Silly Merbear

Sushi Class!

2007-07-11T06:40:00.000-05:00

--mobilepnut

Babalu, Mpls - Desserts

2007-06-27T07:59:00.000-05:00

I hade plaintain and cinnamon encrusted ice cream with a spicy chocolate
sauce. The other girls had dessert tamales filled with cream and fruit.
(Not real tamale peppers, but wrapped in pastry tamale style). Also a
promoter of a new maple liquer was offering free drinks so we tried
some, a tad on the too sweet side.
--mobilepnut

Cinnamon Roll Croissant

2007-05-15T08:02:00.001-05:00

My sister ordered what we thought waas going to be a regular size
gourmet croissant with a cinnamon roll filling and caramel on top. Well,
when the waitress asked if we "wanted the cinnamon roll asa the first
course" we were all wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. Then,
it arrived, a croissant the size of a loaf of bread, with caramel and
almonds on top and a little French flag, holy cow it was good!
--mobilepnut

Billy Joel, May 9th, Xcel Energy Cntr, MN

2007-05-09T22:55:00.000-05:00

Billy Joel and his band put on an amazing concert. Crowd pleasing, rock
out, sing along, top notch, well performed evening.

I had a fabulous time singing along and dancing with Amy, one of my best
friends from high school!
--mobilepnut

Haircut, color, w00dz

2007-04-21T18:11:00.000-05:00

New hair cut, style, and highlights in my red hair. Also w00dz and I
drivin' down to Rochester, MN for a partay.
--mobilepnut

Sushi Tango - Woodbury,MN

2007-04-19T07:39:00.000-05:00

Per my friend, Sushi Tango in Woodbury does not have as much selection
for maki and sashimi as the location in Minneapolis, but it tastes just
as yummy!

Miso soup, extra spicy tuna rolls, special salmon rolls, king tut rolls
(wrapped in soybean sheets!) and california rolls were shared.
--mobilepnut

Learning

2007-04-14T18:35:00.000-05:00

So I'm not sure how successful I was but I figured I should learn to
curl my hair with rollers. Not so bad for the first time ever, is it?
The top pic is curled, bottom with the red wall os before.
--mobilepnut

Mer and Michele

2007-04-14T16:31:00.000-05:00

Michele and I hanging out at her hubby's hockey game.
--mobilepnut

Guthrie Theater and Spoonriver Restaurant

2007-04-06T07:54:00.000-05:00

My mom and I ate at the yummy Spoonriver Restaurant before seeing The
Merchant of Venice at the Guthrie Theater.

I have pictured here the jumbo shrimp on my thai noodle appetizer
staring at me before I ate him, he was good!

The other pictures are of my ticket and the Wuertele Thrust Stage at the
Guthrie.

I had a really entertaining and pleasurable evening with my lovely mom!
--mobilepnut

Gitchee Gumee Brewfest

2007-04-06T07:49:00.000-05:00

We went up to Duluth last weekend and stayed in a Canal Park hotel with
friends and attended the brewfest.

Here is Tim in the kitchen, Rob and Matt, a close up of petite Smooth
and Meltys, and a picture of some heinous beer, heehee.
--mobilepnut

Mmm Fondue

2007-03-18T13:29:00.000-05:00

Fondue Party at a friend's last night
--mobilepnut

Miles is the cutest evar!

2007-03-18T13:28:00.000-05:00

'nuf said
--mobilepnut

Pretty Amaryllis!

2007-03-05T18:29:00.000-06:00

These are the 4th time the Amaryllis has bloomed since Christmas! So
pretty and bright!
--mobilepnut

Aaaaallll Red!

2007-03-04T15:35:00.000-06:00

Top pic, before color, just highlights. 2nd pic, all red ,full color,
its sweet!
--mobilepnut

Wii got drunk

2007-03-03T10:14:00.000-06:00

....at the Wii party! My friend Shell and I and a couple other misc
pics
--mobilepnut

Going away for the weekend....

2007-02-23T09:34:00.000-06:00

Miles wants to come
--mobilepnut

w00dz luvs pnut

2007-02-14T16:19:00.000-06:00

Beautiful roses from w00dz, luv u hunny! Happy Vday!
--mobilepnut

A few ft visibility & 5 mph

2007-02-06T07:55:00.000-06:00

I am 20 mins late to the train, could only see the few cars in front of
me and 1-2 cars back for the majority of my drive in this AM. Wind,
snow, and below 0 temps cause for an interesting blowing chunks of snow
effect. I'm sure w00dz is more than pleased to be home today as the
driving conditions even slowed down his beloved left lane to a risky
30mph. Not all of the twin cities were this bad I heard on the radio,
but the south suburbs got nailed with thicker snow (where I drive from)
than the rest.
--mobilepnut

Love of my life

2007-01-22T19:17:00.000-06:00

We all know who he is. I love you hon.

Commodore's Ball 2007

2007-01-22T19:03:00.000-06:00

We stayed at the St. Paul Hotel all weekend. Our room was beautiful, the service was excellent, the view was very cool of the Landmark Center, Wells Fargo Ice Skating Rink, the Ordway, and Rice Park :)

Here are some pictures of my hair and dress for the formal dinner and dance :)

Our Cutie Pie Puppy Miles

2007-01-22T19:00:00.000-06:00

He's cute, he sometimes wears a courdoroy jacket, he likes to chew on his toys, and he likes to cuddle, 'nuff said :)

Oh and his lovely cousin, Parker, is in the bottom picture, they like to play :)

s4xton and spaceman

2007-01-19T21:54:00.000-06:00

A much better *s4xton sighting* pic from the Happy Gnome, St. Paul, MN.
My gathering of friends came here for dinner and while we were here
spaceman and s4xton showed up on their own agenda, turned into a nice
evening, still goin' on! Cheers!
--mobilepnut

Red :)

2007-01-17T19:15:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I got some RED in my 'do! Lovin' it!
--mobilepnut

For all ppl outside MN complaining about weather!

2007-01-16T18:57:00.000-06:00

Hahahahhaha, currently I am wearing a two layer Titanium Columbia ski
jacket, ski gloves, a ski hat that comes over my ears, a scarf, and a
neck warmer to fight the wind from going through the scarf and the hat
to my face. I wait outside for the train in the am and pm. The temp
without windchill this morning was 12, but the wind was blowing and the
windchill was minus 16, so that is 47 degrees colder than the San
Antonio post boasting 31 and wimpy freezing rain. Oh yeah, and long
underwear. So, uh, anyone that does not have weather like this and
complains about cold, here is a blanket statement, SUCK IT!
--mobilepnut

Spring roll feast at Seng's House

2007-01-12T22:22:00.000-06:00

Seng invited over friends to enjoy her fabulous fresh springroll
extravaganza. She prepares her thai peanut sauce, sauteed veggies and
meats, fresh veggies, and all the necessities. The layout was
beautiful, the spring rolls were tasty, and the company was fun.

I wish I could have stayed later but I'm getting over a cold that just
whalloped me this week.

Thanks for clearing my sinuses Seng! (See the lovely picture of her in
polka dots)
--mobilepnut

Denny's

2007-01-11T14:22:00.000-06:00

So, I haven't been to a Denny's for a loooong time! They have added a
lot of stuff including lighter menu items, neat!

I also didn't realize they have so many appetizers and dinners, dang!
Mmm mini burgers next time I come!

I got myself "Skinny Moons" which is a lightened up version of my
childhood favorite "Moons Over My Hammy." The Skinny version is made
with egg beaters, has no cheese, and comes with fruit. For me, it is
just as good, yuuuuum ham!
--mobilepnut

Shorty, Miles, Amaryllis

2007-01-11T14:02:00.000-06:00

A picture of our big boy kitty Shorty, our 8 month old puppy Miles, and
the Amaryllis that my FIL gave me as a bulb with dirt for Christmas.

