New Zealand Series: The Engagement

Wow, how time flies! One year ago today Matt and I were galavanting around Glenorchy, "the gateway to Paradise" and a small mountain town in the Wakatipu Valley near Queenstown, where we lived for 6 months.

My fiance Matt didn't know how or where he was going to propose, as he carried the ring inside his fly fishing tackle box while we traveled about the South Island. I'll never forget when the lightbulb suddenly switched on in Matt's head. It was just after I proclaimed, "We're having way too much fun!" That was his cue Matt to drop to not one but two knees and ask me to marry him.

We're happily engaged and thoroughly enjoying the wedding planning / relationship growing process.

Enjoy some of our favorite pics from our actual engagement.

Our pics are famous!

Our wedding photographer Amy Carroll shared some exciting news with us today...

Emmaline Bride featured our wintry engagement session on their blog! How cool is that? With five months to go until our wedding we are getting uber excited.

Speaking of, heading out on the town now for my good friend Mia's bachelorette party :) 

Here's a sneak peak of what I've been up to in the world of photography...

lululemon athletica RUN ambassador Katie 

This could be her ambassador photo for the cherry creek lululemon athletica store!

Theta Thursday Lunch...for Dinner!

No, I'm not in a sorority anymore and am no longer a student at Indiana Univeristy. However, one unique tradition carries on - long live the "Theta Thursday Lunch."

For those of you who did not have the pleasure of dining with the Thetas on a Thursday in College, you missed our on the following:

Perfectly mastered grilled cheese sandwiches on wheat bread, creamy tomato soup and homemade chocolate chip cookies.

I have to give some credit for this week's homemade meal to my fiance Matt. After battling the stomach flu this week I was hoping for a southing, mellow, wintery meal and Matt suggested tomato soup and grilled cheese (much to my bewilderment, he used to be a regular guest at the sorority house for Theta Thursday). 

The only missing ingredient from twas the homemade chocolate chip cookies, we settled for Chip's A'hoy cookies from 7/11 instead...maybe next time!

Another highlight from the week was of course the Super Bowl. Our Colts fought hard and were a joy to watch all season long. We were fortunate to be surrounded by other Colts fans last Sunday night for the game!

What a great season for the Colts, next year will be equally as fun.
Finally, as my dad always reminds us, now we have six months of misery without football!

Exhibit strength

I received the perfect email/blog from my friend Scott Anderson, who I've blogged about before. Scott teaches at lululemon athletica in Cherry Creek this Friday and I'm equally excited for the hardcore vinyasa yoga workout as I am for the thought-provoking words/inspiration that Scott brings to each class.

I couldn't help but share a quote Scott used in his email/blog post. It goes like this:

"Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, "This is what I need." It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment, not discouragement, you will find the strength is there. Any disaster that you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow. Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You'll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes." 
-Joseph Campbell

This quote could not have arrived in my inbox at a more relevant time. While myself and others have so many incredible blessings in our lives right now, there is struggle and uncertainty. My thoughts and prayers are with those who are struggling, whether grieving a loved one or battling cancer. The good news is, we all have an amazing amount of strength inside and it's during tough times that our strength becomes extremely powerful.

I recently witnessed strength and power on display while coaching/mentoring the Kappa Alpha Theta bike team during the winter training trip. The team trained hard in Florida and put their strength and power to the test. Enjoy these pics of during their Team Pursuit practice.

Do cardio once a day for 28 days!

Could you do it? Three of us at lululemon athletica Cherry Creek are doing it. So far so good. Here's the break down so far:

Alex, Rachel and I started on February 2nd...

Day 1 - 30 min walk around Wash Park with my Aunt's dog Snickers

Day 2 - Cross Fit Verve kick butt workout + Vino & Vinyasa at lululemon athletica Park Meadows

Photo courtesy of Cross Fit Verve. Nine lulu's attended the workout!

Day 3 - 45 min walk around Wash Park with Snickers

Day 4 - 5 hrs snowboarding at Breckenridge with Matt, Stephanie and Cam

Best part of the day (besides boarding down the mountain) is taking off the boots and putting on the Uggs!

Matt having a blast in the mountains! We love Friday skiing/boarding.

After a long day of skiing/boarding, you've got to eat and I'm happy to say that week 3 of my year long goal of cooking one homemade meal per week is still going strong. I wipped up a whole wheat crust pizza loaded with heaps of veggies tonight. Now we're off to see Avatar 3D & Imax. Enjoy the pics while we're at the movies ;)

Prep stages...no marinara sauce, I used pesto.

A little brown around the edges but overall very delicious.

What do you like to put on your pizza? Everyone has their favorites. I can't get enough of vegetables :)