're getting ready to put the "make-up" on our home sweet home so there are going to be some serious changes over the next few weeks. i couldn't be happier.

3. have a super healthy trip to denver where i'll be visiting SISSA KELLI!!!! we have all sorts of fun planned which includes: trail running at red rocks, hunger games, my first professional massage, deep dish pizza at her local, and also a very VERY exciting surprise that i CAN'T WAIT to tell y'all about.

have a super week. attack.

farm archives: the mysterious smell

Friday, March 16, 2012

our home sweet trailer

long long ago (three years) i was visiting my farmer on the...farm. i visited the farm quite regularly. it is an hour from the big city (driving like a bat out of hell), so once you're there, you're pretty committed to sticking around.

so as we were working the farm (he was working, i was watching), we popped in and out of the single-wide periodically throughout the day. i had mentioned to him, "sheesh, something is a little bit smelly up in these here parts."

now, my farmer is the sweetest, most generous, most amazing farmer in all the land. but, he's pretty...oh, what's the word?..in denial when it comes to his cleaning techniques. he's kind of like a tornado.

clean clean clean clean clean as fast as he possibly can. shove shove shove. spray spray spray. wipe wipe wipe. done. and while the single-wide wreaks of bleach, you can't exactly classify it as sterile. anyway, back at the farm...
each time i visited, the beloved single-wide was smelling progressively worse and worse. the smell could not be ignored. "what is that smell!" i would ask. my proud farmer would get so defensive of his precious single-wide. i was convinced a 'coon had crawled under something and died. farmer did NOT like my theory. it caused a few fights. he thought i was being OCD and i thought he was dirty. this went on for weeks...even months, until finally...

finally, on a hot day in august, exasperated i yelled, "WHAT IS THAT SMELL?!?!" i couldn't stand it any longer. i freaked. i was determined to find it. in a fit of rage i hunted through the sparse fridge. nada. i tore through the cabinets for rotten potatoes. nuthin'. i inspected the washer and dryer for a dead anything. zilch. i tried to rip the dishwasher off/out of the wall to search behind it. i couldn't. but i KNEW i was getting close. i was obsessed. and that's when it happened...

i cautiously opened the oven. inside that oven was a turkey in a roasting pot. it had been hiding in there, taunting me, since easter. EASTER, PEOPLE! IT WAS AUGUST! did that trigger your gag-reflex? pardon me as i relive the experience.

i'll attempt to explain the emotional roller coaster i experienced during the 30 seconds following the turkey find. disgust, elation, giddiness, anger, disgust. we're talkin' maggots, mold, and i'm pretty sure i saw steam/smell vapors waft from the oven.

and just as my farmer had made the baby mice disappear, so did the turkey. i asked no questions, but the smell nearly immediately disappeared. and i was at peace with the single-wide once again.

here's the explanation: my farmer's mom had hosted quite a bit of family over the easter holiday. so she had cooked up two turkeys - one in her oven and one in my farmer's.

you may be wondering why my farmer never found the turkey/smelled the turkey/barfed because of the turkey. well, it was farm season. during farm season these men are lucky if they get a solid hour of sleep in one sitting. it's usually a catnap in a truck by a field or a fall on the floor two steps in the door sleep. they work their fingers to the bone. it's amazing. they also lose a lot of weight. this is because of stress and lack of time to eat; let alone cook a meal in an oven. alas, he never had time to find the turkey. plus, when there was a spare minute, he was driving to the big city to see moi!

and that's another story for the farm archives. no more smelly single-wide.

happy friday, folks!

high five friday action goin' on over here

Friday, March 09, 2012

i spent a little monies this week. i'm not mad about it. people, i've been living in a single-wide trailer! so, in my nearly two years of single-wide livin', i've refrained from purchasing home goods. people! the time has come to furnish/decorate la brand new casa!
so in honor of high five friday, three purchases and two randoms:

1. i bought a bed. this little guy is from west elm and i'm thrilled.

2. this beautiful rug! it will live under our kitchen table. i know it seems a little loud, but i feel like since it will be covered by our kitchen table, it will be every so slightly subdued. right?

3. holla holla! i got this on sale in the store for pennies on the dollor! not really, but it was a screamin' deal. i have NO clue where i'm going to put it, but it was WAY to slammin' of a deal to pass up.

4. did you know we had our countertops installed yesterday?! please pardon more horrible pictures taken on my phone.

5. i don't have a picture to represent the fight i got in with the UPS man. allow me to set the scene:

i was on a conference call and heard a knock on the door. i didn't answer. i heard another knock. didn't answer. ANOTHER knock. finally, i answered and explained that i was on a work call. he looked at me and said, "this address doesn't exist." it was the address to our house being built. we were assigned the address by the county. there is a very official green address marker at the beginning of our .6 mile driveway...i'm POSITIVE that address exists. UPS man proceeds to argue with me and then very condescendingly says, "what is it, another trailer?" to which i replied, "no, mr. UPS man. it's a house being built atop a glorious hill with a glorious view and i'd appreciate it if you could check your condensceding attitude at the truck you drove in here on. now please turn that truck around and deliver my bed to my house on the hill where it belongs! because lord knows that bed ain't fittin' in this here single-wide!" okay, i didn't say that, but i should have.