Every cat, dog, bird, ferret, fish, and plant in our home is having a
Happy New Year!
--mobilepnut

Amy's Annual Christmas Dessert Party

2006-12-14T21:18:00.000-06:00

Yum!! Fudge, Reindeer cookies, Cheesecake bites, Haystacks, Dream Bars,
you name it and Amy baked it for her annual party to share with her
friends. Thank You Amy for a lovely evening with friends, memories, and
treats!
--mobilepnut

Saxon Lanes

2006-11-25T01:11:00.000-06:00

My friends, woodz, and I enjoying pizza, beer, bowling and karaoake at
Saxon Lanes in Little Canada, MN
--mobilepnut

Town Talk Diner goodness -Mpls, MN

2006-11-17T22:01:00.000-06:00

Frickles, Mushroom Torte, Egg Sandwich, Line Chefs, Panty Dropper, my
friend the Beeeeyatch :)
--mobilepnut

Snow that sticks!!

2006-11-10T07:55:00.000-06:00

Its been snowing since last night in towns a little bit south of us.
But, in Cottage Grove,MN it was coating the deck and coming down chunky
as I left for work! The weather report said up to 2 inches in downtown
Mpls and in the SE suburbs (that's w00dz and I), yay! Here's a few
pics of cars and the ground at the Fort Snelling,MN LRT station.

Let it snow!
--mobilepnut

Space Needle

2006-11-06T09:49:00.000-06:00

My last picture as we leave downtown Seattle.
--mobilepnut

Dick's - Capitol Hill, Seattle, WA

2006-11-05T10:03:00.000-06:00

Lori and Drew introduced Tim and I to Dick's a burger stand that is a
must-try for a classic burger eating experience. A walk-up stand with
shakes, burgers and fries, in existence since 1954, I wouldn't be
surprised if my dad ate here as a college student! Definitely good
stuff, great after the martinis!
--mobilepnut

Ivar's Acres of Clams Pics

2006-11-04T22:24:00.000-06:00

--mobilepnut

Ivar's Acres of Clams

2006-11-04T22:19:00.000-06:00

My organic field greens salad with goat cheese and pine nuts, the cool
Ivar's logo, and my Pier 54 Clam Bake, very tasty. Oh yah and chocolate
mousse!
--mobilepnut

Seattle Aquqarium

2006-11-04T19:43:00.000-06:00

Beautiful aquarium, salt and freshwater fish and marine life. We saw
Nemo!
--mobilepnut

Argosy Locks Boat Tour

2006-11-04T19:42:00.000-06:00

Very informative tour, learned quite a bit about Seattle, the Puget
Sound, and Lake Union
--mobilepnut

Seattle Fri Nite Fun

2006-11-03T23:13:00.000-06:00

Jeep Grand Cherokee rental, Nijo Sushi, Pike Place Market stores, Pike
Pub.

Spending the evening with Sleeb, MrsSleeb, Lori and w00dz was super fun.
I'm enjoyong getting to know everyone in person! Looking forward to
seeing everyone tomorrow!

Now, to find our way south to Olympia for the night.
--mobilepnut

Flight on a C-200, arrival in SEA!

2006-11-03T15:50:00.000-06:00

Cool pic of the prop outside the window, complimentary wine and beer,
plus tasty chips and salsa. Horizon Air reminds me of how airlines
should be. Our flight attendant was extremely friendly and helpful, a 40
min flight warranted snacks and a couple complimentary adult beverage
choices, I had a wonderful Merlot. The ladies at the check in desk were
also super nice with helping us change our seats. Oh yah, the flight was
fun on top of that, small planes rule! Heehee I'm also slightly tipsy
since the attendant refilled my complimentary wine glass and I had to
down it before we started our descent. Hah!
--mobilepnut

Portland Airport!

2006-11-03T14:11:00.000-06:00

We have arrived in Portland and its rainy and misty. I don't care
though, cause its not cold!!

Here is a picture of us pulling into the gate, Tim getting ready to
deboard, the lovely bathroom stall, me with my Horizon Air/Alaskan Air
boarding pass, the puddle jumper we will ride for just under an hour,
and a treat I bought at a local coffee chain called Coffee People (which
is soon to be bought by Starbucks, poor local chain!)

Okee off to SEA!!
--mobilepnut

MSP-SEA First Leg

2006-11-03T09:14:00.000-06:00

We're in the BACK of the bus, that's okay its quieter back here! I've
got my SK, my iPod with a National Wildlife show, and aJane mag! Time
for me to sign off for now!

See ya soon Portland ans SEA
--mobilepnut

McCormick & Schmick's - Mpls, MN

2006-11-03T08:29:00.000-06:00

I ate some y ummy seared Ahi Tuna served with cucumber salad and kappa
maki. My friend Seng has the Tiger Shrimp Linguine. We both were
impressed with the quality and presentation of our meals (especially
mine, I felt like I was in a Japanese Restaurant!). Yum!
--mobilepnut

Devil's Lake, WI - Fall Group Camping

2006-10-29T19:57:00.000-06:00

We just came home from our annual fall group camping trip. This year we drove about 4 hours east to Baraboo, WI to camp in Devil's Lake State Park. We had a total of 15 campers, 13 people and two dogs :). Some came from as far as Duluth and Chicago! It was so great to see everyone all together, I really wish occasions like this would happen more often, but we all have such busy lives!! I miss seeing Naomi and Ryan, they are getting married, woohoo!! They brought their sweetie pie dog Biggins who loves to rough house with Jon and Kim's "brother" dog Loki.

The campground was beautiful. Devil's Lake was formed during/after the ice age from the glaciers entering and then pulling out of the area. The slag left behind a varied terrain; tumbling rock, high, steep ridges, old lakebeds and valleys of trees. We climbed up and up and up to the lookout point, it was beautiful, we could see down to the valley where the camping was and all the way to Devil's Lake, very cool. We hiked for about 3 hours!!!!

Tim and I packed lighter than usual, but more efficiently food and clothing wise. It worked out well, we didn't have a ton to put away and finish off when we got home, but everyone ate well. Especially for breakfast on Sunday morning, we all brought breakfast foods and Mike's roomate Erik (or Eric, not sure!),cooked up made to order scrambeled eggs. We had lots of his good chef skills popping up during the trip, thanks Erik/Eric!

Yay Halloween at my desk!

2006-10-26T15:28:00.000-05:00

Punkin carving kit for this weekend, candy corns in a jack o' lantern
and Peeps!
--mobilepnut

Parker!11

2006-10-22T20:32:00.000-05:00

My sister's adorable as all hell puppy. He can do tricks like is you
point at him and say "bang bang" he rolls over and plays dead. He also
likes to bark at other dogs but only when separated by a window.
--mobilepnut

Afton Apples - Hastings, MN

2006-10-08T13:07:00.000-05:00

Took a hayride, picked Regent and Honey Gold apples, watched a cider
press, pet some barnyard friends.

Only $2 admission and that includes everything listed above plus a
playground and jumping in hay bales. Obviously, we paid for the apples
we took home. $14 for a 10 lb bag of Honey Gold, that's a lot of
apples, people!

They also serve up cider, apple fritters, apple doughnuts, apple cider
floats, and apple brats at the concession area.

Get there early before it is overrun with families after noon.
--mobilepnut

Kitties!!

