Uncommon Life, Uncommon Joy

New Blog!

2012-01-19T12:41:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone,

Long time no see!

I have good news though... I have decided to jump back in to blogging-but with a new twist.
My amazing soldier and I recently got engaged and have decided to blog through our entire wedding planning process.

If you would like to still follow me and read about our most recent adventures please visit us at:

http://hakdesignswedding.blogspot.com/

Happy Thursday everyone!

Going Private

2011-07-31T15:19:00.002-05:00

Hello All!!

I know it has been a very long time since I have posted. I've had a lot to post about but am having trouble deciding what to post on a public forum.

So, I've decided to make my blog private.

If you're thinking that you would like to still read about my life and we've built some sort of a bloggy friend relationship I'd love to still have you follow my blog!

Let me know in the comments of this post and I'll add you to my list of approved readers. I'm planning to change it to private by next week!

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend :)

All Over Again

2011-03-23T14:11:00.005-05:00

Here we are, less than a week from Brother's date to leave for basic training and it feels like doing everything all over again. He has a (newer) girlfriend who is finishing up her last year of high school, kind of like I was when my soldier left for basic training. My Mom is getting stressed out just like my soldier's Mom did, and my Mom did when my soldier left. Brother's been saying goodbyes to his friends for a week or so now as they are home for spring break. Thankfully we have been through it before, we know he is going off to do great things, and we know we'll all be okay, it will just be different.

His girlfriend sent me a text message the other day asking if we could get coffee after he leaves to talk about what to expect and how to deal with everything since I had been through it before. I of course said yes, and am pretty excited to be able to help someone else navigate military world from this perspective!

And a little fun bit, here is a picture from last week on St. Patrick's Day:

The five of us were very close in high school and don't see nearly as much of one another as we would like, so a night with all of us in one place at one time to celebrate and drink some green beer was great!

My spring break is this week so I've just been working a lot, spending some time with friends, running, and counting down the days until I visit my soldier (less than a month from now!). I haven't slowed down any, but it sure is nice to not think about school for a few days.

Happy Spring (it's officially here!)

Do you have any exciting Spring Break season plans?

And We Caved

2011-03-16T10:47:00.004-05:00

My soldier has been at his new Army "home" for only a few weeks and already we have caved and bought me a plane ticket to go visit him. Almost every conversation we have had since he arrived there has included some form of "I wish you were here with me". Oh what I would give to be there instead of here.

You wouldn't guess that we have gone up to 8 months without seeing one another during deployment, but here we are three weeks away from one another and I have a seat on a plane in about a month to visit for a few days on a break from school.

And I am SO excited!

It's not just that we still have multiple feet of snow on the ground here in the Midwest and there is no snow there, but that we will get a few days to just ourselves for the first time since Arizona last year. Don't get me wrong, we have time by ourselves at home every now and again, but the nature of still living with/near family and being around family and friends all the time is that we hardly get just "us time". We love all of these people, but just needing to worry about the two of us is kind of nice sometimes.

Between now and then I have two nasty midterm exams on Thursday (who gives a midterm on St.Patrick's Day?!) and then spring break! Also between now and the West Coast trip my not-so little-anymore brother leaves for Air Force basic training. He can't wait, and my Mom is starting to panic a little. Needless to say, I should have plenty to post about in the next month!

Happy Wednesday to you all!

I Love Them, and We Were Jazz Dancers!

2011-03-03T23:20:00.010-06:00

I have amazing friends. I know everyone feels that way, but I have been feeling especially blessed by my relationships with my friends lately.

I have a group of girls that I have been friends with for a long time. Two of the girls I went to elementary school with, and the third and I became very close early on in high school.

I also have been blessed to have stayed in touch with a number of people from my youth group growing up, from school, and from work that I still see on a regular basis and completely appreciate time with.

The group of us have had all kinds of crazy adventures from river floating to nights out. We've also had some less fun times where we have supported one another through family deaths and illness and when they became an important part of my deployment support system.

I love these girls and would love to share some photos with you of our creative and glamorous Halloween of last year (since I failed to blog for a VERY long time last year...oops).

After changing our minds about 12 times we decided to be Jazz Dancers when friend KK found the awesome suspenders:

We had glitter and sequin on everything.
Our tights, our suspenders, our gloves, our hats, and our bow ties.

We were basically a walking parade through the bar.
No one knew what we were without asking, but they all liked whatever we were very much!

(My sister completed our group that night)

We even had glitter in and on our eyelashes. I had glitter in my car for weeks after that night, and may even still have some specks of it here and there. It was a very fun night and gave us lots more memories and pictures to look back on.

So here is to you ladies, for making every time we're together priceless. Love you!

Etsy Launch!

2011-02-26T20:04:00.006-06:00

My sister and I have been working on launching our Etsy site and business for the last couple of months. We have both been creating things for years and using them personally to give as gifts to friends or family and usually upon the giving of the card/gift/etc. have been told, "You should sell these!" So now we are! We had our first sale and are officially Hak Designs.

If you have a minute or two over the weekend you should check out what we have in stock : )

The link for our website is here: http://www.hakdesigns.etsy.com

And here is a small sample of some of what we love to create:

Have a great weekend!

Snowmageddon 2.0

2011-02-21T11:13:00.003-06:00

Last week in the Midwest it was really, really nice. We're talking 40-50 degrees, sun, snow melting, people wearing t-shirts and flip-flops (yes, we're that crazy) nice.

Then it all came crashing down yesterday when we got snowmageddon 2.0. I think so far we have 13 or so inches and it is predicted to snow into tomorrow morning. It's not as bad as snowmageddon 1.o with the 18 inches we got in one snow that happened in November, but a lot of snow none the less.

The plows didn't even start plowing until about eight hours into the snow. Which equals some serious driving adventures. My school, along with most schools in the state are closed for the day. Yay snow day! So I'll spend the day writing a paper, clearing off my car and the driveway, and working. Snow days were so much more cool when we were 8.

Anyway... one of my best girlfriends is in Texas for the week on a semi-impromptu vacation so I shot this video message to send her as a warning of what she gets to come home to. She sent back, "Ahhhhhhhh!" Haha, Enjoy!

Happy Monday to you all! If you live in the Midwest, happy shoveling. If you don't, be happy you won't be shoveling all day : )

Day of Love Recap!

2011-02-15T23:28:00.004-06:00

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

This year for Valentine's Day we celebrated one day early on Sunday. The two of us got dressed up and went to Kincaid's for dinner. We were probably the youngest couple there, but the atmosphere was really intimate and the service was very good.

{All dressed up}

He had white wine and blackened ahi tuna. I had a raspberry mojito and sirloin chateau with a side of au gratin potatoes. For dessert we split crème brûlée with strawberries and whipped cream. Yum!

We spent the whole weekend laughing and having fun, truly cherishing our last week together for a while. The rest of this week we have preparing and packing to get him all set for his next adventure.

And I'm trying to make school even somewhat important this week so I don't get behind, I'll get into a reading/writing routine next week.

Mostly, I wish I could go with him. But, I have less than a year of school left and then we'll see where we end up in this great country of ours. For now we have to walk on our separate paths until they meet again.

So, here we go! On to tackle the next chapter of our story. More updates of course to come.

Wisdom Tooth Words of Wisdom?

2011-02-11T10:19:00.000-06:00

My boy had all four of his wisdom teeth pulled this week. Being as much of an expert as possible, as I had mine out last April (you can read more about that adventure here and here), I volunteered to be his driver/care taker for the day.

The surgery went very well, no trouble at all the Dr. said.
After he woke up he was a riot. The nurse was very entertained by him. He entirely denies everything he said, and thinks I made it all up. I'm still giggling about it today.

We got him home and he wanted nothing to do with resting at all. When I had mine out I was a drugged up mess for two days and then still pretty woozy. He was all about being productive and doing things all day. Jello and pudding have been his best food friends, but he's very glad to be eating real food again.

We may even be able to eat out for Valentine's Day without him having to be tortured by the real food as he eats mush.

Does anyone have a good tooth extraction story?

p.s. We got our Girl Scout Cookies yesterday!! More boxes then we probably need of Thin Mints and Samoas. Mmmm!

Boots A-Plenty and Snow Football

2011-02-06T13:08:00.007-06:00

I can't believe it is February already. Yet, here we are.

Last week I started Winter/Spring Semester back at school. I rock boots every day to class, whether it's my actual winter boots, my tall leather (wear only with skinny jeans or leggings) boots, the cowboy boots, or my awesome rain boots. Getting to wear boots 24/7 makes winter so much more fun. I mean just look at these...

(source)
{Sure beats wet pants!}

It seems like my classes will be pretty interesting, just a lot of reading. I had over 100 pages assigned before the first day of class...welcome to Senior year I guess. It's been interesting trying to focus on comparative government and communication theory reading when my soldier leaves for about a year in just two weeks, but I'm making it work.

January was full of adventures, as always. There were some crazy nights out with friends, birthday celebrations, lots and lots of work, snow football games and more.

Funny story... at our annual snow football game my boy lost his car keys. In the snow.
We ended up getting his car towed to his house (thanks AAA!), and borrowing a metal detector from a friend to sweep the field. We didn't find them. Thankfully, his friend found the set he had lost two weeks earlier and he can drive his car again. It looks like we'll be visiting said field again in the spring to search in the mud :) He had never lost a set of keys before this whole ordeal, and probably never will again, ha!

Here are some snow football shots:

{All geared up for some snow football}

When you live in a part of the country where there is snow on the ground on average 5-6 months of the year, you make the best of it. Plus, snow football is extremely fun and extremely good exercise. Running in 2+ feet of snow is more difficult that it sounds.

{snow on the camera lens action shot!}

Happy Super Bowl Sunday to you all, enjoy those ads and the game too!

Starting Fresh!

2011-01-22T20:47:00.004-06:00

It's a new year, and I'm starting fresh. I'm going to put being the worst blogger ever the last three months behind me and go with it!

So, hey there. How is everyone?

There are all kinds of big things on the horizon for the coming month(s).

Brother enlisted in the Air Force last fall and FINALLY got a ship date. He leaves in late March for basic and can not wait to start his Air Force adventure. The family is also very excited for him.

My soldier is waiting on orders to start a training that is a little over a year long on the West Coast. He is excited, and happy for the opportunity. It'll be another Army adventure for us to tackle, and thankfully he'll be somewhere warm again that isn't the middle east!

I'm one week away from starting my last year of college! I have two semesters (and two small summer classes) between me and freedom from school! Good thing, because I'm tired of giving them money.

Lastly, just today I registered online for a 15K road race in upstate NY. Many of my family members on my Dad's side have run this race at some point, and I feel like it's my duty as a family member and a runner to finish this race. More on that later!

Well, it's good to be back!

Did We Have Snow, or What?!

2010-11-18T11:58:00.008-06:00

Last weekend we had our first snow of the winter, and man did we have snow. In 24 hours we got about 10 inches of heavy, wet, tree branch breaking snow. It was awful to drive in, and sad for the trees, but so beautiful! There is something about the first snow, especially when it's that much snow, that gets people in the holiday spirit. While many were moaning and groaning about winter, I was getting my snow pants on to go play in the white fluff with my puppy! I sure do fit in a state that truly has all four seasons. I've often wondered how kids who live in states where there is no snow and no real winter feel about learning the seasons in school.

Anyway, here are some snap shots from our big white storm:

[see.. lots of snow]

[Look's like Christmas, huh?]

[The backyard, absolutely covered!]

