well, hello!

life has been so good lately. last monday i took my last final. this crazy, busy, somewhat annoying semester has finally come to an end! ryan, ellie, and i are still rejoicing that it is over. yesterday i got my bill for next semester. usually that is fairly upsetting, but look at what the first charge was...

that's right, a graduation fee!!! because i only have one more semester left! hallelujah. 

other than wrapping up the semester, we have been busy with holiday fun. we got to go to the white house christmas tree lighting with friends a few weeks ago. it was a lot of fun and a very "washington, dc" experience, but it was FREEZING. like really, really, bone chilling cold. here's a video of the exciting moment:

i like to call this video "let's go christmas!"

white house christmas tree from Kelsie Brandt on Vimeo.

and, of course, some pictures. which by the way, i was so prepared with my camera and extra batteries, but when i went to take my first picture i realized my memory card was sitting on my desk at home. nice. so, these are all very high-quality iphone pictures.

that's common, the host. 

that could be the president... not sure.

it was a very fun, festive night with some great friends. i'll post more christmas fun soon! hope you're loving this season!

-kelsie.

please vote!

 (the women on our south africa trip where i got to know bekah)

i have been very blessed by my friend bekah. she has been such an encouragement in my life. her and her husband counseled ryan and i through our engagement and led our trip to south africa. she inspires me to experience God on a deeper level, to serve those who are around me, and to live a healthier life. and she has the cutest little boy i have ever seen. 

her and her friends have entered an awesome contest where, if they win, they are given money to give away however they choose. with the money, they would take their children and serve those in need in denver. allowing them a chance to give to others and to teach their children. 

they have made a great video. view it and vote for them here!

-kelsie.

looks like rain.

(flava flav, the mad hatter, and the meteorologist)

i was very proud of my creative, FREE, fun costume! i even had cards indicating different weather patterns. unfortunately no one was too impressed by my creativity. i got a few sympathetic smiles.

i was really serious about wanting to be a meteorologist when i was younger. my grandma even took me to meet rebecca miller who was a cute little weather woman in dallas. i wonder how she would feel knowing this is as close as i got....

-kelsie.

broncos!

on sunday we went to the broncos - ravens game with some great friends. the weather was perfect and it was a ton of fun even if the broncos did lose. 

(sam and a scary ravens fan)

(my favorite broncos player!)

here's ryan and i's track record for watching colorado sports in dc:

redskins - broncos: broncos lost

wizards - nuggets: nuggets lost

nationals - rockies: rockies lost

ravens - broncos: broncos lost

we should probably stop going, but watching our teams out here helps us feel a little less homesick.

hope you all are having a happy day!

-kelsie.

surprise.

(grace)

the best thing happened this weekend. on friday night, i was walking down the street to meet some friends for dinner when my best friend popped her head around the corner. she and ryan planned a surprise weekend for me. it was incredible and so much fun and so refreshing to spend time with her. grace is one of those friends that no matter how long it's been since we've seen each other, we pick up right where we left off. 

i took hardly any pictures, but it was a great weekend. thank you grace and ryan!!! i love you both so much!

-kelsie.

fern friday.

happy friday! 

i'm sitting here cuddling with my cute, little, jealous puppy. she HATES our laptops because they take over her area on our laps. she has really wiggled her way into getting whatever she wants...

i'm back to the reality of school and plan on doing homework for the rest of the evening. ryan's working all weekend long so i am headed to an amusement park with the nursing girls tomorrow. i'm so grateful for a husband who works so hard and who is so good at what he does. 

i hope you have an amazing last weekend of august! fall is just around the corner!

         -kelsie.      

268 days...

until i graduate nursing school. in some ways i CANNOT wait and in others i want to delay it as long as possible. i LOVE school. i mostly always have. and i REALLY love my nursing school girls. they bring me donuts, we go trapeze-ing, and this weekend we're going to an amusement park. 

this semester i'm taking an obstetrics (ob) course, pediatrics and psych. i'm so excited for my ob course i could burst. i looked at the syllabus and was so excited about every topic. i skim through my book all the time and constantly have to warn ryan not to look or else he might see a picture of something that would scar him eternally. we're about as opposite as we could be sometimes. 

so anyways, i'm certain there will be a lot of nursing related blog posts this semester. and, i hope to be better about posting in general. thanks for reading this little blog and for being a part of our life.