2006-10-07T18:34:00.000-05:00

Mama kitty and three of her sweet as pie little ones. Sooo cute and
wittle bitty! Mew!
--mobilepnut

Drivin Home the w00dzmobile

2006-10-06T21:09:00.000-05:00

Today, since w00dz was kind enough to take in my Honda for me, I drove
the truck. Man, until I got the seat adjustment right, its hard to
reach the pedals and/or hit them without getting a leg cramp!
I like being high up, with a V6 and in a bigger vehicle, but I missed my
Honda's easy handling and fabulous acoustics!
--mobilepnut

Everest on Grand- St Paul, MN

2006-09-29T20:11:00.000-05:00

Yummy Nepalese and Tibetan food. We had Yak Momo, Jackfruit curry, and
Chicken curry. Small place, friendly staff, fast service, kept our
water full and table clean.
--mobilepnut

Downtown Mpls

2006-09-28T08:02:00.000-05:00

....as I approach Franklin Ave Station Northbound on the LRT.
--mobilepnut

Vietnam Restautant - Woodbury, MN

2006-09-21T21:13:00.000-05:00

Fresh spring rolls with shrimp, mint, cilantro, rice noodles, the works
basically with yummy peanut sauce. Also had a bowl of Hu Tieu, which
Tim called a liquid spring roll, heehee. I finished it and I'm sooooo
full.
This restaurant has won a Best of Twin Cities. But please, do not
judge it by the lunch buffet and specials. This is a place where u want
to sit down and order something unique and non-americanized. Although
they have chow mein, egg foo young, and battered dishes for people who
have been brainwashed into thinking that is what Vietnamese dishes are
all about, w00dz says the Sesame Chicken rocks, he orders it basically
every visit. I believe we've been about once a month for the last 3
years, if not more. Oh yah, they have Bubble Tea, too!!!!
--mobilepnut

Green rain hat and my drive home

2006-09-21T19:00:00.000-05:00

Slick roads = congestion. Rain = Pnut in her green hat
--mobilepnut

Broker's Bash @Fine Line, Mpls

2006-09-19T07:56:00.000-05:00

Fine Line has Sailor Jerry's now, yum!! Played a mini golf game, enjoyed
a buffet, won a couple things from the silent auction and enjoyed the
band Who Nu. Fun night!!
--mobilepnut

Yay Color and a Haircut!!!

2006-09-16T14:59:00.000-05:00

Two pics before, you can see my roots and my hair has a lot of blonde. One pic during and two pics after. I had red and red-brown highlights done and some long pretty layers cut, going shorter in the back to longer in the front. Still growing my hair longer though!!

On my way to work!

2006-09-15T07:24:00.000-05:00

Great mood today, its Friday! Driving to work listening to BBC Newspod
on my iPod. Happy Friday!
--mobilepnut

Computer time, Kitties, Bed early

2006-09-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

Hanging out in bed, watching TiVoed episodes of Big Brother All Stars. Just collecting my thoughts, going through email, and catching up on blogs and galleries before I got bed EARLY.

I've done alot this last month, busy every weekend in August, wrapping it all up with 11 days in Rollag, MN at the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion (WMSTR), where we are pretty much completely disconnected from the rest of the planet, its nice. Its a good time to reflect on what's really important once we get home, what did we survive and live happily without while we were in a camper, what did I miss before I got home, what are the necessities.

I'm not going to make a big list here, cause life is not a list of items, its a life. But, I can say that I missed Isis, she's my little meow kitty baby, I missed my friends that weren't at the show, I missed having a variety of healthy foods and heh, I missed nice ammenities like a private and clean bathroom ;)

I realize that for most of our lives that we have to work to live, and its very important to make the most of our worklife seeing as we do spend the majority of our adult life working. I have learned that work can be good, it can make me feel good about myself, it can make me achieve new things and be acknowledged for my efforts and bring up my status in the work place, which thus raises self esteem and possibly income, which improves my *life* which is good :)

Umm, whoops, made it into a long post!! Now, reflect on my kitties and my laptop, here in bed, and have a good night.

Me in truck

2006-07-07T14:43:00.000-05:00

That's me! Sitting in the passenger seat of Tim's truck. We were driving up to Rollag to open up the camper, get some pre-show work done, and hang out with Mike and Sarah.

Now, its actually September, and its after the actual WMSTR show, but I'm just now getting to fixing my mobile blogging. But now that I've got this going, I'll probably post alot more, since I can take pictures and talk about them, vs. feeling like I have to cover everything that I missed since the last post, which usually only had occured once a month, so yay, this should be fun :)

Merry Meredith Month of May

2006-05-31T19:25:00.000-05:00

So, now I'm 29 years old. As my mom said, "enjoy the last year of your 2nd decade", thanks mom, love you, too.

Seriously though, how things change. When I was 19 I was in college, in my first long term relationship (1 1/2 yrs total), living at my parents house after not doing so well at an out of state college, and working at the Breadsmith. Life was fun, life is still fun, but also different. I now own my 2nd home...yes, in 10 years I've gone through two home purchases and a home sale, what's that all about, its like I'm 40?? I've met the man I would marry and I've gotten married. I didn't even KNOW this man when I was 19, how crazy is that? I've lost 40 lbs, I've gained some back and learned to lose most of it again a smarter and healthier way the 2nd time around (still workin' on it, but I've learned that deadlines can lead to sabotage, so we've dropped those).

I've gone from knowing practically nothing about the stock market, finance, customer service to being in my 2nd licensed trader position. Oh here's a good one, I've gone from not giving a crap about what I look like and loafing around in jeans and oversized flannel shirts to being a picky clothing addict with a HUGE closet full of clothes and still nothing to wear (or that I can make my mind up on).

Heehee, here's the best part, I've gone from living the landlocked life for the most part to joining a yacht club! Okay, we don't have the huge boat yet, but hubby grew up with this club that his parents have been members of for quite a few years now and I've grown to love it and we just wanted to be active participants, screw not being able to afford a big boat yet, we'll just have to get around in our little jet boat and hope his parents keep inviting us on their boat for beach events for a few more years! I wonder if I write a little ditty about myself 10 years from now I'll be on my 2nd boat (get it like I'm on my 2nd house now?)

This month I attended my cousin's graduation from Boston University School of Law, I am so proud of him!

I had many birthday lunches and dinners with friends, some of them still on schedule for this week and next week! Yep, more than a month of birthday meals, I guess that means I do have alot of friends that care, I think back when I was 19 I would have disagreed with that statement. I had friends, but not as many as I do now, that is so nice.

I attended the home opener of our local baseball farm league team the St. Paul Saints. There was a 2 hour rain delay in the middle, we saw 2 innings in 2 1/2 hours, heehee, it was good times with my friends though. Need to go to more of those games.

I went to the ZOO, I think in the last 10 years I haven't been to the zoo, woowoo, gotta go at least once a decade I guess!!!!

Hubby and I also threw a big party, it was mostly him though, he's so awesome at organizing parties and getting everyone together. We all had a blast, everyone had a blast. It was our New Bar/Mer's Bday/BBQ party. Tim grilled lots of goodies all night, our bar was stocked by friends, lots of drinks flowed, I got a few birthday treats and lots of happy birthday wishes, and Tim's beautifully built bar in our Entertainment/Living Room is finally finished it even has running water!

Our Memorial weekend was made up of that Zoo trip, our party, and spending lots of quality time with our favorite couple Chad and Leah Hadler. Oh how we love them, they are good friends, never a dull momment. Leah treated me to a movie on Sunday (DaVinci Code) and our hubbys went golfin' good for them in the 90+ degree weather, suckas! HEEHEE :) We all had good times. Lots of BBQ, some SPRING ROLLS, and time to relax.

I hope my 29th year will find me more enlightened about life, driven towards my goals, and happier than ever. I'm not worried, I think its alllll gooood.

Aaah April!!

2006-04-17T21:44:00.000-05:00

Whoopee!!! Its warm!!! Yeah, I know it can fluctuate this time of year, but I'll enjoy the 70s while I can!

The last few weeks have been busy, its the nicer weather getting out of winter build up!

At the beginning of March Chad and Leah came up from Rochester to visit, we spent an evening with Steven and Jenny and we finished off the weekend with a fun NASCAR race party with a few friends.

