Tuesdays with Meghan: 8 Months in Review

Hello World, Meghan here: The worst of all Kranz sisters at blogging. Call it a lofty goal but I must hold my feet to the fire or I will continue to be the slacker in the crew. Every Tuesday I have dinner with my parents, giving Tuesdays the title "Tuesdays with Meghan". Catchy, corny, whatever, that is what you are getting....Each Tuesday after dinner with my parents I will write to the world, so grab your evening cup of Tea and each Tuesday get ready for "Tuesdays with Meghan". 

So this Tuesday I must catch myself up. 8 Months ago I wrote a post titled "My amazing Class", where as it did tell you lots about my class and their funny antics, it in no way informed you about Me. So I will not attempt to catch you up on 8 Months of my life.

March

Glenn (Left) Justin (Right) Drumm Run March 6, 2011
* I won 2nd Place overall for Women..ha..not sure there were any other women that day!

March was a fun month....ran a bunch of small races and had a spring break adventure to the beach with some girl friends!

April

Ran a half marathon (with Glenn from Picture above) PR time of 1:58:17. Amazing day. Enough said.

For Easter I visited Katie in Annapolis, have to get all the time we can in with Katie because we new she'd be leaving for Afghanistan sometime in the summer.

May

I did not do a whole lot in May other than run. I was training for the San Diego marathon at the beginning of June. Glenn (from the picture above) slowly moved his way into my life during April/May...he's still around. ;)

Being a runner himself, he understood the time and effort it took to train for a marathon. He was there for me every weekend, riding a bike with a back pack of waters. A.MAZ.ING. I knew he was a keeper then! :) 

June

San Diego Marathon! Amazing Race. I went out there with my friend Melissa, who ran the race too. After minor run ins with the Medics at the race, it was a wonderful race and experience. Great weekend, great 2nd Marathon. Ready for my next one.

One of the sweet Kiddos affected by the tornado!

Corrin Loved staying with the Sherrif!

In June, I also spent time down in Joplin helping with the cleanup down there. That tornado hit real close to home. Joplin is right outside of the town where I went to college, so I have lots of memories and friends down in Joplin. One of my dear friends works for the County Sherrifs Dept down in Joplin. He let us stay with him during our days of service. I went down with Glenn, Justin, Corrin, Molly, and Kara. We went down two separate times. Once we helped with clean up in homes and the 2nd time they needed teachers to help with free daycare that the YMCA had available to families in need. 

July

Vacation time!I went to Hilton Head with the family and a float trip with Glenn and his friends! 

Rough life in Hilton Head!

At the end of the Month (on my birthday actually) Kara, Eileen, Corrin, and I ran the warrior dash. Jumping over fire, crawling through mud, over ropes, and up hills...we were definitely warriors by the end!

Non Warriors

Warriors!

August

Sisters Road Trip! Eileen had been in Hilton Head, then drove to Kansas and was with us there all of July! She had to drive back to Boston at some point and so after a trip to Costco and Trader Joes we were ready for a sisters road trip with stops in Saint Louis and New Jersey. 

Katie was preparing to go overseas in New Jersey. This was our favorite pit stop on our trip! It was wonderful to see Katie and give her one last send off (She did not actually leave for another month though).

August/September/October

Lumping all of these into one because it all runs together in my brain. School has started. Full force, with a new group of kiddos! Loved my kiddos last year, but I know that God has placed this new group in my life for a reason! I love them already and know we're going to do great things together!

I love this time of year. I'm usually training for some sort of race...this year I am not. Last week I had my tonsils removed which is going to keep me from running for the next month. So I am on a break from running. I miss it and you can be sure i'll be back at it in November. :) 

In September I moved to a new house. I loved my old home and roommate but the house was tiny!Molly and I both needed more space. Miss her dearly. 

My new home is lovely and only like a mile from my old place...so life has not changed too much! 

Molly, Kara, and I on a summer night out!

Glenn's Birthday!

Sisters golfing!

My Birthday!

 Here are other random pictures since March. 

