Mi Vida Ocupada: My Busy Life!

Father's Day Scorcher

Hot, Hot, Hot!! We went boating for the afternoon and to say it was hot was an understatement!!  There was a strong breeze, but it was still hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement! I got fried for the first time this summer...it should be tan by later today (I hope!) :)

I didn't get many good pics, but here are a few....

This beaver dam is just down the shore a few hundred yards from my parents house.  Not sure if the beavers still live there? Just a few years ago and this thing was nearly underwater....that is how low the lake is right now.

Jeff and his gf  Sarah, Jeff and Bianca

 

yours truly....

The concert I went to last night was decent but LOUD, my ears are still ringing!

I hope everyone enjoyed time with their families :)

The Weather.....

The weather here has been on-off sunny/rainy/cloudy all weekend.

Check out this weird cloud I took a picture of on Friday night...kinda looks like its going to suck this building right up! It was swirling pretty fast in an upward direction.

Friday night I went out to eat with Lanee, Rog & Mary and then we went back to L&R's house for a bonfire.  Had s'mores for the first time in several years.  Perfect bonfire treats :) It sprinkled for a bit, but when it stopped, we kept on bon-firing it.

PS

Oh, and I stopped to get gas on Friday on my way home from work and the gas pumps were all messed up...I didn't find that out though until the pump didn't shut off when my tank was full, so I gas came flying out of my gas tank, out of the pump and all over me, my car and the cement in front of the pump.  Dammit! They gave me a free carwash for the inconvenience.  I had to immediately shower and change all my clothes, it was awful!

Blue Moon tonight!

How many times have you heard the expression, "Once in a Blue Moon"?

Well, if you've been waiting for one, tonight's the night!

A Blue Moon is the 2nd full moon within a calendar month.  Only happens once every 2-5 years.

This is the kind of Blue Moon I like....

Happy 30th birthday to Laura today!!!!

Happy 30th birthday to Mandie tomorrow!

Memorial Weekend!

Wow, I LOVE long weekends! Especially when there is a lot going on like there was this weekend :)

Friday night I went downtown Mpls. to see Static X at First Avenue.  Fun stuff! These guys are always good for an ass-kickin good time.  The only thing I totally hate about these type of shows is that there are too many BIG, sweaty, stinky guys everywhere.  I always try to stick by E but he always makes his way to the stage and I end up making my way to the back of the floor where I won't get pushed around.  Same story this time!

On Saturday we had a party up at my parents house with my mom's side of the family.  My cousin Tyler was in town from Chicago and his mom flew in from Tucson to surprise him.  He was totally surprised!! Gotta love it.  The weather was better than it the forecast predicted, so we were able to do many fun things outdoors.  I was only able to take a few pics (that didn't require flash) with my own camera, but I took a ton with Bri & Mich's Rebel.  Here are a couple taken with my camera. 

Tyler (who obviously was NOT smiling in this pic) and me sitting on the boat down at the marina.

My Aunt Connie with Bianca (who is getting so big at 4 months old!)

and my cousin Mackenzie with this adorable little 9-week-old weiner-dog puppy that belonged to my cousin David.

It was great to see some of my cousins...a few I hadn't seen in three years!

Later Saturday night I watched the movie, Apocalypto.  WOW.  Very good movie, but hard to watch some parts because it is so brutal.

Got some time in the sun on Sunday afternoon (which was the best weather of the weekend)....I  went swimming and to a BBQ.  Later that night so went back up to my parents house for dinner and to spend more time with Connie and Tyler while they were here.  My gram and gramp were up there too, so we enjoyed dinner, went for a walk and then had a bonfire overlooking the lake.  I love sitting by the fire!

On Monday I lounged around and then went out to eat.  I scrapped later that night.  I wish you could see how cool these American Craft glitter alpha rub-ons look IRL! (You can click on any pic to make it bigger).Oh, and does anyone have any great ideas for a journaling pen that writes on transparencies???

Hope everyone had a nice and safe weekend!