Tim and I visited Duluth sort of on a whim because we couldn't find much exciting or different to do on St. Patty's Day so we called up Rob and Emily to see if they'd be around and we hung out all weekend! The Holiday Inn was a really nice hotel, we had a beautiful lake view up on the 15th floor! Wireless Internet in the room, too. Rob and Emily showed us some places to visit that we hadn't been to before, new restaurants and bars, too. I had some really yummy beer called Flat Tire (not the widely distributed Fat Tire, this is different and way yummy, too bad its only in Superior, WI). We also went to the Train Depot, my mom says I've been there, but I was little and I don't remember. But, I'm sure I had a good time then just like I did this time.

A couple weeks ago we went back to Duluth for the Brewfest where I got to sample Fat Tire AGAIN, I was pretty happy! I also had some lambic which is a fruit based beer and it was super good, cherry flavored. It was a weekend with alot of beer, pizza, and a late night with boys acting like they were in junior high, oh well!

Spring Rolls!

2006-03-12T19:16:00.000-06:00

Spring rolls!

Tim and I made spring rolls at home for the first time on Sunday night! They were so good. Tim stir fryed up some pork, onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, and green onions that I threw together. I chopped up cilantro, mint, carrots, and lettuce. Mmmmm, learned how to do this from my fabulous friend Seng!

Spring is coming!

2006-03-08T21:12:00.000-06:00

Like my new profile picture? Thought I'd update a little!! Its a picture from the Commodore's Ball and I'm enjoying a lovely Cosmopolitan.

Tim and I have lots of events filling up our calendars, aaah to get out of the winter doldrums!! I celebrated a 44 degree day today by wearing a skirt to work!! Yes, I wore a sweater, but I hate it when my legs are cold and it was warm enough today that my legs wouldn't freeze! WooWoo!

A few weeks ago my friend Mike (pictured with me) was kind enough to have a "Pnut Party". "Pnut" has been my nickname for online chats for years, and that's what some of my friends call me. Anyways a bunch of folks went out to River Falls and we played games, checked out Mike's cool train set and got to see people that we haven't connected with for awhile. I love nights like that.

Yuck I have a double chin in this picture, bad angle!

See Timmy with his beer pint? Yay for having lots of friends that like beer and computer programming? Big Smiles!

The other day my friend Seng (has a couple pictures on here) taught me how to make spring rolls. So now I have my own peanut sauce and eggroll wrappers and I'm ready to go whenever I want to grab fresh ingredients and start choppin! Tim is excited for them, too.

Starting this week my job has 1 hour of mandatory overtime per week, if you want to do more you can, I don't know if I have it in me though. Because of tax season we've been getting tons of calls, one right after another, plus my throat is getting sore. Bleh.

This weekend looks like we'll be doing taxes, cause every weekend after this we've got something to do! So that'll be good motivation for me to just get them durned things done, heck, at least we get money back.

Oh, and I will finally be done with all this molar mumbo jumbo next week. Oooh the pain and the final result is a shiny porcelain crown to the tune of $400. Started off with a regular dentist appointment and a tooth that hurts a little, it was a old cavity that got a new cavity under it! Had to drill that out and refill it, the refill didn't work, I was in agony taking Tylenol or Advil every 4 hours, max dose! Ended up needing a root canal, and it STILL hurt, turns out another little root was missed I had one of those hidden ones, ooh man digging that out KILLED I tell ya! But then I was finally FREEE of pain FREEEEE of aches..able to talk and not take codeine. Then I had to wait and wait and wait and wait because I got a new job and needed new insurance to kick in to get my crown fitting...so finally after 3 months, I have a tooth with NO nerves and a nice new crown next week. Yay exciting.

We had a few people over last weekend, it was a nice laid back time. We are breaking in our bar, haven't had an official "bar warming" party yet, which will be next month when our friends from Canada fly down. We've had a few people over since the bar was done..here's a link to the pictures of it:
http://tsd.onlinegalleries.net/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=17324

Tim has worked so hard, its fabulous!!! Everyone who has come over has stopped short at the bar, I can't wait to have a big party!

February Already?

2006-02-20T08:57:00.001-06:00

My new job is going really well. I've had a few calls scored already and have seen a big improvement in my scores. They scored some calls in my 1st week of taking calls by myself, of course they wouldn't be very good! But by week 2, I was doing well :) I scored a 94 out of 100, so I read through those comments in detail, tried to pinpoint exactly where to improve and I hope to earn a 100 in the near future. We get little cash incentives for 100s!! :)

I love the folks I work with. We have low cubes at about shoulder height when sitting. Its nice to be able to turn around and ask a question or have a little chat with my team members. Its also very helpful for new employees that may need some tips here and there.

My commute is an hour half driving/half riding the train,but I listen to my new wireless headphones from hubby, a lovely Valentine's Day gift, or I read my oodles of magazines thanks to Christmas gift subscriptions to Self and Fitness. Oh, and of course my Jane magazines that I've been reading for years!

Tim has finished the bar in our living room, its SO NICE!! Its weird how different the whole room looks now that it has a wet bar vs. a storage closet with a curtain in front of it. I'm so proud of him and lucky to have such a handy, creative husband. We've served up quite a few drinks even though we haven't officially had our bar-warming party yet, that'll be next month.

For Valentine's Day Tim and I stayed in. We watched some DVDs and he made us steak, baked potatoes, and ceasar salads. What a nice hubby, no computers or telephone calls all night <3 <3

Oh! This month I learned how to play blackjack at a casino table, thanks to my good friend Seng! I didn't win, but if I keep practicing and put more time into it I'm sure I'll come out a winner. She takes more gambling chances than I do though, so I'll probably never win as much as her!! That was a fun weekend, girls at the casino a couple weeks ago.

I've been a shopping fiend the last couple of weeks, too. This is good and bad because I feel updated and fresh and fun, but I also feel poor, hah! I did get very good deals from clearance racks at Ann Taylor and I cute felt hat for $1.97 from the GAP!! Seng bought one, too.

This most recent weekend Leah came up to visit, her hubby Chad joined us later. But, Leah and I hit up Nordstrom's Clinique counter and I bought some fresh spring colors for my eyes, I needed a change. Leah is my makeup and fashion consultant and she helped me sort out how to put it on correctly once we got home. Its hard to remember everything the makeup lady tells you! I think it looks really pretty, I need a couple extra things like some powder to *set* my look, but its on order! Thanks Leah!!

When Chad and Tim joined us at the end of the day Saturday we headed over to our friends' Steven and Jenny's home. They had a little housewarming gathering, the live an HOUR away from us. Steven is Chad's bro, so a little family visit, too. That was a fun night, got to play with their kitten, love that little spazmo named Puck!

I bought tickets for the upcoming Kenny Chesney concert as well as for a Train concert. I'm looking forward to those, they were expensive though. We'll probably be selling the KC tickets on the concert day though, we normally get some tickets with Tim's family once the concert gets closer, since Tim's cousin is part of the band, nice little family perk :)

I'm going to come back and throw in some pictures from the weekend once I get them all loaded up, so stay tuned!

Whew!!!! Holidays are Ovah!! New job, too!!!

2006-01-08T21:24:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

Before the December holidays even came to pass, right after Thanksgiving I went on a bunch of job interviews, accepted a job offer, went to Tim's cousin Howard's wedding, and started a new job the Monday before Christmas! Yowza! Oh, and Tim got a new job and has started there, too!

Let's just go in order:

New Job: I love it love it love it, stayed within the brokerage industry, but I now work in downtown Minneapolis vs. downtown St. Paul. My coworkers are all so cheery and satisfied with their jobs for the most part, its very refreshing change of scene. I am about to start my last week of training, yes its a 3-4 week training program, which is fabulous because it makes me feel really sure of what I'm about to start doing. I'll be back to taking calls and placing unsolicited trades. There is so much opportunity at this company to move around laterally and move your way up, so I'm excited. Plus, employees are considered of HUGE importance, so the benefits, appreciation, opportunities to grow at work and in the community, and the compensation are amazing.