Love My life and all those who bless it daily!

The Manhattan Update--BONUS: Craft project!

Happy New School Year! Buckle up, Lalli is a senior.


First off, I had a great summer, really absorbing and appreciating everything I love about Manhattan, KS. Like sunflowers!

So here's a list. Things I've done recently.


1.) Sorority Recruitment
Its hilarious to me that I've been in a sorority for three years. This was my last year of recruitment (or Rush), and I'm going to be sad to say goodbye in May.

Its an exciting week for us, spending 12 hour days working and spending time with the other girls in the house.  Our hard work paid off, and we had our best recruitment in 4 years!  Sometimes we just need a little stress releif. We're really pretty.

2.)Moved for the 3rd and LAST TIME (in Manhattan, anyway)
I moved three times this summer. I've decided that rather than hating moving with every fiber of my being, I'm going to love moving. I love it. So much. This is my roommate Jenny. We love to move.

See? We LOVE TO MOVE!!! Also, cardboard boxes are endlessly fun and distracting when you have things to do. 

This is our new apartment. I live with 3 girls, Jenny, Grace, and Sara. See as Jenny Dramatically poses in the living room. 

I did a craft project to christen this new aparment.  We have an obnoxiously ugly cinderblock wall  in the living room. To remedy this, I bought a piece of luan plywood, painted it with "chalkboard" spraypaint, and voila! Chalkboard in the living room. 

 It's like magic.  However, there was a dispute amongst my roommates that I should clear up here. CHALKBOARD SPRAY PAINT does not change the molecular structure of the surface you paint. Its still plywood, so don't get mad when you can't get chalk out of the woodgrain.


I wasn't satisfied with just ONE chalkboard in my livingroom though. So I made a chalkboard coffee table out of an old piece of glass someone had. It makes a perfectly chalkboardy surface. We're working on getting more crates underneath for storagey purposes.

Well Friends and Fam, that about wraps it up. Those are the little details of my life that I am relishing in right now.  I'll keep you updated as I head to auditions and interviews this year, and as my post-grad plans come into focus (what a terrifying and exciting thought!)

~L

A Smattering of Topics...

Eileen here.

I have a couple points of interest to discuss:

1) New format for blogging.

2) The latest addition to our family.

3) An outline of posts-waiting-in-the-wings.

1) First things first. I had this idea for blogging that I saw on a couple other blogs with multiple authors. Not that it's SO hard to alert the world (that is, our 10's of millions of readers....is there anyone here?) of who the "speaker" is, I thought it would be fun to at least TRY to color code the author. So, from now on the color/writer assignments are as follows:

Katie

Eileen

Meghan

Lisa

If anyone has an issue with their color we can make adjustments, just say!  Also, I goofed around with the template/layout... change it back or to something else if you hate it!

2) Matt and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary yesterday- I can't believe 2 years have gone by already! Anyways, to celebrate we pulled out all the stops cooking up a delicious meal, complete with tenderloin steaks, a yummy sauce that Matt whipped up, and red bell peppers stuffed with quinoa and red-wine portabellas all paired with Heston Vineyard's 2005 Cabernet.  For dessert I baked bacon-bourbon brownies to go with Artiste's Le Bec Sucre. Yes you heard that correctly. Bacon. Bourbon. Brownies. How bad can that be?  

The brownies were too delicious to capture photographically

Anyways, the point of item 2 was not about our anniversary, but about the gift we received from our neighbors. Those of you who know about our neighbors know that "neighbor" is code for "construction crew." They are actually quite nice, though loud during the day.  It seems to be a kind of DIY operation going on over there, and the owner of the property recently made a hefty purchase, which is what I mean when I refer to the "latest addition to our family"........

.........Introducing, our new puppy! 

His name: Stanley the Excavator

3) We are  behind on the blogs.  A mental list I have going of things we need to post about are:

       a) Hilton Head!

       b) Me and Meghan's Road Trip/Visiting Katie

       c) Lisa moving, starting her senior year!

       d) What am I forgetting?