Such a nice weekend :)

like I expected, I had a wonderful weekend :)

I had my class on Friday afternoon and got to talking with two cool ladies in my class, Rebecca and Kel.  Not only are the three of us interested in web design (obviously), we all have an interest in scrapbooking.  Kel is a digi scrapper...I was totally impressed by her work, check out her blog Kel Michaels.  Rebecca and I have never actually digitally scrapped, but Kel told us about a blog called Scrapping with Ikea Goddess that has tons of links to FREE DIGITAL STUFF.  I have checked a couple of them out and I can't wait to get a minute to play around with it a little bit.  The class was good this week...I actually felt like I learned some new tricks in Photoshop.  Nothing too fancy, but things I just didn't know how to do before! **Like the animated gif I used to create my new profile pic**

I had plans to go out for sushi on Friday night with a group of friends.  We went to Saji-Ya.  LOVE it.  Read my Saji-ya Review.  I used my Photoshop skills again to put this picture of my drink on a black background.  I also learned how to create my own custom brush (in this case, the copyright info).

We hung out on the deck at L & R's house after dinner since it was such a nice night.  It was so clear, in fact, that we were able to spot a satellite in the atmosphere....we watched it move very slowly over the course of an hour or so.  Very cool!  We called it a night shortly after 10 and then S & I went back to my house to watch a movie.

I cleaned like a mad woman all morning on Saturday. My house looks pretty good right now, gotta love that!

Spent Saturday up at my parents house, see previous post.

I got up at a decent time on Sunday morning and then Lanee came over to go on a walk with me.  The area that I live on is just on the border of the wilderness.  This little creek is less than a block from my house...

There is a new development of Million $$$+ homes right around the corner, such as this gorgeous house...

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We ended up walking a big loop through the new development, past some horse stables, by the lake, and into another newer development....3 miles total and it only took us an hour.  Felt great, we plan to do this frequently :)  Here is the album of our walk.

Went to Norman Quack's  for lunch (I'll add the review when I get to writing it up) and then came home and did some gardening.  Can't wait to see my beautiful lilies when they bloom this summer!

Hope everyone had a great weekend too :)

Its after midnight...

Yet I couldn't go to bed without jumping on the computer to share some cute pictures from today.  The fam got together up at my parents house for Brian's birthday dinner.  Since the temp was in the mid-70's, we also went for a short pontoon ride ( the first outting of the season).  While out on the lake we saw one of the bald eagles up in the tree near their nest.  After dinner the eagle was actually in my parents yard.  They are so gorgeous!

Brian & Michelle just bought a Canon Rebel (the first ones in the family), so Jeff & I took turns snapping a ton of photos.  He sure looks like a pro, doesn't he!? LOL.  Like this one of him getting a close up of the dog's head?   Sorry Jeff, but this is good shit bro!

Annika and Grandpa

Grandpa with Bianca

Grandpa in his new car...a Mercedes 500SL

Okay, now its late and I am reallllly tired.  Click here to see the rest of the album.   I will have to update about Friday another time :)

This is sNOw joke.....

Last time I checked, it was supposed to be my Spring Break.  Instead we've had five days of cold, dreary, rainy weather and now its SNOWING.  Thats Minnesnowta for ya!

Hard to stay away...

Its only been a week since I last had a meaningful post and I thought I would be fine to let it go for awhile, but what can I say?  I love blogging too much to stay away too long.

Does that make you happy to hear?!

Thanks to all of you who were concerned about my apparent hiatus.  Nothing to worry about! There was some concern over how much time I spend on my computer.....TOO MUCH time.  Time that I should be spending on other priorities when I actually have time to spare.  Its hard though.... there is just so much to do on my computer....checking e-mails, IMing, blogging, reading all the blogs in my blogroll (I have about a gazillion), keeping up with Scrappjazz message boards & gallery, online shopping, MySpace, Facebook, tracking my finances & paying bills, photo editing and uploading, scanning and stitching layouts.....I could go on & on.  How have I let myself get so wrapped up in all this stuff???  Is there a way I can balance all of this and continue to lead a busy life? To maintain a healthy relationship with those who mean the most to me?

I've had all sorts of stuff to blog about this week, try to make this short and sweet :)

We had a BLIZZARD last night.  Like12 inches of snow.  Whoa!

Instead of staying home all safe and warm and snug, I went to a party in honor of Lanee's 30th birthday...good thing we live so close or I would not have gone.  The roads were treacherous because the plows couldn't possibly keep up with the blowing snowfall.  Only half the guests were able to make it because of the weather, but we still had a lot of fun drinking, playing cards and eating a ton of good food.  Me duele el estomago hoy!

Lanee had several beautiful flower arrangements and while I was trying to get a shot of these pretty lilies that were in her bathroom, I attempted a self-portrait in the mirror.

