hotpinkevil

Orlando

2012-01-18T11:07:00.009-06:00

One of the wonderful things about living in Florida is that we get to meet up with friends on their Orlando vacations. Over Thanksgiving, we were lucky enough to meet Ryan and Trace for a day of tourist traps. We started off at Ripley's Believe it or Not museum before heading to Downtown Disney to gorge ourselves on food and ice cream. While the museum was a joke, we still had a ton of fun goofing around.

Last weekend Tim and I destroyed Downtown Disney once again, as the Petrie family was on their Disney vacation. Friday night we went out for drinks with Garrett and Ginelle in preparation for our big day at Animal Kingdom on Saturday. We started Animal Kingdom off with the safari. I was really impressed, as we were able to get really close to the animals.

Expedition Everest (the roller coaster) was a lot of fun (we rode it twice) and the shows were really well done. I especially liked the Lion King production. The Tree of Life is pretty neat and we had an amazing dinner at The Tusker House before driving back to Gainesville full and tired.

My favorite part of the day was seeing Animal Kingdom through the kids' perspective. Belen and Oscar, and their cousins, were so excited and overstimulated by everything. I think that that childhood excitement in the big and the little things is what life is all about.

Wag-O-Ween, Savannah

2011-10-25T06:03:00.012-06:00

Last year when Tim and I were in Savannah, we noticed that there were a lot of dogs dressed in costumes. We asked about it and found out it was Wag-O-Ween, dog trick or treating. It was a lot of fun to see what people came up with (my favorite was a tiny dog dressed as an elephant) and when we adopted Otis a month later we knew we had to start planning his costume. We came up with a lot of ideas, but our favorite was the one-armed drummer for Def Leppard, Rick Allen.

I sewed a Def Leppard tee-shirt to fit and made back stage passes.

He was the star of the show!

Keith and Theresa also came to Savannah with Otis' BFF, Wilbur. Wilbur went as Super Dog.

We didn't just go to Savannah for Wag-O-Ween. Tim and Keith also had a cyclocross race that night. It was fun to see how many other people came to Savannah for the race and also brought their dogs for Wag-O-Ween! My favorite costume this year (other than Otis' and Wilbur's) was a big black dog dressed as a skunk. I thought it was creative.

We also had to take our photo next to the Forsyth Park Fountain. Check out Otis' tongue!

When we got back to the hotel, Otis curled up on the bed and slept until the next morning. We spent Sunday morning walking around Savannah again. Otis and Wilbur kept stopping at the stores expecting treats. It was pretty cute.

Otis is Rad

2011-08-15T09:16:00.002-06:00

Tim's dad and step-mom just put a pool in. We drove down there this weekend, hung out in the pool and caught the NSC MN Stars vs FC Tampa Bay game in St. Pete.

I knew that Otis loves to swim because the dog boarder has a pool and he always comes home soaked. I was really excited to see him in action, and a little curious if he would swim in circles. Otis has a pretty amazing swim technique. He swims with his right front and his back left, then uses his back right as a rudder! When he wants to turn he just kicks his back right leg and spins around. Brilliant dog. I forgot my camera this time around, but I'll be sure to take some video next time.

I hadn't been Al Lang to see a soccer game yet, so Tim and I went down to St. Pete on Saturday night. The stadium is great for soccer. It has a neat grassy area where we watched the game up close, and the supporters' section sounds really loud. I was disappointed that the Stars lost, but I still had a lot of fun in Downtown St. Pete.

Beer World Tour

2011-07-03T08:55:00.001-06:00

I met Jordan at Hogan's yesterday for a sandwich and a beer. I decided to stamp the USA on my World Tour card in honor of the US Women's National Team beating Colombia in the World Cup.

Beer #6: Anchor Steam

Kansas City Highlights

2011-06-20T14:04:00.000-06:00

Sunday

Arrived in the afternoon. Got Super Shuttled to the wrong hotel and had to walk to the correct one (not Super Shuttle's fault, just too many people playing the telephone game).
Others staying in our hotel: Jim, Julia, Sawyer, Missy, Ryan and his friend Evan. Let's call this the Holiday Inn group.
We all went to Jack Stacks in Country Club Plaza for BBQ. Great way to start the trip.
Went to Power and Lights District for some drinks and people watching. Drinks were weak and overpriced and the Monday night crowd is nothing like last year's Saturday night crowd.

Monday

Got breakfast at Simply Breakfast. It was simply yummy.
Tim and I walked around Country Club Plaza and stopped in some shops.
I got my picture taken with Ben Franklin.
Tim and I stopped into Cheesecake Factory for a quick dinner. Jim and Julia were there so we joined them.
The Holiday Inn group wanted to relive the 2010 destruction of Kansas City. Last year we went out on a Saturday night, started at the Zoo Bar and ended up at the Power and Lights District. We again started at the Zoo Bar for some stiff drinks, wall writings and good times. Sam's Army was having a party at Power and Lights so we stopped by. They ended up being a horribly drunk and lewd bunch of people (one even groped Julia), so we left.

Tuesday - Game Day!

Simply Breakfast again
Swimming at hotel pool
Met the 1st MN Volunteers at Oklahoma Joe's. I ordered the Z-Man (again).
Tailgated at Livestrong Park.
Watched US beat Guadalupe 1-0.
The stadium is pretty amazing. We had front row seats in the supporters section which was neat. This also meant that we had access to the member's club. I loved the bathroom signs in the Member's Club.

Wednesday

Walked down to the Plaza with Jim and Julia for a bagel.
Tim and I went to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. It reminded me a lot of the Weisman. Our favorite exhibit was Jules Olitski. Seeing his paintings in books left me with one of those "I could do that" feelings modern art sometimes induces, but seeing them up close was really remarkable.
The Kemper gift shop had some really neat jewelry. I bought a necklace by Inedible Jewelry. Two sisters make polymer clay jewelry that looks like food. I fell in love with everything because it is so quirky, and bought a toast necklace!
From the Kemper we walked to the Nelson-Atkins museum. This is a gorgeous building and they have a neat sculpture garden. Giant birdies litter the grounds. Tim said that it looks like God just played a game of badminton! The museum was showing one of Monet's water lilies triptychs. I saw the Monet exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art years ago and this was a very different experience. The Nelson-Atkins wasn't very busy (but maybe this had to do with us going on a Monday afternoon?) and we were able to move freely around the exhibit. This meant that we were able to view the paintings from up-close and far away, which I think is imperative for Monet. Up close it looks like a bunch of brush strokes. The yellows and reds really pop out from the pastel hues. But from farther out you really see how it all comes together. The beauty of impressionism!
We flew home through a storm and spent the night at Mike and Marilyn's. It was great to be reunited with Otis!

Thursday

Drove home to Gainesville

Kansas City Via Tampa

2011-06-16T06:17:00.003-06:00

Friday night Tim and I drove down to Spring Hill to begin our Kansas City vacation. We had two things to do before we boarded the plane on Sunday: 1) spend some time with Mike and Marilyn and 2) go to the US vs. Panama game at Raymond James in Tampa.

Tim picked me and Otis up after his last day at work and we drove down to visit his folks. We took them to dinner at Magdalena's since they were kind enough to take care of Otis while we were gone and drive us to/from the airport. Magdalena's is a great family run restaurant in Weeki Wachee that has the best soup and schnitzel. It's a little hole-in-the-wall (which is always the best) and Tim and I joke that one day we'll see it on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. We always eat way too much and leave happy.

Saturday we relaxed with the family before meeting Keith and Theresa in Tampa for the US National game against Panama. We met at International Plaza and had a great dinner at the Gallery Eclectic Bistro and a drink at Bar Louie. Tim thought it would be best to walk to the game from International Plaza to avoid traffic and parking fees. I agreed, and as we walked along the ditch beside the highway remembered that Florida isn't known for its walkability.

The game was a lot of fun. The US looked disorganized in the first half and lost 1-0. While it's no fun to lose, I was excited to see the the team play in person. After the game, we found a better route back to the car, said bye to Keith and Theresa and drove back to Spring Hill to get some sleep before our flight to Kansas City the next morning.

Hawthorne Trail

2011-06-02T09:32:00.011-06:00

I'm really enjoying living in Gainesville. One of the neat things about Gainesville that it's surrounded by farmland. This makes for great biking, especially along the Hawthorne Trail. It takes me 15 minutes to bike there and then it's miles of peaceful paths, interesting flora and fauna, and (despite what you may have heard about Florida being flat) hills! The trail runs along the northern border of Paynes Prairie federal park preserve and provides numerous overlooks into the prairie. It reminds me of River Road, only instead of the river there's the prairie, instead of maples there's willows, and there's never any cars honking at you to get off the road when they're driving on a parkway! And unlike the Greenway, it's used enough that it's appreciated but doesn't become a major thoroughfare. A very peaceful ride. I even saw two deer on my ride this morning!

Blueberry Picking!

2011-05-27T12:06:00.004-06:00

Sarah T. texted me yesterday and asked if I like blueberries (uh, of course I do!). She wanted to check out an organic pick-your-own blueberry patch in Micanopy, so we got up early this morning and drove down there before it got too hot. We spent an hour picking blueberries and chatting. We each ended up picking 4 lbs and I can't wait to spend my summer adding them to everything, beginning with blueberry pancakes!

South Florida

2011-05-20T11:49:00.001-06:00

Tim and I took a trip to Fort Lauderdale to see a Tampa Bay vs. Strikers match. We left a day early to spend the morning at Juno Beach. We waded in the water and gathered sea shells until it got hot. Tim took me to Boca Raton and he showed me where he lived with his dad for a time. Then we spent the afternoon shopping and drinking mojitos at Mizner Park.

We got to the hotel in Fort Lauderdale early so we took a nap by the pool. By the time we got to the game it started pouring rain. In Florida it generally rains really hard for about an hour and then clears up, so we expected the game to go on as planned. The rain didn't stop. The more it rained the drunker and rowdier the Tampa fans got so Tim and I took shelter in the men's bathroom to get out of the rain and separate ourselves from the chaos. The game was finally canceled at 10:30 (over 3 hours later) and we went back to the hotel to dry off and warm up before going to bed.

The goalie for the Strikers used to play for the Thunder, which was one reason we made the drive to the game. Tim and Nic have been Twitter friends for some time, so I shouldn't have been surprised when Nic and a friend showed up in our hotel lobby ready for a night out! I was half-way sleeping, so I quickly dressed and we ended up at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. This place is ridiculous. The casino part wasn't that much different from Mystic, but it is surrounded by series of clubs and restaurants. It reminded me of Kansas City's Power and Lights District times 1,000. I felt a little out of place in my sundress when all the south Florida ladies were wearing mini-dresses and stilettos!

I had a blast on our little mini-vacation. It made me a little jealous we don't live closer to the beach but getting away now and then makes me feel super lucky to have so much to explore!