That's it, I'm out. Stanley says hi! 

      

The Edge of Glory: Napa Valley Style

Eileen here.

As you all probably by now know, our fearless leader Katie will soon be departing this fair country to defend our freedom in Afghanistan. In the spirit of true patriotism, Katie and I spent 4 days in Napa, California indulging ourselves in fine food, fine wine and of course the spa as a last hurrah before she leaves for a whole year!

Pictoral highlights:

Day 1 (Tuesday): Pedicures! Complete with a crisp chardonnay and cheese platter that included lavender infused honey (because everything is apparently more delicious infused with lavender). Katie selected a classic red color, while I got peer-pressured into the brightest neon pink we have ever seen!

I was henceforth referred to as Her Royal Highness Napa Valley Barbie



Day 1 (Evening): Morimoto's tasting menu. The food was incredible, the wine was even better....trust me, when you throw the money at the Omikase menu, the sommalier pays at smidge more attention to your particular pairings....

Morimoto's minced toro platter. Eat it with the metal spatula, eat it with chopsticks. Incredible either way.

Something fishy delicious carpaccio.

garlicky anchovy vegetable dip situation.

watermelon wasabi sorbet. You cannot eat this with chopsticks. We will not tell you how we know this.

foie gras infused custard with duck breast. Chef Morimoto suggests you enjoy each bit with a dab of wasabi to round out the taste. Indeed Chef, indeed.

Pork belly, blue wagyu medallions, lobster claw with meyer lemon infused creme fraiche. Done, done and done.

Something chocolate for dessert. Like we needed it.


Day 2: Early workout to offset the previous evening's indulgence, breakfast in the Concierge lounge followed by a trip to the spa for a relaxing round of body scrubs (there was a point where we were smothered in honey and grapeseeds and wrapped in cellophane.....it was awesome) and facials. Once we were relaxed and rejuvenated, we spent the afternoon poolside with snacks, wine, and a couple of good books

(Katie's reading about politics, I read social sciencey books, are we surprised?). That evening we had appetizers and Pinot Noir in the lounge, went back to the room to watch a movie. I think that our goal to Go and Be and Stay was a success....we didn't leave the resort all day!

Day 3: (Thursday): After 2 days of spa relaxation, we finally emerged from our hideout to experience the other offerings of the Napa Valley. Matt came to meet us...he was NOT invited for the first portion of this trip. After a swing by our favorite haunts (Conn Creek and Mumm), we had the pleasure of experiencing the St. Helena bocce league night that our friend Paul is a part of.

Thursday evening we went to Ana's in St. Helena which is locally famous for its Thursday night Karaoke. We were all set to rock out to Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory, but of course the DJ doesn't have it yet, so we had to fall back on some old favorites (e.g. Total Eclipse of the Heart; Heartbreaker, Holding out for Hero), and my favorite homage to the Navy's most fabulous officer "Take My Breath Away" (I'm talking about Katie here, not Tom Cruise)

Day 4: To continue our theme of excess and indulgence, Katie, Paul Matt and I went to The Kitchen Door for brunch, and gorged ourselves on fancy flat bread, Kobe Burgers, Bread Pudding etc... no pictures to prove it but the meal was delicious! After a quick swing by Stag's Leap for a tour/tasting (thanks as usual to Paul's connections!), Matt and I had to leave paradise for a dinner with his parents before hopping on a red-eye back to Boston. We left Katie behind to do further damage around Saint Helena and San Francisco with Paul.

A lovely Small Town 4th of July!

Hello Friends! Happy Two days after independence day!

This was possibly the most picturesque 4th of July I could possibly imagine. My friend Whitney and I headed to the little Kansas town of Wamego, about 30 minutes east of Manhattan. Wamego claims itself as the Kansas Town that Miss Dorothy Gail, from the "Wizard of Oz" Hails from. There is even a winery with "Witch in a Ditch" red wine! Naturally, before hitting up the big carnival and parade, We stopped in for some free air conditioning at the "Oz Museum".