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Earlier on Saturday I went to Bri & Mich's to scrap with Michelle.  We both got some really cute pages done :)

Ms. B is getting big!  It was fairly easy to scrap with her around because she was content sleeping/laying in her little chair.  Annika, however, couldn't resist all the beautiful supplies we had strewn all over the dining room.  Can you blame her?  Too much new, fun stuff to look at and touch.  It'll be great when she is old enough to do some scrappies with us!

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Here is one other funny picture of my cat Phoenix.  He sleeps like this all the time....he is part dog, ya know.

Have a great week :)

Snow in Tucson!

I think we will all remember thew winter of 06-07 as a weird one, but who would've thought that they'd get a foot of snow in Amarillo, Tx?  Or snow in malibu, Ca? Or snow in Tucson????

My aunt who lives in Tucson (Catalina Foothills) sent me these pictures that she took of the views out her window.  Regular days and the day it snowed!

and a few more....

Now that is just crazy!!!!!!

It never snowed when I lived down there....thats part of the reason I used to live there!!

Spirits lifted :)

I am so happy and relieved to let everyone know that I got the results of the biopsies last night....both were benign!!! That means I'm cancer-free, baby!!!!!  I was pretty sure this was how it was going to turn out, but it is great to hear it anyway :) My allergy tests all came back negative as well, which is very weird. The Doc wants to see me again next week, so we will have to see what needs to be done next. I am still battling the headaches and nasal congestion, no fun at all.

I was hanging out with Sonja when I got the call....it was great to be with one of my best friends when the good news came.  She just moved much closer to me (near one of my schools) so we will be able to see each other a lot more often now.  Her little Angelina ia almost 2 now...getting so big and so darn cute and smiley.  Her little hug was the sweetest thing, made my heart melt and made me even more thankful.

The three of us went out for Mexican to celebrate my good news :) La Casita, of course!

This has been a totally crazy week.  Not only was I a little stressed waiting for the biopsy results to come back, but I have also been administering the test to identify kids for the G/T program at both of my schools.  We test all kindergarten and 2nd graders district-wide.  We didn't have school on Monday, which left the testing window short by a day.  That really bites if you have two schools to test like I did!!  I called in some help, but still was able to administer the test to 16 groups in 3 short days.  Yikes!!!

The sunrise this morning was stunning! The sun was a huge red ball...had me captivated enough that I stopped at the beach on my way to work to take a couple of pics.  Too bad my camera is crappy, this pic doesn't do it justice! Did anyone else around here notice it??

Have a happy day :)

A Snowy New Year...

Happy New Year from Mi Vida Ocupada!

We finally got some snow.  (The little snow we had before Christmas was gone within a couple of days).  Too bad it all came down on New Year's Eve :(  I had been suffering all day and night with a horrible headache and wasn't feeling up to going out.  I definitely didn't feel like being out on the slippery roads with any stupid drunk drivers.  Sometimes it just isn't worth it, ya know?  Not too many of our friends had any wild plans for New Year's anyway, but it was nice to know about the few options we had (just in case).   I went out for an awesome steak dinner at the Lakeside Club and then  went home and relaxed for awhile.  Later than night some friends  came over to ring in the New Year with us.  They certainly enjoyed the snow...in the form of a snowball fight in my front yard!

New Year's Day was pretty laid back.  My headache was gone.....I think the key to keeping the headaches away is drinking a ton of water, especially with the sinus meds I am on.  Anyway, I had a traditional Japanese dinner with lots of yummy sushi made.

Hope everyone had a nice and safe New Year!

Winter has arrived....

Literally AND physically!!

Here is a view (of Lexi) out my classroom window yesterday.....

The flakes were like 3" big, I couldn't believe it! The question is "Will the snow last through Christmas?"

We'll see, folks. 1-2" might not last long!

Snow for Christmas is great unless you are traveling and stuck at the airport like so many people are.  Glad I'm not one of 'em.  Delayed and cancelled flights everywhere!!

Today is the last day of school before our two week break.  Should be chaotic and fun!!!

I also wanted to thank those of you have sent me Holiday Cards this year.  I love them! This is the most fun time of year when you get fun things in the mail (not just bills and junk! lol).  I especially love the photo cards...my fridge is decorated nicely with all of them!

 

I had a pretty relaxing weekend.  Didn't do a whole lot.  Ordered takeout from local Thai place on Friday night and then Jason and Ruth came over to visit for awhile.  Watched a movie and went to bed late!