Minnesota

2011-05-18T13:55:00.004-06:00

I've been out of school for a few weeks now and have managed to keep myself busy. I traveled back to Minnesota sans Tim as soon as the semester ended. I spent a wonderful 12 days with my family. I visited Grandma and Grandpa Trout, saw Ryan, Cole, Amy and Alex and hit up some NE Minneapolis bars with Andy, Carrie and Dave. Carrie joined me for dinner at Debbie and Bill's. I got to see Kevin and Sam's new house and Fiona is already sitting and eating food!

The reason I went back the week I did was to shop the 100-mile garage sale. Mom, Carrie and I did this last year and I promised I'd be back to do it again. It begins in Red Wing, ends in Winona, then comes back the Wisconsin side of the river. Last year we drove the whole thing, but this year we decided to be more strategic. Red Wing has the most garage sales in a concentrated area, so we spent all of Friday in Red Wing. We still didn't get to them all! We spent the night at Treasure Island Casino which was a blast. I had a beer with Mom and made and lost a whopping $10. I'm not much of a gambler, so I spent a large portion of the night at the arcade with Carrie. She just got back from Vegas, so she didn't feel like doing a lot of gambling either (and she lost her driver's license on the way down). I earned enough tokens for a glow bracelet! (I'm big time, I know.) We spent Saturday driving around to various garage sales. Last year Nelson had some of the best and this year they barely had any. Yet we still had a great lunch at Nelson's Cheese Factory. This year I'd say Frontenac had the best sales as I scored a great deal on some designer purses!

It was really nice to visit my family and spend 12 nights in my old bedroom. While I had fun shopping and visiting, the best was just hanging out with Mom, Andy and Carrie and doing nothing.

Conferences

2011-04-12T07:15:00.003-06:00

It's the end of the semester here, so things have been super busy. What's made them even more crazy is the fact that I've been out of town twice in the past week at conferences. I attended the CEA conference in St. Petersburg with Sarah T. and spoke about Zitkala-Sa on a Native American literature panel. Then Thursday I headed up to Atlanta for CCCC. CCCC is a pretty big deal; it is THE conference for rhetoric and composition scholars. While my area of interest is not rhet. comp, I had the opportunity to present a paper on rhetoric in Native American literature and spoke about teaching Native lit. in the college classroom. Not only was participating in a huge conference amazing, but I also got to catch up with my master's advisor (who put our panel together) and meet many of her colleagues from her graduate program. Staying in the Atlanta Marriott Marquis for three days was also pretty great. The architecture of that place is unreal. Google image search it to get a glimpse of what I mean.

There's only two weeks of classes left and I have two papers to research and write (EEP!). If I can survive the next two weeks then I've survived my first year as a PhD student. I am very lucky to be here.

Serendib

2011-03-07T11:07:00.003-06:00

Sunday afternoon Tim and I joined Keith and Theresa for Serendib at the Hippodrome. It was a good play complete with monkey puppets! We stayed for the "talk with the playwright" afterward which was interesting. Usually I hate those things because stupid audience members end up asking stupid questions. This of course happened, but David Zellnik was an entertaining interviewee. At one point he respectfully made a snide comment about the snake puppet they chose to use. Something about it being "fantastical." It was pretty awesome.

Afterward we walked over to Boca Fiesta for some drinks. It was a nice day to hang out on the patio. Chatty drunk Sarah even came out (you know I like you when I'm comfortable enough to drink and get chatty with you). When we started getting hungry we went over to Kickin' Devil for some sandwiches. They were closing when we walked in, but they insisted we stay (we hate being "those people" but they convinced us it was ok). The food was great and we had another good experience there.

After our day out, Tim and I came home to a very cuddly Otis. We all just hung out on the couch and watched tv. I'm currently on Spring break, and it's so nice to be able to relax and not think about all the stuff I have to do. Not that I don't have anything to do, it's just easier to procrastinate. Speaking of, I better grade some papers.

Beer World Tour

2011-02-28T07:43:00.002-06:00

Beer 2 - Germany - Spaten Optimator

I wasn't told about the high alcohol content until after I ordered it. Fun night.

Trivia

2011-02-21T07:46:00.003-06:00

Tim, Justin and I (and some others) have been playing pub trivia at Alley Gatorz on Thursday nights. Not only is Alley Gatorz the best name for a Florida bowling alley, but they have a great, dingy bar that gets packed for trivia. We generally rank somewhere in the middle, but two weeks ago we won third place. Because we're a new team, they awarded us the trophy for the week. You don't get to keep the trophy, but have to add something to it before giving it back. Can you tell what we added?

While I will miss that little penguin adorning the top of my pencils, I think he found a nice home. It even looks like he's sitting on an ice-berg!

Mark and Zoe Came to Visit

2011-02-17T08:11:00.002-06:00

Mark and Zoe were down in Clearwater visiting Zoe's mom this past week and decided to drive up Saturday night for dinner and drinks. We went to Emiliano's, which was amazing as always. I learned they have good mojitos too! After dinner we decided to check out the Kickin' Devil Cafe. It's an eclectic cafe with a wine and beer bar tucked in the north east side of the city. They had a live band and it was cozy and fun. It reminds me a bit of Trotter's in St. Paul. I'll definitely be back. After our night out we came back to a sick dog puking on everything, but that's life with animals I guess. Sunday morning we all slept in a bit and I made breakfast before they headed out.

It's great seeing friendly faces from home. It's been such a crazy semester that it felt nice to slow down for a night and relax with old friends.

2011-02-17T07:58:00.005-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Tim and I drove to Cedar Key. Cedar Key is a small town on the Gulf with a population just under 800. It used to be known as the honeymoon capital of the U.S., so we thought we'd go check it out. They have a cute downtown area with some shops and a lot of restaurants. We had chowder at Tony's, winners of the World Chowder Championships for the past two years. It was good chowder, but nothing like Flo's. We walked around downtown (about 4 blocks) and along the coast before heading home.

Cedar Key is a nice town, but we didn't find much to do there unless we wanted to charter a boat. Regardless, it was nice to see the ocean and feel the breeze.

Beer World Tour

2011-02-06T09:05:00.003-06:00

Those who know me know that I'm not a big beer drinker, but for some reason (which I'm still trying to figure out) I decided to participate in the Hogan's beer world tour.

Hogan's is a strange little sandwich shop/bar in my neighborhood. Tim and I went in to get a sandwich last week when I saw something on the menu about the beer world tour. After asking the bartender about it, I decided to go all in.

It goes like this: You get a card with 20 country flags on it. The flag gets stamped when you have a beer from that country. When your whole card is stamped, you get a tee shirt. (Awesome right?)

Tim says he doesn't think I'll ever finish it. I think I can do it in under 2 years, at about 1 beer per month.

My first beer? Boddingtons from England.

Crock Pot Wednesdays

2011-01-28T09:02:00.002-06:00

I've started cooking in the crock pot on Wednesdays. One of my favorite meals is chicken noodle soup with toasted rosemary olive oil bread. An oldie, but a goody.

Chicken Noodle Soup:

1 full chicken breast*
5 cups water
2 T chicken bouillon granules
46 oz chicken broth
2 big handfuls of chopped carrots (frozen)
1 big handful of chopped celery (I sometimes leave this out)
1 t salt
Wide egg noodles

Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking dish with tin foil (for easy clean up). Bake chicken for 30 minutes. When finished, shred with 2 forks.

In crock pot, mix together all ingredients except noodles. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Stir in noodles about 10 minutes before serving. (I usually add the noodles just before I cut and toast the bread). I generally like soup with lots of noodles. Some like less, so add as many as you want.

*We don't eat a lot of meat in our house, and when we do we buy the humanely raised, organically fed stuff. Because it can be expensive (depending on when and where you buy it) I sometimes halve the meat in recipes. This soup works well with half a breast. I've even made it with no chicken pieces at all.

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread:

1 T yeast
1 T sugar
1 cup warm water
2 T softened butter
1 t salt
2 1/2 cups flour, divided
2 T fresh chopped rosemary, divided
2 T olive oil

Mix the yeast, sugar and water in a large bowl. (It should bubble a little. If it doesn't your yeast may no longer be active.)

Mix in butter, salt and 2 cups of flour.

Add 1 T of rosemary and knead for about 10 minutes. Add flour as necessary.

Oil a bowl and place dough inside. Cover dough with a towel and let rise until doubled (1-2 hours).

Punch dough and split it in half. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Round and place on an oiled baking sheet.

Lightly press the remaining T of Rosemary into the top of the bread. Let the loaves rise again until doubled (45 minutes).

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 375. When finished, brush with olive oil.

Baking bread is a time consuming processes. I like to make this bread and keep a loaf in the freezer for later. I also cheat. Wards carries a really good rosemary olive oil bread that I like to butter and toast in the broiler. ;)

Enjoy!

2011-01-26T17:28:00.003-06:00

Dad's cousin Allen died. Mom emailed me the obituary today. I guess he went into the hospital a week and a half ago and was told he had liver cancer and only a couple months to live. A week and a half later he's dead at 63. I know Dad was close to him and he was a groomsman in Mom and Dad's wedding. He would visit grandma's to see us whenever we were in Park River.

I remember sitting in his dining room the summer after Dad died. He either just got married or was about to. His wife showed us the controversial "bridal" shoes, which were cowboy boots. I remember thinking that wearing cowboy boots under your wedding dress was both strange and cool - I couldn't quite decide which one. Now, 18 years later, I think it's pretty cool.

Fine. You win.

2011-01-26T07:21:00.001-06:00

Little Guy came to visit!

2011-01-22T09:04:00.005-06:00

Matt Allen is visiting this weekend. It's really nice to have a friend from home visit. Matt, Caitlin and some friends drove down from MN and stayed a few days somewhere between Starke and Jacksonville. Tim worked a half day on Friday and picked Matt up after. The rest of his crew were driving down near Miami, so he's staying with us until Sunday morning and then Tim is dropping him off at the new destination.

Friday night we ate at Satchel's Pizza. We got a seat in the van which was pretty cool. I don't know if I'd want to sit in the van again (it was pretty dark and cramped) but it was a great experience to share with Matt.

Matt (like Tim) is really into architecture and urban planning, so Saturday we drove around Tioga and Haile Plantation. We stopped at Karma Cream for ice-cream. It was our first time there and it wont be our last! They have a whole cooler of vegan ice-cream. They even have rice cream for us lactose and soy sensitive! I got the triple chocolate, which was chocolate ice cream with brownies and chocolate chips. I was the happiest girl in the world. After Karma Cream we got tacos downtown at Boca Fiesta. It's such a cool room. I had tempeh for the first time and Tim introduced Gainesville to Schlabts (like a black and tan but with Schlitz and PBR). We watched Doc Hollywood when we got home because it was filmed in Downtown Micanopy. It's a really terrible and offensive movie, but it doesn't seem like Micanopy has changed much since 1991.