Tim's cousin Howard's wedding: A lovely evening starting with an intimate ceremony in the Como Park Conservatory, they included a presentation of a family medallion to Del's son, welcoming him to the Boyd family, it was so sweet! The reception was in 3Ms Tartan Park, a super yummy buffet some fun antics from Duane and an entertaining photo/music presentation put together by Del.

Christmas:

Lots of running around but it was such a good time seeing friends and family, if only we all had enough time to spend more time together, busy busy! Appetizers and gift exchange in White Bear Lake in Scott and Heidi Boyd's home on Christmas Eve, then later dinner and gifts in my parents home with mom, dad, Jess, and Tom. We got up on Christmas morning to head out to Stillwater to spend time with Craig and Janelle (Tim's parents), then up to Anoka for the traditional huge gathering in Tim's grandma's home, lots of fun as usual!!!

Monthly Karoake night:

Oops, stayed up til 2am, had to go to work on Friday morning after 3 hours of sleep on the 30th. Had soooooo much fun, sang a few songs, stayed til bar close, whoops! There were so many people at the bar that the wait between songs was long and we wanted to sing all our requests, so we stayed!

New Years Eve:
FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN!!!! Got to spend the evening down in Rochester with Chad and Leah. We went to The Redwood Room for dinner, which was preceded by a 1 1/2 hour wait, but who cares, we had drinks and lots to talk about!! Dinner was super yummy then we hit up another bar for a drink. Back to the Hadler's condo where we chatted and waited for the ball to drop, everyone had to keep waking me up, I was tiiiiired! I would have been able to stay up later, but see the karoake night description above, I was still recovering the lack of sleep. But, New Year's day I was WIIIIIDE awake, I could hardly fall asleep at 2am on the 2nd..oh well, one day too late for being wide awake.

Thanksgiving Review - A little late

2005-12-07T16:17:00.000-06:00

Tim and I hosted thanksgiving for the first time this year. We were so excited to have the family come to our home, now that we have a home everyone can fit in! We invited my parents, Tim's parents, my sister and her husband, my grandma was still in town, and a very good family friend. So, dinner for 10 and its the first dinner we've served to a group that hasn't been a party buffet style.

Of course Tim and I didn't cook everything, it was fun to have everyone bring some dishes and have a little flavor from everyone's home! We cooked the turkey, rolls, a green bean casserole, plain stuffing, and GARLIC mashed potaotes! My dad was happy to see the green bean casserole as my mom never featured it in our thanksgivings and Tom came back for a couple helpings!! Tim and I put a twist on the traditional potatoes with fresh garlic! They were a hit.

Planning for dinner was a little bit nerve-wracking, getting everything timed right and of course it was inevitable that something wouldn't cooperate, ahem mr. turkey! It took an extra hour practically!!

We fit everyone at the table with an extra card table, mom was thoughtful to bring two tablecloths! :)

Jessica and Tom brought a salad with lots of cheese and dressing options and a HUGE pumpkin pie, Jeanne brought another HUGE apple pie, Tim's parents brought yummy green jello salad, sweet potatoes, and some homemade chex mix, my parents brought French Silk pie, cranberry sauce, and my mom's stuffing. We had very little leftover turkey, but lots of leftover pie. I was excited to have leftover sweet potatoes all to myself!

The gathering was definitely a fun experience and I think I got the hang of it towards the end, it was so wonderful to have everyone here.

Halloween

2005-11-24T22:22:00.000-06:00

On the weekend before Halloween Tim dressed up as Lumberg from Office Space and I dressed up as a girlie pirate and we went off to a local Halloween party with Seng and a couple of her friends. Seng borrowed my clown costume, she looked cute in it! We also convinved one of her friends to put on some fairy wings and get into the holiday spirit, it was sweet :)

2005 Fall Camping Trip - Gooseberry Falls

2005-11-24T21:02:00.000-06:00

This year the big group camping trip went north as we've traveled south for a couple years and our friends north of the cities deserved a break! Our friend Rob set it all up and he lives in Duluth, so its only fair! Gooseberry Falls state park is about 3 1/2 hours from my home. Its just north of Two Harbors, MN, a popular vacation spot in winter and summer for alot of Minnesotans, right on Lake Superior (just as Gooseberry Falls is).

We spent the weekend hiking around the park, enduring a rainy night, and watching Inspector Biggins and Loki having fun in the outdoors. The rainy Saturday night was interesting, we all pulled out our raingear, umbrellas, and a few bottles of moonshine and huddled around the campfire.

Tim and I had a very good time, we brought up our friend from work, Maureen, who got to know the group and got along with everyone pretty well, which is to be expected

To sum it up, we had a weekend that was chilly and a bit wet with beautiful scenery and great hiking!

My friends :)

2005-10-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

Amy and Heideh are my best friends from high school. We got together on Friday, October 7th to celebrate Heideh's upcoming birthday on the 10th and to catch up! Heideh is in her last year of medical school, yaaay, and we really miss her since most of the time for the last 4 years she hasn't been in MN due to school. Amy and I want to go to her graduation, so we've got in on our calendars!

Amy and Heideh came over to see my new home, which they really loved, I'm glad they like it! Then, we went to the American Motorsports Bar and Grill where we all had yummy food and were able to sit and chat, they had really good service and super nice people there.

After dinner we found a Starbuck's that was open late, woohoo, it was after 9pm by then. We went in for some coffee and treats, then we took our pictures and gave Heideh some lovely birthday presents :)

I love seeing them, we can always pick up where we left off, we really know each other that well, even if time and distance separates us and we don't see eachother as much as we'd like to......we reconnect in minutes, I love that. I love my friends, these two and all the rest, friends are so essential, people who care because of how our lives at one point intertwined to make us buddy up.

I feel like what I'm typing sounds sorta doofy, but oh well, its the best way to say it.

My Sister is a Wife!!

2005-10-02T20:30:00.000-05:00

So! My sister married Tom this weekend! I'm so happy for her, Tom is a great guy, he really loves her and you can see it between them. I am proud to call him a member of my family. As a said in a toast to them last night, Jessica reflects the love she gets from Tom and the love she feels for him.

The whole weekend was wonderful....lots of family and friends came from coast to coast to celebrate! It was a real treat to see my mom's cousin Ernie's kids, Ira and Rachel, and of course I love to see my cousin Jaime (Jordan). The 3 of us are thinking of planning an all cousins trip to Las Vegas...of course we'll fill in Jessica when there's time to talk to her, we started making these plans this weekend and she was all over the place of course! :)

Everyone I talked to loved the hotel, the ceremony, the reception and all the chances to get together with family and friends at my parents' house. Jessica was a beautiful bride in her sleek and elegant gown and poor Tom was a handsome groom but you could tell he was nervous, I'm sure it wasn't about marrying Jess, but just for the darn event and all the attention to be over!

All the traditional stuff was done the first dance and the father daughter dance which is also the mother son dance, I love that we added that in. Of course we had the most IMPORTANT dance of the night, the Horah!!

Tim and I were planning to drive back and forth from home and Edina all weekend, which we did on Thursday after the rehearsal dinner and on Friday after the open house. But, on Saturday evening, after dinner once the dancing started, Tim was sneaky and booked us a room. Oh man, the Sofitel is nice, the bed was sooo comfy it was called a featherbed and it had a down comforter and lots of padding on the mattress. Crawling into the comfy bed vs. driving home at the end of the night was a WELCOME treat!!! Then, only having to drive for 15 minutes to my parents' house for brunch the next morning..and being able to sleep until 10 AM!!! was even better :) I must have been tired to sleep all the way through the night for that long!