This means that Thanksgiving, skiing, Christmas, sledding, cookie baking, and warm winter drinks are just around the corner! Yea winter!

Happy Thursday to you!

Veterans Day Honors

2010-11-11T14:09:00.005-06:00

I have determined that I am the worst blogger at being consistent. But I'm going to keep trying.

Today is Veterans Day, and I figured it was a good day to come back to bloggy world to honor my own soldier and every other military member past and present.

[Basic Training Graduation]

Both of my grandfathers served in the Air Force, by boyfriend has been serving in the Army, and my brother just enlisted in the Air Force this fall following in our grandfather's foot steps.

I feel so blessed today to live in a country where so many individuals and their families have put their own lives on the line to ensure our country stays free. Thank you to all the veterans, today we honor you.

More to come on what I've been up to lately!

Last Minute Arizona Trip!

2010-09-15T21:08:00.008-05:00

17 days since my last post... This is getting out of hand! I have had "update blog" on my to to list every day for the past week, and finally got around to it tonight. Oh well, I'm working on it.

Since my last post all kinds of things have gone on, but this post is going to be dedicated to my trip to the Southwest. My soldier is doing some training in AZ and this just happened to be the first time since he has been a soldier that I have been able to join him while he's been on duty. We were both very excited! I got home from the New York family trip and booked the AZ ticket that night.

I was able to visit over Labor Day weekend, which worked out perfectly because he had all day Monday off.

I arrived on Thursday night after some interesting flights and we got home and went to bed since he had to be up early Friday morning to work. I hung out at the house reading while he was working, and considered going for a run but decided against it seeing as I had no idea where I was or how to get back to the house in the day light. That night we spent time with some of his classmates, which was lots of fun!

We spent a lot of the weekend just lounging and watching movies, which may sound lame. But, it was really relaxing and we laughed a lot. We went to Target almost every day to get either food or other things we needed, and cooked an impressive dinner Saturday night.

[Cooking dinner together]

Sunday we visited the Wild West town of Tombstone, AZ where they were having a big event all weekend with an 1800's fashion show in addition to all the regular gun fight reenactments. I'll talk more about Tombstone in a separate post.

[Us with the town Marshals]

My favorite thing about Arizona, hands down, was the mountains. They are in every direction you look and they are different every day depending on the weather. I'm sure Herman got tired of me talking about them every time we were in the car, but they really were captivating.

Monday came far to quickly and I had to pack up and fly back to the Midwest and he had to go back to work. We were able to spend most of the day together since my flight left at 10:30 pm. (I will be avoiding red eye flights from now on whenever possible.) Two days after I got home it was back to school and back to reality. But, I get my soldier back next week!

I hope everyone is having an amazing week!

5K Race: Completed!

2010-08-29T11:42:00.009-05:00

Yesterday morning my two best girl friends and I ran a 5K that I had been waiting for and training for all summer! This wasn't the first 5K I've run, but it is my favorite.

The Minnesota Military Appreciation Fund is a non-profit in the twin-cites that supports military members and their families, and has supported my soldier and I. So we wanted to give back.

The night before we could not sleep. Friend KK and I laid awake until 3 a.m. when we finally fell asleep. The alarm went off at 6:45 a.m. and we were up and going.

The race was at Harriet Island down town, and the weather was perfect. Sunny and 74 degrees with low humidity when the race started, and the course was mostly in the shade.

There were hundreds of people there out supporting our troops and their families. Everywhere we looked there were people carrying American flags.

We all finished in well under 29 minutes which was better than our goal time. I even won basketball tickets in the drawing after the race.

It definitely made me want to run another 5K very soon, so I'm in the hunt for one in September to run!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Sprinting the Finish!

Our Mom's even came out to cheer us on!

More from the NY trip and about the upcoming AZ trip coming up this week.

Happy Sunday!

I'm Home!

2010-08-22T11:40:00.004-05:00

I'm home from New York, well I've been home since Wednesday. But, I've been busy adjusting to non-vacation world, ha!

The trip was amazing, truly a vacation. We didn't have to think too hard at all during the trip and spent gobs of quality time with the whole family creating memories.

I'll post more about specific adventures later, but wanted to check in.

Here are just two snap-shots of our time at my grandparent's farm:

There was a full day of intense volleyball games.

All the NY cousins posing for a picture during a volleyball break.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, I sure enjoyed catching up on all your posts that I missed while away. Be back in the next week to share more vacay stories!

Hair Chopped and Running News

2010-08-08T09:55:00.006-05:00

Hi, I'm still here. Just really struggling to post consistently.

Since my last post I:

-got frustrated with my long locks and had my stylist chop off 5.5 inches of my hair. It feels awesome. I'm still figuring out how to make it do everything I want it too, but overall it's much better. I haven't had my hair this 'short' in about four years, Ah!

Before:

After:

-started working on the essay portion of my final for my less than awesome summer class. I keep telling myself it's four more credits closer to graduation. Today I'll submit it and have three weeks of ACTUAL summer vacation.

-have written up my packing list and started organizing clothes for my trip to New York on Tuesday. I'm super excited (so excited I almost forgot to put the 'x' in excited just now)! My Dad's whole side of the family lives on the East Coast, and they are all making the trip to my grandparent's house to hang out with us for a week. I'll certainly have more about that trip when I get home.

-am coming to terms with the fact that the military is again taking my soldier away, but this time it's only for 5 weeks, well actually 6 weeks. My return and his departure overlap a bit, so the NY trip makes it 6 weeks that I won't see him. It'll be okay though, we always manage and are closer after he returns.

-have had some AMAZING 3+ mile runs getting ready for a 5K I'm running at the end of the month. I have started helping my sister train so she can run it too. It's a military appreciation 5K, which is a more than worthy cause, and an excuse to see all of our military friends. Just this morning I cut 3 more minutes off of my training time, Yay!

That's all I've got for now, so Happy Sunday everyone!
I hope you all had a great weekend!

Back Again, Hopefully for Good!

2010-07-26T16:55:00.007-05:00

Hi. I'm still alive.

I'm finding it very difficult to be consistent with posting in the summer, which seems backwards because in theory I should have more time to put towards this in the summer? Oh well.

I'm back. At least trying to be back.

So what have I been up to you ask? (Or I imagine you asking, ha!)

Pictures seem like the best way to update you all!

We were able to see lots of fireworks together this 4th of July, and it was perfect.

I've been to a number of movies outdoors with my best girlfriends, and the weather has been so great for it. We bring our puppies and sit on blankets eating popcorn. Yea summer!

My super soccer fan and I watched every World Cup game possible cheering for Germany. Cheers to them for getting 3rd place!

Floating down the river is a summer highlight. We've never captured pictures of it until this summer though for fear that our cameras would take a swim and die. But, we got brave and got some fun river floating pictures!

The main reason I've been away is that between my very fast paced and intense summer class and working lots to put together an awesome summer program for the kids at work I've just not had that much down time. But the summer class is done next week and I'm going to make an effort to really be back. I have kept up with all of your blogs however and love reading about your current adventures!

Happy Monday!

Happy Daddy Day!

2010-06-20T17:34:00.005-05:00

Happy Father's Day...

to my irreplaceable Dad! You have been an amazing influence and blessing in my life and I continue to learn so many important things from you. I'm excited for all the adventures life has in store for us that are yet to come. I love you forever!

[flying co-captain with Dad]

[Minor League baseball game]

Today we were able to go car shopping, get coffee, and just hang out. It was great.
I hope all the other Dad's out there have a great Father's Day too!

I Have a Confession to Make...

2010-06-12T15:17:00.003-05:00

I'm kind of obsessed with wedding videos. The kind that people pay a ton of money for. Where they hire a videographer with lots of cameras to capture every precious and amazing moment of their wedding day. Most of the videographers have blogs and post their recent work... and I love it. My best friends and I have watched all of the videos on this blog. They are Capture Studios, and they are pretty amazing. I'm a ways away from hiring any kind of wedding anything, but I'd love to have them do my wedding when the time comes.

If you have the time you should for sure check out their work.

I also love everything to do with weddings. I love going to them, helping plan them, watching TV shows about them... you get the point.. This may change when I'm actually in a wedding (next fall is the first wedding I'm actually in), but we'll see.

So that's all. I just needed to confess.
Does anyone else share this obsession?

Happy weekend everyone!!

p.s. Did anyone else watch the USA vs. England World Cup game today? Intense! We are loving us some World Cup in our part of the world! More posts to come on that I'm sure.

Back from Bloggy Hiatus

2010-06-06T14:52:00.007-05:00

Woah it's been a while. I'm still here, promise!

School ended, summer began, school has started again, summer work schedule has kicked in... it's been a little crazy folks. But I'm going to make a better effort to be more consistent on here... I even have a list of things I need to blog about so I don't forget about them a year from now.

My soldier is currently at his 2 weeks of AT for the military (which is kind of a joke because he's basically been active duty for the last two and a half years..but who's counting?)

And I so wish he could come home just one day early so we could participate in the 2010 Patriot Ride here in Minnesota! It's an annual motorcycle run that pulls in about 2,000 bike participants every year and supports the Minnesota Military Appreciation Fund. We personally appreciate their support and really like what they do for soldiers and their families and love to support them in return- but my soldier gets home just a day too late. Lame. Maybe next year... We aren't even close to being Harley/biker people. But we do enjoy riding, and even though Harley/biker people may appear kind of intimidating and scary most of them have hearts of gold, and every one that I've met has been a huge supporter of our troops. What's not to like?

Here are some pretty amazing picture from last years run. Even if you don't bike this event is pretty impressive:

[source]

Be back very soon. I hope everyone has had an amazing weekend!

Memorial Day Part 1

2010-05-29T16:46:00.003-05:00

I have a special post in mind for Monday after we attend a service that I'll share about, but I wanted everyone to see this:

It's powerful, and important. And I'm glad it was brought to my attention.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Finals Week Update

2010-05-17T10:02:00.007-05:00

I'm officially done with my Junior year of college on Thursday of this week.

I have two classes down, and two finals left to go.

I moved all of my stuff home for the summer Sunday, just to move it back out into wherever it is I'll be living in the fall (yeah, don't have that figured out yet...). I hate moving.

I turned in my keys to my suite yesterday, and will spent the rest of the day studying until soccer at night.

Basically I feel like everything is moving in fast forward and I'm just barely keeping up.

Ugh, finals you just may be the death of my sanity.

The good news is that I had A's in all of my classes going into finals week. So we'll see how the semester turns out.

Small story for you all:
Two nights ago my brother, sister, and I were hanging out in our living room when we heard this terrible screeching on the street outside. We ran out to the front of the house and saw smoke coming from the road two houses down. A lady had been driving down our hill way to fast and hit the curb in the wrong lane going around the corner. She flipped her car and skidded down the street in the wrong lane of the road. She wasn't hurt, but the police arrested her after she failed the sobriety test in front of about forty neighbors. Thankfully she didn't hit the lady who was driving up the street at the time and she didn't have any passengers. The police asked everyone there for their accounts of the crash and everyone hung out and chatted with their neighbors. It was a weird neighbor gathering of sorts. Kind of an exciting end to a Sunday night.

Wish me luck this week!
More exciting posts to come at the end of the week, I promise!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

2010-05-11T17:13:00.007-05:00

Take me out to the crowd! And, wow there were crowds.