They've been doing a lot of bike riding, which is nice because I can get some work done. This semester has been really difficult. I'm taking a 19th century history class in the history department. I like the material, but the work load is intense. It's a lot of reading. The history students say they skim it, but they've perfected the art of the "historian skim." As an English student who reads every word critically I'm having difficulty with this. How do you know what to read and what to skim? I better figure it out fast because I have 700 pages of history to read this week plus a response paper plus a book review to write!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T09:32:00.008-06:00

This Thanksgiving Tim and I have had a lot to be thankful for. Getting into a PhD program, teaching jobs, new home, new adventures. We had a fabulous Thanksgiving to celebrate it all.

We met up with some people in Tampa on Wednesday to watch the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Rangers. But the best part of the night was the free MC Hammer concert afterward. It was a ton of fun, but lets just say you get what you pay for.

That night we drove up to Tim's dad's house in Spring Hill. We spent the night there and had a great Thanksgiving dinner Thursday afternoon. We were still full hours later when we sat down to play Taboo and Scattergories!

Friday morning we had a great breakfast and met up with Dan Wold. Turns out he lives in the next town over from Tim's dad! It's pretty amazing that after all the moving we've all done, we end up so close to each other. He took us out on the boat into the Gulf of Mexico. We boated to a nearby town for lunch and just enjoyed the day. It was really great to see him!

Perhaps the biggest news is that we added a new member to our family. Meet Otis! He's a 1.5 year old German Shepherd, Shar Pei, hound mix (we think). We picked him up yesterday and things are going well so far. And yes, he only has 3 legs. He had a deformed foreleg when he was picked up as a stray and brought to the shelter. He may have had an accident, or he may have been born that way. No one knows. The vets decided that the best thing for him would be amputation. It hasn't slowed him down a bit! You should see him run the three flights of stairs to the apartment!It's been interesting with the cats, but I think we'll all live in harmony (eventually).

October

2010-10-26T09:30:00.009-06:00

It's been a fun-filled October in Gainesville! Tim and I have found time to go on a few adventures despite the hard work we have been putting into our new jobs.

I took advantage of student discount for tickets to the Bob Dylan concert at the O'Connell Center on campus. I heard a lot of bad things about Dylan concerts in recent years, but I had never seen him live and wanted to go. I quickly learned that all the negative press was unfounded - it was an amazing show! He played a good mix of old and new songs, he still sounds like the Dylan we know and love, and he can still rock out the guitar, organ and harmonica (although he only played guitar for a few songs). He and his band of amazing musicians played for 2 hours, and I definitely got my $20 worth! Tim was impressed by the intimate atmosphere and how close our seats were to the stage. It was a great night!

The following weekend I met up with Sarah and Najwa for the Gators homecoming game against Mississippi. I'm really not into football, but I wanted to experience what all the hype was about. We got to campus early to tailgate on the plaza and we had a blast at the game. We sat next to the band (my favorite part of college football). I quickly learned all the chants and gator chomps. Despite the loss, it was fun to experience a Gator game day. I can see why Florida football fans get into it.

The following day, Tim and I drove a few miles north to check out the Alachua Harvest Festival. Since it's still 80-90 degrees outside there wasn't anything harvesty about it, but it was fun to walk around and people watch. We ate lunch on a patio overlooking Main Street and I bought a pair of orange and blue earrings for the next game day!

Last weekend we drove to Savannah. I've wanted to visit Savannah for awhile now, and a bike race was the perfect excuse to convince Tim to make the drive. We got in late Friday night. We took a trolley tour Saturday morning and spent the rest of the day walking around and enjoying the city. Tim had a cross race Saturday night. It was fun to watch the race, despite the beautiful weather and beer, there were few spectators. It made me miss the MN cross scene. We headed home early on Sunday due to rain. We're hoping to make it back to Savannah sometime soon and make more of a vacation out of it. Oh, and we met Frank Viola at a bar near the hotel.

Butterfly Rainforest

2010-09-04T09:59:00.010-06:00

A couple of my new friends (both named Sarah, and spelled correctly) and I hopped a bus yesterday morning and visited the Museum of Natural History to see the Butterfly Rainforest.

This is a really amazing place. The butterflies are everywhere and live amongst birds, koi, giant goldfish and really pretty vegetation.

While we saw many very bright and colorful butterflies, this one was my favorite:

It's called a Satyr and it's native to Florida! One of my favorite things was watching the butterflies eat. Sliced melons and bananas are placed throughout the rainforest and are covered in butterflies. It's neat to watch them stick their tongues (which look like antennas) into the fruit and suck out the juice.

I never knew I had so many questions about butterflies until I spent time among them. Luckily for me, placards appear along the path relating fun facts. Did you know that mating is the female's choice and she picks the most colorful butterfly to mate with?

The museum's current exhibit is called CSI: Crime Scene Insects. It's about the insects found at crime scenes and how they help solve crimes (mostly murders). It's interesting, but gross. We saw this exhibit after spending time at the butterfly rainforest. It was a depressing way to end our field trip, but I had a great time!

*note: pictures taken from google images.

L: Gainesville, FL

2010-08-28T15:14:00.002-06:00

We've been in Gainesville for 3 weeks now.

The move went well and the cats did better than expected. We've only got a couple more boxes to unpack and the apartment is coming together. I like where we're living and it's nice having space and natural light!

Our new life started here not long after our move. The following Tuesday I started my two week teacher training with the University Writing Program. School started for me last Monday. Teaching is going well, but lesson planning is a lot of work. I like my students and I think we'll have a good semester. I'm taking two classes, which are already tough but that's what I signed up for!

Tim also started school on Monday. He's enjoying having his own classroom and navigating a new school in a new community.

We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary not long after we moved in. We found a great steak house and celebrated in style. We've found a couple of other good restaurants, including Adam's Rib (not Oklahoma Joe's, but still damn good BBQ) and Satchel's Pizza. We even found a dive bar that gives a new meaning to the term dive bar.

We've been doing some exploring. We found a great little bar in the planned community of Haile Plantation to watch soccer games. This morning we drove to the Waldo Flea Market (which was a little disappointing) followed by a stop at the Humane Society to pet some puppies.

We're slowly but surely finding our footing. Gainesville is a lot different than the Twin Cities and it will take some getting used to, but overall I think I'll end up liking it here.

Nessy

2010-07-28T21:22:00.008-06:00

Tim and I have season ticket to the NSC Minnesota Stars soccer games. We enjoy tailgating and sitting in the beer garden watching soccer with like-minded fans. This year was the premiere of the new NSC Minnesota Stars at the National Sports Center in Blaine. While the team doesn't officially have a mascot, the fans have unofficially named the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessy, the team's mascot (if you say NSC fast, it sounds like Nessy, get it?).

Nessy gave me an idea for an arts and crafts project: Nessy the sock puppet monster. I hand-dyed tube socks, stuck on eyes and nostrils, and sewed on ears. Viola! A sock Nessy was born!

Nessy at the World Cup in South Africa

Some fans created Vuvu-Nessys!

Tennis

2010-07-15T08:22:00.000-06:00

I just finished my last tennis lesson through St. Paul Urban Tennis. Prior to this, I have never even held a tennis racquet ( don't remember ever playing tennis in gym class), but for some reason I wanted to learn how to play. I was in the Langford Park warming house a few months back and saw a flier for beginner tennis lessons through St. Paul Urban Tennis and thought, this is my chance to learn! I signed up and had a blast! I learned all the basics of tennis and Tim and I even bought tennis racquets so we can play together! While I'm not very good, I'm not bad for having held a racquet only a handful of times. As they say, practice makes perfect, and I have had a ton of fun practicing!

Florida recon trip

2010-06-30T09:14:00.010-06:00

Tim and I took a recon trip to Florida to find an apartment. We decided to drive so that we could take a load of stuff down and drop the car at his dad's. This way we won't have to worry about how to get a car AND a moving truck down there in a few weeks. Since we were driving 1500 miles, we decided to take our time and make a little road trip out of it.

First stop: Chicago
We stayed with Matt and Julie in Chicago and met up with some people at The Beetle for pub trivia. Usually I get frustrated with pub trivia because they ask a bunch of questions I don't know the answer to, or that everyone else also knows the answer to, and I never feel like I contribute much. But this time was different! Not only did they ask an Arrested Development question, but also an Always Sunny question that only I knew. Not only was pub trivia fun because I got to hang out with some great friends, but also because I could contribute. It was also nice being back in the old 'hood and across the street from my old work!

Second stop: Louisville
Tim and I had grand plans for Louisville, but since all of the touristy things close at 5 we ended up just going out to dinner. Lucky for us dinner was an experience in itself! We went to Lynn's Paradise Cafe. This place looks like a clown puked inside it, but it was fun and they serve great food!

Before leaving Louisville in the morning, we stopped at Molly Malone's to watch the USA vs. Algeria game. It was great seeing Donovan's last minute goal in a bar of hundreds of people.

Third stop: Chattanooga
Tim and I wanted to stop in Chattanooga to see Lookout Mountain and ride the Incline Railway. Lookout Mountain was the site of a major Civil War battle and now you can ride a customized rail car up the mountain at a 73% incline! It's pretty amazing, and a little scary. After riding the railway, we found ice cream at the bottom of the mountain and enjoyed the night.

Fourth stop: Gainesville
We spent two days in Gainesville apartment searching and getting acquainted with the city. We found a great place about 1.5 miles away from campus with two bedrooms, two baths, a screened porch, in-unit laundry and a pool. We're very excited to get out of the parents' basement and into a roomy new place! We found a little organic market and a coffee shop within walking distance to the new place and I'm very excited for the year-round farmer's market!

Fifth stop: Spring Hill
We headed towards Tampa to visit Tim's parents in Spring Hill. We spent a day in their friends' pool, went to a movie, watched some World Cup games and just relaxed before flying back to the Twin Cities.

The reality of our move is really setting in now that we have a place to live in Gainesville. Our official move date is August 3rd, which I know will be here before we know it!

Bittersweet Countdown

2010-05-26T15:42:00.003-06:00

There's been a lot of buzz in our family lately! I finished my master's degree and will be attending University of Florida in August for my PhD. While I'm nervous, I couldn't be more excited. Tim is busy looking for teaching jobs and I'm trying to figure out the logistics of moving and relaxing before the craziness of a big move and a PhD program!

Bingo!

2010-01-08T14:21:00.003-06:00

This Christmas, my family and I decided not to exchange gifts. Instead, we wanted to celebrate what Christmas is really about: family. In lieu of exchanging gifts, we all agreed to do something fun together, so last Sunday we went to Roseville Bingo. It was so much fun! I even got a bingo and won a whopping $16 ($50 split 3 ways). Before bingo, Tim and I had my family over for pizza and we sat around, chatted and watched football. Hanging out with my family over an intense game of bingo was the perfect way to spend a Sunday.