Oh! In addition to planning a cousin trip to Las Vegas, I think Tim and I need to go to Boston, I have TONS of reasons to go and visit now. My dad's cousin Eric lives there with his wife Debbie, they live in Cambridge which is where MIT is, I've never been there. Plus, of course, my cousin Jaime lives there and this is his last year of law school, and he says once he graduates he'll be BUSY but now, since he's a student, he has lots of free time, heehee. He's a good student, so don't worry about him! Plus, I know a couple other girls who live in Boston proper as well as in surrounding states (they are pretty close together on the East coast!). So it would be a good trip.

I hope that Jessica and Tom have arrived in Hawaii safely and that they have started off their honeymoon with beautiful vistas and warm greetings. I hope they have lots of stories to share when they come back, too. I'm so excited for them, not just for the trip, but for the rest of their lives!

Backpacking! St. Croix State Park

2005-09-26T20:14:00.000-05:00

Tim and I went backpacking with our friend Mike this weekend at St. Croix State Park. It was our first camping trip with a hike in in camp site. We drove out to the Trail Center of SCSP and then hiked in 5 miles. Tim and I weighed our packs before we left, mine was 36 lbs and his was 43 lbs. We basically had the clothes on our backs, some clean socks, underwear, and a change of clothes. I carried most of the food and Tim carried the heavier gear aka our tent, cookset, MSR stove. We both also had our sleeping mats, camp pillows, sleeping bags, and rainjackets :) Oh yeah, and Tim had our water filter, which we were able to use for the 1st time on Saturday in the St. Croix river! Sorta neat :) We haven't died yet, so it musta worked :)

We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at our campsite...there was a nice stack of firewood, and two well maintained Adirondak shelters. They had three solid walls and a front side with screened doors and windows...also wooden bunks up off the ground. We didn't need to set up our tents because the weather was warm enough (albeit still chilly), that the buildings were enough protection from the elements.

We had a picnic bench and a fire pit, we used the fire to burn garbage, for heat, and basic entertainment, we cooked our food with the stove. Tim and I had Uncle Ben's Rice, Backpacker's Pantry meals, Summer Sausage, trail mix, and granola bars to eat...Mike shared some of his yummy apples and foccacia bread with us, too.

The trails were sorta boring, they're more suited for horseback riders, ATVs, snowmobiles, etc...wide, but plain. We did see horses quite a few times during the weekend. On Saturday evening before dinner we were visited by 3 ATVers...they were surpised to see us, didn't think anyone would be out there...they had come in from private land, since the part of the path we were on does not allow ATVs, I think they were afraid we would report them. As if, heh, we would have had to hike at least 5 miles to tell anyone!! :) They gave Mike and Tim beer though, sorta cool.

It didn't rain on us until Saturday night, but its when we were sleepin' so that's okay. The sky was thick with mist and sprinkles when we hiked out on Sunday morning, so it was nice to get back to the truck and put dry and clean clothes back on.

All in all, the weekend was a good learning experience for what I can carry and how far is tolerable, and what is intolerable but you can keep moving, heheh. Man, drinking water all weekend makes you really enjoy coffee and a Diet Coke when you get back to civilization :) I love it!

Housewarming Party!

2005-09-19T22:03:00.000-05:00

I was so busy the whole night with fun, friends, singing, eating, and drinking that I didn't take any pictures! However, we did have the videocamera out and some nice folks thought to record a few karoake songs! Yes, karoake!!!! My kickass friend Brian brought over his hard drive, set it up with Tim's sound board, our TVs, and a few microphones, and anyone who wanted to indulge is some singing, dancing, and general craziness and a whole evening of opportunities to do so! Brian has a huge music library and we sang everything from Buttercup to 1999 and from Zoot Suit Riot to Closer...seriously!

Hannah, my good friend from high school whom I've recently reconnected with, and I sang some oldies but goodies together that we used to sing way back when...yeah Closer and I Like Big Butts are oldies? They are in our book! We screamed our little heads off just like we did in the car 10+ years ago. Holy crap, it's been 10 years since high school, hah...I don't feel like I look older, and when I see my high school friends I feel like we're still the same, too..is it cause we're not 30 yet?

Tim was the ultimate host with the most...he mixed margaritas, mingled with everyone, sang some karoake, shared his homebrewed beers, AND previous to the party he was basically 100% in charge of cleaning up the house, preparing food, and setting up decorations....this is his big deal, I just ask how I can help here and there. I believe this will become an annual thing, its our 3rd one so far :) 1st at our Cottage Grove home, though.

I'm not sure what else to say, all of our guests were really enjoyable, everyone seemed to like our house, which is a nice plus...maybe they'll come back for more, less huge, gatherings!

It's getting late and I'm a tired kitty....time for some magazine relaxation :)

Michele's Baby Shower

2005-09-11T09:11:00.000-05:00

Yesteray I hosted baby shower for my fabulous friend Michele and her hubby Rene. They are expecting a little princess to be named Heather, I am so so excited for her! It'll be her 2nd baby, she currently has two kids her own son Justin and her step-daughter Emma.

We had about 13 guests here and my living room was full, it would have been really full if everyone could have come that we had invited! I laid out a spread of healthy snacks and some not-so-light snacks, plus an adorable cake with pink baby booties!

I had a fun time planning and decorating my house, plus it gave Tim and I the kick in the pants we needed to finally do some last cleaning and organizing touches through out the house.

Michele received a wonderful treasure trove of pink clothing, toys, and accessories, her little princess will be all SET. One of the guests, my manager and Michele's previous manager, Ann, was thoughtful enough to include several phases of clothing from newborn through 18 months! That's Ann, always thoughtful and planning ahead!

We even played a couple games; guess what's in the bag (it had baby products in it) and "steal" where you pass around dice and collect white elephant type prizes. Thank you so much to Michele's Aunt Pauline for bringing door prizes and all the prizes for our games!

More pictures of the shower are in my gallery under "Friendly Gatherings": http://msd.onlinegalleries.net

Rollag August 26th - September 6th

2005-09-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

I've been back for a half week of work so far and man, even though the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion makes you sweaty, tired, achy, and wheezy....man its so FUN to be there! The picture shown is of the biggest mobile steam engine on the grounds, the 353 engine. It takes showground visitors on a ride around the main showgrounds...if you were to walk the track you'd probably walk a mile plus. The total showgrounds are 50 acres, which includes the visitor and worker camping.

Tim and I were at the showgrounds a whole week ahead of time this year. We started out staying in our friend's popup 1972 Palomino camper, but we decided a change was needed this year and so we purchased a 27 foot 1984 Mallard camper/trailer, which we'll leave on the grounds in our camping spot until we have the ability to tow it around ourselves.

The highlights of what I helped do this year were:
1) I learned to make Bread and Butter pickles with Stan Grothe, who is a very good friend of ours at the show, he sent me home with a jar, too!

2) I painted one of the showground bathrooms, the new walls, a nice, oil based white, which will be permanently on one of my tshirts. I could only remove the paint by slathering my hands in degreaser as no paint thinner was on the grounds, mmmm I smelled good.

3) We bought the new trailer which has lots more room for us and our friends, plus more cooking and food storage options, next year I'm bringing SALAD and FRUIT, I feel like a bloated flabborama from 11 days of mac 'n cheese and PB&J

4) I got to know other regular workers in our campground better, its nice to make new friends! It also gave me the opportunity to learn about what everyone else does on the grounds, the steam engines they run, or how they volunteer, or the crafts they make, etc.

5) I had Culver's for the 1st and 2nd time on our trips up and down from the grounds (which are about half an hour east of Fargo/Moorhead)

WMSTR is one of the biggest steam shows all around and they feature a different type of engine or brand name every year....I highly recommend a trip out there, their website is: http://www.rollag.com

If you wanna see more of my show pictures, including ones of our new trailer that we camp in (heehee, that just sounds so wrong), go here: http://msd.onlinegalleries.net/main.php/view/out/Rollag2005/

USBI Service Advantage Talent Show

2005-08-25T21:29:00.000-05:00

I promised my friend Beckie, who also blogs here and is currently in Japan, that I'd do a quick update of the talent show that my coworkers and I participated in. Beckie used to work on my floor and we miss her!