Slept in Saturday.  Lunch date with Kara and the girls got canceled, so I lounged around and read most of the day.  Caught I know What You Did Last Summer on TV...hadn't seen that in years. Debated going shopping, but decided to save my money (I guess I might have some will-power somewhere afterall)

We celebrated my Mom's birthday on Sunday night. Got a cool picture of the full moon rising over the lake in their backyard.  (Just wish I had a sweet camera with a zoom lense)

My dad and brothers made dinner........ penne with chicken and capers in a creamy cheese sauce (Good Job, Jeffrey!), Italian salad and cheese bread.  There was also pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.  To die for!

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Annika keeps getting cuter and smarter every time I see her (which isn't as often as I'd like).  She is going to be a big sister in just 3 months...hard to believe time has gone that quickly :)

   

Michelle looks great... I think Bianca is going to be a big baby like Annika was.  She is due on Feb 11th (my b-day) but will likely be born a few weeks early.  I am so excited that Michelle has finally gotten hooked on scrappin.  I hope to join her and a friend some weekend when they crop at Archiver's.  Its nice to have people to scrap with :)

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November 7th means....

Mom's Birthday.  Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you and dad have fun in Arizona this week :)

Gina's Birthday.  Have a good one girlie! See you Friday night!

Election Day.  Cannot wait until its over!!!!!!! So sick of the propoganda... but definitely going out to vote!!! Especially say "YES" to school referendum's ya'll.  Its soooooooo important!!!

A Perfect Fall Weekend.....

With tons of sunshine and temps in the 70's, you couldn't ask for more beautiful weather to enjoy the fall colors.  Erick was out fishing almost all weekend (and caught his first-ever Walleye!), so I spent most of the weekend working on the scrapbook for Lanee and Roger.  I am not going to post pics of the layouts I have done until I give them the completed album next week, but my count to this point is 22 completed pages.  Whew!

On Saturday I went out to Tamarak Nature Center with Jeff & Toni, Shannon & Jere and their kids.  We took a really nice (but tiring) 2 1/2 mile hike through the woods.  Felt like 10 miles. This was a real test for my knee, but I am not too sore today, suprisingly!  Here are a few pics I took on our hike....

By the time we got home from our walk on Saturday night, it was late and dark.  Shannon talked me into going to a local Bistro called Latte Da for dessert.  We sat on the patio, which overlooked one of the marinas on White Bear Lake .  They had little white fairy lights strung about the deck and one of those giant gas heat lamps to keep us warm. I ordered this apple dessert and it was heavenly!  Shannon and I are going to get a group of girls together sometime soon to go out for dessert again :)

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I also need to do a belated birthday shout-out to Sarah and Chriselda, who celebrated their birthdays last weekend.  Happy Birthday girls...sorry I am so late!

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Have a nice week everyone!

More from Madeline Island....

Last night after dinner E and I went over to Lanee and Roger's house....it is awesome that they only live two miles away!  I am making them an album for their wedding and needed to get more pictures of the two of them.  Lanee took me on a walk down memory lane while looking at pics of them over the last 7-10 years.  Fun stuff! She took out a bottle of wine and I discovered why so many people drink it.....it gets you snookered so quickly!!!!

We also looked through Lanee's pics from Madeline Island (I put all 175 of them on CD for myself).....she (with Sonja's help) got soooooo many good ones!  They take after their mother who was a photographer :)  I think our pictures compliment each other more than duplicate, since we had our cameras out at totally different times.  I just have to share a few more!

***PS I learned that the Ojibwe call Madeline Island, "Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker".  I am reading a historical fiction book called The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich, about an Ojibwe family living on the Island a few hundred years ago.***

An action shot of Sonja and Olga on the Ferry going over to the Island.....

Girls Retreat to Madeline Island

*****Forewarning:  I took 187 photos and 5 videos in 3 days.  This is going to be a long post!

Got home late last night after a fabulous weekend retreat with my best friends.  We rented a cottage on Madeline Island, which is the biggest of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior (Northern Wisconsin).  Lanee is a veteran of the island (she used to nanny at the resort we stayed at) and thought it would be great to have us girls go up there in lieu of a bachelorette party for her upcoming wedding.   Great idea!!

We got on the road Friday later than planned, but made it to Duluth by mid-afternoon.  The drive wasn't much fun because of all the rain and wind (but we never let it rain on our parade!). We stopped at Little Angie's Cantina in Canal Park for a late lunch and Margaritas before crossing over into Wisconsin for the second leg of our journey.

