Ahhhhh, a nice four-day weekend! Finally! We had a very nice Christmas weekend. Our friends Jay and Anne invited us and a few others over to their house for dinner with their family. There were lots of goodies to munch on before dinner, lasagna, mashed potatoes, salad, and garlic bread for dinner, and random goodies for dessert.
Anne had me bring over some scraps of paper for my save the date cards to test and see if her paper cutter would work on it - it worked great, and then she gave me a present - a brand new paper cutter just like hers! It was great! We were able to get all the paper cut up just right, printed, and put together. We mailed off a good chunk of the cards, to everyone we had addresses for. Still need to get a few addresses, and people keep getting added to the list, so we might need to buy some more paper and envelope for the cards.
The day after Christmas, Aaron and I headed out for some good sales! Well, only just slightly I wanted to stop by Bath and Bodyworks because they ALWAYS have stuff on sale, and we were getting low on hand soap. We also picked up a felt tip pen from an art supply store, for addressing the envelopes. Picked out some cute heart stamps at the Post Office, and mailed off Mom's scarf that I made her for Christmas.
On Saturday, Aaron and I ran into IKEA to grab Ashley a birthday gift - she'd been wanting a nice down-alternative comforter for winter, and a duvet to go along with it, as white is boring. Aaron and I had recently got a new comforter/duvet set from IKEA, and really like it, so I think Ashley will like hers, too. I just have to get it shipped off in the mail this week. It's going to be an early present, as her birthday is not until February, but it will make up for her late Christmas present, which isn't due to arrive until January 2nd.
I've been working some more on Aaron's scarf. It's not really a Christmas present, but winter is a good season for knitting. I'm almost finished with it, and he'll be able to wear it to work this week.
I've been plowing through the "Twilight" series of books this weekend - I'd finished the first one a while ago, but never got around to buying the others, because I have friends who own them, and thought it would be most cost effective to borrow them. Our friend Vandi stopped by last Tuesday to drop of some yummy home-baked cookies, as well as the three remaining books in the series.
We moved on to the next step in toilet training Odin with the CitiKitty - it involves cutting a small hole, smaller than a fist, in the center of the training pan, that rests on the rim, over the bowl of the toilet. This is to get the cat used to less litter, a hole which he will eventually start using instead of litter, and balancing on the seat, instead of in the litter. Odin does not like it one bit. He cried for half an hour last night before finally pooping on the rug next to the toilet. No punishment for him, though, don't want to scare him off from being in the bathroom. We'll see how it goes today.
Aaron's making Chex Mix right now - I can smell it coming from the oven. Mmm, mmm, mmm!
I think that's about it for our weekend. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to post. Another short, three-day work week ahead for me, then Thursday and Friday off again for New Years. Aaron gets Thursday off, but may take Friday off, too, if he can. If he can't, that's okay, we've been hanging out together WAY too much this weekend! Only kidding, but it is nice to have some alone time, and just veg out in front of the TV with some silly shows or movies.
Until next time!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
so warm...
So our heater has been broken for the last two weeks. It's only really bad when it gets below -10 outside - that's when we start to feel it in the apartment. We kind of ignored it at first, which was probably not the best thing to do, since the apartment is heated with hot water, and last winter, it got so cold outside, the pipes froze, and the apartments on the first floor flooded.
It was negative 12 today, and the apartment was REALLY feeling cold, so we finally bucked up and called the rental office maintenance emergency line. A guy came over about an hour later, wasn't familiar with our apartment building, or our type of heater. He ended up getting in touch with our usual maintenance person, who just started a few weeks ago. They wandered up to the apartment above us, because it is vacant, to see if it was having the same problem. Nope. Came back down, fiddled around, banged on some stuff, then went to get a defroster thinger.
They came back, plugged it in, started defrosting our frozen pipes, and then the fuse in it blew. They ran off to the car parts place to get another one, came back, started it up again, and tripped the breaker twice. We had to turn off all the lights and unplug the big appliances while it was running.
They left the building, said that it needed to run for half an hour, came back an hour later. It was starting to smell, so we turned it off after about 40 minutes.
Now it's nice and toasty warm in the apartment. Almost TOO toasty warm, if you ask me. Guess we don't have to worry about freezing to death in the middle of the night!
We braved the horrible roads and snow yesterday to do some shopping. Looking for a Wii Fit, couldn't find one. Got paper to make our Save the Date cards, as we finally have our wedding venue and date booked. Wandered around a bit until we finally retreated home to safety.
Today, I did laundry, cleaned the apartment, sat around for hours while our heater got fixed, watched Supernatural, and Aaron and I baked cookies. A good winter day, if you ask me!
It was negative 12 today, and the apartment was REALLY feeling cold, so we finally bucked up and called the rental office maintenance emergency line. A guy came over about an hour later, wasn't familiar with our apartment building, or our type of heater. He ended up getting in touch with our usual maintenance person, who just started a few weeks ago. They wandered up to the apartment above us, because it is vacant, to see if it was having the same problem. Nope. Came back down, fiddled around, banged on some stuff, then went to get a defroster thinger.
They came back, plugged it in, started defrosting our frozen pipes, and then the fuse in it blew. They ran off to the car parts place to get another one, came back, started it up again, and tripped the breaker twice. We had to turn off all the lights and unplug the big appliances while it was running.
They left the building, said that it needed to run for half an hour, came back an hour later. It was starting to smell, so we turned it off after about 40 minutes.
Now it's nice and toasty warm in the apartment. Almost TOO toasty warm, if you ask me. Guess we don't have to worry about freezing to death in the middle of the night!
We braved the horrible roads and snow yesterday to do some shopping. Looking for a Wii Fit, couldn't find one. Got paper to make our Save the Date cards, as we finally have our wedding venue and date booked. Wandered around a bit until we finally retreated home to safety.
Today, I did laundry, cleaned the apartment, sat around for hours while our heater got fixed, watched Supernatural, and Aaron and I baked cookies. A good winter day, if you ask me!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
We've finally done it!
Well, we finally booked our wedding venue this week! Which also means we finally have a wedding date! We have booked October 3, 2009 for the ceremony and reception at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center, MN. *sigh* What a relief! Now I can start working on things again! I want to start making Save the Date cards as soon as possible, so now is the mad hunt for finding addresses!
On an un-wedding related note, we are still toilet training the cat. His trainer is up ON the toilet now, where it should be, instead of on the floor. We'd gone over a week with it on the floor with no accidents, so this weekend, it has been moved to its proper toilet training place. Hopefully Odin doesn't have too much of a hissy fit about it.
We're set to get quite a bit of snow this weekend. It started snowing early this morning, and is still lightly coming down. The roads aren't completely covered, but aren't completely clear, either. I'd like to get out of the apartment and do some stuff today.
Thursday night, Lori, one of my co-workers, and I went to the Holidazzle, which is like a parade of lights, in downtown Minneapolis. We did a happy hour before that at a pub called The Local, which is really cool, and then walked down to the Hot Seats (bleachers set up under a tent with a clear front) and got hot cocoa. Mmm, mmm, good! The parade was really cute, and fun. We couldn't hear most of the music because of being in the tent, but that's okay. All the floats and people on the floats were covered in colored lights, very festive.
Aaron and I have just a tiny bit of Christmas shopping left to do, and then we're done! Thank goodness. I don't think we've even stepped foot inside a store to do any of our shopping, which is always nice, because I hate crowded malls filled with people milling about, in my way. Ugh. Drives me crazy.
We have two short weeks in a row at work, for Christmas and New Years, so that will be nice, because it means two 4-day weekends in a row! Aaron and I don't have any plans, but we've been invited to a friend's house for dinner on Christmas, which will be nice if we go. Nice to get out of the place, because I know otherwise, we would just sit in the apartment all four days, staring at each other blankly, slowly going insane. Two weekends in a row. *shudder*
Only kidding!
Well, I am off to figure out what we are going to do for the day. Adios!
On an un-wedding related note, we are still toilet training the cat. His trainer is up ON the toilet now, where it should be, instead of on the floor. We'd gone over a week with it on the floor with no accidents, so this weekend, it has been moved to its proper toilet training place. Hopefully Odin doesn't have too much of a hissy fit about it.
We're set to get quite a bit of snow this weekend. It started snowing early this morning, and is still lightly coming down. The roads aren't completely covered, but aren't completely clear, either. I'd like to get out of the apartment and do some stuff today.
Thursday night, Lori, one of my co-workers, and I went to the Holidazzle, which is like a parade of lights, in downtown Minneapolis. We did a happy hour before that at a pub called The Local, which is really cool, and then walked down to the Hot Seats (bleachers set up under a tent with a clear front) and got hot cocoa. Mmm, mmm, good! The parade was really cute, and fun. We couldn't hear most of the music because of being in the tent, but that's okay. All the floats and people on the floats were covered in colored lights, very festive.
Aaron and I have just a tiny bit of Christmas shopping left to do, and then we're done! Thank goodness. I don't think we've even stepped foot inside a store to do any of our shopping, which is always nice, because I hate crowded malls filled with people milling about, in my way. Ugh. Drives me crazy.
We have two short weeks in a row at work, for Christmas and New Years, so that will be nice, because it means two 4-day weekends in a row! Aaron and I don't have any plans, but we've been invited to a friend's house for dinner on Christmas, which will be nice if we go. Nice to get out of the place, because I know otherwise, we would just sit in the apartment all four days, staring at each other blankly, slowly going insane. Two weekends in a row. *shudder*
Only kidding!
Well, I am off to figure out what we are going to do for the day. Adios!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Here we go again
Alright, another request to update my blog. Such needy readers!
Let's see. The toilet training is going slowly. We started with it up on the toilet, like it's supposed to be, but Odin sure had a hard time getting used to that. So, after a mistake, we had to put it down on the floor, where his old litter box used to be. We'll just give him time to get comfortable with it there, then move it again. I think it's just much smaller than what he's used to, for starters. We'll get there! I have faith in him!
My wedding dress came in! I wasn't expecting it until February, but it got here over Thanksgiving. I went and tried it on this Friday. It's great, and I love the burnt orange color! I think we are finally going to reserve the wedding venue for next fall.
Some other exciting wedding news: my college roommate, Jill got engaged! I'm so happy for her, and now I have someone to talk to about wedding stuff! And we won't get tired of listening to each other! Hahaha. Once we get the place booked, then I can start making wedding invitations, and I'll start needing to get addresses. That'll be a chore.
Work's been busy. Not as bad as it was in September, when I was up to my eyeballs in claims, but I am finally at a comfortable level, and getting caught up with past-due tasks! Year-end will be looking good for me.
I put up Christmas lights last night, and they blink. Odin went bonkers! He's adjusted to them now, but last night was pretty darn funny. They're up high enough that I don't have to worry about him knocking them down and chewing on them. Although he would get a nice little ZAP if he chewed on them. Hehehehe.