Last Thursday my boy and I went to our first MN Twins game at their new home, outdoors. The new stadium is pretty amazing. The weather left some things to be desired but our seats just so happened to be underneath an awning and we stayed dry the entire game. Sadly, the home team lost. But we had a really good time spending the evening together watching outdoor baseball. It made me feel like summer might actually make an appearance this year. My birthday gift from him this year was a Joe Mauer All-Star Game jersey from his first year playing in the All-Star game. He recently purchased his own Twins jersey, and we were very excited to wear our new gear to the game.

Some pictures for your enjoyment:

We are definitely looking forward to the next time we can go to a game!

Happy Tuesday to you all!

Here's to you, Mom!

2010-05-10T15:07:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and I'm a day behind on the blog.

As we have done the last few years, my boy and I decided to combine our Mom's Day celebrations with collaborated efforts. We had a big BBQ and afternoon of enjoying one another with my family (brother moved home from school just in time) and his family including his Grandma. So we had three Mom's to celebrate and we had a blast.

We even had one of our first bonfires of the summer last night.

So Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommas out there, and especially to my Mom. I love you, and appreciate you so much!

A post on the Twins game, and their amazing new home field coming soon!

Crunch Time and Mega Stress

2010-05-04T11:52:00.003-05:00

Spring is great. The sun, the warm weather, the refreshing rain storms.... and then the not so great part. Finals. Everything gets really chaotic and stressful for about three weeks. And my relationships with everyone except my laptop dwindle. Lame.

It's the part of the semester when all the big projects, papers, and tests all are dropped in your lap in the same week. Not to mention I have to move everything back home in the same time frame. There are mandatory meetings, make-up tutoring times, and crazy study sessions until all hours of the night. I definitely brewed a full pot of coffee at 10:00 pm last night, and drank the entire thing. My body hates me this week.

The up side of it all is that by the middle of May I'll be done with all the craziness and settling into my summer schedule, ah summer. I'm only taking one class, which will seem like such a light load after this semester. And, all my best friends move home this week. We're going to have a fabulous summer together.

Who needs sleep anyway, right?

What are your exciting plans for summer?

Soccer Hazard

2010-04-30T10:23:00.004-05:00

It's just a fact that if you play any sport long enough you're going to get hurt doing it at one point or another. I've been playing soccer for just about two years now on a weekly basis and up until Wednesday night had not really had any injuries except a sprained ankle.

Wednesday night we were playing a pretty good team and we had the late game, 9:45 ugh.
I was playing defense and stepped in front of a guy on the other team who was about to shoot the ball. The next thing I know I'm on the ground and my whole face hurts.

I took the entire force of the ball on the right side of my face. Great. After about a minute of laying on the turf I got up and moved to the sidelines. I guess it looked pretty bad, and of course my Mom was at the game and was all concerned.

I finished playing the game and went to bed as soon as I got home. The next morning I washed my face and realized that I had bruising across my nose and my right cheek bone and that my bottom lip was really fat.

It certainly wasn't this bad:

[source]

So I'll count my blessings.

Today the bruising is down some, but my lip is still very large and I have a very sore nose. Oh well, hazard of the game. Good thing I didn't have anything glamorous to do this weekend.

Happy Friday Everyone!

Birthday Recap

2010-04-24T17:58:00.011-05:00

I'm officially 21 as of Friday. It was an amazing birthday. I had class in the morning, but then spent the afternoon with my boy and my girlfriends getting coffee and hanging out. The plan was for my boy and I to go to dinner at the same French restaurant that we went to on our anniversary in December, and then we would meet everyone else downtown to go out. So I got ready for the evening and we left for dinner. We go to the hostess stand and they lead us to our table where 16 of my family members and friends were waiting to surprise me. I had no clue that anything was going on all week, they did such a good job keeping it a secret. I was very impressed. They went all out too, there were rose petals on the tables, a huge balloon, and candles. Dinner was amazing and we all left very full.

We then coordinated cars and drivers and went downtown to a dance club where my boy had set up a spot in the VIP section for us. He made me feel very special the entire night. We danced the night away and everyone had so much fun! And I didn't get sick (I heard some very awful stories from many people about their 21st birthdays, and was kinda nervous), mission accomplished!

Now for some pictures:

[Being VERY surprised]

[The amazing Mauer jersey my boy gave me]

[Fancy dinner at Colette]

[Some of the group after dinner]

[My boy and I at the club]

[Dancing the night away]

It was a perfect 21st birthday. My boy worked very hard to make sure everything was perfect. I found out later that he had even sent out invites to everyone with all the information for the night. He spoiled me like crazy, and I felt very special. Thanks babe!

21st Birthday Week

2010-04-19T13:03:00.007-05:00

Oh my goodness it's been forever.

Okay, it's been twelve days. It just feels like forever.

This past weekend my family and I and a bunch of our friends spent some time in Kansas City, MO. The weather was great and we had a blast. We ended up eating an early dinner one night at an authentic Irish pub that was fantastic. We sat outside in the sun enjoying our meal, and had bread pudding for dessert, yum!

It is officially my 21st Birthday Week. Someone told me the older you get, the longer you celebrate.. I'm okay with that. The truth is, with as many people as I have to celebrate with and as crazy as everyone's schedules are... we just end up celebrating all week. It's an alright problem to have.

So, last night my Dad took me out for my birthday dinner date since he'll be in FL on my actual birthday. We went to a French restaurant called Salut that was amazing. We ate on the patio, had really good French food in American sized portions, and they even put two sparklers in my chocolate mousse for dessert.

Friday is the big night, and my friends are all coming home to take me out down town. Everyone got dresses to wear out, and we're all very excited.
I'll post more on that after it happens!

Even though I haven't posted in a while, I have been keeping up with all of your blogs. Promise.

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Sockets, Painting, and Orchestra

2010-04-08T22:49:00.004-05:00

Today was my second day contributing to society again after having my teeth removed last Thursday. I feel like I'm recovering super slowly, but everyone else seems to think I'm doing really well. Maybe I'm just sick of mushy foods and the feeling of stitches in my mouth, yuck. My sockets are actually healing up quickly- but I had a bad reaction to the meds they had me on and had some complications. All is good now though, and I'm glad to be back being productive. (I watched more than my share of documentaries on Netflix this past week. Entertaining and informational, but not productive. Yes, I'm a nerd.)

I didn't have class today so one of my best friends and I spent the day together. We got coffee and got to work painting her entire upper level. In the five hours we worked on it today we finished all of the color in the main areas of the house (taping, edging, and two coats of paint). We talked and laughed the entire time. It seems like it took us hardly any time at all because we were having so much fun. Her 21st birthday was this past weekend, but since partying and tooth extraction don't mix well I wasn't able to celebrate with her. So, it was good we were able to hang out all day today to make up for lost time.

Tonight my Mom invited me to see the Minnesota Orchestra play their season sampler concert with her. The conductor was very entertaining to watch and the music was great. The only not so great part was the extremely rude man sitting across the aisle from us. He only coughed at the quiet parts, shouted 'bravo!' in the middle of the pieces, hummed the songs inaccurately, and was talking very loudly the entire performance. Really? Do you not see all the hundreds of people around you that are not doing what you are...? Watch and act accordingly. It was distracting, and he received many unfriendly glares from the people around him.

All in all a busy day, and I'm sleepy to prove it.

So goodnight to you all!

p.s. 15 days til my 21st Birthday : )

Birthday Wishes

2010-04-05T16:55:00.004-05:00

Today my love turns 23 years old!

"Happy Birthday" means much more
Than have a happy day.
Within these words lie lots of things
I would like to say.
It means I love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to me,
And that I'm proud of you.

But most of all, I guess it means
That I am thinking of you
on this very special day,
Happy Birthday.
[source]

Minus 4 Teeth

2010-04-02T12:48:00.003-05:00

I got my wisdom teeth out yesterday morning.

I thought, when going in, that I was only going to have the bottom two out. I was wrong.

I was really excited when the girl checking my vitals hooked up the heart monitor and said, "You're heart rate is really low, you must be very active." It kinda made my day.

It all went really well though. Aside from no recollection of about 5 hours of my morning yesterday (I had NO idea how I made it back to the couch at home), and my lips being numb for 12 or so hours everything was pretty smooth.

I'm not very puffy yet, so that is good. And I've made friends with vicodin. And the other two prescriptions they gave me.

I'm kind of getting sick of pudding and jello though. Does anyone have any food ideas that worked for them after tooth extractions? Some friends have suggested scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes. I'll try those today.
More updates later. Back to watching movies and hanging out with the puppy dog.

I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!

More Buble

2010-03-31T23:11:00.006-05:00

The Michael Buble concert was this past weekend. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

I love him even more than before.

This was the first time I've seen him in concert, and it was everything I thought it would be and more. He is a true performer, and incredibly musically talented. And very good live.

At the end, the encore end.. after the first end... he sang to the entire 13,000 person crowd without a microphone and we could hear him perfectly. It was insane. So impressive. And I love him, did I already mention that?

He also goofed off in between songs, just relaxed and had fun with the crowd. If you get the chance to see him, definitely go. Totally worth the money.

And now for pictures:

And a video for you to enjoy of a small part of the show:

Tomorrow I get my wisdom teeth out early in the morning (uggh!), and then will be out of commission for a few days, but will update when I can. Wish me luck!

I hope everyone is having a great week!

My Medal

2010-03-24T14:56:00.006-05:00

This isn't necessarily recent business, but I felt like posting about it today to have it written down:

When my soldier returned from deployment in September he brought home all kinds of interesting 'souvenirs' of sorts from the desert. He brought home flags that had been flown over the base, a coffee mug, a combined forces flag, and other items. While helping him unpack the first week he was home he stopped me and had me close my eyes and put my hands out. He put in my hand an Iraq Campaign Medal and said, "You went through this deployment too, and this is to thank you for your support."

[source]

I didn't know what to say, but felt so special that he had thought of me through this very unique gift. I put it in a shadow box along with the dates of his deployment, a picture of us on his return, and other items related to the deployment. I have it on my desk where I see it every day. It's a reminder of everything we went through together during the separation, and how strong we are today because of it. It reminds me that we can get through everything life has in store for our future together.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Looking Ahead

2010-03-20T16:34:00.005-05:00

These past two weeks have been full of planning for the future. It has been stressful, exciting, and kinda scary all at the same time.
Some of it is really good... some of it not so much.

My sister got accepted into her school of choice this week that just happens to be located only a few blocks from my school. Guess who has a new roommate? It will be good. Our family is ready to throw lots of nice furniture and furnishings in our direction and ideally we'll rent a little house so my pooch can live with us. Yay! We're looking to find our new place and move in sometime in August.

Also around August my soldier will be spending somewhere around 9 months out of state at trainings. Lame. We're thinking I'll be able to visit and he'll have some weekends to come home.. but still. It's tough to think about being apart from him again for long periods of time.

I'm currently working on solidifying lots of hours of work this summer. I'm probably going to pick up a nanny job or two in addition to what I'm doing part time now. It's looking good so far, and as far as jobs go, hanging out with kids all summer outside isn't all bad.

Oh, and I'm trying to figure out which and how many 5K events I want to run this spring and summer and who wants to run them with me. I heart running outside.

Notice how many 'probablys', 'somewhere arounds', and 'ideallys' were in this post. Major stressful. But I know it will all work out the way it is suppose to and who doesn't love a little adventure?

Irish Wishes

2010-03-17T17:37:00.003-05:00

May you walk down life's road with a song in your heart, May you always have health and good cheer, May the luck of the Irish be with you throughout every day of the year. -Irish Blessing

Well I'm not Irish, but I love all the festivities anyway! That greeting is one I got in a card earlier this week from my Dad with a pot of gold temporary tattoo that I've been wearing all day. Yeah, I'm in college. Haha.