Tim and I played bingo this summer at Mystic Lake and had a blast. We had a ton of fun at Roseville Bingo too, but agreed that we both prefer Mystic. I think I'm hooked!

This is what procrastination looks like

2009-12-14T21:53:00.002-06:00

Florida!

2009-11-25T23:31:00.001-06:00

I just returned from 4 days in Florida with Tim. It was great seeing my in-laws and relaxing.

We had a good mix of having fun and doing nothing. We got in midnight Saturday morning and spent Saturday being lazy. Sunday we drove around suburban Tampa and Tim beat me in mini-golf. Monday we visited Tim's brother at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg and had an ocean-side lunch. Tuesday we went to Gainesville to see the University of Florida. It's a great campus and there's bikes and scooters everywhere! I met with two professors who will hopefully put in a good word for me! When we got back from Gainesville, Marilyn had a Thanksgiving dinner ready for us. It was very tasty and nice to have Thanksgiving dinner with them.

Other than that, I soaked in some sun, bathed in the hot tub, and found out I'm really good at Wii!

Some time away from home was just what I needed. I've had a hectic couple of weeks. I got into a car accident (everyone is fine) and the car is totaled. A little time away is just what I needed to regain my spirits. Now amidst the craziness of grad-school applications and finals, I have to buy a new car.

Hiatus

2009-10-31T10:41:00.002-06:00

I know this blog has been on a 10 month hiatus. If anyone still has me on their blog feed, this is what's happening:

I think I mentioned before that I started this blog while living in Chicago to both keep in touch with family and friends back home and document my time there. Since moving back to Minnesota, my life hasn't been too exciting and I see most people fairly regularly anyway. And I update my life pretty regularly on Facebook.

I quit my job in August to go back to school full time. I finished my first year of my English Master's program at St. Thomas and decided to go full time and finish in two years. I'm taking three classes right now, which is considered full time. I'm facinated by my classes and very impressed with the English program at UST. I'm writing my essay this spring on Zitkala-Sa, her trilogy and her relationship with Col. Richard Henry Pratt of the Carlisle Indian School. I'll also be taking my final class which is TBD.

Amidst my grad school craziness, I'm applying to PhD programs for next fall. My first application is due December 1st, so it's coming up quick. I'm very much in panic mode. I've been working so hard for as long as I can remember to get to this point. Now that I'm here, I'm freaking out!

If all goes as planned, Tim and I will be moving out of Minnesota this summer. Possible cities include: Seattle, Chicago, Evenston, Atlanta, College Park MD, Gainsville, Durham, Philidelphia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse.

Eep! Wish me luck!

I may be starting a new blog centering around food and books (since that's what my life has been about lately). Stay tuned.

Honeymoon Day 7

2009-01-21T10:23:00.003-06:00

Our last full day in Seattle! It was such a great trip and I'd go back in a heartbeat. It's such a relaxed and beautiful city. Easy to site see or just hang out.

We walked down to Pike Place Market which was only four blocks from our hotel. It's so much fun to just eat your way through the market. We had: crepes, gyoza, teriyaki chicken, donuts and chai. Under the market (it's multiple levels) there's this thing called the gum wall. It's exactly what it sounds like: a wall where people have stuck their ABC (already been chewed) gum for years. It's both disgusting and facinating. We saw the first ever Starbucks, but it was packed full of people so we just peaked our heads in and walked on by. Of course the fish market was super cool. We got to see a bunch of guys throw fish, and if you ever had to watch the FISH video at work, you'll recognize the guys working there.

We continued walking down the Sound to the Seattle Aquarium. This was a lot of fun. The sea otters were entertaining (we couldn't stop watching their shenanigans) and the skate fish were hilarious.

We went back to the hotel and had a glass of wine before heading to the Seattle Mariners vs. Yankees game. The Mariners had just built a new stadium and Tim wanted to check it out. The Mariners beat the Yankees 3-1! The stadium food is out of this world. Instead of having a company trucking in dome dogs, local restaurants rent out the concessions. Garlic fries and clam chowder!

Overall, I couldn't have asked for more in a honeymoon. I had so much fun just hanging out and adventuring all over the city with my new husband!

Honeymoon Day 6

2009-01-20T10:10:00.006-06:00

Tim and I took a ferry out of Pier 52 to Bainbridge Island. We spent the day walking around the island. It's pretty charming. I imagine it to be like Stillwater if it was on an island. We had brunch at the Streamliner Cafe, stopped at a bike shop, wine store and window shopped. Before we went back to the city, we stopped at a confectionery for homemade snickers fudge. Yum!

That afternoon, we took a bus to Ballard to see the locks and salmon ladders. I had to convince Tim that this would be a worthwhile trip, and it was! The observation tunnel was really neat. You get to see the salmon gearing up to go through the next ladder. They seem to try so hard and we were all there cheering them on.

After watching the salmon, we walked down Ballard Ave. and had dinner at Thaiku before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Honeymoon - Day 5

2009-01-19T16:47:00.009-06:00

Sometimes I forget I have a blog.

On the 5th day of the honeymoon we hopped on the monorail and traveled to Seattle Center, the site for the 1962 World's Fair and the Space Needle. We walked around a bit and went to the Experience Music Project. The building, designed by Frank Gehry and founded by Paul Allen, is pretty rad. It's inspired by Jimi Hendrix and from above looks like a melted guitar. I really enjoyed the history of the guitar exhibit and seeing Kurt Cobain's guitar (from the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video). The grunge exhibit was pretty rad too.

In the basement of the Experience Music Project is the Science Fiction Museum. Admission is free with EMP entrance, so Tim and I thought "why not." As we were looking at everything, we noticed little tags by all the pieces that read, "From the Paul Allen Collection." My theory is that Paul Allen wanted somewhere to exhibit his nerdy science fiction memorabilia but knew that few people would visit on their own volition. So he built the super awesome Experience Music Project to entice visitors to see his science fiction collection.

We took the monorail back downtown and hopped on the streetcar, cleverly titled the South Lake Union Trolley (S.L.U.T.). We just rode it to the end of the line and back. I'm sure you can guess why.

We went back to the hotel in time for the free wine tasting. The hotel is kind of artsy fartsy, so in the restaurant where they serve the wine, they also have watercolor paints and paper in case you get "inspired." Tim did the crossword puzzle while I painted images of the puzzle words. It was pretty silly.

After the wine tasting, we took a cab back to Seattle Center to have dinner in the Space Needle. Tim made sunset reservations. Unfortunately it was a little too cloudy to see a pretty sunset. We still had a blast though. The food was alright, not too impressive, but the view was fantastic. After dinner, we hung out on the observation deck for a bit before heading back.

Honeymoon - Day 4

2008-12-08T15:36:00.000-06:00

My aunt and uncle live in Tacoma. They picked us up Tuesday morning and drove us out to Mount Rainier. It was an amazing trip! We drove up to Sunrise Point, hiked about half mile and drove back down. We stopped in Greenlake for ice-cream on the way down.

We went to my aunt and uncle's afterward for dinner and my cousins came by to visit. My aunt and uncle have a great view of Rainier from their house. This was my favorite day of the trip.

Turkey Day!

2008-12-01T11:06:00.001-06:00

Happy belated Turkey Day! Or Tofurkey Day! I had a blast Thanksgiving weekend. Lots of traveling, but lots of fun.

Tim and I drove up to the Staples area of Minnesota to spend Thanksgiving with my family at my grandparent's house. Everyone was there, including all the cousins, and we had a blast. It seems that every year the family gets bigger and bigger.

We drove home that night to prepare for a big drive in the morning. Friday morning we headed down to our old stomping grounds of Chicago for Matt and Julie's wedding! The drive down was fine. We pulled the car in front of our old house to walk to the best Thai restaurant ever for some much anticipated pad see ewe. As we walked down the block I said, "Wouldn't it be funny if it wasn't there anymore?" But when it wasn't there anymore it wasn't funny at all. So we drove down Diversey to Renaldi's pizza - best Chicago style pizza ever.

We decided to meet Matt at his place by UIC and he was just getting ready to meet the guys at Daley Plaza for some ice skating. I haven't ice skated since I was a little thing on two blades, so I was a little nervous, but I had a blast. I think I'll be scouting the thrift stores of a pair of skates of my own.

Ant Jean and Denny were more than hospitable as usual and let us crash at their place. In the morning Tim and I hit up Oak Brook Mall and walked around before heading back to the house to get ready for the big night.

The wedding was a blast. I even got Tim out to dance. Matt and Julie fed us well, I heard some of the best speeches ever, and the playlist was awesome - and of course Julie looked amazing.

The next morning Jean made a great breakfast, but the snow began to fall and we thought we should get on the road before it got too bad.

Congrats Matt and Julie. You guys are the best - you're what we miss in Chicago. Thanks for the great time.

Honeymoon - Day 3

2008-11-23T15:18:00.003-06:00

Tim and I got up early and took the #66 bus to the U of W campus. We walked around trying to find breakfast in the University District, but since it was Labor Day everything was closed. We finally found the Portage Bay Cafe, had breakfast and then walked over to campus. It's a beautiful campus. We walked around for a while and then stopped by Trabant Coffee and Chai for some fancy chai and the NY Times crossword puzzle.

Our friend Josh moved out to Seattle last Spring, so we thought we would meet up with him and have him show us around a bit. He met us at Trabant and drove us around the neighborhoods. We ended up at Zayda Buddy's for "Minnesota Style Pizza and Beer." It's strange going to a Minnesota bar in another state. It's like getting an outside perspective of your home town and drinking expensive Premium in bottles. Josh dropped us back off downtown at the hotel later in the afternoon.

After relaxing for a bit, we went in search of a good Irish pub near the hotel. We found a couple, but they sucked. We ended up at the hotel bar for some drinks and food. The hotel bar is an old bourbon bar, so Tim felt the need to order a fancy bourbon. Of course he hated it and plotted how he could get rid of it without drinking it. He finally choked it down and felt like a real man. For me it was just entertaining to watch.

Honeymoon - Day 2

2008-11-15T21:16:00.006-06:00

We got into Seattle around 10:00 and couldn't check in to the hotel until 3:00. We dropped our bags off at Alexis Hotel (which I highly recommend!!!) and walked to Lowell's at Pike Place Market for breakfast. Super tasty. We walked around downtown for a bit and hung out at the hotel bar until check in.

The room was great. We used hotels.com so I didn't know what to expect. I have never used it before and I can't complain about the results. We got a $400/night room four blocks from Pike Place for $160/night. The room was huge, had a deck and was very nice. I didn't even pull out the "we're on our honeymoon" card.

The hotel has a nightly wine tasting, so we hit that up before walking to the Pink Door for dinner. The best part of the meal was the Obama-rama. Hilarious, delicious and complete with "american flag hand-decorated with glitter bling!"