Well, we got rain all weekend, it was in the 30's - highest it's been in a long time. And now the high for tomorrow is going to be -6. The ride into work is going to be AWESOMELY SLOW. It's like people around here have never driven in this crap before. Hopefully the salt trucks are out in full force tonight.
Well, that's it for me now. Adios!
Let's see. The toilet training is going slowly. We started with it up on the toilet, like it's supposed to be, but Odin sure had a hard time getting used to that. So, after a mistake, we had to put it down on the floor, where his old litter box used to be. We'll just give him time to get comfortable with it there, then move it again. I think it's just much smaller than what he's used to, for starters. We'll get there! I have faith in him!
My wedding dress came in! I wasn't expecting it until February, but it got here over Thanksgiving. I went and tried it on this Friday. It's great, and I love the burnt orange color! I think we are finally going to reserve the wedding venue for next fall.
Some other exciting wedding news: my college roommate, Jill got engaged! I'm so happy for her, and now I have someone to talk to about wedding stuff! And we won't get tired of listening to each other! Hahaha. Once we get the place booked, then I can start making wedding invitations, and I'll start needing to get addresses. That'll be a chore.
Work's been busy. Not as bad as it was in September, when I was up to my eyeballs in claims, but I am finally at a comfortable level, and getting caught up with past-due tasks! Year-end will be looking good for me.
I put up Christmas lights last night, and they blink. Odin went bonkers! He's adjusted to them now, but last night was pretty darn funny. They're up high enough that I don't have to worry about him knocking them down and chewing on them. Although he would get a nice little ZAP if he chewed on them. Hehehehe.
Well, we got rain all weekend, it was in the 30's - highest it's been in a long time. And now the high for tomorrow is going to be -6. The ride into work is going to be AWESOMELY SLOW. It's like people around here have never driven in this crap before. Hopefully the salt trucks are out in full force tonight.
Well, that's it for me now. Adios!
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Saturday, December 06, 2008
Good weekend so far
So this weekend, one of our friends had his birthday party, and it wasn't scheduled until late, so a few of us went out for dinner beforehand. Our friends Bret and Jess have been going to this bar for a few years, which also has a sushi bar. They started eating there, and have become good friends with the head sushi chef. And this is where we went for dinner last night. I've always wanted to try sushi before, but I wanted it to be at a very good place, not something that'd been sitting in the grocery store deli for a while.
And let me tell you, it was GREAT! The chef knew it was my first time trying sushi, so the first roll, he went easy on us. Yum. He made up a plate with all kinds of raw fish, tuna, mackerel, and some octopus limbs, thinly slice. The octopus was surprisingly delicious. I can't even count how many different rolls he made up for us. We didn't order off the menu, the sushi chef just started making rolls as we were eating. Everything was great. There were a few rolls with roe on top - orange eggs were "regular" and the green ones were wasabi flavored. I had tried a bit of wasabi paste earlier, and decided I didn't much care for it, so we tried to scrape most of the green ones off, but it was still pretty spicy. But the regular eggs were fun. Not a lot of flavor, but they POP! every time you bite down on one. Like a little party in your mouth. Mmm. He even made us a dessert roll, with sliced up strawberries, rice, sweet soft shell crab, and it was deep fried. Nice and sweet and good. All in all, a great experience for my first time (and hopefully not last) eating sushi. I will definitely have it again.
We went to the birthday party right after, which was a lot of fun. I didn't know most of the people there, but a good time was had by all. I gave one of our friends, Anna, my camera, because she said she likes to take pictures when she's been drinking, so that was good, because I got a bunch of pictures of people I don't even know, but some of people I do know, always a plus.
Odin's CitiKitty toilet training kit came in the mail today! I'm glad it came on the weekend so I can be home for it for a few days. It's got a shallow pan that fits over the rim of the toilet, and you put your seat down over that to hold it in place. Then you pour some litter in, and train the cat to get used to using the litter box up on the toilet seat. Then, as he successfully uses the litter box for one week, you start removing from the center rings, which allow some litter to fall in the toilet, and as you remove more, the cat gets used to supporting himself on the seat. Eventually, you take away the whole contraption, once all the rings have been removed, and ta-dah! A toilet trained cat! No more litter again!! Hopefully it will only take a couple of months to train him, because we only have the one bathroom, so we have to take the kit off every time Aaron or I want to use the toilet.
That's about it for now!
And let me tell you, it was GREAT! The chef knew it was my first time trying sushi, so the first roll, he went easy on us. Yum. He made up a plate with all kinds of raw fish, tuna, mackerel, and some octopus limbs, thinly slice. The octopus was surprisingly delicious. I can't even count how many different rolls he made up for us. We didn't order off the menu, the sushi chef just started making rolls as we were eating. Everything was great. There were a few rolls with roe on top - orange eggs were "regular" and the green ones were wasabi flavored. I had tried a bit of wasabi paste earlier, and decided I didn't much care for it, so we tried to scrape most of the green ones off, but it was still pretty spicy. But the regular eggs were fun. Not a lot of flavor, but they POP! every time you bite down on one. Like a little party in your mouth. Mmm. He even made us a dessert roll, with sliced up strawberries, rice, sweet soft shell crab, and it was deep fried. Nice and sweet and good. All in all, a great experience for my first time (and hopefully not last) eating sushi. I will definitely have it again.
We went to the birthday party right after, which was a lot of fun. I didn't know most of the people there, but a good time was had by all. I gave one of our friends, Anna, my camera, because she said she likes to take pictures when she's been drinking, so that was good, because I got a bunch of pictures of people I don't even know, but some of people I do know, always a plus.
Odin's CitiKitty toilet training kit came in the mail today! I'm glad it came on the weekend so I can be home for it for a few days. It's got a shallow pan that fits over the rim of the toilet, and you put your seat down over that to hold it in place. Then you pour some litter in, and train the cat to get used to using the litter box up on the toilet seat. Then, as he successfully uses the litter box for one week, you start removing from the center rings, which allow some litter to fall in the toilet, and as you remove more, the cat gets used to supporting himself on the seat. Eventually, you take away the whole contraption, once all the rings have been removed, and ta-dah! A toilet trained cat! No more litter again!! Hopefully it will only take a couple of months to train him, because we only have the one bathroom, so we have to take the kit off every time Aaron or I want to use the toilet.
That's about it for now!
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Thursday, December 04, 2008
It's about damn time!
So I have had a few complaints from my readers that I have not updated my blog since Halloween, or something crazy like that. Well, that's not completely true - I did update a couple of weeks into November, but it was ABOUT Halloween.
So, since we last were here, what's been going on in my life? Oh, not too much. We've been spending time with some friends, playing with their babies, working, and staying fairly busy. Work is less hectic now that the new guy has started working on claims The end of the year is approaching shortly, and I can tell it's going to be a little chaotic. I have done 11 month-ends at work, but not year-end. I wonder if it's any different?
Speaking of 2008 ending soon, WOW! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by! In January I got a new job and we got Odin, in April, Aaron and I got engaged, Aaron's parents visited us, we went to our first baseball games, Saw Mason Jennings in concert, two of our friends had children and their families have grown And now it's almost 2009. Which also means that Winter is officially almost over (only a few more weeks!!), and I can stop driving to and from work in the dark within a month. I hope.
On to more recent news. For Thanksgiving, all of our friends were either working or leaving town to spend time with family, so Aaron and I had four days off together, to just sit around and do nothing. And that's exactly what we did. No Black Friday shopping crap, just hanging out, not working. It was really nice and relaxing. Aaron and I had fajitas for Thanksgiving dinner. Mmm, mmm, good!
I got a cold this last week. It started out pretty innocent, and I actually thought it was going to go away fairly quickly. Boy, was I wrong. Now, it's not the most horrible cold I have had, and thank goodness it's not the horrible crap that some co-workers and Jill got last week where they spent most of their Thanksgiving weekend hovering in the bathroom around a toilet, just your regular head cold.
I started looking for a second job this week at the mall across from where I work currently - nights and weekends, part time. I walked into the Bath and Body Works, and as I was picking up the application, the manager of the store approached me, asked me what I was doing at 6, and let me know they were having a group interview at that time, and I should come. She's hoping to have some people hired by this Saturday. It's Thursday, and I haven't heard from her, but who knows. I think I am also going to start donating plasma, there is a place near us that compensates for the donation. I figure all the extra money will go towards saving for the wedding.
A couple days ago, I ordered the CitiKitty, a toilet training kit for cats. I am so sick and tired of the litter box, in our one bedroom apartment, being in the bathroom, with bits of litter everywhere. It's driving me nuts. If we had a basement or extra bedroom, it wouldn't be so bad, but we just don't. Hopefully within a couple of months, we'll have him all trained up, and bye bye litter box! I'll let you know how it goes. Possibly pictures to come.
Our company had their Christmas party this afternoon at a location away from work. It was Hawaiian-themed, and a lot of fun. Games, trivia, prizes, and good pork barbecue. I got second place in the beanbag toss, but didn't manage to get my raffle ticket pulled for any of the other prizes. I never win those things.
So, that's about it, everything that's happened in the last three weeks or so, that I can think of that is worth blogging about! Sorry to keep you waiting so long!
So, since we last were here, what's been going on in my life? Oh, not too much. We've been spending time with some friends, playing with their babies, working, and staying fairly busy. Work is less hectic now that the new guy has started working on claims The end of the year is approaching shortly, and I can tell it's going to be a little chaotic. I have done 11 month-ends at work, but not year-end. I wonder if it's any different?
Speaking of 2008 ending soon, WOW! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by! In January I got a new job and we got Odin, in April, Aaron and I got engaged, Aaron's parents visited us, we went to our first baseball games, Saw Mason Jennings in concert, two of our friends had children and their families have grown And now it's almost 2009. Which also means that Winter is officially almost over (only a few more weeks!!), and I can stop driving to and from work in the dark within a month. I hope.
On to more recent news. For Thanksgiving, all of our friends were either working or leaving town to spend time with family, so Aaron and I had four days off together, to just sit around and do nothing. And that's exactly what we did. No Black Friday shopping crap, just hanging out, not working. It was really nice and relaxing. Aaron and I had fajitas for Thanksgiving dinner. Mmm, mmm, good!
I got a cold this last week. It started out pretty innocent, and I actually thought it was going to go away fairly quickly. Boy, was I wrong. Now, it's not the most horrible cold I have had, and thank goodness it's not the horrible crap that some co-workers and Jill got last week where they spent most of their Thanksgiving weekend hovering in the bathroom around a toilet, just your regular head cold.
I started looking for a second job this week at the mall across from where I work currently - nights and weekends, part time. I walked into the Bath and Body Works, and as I was picking up the application, the manager of the store approached me, asked me what I was doing at 6, and let me know they were having a group interview at that time, and I should come. She's hoping to have some people hired by this Saturday. It's Thursday, and I haven't heard from her, but who knows. I think I am also going to start donating plasma, there is a place near us that compensates for the donation. I figure all the extra money will go towards saving for the wedding.