Tonight we have a playoff soccer game, so in lieu of going out we'll play instead. And maybe go out afterward? Who knows. Either way I made treats for Brother's birthday and to bring to the games this week that are Irish inspired: Irish Cream Truffle Fudge. It's amazing.

If you have time you should definitely try making this. Here is the recipe with my adjustments:

Ingredients:

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup Irish cream liqueur

Topping:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

4 tablespoons Irish cream liqueur

2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1.	Butter a 8x8 inch pan.
2.	In the top half of a double boiler melt the 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, 1 cup white chocolate chips and 1/4 cup butter until soft enough to stir.
3.	Stir in the confectioner's sugar and Irish cream until mixture is smooth. Place mixture in the prepared pan and lay a sheet of plastic wrap over top; press and smooth top down.
4.	In the top half of a double boiler melt remaining chocolates until soft. Remove from heat and with a fork beat in the butter and Irish cream until smooth. Spread topping over cooled fudge with a knife. If a smooth top is important place plastic wrap over the top. Refrigerate until firm, 1 to 2 hours at least. This fudge can be easily frozen.

I cut it into small 2 in. x 1 in. pieces after it had cooled because it's very rich, and smaller pieces are a bit more manageable.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!

Brother!

2010-03-15T18:40:00.004-05:00

Today is my baby brother's 19th birthday!
As my lit professor pointed out today, on the ides of March. So good thing my brother isn't named Caesar.
He was home for the weekend, since he had spring break last week. So we celebrated last night while he was still in town.

We had corned beef and cabbage for dinner ( so good! Even though we're not Irish ) and I made some yummy desserts that I'll post about separately later, because they're that yummy!

He liked all of his presents, especially his new MN Twins hoodie, that will be perfect for those outdoor games this season in the new stadium. We're excited about baseball season!

So happy 19th year of life, brother. Love you lots and lots!

Woah Busy and Dear City...

2010-03-10T23:16:00.004-06:00

Woah BUSY week!

This week so far has consisted of:
-Midterms (HOURS of studying)
-My military man away on duty (boo!)
-Soccer x 2 nights
-Meetings
-My best friends all home on spring break
-Brother home on spring break
-Volunteer tutoring

Still ahead is:
-More meetings
-A class presentation
-Hosting a reception event where I'm interning
-Going out of town for the weekend

phew- I can sleep more than 5 hours/night next week. maybe?

Half of the busy is good, so it's alright. I took a few hours today to hang out with my best friends who came to visit my sad non-spring-break self at school. We chatted, ate paninis, and laughed lots. It was a good break from the crazy.

Totally unrelated: The pot holes in my city are getting just ridiculous. They are wide and long, and they eat cars. So not cool.

Dear City,
Please fix the gaping holes the size of lakes in the roads so we can all drive safely and happily. Seriously, I think a prius was eaten by one in front of me today.
Thanks.

Has anyone else been battling pot holes lately?

Happy Women's Day!

2010-03-07T21:27:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow in many Russian-influenced countries people celebrate Women's Day. It's like a cross between Mothers Day and Valentine's Day. So my family headed over to my boy's Grandma's house to be festive. We brought flowers (yellow ones, I read on the world wide web you're suppose to give yellow flowers. Thank you internet!) and brownies. I gave his Grandma a card that I made and attempted to write in Russian in, ha! She said it looked good, but she may have just been saying that. We watched the Russian version of Dancing With the Stars and chatted in two different languages. It was a little chaotic, but a very good time. His Grandma gave me a beautiful watch, just because, that she apparently has had for some time but was waiting for the right time to give to me. It's amazing. So Happy Women's Day to all of you ladies!

The rest of the day was spent studying for midterms that are this coming week. How are we already at midterms? Wish me luck!

Olympics, Glitter, and Other Random Updates

2010-02-28T18:52:00.004-06:00

Sad U.S.A. hockey team, sad. That being said, it was a very good game.

I was a little torn during the game however, since (don't hate me) I'm a Crosby fan. In my defense he plays for the Penguins, in the U. S. every other hockey game except the Olympics...
But I did cheer for the U.S. anyway. Oh well. It was an amazing two weeks of Olympics sports. I heart the Olympics so much. I love the way the U.S. team has members from all different nationalities, and I loved how what seemed like half the U.S. team was from home sweet home Minnesota.

In other news:

-Tomorrow is March... What? Where did February go?!

-In doing some paintings this weekend just for fun, I rediscovered my love for glitter. I feel like I'm 5 again.

-I have to read Pride and Prejudice for my Lit class. So like any college student rushed through a novel that was written in the 1800's I rented the Hollywood, Kiera Knightly version this weekend and watched it, twice. Just so I have a basis for the characters and the story line so I don't get lost in the language. I know it's horrible. But I'm sure I'll like the book better than the movie, like always. P.S. I really liked the movie.

-We had a puppy play date with one of my best friends and her pooch this weekend. It was hilarious- our dogs need to socialize more.

-and lastly, oh my goodness have we had sun! It's been amazing. Everyone seems to be in very good moods- and the forecast says we have sun all week. The guy on the radio told us all to find our sunglasses. Yes sir. : )

That's all for now, time to get back to preparing presentations and papers for this week.

I hope everyone had amazing weekends!

Bible Plus Rap Equals?

2010-02-22T12:44:00.004-06:00

I haven't talked too much about my love for music in blog world, except for my Michael Buble obsession...

But, I do love music. I am one of those "I like pretty much everything" people. Which translates to I have my favorites in each genre and can appreciate the musical talent of many different styles of music from classical to rap and everything in between.

In the morning when I'm getting ready for class or the day I usually put on my ipod, or one of my many Pandora stations. This morning I for some reason NEEDED to listen to the song BedRock. Which is a little unusual for me. My boy- he listens to rap and hip hop all the time. But I tend to lean towards other genres. But something about that song is just so catchy!

So I was sitting in my theology class (the last general class I will ever take, thank goodness) and couldn't get the song out of my head. Something about "Call me Mr. Flinstone, I can make your bed rock girl" just doesn't mesh well with Genesis 1-9 bible discussions. Does that make me a sinner? haha Oh well.

Wishing everyone a great start to the week, Happy Monday!

Elly and Icicles

2010-02-19T12:52:00.005-06:00

My dog, Elly, is kind of an oddball. All dogs have their quirks- but I think she may have more than the rest. She is a very smart golden retriever, but sometimes she doesn't make a very good case for her intelligence.

Example:

She has this thing with ice. She loves to eat it. She loves snow, even though she has trouble figuring out where the snowballs go when she catches them in her mouth. Since we have had some crazy weather patterns of warm and cold very large icicles have formed on all the buildings.

These particular icicles on our back porch have started to drive Elly insane. She gets excited when she sees them, the way she gets excited about squirrels. We knock the icicles down and they break into smaller pieces. She grabs the pieces and runs back inside to chew them into ice chips which she leaves throughout the house.

We are completely encouraging the behavior by letting her bring them into the house, but it makes her so happy! Plus, they're a treat that doesn't add calories to her day-so she won't get chubby like golden retrievers often do. It's just one more plus to living in the upper mid-west, we're guaranteed icicles for at least 4 months out of the year. The puppy is a happy camper!

Is the ice thing just my pooch?

Happy Weekend everyone!

Ice Bar and Valentine's Day

2010-02-17T12:52:00.007-06:00

Life has been busy since my last post. Well, life is always kind of busy- but too busy to blog last week. Anyway...

Last Friday we went to an Ice Bar. It was so stinking cool. It was part of a city's winter festival (Because we are from MN and that is what we do. We stand outside in the snow and cold and celebrate. Most people just don't understand us.) They had a 50+ foot bar made of pure ice that was lit up. There were ice bar stools, an ice couch, live music, and we drank from glasses made of ice. (That my boy decided to eat after finishing his drink.) It was cold, but really fun. Here are some pictures:

Valentine's Day has always been pretty low-key for us. So this year we spent the day hanging out, and cooked dinner together. I was fun, and very relaxing. We don't usually do big gifts, but since this year had to make up for him being over seas last year we caved and gave presents. He got massage certificates, and I got a GPS. And that GPS is A-Mazing! We even had mini cheesecakes for dessert, it was a successful holiday.

[We did share some with our families, don't worry. We didn't eat all of these ourselves.]

By the way... Did anyone see Michael Buble on the Today Show this morning? yay Canada!
I'm loving the Olympics, but will post more about that another day!

Happy Wednesday!

Ankle and Arm Whining

2010-02-10T12:40:00.005-06:00

Warning: This may be the most whiny post I've ever written.

I have a good reason though, or two.

On Monday at soccer we won our game. Yay! The bad news is that I sprained my ankle pretty seriously. I went to the doctor yesterday to get it checked out (since it technically is a re-injury that I never took care of). They did x-rays and all that fun stuff and determined that nothing is broken, just really sore. So in a few days I start physical therapy. I'm done playing soccer until probably summer, and forget about that St. Patrick's Day 5K I was training for. So lame. ugh.

While I was at the doctor the nurse was looking at my chart, and says, "It looks like we can get you a tetanus shot today too." Like it's a good or fun thing? So I also got that yesterday. Within 30 min of getting the shot I wanted to cry every time I even twitched my arm. So between my ankle and my arm I'm basically useless today, and probably tomorrow.

I feel like I'm being a big wuss, as my boy is telling me about how in the military they go down a line of shots, and just deal with it. But it hurts so much.

So I'm going to eat extra chocolate, and read a good book tonight instead of playing soccer.

Wish me luck on the road to recovery. I hope everyone else is having much less eventful weeks in the injury department.

Confetti, Cupcakes, Football, and Futbol!

2010-02-08T15:23:00.005-06:00

The news from here is as follows:

Holy snow! It has been windy and snowy all day. And all of yesterday. And apparently it will be that way all of tomorrow. Good thing I love snow, huh?

I started getting snail mail valentine's cards from family and friends this week, and it's been amazing. Does anyone else get warm fuzzy feelings when you get snail mail that includes hearts, confetti, and treats? Or is it just me?

We had all kinds of Superbowl festivities this past weekend. There was an abundance of food, sweets, and friends. Even though it should have been our Vikings playing, it was still a good game.
I even made cupcakes. They had hearts on them:

Not exacly Superbowl-ish, but who's counting? They were cute.

Soccer (or futbol) is up and running again this week, we'll see how long it takes us to get there in this snow. Wish us luck.

Did I mention yet that we have a fully functioning sushi bar at my school this semester? What? My boy is extremely excited about it.

Have a great week everyone!

Benefit Success!

2010-02-05T15:51:00.002-06:00

The Haiti benefit was a huge success. The restaurant that hosted the event gave us a sections of the dining room and we took over. There were a number of very cool silent auction items (a police ride along, private catering, autographed merchandise, theater tickets, and restaurant gift cards to name a few) and a two hour meat raffle. The official count is not in yet, but we raised thousands of dollars for our charity and our friends, and had 150+ attendees. My faith in humanity is reinforced because of events like this. People really did care, and did some very nice things for the cause at hand.

Example: One of our soccer buddies somehow got a hold of a signed Tubby Smith basketball. He then bid $150 dollars on it to win the auction. After paying for his won items he turned around and gave the ball he had just purchased to our friend from Haiti as a gift. How stinking amazing is that?!
Yea humans!

I'm learned a lot from helping put together an event like this, and am so glad I participated. That being said, I'm so happy it's over so I can focus on school again.