Museum Hopping. Wamego offers many museums full of things that are very very old, Scary mannequins that look like J.Crew Models, and extensive miniature farms (complete with raisin poop!). Also a giant stuffed buffalo. Welcome to Kansas!

How Funny! It was really hard to me to obey the "Do Not Touch" sign.

We got homemade ice cream and brownies....

Obviously, it was very, very gross.

Tilt-a-Whirl, new friends, old friends, small town patriotism. I conclude that this 4th of July was, for me, just like a Hayley Mills movie.



PS. 4 days until HILTON HEAD!!!!! This is how excited I am.

Love you all!

Lisa

A Crash Course in Social Loafing

Disclaimer: This post is intended to be humorous and entertaining. No offense was intended to any of the mentioned parties.


As the resident Ph.D in the group, I feel it is my obligation to educate you all on the pitfalls of what we in the world of Social Psychology refer to as "social loafing" and "diffusion of responsibility"

By definition, according to Wikipedia, (because I'm too lazy to look up a more legitimate source... like the Intro Psych book that's 10 feet away from me. Don't judge, I just ran 13 miles.), social loafing is a phenomenon that occurs when people exert less effort when working in groups than when they work alone. As the number of people in a group increases, people begin to experience what we call "deindividuation," in other words, their role as individual doesn't seem to matter as much, and therefore they will do less work toward the desired goal of the group. Individuals start to feel as though they have less responsibility towards that goal, and will assume that someone else in the group will take responsibility for the necessary actions.*

Say, for example, you're cooking (on the stove). You have 4 helpers who are all eager to assist you, but also busy with other tasks, and are also well aware that they are a single member of your "helper team". You request (to no one in particular) that someone clarify a pound of butter (because what's better than more butter?). Several minutes later you notice that there is no butter on the stove and your recipe is now ruined. What happened? What most likely happened is that everyone in the room assumed that someone else was taking care of your request, with the end result being that the task was never completed. This phenomenon is the reason why when you get CPR certified, you learn that you must always point to a specific person and ask that THEY call 911. This is also, tragically, the reason we had to learn, as a society, the hard lessons from the case of Kitty Genovese.


On a less sobering note, you may be wondering why I am giving you this crash course in social psych? While I'm fairly certain that Meghan's 3rd graders truly are amazing, I highly doubt that that is the most interesting thing going on in the lives of the 4 Kranz Sisters in the last 3 months.

For example:
1) I know for a FACT that Meghan ran the San Diego Marathon last weekend.
2) I also know that Lisa has written music, recorded a video and posted it on YouTube
3) I ALSO know that I graduated from grad school for the 9th time and have pictures to prove it.
4) I was also recently informed that Katie has been given orders on her next big international adventure.

These are just a few tiny morsels of knowledge that I possess about our ever exciting lives. So why has no one blogged? Some might say that we, as a group, are engaging in the aforementioned social loafing, and are experiencing diffusion of responsibility. The only alternative explanations are that a) we are boring. b) we are lazy. c) we are too stupid to type words.

So, the question I pose to you all now (in the words of Mom): Are we stupid, or lazy?

Or, in the words of A.A. Milne "get out of my chair, dillhole"

*To any of you readers out there who have more expertise than I in this area (I'm looking at all of you Brandeis-ers in particular), don't judge me if my descriptions are not comprehensive, see my comment about the running. and the 13 miles.

My amazing class!

Just a quick post from me, Miss Kranz.

Ah! It's state assessment time! I love this time though because I really get to see all my students push themselves and they grow a ton! It's incredible to see! Our theme for state assessments each year is "Rock the Test". We set goals for ourselves, wrote them on paper guitars, and hung them around the classroom! They loved this!

After state assessments each day, I allow my kids to have free time. They need the break. We were jamming out to some tunes, some kids were dancing, and I took this video! Oh the joy that I find each day in my classroom!

Love my kids!


"I promise you every day your children will learn something. Some days they'll bring it home in their hands. Some days they'll bring it home in their heads. And some days they'll bring it home in their hearts."

--Valerie Welk