A couple days ago, I ordered the CitiKitty, a toilet training kit for cats. I am so sick and tired of the litter box, in our one bedroom apartment, being in the bathroom, with bits of litter everywhere. It's driving me nuts. If we had a basement or extra bedroom, it wouldn't be so bad, but we just don't. Hopefully within a couple of months, we'll have him all trained up, and bye bye litter box! I'll let you know how it goes. Possibly pictures to come.
Our company had their Christmas party this afternoon at a location away from work. It was Hawaiian-themed, and a lot of fun. Games, trivia, prizes, and good pork barbecue. I got second place in the beanbag toss, but didn't manage to get my raffle ticket pulled for any of the other prizes. I never win those things.
So, that's about it, everything that's happened in the last three weeks or so, that I can think of that is worth blogging about! Sorry to keep you waiting so long!
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Updates
Alrighty. Time for another update, this time, with pictures!
First off are some pictures of Aaron's Halloween costume, as a robot:
My folks came out this weekend for their first visit since they had helped us move out in the Fall of 2007. I had my camera with me everywhere we went, but there never seemed to be any photo opportunities, but I did manage to get a few at home. They were planning on coming out on Friday evening, but due to the blizzard that hit the Black Hills a few days prior, the roads in most of South Dakota were still closed, so they postponed their trip by one day, and stayed an extra day.
Dad and Odin spent most of the time tormenting each other. Sometimes I felt bad for Odin, but I stopped feeling bad for him once I realized that he just kept coming back for more, again and again.
We visited a natural history museum on the U of M campus on Sunday. We also went to a beer brewing supply store so Dad could pick up some stuff for his brewing at home. We ate a LOT! Some days, I felt like that was all we did. And drove around a lot, kind of giving my folks the tour of the city. On Monday we visited the Mall of America, my folks had never been there before. That was okay, and took up a lot of the morning and some of the afternoon. We managed to find a nice light jacket for Aaron for 75% off at Eddie Bauer, so that was pretty cool. On Tuesday, Aaron had to work, so we ran some errands, and Mom needed new windshield wipers for her car.
All in all, a good weekend, sad that it had to end, but dealing with the 3 day work week pretty well, haha.
Getting back to work sucked! It was like Monday, with three times the work load, voice messages, and emails. I had 20 new voicemails this morning, and 23 new emails. Holy crap. It took me past lunch time to return all the voicemails! I even explicitly said on my voice greeting that I would be gone on Monday and Tuesday, and back on Wednesday. Some people kept calling and calling and leaving message after message. "I've been trying to get a hold of you! Maybe you're on vacation?" Well, if you would take the time to listen to the message, maybe you would figure that out on your own. Sheesh.
Whew.
First off are some pictures of Aaron's Halloween costume, as a robot:
My folks came out this weekend for their first visit since they had helped us move out in the Fall of 2007. I had my camera with me everywhere we went, but there never seemed to be any photo opportunities, but I did manage to get a few at home. They were planning on coming out on Friday evening, but due to the blizzard that hit the Black Hills a few days prior, the roads in most of South Dakota were still closed, so they postponed their trip by one day, and stayed an extra day.
Dad and Odin spent most of the time tormenting each other. Sometimes I felt bad for Odin, but I stopped feeling bad for him once I realized that he just kept coming back for more, again and again.
We visited a natural history museum on the U of M campus on Sunday. We also went to a beer brewing supply store so Dad could pick up some stuff for his brewing at home. We ate a LOT! Some days, I felt like that was all we did. And drove around a lot, kind of giving my folks the tour of the city. On Monday we visited the Mall of America, my folks had never been there before. That was okay, and took up a lot of the morning and some of the afternoon. We managed to find a nice light jacket for Aaron for 75% off at Eddie Bauer, so that was pretty cool. On Tuesday, Aaron had to work, so we ran some errands, and Mom needed new windshield wipers for her car.
All in all, a good weekend, sad that it had to end, but dealing with the 3 day work week pretty well, haha.
Getting back to work sucked! It was like Monday, with three times the work load, voice messages, and emails. I had 20 new voicemails this morning, and 23 new emails. Holy crap. It took me past lunch time to return all the voicemails! I even explicitly said on my voice greeting that I would be gone on Monday and Tuesday, and back on Wednesday. Some people kept calling and calling and leaving message after message. "I've been trying to get a hold of you! Maybe you're on vacation?" Well, if you would take the time to listen to the message, maybe you would figure that out on your own. Sheesh.
Whew.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Winter's Coming
So back home (in Spearfish, my second home), they got a few feet of snow over the last couple of days, and roads have shut down, no traveling. My folks were supposed to come out today to visit for a long weekend, but ended up having to postpone their trip by one day (hopefully only one day!), so we don't get to see them until tomorrow night. Bummer. But, that gives us extra time to get the apartment cleaned up! Yay!
I'm so glad that we did not get the feet and feet of snow here! To be perfectly honest, I am kind of scared of driving my new car in the snow. I got it in the spring/summer, and I haven't driven a manual transmission in over 5 years. I sometimes squeak the tires just driving on rain-slicked roads, going from a stop to a start. I am just going to have to drive extra super careful right away until I get used to how it handles.
I'm excited for my folks to come out! This will be the first time they've visited us since they initially helped us move all of our stuff out here in the Uhaul and Dad's truck. And it will be the first time I've gotten to see them since we went back home for a week in June. I think we're going to do a tour of a beer brewery, find Dad some beer brewing supplies, go to the infamous Mall of America (on a weekday, NOT the weekend), maybe the Minnesota Zoo.
Work is starting to get better. The new guy started this Monday, but of course is still in training, and will be for an additional two weeks. Once training is over, then he will get his own caseload. My caseload was decreased a teeny bit when some of my groups were given to a co-worker, and it has helped out tremendously. I'm still not caught up to where I want to be, but I feel like I can breathe again when I look at what work I have to do for the day.
Sorry about no pictures yet of the Halloween costumes. I have a couple of Aaron's robot costume on my camera that I have yet to load onto the computer, as well as one picture of the two of us at my co-worker's party that she took. Just need to get them on the computer so I can link them on here. It's about 6am right now, and I was just quick posting before I had to start getting ready for work!
Have a great weekend!
I'm so glad that we did not get the feet and feet of snow here! To be perfectly honest, I am kind of scared of driving my new car in the snow. I got it in the spring/summer, and I haven't driven a manual transmission in over 5 years. I sometimes squeak the tires just driving on rain-slicked roads, going from a stop to a start. I am just going to have to drive extra super careful right away until I get used to how it handles.
I'm excited for my folks to come out! This will be the first time they've visited us since they initially helped us move all of our stuff out here in the Uhaul and Dad's truck. And it will be the first time I've gotten to see them since we went back home for a week in June. I think we're going to do a tour of a beer brewery, find Dad some beer brewing supplies, go to the infamous Mall of America (on a weekday, NOT the weekend), maybe the Minnesota Zoo.
Work is starting to get better. The new guy started this Monday, but of course is still in training, and will be for an additional two weeks. Once training is over, then he will get his own caseload. My caseload was decreased a teeny bit when some of my groups were given to a co-worker, and it has helped out tremendously. I'm still not caught up to where I want to be, but I feel like I can breathe again when I look at what work I have to do for the day.
Sorry about no pictures yet of the Halloween costumes. I have a couple of Aaron's robot costume on my camera that I have yet to load onto the computer, as well as one picture of the two of us at my co-worker's party that she took. Just need to get them on the computer so I can link them on here. It's about 6am right now, and I was just quick posting before I had to start getting ready for work!
Have a great weekend!
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Sunday, November 02, 2008
Halloween 2008
Whew, what a weekend (and it's not even 6am on Sunday). On Friday, we got to dress up at work (as long as it was appropriate attire), and there was a costume contest, a candy game, and good times over all. I went as a mad scientist, Dr. Horrible, from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog by Joss Whedon. It wasn't a perfect likeness, so I mostly was just a mad scientist with a freeze ray gun, and fuzzy, purple hair.
One of my co-workers invited me to her Halloween party that was on Saturday night. We had to find a costume for Aaron, which was proving to be hard, after visiting a few costume stores. I just didn't like any of them, and neither did he. Then on Thursday, he sends me a message while I'm at work that he wants to be a box-robot! How fun! I was still searching for stuff for my costume, so I went to one of our favorite little stores, Ax-Man. It's a surplus store - everything that was ever in a junk drawer at home? This is where it comes from. I got boxes, reflectors, LED lights, mailbox flags with reflectors, and an old-style oven timer. This was going to be so cool!
It took us most of the afternoon on Saturday to complete the costume. A lot of the initial time was spent waiting for glue to dry. It was a very intricate suit - with a speaker in the front for listening to music, two bottles on little shelves in the inside corners of the suit, hooked up to funnels on the outside for drinking - one for beer, one for liquor. Straws attached to those so Aaron could drink without leaving the costume. LED lights diffused by wax paper for eyes, and dryer tubing, that aluminum looking stuff, for his arms. We plastered the whole thing in aluminum, and were set!
Odin had a blast the whole time, ever since I brought the boxes home on Thursday. He would climb up them and in them, loved the LED lights and the noise of the aluminum foil when we were putting it all together. We will definitely have to store the robot in the garage for next year, that way he doesn't destroy it (and I don't know where we'd keep it in the apartment, anyway!)
He was an instant hit at the party. We explained it to a lot of people. Most people wondered how he was going to pee, as we had not created any sort of hatch in the front or back. The costume was like a little oven, so he ended up having to take it off several times throughout the night to cool down. I only knew a couple of people at the party, my co-worker Lori, and her roommate whom I'd met a couple of times before. Everyone else was new to us.
There were tons of people, good music, TONS of good food, tippy cup and beer pong to play down stairs, and just a good party atmosphere. Until Aaron got pushed up the stairs by some drunk guy, and he's not sure exactly what happened, but I think the oven timer fell out of the front of the costume, and then broke. He had to throw it away. Then he came and told me about it, which sucked. I'm sure the guy was probably drunk and did not mean to do so, but c'mon. He's a giant box robot - he can't just hop up those steps real quick. So, we hung around a bit longer, then said goodbye and headed home. It was a lot of fun, up until the end.
Amazingly, we were home right around midnight, which isn't too terribly late. I was, however, up at 6am today because I never sleep well after I've been drinking. Oh well.
One of my co-workers invited me to her Halloween party that was on Saturday night. We had to find a costume for Aaron, which was proving to be hard, after visiting a few costume stores. I just didn't like any of them, and neither did he. Then on Thursday, he sends me a message while I'm at work that he wants to be a box-robot! How fun! I was still searching for stuff for my costume, so I went to one of our favorite little stores, Ax-Man. It's a surplus store - everything that was ever in a junk drawer at home? This is where it comes from. I got boxes, reflectors, LED lights, mailbox flags with reflectors, and an old-style oven timer. This was going to be so cool!