We stopped for chocolate on our way back to the hotel and called it an early night :)

Honeymoon - Day 1

2008-11-15T20:47:00.006-06:00

I know it was almost 3 months ago, but better late than never.

Our first day was spent on the Amtrak train to Seattle. I was pretty impressed with Amtrak and had a ton of fun on the train, sitting back, watching the country go by. That is how traveling across the country should be.

We got on the train late on a Friday night and slept through North Dakota. Saturday went through the prairies and Glacier National Park, which was pretty. Saturday night was wine and cheese tasting. We won the trivia contest and won a bottle of wine, which we didn't wait to bring back to the sleeper. We got into Washington on Sunday and spent the morning traveling down the Sound. It was absolutely beautiful. We got into Seattle about 10:00 am, dropped our bags at the hotel and the rest is to follow.

The best part about riding the train is meeting the other passengers. If you haven't taken the train, the dining car is made up of 4-top tables, so we were always sitting with 2 other people. Sometimes this was great, sometimes it was....interesting. We bought a sleeper car, which made the world of difference. Our neighbors were the most miserable people I have ever met, which at first was frustrating, but after a while was just funny. The food wasn't too bad, and they actually fed us so much we had to skip a meal. I highly recommend Amtrak if you have the time to travel by train. Just keep your expectations rational and you'll have a blast.

You wouldn't see this flying. We saw this at a stop in Montana. People were taking left turns. Can't they read?

daytime tv sucks

2008-11-07T10:24:00.002-06:00

I’m home sick from work today. Daytime tv sucks big time. I ended up watching The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet (not on purpose but because it was on after the morning news and I was too lazy to change the channel). That is officially the dumbest show ever. I lost all patience when the guest was an out-of-work construction worker who blamed his cheating on his live in girlfriend of four years on the stress the economy is causing. While I don’t blame him for being stressed, his partner is working long hours to support their 4 children while he cheats on her. He even went as far as to say, “Idle hands are the devil’s tools!” Well, his partner wants to stay with him, but of course thinks he’s a super big disrespectful jerk. Whatever, people’s personal lives are their business and I don’t care how stupid they are. So they had a relationship therapist on and her major concern was if they are serious about a relationship, they need to commit to each other. Fine, I understand that, but the rest of the segment revolved around why they haven’t gotten married if they have been together for 4 years and are committed to each other; the major sign of commitment is marriage.

With the way that marriage works in the U.S., with 50% of marriages ending in divorce, with people cheating on their spouses everyday, etc. etc., it blows my mind that people still hold marriage to such a high standard. Tim and I have been together for over 5 years now, and got married for our own reasons, none of which were to legitimize our relationship. We vowed commitment a long time ago as I know a lot of unmarried couples have. With Prop. 8 passing in California and this kind of discourse on national morning television, I want to know what rocks people are living under where they feel that the institution of marriage is so sacred. I don’t care if marriage for some people is a religious thing, but we live in a society that is ever-changing and ever-shifting and part of this is our definition of marriage. We no longer live in a time and place where marriage is the be all and end all if we don’t work to keep it that way, and if someone is going to blame their infidelity on being unemployed, then why would these people who hold marriage to such a standard want him to get married anyway? We've already redefined marriage, it's time we start acting like it. It is this kind of national discourse that passes things like Prop. 8 and keeps people who either decide not to get married or are not able to get married, second class citizens.

P.s. I turned the channel to Ellen.

P.p.s. Come to VeloCx tomorrow morning at the velodrome in Blaine and say "hi" to me at registration.

Cinnamon Apple Muffins = yummy

2008-11-01T18:42:00.003-06:00

It's Fall and you know what that means! Apple Apples Apples!!!! Here's a yummy cinnamon apple muffin recipe I made today. Super tasty and filling! (Best of all, it's also easy.)

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 cup chopped apples (about 2 apples, I used one honeycrisp and one braeburn).

Preheat oven to 375
Combine all ingredients in order
Spoon into muffin liners or greased muffin pan
Sprinkle some extra cinnamon in top
Cook about 20 minutes

Enjoy!

Halloween

2008-11-01T12:14:00.002-06:00

Happy November!

Tim and I decided to stay in last night and hand out candy to children. Does that make us old now? Is this what happens when you get married?

We saw some pretty rad costumes. There were two penguins (penguins are my favorite, well second to kitties) but my favorite costume was the toaster. Yup, some little girl dressed up as a toaster! How do you come up with that!!!?

We also stayed up to watch a disk of Six Feet Under. We've been watching this show for 3 years now, and I can't wait to get to the end (I heard I'll have a nervous breakdown). Only a few more disks to go! Eep!

***

Today is homework day. I have to lead my Literary Criticism class on Monday. This week's literary theory is Feminism. Shouldn't be too hard. I think I mentioned that I'm back to school and working on my English Masters now?

Oh, and I passed my Series 66 October 6th. (666?) This means that I can now trade securities (like stocks, bonds, C.D.s and mutual funds). It's kind of strange getting licensed during the worst month in the market since 1939. It may be one of those stories I tell the grandkids over and over and over, kind of like walking to school barefoot in the snow up hill both ways.

Dove Promises Dark Chocolate

2008-10-30T17:25:00.002-06:00

A message from Dove:
No Dove, that's just creepy.

Seattle

2008-09-01T18:37:00.002-06:00

I have been kidnapped by a crew of fun-loving fish mongers. Don't fret, it's beautiful here. It was nice knowin' ya.

Maybe....

2008-08-24T09:13:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm a married lady now. It's pretty rad. But then again, the last 5 years with Tim have been pretty rad, so I'm a happy camper.

Lots of things have happened this summer. Most of them surround the wedding, but there's other stuff too.

We moved out of North East Minneapolis to Saint Anthony Park St. Paul, which is good and bad. I miss our nice big second floor apartment, garden, clothes line, and balcony. I don't miss annoying neighbors and loud cars/trucks. St. Paul is much quieter and we just couldn't afford the old place anymore. Tim is back in school full time and only working a few days a month and I go back for my masters in 2 weeks. I'll still be working full time, but we can only do so much on one salary with a wedding to pay for. But here's the kicker: we moved into the basement apartment of Tim's parents. It's fine, really. We are in a completely separate area of the house, we have our own kitchen and bathroom and a nice patio and the cats like it, but we're in a basement again (like Chicago) and have gone down to less than half the space we used to have. I can't complain though, at least we have a roof over our heads and the option to move into a cheaper space so we can pursue our goals.

St. Anthony Park is about a mile from the fairgrounds and it's that time of the year again. There's a shit ton of people that park by our house and walk to the fair. Last night Tim and I were on the patio and idiot after idiot came by making comments about our house, cat, us, etc. when we were sitting outside. Apparently no one sits outside on their patios with beer, cookies, candles and cats in the suburbs. We were obviously up to no good.

I also took my Series 66, which is the last licensing exam I needed to take. I failed it. It's supposed to be a lot easier than the 7, but I thought it was harder. It's a lot of picky little shit that I a) don't care about and b) don't really need to know. Now I'm all stressed out though because I'll be on my honeymoon next week and then start school the following week, so I don't know when I'll do it again, but I have to. Like I said, could be worse. I have a good job and they want me to be licensed to move ahead, so there's the bright side.

Oh, yeah, honeymoon. We're going to Seattle Friday night. Can't wait. We're taking the train out and flying back. Staying at a hotel near Pike Place. Going to the Mariners vs. Yankees game at the new Safeco stadium. Dinner on the Space Needle. Ferry to Bremerton. Day trip to Mt. Rainier. Wearing black jeans and flannel. I'm so excited.

Life is finally getting back on track. Maybe I can get back in to this blogging thing....

We all scream for ice-cream

2008-06-16T17:34:00.002-06:00

I'm studying for my final test for my license. And moving. And it's June and I have a cold. So I've been a little cranky. Maybe a lot cranky.

But just now Roscoe did something that warmed my heart and made me laugh until I cried. Sitting on the couch studying, I hear the ice-cream truck coming down the street behind me. At the same time, Roscoe gallops from the other side of the house, jumps over me straight into the window and starts pawing after the ice-cream man. Every little boys loves the ice-cream man, right?

Many may be familiar with Tim' obsession with ice-cream. I think he passed it on to his son.

(p.s. I promise this wont turn into a cat blog.)

Wussed Out

2008-04-27T15:02:00.002-06:00

I've been working really hard lately on my "running skills," which are more like "granny shuffling" skills. I am a terrible runner and do not have the body shape for running at all, but for some reason I've always wanted to be a runner.

Last winter (2006-2007) I decided I was going to start running (aka granny shuffling). I was just going to suck it up and try my best. My goal was to do the Get in Gear run last summer, which I did, along with the Earth Day 5k by my house. Both of those races I walked a block or two, but I did them none-the-less. I was proud of myself.

This past winter was pretty busy for me with work and the upcoming wedding. Yet again I made Get in Gear my goal and worked my butt off the last month to be able to reach my goal. I was super proud of myself last week when I ran the distance around my house and was super excited to prove myself better than last year. And then winter decided to return. When I woke up yesterday to 32 degree weather and rain/sleet/snow coming down side-ways, I decided it wasn't worth it to go. I felt super bummed out, but I think I made the right decision. I'll just have to find another run to do this summer.

Because I've been so busy and the wedding gets closer and closer every day (I had no idea it would be this much work) I decided to revamp my goals for this summer. My goals for this summer are to do the time trials I did last year and improve my time. This includes the Wrenshall and Hamel time trials, and maybe I'll throw in a few more. I have to do something to make up for me wussing out of my Get in Gear goal.

eHarmony

2008-04-07T18:19:00.004-06:00

I registered for eHarmony.com today just to see if I would be rejected. I didn't answer the questions for the purpose of being rejected. I answered them honestly just to see what would happen.

The first thing I noticed was it's totally hetero. You are immediately presented with 2 options: man seeking woman or woman seeking man.

There also wasn't a lot of gray area as far as religion goes. In fact, there wasn't a whole lot of room to declare yourself as not being religious or practicing a religion.

Besides being generally vanilla, it was pretty standard and what you'd expect.

When it came time to view my matches...I was rejected.

It said, "Our matching criteria, based on the 29 dimensions of compatibility, are extremely strict, and are what makes eHarmony a unique and powerful tool in finding your soul mate. We will keep searching and hope to find some wonderful matches for you soon."

Why? I'm glad I already have my soulmate.

saturday night fun time

2008-04-06T13:02:00.000-06:00

Roscoe is doing much better. Thanks for all the well wishes, they surely worked.

Last night I hung out with Jenny and Dan and we ended up watching the Animal Planet Dog Championships for some reason. It's so arbitrary. The best is watching the people in the crowd. Like these two women who were both wearing animal shirts and one said "Reno" across it. She was wearing a dog bed on her head while the other woman wolfed down a peanut coated ice cream bar. All the while there's a man in the corner of the screen looking as bored as a person can possibly look. Awesome.