Happy Friday Everyone!

Back to School, and Benefit Frenzy

2010-02-01T23:15:00.004-06:00

Today was day one of what will be my last ever Spring semester. That is exciting!

That being said, I was more tired today than I can ever remember being in school. Even more tired than when I would get up REALLY early to get ready before high school (ha- what were we thinking!?). I'm not sure why I was so sleepy, but I'm hoping tomorrow I'll have a lot more energy. I'm planning on making extra coffee.

Although it's early to make decisions about this, I think I'm going to struggle with my theology professor, and love my interpersonal comm professor. Time will tell. Good thing I don't pay to like or not like them. Ha.

In the next two days we have so much to finish for the Haiti Benefit. It's on Wednesday and we have many loose ends to tie up. I'm sure with all the people that are working so hard to make it happen that it will all be fine, but I'm used to having months to plan these kinds of things not weeks.

We did finish the bracelets though, so the first 50 donors will receive a fabulous, home-made Haiti bracelet.

Well off to bed, class comes early.

Michael and Maya

2010-01-31T18:47:00.004-06:00

I've mentioned before my Michael Buble minor obsession, and my excitement about his upcoming MN concert that I'm beyond thankful to have tickets to.

Well yesterday night he was on SNL performing and acting. It's pretty funny. You should probably go check it out on hulu ( I heart hulu, so much ).

His skit is here.

His performance is here.

Other acts that are coming to MN that I'm excited to see? Maya Angelou in the spring. It's a once in a lifetime thing to see her speak.

In other news, I spent this weekend moving my life back to school. Class starts tomorrow, wish me luck!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

5K plans!

2010-01-27T13:59:00.005-06:00

I haven't talked all that much about running on this blog, but I attempt to be a consistent runner. I ran my first 5K in October of 2008 with my best friend.

[Before My first official 5K]

Since that run I've been pretty good about running frequently whether it's at the gym in the winter (even though I dislike treadmills), or outside with my puppy Elly the other three months of the year. Since my boy has been home from deployment we have talked about running a few different 5K's. Even in the winter there are outdoor races to run in MN, which to me seems a little crazy. I can wait for the snow to melt to run around a lake thank you very much. Don't get me wrong, I love the snow. But for skiing, not running.

So we are looking at doing a St. Patrick's Day 5K (snow presence permitting) and for sure the Military Family Appreciation 5K in June. I'm very excited, and even willing to run on a treadmill to train. Playing soccer twice a week is also a good training tool, and is much more fun than a treadmill. I've been surprised how many people want to run 5K's with me, so I'll most likely always have a running buddy. Yay!

Does anyone else have 5K or other running plans coming up?

Sticking it to the Man

2010-01-25T14:57:00.003-06:00

The college textbook man that is. I know there are hundreds if not thousands of students or former students that agree with me when I say that college textbooks are the biggest rip-off/scam out there. On any given semester I spend about $500 on textbooks. I have this method where I shop around on many websites, and compare prices with the school bookstore. That being said sometimes I can only get the edition or the media bundle I need from my school. Which of course is always more expensive. At the end of every semester I spend time finding the place that will give me the most money for my textbooks that my professor may or may not have had us use. This past semester I spent $158 on my chem book, that we never used because my prof had notes and online programs we used (that also cost money. ugh.). I was able to sell it back for a whopping $55 for them to turn around and sell it again for at least $80. This is a really great set up for publishers, and a really bad deal for everyone else.

I won't just leave this as a rant though. I have some solutions:

1. Don't buy the books and likely fail the course. ( I have not tried this, nor do I recommend it.)

2. Utilize the school or county library. I was able to save almost $100 on books this semester by borrowing them from my school's library. Most schools let you have the book all semester.

3. When selling back books use a website that compares buyback prices for you to save time. You can put 'textbook buyback comparison' in the search engine to find a good site.

4. See if any of your friends at school are taking a course you have just finished. Sell them your book. It saves them money, and puts more in your pocket.

5. Apply for every scholarship possible, and use that money to buy books. Then it seems less awful when you don't get your hard earned money back come buyback time.

6. Check into renting the books. There are a few credible sites out there that allow you to borrow the book for usually half the cost you would buy it for.

I will now step off my soap box. Have a great Monday!

Tough Loss and Everyone's Home!

2010-01-24T23:13:00.006-06:00

Well us Vikings fans up here in MN had a very tough loss tonight. It was a good game, and they played their hearts out.

But, as far as the fans at our little get together we still love our Vikes. It'll be a great Superbowl and there is always next year.

In other news...

My boy and my dog went on a small trip up north to hang out in the wilderness this past week/weekend. They left Wednesday night after the most aggressive soccer game we've ever played in and just got home tonight in time for the Vikes kickoff. I did not know I could miss my pooch so much. It was crazy. I didn't sleep well without my puppy, she wasn't there to greet me at the door, and I had no one to eat the things that fell on the floor while I cooked. I did also miss my boy, haha.

So now everyone is home, and life is good!

While my boy was away I spent some fun hot tub time with girl friends, baked muffins for breakfast on Saturday, applied for scholarships for my last year of school, and hung out with our business team. Lots of fun was had!

I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Haiti Bracelets

2010-01-20T23:02:00.005-06:00

As I've mentioned before, my boy and I play co-rec soccer two nights a week. We love it and have been playing with the same group of people for about a year and a half, they're kind of like family to us now. One of our players is from Haiti. He and his wife are both American citizens, but his entire family lives in Haiti. Thankfully they made it home from a trip to Haiti the Saturday before the earthquake. His immediate family is okay, with some injuries. Some of his extended family is known to have perished or are still missing. So this evening our soccer team played a game for Haiti. Everyone who has ever played with our team was invited to come to tonight's game and we collected money for our friends. There is going to be a formal benefit in early February with a local restaurant and support from the community, so the money from tonight will go to the benefit. The benefit money will go to buy plane tickets for our friends to help their family and to grass roots charities in Haiti they have worked with. My sister and I spent last night and part of today making 'Haiti bracelets' that we gave to everyone who donated money. Our whole team wore them during the game in honor of our friend and teammate's family. It was a special night for our team. I'm excited to help plan and advocate more for the benefit and am so thankful that I have an avenue to help so close to home.

[Our Haiti bracelets in the colors of the Haitian flag]

I'm sure I'll post on this more in the future as the benefit comes together.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Strange Movie Night

2010-01-16T12:48:00.003-06:00

Last night my boy and I went to see The Book of Eli in theaters. We really liked it. It's one of those movies you have to watch for a bit to get to the good stuff, but it was good. It does have a biblical message, and we thought it was delivered very well. I guess it's getting mixed reviews, but I never really pay attention to the reviews anyway. I figure if it caught my attention, I should decide for myself how much I like it.

The movie ended and everyone started to collect their things and a guy in the row behind us started screaming at the top of his lungs about how it is not just a movie. That the message is real and Iran is marching towards us right now, NOW is the time to repent. People basically fled the theater to get away from him. I feel like he made Christians look crazy, and how effective is your yelling message if everyone is running away from you? It was very strange.

Has anyone else seen it yet? Thoughts on the movie?

Best Friend Birthday Horrah!

2010-01-12T18:19:00.004-06:00

Last week my best friend, KK, turned 21. It was on a Wednesday, so she didn't have any big plans. So my boy, my other best friend, and I all decided we were crashing her place at school and taking her out for her big day.

We took her out to eat at Granite City, where she ordered her first drink. We all ate lots of food and went back her her place for brownies and more fun.

We danced, played the Wii, sang happy birthday, and had a lot of fun. Maybe a little too much fun for a Wednesday night!

2009 In Pictures

2010-01-07T22:50:00.020-06:00

I realize I'm very behind on this, but being in FL over New Years pushed everything back.

So here is 2009 in pictures:

January:

[Playing with the puppy!]

February:

[Valentine's Day gift from my man overseas]

March:

[At a good friends baseball game at the Metrodome]

April:

[My Birthday, celebrating with friends downtown]

May:

[visiting Grandpa in FL after the semester ended]

June:

[My boy home on R & R for 2 weeks of bliss]

July:

[Flying on Father's Day with Dad]

August:

[At Sommerfest, Orchestra Hall]

[Tubing down the river with my best friends]

September:

[Deployment End]

October:

[Apple Picking at the Orchard]

November:

[Kalahari Resort, Wisconsin Dells]

December:

[Sledding, enjoying all our snow]

Pastries in 'France' and Shamu!

2010-01-05T23:47:00.009-06:00

Florida was great. Not super warm, but still great. It only got above 60 degrees one day we were there, but we still had a lot of fun and spent lots of time in the sunny cold anyway.

Our first night we had dinner with Grandpa and just relaxed.

We went to Sea World on our first full day, New Years Eve day. My boy, my sister, my brother,and I drove to Orlando and spent the day going on really impressive roller coasters and watching whale and dolphin shows. When the sun went down there was karaoke with a live band and the New Years Eve show. A big band played Sinatra music and there were even figure skaters and fireworks. It was a much warmer New Years than we would have had in MN, and we truly enjoyed each others company.

[Shamu!]

[Happy New Year!]

After Sea World we spent some time with my boy's military buddy's he hadn't seen in a while. They were so excited to see each other and we were entertained with their stories all night.
The next day we laid low and hung out with the family. We ate lots of food and played board games.

Other trip highlights were playing horseshoes, going out in downtown Orlando, and going to Epcot again. My sister and I went to Epcot in May but no one else had been. We 'visited' all the countries and even had pastries in France again. They all loved it.

This afternoon we flew home to the negative temperatures. But it's good to be home with my pooch who missed us lots.

All in all another successful trip!

Sun and Warmth!

2009-12-30T21:01:00.002-06:00

We left a frigid Minnesota this morning at 7 a.m. Which required us to be awake at 4:00 a.m.

We landed in warm and sunny Florida in the early afternoon and are beyond happy to be here!

So far we have only napped, and eaten food. But tomorrow we head out early to spend the entire day, at least 12 hours at Sea World. They do a big New Years Eve celebration with fireworks, live music, and a countdown. I haven't been to Sea World since I was very young. My boy went last year during a short break in deployment preparation. He says it's really fun. My brother and sister are coming too, so we'll have 4 people for all the rides : )

So Happy New Year to all of you!

The year 2009 in pictures is to come soon...

Christmas Time!

2009-12-28T16:33:00.007-06:00

We had a very good Christmas. Actually we had 5 very good Christmas celebrations. We were very blessed to spend time with many of our family members and friends.
It started on the 23rd with 'Friend Christmas'. We made and decorated cookies and exchanged gifts.

Christmas Eve we spent with my boy's family. We opened heaps of presents and played board games with my family and his.

That night, in a spur of the moment decision, we went sledding for the second time in the week. It was a little crazy and lots of fun.

Christmas day we spent with my boy's brother and sister in law and their kids. Christmas with a 7 year old, a 3 year old, and a 9 month old is a very different experience that with adults. I asked the 9 year old what Santa brought him and he said, "I don't know, I opened everything so fast I didn't read the tags!"

Saturday we spent with my extended family. And Sunday we were able to see family friends who were visiting from out of town.

We had lots of snow, three days straight of snow. It was white, and perfect!

Being able to spend it with my boy, was the best gift of all. Last year we were happy to talk to him on Christmas day, this year we more than made up for our separation last year!