-kelsie.

fern friday.

happy friday my friends! i have had a crazy, weird work schedule this week and will have a weekend filled with work! fun!

but for tonight, we are headed to a "see-you-later" party for our friends, the whelpley's. they were some of the first people we met when we moved out here. they helped us settle into our church and find community there. they're off to florida and will hopefully be back here next summer. they're good people.

i hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

-kelsie.

jazz in the garden.

we spent friday night listening to jazz, eating delicious treats and drinking sangria among friends. it was so great. and SO humid. we're working on getting used to it... not sure if that will ever happen.

 how was your weekend?!

-kelsie.

fern friday.

happy friday!

we are on the strong hunt for an apartment and cannot wait to have a place nailed down! but for the night, we are off to enjoy some jazz in the garden with friends

hope you have a lovely weekend, friends! 

-kelsie.

ps- thanks for reading this little piece of my life. it means a lot.

mexicoooo.

{two of my favorite boys in some pretty awesome chairs}

{my dad taking advantage of my mom's floppy hat}

{pretty}

{me. excited. pre-sunburn}

{the group.}

we had so so much fun doing handstand competitions in the pool, singing karaoke, practicing our spanish and eating too much.

hope your memorial day was lovely!

-kelsie.

fern friday.

it's friday!

fridays mean we go to IFECDA (international food eating and cocktail drinking alliance) with good friends we met at the airport. they lovingly allowed us to join them and we have had so much fun. 

most people that go to IFECDA are from colorado. colorado people are good people.

tonight we're going to play volleyball and have a picnic. fun. 

 

i made a square fruit pizza. the icing is cream cheese and marshmallow fluff. yum.

 

 

hope your friday is filled with fun, food and friends!

-kelsie.

friends.

school has been pushing me to the edge these past few weeks. it's making me tired and grumpy and generally blah. i'm hoping once this week is done i might be able to catch my breath. but i feel like there is a greater chance of that happening once i take that last final exam in may. 

it's not too far away.

but in the meantime, i'm grateful for my nursing school friends. 

today was a test day. that means at lunch we all spout out whatever we know and hope that we will remember something. our test was on the gastrointestinal system. we were discussing things that an average group of twenty-something year old girls would generally not discuss. ever. much less at lunch. but we laughed and cringed and we're going through it all together. and that makes it better.

-kelsie.

trapeze school.

i did it. 

i'm officially an acrobat who can fly through the air. it was SO fun. you have to do it. 

Trapeze School Flip from Kelsie Brandt on Vimeo.

i couldn't have done it without the support of my nursing school girls.

trapeze-ing and brunch - we must do that more often.  

-kelsie.

fern friday.

 

weekend plans:

dinner with friends.

church stuff with friends.

trapeze with friends.

-kelsie.

bits of my weekend.

[michelle, over at her cute blog, is documenting pictures of her weekend and inspired me to do the same]

march 5th-7th, 2010

 

my hip husband waiting for the metro

city.

 

milkshakes with knives.

friends and cheesecake. vegan cheesecake. i still don't get it. 

 

sticks for these:

 i only had blue yarn, but i think they turned out cute!

 melting snow.

hope you had a great weekend! happy monday! 

-kelsie.

 

circus!

i'm going to trapeze school!

(just for two hours - nursing school is driving me crazy but i'm not to the point of joining the circus... yet)

i'm going with some great friends from nursing school... and trying to convince my friends who are afraid of heights to come master their fears.

(that sentence is meant for you kerry and katie)

we're not going until the end of march but i just can't wait! 

the circus has been on my mind. which is strange because i hate clowns. but the latest anthropologie catalog has me even more excited about trapeze school. just look at these great pictures!

 

  

  

  

(that's me!)

anyways, ryan's mom got me a gift certificate there for christmas which i still haven't used (!). i want to find the perfect thing to spend the money on. it just might have to be circus-themed to celebrate my trapeze school endeavors.

-kelsie.

all images via here.

donut love.

 

(honestly i'm amazed i could keep these around long enough to take a picture)

the best thing happened today. i woke up with a case of the mondays. that was not the best thing. but then, i got to class and my friend, kerry, walked in with a box of goodness and she was headed for me. that was the best thing. 

she brought me donuts to school! fresh, warm, amazing, delicious donuts. 

my case of the mondays was no more. 

last week i confessed my obsession of donuts to kerry, and how i saw these donuts on food network. i was excited to discover they are around here! kerry said i since i haven't had any yet, i was really missing out, and that she even has a t-shirt from there. 

she woke up early and drove out of her way to bring me some decadent donuts. she's the best. 

thank you kerry!!!!!!!!!!!

-kelsie.