It took us most of the afternoon on Saturday to complete the costume. A lot of the initial time was spent waiting for glue to dry. It was a very intricate suit - with a speaker in the front for listening to music, two bottles on little shelves in the inside corners of the suit, hooked up to funnels on the outside for drinking - one for beer, one for liquor. Straws attached to those so Aaron could drink without leaving the costume. LED lights diffused by wax paper for eyes, and dryer tubing, that aluminum looking stuff, for his arms. We plastered the whole thing in aluminum, and were set!
Odin had a blast the whole time, ever since I brought the boxes home on Thursday. He would climb up them and in them, loved the LED lights and the noise of the aluminum foil when we were putting it all together. We will definitely have to store the robot in the garage for next year, that way he doesn't destroy it (and I don't know where we'd keep it in the apartment, anyway!)
He was an instant hit at the party. We explained it to a lot of people. Most people wondered how he was going to pee, as we had not created any sort of hatch in the front or back. The costume was like a little oven, so he ended up having to take it off several times throughout the night to cool down. I only knew a couple of people at the party, my co-worker Lori, and her roommate whom I'd met a couple of times before. Everyone else was new to us.
There were tons of people, good music, TONS of good food, tippy cup and beer pong to play down stairs, and just a good party atmosphere. Until Aaron got pushed up the stairs by some drunk guy, and he's not sure exactly what happened, but I think the oven timer fell out of the front of the costume, and then broke. He had to throw it away. Then he came and told me about it, which sucked. I'm sure the guy was probably drunk and did not mean to do so, but c'mon. He's a giant box robot - he can't just hop up those steps real quick. So, we hung around a bit longer, then said goodbye and headed home. It was a lot of fun, up until the end.
Amazingly, we were home right around midnight, which isn't too terribly late. I was, however, up at 6am today because I never sleep well after I've been drinking. Oh well.
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Dentist
Just got back from the dentist's office this afternoon. It was my first visit with that dentist (and my first visit in about three years). I have perfectly healthy teeth and gums!! But, I have a pretty severe TMJ problem, just like my sister (only I'm taking care of mine sooner than she did, so hopefully I won't have the same problems and expenses as Ashley).
No cleaning for this appointment, just x-rays and poking around. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to have my teeth cleaned and impressions made for a splint. After the splint is fabricated, we'll see where my jaw WANTS to be, and not where my teeth are making it go. Hopefully it doesn't move too far and I don't end up needing ortho work (again!). Hopefully the splint will just fix everything and I won't even have to be referred to a TMJ specialist!
I had originally made an appointment to see a dentist because my jaw was giving me lots of problems. Couldn't chew on the right side of my mouth without the left side of my jaw hurting, I think I was grinding my jaw during work (high stress right now, as my workload tripled a month ago), and possibly during sleep. Also, I couldn't even bite down all the way - my molars wouldn't touch each other. By the time I made it into the dentist today, that had gone away, but it's still sore, and I'm still getting headaches. Hopefully we can put an end to it soon, and I think my dental insurance will cover most of this!
Not much else to say at this point. Kinda nice to get off work after only five hours AND feel like I accomplished more today than I did yesterday in eight hours of work!
No cleaning for this appointment, just x-rays and poking around. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to have my teeth cleaned and impressions made for a splint. After the splint is fabricated, we'll see where my jaw WANTS to be, and not where my teeth are making it go. Hopefully it doesn't move too far and I don't end up needing ortho work (again!). Hopefully the splint will just fix everything and I won't even have to be referred to a TMJ specialist!
I had originally made an appointment to see a dentist because my jaw was giving me lots of problems. Couldn't chew on the right side of my mouth without the left side of my jaw hurting, I think I was grinding my jaw during work (high stress right now, as my workload tripled a month ago), and possibly during sleep. Also, I couldn't even bite down all the way - my molars wouldn't touch each other. By the time I made it into the dentist today, that had gone away, but it's still sore, and I'm still getting headaches. Hopefully we can put an end to it soon, and I think my dental insurance will cover most of this!
Not much else to say at this point. Kinda nice to get off work after only five hours AND feel like I accomplished more today than I did yesterday in eight hours of work!
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Sunday, October 19, 2008
Concert weekend
Aaron and I got to go see Mason Jennings in concert at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Minneapolis last night, thanks to my dad (a birthday present). The concert was great! I was worried I wouldn't know many of the songs, because I don't have a full album of his work, not even one, I have just downloaded songs from the internet, and kept the ones I liked. Fortunately, I had downloaded fairly popular songs!
The opening act was Zach Gill, from California. He sang witty songs, clever lines, and made the audience laugh. He reminded me of a non-country Jalan Crossland, for those of you who know who he is. Then Mason Jennings came out, and had Zach Gill on keyboard for most of the show, except for the songs that didn't require keyboard, or the songs that Mason himself played keyboard. I have some pictures from the concert that were fairly decent, considering we weren't close enough that a flash bulb would do any good, and I had to take a bunch with different ISO and exposure settings to get it just right.
We weren't terribly close, but it was a small theater, with good sound, and no one was sitting in front of us, so that always helps :)
Here are some videos I found on YouTube, as well.
I could only find a couple that I could link from YouTube that weren't live (just doesn't sound as good). Oh well. Enjoy! I know I did!
The opening act was Zach Gill, from California. He sang witty songs, clever lines, and made the audience laugh. He reminded me of a non-country Jalan Crossland, for those of you who know who he is. Then Mason Jennings came out, and had Zach Gill on keyboard for most of the show, except for the songs that didn't require keyboard, or the songs that Mason himself played keyboard. I have some pictures from the concert that were fairly decent, considering we weren't close enough that a flash bulb would do any good, and I had to take a bunch with different ISO and exposure settings to get it just right.
We weren't terribly close, but it was a small theater, with good sound, and no one was sitting in front of us, so that always helps :)
Here are some videos I found on YouTube, as well.
I could only find a couple that I could link from YouTube that weren't live (just doesn't sound as good). Oh well. Enjoy! I know I did!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Ooofta
It's been a while since I last posted, sorry. Work has been crazy-busy with my full caseload, and usually when I get home, I don't feel like recapping my day. Last weekend Aaron and I didn't do anything, which was nice. This weekend, we drove to Hudson, Wisconsin for a wedding - one of Aaron's co-workers got married. It was a lot of fun.
There was a long Catholic mass/ceremony, and you could tell that not many of their friends and family were Catholic, as they didn't know when to stand or sit, or what words to say or sing. I was able to help Aaron and the other people around us to know when to stand, and when to shake hands and say "Peace be with you." I think the last time I was at mass was during another wedding, back in 2006, I think. Needless to say, I was a little rusty, but it was all very familiar, and kind of like riding a bike - you just never forget.
The weather was beautiful, the trees in Hudson are great oranges and reds, just the way I like 'em.
I got to see Jess and Bret's baby for the first time - he's four weeks old now. What a cutie. I was holding him and burping him, and he just wasn't burping or anything, and then all of the sudden, he turns his head and spews all down the side of my shirt. Oh well, it dried up pretty quick, and didn't leave any stains. I knew what I was getting into when I got him.
The leaves out here are starting to drop rapidly - I'm watching them shower off the trees in the back yard through the window right now. So we definitely want to plan the wedding for before the leaves all drop.
Well, that's about it for me. Two weeks' worth, and barely a full post.
There was a long Catholic mass/ceremony, and you could tell that not many of their friends and family were Catholic, as they didn't know when to stand or sit, or what words to say or sing. I was able to help Aaron and the other people around us to know when to stand, and when to shake hands and say "Peace be with you." I think the last time I was at mass was during another wedding, back in 2006, I think. Needless to say, I was a little rusty, but it was all very familiar, and kind of like riding a bike - you just never forget.
The weather was beautiful, the trees in Hudson are great oranges and reds, just the way I like 'em.
I got to see Jess and Bret's baby for the first time - he's four weeks old now. What a cutie. I was holding him and burping him, and he just wasn't burping or anything, and then all of the sudden, he turns his head and spews all down the side of my shirt. Oh well, it dried up pretty quick, and didn't leave any stains. I knew what I was getting into when I got him.
The leaves out here are starting to drop rapidly - I'm watching them shower off the trees in the back yard through the window right now. So we definitely want to plan the wedding for before the leaves all drop.
Well, that's about it for me. Two weeks' worth, and barely a full post.
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Sunday, September 28, 2008
What a week
Man, it's been a long week. I'm starting to get used to being busy all the time at work - it's a little hard, as I was used to having some free time to talk to people and take some breaks. I'm ready for a three-day weekend, that's for sure.
Our city is doing an inspection of the apartment complex tomorrow, so we had to get the apartment all spiffed up for that - they are doing random inspections of apartments, so you don't know if they're going to show up, and of course, we're both at work tomorrow, so we can't be there.
I got to go to my first hockey game this week, too! One of my co-workers has season tickets, but couldn't make it to the game, so she offered the pair of tickets to another co-worker, who then called me to see if I had any plans for the evening. It's rare that we do have plans, so I was able to go. It was a fun time! I'd never been to the Xcel center before, and I'd never seen a hockey game before, not even high school or college league. I'm really glad I got to go, it was an awesome time (and you can't beat free tickets!!). So thanks to Karolyn and Lori for that.
I've been slacking on my working out. When the softball games started, it interrupted me being able to go work out every day during the work week, which threw me all off. Then, it got really popular after about 5pm, and I usually get home around 4:30pm, so I have to get home and change as soon as I'm home (which keeps me from sitting in front of the TV and not going at all...), but it feels rushed. I might start going into work half an hour early, and then leaving at 3:30pm, so I can be home by around 4pm, and not have to worry about the rush.
Well, I guess that's it for me, just wanted to do an update since I hadn't done one in a while.
Our city is doing an inspection of the apartment complex tomorrow, so we had to get the apartment all spiffed up for that - they are doing random inspections of apartments, so you don't know if they're going to show up, and of course, we're both at work tomorrow, so we can't be there.
I got to go to my first hockey game this week, too! One of my co-workers has season tickets, but couldn't make it to the game, so she offered the pair of tickets to another co-worker, who then called me to see if I had any plans for the evening. It's rare that we do have plans, so I was able to go. It was a fun time! I'd never been to the Xcel center before, and I'd never seen a hockey game before, not even high school or college league. I'm really glad I got to go, it was an awesome time (and you can't beat free tickets!!). So thanks to Karolyn and Lori for that.
I've been slacking on my working out. When the softball games started, it interrupted me being able to go work out every day during the work week, which threw me all off. Then, it got really popular after about 5pm, and I usually get home around 4:30pm, so I have to get home and change as soon as I'm home (which keeps me from sitting in front of the TV and not going at all...), but it feels rushed. I might start going into work half an hour early, and then leaving at 3:30pm, so I can be home by around 4pm, and not have to worry about the rush.