Sledding Adventure

2009-12-22T00:15:00.007-06:00

Yesterday a small group of friends joined Herman and I to enjoy the snow and for some sledding fun. There is a really large sledding hill near where I live and we had not been in a long time. So large that at one point in the past it had a tow rope on it. We bundled up, dug our sleds out of the garage, and joined all the small kids on top of the hill.

[We were fairly warned of our assumed risks.]

[In our sledding gear]

[Sorry this is sideways. But it was too good not to include in the post, haha crazy boys! They asked a 10 year old kid on the hill to try out his jump. This was the result.]

After a number of rough wipe outs, climbing up the very large hill, and lots of fun we were all exhausted and had sore butts. Signs of a successful sledding adventure!

I hope everyone else has been able to enjoy all this fluffy white snow!

Anniversary Bliss

2009-12-20T17:04:00.007-06:00

Yesterday was an incredible anniversary.

I unfortunately had to work in the morning, but was done by early afternoon.

We had lunch together, did a little shopping, relaxed and lounged around, and finally went to dinner.

Dinner was at an amazing French restaurant called Chez Colette. It was super cozy, and the food was amazing! The staff all knew it was our anniversary and we were greeted with "Happy Anniversary!" by everyone, even the guy who poured our water! The owner cleared our plates after dinner and made sure everything was going well. We were highly impressed.

My boy had Spicy crab cakes with mango chutney, Caesar salad, Atlantic salmon in a lemon caper sauce, and vanilla creme brulee.

I had the famous french onion soup, Caesar salad, Steak frites in peppercorn sauce, and a fruit tart.

We were very full when we left.

He gifted me with a beautiful new coat (an anniversary/Christams gift) , and I gave him a photo book that I had compiled and had printed.

[LOVE my new coat!]

Being able to celebrate together was the true gift, though.
It was a very successful 5th anniversary.

Where We're at With the 'M' Word

2009-12-17T12:21:00.004-06:00

So some people are wondering about my boy and I and the 'm' word. Well here is where we're at on that whole thing...

When he got home from deployment in September he rode an hour and a half on his motorcycle (that he had only been riding about three weeks) to ask my Dad if he could marry me. He went on the day we were at the Arboretum celebrating his Mom's birthday. He told me he was watching football with his friends, and didn't want to come with us. I was upset with him, who skips their Mom's birthday to watch football? Well he wasn't actually doing that of course, and when I found out later I felt bad for being mad at him.

My Dad was glad that he wanted to ask and said yes. There were some things that needed to happen though before he could act on the 'yes' answer. First, I need to be 21 before we can get engaged. Second, I need to graduate before we can get married.

I turn 21 on April 23, 2010. I graduate from college in January of 2011, maybe December 2010 depending on what I decide to do with study abroad. So basically nothing is going to happen in the marriage department for a little while. -sigh-

In the mean time I get to help friends plan their weddings and watch Say Yes to the Dress on TLC. We have gone to look at rings, and found one we both really like. He likes to know I will love things he buys me, even at the expense of a surprise. But honestly, our engagement won't be the surprise, how he asks me will be. And I'm A-OK with that.

All that being said, apparently we already act like we're married. People tell us all the time. So maybe it will be a seamless transition for us?

Lots to Look Forward to!

2009-12-16T14:51:00.004-06:00

Well I have one final left tomorrow morning. Then I'm home free. I love J-term and the fact that I don't have to even think about school until February. Yesterday I packed up pretty much all my clothing and shoes and hauled it home for break.

Monday's championship soccer game sadly ended in a loss. We all went out to Pizza Luce to hang out afterward anyway. I brought cupcakes to share, and thankfully they were all eaten. We certainly don't need anymore sweets at home than we already have.

The good news is we have championship game number two tonight with the Wednesday crew. We're playing an undefeated team, so it should be a tough game.

Friday brother gets home from school for break, as well as all my best friends.

Saturday my boy and I are celebrating our 5 year anniversary with fancy dinner (he won't tell me where, just that I should wear a dress) and probably a movie.

So I have lots to look forward to in the next few days!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Finals--in school and soccer

2009-12-13T20:02:00.006-06:00

Well it's that time of the semester again... Finals.

I despise them, they're awful. On top of having them at all my genius of a chem prof gave us our last chapter test on Friday and our final is tomorrow. Two days later. Who does that?

So we'll see how that goes.

The good news is that it's all done by Thursday.

Then I get to move my whole life home for 6 weeks of J-term break.

Tomorrow night our soccer team has our first championship game in the year and a half we've been playing together, and Wednesday we have another one, for the other team in our 'franchise'. Both of our play off games resulted in shoot-outs after ties last week. It was very exciting, and we can't wait for the games this week!

[rocking our away jerseys over R & R]

So Excited!

2009-12-11T10:32:00.004-06:00

Guess who got tickets for the Michael Buble Crazy Love Tour this morning?

This girl!!!

I sat on the Ticket Master site for way too long refreshing the page every minute until 10 am, and it paid off.

I have been in love with his music for about four years now, and he has yet to grace the state of MN until this tour. So we dropped a whole bunch of money and have tickets for me, my boy, and our parents to go watch what I'm sure will be the best concert I've ever attended.

Now I just have to wait until March to go.

SUPER EXCITED none the less!

Please enjoy this from him...

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Snow Day

2009-12-09T14:31:00.004-06:00

Well it seems every school i the upper Midwest had a snow day except mine. I was done with class by 11 am though, so it wasn't too bad. I just have more time to study for finals now, oh joy.

We did get quite a bit of snow though, and it is BEAUTIFUL! I love snow. I don't love driving in snow, with all the crazies who somehow forget how to drive in it EVERY winter. But it makes the brown fall surroundings much prettier.

My boy on the other hand hates snow. He doesn't mind playing in it, and getting out on the slopes. But, driving in snow makes him very cranky. We were driving today and he says, "We are not living in this state any longer than we have to, I hate driving in this crap. It's cold, windy, and not safe. We're moving to Tuscon or Phoenix or somewhere like that!"

My little snow loving heart broke a little. I guess we'll have to find a compromise in the future so I get my time in skiing, and he doesn't have to live here in the winter. Maybe we'll be like retired couples and live in a warm place for the winter months, snow birds as they call them in FL.

Good thing we have some time to decide.

Maybe French?

2009-12-06T13:49:00.004-06:00

Well apparently this is a season of change for everything.

I decided a couple of weeks ago that I didn't feel the same way I used to about dietetics as a major. I got into all the upper level course work and the meetings, and decided that I do not want to work in a hospital. 90% of graduates work in hospitals with patients who have eating disorders, are obese, and have flesh eating diseases. The other 10% work for school districts and the government. None of that sounds appealing to me.

So I am now a communication studies major. And I'm strongly considering minoring in French. I've never taken French before, but have always liked it. I figure I should have some diversity in my language skills with the major switch. Hopefully by the time I graduate I'll have much better Russian skills too, learning from the Grandma's of course. So I'm studying my Rosetta Stone program for both French and Russian and we'll see how that goes. There may be a J Term study abroad in France as well in the future. I only have a few semesters left though, and lots to squeeze in. The good news is I still get to finish on time.

Ideally I'll end up doing something in advertising, public relations, or marketing. I'm doing a little of all that at my current job, so I'm on the right track.

In all honesty , I don't want to ever have a real job. Maybe I should just marry someone rich. haha. I'll let my boy know.

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

Change of Plans

2009-12-03T12:28:00.005-06:00

Well true to military form, plans have changed. My soldier will be completing the training he was suppose to start this week at a later date. Which means he is home for all of the holidays! So between now and the new year we have our five year anniversary, four Christmas celebrations with our families, one annual Christmas party, and a New Years trip to Florida. It is so good to have him home.

We've never appreciated our time together more than these last few months since he's been home.

In other good news it finally started to snow, and stick! It's about time weather. It's suppose to snow off and on through the weekend, and I can not wait to get out and start skiing for the season!

Goodbye November?

2009-11-30T18:22:00.003-06:00

Where the heck did November go?

Looking back on the month I got a lot accomplished, but it seems like it went so fast.

I got the tree put up, have almost all my Christmas shopping done, started studying for finals, finished a big work project, visited a friends brand new baby, and wrote lots and lots of papers.

Just in the last 48 hours I wrote one eight page paper, and one 6 page paper. I also had a presentation in one of my classes this morning, ugh. Straight from school I went to work. I also only slept four hours a night the last two nights, gross.

Tonight I'm watching a chick flick, drinking hot chocolate, and going to be early.

Tomorrow I drive my soldier to a two week training in another state. I feel like I just got him back and don't want the military to have him back yet. ha, oh well. It's just a short time. He is due to return the day before our 5 year anniversary.

5 years. Holy wow that seems like a long time. He still gives me butterflies.

That's all for now, it's movie and relaxing time!

Thanksgiving Thankfuls

2009-11-27T22:40:00.004-06:00

This is a day late because I was so busy enjoying my loved ones yesterday; not a bad problem to have. : )

I am most thankful this year to be celebrating with my soldier, at the same dinner table. It was such a blessing. I never knew how much I appreciated holiday's with him until I went through a year of them without him.

I'm thankful for all the people who are celebrating apart from their soldiers this year, and for the strength they all have.

I'm thankful for my amazing family and my puppy who I love so much!

I'm thankful for stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pie.

I'm thankful that I got two Thanksgiving's this year.

I hope everyone else had a really good holiday of thankfulness with their loved ones too!

Weekend of Play

2009-11-24T12:48:00.011-06:00

This past weekend we went to the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells to just play. My boy, my mom, and some of our very best friends all drove down and enjoyed our stay away. We had a couple of meetings thrown in, but we spent most of our time at the water park and in the indoor theme park. They have some pretty amazing restaurants there, and the nicest bowling alley we've ever been to. It was lots of fun, and a great way to not get my chem test studying done or my debate prepped! Both the test and the debate went well anyway.

The only bad part about the weekend was me getting a pretty bad case of strep throat. So I'm at home recovering, doing work and school from 'sick bay'.

It was a good weekend to launch us into a short school week for Thanksgiving!

New Moon Review

2009-11-23T12:56:00.008-06:00

We went to the midnight premiere of New Moon on Thursday night. We got to the theater an hour and a half early and were able to go to our seats right away. We smuggled in lots of snacks and drinks in addition to buying freezies and popcorn at the concessions stand.

All but two of our ten group members had read all four books.

[Jess even won a shirt for winning trivia!]

We all loved the movie! It was so much better than the first one. The director stuck very closely to the actual book. It was cheesy at some parts, but so good! So if you haven't seen it yet, it is worth your time.

I'll update on our weekend of playing later!

Channeling My 12 Year Old Self

2009-11-17T17:06:00.004-06:00

I may or may not be channeling my 12 year old self: But I am beyond excited to see the Twilight New Moon midnight premiere Thursday. I'm more excited to see my best friends and my brother than to see the movie. Everyone is coming back home from their various schools to watch the movie together.

In addition to staying up way past our bedtimes on a school night (we all have class at 8am the next day) I have some more exciting things to look forward to:

-Wisconsin Dells this weekend with our business team

-Not one but THREE Thanksgiving dinners next week

-Only three days of class next week because of the amazing holiday of Thanksgiving

-30 days left in the semester, then a month and a half long break.

-They're talking snow by next week maybe : )

I'll have plenty to post about after this next week and a half.

I hope everyone else has lots to look forward too this week!

I'm the Sidekick

2009-11-12T10:57:00.008-06:00

Yesterday my boy and I drove up to get Brother from school to spend a day and a half with my grandpa and the rest of the fam jam. When my boy picked me up from school he handed me his spare pair of Oakley glasses he bought while deployed and said, "These are my sidekick glasses. You are my sidekick." It was cheesy cute, and I loved it.