There were four groups in the talent show, three from my floor.

There was the Wholesalers group,who sang the 5 Service Advantage tenets to the tune of YMCA, singing "Young man, there's a new bank in town" yada yada. They dressed in interesting costumes, one of them was a construction worker (Eric Y), but the other 3 were definitely not traditional YMCA characters. Also participating were Jason E (the main singer of all the Service Advantage tenets), he was wearing an afro wig, Josh L dressed as a Roman I believe, but with a belt on his head, blue basketball shorts, and a belt on his head, and I think Scott E, but I'm not sure. They came in last.

There was the Inside Sales group, who sang their song to the tune of "Come Mr. Tallyman" as they "tallied" the 5 Service Advantage tenets, it was very amusing, they ended up winning second place!! One of the lines in their song was, "1 sale, 2 sale, 3 sale LUNCH!" and upon saying "Lunch" Ann S held an empty bottle of Meyer's Rum to her mouth.

There was the Reorg group, they did a FABULOUS job. The three girls rapped to the tune of "Rapper's Delight" their message was clear, lots of audience appeal. They ended up winning. But their original score was TIED with Inside Sales..and they had to do a second song, Improv, along with Inside Sales, and that was the clincher, they sang about Service Advantage and one of the girls was a beat box! This beat out Inside Sales Improv to the tune of "I like big butts" which was VERY entertaining.

Finally, there was the Client Support/Sales Support group, made up of Mo L, Maria T, Karl B, Chuck C, and me!! Maria was a last minute addition because LaTonya called in sick. WUSS! Anyways...we all had tshirts, each with one Service Advantage tenet on it...and our initials (we fixed up LaTonya's for Maria with some white out and black permanent pen, it worked well!).

We sang, a capella to the tune of "I wish I were an Oscar Mayer weiner"....Mo and I wrote the song, we wrote the moves, I directed our ONLY rehearsal (can't take people off the phones to practice!). We actually came in 1 point below the two tied groups (Inside Sales and Reorg). Not too shabby! Everyone enjoyed our performance..here are a few pictures of the group:

Beer Makin

2005-08-24T19:05:00.000-05:00

Tim siphoning almost complete beer
Mike assisting and sharing his expertise

Party! Party! Party!

2005-08-23T19:49:00.000-05:00

This weekend was my sister's bachelorette party. I had such a good time, I am so happy that I was included and could keep Jess's new friends and see how her old friends were doing. The bridesmaids did a fabulous job of planning, decorating, getting all organized in order for Jessica to have a total blast, which she did!

I actually stayed out later than she did! She headed back to the hotel with her friends around midnight and I danced until bar close, which amazed me. I think that because I had a relaxing night Friday night, and a fun day downtown by myself on Saturday...I was ready to rock 'n roll by Saturday night. Plus, I knew that I was within walking distance of my bed at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Mpls. We went to The Annex, Its Brothers, and the bar where my sister likes to hang out Harvey's. That's where I rounded out the night with her friends Brie and Emily W, we danced our PANTS off.

So, this is the final countown, we are down to the line....we are within 6 weeks of my sister's wedding...woohoo! Here comes the crazy ride. Oooh..this also means about 7 weeks until my 1st Wedding Anniversary, awesome, I'm looking forward to celebrating that, too!!! I love my Timmy!

Aah Seng...Happy Birthday

2005-08-19T09:35:00.000-05:00

Seng and Michele messing around for the camera during Seng's birthday dinner at Babalu....

Home again..for a little while

2005-08-17T20:55:00.000-05:00

Landed back in Minnesota last night at 10:30pm CST...waited for our luggage, drove home...didn't get to bed til after midnight. Got up for work at 6am OUCH! After being on vacation for 4 days, on pacific time, getting lots of sleep in time...it hurt to get up this morning. I had quite a bit of caffiene today, and I had to take a walk during the afternoon just to wake myself up, I was literally falling asleep trying to work at my desk..not fun.

The kitties are happy that Tim and I are home, and we'll be here...til Friday the 26th, then we'll be gone again til the day after Labor Day. August, which seems like it should be a slow, boring month of hot weather and general laziness...is always incredibly busy for Tim and I. Going on vacations at the beginning of the month with family and then going out of town to the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion (WMSTR) in Rollag, MN for, what seems like, the whole last half of the month.

During this time that we're home, yeah, we should be relaxing, but nope, we're gonna have lots of fun. We have friend's birthday dinners, a wedding for Tim to go to, my sister's shower and bachelorette party. Tim going on an outing with my dad and my future brother in law to a baseball game (they're excited for a boys night out). Having our ducts cleaned, upholstery washed, lawn to mow (probably twice), cars to get their maintenance...all has to get done before we leave town where nobody can reach us, well except by cell phone if the weather is clear and the cows are having a good day ;)

In the time next week and a half that I'm home I need to plan for my friend's baby shower that I'm holding for her the Saturday after I return from Rollag. So I'd like to have those plans sorta laid out cause when I come back I'll be tired and it'll be hard to think of good ideas..so my mind is plugging away at that now.

My days of having my Sidekick, huge arse phone, are officially over. A good friend of mine bought my used one. It was a great tool, but too big for my taste after 2 years of using the Sidekick 1 and then the Sidekick 2, I opted for a Motorola RAZR, which with a Tmobile Web package and Unlimited Messaging package, costs me less per month than the Sidekick service and I still get all the services that I mainly used on the SK. Some of them were going to waste on the SK, so it became pointless for me to have the HUGE phone and the HUGE bill. So now I've got my little RAZR which tells me when I have email, I can check it if I want to, I can AIM my friends, take pictures and movies, and send them all over the place, its fun and it fits in my darned pocket!!

Oh hey, before I forget, wanted to say I love Widgets and my new Tiger OS for my Mac... :) The updgrade, though $$, has been worth it, got rid of some of the annoying glitches that I was dealing with, and more of my toys work seamlessly, like the bluetooth internet with my RAZR.

Nope, I'm not getting paid to talk about any of this stuff, but I'm so proud of the stuff I have because I think about what I'm going to buy and use forever and I get all happy when I finally make a decision and get something, I just wanna talk about it! Yay for my pointless blog :)

Wanna see some more Anacortes, WA pictures? I'll post some here, but if you wanna see ALL of them, just go to my photo gallery: http://msd.onlinegalleries.net/main.php/view/out/anaco0805/

Here are some of my favs that I haven't already posted below:

The Hotel We stayed in

View of a few islands from Mt. Erie 1300 feet up

My parents on the Deception Pass beach

Tom, Jess, Mom, Dad, and Tim at Red Robin in Burlington

Across from Deception Pass Bridge

A cool boat in LaConner

Fog rising off Fidalgo Island in the morning seen from the ferry dock

The day clears up as our ferry boat plowed on

Scenes of Anacortes

2005-08-15T08:29:00.000-05:00

View from Mt Erie

The first picture is from the top of Mt. Erie, we drove up, its a quick jaunt actually from Anacortes. We drove up I think 1300 feet. It was beautiful up there, we could look all around and see the islands surrounding Fidalgo Island (which is where Anacortes is located). The picture I took has Lake Campbell right in the middle.

The second picture is a tug boat, probably waiting for orders of where to go next, tied up to a dead end pier. We can't walk down it and the folks on the tug can't come up it, because its in serious disrepair. But the tug is cool! We went on an early morning walk on Tommy Thompson walking path, yes it was established by the same Tommy Thompson who was the governor of Wisconsin! Heehee..pretty fun.

We made it!