My favorite handler of all was Taffe McFadden. I'm trying to find an image of her, but to no avail. And I don't really care so much as to search all that hard. Anyway, a scottie won and I now want an Akita.

Get well soon Roscoe

2008-04-03T19:25:00.003-06:00

I have had a sick kitty for 1 week now. He was in the hospital Monday and Tuesday and today is the first day that he seems to be getting better. I'll spare the disgusting details, but I'm happy my baby is getting better. Get well soon little buddy.

#10

2008-03-20T18:59:00.004-06:00

In the cold weather months I take the bus to and from work. The bus is usually full of interesting people and makes for some good people watching. Today it was also full of the voice of a very loud woman who had a lot to say, including, "That white girl's got bootie!" Yup, she was talking about me. That's not nice.

Trying Again

2008-03-18T16:56:00.002-06:00

Ok, I've decided to try this whole blogging thing again. We'll see how it goes this time.

I have declared tonight Sarah Night. Work has royally sucked for the last 3 weeks for a couple of different reasons and I am incredibly burnt out. So tonight I am going to drink wine, eat some cheese and crackers and watch Biggest Loser until I fall asleep on the couch. Hopefully that will leave me refreshed and motivated to go on with my normal life.

We recently got DVR and I feel like a grandma trying to figure out how to work it.

This past weekend I was accepted to the Master's of English program at St. Thomas. I will officially be a student again starting in the Fall.

Because Tim and I will both be in school full time we are moving out of North East in June to St. Paul, near the U of MN St. Paul campus. Anyone have any suggestions for good hang out spots around that area?

Rant

2008-01-19T22:31:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm done with my test, I thought I'd have a lot more interesting things to write about. That's not really the case, especially with it being so freaking cold outside. Rather, I just have more time to do the things I want to do, which really aren't all that interesting.

I've started running again, which is good and bad. It sucks because I feel like I'm starting over, but at least I'm running again.
Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero
I'm reading a compilation of short stories by Flannery O'Connor that I've been meaning to get to forever
Wedding planning, wedding planning, wedding planning (let me know if you know a reliable yet reasonably priced DJ)
Watching a lot of Project Runway (thanks to Jenny who got me hooked)
Applying to grad school

Even though it's super cold, I've gotten out a lot already this weekend. Last night I went to Erte with Tim's family. Still my favorite restaurant. Today Velo Bellas had our annual banquet which was tons of fun. It's great to see them in the winter months and catch up. Afterwards, Tim and company picked me up to watch USA vs Sweden soccer. The company was more fun than the game.

Have you ever been to The Smoking Gun? It's basically a website full of entertaining mugshots. It's strangely addicting, comical, and uncomfortable all at the same time. Check it.

Shoes are this girls best friend

2008-01-05T19:27:00.000-06:00

It's one of my favorite times of the year: the DSW annual 80% off sale. I bought 4 pairs of shoes today for $50. Sweet.

As a women's studies major, I was subjected to a lot of stereotypes. Usually negative, sometimes true, but my favorite stereotype was that women's studies majors have a lot of cute shoes. Here is just a sampling:

I'm Back Bitches!

2008-01-03T16:56:00.000-06:00

I passed my Series 7 exam today. On my first try. Now I can go on with my life. I've been studying for 2 months, and I have been studying non-stop since Friday night. I was a little disappointed getting out of my PJs for the the first time in almost a week, but seeing that passing score today made up for it.

I didn't think I was going to pass. I never passed a practice test. Not even close. But it doesn't matter. Definitely one of the hardest things I've done in my life.

I have one more test I have to take, the Series 66, but I hear that compared to the 7 it's a piece of cake (and I like cake).

I'll be blogging again now, once my life continues and I have something to say....

Roscoe Catches On...

2007-12-09T22:05:00.001-06:00

No, I mean little, comment

2007-12-06T22:41:00.000-06:00

I hear that my ex-boyfriend, Tom Boonen, is now dating a 16 year old.

I could go on about how Boonen was ruined emotionally when he found out about my upcoming wedding, and has lost it to the point of dating a minor, but I'm not a catty bitch.

(Now I know why he always wanted me to wear pig-tails and diapers....)

DiLuca knows how to warm up on a snowy day

2007-12-01T14:32:00.001-06:00

2007-11-11T12:39:00.001-06:00

Just a quick break from studying to report on a few milestones that occurred last night.

My good friend Donna from junior high/high school got married last night. It was a really awesome time. From my vantage point it could not have been a more perfect wedding. She was beautiful of course and I got to catch up with some high school friends that I actually wanted to catch up with. (You know how awkward it is to run into people from high school that you didn't really care to see again and then it's all awkward, well, this wasn't like that.)

I got to introduce Tim to everyone. Last night was also a big night for him. For one, he had to wear a tie to the wedding, but he doesn't know how to tie a tie. I bought him a couple of ties for Christmas last year as well as an instructional video on how to tie a tie. Right before we left I caught a glimpse of him watching the video with a tie around his neck trying to figure it all out. Adorable. When we got to the wedding a friend of mine even told him that his tie looked great and asked what kind of a knot it was!

The other big milestone was after 4 years Tim and I actually danced together. It was so much fun. I thought it would be hard to get him on the dance floor but all it took was the DJ playing "Total Eclipse of the Heart." We even had a choreographed version by the end of the song. So much fun.

Congratulations Donna and AJ, and thanks for the great night!

The best thing about Gopher football is the marching band

2007-11-04T16:05:00.000-06:00

Most of us know that Gopher football is pretty sad. Aren't we standing in last place? Yet somehow Tim conned me into getting season tickets the last two years, something about a long term investment for when the new stadium is built. I didn't even go to the games when I was a student. I don't even like football, but I know it means a lot to him that I go and I try to make the best of it.

Last night I really wasn't into going, but it was homecoming and every homecoming they give away homecoming pins. I wanted my pin so I went to the game. This is the most expensive yet worthless pin in the world:

I left at half time.

Why I have periodically fallen off the face of the earth

2007-11-03T08:34:00.000-06:00

I have never been good at math. I am a smart girl but there's this part of my brain that just doesn't get math. I almost failed math classes in high school and college countless times and always thanked god for the pass/fail option. This is why I majored in English and Women's Studies.

In the last year I have learned that there are other things that use the math part of the brain. In February I was given the books from work to start studying for the Series 7. I was supposed to study for the test on my own . When I felt I was ready to take the test I was to go through a 6 day 9:00-5:00 class to prepare me for the exam and then take the test. Since February I have attempted to study on my own 3 times and haven't gotten past the first chapter without a total breakdown.

After the last total breakdown I went in to talk to my manager and told her that I needed to start taking the night classes (which was never given to me as an option). She registered me for the class right away and I had my first class on Tuesday night. It was super intense and fast paced, but I have a world class teacher and things are really coming together. It's still super hard, and I don't know how they ever expected me to do it on my own, but I'm getting it and that's what counts.

It's a seven week course, one night per week, four hours per class with a nine hour Saturday class the last week. This also requires at least 15 hours of self study per week, so it's pretty much like having a second job (which I also have), but it's also like never leaving work since it's working at the investment firm all day and studying about securities all night and weekend. My current plan/goal is to take the test December 18th and pass it the first time!!! (this test also doesn't have a very high passing rate, about 56-66%) So we shall see.

For the next seven weeks I will pretty much be out of commission. I am going to try and still remain an active member of society, but I am sure that as the time draws near I will be hiding away more and more.

This post serves as an apology to everyone that if I am overly cranky and not myself and a bad friend /blogger /teammate/ coworker/ fiancee for the next two months, I am sorry and I hope you'll understand.

Spending a day in a tree farm is a bad idea when allergic to trees

2007-10-28T13:08:00.000-06:00

I went to watch the Red Barn Cx Classic at Erickson Brothers Tree Farm yesterday and spent my day among bike racers, Halloween costumes and pine trees. From a spectator's point of view, it seems like Gopher Wheelmen and the Erickson Bros. really got their shit together. It seems like a really well put together race, free hot dogs, costume contest, great atmosphere and fun technical course.

Unfortunately for me, I'm allergic to pine trees. This is always something that I forget until I have some kind of reaction. I was tromping around the trees checking out the course and chasing bunnies when I noticed my breathing getting a little shallow. I didn't think too much of it. Then I wandered over to the barriers and my face started itching.

Oh crap, pine trees. This city girl tends to forget...must find clear air....

So I spent the rest of my afternoon around the feed zone/start finish line trying not to feel too light headed and still had a good time, but I can't say I'd do it again next year.

U-NI-TED!

2007-10-26T10:21:00.000-06:00

As you may have read over at super-rookie dot com (because he scooped me) I am the newest biggest DC United fan. Unfortunately, I can't afford to buy a jersey, so I took out the masking tape and made one for my self. Here is a picture of me cheering on my team in my jersey:

Not the most flattering picture of me, but there you have it.

Too bad for United, two of their best players couldn't play due to injuries. They lost the first game in the playoffs against the Chicago Fire 1-0, but it ain't over. DC United takes on The Fire in DC November 1st. Hopefully Emilio and Moreno will be back on their feet for the game and kick Mr. Whiny McWhinerson Blanco's butt (ooh, you're coming too close to me so I'm going to fall down and pretend my ankle is hurt and then bitch at the refs). Stupid Blanco.

Escalator Stairs

2007-10-16T18:36:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite Mitch Hedberg quotes is, "an escalator can never break. It can only become stairs."

The escalator I use everyday downtown has been stairs now for the last few days, but why is it that walking up or down a stationary escalator is really difficult? My balance is all funny when I walk it.

Summer of Sarah, revisited

2007-10-11T19:28:00.000-06:00

This winter/spring I set out 8 fitness goals and proclaimed this summer The Summer of Sarah. My goals were the following:

1) Run Get in Gear 5K
2) Join Velo Bella
3) Take the track class
4) Go to Women's Night at the track
5) Race the track
6) Race a time trial
7) Race a crit
8) Race Iron Girl

My actual results in any of these didn't matter to me. What mattered to me was that I got up enough courage to actually show up and do it.

I not only ran Get in Gear but also the Battineau Neighborhood Earth Day 5K.
I joined Velo Bella
I took the track class
Went to Women's Night
Raced not one but two time trials - Wrenshall and Hamel
Raced (or rode) Cloquet Crit

So while I didn't feel ready this year to race the track or Iron Girl, I think I still did pretty well.

This winter I have a few goals (fitness and otherwise) up my sleeve that I am going to ponder... then post.

Skurban

2007-09-27T18:15:00.000-06:00

Am I just getting old, or is this the stooopidest fucking thing you've ever read?