Well, I guess that's it for me, just wanted to do an update since I hadn't done one in a while.
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Saturday, September 20, 2008
Alrighty
It's been a while since I updated, so I thought I'd add some pictures and just general stuff in this post.
I have a full caseload at work now - I've been very blessed that the first eight months at the company that I have had a relatively small caseload, in order to get used to the system, the rules, and to find my own way of managing all of this. One of my co-workers is moving from the short term disability department over to long term disability, so I have taken on all of her groups, as well as the ones I was already managing. So instead of getting one to two new claims every couple of days, I'm getting four to seven new claims each day. I am busy, that's for sure, but before, I didn't really have a lot to do, and was constantly looking for other things to keep me busy throughout the day. So this will be a nice, brisk change of pace that I am looking forward to. This all started on Monday the 15th, so this was my first week with the full caseload. Whew. I made it through alive.
I found out about a company called the Paper Depot through a co-worker of Aaron's. They specialize in creating your own invitations, for anything from parties, to weddings. They have tons of samples of other works that have been done there, they have workshops, and all the supplies you could ever need to make your own wedding invitations. Paper punches, stamps, embossing powder, glue, envelopes, all kinds of paper, etc. It was very cool. I stopped by there after work some time this week, and played with a bunch of the paper punches that they had - they have sample paper that you can use to test out the punches, which I thought was really cool. Here's some of the ones I liked the best:
Those are not the colors I would choose, but I just picked out the red as a sharp contrast to the off-white colored scrap paper they provided. I was thinking more orange and brown or green for the invitations, or all three. And maybe red. Who knows.
Then, this morning Aaron and I had an appointment at the Earle Brown Heritage Center to view the rooms to be rented and the grounds. We'd already been to the grounds when Aaron's folks were in town a couple of weeks ago. I never put pictures up because I just was too tired after that weekend, and was still recovering from my cold. When I took the outdoor pictures, there weren't any fall colors yet, but there are a few starting to show up now.
The indoor pictures were taken today. It's a nice room, with a lot of history. Not sure if the tapestry and case with old horse equipment is going to go with the theme, but we can work around that, and cover it up, if need be. We just can't take it down.
The woman who gave us the tour was nice, but didn't have a lot of information for us as far as renting went, which was fine, because it was nice to not be pressured into picking a date or anything like that right away. I still want to talk it all over with Aaron this weekend, but I think that's the place for us.
And then here are some new pictures of Odin, playing with his new catnip-stuffed toy I made for him this evening. He was drooling all over it once I finally finished it and let him play.
Oh, and on Monday this week, I met up with a florist - I work with her mom at the insurance company. The three of us had lunch, and I showed her pictures of the flowers I am thinking of using for the wedding. I want flowers that aren't "traditional" and that have lots of texture and personality. She agreed that a lot of the flowers that I picked out were great for the time of year, and that we could do a lot of fun things with them, so that was exciting. Every time I go into the grocery store, I wander by the floral department, and usually have my camera in my purse, so I've been trying to get some pictures of them, even though I might not know the names of them, a florist would. I'll post pictures later, maybe.
That's it for now!
I have a full caseload at work now - I've been very blessed that the first eight months at the company that I have had a relatively small caseload, in order to get used to the system, the rules, and to find my own way of managing all of this. One of my co-workers is moving from the short term disability department over to long term disability, so I have taken on all of her groups, as well as the ones I was already managing. So instead of getting one to two new claims every couple of days, I'm getting four to seven new claims each day. I am busy, that's for sure, but before, I didn't really have a lot to do, and was constantly looking for other things to keep me busy throughout the day. So this will be a nice, brisk change of pace that I am looking forward to. This all started on Monday the 15th, so this was my first week with the full caseload. Whew. I made it through alive.
I found out about a company called the Paper Depot through a co-worker of Aaron's. They specialize in creating your own invitations, for anything from parties, to weddings. They have tons of samples of other works that have been done there, they have workshops, and all the supplies you could ever need to make your own wedding invitations. Paper punches, stamps, embossing powder, glue, envelopes, all kinds of paper, etc. It was very cool. I stopped by there after work some time this week, and played with a bunch of the paper punches that they had - they have sample paper that you can use to test out the punches, which I thought was really cool. Here's some of the ones I liked the best:
Those are not the colors I would choose, but I just picked out the red as a sharp contrast to the off-white colored scrap paper they provided. I was thinking more orange and brown or green for the invitations, or all three. And maybe red. Who knows.
Then, this morning Aaron and I had an appointment at the Earle Brown Heritage Center to view the rooms to be rented and the grounds. We'd already been to the grounds when Aaron's folks were in town a couple of weeks ago. I never put pictures up because I just was too tired after that weekend, and was still recovering from my cold. When I took the outdoor pictures, there weren't any fall colors yet, but there are a few starting to show up now.
The indoor pictures were taken today. It's a nice room, with a lot of history. Not sure if the tapestry and case with old horse equipment is going to go with the theme, but we can work around that, and cover it up, if need be. We just can't take it down.
The woman who gave us the tour was nice, but didn't have a lot of information for us as far as renting went, which was fine, because it was nice to not be pressured into picking a date or anything like that right away. I still want to talk it all over with Aaron this weekend, but I think that's the place for us.
And then here are some new pictures of Odin, playing with his new catnip-stuffed toy I made for him this evening. He was drooling all over it once I finally finished it and let him play.
Oh, and on Monday this week, I met up with a florist - I work with her mom at the insurance company. The three of us had lunch, and I showed her pictures of the flowers I am thinking of using for the wedding. I want flowers that aren't "traditional" and that have lots of texture and personality. She agreed that a lot of the flowers that I picked out were great for the time of year, and that we could do a lot of fun things with them, so that was exciting. Every time I go into the grocery store, I wander by the floral department, and usually have my camera in my purse, so I've been trying to get some pictures of them, even though I might not know the names of them, a florist would. I'll post pictures later, maybe.
That's it for now!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
I think we've got it figured out
Alright, I think we have our wedding venue picked out! I told Aaron earlier in the week that I wanted to have a venue picked out by the end of the month, because there's only about a year to go until the wedding. We still don't have an exact date, but I want it to be during the fall colors. They are just starting to show up on some of the maple trees.
Anyway, I really liked both Centennial Lakes Park in Edina, and the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center. Aaron hadn't seen the Centennial Lakes Park because I went there after work one day and took pictures, and all I could find was a small tri-fold with information about renting. I had contacted the Earle Brown Heritage center via email and requested a rental information packet from them, and received a very nice one, which had information about all the food and drink they serve, detailed pictures of the rooms and layouts of them, etc. Aaron didn't want to waste time going down to Edina yesterday to look - he said we should just go with the Earle Brown because the costs seem very reasonable, and it's VERY close to where we live.
So we started breaking everything down, and I think we can definitely do something VERY nice that is within our budget. I'm really excited. I sent an email to the woman who sent me the package (since it was Saturday, after all), and let her know we were interested in a certain time frame, and asked when we might be able to go and visit. Hopefully I will hear back from her early in the week.
Aaron and I have really been enjoying our weekend so far - all we've done is some grocery shopping as far as getting out of the apartment. We did some cleaning, as we hadn't really done that since BEFORE the boys showed up for Labor Day Weekend.
We're going to reinstate Game Night on Wednesday nights - we played cribbage for the first time in a LONG time last night. Aaron figured the reason Game Night disappeared during the summer was from a multitude of things. Being busy, it just being unreasonably hot in the apartment, Aaron starting to play World of Warcraft again. So it'll be nice to have our Game Night back!
That's about it for now. Until next time!
Anyway, I really liked both Centennial Lakes Park in Edina, and the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center. Aaron hadn't seen the Centennial Lakes Park because I went there after work one day and took pictures, and all I could find was a small tri-fold with information about renting. I had contacted the Earle Brown Heritage center via email and requested a rental information packet from them, and received a very nice one, which had information about all the food and drink they serve, detailed pictures of the rooms and layouts of them, etc. Aaron didn't want to waste time going down to Edina yesterday to look - he said we should just go with the Earle Brown because the costs seem very reasonable, and it's VERY close to where we live.
So we started breaking everything down, and I think we can definitely do something VERY nice that is within our budget. I'm really excited. I sent an email to the woman who sent me the package (since it was Saturday, after all), and let her know we were interested in a certain time frame, and asked when we might be able to go and visit. Hopefully I will hear back from her early in the week.
Aaron and I have really been enjoying our weekend so far - all we've done is some grocery shopping as far as getting out of the apartment. We did some cleaning, as we hadn't really done that since BEFORE the boys showed up for Labor Day Weekend.
We're going to reinstate Game Night on Wednesday nights - we played cribbage for the first time in a LONG time last night. Aaron figured the reason Game Night disappeared during the summer was from a multitude of things. Being busy, it just being unreasonably hot in the apartment, Aaron starting to play World of Warcraft again. So it'll be nice to have our Game Night back!
That's about it for now. Until next time!
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Thursday, September 11, 2008
Tooth Dream
I had a dream this morning that my bottom molars on the right side were coming loose, but just the tops of them, not the whole tooth. I needed to get to a dentist, and I was in this overly large office building of some sort that had every kind of store, office, shop imaginable, but it was so big that I couldn't find the dentist.
Plus, I had been wandering around trying to find Aaron, and I found him on a deck/porch with a bunch of friends, smoking a cigarette with them! I was SO mad. He hadn't smoked in at least two years, and there he was, doing it again. I stormed off, still in the pursuit of a dentist.
I ended up finding a bathroom to check out my teeth in. The tops were so loose, I just pulled them all off, so I wouldn't accidentally bite down on them and break something. I wrapped them in a paper towel, to save for later, but underneath the tops of my teeth were wires, sprouting everywhere! They were the nerve endings. I had to be careful not to bite down on them, either, and I couldn't move them around easily, there were so many, and they sprouted up so tall. How could all of those fit under my tooth??
And that's it...so strange. I seem to be having a lot of tooth dreams lately.
Plus, I had been wandering around trying to find Aaron, and I found him on a deck/porch with a bunch of friends, smoking a cigarette with them! I was SO mad. He hadn't smoked in at least two years, and there he was, doing it again. I stormed off, still in the pursuit of a dentist.
I ended up finding a bathroom to check out my teeth in. The tops were so loose, I just pulled them all off, so I wouldn't accidentally bite down on them and break something. I wrapped them in a paper towel, to save for later, but underneath the tops of my teeth were wires, sprouting everywhere! They were the nerve endings. I had to be careful not to bite down on them, either, and I couldn't move them around easily, there were so many, and they sprouted up so tall. How could all of those fit under my tooth??
And that's it...so strange. I seem to be having a lot of tooth dreams lately.