2005-08-13T09:58:00.000-05:00

Tim and I arrived in Seattle last night and found out that my sister and her fiancee, Tom would be very delayed. My parents picked us up from the airport, the original plan was for Tim and I to wait at the airport for Tom and Jess and we'd all rent a car together to drive to Olympia. It turns out that Tom and Jess's flight which was supposed to leave Minneapolis at 7pm actually left at 12:55 AM! They flew into Seattle in the middle of the night last night and chose to stay in a hotel (don't blame them!) and we'd meet them on our trek up to the San Juan Islands today (Saturday) since its on the way.

I took a couple pics with my phone of the beautiful view out of the guest room window of all places, here in Olympia. its looking out over the bay through my grandparents' back yard.

Havin Fun

2005-08-10T22:36:00.000-05:00

Last night my very good friend Mo shacked up with Tim and I, for a fun diversion from the normal day to day, middle of the week blahs. We hung out on the deck, enjoyed the nice weather and the tiki lights. Timmy and Mo had a few beers and I guzzled my diet coke. We started the evening with YUMMY Papa Murphy's pizza. Half meat for Tim and half veggies for Mo and I (which we didn't even finish!). I also made a yummy salad. Aaah, we topped off our night by watching an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel Air, mainly because Tim wanted to sing the theme song.

We decided to toast our friend Beckie, who is living in Japan for a year, we miss you Beckie! Here's our toast:

My kitty

2005-08-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

Isis getting a popcorn treat

Hi

2005-08-05T07:03:00.000-05:00

Me! Taken with my new phone!

What a great way to celebrate

2005-07-31T22:05:00.000-05:00

This weekend Tim and I drove to Rock Island, IL...its part of the Quad Cities which consist of Rock Island, IL, Moline, IL, Bettendorf, IA, and Davenport, IA. The main event of the trip was the wedding of our friends Chad and Leah, I am so happy for them, they are a fabulous couple that are a wonderful match for eachother and I will always treasure their friendship.

We drove down on Thursday night, 6 1/2 hours, lots of construction and an accident, so it took extra time. I got in lots of reading of my Harry Potter book, time to read emails on my Sidekick, and chatting/singing time with Tim! We called and instant messaged with other friends also driving down that evening.

Chad and Leah, even though it was late when we arrived, met us at our hotel on Thursday night and showed us around "The District" which is the part of town that is closed to cars on Thur-Sat nights and has lots of bars, dancing, restraunts, and the brewery where they held the rehearsal dinner "Blue Cat Brewery" named after a catfish! Tim tried 4 kinds of beer there.

We also had multiple martinis and fabulously concocted drinks at a martini bar across the road, two nights in a row :)

On Friday night, after the rehearsal dinner, there was a live DJ who crooned along with everything from Frank Sinatra and Neil Diamond to YMCA!! Chad and Leah even stayed up late on the night before their wedding and partied with friends, family, and the wedding party!

I learned alot about the history of the Quad Cities and we saw the John Deere Museum, Butterworth Center (wedding photos there), and had ice cream on the last day from the infamous "Whitey's".

I think one of the best parts of the weekend aside from the wedding which went smoothly, with lots of smiles, tears of joy, well thought out and touching words from family, and fun.....

......was getting to know Chad's brother Steven and his wife Jenny. We mainly hung out with them and have lots of smiling photos and shared drinks. I hope the 4 of us can get together more often, they live quite close to us!

Always when I'm leaving town lately.....

2005-07-28T06:49:00.000-05:00

My cat Isis' bladder infection came back. I know, what a lovely thing to start a blog with. She has had two in her life...one last Christmas...right before we had to start going around to family member's houses...and then this one, which started 3 days before we moved, and apparently didn't go away :( But yet again, I'm about to leave town!

Hubby and I are going to our friend's wedding, its now Thursday, we'll be gone til Sunday night. I know its her bladder because she's spotting and licking...eew! So right now she's shut up in the basement, with poor Shorty, since they both need access to the litter boxes and food. From past experience, when she has a bladder infection, she takes Clavamox and has to be given the medicine 2x a day for a week. Well..I can't put it off and not take her to the vet til Monday, that's cruel, it hurts kitties as much as it hurts people to have a bladder infection. So, even though my schedule at work has no vacation left on it, I'm staying home half the day to bring kitty to the vet and hopefully they have room to board her, too. They did the last time.

The reason I can't just find a vet, then go directly to work, is because hubby and I are leaving, in one car, right after work, to go to Rock Island, Ill for the wedding of our very good friends Chad and Leah. That is about a 6 hour drive. I can't leave my car at the parking garage at work all weekend, so Tim is going to come home on his lunch break and pick me up so I can work a half day. Then, I will beg my boss to let me use sick time vs. vacation. I have more sick time left, I do not have vacation, its all allocated to trips that I have things like airline tickets for, so I can't just dig into those plans and take less days. It would have been nice to use sick time for *me* but, eh.

At least I have some extra time this morning to pack and clean up, since I don't need 4 hours just to get the cat a vet appointment and get her boarded. So right after I'm done here, its packing time.

My kitties are meowing and scratching at the door downstairs...poor babies, nothing I can do right now though :(

So, gotta get this vet fiasco done with, then hopefully have an awesome weekend with my friends at a nice hotel!

Good Friends Rock

2005-07-24T02:35:00.000-05:00

Friday night was my friend Hannah's bachelorette party. Hannah is one of my very good friends from my highschool main circle of friends. I got to know her in junior year, and in senior year we drove to school together until some dingus crashed into my car while it was PARKED. Ugh, yay a senior that had to ride the bus to school. At least my parents let me borrow one of their cars after school and on weekends, just not enough cars to go around for me to leave one in the parking lot at school all day anymore.

Anyways...Hannah's bachelorette party was so much fun, it was hosted by another of my best friends from highschool, Amy. I think the reason the night out was such a good time is because Amy and Hannah are the kind of friends that even if you haven't seen them for MONTHS or in the case of Hannah, almost a year, everything just falls right back into the way it was. We just flow together, that's how we all became good friends in highschool and that's why it'll stay that way.

I'm sharing a picture that includes Hannah, Amy, and I in it. See, we're having a blast! :) It was so fun celebrating Hannah's future with her fiancee Jay, and reminiscing about the past, too.

Hannah, a new friend Becky, Amy, and I

Me and Hannah with some bachelor party doood tryin' to mack on us

Amy and Hannah

Congrats Hannah!

Greets

2005-07-21T20:01:00.000-05:00

If you read my profile, you saw that I'm a worry wart and I like to have a plan for what is going to happen, it just puts me at ease, I'm able to let loose once I know what's going on...does that make sense? Tonight the plan is to just relax...aaaaah.....

But as I type this my husband is telling me that he used his GPS mapping software to figure out a different way, than the main route to drive to our friend's wedding next weekend, 300 miles away, gee I'm excited for the drive, heehee, I already gave hubby 20 questions about how he knows the route will work, if there are lots of bathrooms and quick restaurants like on the regular highway, he assured me there are and we'll be fine and it'll be faster. (oh, hubby and I talk on Instant Messaging, he's in the basement office and I'm in the living room)

Tonight is the first night when I've had the opportunity to just relax in our new house, we just moved in on Tuesday, the 12th of July, yep 9 days ago. When I say *we* I'm referring to Tim, my hubby since October 9th, my two kitties Shorty and Isis, my two ferrets Scooter and Moose, and my two parakeets Limon and Paco (they looove each other).

Hubby made dinner, yummy tacos, the healthy kind, he grilled up some chicken breasts and we use low fat/low carb whole wheat tortillas, light cheese, lean sour cream, but that's us, we like to eat light and healthy!

I'm finally catching up on TiVo, watched "Bad Girls Guide" and now I'm watching, "The Inside". Catching up on shows that are in reruns that I missed during the regular season since I have so many shows to watch on those long, dark winter nights of fall/winter.

I want to thank my friend Beckie for leading me over here, she never actually said we should blog here, but after reading hers and seeing some others, I like it here!

I think my cat farted.