From Entertainment Weekly (don't ask)

***

Music News

Skurban Legend

A ''Skurban'' fashion special -- Hip-hop and skateboard chic are mashed-up by the likes of Pharrell Williams and Travis McCoy

By Margeaux Watson

The latest hip-hop style trend? Skateboard chic. From bling king Pharrell Williams to Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy, MCs of all stripes are taking cues from ghettofab celeb skaters like Stevie Williams and Marcus McBride. Fashionistas call it ''skurban,'' but we just think it's fly.

***

Here are some pictures of skurban style courtesy of LabelNetworks.com

Does this really "style" really deserve a name?

Birthday weekend

2007-09-24T13:09:00.000-06:00

All in all, I'd say I had a pretty good birthday weekend.

It all started Thursday when Tim and I went to Erte for anniversary/birthday dinner. As always, incredibly tasty. We ended the night at Dusty's.

Friday Katy and I went to see Ani Difranco at the State Theatre. I think us Minnesotans are lucky to have a number of beautiful theatres and the State is definitely one of them.

Saturday was the actual b-day. I spent the day at my family's house and my mom made a wonderful lunch. Then Tim and I went to watch Purdue whoop up on the Gophers. We left during the third quarter and finished watching the brutality in the comfort of our home.

Sunday I spent the day at my grandparent's house. I got to see my aunts and uncles and eat some real country cooking. Man, grandmas can sure cook. Grandma also made me a birthday cake, German chocolate for the Germans!

The birthday celebrations end tonight with dinner at the Sample Room with Leslie.

I took the day off of work today to recover from the food coma from the last 5 days.

Happy Anniversary Baby

2007-09-20T07:30:00.000-06:00

2007-09-19T20:03:00.000-06:00

I bought my wedding dress today. I love it. Gorgeous.

People always say when you find "the dress" you know it. I knew it. I hate being all teary-eyed bride, but it's beautiful.

Tim isn't allowed to know anything about it until August 16, 2008.

Male Cheerleaders

2007-09-11T19:00:00.000-06:00

It's not that I hate male cheerleaders, it's that I hate their stupid cones. Oh, I'm sorry, they're called megaphones. And even more than I hate their "megaphones," I hate how they cheer through them from the sides of their mouths. It just bugs me.

2007-09-07T17:28:00.000-06:00

I'm taking it easy one more night and then I should start feeling better. This isn't the first time I've had a kidney infection, but it is the first time one came without warning. I blew it off because I thought I just twisted my back in the garden, but I knew there was a problem when the fever hit.

Things I've appreciated while sick this week:

Your kind words
Cable television (specifically HGTV)
Lovely kitties
My mom for taking off work to bring me to urgent care
My co-worker for picking up my meds
Darvocet

***

I compiled a list of best people watching places in the city today. In order of greatness:

6. Crystal Court
5. Uptown Transit Station
4. 22nd Ave. Station
3. Airport
2. Mall of America
1. State Fair

Where did I miss?

Sick

2007-09-06T18:10:00.000-06:00

I'm sick. Really sick. Kidney infection. Terrible back pain since Sunday night. Fever since Tuesday morning. I went to urgent care on Tuesday. They just waved me through the line and told me nothing was wrong but a rib that popped out of place. But that doesn't explain the lower back pain and fever!

I went to a different doctor today and I'm all infected. But they gave me Darvocet, so know I'm just waiting for the pain-free buzz to hit.

Kitty Update

2007-08-31T15:55:00.000-06:00

I love my kitties. Most of all, I love how they interact with each other and how their relationship has evolved. You may remember last spring when I got DiLuca. Roscoe was out to get her from day one and I was scared he was going to really hurt her.

Now they are totally BFF, and have a wonderful love/hate Garfield/Nermal brother/sister relationship. Roscoe is smarter than she is and outwits her all the time. She is really fucking cute and bugs him little by little until he flips on her. My favorite is when she climbs up on something and waits for him to walk under her before she dive bombs him. Too cute.

When I first got DiLuca, she found every laundry basket, crawled in, and played in the clothes or just jumped in and out of empty ones. I thought this was super cute and started to take pictures of her! Roscoe, seeing that she was getting all of the attention, swatted her out of the basket and jumped in himself. He then gave me this look:

Now he's less jealous. You wont see one cat without the other within reach. I've even caught Roscoe bathing her a couple of times. And then giving her a strong love-bite.

DiLuca is 6 pounds now and full grown. I think she may be a forever-kitten.

Fair

2007-08-26T21:06:00.000-06:00

This year's count:

Food:
Cinnamon Roll from the food building - Some swear to them, I wasn't impressed
Pronto Pup - Very yummy as always, but gone before I knew it
Cheese Curds - The grease made me dizzy
Strawberry Malt from the dairy building - Mmmmm

Free Crap:
7 free pencils, the education building is a goldmine.

Last year's count:

Food:
Cheese curds
Chocolate malt
Breakfast burrito
1919 Root Beer
Blooming onion
Sweet Martha’s Cookies

Free Crap:
2 bike maps
MNDOT bracelet
4 orange Fleet Farm cups
Gopher football calendar/poster (for Tim)
2 rulers
3 pencils (one is hyper-color!)
1 magnet

Looks like I was able to control my food intake a little better this year, even though I still felt fat after eating all that crap. I can't believe I ate even more crap last year.

I was also able to contain myself on the free crap a little better this year. I brought home too much junk last year that I haven't looked at since, except for the Fleet Farm cups (which they didn't give out this year).

Every year I try and see how many pencils I can get (pens don't count). This year I scored 7, last year 3. My record is 13, but I think I had doubles.

Imagine That

2007-08-23T17:32:00.000-06:00

Huh. I ended up in 18th place for women's cat 4 Rider of the Year.

Eye Ickiness

2007-08-21T22:25:00.000-06:00

For the past week I have been dealing with an eye condition called GPC. If you don't know what it is and don't easily gross out, go to google images and search "GPC eye." I would link it but I get too grossed out.

Basically it's a sore/callous that develops underneath the eyelids and is usually caused by mucus buildup on contact lenses. You know how your body produces mucus? Well, some people's bodies over-produce it, like mine. It gets stuck on the contacts and rubs underneath the eyelids causing these sores/calluses. It doesn't matter how good I've been about cleaning and changing my lenses, it just happens. It's painful and irritating. This is the second time this has happened to me. It sucks.

I've been using eye drops 4 times a day for a week and have been not wearing contacts.

You know how some people hate going to the dentist and have severe panic attacks when they have to go? I am like that with the eye doctor. I'm talking sweaty, sit-on-my-hands, hyperventilation panic attack. I hate it. So imagine what it's like for me to have to go in there multiple times so he can flip my eyelid over and take a look. (My heart is beating faster just typing that.)

I had another appointment today and it should have been cleared up by now, but it's not. As if this news wasn't bad enough, the doctor basically told me that I'm one of those people who just shouldn't be wearing contacts. This is very unhappy news for me since I don't like wearing my glasses, prefer the contacts, and I'm totally blind without either. Once the yuckiness clears up, I'm going to try daily lenses, but the dr. said to limit wearing those to only a few hours at a time. I've been told this before by a different doctor, but it's sad news to hear again.

Oh, and I accidentally kicked the doctor....

New Computer

2007-08-14T17:29:00.000-06:00

I got my own lap top for work related purposes this past weekend. Trouble is, now Tim refuses to speak to me outside of Google chat. I'm trying to convince him that when we're in the same room together, speaking is much more efficient than typing, but I just can't get through to him. My hand is cramping up!

I think this is a topic for pre-marital counseling.

Best Idea Ever

2007-08-13T20:24:00.000-06:00

I've always wanted to start an air band (think air guitar but a whole band). I recently played guitar hero at Dutch's house for the first time and now I want to start a guitar hero band instead. The way the game is set up, you can have a guitar and a bass player at the same time, but what about drums? I have not yet perfected my plan....

And dancers, I would definitely have dancers.

It would be like those dorks who have those crazy choreographed Dance Dance Revolution games and show their stuff at the few arcades left in this world, but my Guitar Hero band would be way cooler because we have guitars and fly girls.

Trouble is xbox 360 cost $1 gazillion. So before I start my band, I need a get rich quick scheme.

So here's the plan: I start an air band just to get my feet wet. I become a con-artist on the side to earn enough money to afford the xbox 360 and sweet guitars. Then the magic happens.

Who's in?

The Bridge, a Rant

2007-08-08T21:06:00.000-06:00

I understand that some people have their own reasons for wanted to see the collapsed bridge with their own eyes. A lot of the reasons that I have heard from people seem valid enough. Fine. Go see the bridge. But for Cripes sake be aware of your surroundings. Look before crossing the street! Look before making a u-turn in the middle of the street! Don't slow down on University Ave! I think it might be asking too much to watch for bikes.

The Stone Arch Bridge re-opened on Saturday night. You can see a lot of the wreckage from Stone Arch. If you feel like you need to, go to the Stone Arch and see the bridge. I give you one week. Then I want you off the bridge so I can use it for what it is for: walking, running, and biking across.

Harry Potter - Not a Spoiler

2007-08-04T19:22:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am a Harry Potter nerd.

That out of the way, I went and saw the latest Harry Potter movie, Order of the Phoenix. It was a pretty good movie as far as movies go, and it was very visually stimulating. I felt the story was really lacking because they made an 800 page book into a 2 hour movie and the story kind of whirlwinded. Also, according to my brother it is the longest book but the shortest movie. Hmm....

So I enjoyed the movie as a movie. As a lover of the book I felt the movie left a lot to be desired. Why don't they release extended versions of the Harry Potter movies for nerds like me?

As a Harry Potter nerd, I have also finished the 7th book. I will not ruin anything here for those who haven't finished it and still want to, but I will say that this is my favorite book yet (previously my favorite book was book 4 Goblet of Fire). I figured out how it would end about half way though the book, but the intensity of how the last few chapters were written made it not matter. I'm not sure how I feel about the afterward, but overall the perfect ending to the last 10 years of Harry Potter.

As I was reading I started wondering what House I would be in if I was in Hogwarts school. I'd like to think I would be in Gryffindor, but I'd probably end up in Ravenclaw since I am more of an egg head.

Look What the Cat Dragged In

2007-07-28T14:43:00.000-06:00

Wednesday nights are Trivia Nights at Grumpy's NE. Trivia consists of 5 rounds, including one picture round and one music round.In the non-summer months, we've got a decent team going and consistently take 3d place. In the summer months we all come and go and mix and match team members and sometimes do well and sometimes do not.

Last week was one of the not weeks. There were some hard categories that we didn't do so well on and some easy categories that I'm sure every team swept up on. I'm not very good at trivia, and I'm usually pretty useless and am just there for the pizza and beer. I know the easy questions that everyone else knows, but every week I always get one question right that no one else knows which I like to think makes me a semi-valuable member of the team.