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Saturday, September 06, 2008
dreams
I kept having these dreams last night / this morning. I was back home in Gillette, at my parents' house, and you could see lots of airplanes in the sky (which isn't unusual here in Minneapolis, but back home, it was, especially flying this low). Occasionally, you would see a plane dip beyond the horizon, and could hear it crash. We lived in a little valley, so there were lots of horizons around us. Eventually, a plane crashed right in our neighbor's yard, almost hitting his house. I couldn't tell if there was even anyone in the plane, there didn't seem to be. As we were getting closer, ANOTHER plane crashed on top of that one!
Just about that time, Aaron was coming to bed. I had to wake myself up to stop dreaming about airplane crashes, it was awful. I fell back asleep again, and started dreaming about it again. Only this time, whenever a plane crashed, it unleashed some horrible monster that was eating people.
What the heck??
Just about that time, Aaron was coming to bed. I had to wake myself up to stop dreaming about airplane crashes, it was awful. I fell back asleep again, and started dreaming about it again. Only this time, whenever a plane crashed, it unleashed some horrible monster that was eating people.
What the heck??
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Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
One Year
Today, September 1st, 2008, marks my one year anniversary in Minneapolis. I can't believe it's been 12 months already since my parents helped me pack up the U-haul, drive 13 hours across two states, and unpack into our tiny apartment (which we've managed to fill with even more junk in those 12 months). Here's a run-down of my first year in Minneapolis:
September:
Getting used to city traffic was easier than I thought. Easier than finding a job, that's for sure. I started job hunting right away, but couldn't find anything. We went to a wedding, Aaron got kidney stones, and had to go to the hospital, we had a huge storm, lost power, and almost set the place on fire because Aaron leaves things on the stove, and we didn't turn the electric burner off when we lost power.
October:
Aaron's parents come out for a visit, and they are the first in our families to see the apartment all set up. I was still looking for a job, and had a couple of interviews. A friend heard about an opening at a clothing store, so I interviewed twice, and was offered the job. Didn't start until the end of the month, but finally, after two months of searching and filling out applications, I had a job, even though it was a 30 minute commute without traffic. I'd also applied at an insurance company that I knew had an opening through one of Aaron's co-workers.
We saw the leaves change colors in Stillwater and Taylor's Falls with Aaron's folks, Aaron suffered a head wound due to not paying attention to where he was walking (no scar on his forehead...amazing!), Halloween costume party at a friend's house, and we started looking at puppies and kitties on the weekends at the animal shelter. We also ended up in two or three different garages in that period because they kept giving me a garage that someone ELSE already had. Jill came out for a visit, we carved pumpkins, and made pork pot stickers. Mmm. I started working at Von Maur near the end of the month.
November:
I interviewed at the insurance company this month, but never heard back from them. I had to go through the hassle of getting Minnesota license plates for my car, as the Wyoming ones were expired. Trouble was this: the registration I had was in my dad's name, the title to my car that was in my name was in Wyoming, and my parents were in Australia. We found a temporary fix that allowed me to get my plates, but more problems arose from that later on, which lasted for six months.
December:
Second interview at the insurance place - my first one was for long term disability, my second one for short term disability. I hear back from them right around New Years that I got the job and can start in January. Aaron and I try to become vegetarians (with the exception that we are allowed to eat fish, like during Lent), and I get my new Nokia 6120 Classic smart phone, straight from Singapore. Work at Von Maur is very busy, as Christmas is almost upon us. We can't make it home for Christmas, as I can't get the time off, and we couldn't afford to fly, and didn't want to drive back there in the winter. We had ham dinner with Jamie and Karlie, which was most excellent, and employed "Game Night" on Wednesday nights, so Aaron and I wouldn't be ignoring each other all night long.
January:
Two weeks left at Von Maur before I start training at the insurance company. Inventory happened after Christmas, which was the longest day of my life - we had to scan every item in the entire store with little hand scanners and it was just long and terrible, and they didn't even play music on the overhead speakers. Lame. I started training at the insurance company, which lasted a total of three weeks before I started working on some stuff on my own. It was exhausting - my brain has never been so tired. I have my first office job, my first desk, and I almost feel like a grown up. Almost.
We also adopted "Juno" from the animal shelter, to be renamed later as Odin. He was a sickly little guy when we got him, so sweet and snuggly. That was all about to change after a trip to the vet and some medicine.
February:
We ordered SoftPaws for Odin because he likes to use our furniture as scratching stations, and I don't believe in declawing a cat. Odin's energy levels increase exponentially after he gets better from his cold - he starts howling at night and bothering us at 2am. There will not be a sound night of sleep for us until July. Our dishwasher has sucked since day one of moving into the apartments, and no matter how many times the handyman comes over and runs dishwasher cleaner through it, it still sucks. Odin thinks it would be fun to eat the soap-covered crumbs out of the bottom of the dishwasher, and then start foaming at the mouth. Mmm, Mmm, Good! Total lunar eclipse occurred this month, and I got to see my junior high friend, Brittany again for the first time in years - she happens to live about 10 miles from me. Crazy.
March:
We found out that Aaron's parents had to put their dog, Buffy, to sleep. He was 18 years old, and having lots of problems. Very sweet dog, I miss him when we visit back home. We took Odin for his first car ride, to see how he would fare - we wanted to take him back home with us when we went out in June to see our families again. Aaron and I celebrated 3 years together this month. Aaron's car is giving him problems continuously, and he starts researching for a new car. Aaron wanted a hatchback, and we test drove a lot of cars. The Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Kia Spectra, etc. Aaron finally decides on the Mazda 3 5-door hatch in Galaxy Gray. Very nice. We went to a beagle's 4th birthday party, as well. Interesting, but fun.
For Easter, we spent it with Nathan, his now ex-girlfriend Natalie, and Nathan's family - not before indulging in a night of drinking before going back to Nathan's apartment. Our friend Brandon joined us from Iowa, and a good ol' time was had.
April:
Aaron's folks come out for another visit. We get to go to our first baseball game ever! After that, we instantly become Minnesota Twins fans. The best part about this month: Aaron proposes to me. Not in the most romantic fashion, but I got the titanium ring of my liking, and am a happy girl. We also got Aaron sized for a ring, but haven't purchased anything for him to date.
May:
I cut Aaron's hair (or anyone's hair aside from my own) for the first time - he didn't end up with a bald spot - go me! Our bath tub gets clogged and we have to bring in the handyman to fix it because we can't do it on our own, and Odin gets his first ever bath, and becomes somewhat of a hit on YouTube. Aaron and I see our first movie in the movie theater in TWO YEARS - Iron Man. Odin gets a kitty carrier in preparation for our trip next month to South Dakota and Wyoming.
June:
Aaron and I go to the Department of Motor Vehicles on a Tuesday (after taking the day off) to get Minnesota driver's licenses. I barely passed mine, Aaron just failed his. He was quite frustrated, and I don't blame him. Someone had repeatedly backed into our garage door, and now it doesn't open easily. I attempt to give blood for the first time in four years, which doesn't go over well with the vein they pierced...a ginormous bruise is my only souvenir.
We drive out home and spend a week in South Dakota and Wyoming, visiting friends and family, barbecuing, and spending most nights in Spearfish at the local Irish pub. Good times, good times. Odin does fairly well on his first big car trip, but was happy to be back home, and not sharing a house with another cat.
July:
Aaron and I go see fireworks, and I got some pretty good pictures, if I do say so myself. We make plans to go visit Jill in Fargo for the first time since moving out here. Ashley starts bothering me about wedding planning, stating if I have it during the school year, she might not be able to come because she would have to miss school. She'll find a way out here. We plan for August/September. Aaron begins to threaten to get rid of the cat. He hasn't gotten a full night's sleep since we got him in January, and he can't continue like this. I come up with some suggestions - wearing him out before bed - works for one night. Then we decide to start kenneling him - which has been working great. Full eight hours of sleep!!
I start working out, needing to get in shape and lose some weight for the wedding. I have a year to do it, but I don't want to try to put a lot of pressure on myself to get it done in the last few months, so I start as soon as we get back from Fargo.
August:
My company has a fall softball league that I joined. We haven't won a single game yet, but we did tie one! The month has gone by pretty quickly. Aaron and I start looking for wedding venues, and start thinking September/October for the wedding - cooler outside. I find out about a trunk show for wedding dresses by a designer I like, and pick out my gown! Only 20 weeks until it comes in! The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is in full swing, and we have three guys staying in our one bedroom apartment over the weekend. Our air conditioner has never been busier.
And that's my year in Minneapolis. Whew.
September:
Getting used to city traffic was easier than I thought. Easier than finding a job, that's for sure. I started job hunting right away, but couldn't find anything. We went to a wedding, Aaron got kidney stones, and had to go to the hospital, we had a huge storm, lost power, and almost set the place on fire because Aaron leaves things on the stove, and we didn't turn the electric burner off when we lost power.
October:
Aaron's parents come out for a visit, and they are the first in our families to see the apartment all set up. I was still looking for a job, and had a couple of interviews. A friend heard about an opening at a clothing store, so I interviewed twice, and was offered the job. Didn't start until the end of the month, but finally, after two months of searching and filling out applications, I had a job, even though it was a 30 minute commute without traffic. I'd also applied at an insurance company that I knew had an opening through one of Aaron's co-workers.
We saw the leaves change colors in Stillwater and Taylor's Falls with Aaron's folks, Aaron suffered a head wound due to not paying attention to where he was walking (no scar on his forehead...amazing!), Halloween costume party at a friend's house, and we started looking at puppies and kitties on the weekends at the animal shelter. We also ended up in two or three different garages in that period because they kept giving me a garage that someone ELSE already had. Jill came out for a visit, we carved pumpkins, and made pork pot stickers. Mmm. I started working at Von Maur near the end of the month.
November:
I interviewed at the insurance company this month, but never heard back from them. I had to go through the hassle of getting Minnesota license plates for my car, as the Wyoming ones were expired. Trouble was this: the registration I had was in my dad's name, the title to my car that was in my name was in Wyoming, and my parents were in Australia. We found a temporary fix that allowed me to get my plates, but more problems arose from that later on, which lasted for six months.
December:
Second interview at the insurance place - my first one was for long term disability, my second one for short term disability. I hear back from them right around New Years that I got the job and can start in January. Aaron and I try to become vegetarians (with the exception that we are allowed to eat fish, like during Lent), and I get my new Nokia 6120 Classic smart phone, straight from Singapore. Work at Von Maur is very busy, as Christmas is almost upon us. We can't make it home for Christmas, as I can't get the time off, and we couldn't afford to fly, and didn't want to drive back there in the winter. We had ham dinner with Jamie and Karlie, which was most excellent, and employed "Game Night" on Wednesday nights, so Aaron and I wouldn't be ignoring each other all night long.
January:
Two weeks left at Von Maur before I start training at the insurance company. Inventory happened after Christmas, which was the longest day of my life - we had to scan every item in the entire store with little hand scanners and it was just long and terrible, and they didn't even play music on the overhead speakers. Lame. I started training at the insurance company, which lasted a total of three weeks before I started working on some stuff on my own. It was exhausting - my brain has never been so tired. I have my first office job, my first desk, and I almost feel like a grown up. Almost.