[Sidekicking it.FL 2007]

Grandpa's flight went well and 15 of us went to Buca for a family dinner last night. There was platter after platter of Italian food followed by triple layer chocolate cake. What more could you ask for?

Tonight we're having family dinner number two, and I'm spending hardly any time at school this week where I officially live. No complaints though, the company of people I love and being able to cook at home is okay by me. I'm just practicing for Thanksgiving.

In other news I bought my tickets for the midnight premiere of Twilight: New Moon. I couldn't help myself. The books were so stinking good. A group of us are making a night of it, so it's an excuse to see my best friends. I wasn't all that impressed with the first movie but I'm hoping this one is much better. I'll post a review next week for all who are interested!

Good Sore?

2009-11-10T11:05:00.006-06:00

It's only Tuesday and already it feels like a whole week's worth of stuff has happened. Mostly good stuff, so no complaining here.

Last night I subbed in for the Monday night soccer team. After our 3-3 tie (and a whole lot of running, more than normal for a game) a team that was playing after us needed another girl. So i played for them too, along with two of the guys from my team. So two straight hours of soccer running later I was pretty stinking tired.

My Mom had a late dinner with me at school and we had a really good talk about just life. Having Herman home from deployment is amazing, but also comes with some challenges. So being able to bounce ideas off of my Mom is helpful. Everyone who finds out we 'made it through a deployment' tells me that if we can get through the six months after he gets home we can do anything. We already knew we could get through anything though. I'm glad I read so much about post deployment , I feel as prepared as I could have been.

I woke up this morning for class pretty early and could hardly get out of bed. I'm so sore today! Lame. I need to run more. It's good sore at least, the kind of sore that makes you feel good about being active and healthy. Does that sound crazy?

My Grandpa gets in town tomorrow from FL to go deer hunting up north with family friends. So it's been kind of crazy getting ready for that, but it will be so good to have him here for a week!

On to the rest of the week!

Veterans Day

2009-11-08T13:32:00.002-06:00

Veterans Day is November 11. After going through a deployment with my boy I have a new appreciation for this holiday. I truly feel blessed to live in a country where so many men and women and their families are willing to pay the price daily at home and over seas to keep us free. Especially in light of the events at Ft. Hood last week. Many prayers are being sent their way.

There are more than 23.6 million military veterans in the U.S.
Thank you to all the veterans who have served and are currently serving.

Love Bird Photos

2009-11-05T19:25:00.007-06:00

A friend of mine from school has started to do a lot of photography lately. When Herman was still overseas my friend, Caitlin, and I were talking and she offered to take pictures of us just for fun that she could add to her portfolio. Well a couple of weeks ago we went to a park near where we live and took the pictures. They turned out SO well, and now everyone thinks we're engaged. Which we expected to happen. Soon enough people, soon enough. All of the pictures are on Caitlin's website, that has some pretty amazing other pictures too, check it out when you get a chance: myinspiredeye.com.

So without further ado here are some of the pictures:

The Short Version

2009-11-04T12:55:00.008-06:00

I have been out of bloggy commission for a while now. Which is dumb, because I got all hung up on my 100th post for no good reason. So here is to catching up, and being more consistent. Pictures are most definitely the easiest way to catch up...

Herman organized a big game of flag football with friends. The field was soaked, and we all were incredibly muddy. But, we had a blast playing and the weather was amazing.

We went pheasant hunting with a group of our businesses associates at a lodge up north. Herman and my Mom hunted, I studied for midterms in the lodge. We shot Annie Oakley at the end of the day. Lots of fun and time outdoors.

We spent lots of time with friends the week before Halloween. Between going out for sushi (or goyza and edamame in my case), bowling, and game nights we were able to catch up with lots of friends.

For Halloween we were Kanye West and Taylor Swift. He shaved his head for this. It was a little ridiculous, but a very good costume. The body paint was a mess, but effective no doubt.

Everywhere we went people would stare at him. One guy at a bar said, "I thought you were black for real, that's amazing!" He carried a microphone and would interupt people all night saying, "I'm going to let you finish, but I just wanted to say...". It was pretty funny. Until he tried to get it off at the end of the night and it took 2 hours.

So there is the very short version of what we've been up to. Events that I don't have pictures of include taking one last ride on the bike before it was put away for the winter, studying for and taking midterms (ugh), working a lot again, and brother getting 6 stitches in his mouth (that is a post for later).

I promise to catch up on everyone's blogs and lives this week!
Happy Wednesday everyone!

Apple Picking

2009-10-22T10:14:00.008-05:00

Monday afternoon my boy and I went to the apple orchard. It was very cold, but we stuck it out and got a whole basket full of fresh regent apples. On our way home from the orchard we saw a sign for pumpkins. So we stopped and got six of the biggest pumpkins I've ever seen that you can buy. They weigh at least 40lbs each. We're expecting to spend an entire afternoon gutting and carving them. I have already made 3 dishes of apple crisp, it is delicious! We're embracing the fall weather, and gearing up for winter.

[On the hay ride to the apples]

Has anyone else carved pumpkins yet? Any fun ideas for carving?

Catching up and weekend recap

2009-10-19T16:35:00.010-05:00

Here's to catching up!
The pooch is feeling much better, she has fully recoverd from having her parts removed. Our concerns about her personality changing were not necessicary, she's good to go.

[This is my lap dog, or something...]

Earlier this week my sister and I made our trial run Halloween cookies.

Friday evening Herman and I drove down to Iowa State to visit friends for their homecoming weekend. We had dinner Friday night at a restaurant that had over 100 different dessert options, I was a happy camper! That night we went to the Iowa State vs. Oklahoma hockey game. The fans were vulgar and hilarious. It's not the kind of event you would invite your Grandma to, but entertaining none the less. After the game we played the Wii and crashed pretty late. Saturday we all slept in and had some lunch. Then we headed back north for a wedding reception for some of our soccer buddies Saturday night. After the reception we went out downtown and didn't get home until very late. Sunday morning Herman and I had a friend of mine from high school take 'love bird' pictures for us, that turned out great! She still has to edit them, so it will be a couple of weeks before I can share them with you all. So all in all it was a very busy, but very fun weekend with my boy and family. Now we're back to papers, work, and lectures... and soccer tonight. So it's not all bad on Mondays : )

Here are a couple pictures from the weekend:

[Watching the game]

[Crazy hockey fans]

I hope eveyrone else had fabulous weekends!

Big Sister Birthday!

2009-10-14T10:09:00.005-05:00

Sunday was my sister CB's 22nd birthday. We had been out of town all weekend, and she stayed home. We got in about 11:30 pm and celebrated as soon as we got in the door! Herman and I had gotten her a gift card to a super fun store called Patina that is downtown. They have all kinds of cool gifts and we just could not decide what to get her, so we did the gift card thing and made her promise to take us with when she shops. She also got some other fun stuff she wanted from the rest of the family, but the best part was having everyone there. Since we've all dispersed across the whole state it is becoming rare to have us all together, especially at 11:30p.m. on a Sunday. My Dad took her out on the town for a fancy steak dinner also. Sometime this week her and I are going to make Halloween cookies with some cookie cutters she got for her birthday. Who doesn't love cookies?! Happy Birthday CB, love you lots!

The Weekend in Pictures

2009-10-12T20:09:00.006-05:00

We went to Kansas City this past weekend and had a blast. We spent the whole weekend with people we're in business with and that we love. It was so much fun! Here are some pictures:

Just to be clear, he's not actually a Yankee's fan. It was the last hat they had at the store, and he was that desperate I guess. I'm wearing my Twin's hat in this picture, who we're actually fans of.

And this is what we came home to. Yes, that's snow on October 12th. Yea Minnesota!

Honoring Her Memory

2009-10-06T10:55:00.003-05:00

One year ago today my Grandma passed away. She had battled many medical issues for as long as I can remember. Every year when college football starts up again, or the Viking's have a good game I think of her. She loved her football. She had always been pretty ill, but declined very quickly the beginning of last October. Within a week it went from serious to her passing. She and my Grandpa lived in Florida, so we didn't get to say our goodbyes. My Mom and her two sisters flew down the morning of the 6th when they were told the day before that she was in her last days. I was driving my Mom to the airport that morning when my Grandpa called me to say she had just passed. It was a very hard day, followed by a very hard few months. Losing someone in my family for the first time while Herman was deployed was very difficult. I have only good memories of my Grandma. She was the most stubborn, and spunky person I've ever known- I get some of that from her. She loved her family unconditionally, and we all knew it. Every week I encounter situations that make me think of her, and her words of wisdom she passed on to me in the 19 years I had with her. She was known for her sayings like, "Pretty is as pretty does."

Today my family is gathering again at her memorial to honor her. Her passing has brought our family even closer together than before, it was a hidden blessing.

Grandma, you are with me every day. Love you still and forever.

Family Weekend Recap

2009-10-04T19:33:00.007-05:00

This past weekend was Family Weekend at my school. There was a lot to do, a lot to eat, and a lot of family time.

Friday night Herman and I went to the free entertainment: a magician/comedian who was very funny. It was suppose to be a family friendly show, it being family weekend and all, but he slipped a couple times and it was hilarious. I still don't know how the heck he got a bowling ball to fall out of a drawing pad, it was crazy.

Saturday morning I had coffee with my parents before going to a presentation for parents. It was just as exciting as it sounds, but free breakfast was involved so it was alright. Then we went to a BBQ lunch and entered into a pumpkin painting contest. We didn't win anything, but did have a lot of fun.

Saturday night Herman and his family joined my family (minus brother) for a two hour boat tour on the Mississippi River. It was incredible. The boat was a massive yacht that had lots of round tables for us to sit at. There was a snack and beverage bar, and lots of sights to see. We even went through a lock, one that dropped us 1 million gallons of water down every second.

[my sister and I on the boat]

[On the boat]

[downtown from the front deck of the boat]

After the boat tour ended all of us went to dinner at Famous Dave's and ate a very big dinner. Today we sat around watching football and our beloved Twins baseball, it was an exciting game. I've been writing papers and studying all day. Family weekend was most definitely a success.

I'm sure I'll have plenty to post about as far as sports later this week, it's a big week in MN for the Vikings and the Twins. : )

I hope everyone else had fabulous weekends!

He's a Keeper

2009-10-02T23:30:00.006-05:00

My man is a keeper. For many reasons of course, but here is just one example of why:

On his weekend of leave before deployment last October we were at our massive Mall of America and stopped in the Swarovski store. Now I'm a girl who loves things that sparkle, and he knows this. So we're just browsing the cases and he says, "Pick something, I want to get something for you." So I left with a new crystal pendant necklace and a pair of matching crystal earrings. I have worn them every day since he bought them for me. Fast forward to the first week of September. I'm walking home from class and the necklace just falls off my neck. The chain broke in the middle, and is not repairable. Now we could just send it in and take advantage of the 2 year warranty, but I kind of wanted something a little more durable. So for weeks we've been talking about getting a new chain for my necklace while I've felt naked not having something on my neck for the first time since I was 13 (before the crystal necklace I wore a heart necklace from my grandparents that I got on my 13th birthday.). Fast forward again to Wednesday. He picked me up to run a few errands before we picked up the pooch from the vet. I asked if we could go look at chains, and he suggested looking at our favorite jewlry place (we've shopped for a left ring finger sparkler there). We walked in the door and Lana (yup we are on a first name basis) said she had something she thought I might like. I open a bag and find this inside:

Inside the box was this:

And inside the tummy of the bear was a small white leather pouch. Inside the pouch was a beautiful, perfect length, white gold chain. I was a very happy camper. The goldsmith is putting the pendant on the chain and I get my complete necklace back Monday.