But two weeks ago there was the music category of my dreams:Poison vs. Ratt. A song clip was played and we had to identify whether it was a Poison song or a Ratt song. I don't know much about Ratt, but Poison! Bring it on. I figured if I knew the song it was Poison and if I didn't know it it was Ratt. I swept the round! I bounced in excitement on my bar stool! I rubbed it in everyone's face! WooHOO!

Now if there could only be a Labyrinth round....

No, I Did Not Make Him Wear This

2007-07-24T18:46:00.000-06:00

This was of his own fee will. Not even an early birthday present.

Don't Mess With Me

2007-07-17T20:43:00.000-06:00

"Today I didn't even have to use my A.K. I gotta say it was a good day." -Ice Sarah

Hamel TT, post race

2007-07-16T19:00:00.000-06:00

I sucked it up and raced Hamel Time Trial yesterday. I didn't do well in comparison to everyone else,but I went as hard as I could for 12.5 hilly miles and I thought I did pretty well for me and for my second time trial ever. And I did better than the gazillion people the didn't show up to race.

Even more, yesterday made me a very proud Bella. Velo Bellas promoted the TT and I think everyone did a great job pulling it all together.

Read what others have to say about it here, here, and here. And probably other places too (let me know if that's true).

Hamel Time Trial

2007-07-12T20:50:00.000-06:00

Are you doing the Hamel Time Trial?

I am. It will be rad.

Trip

2007-07-12T19:50:00.000-06:00

I finally got down to going through my pictures.

Tim and I spent out first day in Rhode Island on a chartered sailboat off Newport during the Tall Ship Parade. It was the perfect introduction to New England.

We hung out on the boat with the family, had a great lunch, napped on the hammock
Didn't get kidnapped by pirates

and no one fell in the water

The next day we went inland towards Providence to meet Tim's Dad's side of the family. I hung out with his little cousin and she taught me all about Webkinz. Then we went to his aunt's house for pizza and everyone surprised us with a surprise engagement party! How sweet was that?!

I had Del's Lemonade!

The next day we left the families for a romantic Vermont getaway in St. Johnsbury. Before checking in to the best bed and breakfast ever we had to stop by the Ben and Jerry's factory where I became addicted to Cinnabun's ice cream.

I tried to go for a bike ride in Vermont, but since there are real mountains in Vermont and we were amongst them (and my butt was being literally eaten by horse flies), I didn't last very long and had a low self-esteem attack. Tim went ahead of me and said I was smart for turning back. He took me for a drive along the route and it was absolutely beautiful.
We heard there might be fireworks across the river in Littleton, New Hampshire, but when we got there there were no fireworks. However, there was the world's longest candy counter!

So we got some candy and found a cute covered bridge
and read the 8th grade graffiti while eating Jelly Bellies.

Before we left Vermont we stopped in for a tour of Maple Grove Farms and bought some maple syrup. Yum.

They made us wear hairnets.

Not a whole lot of hippies. We saw a few ponytails and one tie dyed shirt. Kind of disappointing really.

Then we took off for Ottawa. We had no trouble crossing the border when we told them we worked for a major Canadian company. What amazed me the most about Ottawa was how accessible Parliament is.

The grounds are like an open park for citizens and visitors. They even have a family of stray
cats on the lawn that they take care of!

On our first night we went on a boat tour on the Ottawa and Gatineau Rivers, then went and had a few beers in front of Parliament and watched a light show they project on the building. The next day we took a tour of Parliament and the Peace Tower. Beautiful.

Changing of the Guard was also pretty cool!

We spent Tim's birthday in Marquette, MI where he went to college for a year. We walked around campus and had a great diner.

So know I'm home and back in the swing of things. I'm back to work, tending to my garden, loving my kitties and all of the other everyday stuff. I had a great vacation and now it's time to be a productive member of society.

Back Home

2007-07-09T20:00:00.000-06:00

Just got home a few hours ago from the trip and I'm pretty pooped out. I'm happy to be home and cuddling the kitties, I it seems as if they sure missed me (I love them). the trip was a blast and I have tomorrow off of work so I'll give a full recap tomorrow after long needed sleep.

Tour de France side note: I don't have cable, but spending the last few nights in hotel rooms allowed me to watch the first few stages on Vs. (dumbest channel name ever). Why does their coverage continue to suck year after year? Why does Al say stupid stuff like "looks like Quick Step is blocking the front to make sure no other team can get by them. We haven't seen that before!" Really? Isn't that team work 101?

And why does Vs. continue to suck off Hincapie? Never mind my well known dislike of Hincapie, but he's not the next Lance so why does Vs. keep treating him like he is?

Hippies

2007-07-03T10:43:00.000-06:00

We're driving through beautiful New Hampshire traveling from Rhode Island to Vermont.

I met both sides of Tim's family. I spent a day on a chartered 74 foot schooner off Newport during the tall boat parade with Tim's mom's side and Tim's dad's side threw us a surprise engagement party. Everyone was more than welcoming.

I drank coffee milk, Del's Lemonade and ate clam cakes.

Today we're going to the Ben and Jerry's factory (I hope they have Chubby Hubby) and checking into a bed and breakfast outside of St. Johnsbury.

I bet we'll see hippies.

New York City Traffic

2007-06-30T15:29:00.000-06:00

I've never been to New England before so this is all pretty exciting for me.

Pennsylvania is beautiful to drive across.

I saw a great vanity plate in Chicago. it said "phatso." Ha!

On the road

2007-06-29T14:40:00.000-06:00

Sorry my blogging has been lacking. I've been having issues accessing blogger, but looks like we're good to go noow.

Tim and I are rolling into Chicago. This will be my first time back to the windy city after moving out of it. We're just stopping in to our favorite Thai restaurant in the old 'hood and meeting CF and Julie for linner before heading to Cleveland to spend the night. Tomorrow we're driving from Cleveland to Newport. Woo hoo!

We also have the laptop with us so I'll be downloading pictures along our way.

Stay tuned for more road trip fun!

ps. I went to NoDak last weekend to see the family. Grandpa turned 95 and I killed some pop bottles with bad ass guns. That was about it.

aahchoo, nvgp, nodak, big trip

2007-06-20T22:23:00.000-06:00

What the crap is up with allergies? Is it an especially bad allergy season, or is it just me?

I never had issues until about 3 years ago and they came on slightly. But this year, my God I want to die.

***

The St. Paul Crit stage of Nature Valley Grand Prix was pretty awesome tonight! Great racing and a great spectator turnout.

My dad's side of the family lives in NoDak and there's a bit of a family reunion this weekend revolving around my grandfather's 96th birthday. I should really go and see family members I haven't seen in a few years, but I also really want to see Tim race Stillwater. It's a big day for him and I've been looking forward to chalking the street and bringing a super soaker all year. Trouble is, I'll feel guilty and terrible if I miss either one and I can't be two places at once. What's a girl to do?

***

Tim and I leave next Friday for our big road trip. We're driving out east and taking the Canada route back home. We rented an SUV so we could bring out bikes! Yippee!

One night in Cleveland just to sleep
3 nights in Rhode Island with family
2 nights in St. Johnsbury Vermont in a secluded garden bed and breakfast
2 nights in Ottawa, the Canadian Capital
1 night in Sault Ste. Marie just to sleep
1 night in Marquette, Michigan

I couldn't be more excited to meet Tim's extended family, have a romantic getaway, and explore Canadian citizenship :)

Space Aliens

2007-06-18T19:39:00.000-06:00

After Radius last Saturday, Fil and I finally convinced Tim that going to Space Aliens would be so terrible that it would be awesome. Boy were we right!

I'm not sure that Leslie and Rachel felt the same way though:

While they were looking bored Tim and I had a great time eating our Outer Space Fries
Besides the Outer Space Fries and a few other items, I was a little disappointed at the uncreativeness of the menu. If I can think up Saturn Rings (instead of onion rings) why can't someone who's paid to do so?

But I can't complain about the Bar from Mars!

South Range Road Race

2007-05-26T16:35:00.008-06:00

I'm hanging out in my camping chair on the side of County Road C hoping that I don't get hit by a car. I'm sitting out of this race and acting as Grumpy's LGR team support as well as cheering on my teammate Barb.

Watching a road race is pretty boring. They go by about every 45 minutes and thankfully today is turning out to be a beautiful day. I hope tomorrow is nice for my first ever crit.

Team LGR is staying at the team house in Duluth. Well, its more like the brother of the girlfriend of an LGR dudes...

oh wait here the come! Everyone is packed together nicely.

Right, so were staying at this dude's house and he isn't even there, but his housemates are there so it's kind of like we're staying at a really tame frat house.

More live blogging to come....

Scooping Super Rookie

2007-05-26T16:35:00.007-06:00

Mark of Grumpy's LGR got 3rd in the 4/5s.

Holy crap road races are boring to watch.

I hate wood ticks.

Everyone is still pretty much together, but the 3/4s are catching the 1/2s.

It's not nice to throw your empty water bottles into the watery ditch for your finacee to fish out.

2007-05-26T16:35:00.006-06:00

the boredom is subsiding with the company of Mark who just bought me McDonald's. Yumm.

women are packed together well. 3/4s are cruising. there's a nice gap in the 1/2s: 2 guys in front.

Cloquet Crit

2007-05-26T16:35:00.005-06:00

On my way home after my first race weekend. I just finished the Cloquet Crit.

It was another cold and windy day. It started raining during my race and as soon as I finished the sun came out. Of course.

The crit was four right corners. From the start you took a turn into a short steep hill. At the top of the hill you took another right up the backstretch which was a less steep but longer hill. Around the next corner was a fun downhill and then back around to the flat start/finish straight into the wind.

I predicted that I would get dropped at the first hill and get lapped three times. Instead I got dropped at the end of the longer hill and only got lapped twice! Better than I thought!

The cat 4 women were all really friendly and supportive as they kicked my ass.

Teammate Barb was also super awesome. She rode the practice lap with me and gave some pointers. She even hung out at the backstretch for a bit and cheered me on. Thanks!

Also a big thanks to the Grumpy's LGR guys, Caitlin and Zeb for being a great cheering section.

I'll post some pictures when I get home. Can't wait to take a hot shower and cuddle the kitties!

Wrenshall Time Trial

2007-05-26T16:35:00.000-06:00

I did my first ever bike race today at the Wrenshall Time Trial. It was cold, raining and windy. Yuck.

I can't say anything for my time except I did better than a couple of children, But I was out there and I did it, which is more than most can say.

I also noticed that when someone passes you with a disk wheel it sounds like something bad is going to happen on "Lost."

Aftermath, first race

2007-05-25T16:17:00.000-06:00

Thanks for all of the well wishes and snide remarks.

Engagement toast

Bling.

***

I'm leaving in the morning for Duluth to race in the Lake Superior Series. I am doing the time trial tomorrow and the crit on Monday. This will be my first bike race ever. This will be followed by my first ever race report. Eep.

I love her.