We also adopted "Juno" from the animal shelter, to be renamed later as Odin. He was a sickly little guy when we got him, so sweet and snuggly. That was all about to change after a trip to the vet and some medicine.
February:
We ordered SoftPaws for Odin because he likes to use our furniture as scratching stations, and I don't believe in declawing a cat. Odin's energy levels increase exponentially after he gets better from his cold - he starts howling at night and bothering us at 2am. There will not be a sound night of sleep for us until July. Our dishwasher has sucked since day one of moving into the apartments, and no matter how many times the handyman comes over and runs dishwasher cleaner through it, it still sucks. Odin thinks it would be fun to eat the soap-covered crumbs out of the bottom of the dishwasher, and then start foaming at the mouth. Mmm, Mmm, Good! Total lunar eclipse occurred this month, and I got to see my junior high friend, Brittany again for the first time in years - she happens to live about 10 miles from me. Crazy.
March:
We found out that Aaron's parents had to put their dog, Buffy, to sleep. He was 18 years old, and having lots of problems. Very sweet dog, I miss him when we visit back home. We took Odin for his first car ride, to see how he would fare - we wanted to take him back home with us when we went out in June to see our families again. Aaron and I celebrated 3 years together this month. Aaron's car is giving him problems continuously, and he starts researching for a new car. Aaron wanted a hatchback, and we test drove a lot of cars. The Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Kia Spectra, etc. Aaron finally decides on the Mazda 3 5-door hatch in Galaxy Gray. Very nice. We went to a beagle's 4th birthday party, as well. Interesting, but fun.
For Easter, we spent it with Nathan, his now ex-girlfriend Natalie, and Nathan's family - not before indulging in a night of drinking before going back to Nathan's apartment. Our friend Brandon joined us from Iowa, and a good ol' time was had.
April:
Aaron's folks come out for another visit. We get to go to our first baseball game ever! After that, we instantly become Minnesota Twins fans. The best part about this month: Aaron proposes to me. Not in the most romantic fashion, but I got the titanium ring of my liking, and am a happy girl. We also got Aaron sized for a ring, but haven't purchased anything for him to date.
May:
I cut Aaron's hair (or anyone's hair aside from my own) for the first time - he didn't end up with a bald spot - go me! Our bath tub gets clogged and we have to bring in the handyman to fix it because we can't do it on our own, and Odin gets his first ever bath, and becomes somewhat of a hit on YouTube. Aaron and I see our first movie in the movie theater in TWO YEARS - Iron Man. Odin gets a kitty carrier in preparation for our trip next month to South Dakota and Wyoming.
June:
Aaron and I go to the Department of Motor Vehicles on a Tuesday (after taking the day off) to get Minnesota driver's licenses. I barely passed mine, Aaron just failed his. He was quite frustrated, and I don't blame him. Someone had repeatedly backed into our garage door, and now it doesn't open easily. I attempt to give blood for the first time in four years, which doesn't go over well with the vein they pierced...a ginormous bruise is my only souvenir.
We drive out home and spend a week in South Dakota and Wyoming, visiting friends and family, barbecuing, and spending most nights in Spearfish at the local Irish pub. Good times, good times. Odin does fairly well on his first big car trip, but was happy to be back home, and not sharing a house with another cat.
July:
Aaron and I go see fireworks, and I got some pretty good pictures, if I do say so myself. We make plans to go visit Jill in Fargo for the first time since moving out here. Ashley starts bothering me about wedding planning, stating if I have it during the school year, she might not be able to come because she would have to miss school. She'll find a way out here. We plan for August/September. Aaron begins to threaten to get rid of the cat. He hasn't gotten a full night's sleep since we got him in January, and he can't continue like this. I come up with some suggestions - wearing him out before bed - works for one night. Then we decide to start kenneling him - which has been working great. Full eight hours of sleep!!
I start working out, needing to get in shape and lose some weight for the wedding. I have a year to do it, but I don't want to try to put a lot of pressure on myself to get it done in the last few months, so I start as soon as we get back from Fargo.
August:
My company has a fall softball league that I joined. We haven't won a single game yet, but we did tie one! The month has gone by pretty quickly. Aaron and I start looking for wedding venues, and start thinking September/October for the wedding - cooler outside. I find out about a trunk show for wedding dresses by a designer I like, and pick out my gown! Only 20 weeks until it comes in! The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is in full swing, and we have three guys staying in our one bedroom apartment over the weekend. Our air conditioner has never been busier.
And that's my year in Minneapolis. Whew.
Day Two
Day two, Sunday, began a little later than day one - we'd all had a long night, and needed to catch up on some sleep before heading out for another day in the sun. We finally arrived around 11am, wandered around a bit, and headed to the court for Vilification Tennis, so we could see Karlie. Karlie had to work that afternoon, and we didn't get to see her the day before, nor would we get to see her the day after, so this was our only shot, and we only had a window of about 45 minutes before she had to leave.
More wandering around on day two. It felt much warmer than the previous day, and possibly a little more humid. There was more cloud cover yesterday, which helped, and we got to sit down for the insult wars, so I wasn't on my feet as much all day yesterday. I think that helped me be a trouper and not want to go home so early. I'm such a wuss. I just get so used to not being on my feet all day, that when I'm forced to wander around aimlessly for 7 hours at a time, I get a little whiny.
I had myself a giant turkey leg for lunch at the fair. It was very good, not a ton of flavor - I probably should have put some salt and pepper on it, but oh well. I ate almost the whole thing before giving up. That was around 1pm, and I didn't eat again until 1am...and I still wasn't THAT hungry at 1am!
The reason why we were eating at one in the morning is the next part of day two. There was a Finnish metal band playing downtown in Minneapolis called Finntroll, who sing in Swedish because apparently it sounds more troll-like than Finnish. Austin is a fan, and Q had got tickets for us all. We waited in line for a good half hour or longer, apparently one of the opening acts' bus broke down in Wisconsin earlier in the day, so they were late.
Now, I've been to a Swedish metal concert before, which was actually quite enjoyable, but it was pure metal, fantasy-like songs, and I could actually understand the lyrics. The concert last night was quite different. I was obviously very out of place, wearing my brown t-shirt with pink ponies on it. Apparently that is not as metal as black shirts with crazy fonts on them for the band names that you can't read unless you stare at it for about a minute and concentrate really hard. Oof. There were three opening acts, and they progressively got better. Then Finntroll came on, and they were three times louder than any of the other acts. Near the end, Aaron got some toilet paper from the bathroom to stuff in my ears because I didn't have ear plugs. Needless to say, it was intense.
We left fairly late, stopped at the Cub grocery store on the way home, picked up sandwiches, sushi, and chips, and headed back to our place to eat dinner before crashing. Which was around 1am.
Aaron and I opted not to go to the Renaissance Festival today, two days was enough for me, that's for sure. I'm wiped out from being in the sun for two days in a row (I should have a decent tan in about a week, after the pink goes away), and tired of walking around aimlessly on lumpy ground that hurts my ankles. The boys are headed out there right now, ready for another day of mead, expensive food, and cleavage. Hope they have a good time!
More wandering around on day two. It felt much warmer than the previous day, and possibly a little more humid. There was more cloud cover yesterday, which helped, and we got to sit down for the insult wars, so I wasn't on my feet as much all day yesterday. I think that helped me be a trouper and not want to go home so early. I'm such a wuss. I just get so used to not being on my feet all day, that when I'm forced to wander around aimlessly for 7 hours at a time, I get a little whiny.
I had myself a giant turkey leg for lunch at the fair. It was very good, not a ton of flavor - I probably should have put some salt and pepper on it, but oh well. I ate almost the whole thing before giving up. That was around 1pm, and I didn't eat again until 1am...and I still wasn't THAT hungry at 1am!
The reason why we were eating at one in the morning is the next part of day two. There was a Finnish metal band playing downtown in Minneapolis called Finntroll, who sing in Swedish because apparently it sounds more troll-like than Finnish. Austin is a fan, and Q had got tickets for us all. We waited in line for a good half hour or longer, apparently one of the opening acts' bus broke down in Wisconsin earlier in the day, so they were late.
Now, I've been to a Swedish metal concert before, which was actually quite enjoyable, but it was pure metal, fantasy-like songs, and I could actually understand the lyrics. The concert last night was quite different. I was obviously very out of place, wearing my brown t-shirt with pink ponies on it. Apparently that is not as metal as black shirts with crazy fonts on them for the band names that you can't read unless you stare at it for about a minute and concentrate really hard. Oof. There were three opening acts, and they progressively got better. Then Finntroll came on, and they were three times louder than any of the other acts. Near the end, Aaron got some toilet paper from the bathroom to stuff in my ears because I didn't have ear plugs. Needless to say, it was intense.
We left fairly late, stopped at the Cub grocery store on the way home, picked up sandwiches, sushi, and chips, and headed back to our place to eat dinner before crashing. Which was around 1am.
Aaron and I opted not to go to the Renaissance Festival today, two days was enough for me, that's for sure. I'm wiped out from being in the sun for two days in a row (I should have a decent tan in about a week, after the pink goes away), and tired of walking around aimlessly on lumpy ground that hurts my ankles. The boys are headed out there right now, ready for another day of mead, expensive food, and cleavage. Hope they have a good time!
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Saturday, August 30, 2008
too funny
I found this video on Cuteoverload.com this afternoon...the first part is kinda weird, but wait for the cats...I was giggling the whole time.
Day one
Well, the first day of the three day weekend started off with a bang. Well, let me back up to Friday, first. Our tickets that I ordered through Craigslist never showed up in Spearfish, Henry checked back at the old apartment for us, and they still haven't made it back to the guy who sent them to us. I think they should be back to Minnesota by now!
The gents showed up around 10 PM or so, we went off to Applebee's for some food, as we were all a little hungry, minus Q who had to go to his brother's house, lest he not have a place to stay for the evening, as they were locking up for the night.
Another night of eating greasy food late at night, then going to sleep soon after. Not good for the stomach.
Got up early today, Q and Jamie stopped by, and we piled into two cars and headed off to the land of the Renaissance Festival. It was a nice, cool morning to start with, but slowly warmed up throughout the day. There is so much to see. So many shops, acts, and people, wandering about. There were definitely more people dressed up than not, but I definitely didn't feel like a fish out of water in my plain ol' clothes.
Shows don't start until noon or so, so we did a lot of wandering around. There was a quest for the perfect mug for Henry, and for sandals for Thomas and Austin, who were monks, and their Nikes didn't go well with their robes.
Food and drink are expensive, but the gyro I had for lunch was amazingly good. Either that, or I was amazingly hungry, but mostly, I think it was really good. We watched some fun shows, including belly dancing, fire manipulators, and vilification tennis (an insult war).