high five for friday!

ps. more survivaler videos will return MONDAY!

woody: SURVIVALER EP. 2

Thursday, March 08, 2012

it's the 2nd episode of the survivaler! cousin woody is back and he's going to teach us all about surviving dehydration.

thanks cousin woody!

my favorite woody

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

so, i have to give a little shout out to my cousin woodrow. he's probably in the top two funniest people i know. okay, he may be #1. the guy CRACKS. ME. UP. so funny.

i mean, just check out these pictures of him. i stole them right off his facebook page:

the man is a real kick in the pants. my only regret is that we didn't live closer to one another as children. he's from sunny santa barbara and i've lived in...uh...idaho my 28 years.

i'm inspired to write this post ALL about cousin woody because he posted a video on facebook that made me smile. then i thought, i should share some of the videos cousin woody has made himself! brilliant!

so first i have the video he posted. this is not cousin woody but it will make you laugh or at least smile or snort or something:

and now i'm going to treat you to a video starring cousin woody. and i'll post another tomorrrow, and another the next day and so on...until there are no more cousin woody videos. get excited:

hey cousin - now that i did an entire blog post in your honor will you make me an entry table? thanks.

a better attitude for the mondays

Monday, March 05, 2012

wow, talk about a negative nancy with my goals yesterday. i certainly have been feeling very unmotivated as of late. i could barely roll out of bed this morning at 6:30 am. and trust me, i would have rolled out later, but my workday starts at 7 am. it takes me a good 30 minutes to crawl from one end of the single-wide to the other end where my desk is located. it's not a pretty sight.
so, to put a positive spin on my lack of goals this week, i'm going to list a few things i am OH so thankful for:

1. my farmer. that man is a stud and i think he was put on this earth to make me happy.

2. girl scout cookies. you better believe i flipped a bli-otch yesterday in the big city so i could buy five boxes of thin mints, samoas, and tagalongs. i had to do it...for the children. and to let my farmer know that i love him. and i had to eat four samoas and six thin mints to ensure their nutritional quality. these are things i do out of love.

3. feisty, elderly women. my farmers granny passed away yesterday. she was 94, but acted 64. the lady had some serious spunk, and i can appreciate that.

alrighty, i'm also linking up with a fun little blog over yonder: lovely little things

stay fancy.

sunday fun day: GOALS REPORT

Sunday, March 04, 2012

all i have to say is the goal report for this week can be summed up in two words: EPIC FAIL.

1. i ran three times for a total of 15 miles. not so great. i did 100 crunches tonight...does that count for anything? so no, i didn't meet my 30 minutes of activity each day. dumb.

2. i certainly didn't work on the house every night. blah. i did work on it for about four hours today. i have the majority of the basement wired. yay! i've been dreading that. farmer, however, worked his fanny off. wow. my washer/dryer are all set up. he's a total stud. he also put all our canned light covers in, plumbed our walk-in shower (WITH 3 SHOWER HEADS!), and began framing out our windows. there really is nothing hotter (that i know of) than your man building you a house with his own two hands. he is yum.

pardon the ridiculously dirty floors...it's a construction site.

so while he was doing the washer/dryer cabinets i did something really important too...i painted some doors! okay, not very exciting and i'm not positive i love the black color. however, when you build a house and you're on your 1,000,000th decision, you stop caring about the color of your bedroom door.

3. eating healthy and getting my veggies: well, i think i didn't do too horribly. i ate several salads, brussels sprouts, raw green and red peppers and zucchini, but overall this was a fail. i certainly didn't eat anything green last night with some glorious pizza or tonight with my popcorn. i'm disgusting.

moving on...new goals:

1. continue to be awesome. no goals this week.

i do have something amazing to report. i made dinner three times last week. i REALLY did. i could hardly believe it. neither could my farmer. i got lots of kisses and praise. the man loves a girl in the kitchen. and i can't wait for this girl to be in her NEW kitchen!

PEOPLE...we're getting countertops this week! i'll be sure to post pictures as soon as they're in!

attack the week, everyone. that's my plan. i'm off for a run in this 60 degree weather.

sophia grace & rosie

Thursday, March 01, 2012

oh people. people people people. i know you've probably seen these two adorable girls, but quite frankly, i want to put them in my pocket and carry them around with me. they make me so happy. i find myself looking at my computer smiling like an idiot when i watch their ellen interviews.

*le sigh*

i've shared their videos with you twice.
once here
and once here

now, quite possibly their cutest video to date has hit the world wide web. this video is near and dear to my heart because farmer and i disagree on a fundamental need for our future children. DISNEYLAND. he thinks disneyland is the worst (not happiest) place on earth.

NEWSFLASH FARMER: you've never even been to disneyland.
so, i'll probably have to trick him into going one of these years. i haven't figured out the logistics of my plot, but he'll go. he'll love it. and i'll have pictures to prove it.

either that or i'll have him watch this video. then there is NO WAY he could possibly deny our future daughters of disneyland. have i meantioned my farmer's theory as to why we're only going to have daughters? no? for another day. for now, enjoy:

did you watch it? addicted? i thought so.