And all that just because. I'm so blessed!

Happy Weekend!

Pooch Minus Parts

2009-09-30T23:33:00.005-05:00

My baby dog went to the vet today to have her parts removed. She was also due for some shots, so in addition to her surgery she got four shots this morning. Poor pooch. Surgery went well and they told us that she should be down and out for about a day and a half. Well she has been anything but down and out since we brought her home. She can't get comfortable, readjusts every few minutes, wont sleep, can't do stairs, whines at us. It's just sad. And there is nothing we can do for her, so we just wait it out and endure the long night ahead of us. We found it helps her a little if I sit in her kennel with her, so I did some homework in my dogs kennel, pretty cool. I'm that crazy dog person. Oh well I guess. Here's to Elly feeling much better tomorrow!

[Not feeling so hot]

Weather Wussy

2009-09-29T13:50:00.003-05:00

I'm officially a weather wussy this year. We had some pretty amazing fall weather in the beginning of September. This week it started to actually be fall. Not the nice breeze grab your light jacket fall, but the SUPER windy, cold, rainy fall. And I for one, am a wuss this year. Normally I get pretty excited about the fall colors and getting to wear my fall wardrobe, but it's just gross this year. I'm crossing my fingers that the wind and rain will pass and the cool, sunny fall sticks for a bit. It could be that I have some virus that I'm getting over (not swine flu, they checked) that makes me less tolerant of our fabulous weather change. So by the end of the week it will be less windy and wet, and I'll feel less under the weather (literally and figuratively that is). I'm just speaking what I want, but it'll work, I'm sure of it! Plus, it's family weekend starting Friday and I have a Mississippi Boat Tour lined up for my guests, so it has to be nice. Right?

The good news about Fall? Soccer started again this week, and there is a trip to the local apple orchard in the works! Oh, and running outside in the fall is amazing!

[Running a 5K last fall]

Arboretum Touring

2009-09-25T16:40:00.009-05:00

Last weekend we celebrated my boy's Mom's birthday. Our families had dinner together Saturday night. We ate lots of food and I made a dark chocolate cake. Yum. Sunday morning we ventured to the Minnesota Arboretum. We spent the morning and afternoon enjoying all the plants and flowers. Here are some pictures I took:

The weather was perfect. We've been spoiled with some pretty amazing fall weather for this part of the world. His mom said it was one of her best birthdays ever.

Deployment Survive and Thrive Tip #2

2009-09-23T14:54:00.006-05:00

Tip #2: Stay Busy.

While my boy was deployed I became the most busy, and most productive person I knew. The first day he left I laid in bed and watched season one of Jericho the whole day, not productive and I didn't feel any better (but I did need this day). I started looking for opportunities to be busier. I picked up extra projects at work in other departments (and loved it!), I started playing co-ed recreational soccer twice a week, I spent a lot more time with my best girl friends and reconnected with old friends, I had coffee dates with his mom and my mom, I started drawing again, I volunteered, I worked out and ran more than ever before, I read many books, I took a full load of credits every semester, and I started blogging. I did more every day than I had before. Not only did being busy and productive keep my mind off of being sad or worried, but it felt good to work towards goals and accomplish a lot in a day. I made the best of the time we had to be apart, and am further along in work, relationships, and school because of it.

That being said, I'm more than happy to have him back and to spend
some of that time with him again. : )

Camp Hope Riders

2009-09-21T08:38:00.004-05:00

[camphoperiders.org]

A group of guys (and one girl) that were deployed with my boy have started on a very long journey around the U.S. on their motorcycles. They are the Camp Hope Riders. This is their post-deployment ride that benefits Camp Hope, a non-profit that provides an opportunity for wounded vets to participate in outdoor activities (hunting, fishing, kayaking, etc.). They are going to travel over 13,000 miles over 61 days to raise awareness for the program. Last night we went and spent time with them for the evening before they head off to South Dakota today. They are a really fun, really patriotic group of people. They're blogging as they travel, and I wanted to give everyone else the opportunity to follow their mission!

http://camphoperiders.org/

Check out their itinerary, they may be coming to a city near you!

Deployment Survive and Thrive Tip #1

2009-09-16T12:34:00.005-05:00

I figure since we have now been through an entire deployment, I'm semi-qualified to write tips on how to not just survive a deployment but to thrive during one.

Tip #1

Don't watch the news.

Watching the news does not make you feel better. They don't ever report the whole truth, despite their best efforts. Get all your information on the unit from the unit or from the Department of Defense. The news is almost always bad news anyway, you won't miss it.

There was a big story that came about on his base while my boy was deployed. Every news station reported different things, and every one was wrong. It's just not worth it to get all worked up about something that may not be entirely true. Like good consumers of media, check the sources and reliability of the news you decide to react to (there's the college student in me, ha!).

Introducing the Two Wheeled Adventure

2009-09-14T22:15:00.008-05:00

So my boy bought a motorcycle.
He got home from deployment, got his permit the next day, and four days later had his license.
He is pretty excited about it.
It makes me a little nervous, but I'm kind of excited about it.
It's a beautiful bike. He took the rider safety course.
He bought a very safe helmet, jacket, and gloves.
So now we're in the world of biking.
Does this mean I have to buy more leather now?

Now this isn't his dream bike. He wants to get a sport bike in the spring. But this is a good start.
I also got to ride on a motorcycle yesterday for the first time. Not his, he's not ready for passengers yet. But I'm excited to ride more in the future!

Remembering

2009-09-12T21:26:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was September 11. On that day in 2001 I was sitting in a keyboard class in seventh grade when the towers were hit. I remember hearing the announcement over the intercom and not really understanding what had happened. The information was vague, and everyone was so confused and horror struck. I didn't really grasp what had happened until I got home from school and watched the footage of the planes hitting the World Trade Center towers. I remember being so proud to be an American, watching as every American did what they could for others on that day and the many months of recovery following. I remember that this was one of the motivating factors behind my boy finally making the decision to join the Army after a lifetime of wanting to do so. Today I've thought a lot about the people who lost loved ones. Today especially I pray for comfort for them.

New Place, New School Year

2009-09-10T21:42:00.003-05:00

On Sunday of this week I moved out of my house and into my suite. I'm sharing a bathroom, living room, and kitchen with three girls I didn't know until I moved in. I love, love, love the new place. The building is only a couple of years old, and is fabulous. I'm just far enough from home, but just close enough. My private school loves their ceremonies. So we spent the first three days here in seminars, at BBQ's hosted by the nuns, and being in parades through campus. Class started yesterday. I really like my professors so far, but don't like the early classes 5 days a week. I'll adjust though. Despite what my boy originally thought, there are no lasers on the buildings to take out men on campus. He has been to visit a couple of times. I've made friends with a couple of girls that I really like spending time with, they are now my work out buddies too! The food is really good and the campus is beautiful. I'm happy here.

Going to the Fair!

2009-09-08T13:01:00.007-05:00

So I realize how horrible this will sound... But the day after my boy got home from deployment we went to the Minnesota State Fair. He wanted to go though, I promise! My Dad, Mom, Sister, my boy, and I all spent the day at the great Minnesota get together. We ate LOTS of food, saw lots of interesting people, watched a cow give birth, laughed at all the weird looking chickens, and really enjoyed ourselves. At about 7 we headed over to the Grandstand with our bucket of Sweet Martha's chocolate chip cookies to see the live recording of Prairie Home Companion (this was Dad's birthday present this year). The show aired the next day on NPR. It was a very fun, and surprisingly very relaxing day.

The masses of people at the fair.
It's okay honey, I know you just got home from Iraq but we're going to spend the day in huge crowds of unorganized people. Ha- We're terrible.

Fair food, yum!

What a good way to end the summer!

Goodbye Deployment!

2009-09-06T09:13:00.011-05:00

Well good news! I finally have my soldier back, safe and sound. The morning he arrived my family and his family met him at the airport. I hadn't slept a whole lot in two nights (we thought he was coming home the day before-and of course they bumped it back). It was so, so, so good to know that this is the last time we'll have to reunite again for a while. He's working on adjusting to life here again. It'll come with time.

I'll post more on our already crazy three days later.

Salsa Dancing!

2009-09-01T00:45:00.007-05:00

Learning to Salsa went very well. The video is just a snap shot of the basic three steps and a spin that we were taught in the hour lesson. We had a blast! My dance partner in the blue is my good friend Jen. She has a dance background, so I was excited I could keep up with her. Note the cute old couple behind us, they tried really hard! It'll be fun teaching my boy how to salsa when he gets back, he's a pretty good dancer so I'm sure he'll pick it up quickly.

Here are some pictures of our evening of dancing!

So much fun, especially for a Monday night!

Woah, busy!

2009-08-31T12:10:00.003-05:00

Life is officially in fast forward.

This past week has been very busy. I worked my official last week of work until next summer at the current job, I had 18 hours of work training this weekend (ew.), I have until Friday to write lesson plans for a 12 week program at work, I've been packing all week, buying last minute essentials for moving out, cleaning out the car, interviewing for nanny positions near my school, oh and did i mention... I get my boy back this week!

Just a bit excited about having him home for good (for now at least) after 14 months!

He has his phone back, so we've been texting a lot. He sends me cute things to wake up to, like:
"It is nice to have my cell back because I can send you messages that say I love you any time I want."

Tonight a group of us are going to salsa dancing lessons, I'll post pictures later!

I'm off to pack some more.

Happy Monday!

Are You in America?!

2009-08-27T17:43:00.005-05:00

My phone just rang, and it was my boy. He was calling on his cell phone!

I picked up the phone and said, "Hi! Are you in America?!"

He laughed at me and said yes. We talked for a total of a minute and a half and he had to go. He's going to call back in a few hours to give me details. He should be home between 4 and 10 days from now. AH! Goodbye Iraq, hello America. So, so, so excited right now!!

Representing Antarctica?

2009-08-27T00:02:00.001-05:00

Sometimes in life you see things that just make you wonder, "What was the person who designed this thinking?"

That's how I feel about a certain rug that we have at work. I understand the concept. It's a big oval area rug. In the middle there is a map of the world. The outside edge is surrounded with kids from around the world in traditional dress.

There are kids from Hawaii, kids from Asian countries, kids from middle eastern countries, and there is this:

Why is this kid dressed as a penguin? Is he representing Antarctica? I'm not positive- but I'm pretty sure they don't dress in penguin suits there. It's probably more like down jackets with fur on the hood. And they're probably not kids, they're probably scientists. But hey, let's hear it for diversity! It was a good laugh, and it makes me shake my head every time I pass it at work. I thought I'd share it with you all.

Happy Thursday everyone!

There was a ceremony?

2009-08-26T16:34:00.005-05:00

We got word today through email from the company commander half way across the country that the ceremony to end the deployment that we didn't know about until today will be postponed until later because the units flights have been delayed. Not that we would have been able to go anyway, but it would have been nice to know about it. Either way we are about a week away from this deployment ending according to the email. There is so much to do in that one week, and the time seems to be just crawling. It's been an interesting month with transitioning out of my current job and into school mode, moving brother out, saying goodbye to friends for the fall, and preparing for my boy to return. I think he'll be surprised to see how much I'm able to cram into one day when he gets home- sometimes I'm surprised how much I cram in.