I lasted about seven hours before giving up. I was getting hot, and my ankles and feet hurt. I'd twisted my ankles several times during our softball game on Thursday, because the infield dirt was packed hard, and I have week ankles. They're still tender from that, apparently.
I did leave with one souvenir - a sun burn. I am sporting a pretty good farmer's tan at this point. I don't think the burn will be bad enough to peel, but I'm definitely going to find some sunscreen for when we go tomorrow.
All in all, a good time. It was different than what I expected, but better, also. There was plenty of shade, but lots of people. As soon as we got home, I collapsed into bed and slept for about 3 hours. Mmm, felt so good. Now we are trying to figure out what to do for dinner!
The gents showed up around 10 PM or so, we went off to Applebee's for some food, as we were all a little hungry, minus Q who had to go to his brother's house, lest he not have a place to stay for the evening, as they were locking up for the night.
Another night of eating greasy food late at night, then going to sleep soon after. Not good for the stomach.
Got up early today, Q and Jamie stopped by, and we piled into two cars and headed off to the land of the Renaissance Festival. It was a nice, cool morning to start with, but slowly warmed up throughout the day. There is so much to see. So many shops, acts, and people, wandering about. There were definitely more people dressed up than not, but I definitely didn't feel like a fish out of water in my plain ol' clothes.
Shows don't start until noon or so, so we did a lot of wandering around. There was a quest for the perfect mug for Henry, and for sandals for Thomas and Austin, who were monks, and their Nikes didn't go well with their robes.
Food and drink are expensive, but the gyro I had for lunch was amazingly good. Either that, or I was amazingly hungry, but mostly, I think it was really good. We watched some fun shows, including belly dancing, fire manipulators, and vilification tennis (an insult war).
I lasted about seven hours before giving up. I was getting hot, and my ankles and feet hurt. I'd twisted my ankles several times during our softball game on Thursday, because the infield dirt was packed hard, and I have week ankles. They're still tender from that, apparently.
I did leave with one souvenir - a sun burn. I am sporting a pretty good farmer's tan at this point. I don't think the burn will be bad enough to peel, but I'm definitely going to find some sunscreen for when we go tomorrow.
All in all, a good time. It was different than what I expected, but better, also. There was plenty of shade, but lots of people. As soon as we got home, I collapsed into bed and slept for about 3 hours. Mmm, felt so good. Now we are trying to figure out what to do for dinner!
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
I cannot believe this...
So we have four friends that are coming up this weekend for the Renaissance Festival. This will be my first time going, as well as a couple of other people's first time. I'm pretty excited. We got discounted tickets through work, and I found someone on Craigslist who was selling them dirt cheap. I ordered 10 of them (the majority) from the guy on Craigslist, along with a few more from work. The ones from work showed up within a couple of days. The ones from Craigslist still haven't shown up.
I emailed the guy I bought them from, asking when he'd dropped them off in the mail, he responded back that he'd dropped them on the 19th or 20th (it's now the 26th), and that they should be arriving soon. Then he confirmed the address. The address from Spearfish, South Dakota.
HOLY. CRAP.
I never changed my address on Paypal when I updated the account! I could have sworn I did, because I added a new bank account, the one from here in Minneapolis.
So I warned my friend Henry that I might need his assistance, after I left a voicemail for the rental office at the Spearfish apartment. I don't know when I'll hear back from them, but Henry has graciously agreed to run down to our old apartment and see if our tickets are still there. Hopefully they're either still there, or they put Return To Sender on the envelope, and they'll be back in Minneapolis soon.
Man, I feel like such a dummy!
I emailed the guy I bought them from, asking when he'd dropped them off in the mail, he responded back that he'd dropped them on the 19th or 20th (it's now the 26th), and that they should be arriving soon. Then he confirmed the address. The address from Spearfish, South Dakota.
HOLY. CRAP.
I never changed my address on Paypal when I updated the account! I could have sworn I did, because I added a new bank account, the one from here in Minneapolis.
So I warned my friend Henry that I might need his assistance, after I left a voicemail for the rental office at the Spearfish apartment. I don't know when I'll hear back from them, but Henry has graciously agreed to run down to our old apartment and see if our tickets are still there. Hopefully they're either still there, or they put Return To Sender on the envelope, and they'll be back in Minneapolis soon.
Man, I feel like such a dummy!
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Dream
I had a dream this morning that we were flat broke, but I had seen some infomercial in TV about custom embroidery, but it was really expensive. So I went to a store that did custom embroidery, instead of ordering off the TV, and was going to get a musical note embroidered on the sleeve of a jacket, or something like that. When she told me the price, I thought it was only $3.45, but it was actually $345. I put it on my credit card.
Then, my credit card seemed to be more of a debit card, because I realized that there was only $50 in it, and I'd over charged. Crap!
************
Then I had another dream that I couldn't find anything to wear to work, even though I'd just done laundry - my closet was bare. I had mannequins laying down on the shelf in my closet, all wearing clothes, but they were either old and didn't fit right, or they were sweaters, and it's still August, so I didn't want to wear that.
I ended up going with an old pink t-shirt that was too short for me. Attractive.
***********
What's with all these dreams of not having anything to wear to work lately? I know I have plenty.
Then, my credit card seemed to be more of a debit card, because I realized that there was only $50 in it, and I'd over charged. Crap!
************
Then I had another dream that I couldn't find anything to wear to work, even though I'd just done laundry - my closet was bare. I had mannequins laying down on the shelf in my closet, all wearing clothes, but they were either old and didn't fit right, or they were sweaters, and it's still August, so I didn't want to wear that.
I ended up going with an old pink t-shirt that was too short for me. Attractive.
***********
What's with all these dreams of not having anything to wear to work lately? I know I have plenty.
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Friday, August 22, 2008
OMG wedding dresses!
First of all, let me tell you, I had NO IDEA wedding dresses weighed 50 pounds. Goodness, those things are heavy!
Having gotten that out of the way. The appointment in the evening was perfect. It was just me and Anne, my friend, and the lady who owned the store. I assume she owned the store, she seemed like it, anyway. The woman grabbed a catalog, had me point to the dresses I liked, she wrote down their numbers, grabbed them and others that looked similar, and then we were off!
First was this one:
The back was really itchy on this one:
I wasn't a HUGE fan of the halter top, but that's because my shoulders are too big for it.
This one was pretty, but I think I wasn't a fan of the modified sweetheart neckline
This one was just plain awful - the colored ribbon falls ACROSS the bust, instead of under it, and it was too lacy. Yuck.
Too lacy, and the store model, like this one, had white as the color accent. Blah. And I don't look good in white, ivory is better for my pasty skin.
This one was really pretty, I think it was one of the first ones I tried on.
And my favorite. I wouldn't get it in red, it's a little too much. The burnt orange looks really nice on it, though.
In that last dress, the one I really like, she had me sit down, to see how that felt. There was no way I could bend at the waist, so I had REALLY good posture. She had me bend over, nothing bad happened, and had me walk down the "aisle" along the wall of mirrors, so I could see how my guests would see me. Quite lovely, I must say.
So I made an appointment at 10 tomorrow morning to try the four I liked the best on again. Aaron is coming with me so I can get his opinion on them. I know that's not traditional for the groom to be to see the dress, but we're not very traditional people, so it's okay with me. I'd like his input.
She wouldn't let us take pictures, which is fine - I still need to lose some weight before I want to have my bare back and shoulders in a picture, but I had fun! What more can you ask??
Having gotten that out of the way. The appointment in the evening was perfect. It was just me and Anne, my friend, and the lady who owned the store. I assume she owned the store, she seemed like it, anyway. The woman grabbed a catalog, had me point to the dresses I liked, she wrote down their numbers, grabbed them and others that looked similar, and then we were off!
First was this one:
The back was really itchy on this one:
I wasn't a HUGE fan of the halter top, but that's because my shoulders are too big for it.
This one was pretty, but I think I wasn't a fan of the modified sweetheart neckline
This one was just plain awful - the colored ribbon falls ACROSS the bust, instead of under it, and it was too lacy. Yuck.
Too lacy, and the store model, like this one, had white as the color accent. Blah. And I don't look good in white, ivory is better for my pasty skin.
This one was really pretty, I think it was one of the first ones I tried on.
And my favorite. I wouldn't get it in red, it's a little too much. The burnt orange looks really nice on it, though.
In that last dress, the one I really like, she had me sit down, to see how that felt. There was no way I could bend at the waist, so I had REALLY good posture. She had me bend over, nothing bad happened, and had me walk down the "aisle" along the wall of mirrors, so I could see how my guests would see me. Quite lovely, I must say.
So I made an appointment at 10 tomorrow morning to try the four I liked the best on again. Aaron is coming with me so I can get his opinion on them. I know that's not traditional for the groom to be to see the dress, but we're not very traditional people, so it's okay with me. I'd like his input.
She wouldn't let us take pictures, which is fine - I still need to lose some weight before I want to have my bare back and shoulders in a picture, but I had fun! What more can you ask??
Thursday, August 21, 2008
too much fun
So tonight was our second set of softball games - our first double header. It was a ton of fun, but pretty hot at the beginning. I had a lot of good hits, made it on base every at bat except one. Much improved from the previous week! I was at second base for one inning, and then in the outfield for the rest. Didn't really contribute TOO much out in the field, but that's okay. I'm always scared of screwing up in the infield.
Both of our games ended early - stupid mercy rule. We just got murdered both of our games. They're supposed to last 55 minutes each, give or take. Our second game only lasted 20 minutes!
We did get a couple of home runs in our last game, but it just wasn't enough. Oh well! At least I made it there on time (early, even!) for this game!
You have NO idea how excited I am for tomorrow! I have obviously never tried on wedding dresses before, so I have no idea what it's going to be like, but I can't wait. Eeeep! Hopefully they'll let us take pictures!
Both of our games ended early - stupid mercy rule. We just got murdered both of our games. They're supposed to last 55 minutes each, give or take. Our second game only lasted 20 minutes!
We did get a couple of home runs in our last game, but it just wasn't enough. Oh well! At least I made it there on time (early, even!) for this game!
You have NO idea how excited I am for tomorrow! I have obviously never tried on wedding dresses before, so I have no idea what it's going to be like, but I can't wait. Eeeep! Hopefully they'll let us take pictures!
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Possible wedding venues
Last weekend and the weekend before, Aaron and I went to look at some wedding venues. The weekend before last, we went to Theodore Wirth Parkway, and saw the Fireplace Room. This weekend, we went to two places, but neither of which I got pictures. Yesterday after work, I went to Centennial Lakes Park, which is in Edina, the town I work in. It's REALLY small, but really pretty. It's in this quaint little shopping area, with ample, covered parking. It has a large building, which includes an outdoor fireplace. Pretty! There's also a tiny lake, with sale boats, and a little amphitheater.
So there ya have it! I picked up a packet on rental information while I was there, too.
So there ya have it! I picked up a packet on rental information while I was there, too.
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