 

More rain through Wisconsin.....the lake was really choppy by the time we got to the Madeline Island Ferry in Bayfield, WI.  Huge waves.  Needless to say, my first-ever ferry ride (with a car) wasn't smooth-sailing.  Our car was parked so that we were faced backwards when the boat was moving. It was a really rocky ride and oh man, do I get sea sick.  And I totally forgot my meclezine for motion sickness.  I stood outside the car in the freezing, whip-you-in-the-face, wet wind so that I wouldn't get sick! Being the photojournalist that I am (ha!), I got this pic of Kim and Mary with another Ferry in the background.

About 30 minutes later we made it to Madeline Island.  Did I mention that we accidentally butted in line and snuck our way onto the Ferry? Lanee, Sony and Olga had to take the next one! We had a little time to kill before their boat came over.

Our cottage (Mariner's Rest) was just a short distance from the Marina.  It is part of a  resort called The Inn.  Such a cute place, even better than I expected! 3 bedrooms and three full baths!

and a fireplace that Sonja did such a great job of keeping warm and toasty all weekend long.

We had pizza for dinner and then went to have a drink at the only bar on the Island that was still open.  Got the only picture of all six of us that night.  Played a quick game of darts with Kim and played pretty awesome considering I've played only 2-3 times in the past 5 years!

Spent the rest of that evening back at the cottage having heart to heart discussions.  Played some poker.

Woke up to more dreary weather.  Made a huge breakfast.  Went on a wet, muddy drive around the island. Boo Rain!

Watched some movies and played Cranium, made a huge spaghetti dinner.  Had a great time together despite the crappy weather.  We played charades later that night....that was one of the highlights of the trip! My girls crack me up!!  I totally wish we had taken a real video camera with us to capture it all. We had a total blast playing Cranium too!

Sunday was the best day of all because "the sun came out and dried up all the rain". Woo hoo! Our first stop was the Indian Cemetary.  Members of the local Ojibwe Nation still keep watch over the graves of their ancestors and bring offerings.  Its pretty cool and I got pictures, but I know these things are often sacred and I'd hate to be insensitive by posting them here.

Click here to learn more about the Ojibwe people. 

Here is another cool source.

We went to Big Bay State Park and went on a scenic photo hike. So, so pretty!

We also visited a beach and made our mark

It was a great weekend with my girls.....I hope we can start doing this together every year!

My last few fun days of summer...

My last few days of summer vacation are here.  Wow, did that time fly! I know I have complained a bit about how bored I was for a few weeks after my surgery, but I am thankful I have had these past 4-5 weeks off to recover.  I saw my Dr. again yesterday and he thinks it won't be for a few more months that I am completely healed because of the severity of the damage/surgery.  This means I will probably not be doing too much dancing at either Kara or Lanee's weddings.  Sorry girls!

Speaking of Lanee, my thoughts and prayers are with her today as she undergoes surgery.  She is one of my bestest friends in the entire world and I hope things turn out okay. Love you!

So, I have been able to have a little bit of fun this week.  Monday at the North Shore.  Tuesday hanging with Cassie and Johnnessa.  They took me over to Central Park in Roseville and to the WildLife Nature Center across the street.  I had no idea that either of these places even existed until that day!!  I grew up a few suburbs over from Roseville, but it still surprises me that I don't know cool places like that.  Thanks for taking me, Cass!  Check out our squirrel!

On Wednesday I went to my friend Jen's house for  a little pool party/lunch.  Jen's daughter Shae is a little cutie and her friend Sang has the cutest little baby boy, Thai.  I seriously have a thing for Asian babies...I can't resist them!!  Lori and Gracie....we missed you!!  Where were you guys???

In other total randomness, do any of you use the word "spendy"??? You know, a synonym for "expensive" or "pricey".  I use this word all the time when referring to certain restaurants and  I just found out this is NOT A REAL WORD.  Thanks Jeff for pointing this out to me. I doubled checked with dictionary.com and you're right...it isn't a real word. Does this mean I have to stop using it? I think not!

Darn the rain today.....it is the first day of the Minnesota State Fair and we were supposed to go, but probably will not because of the severe weather warnings.

I think that is all for now!

The North Shore

On Monday I took a day-trip up to the North Shore of Lake Superior with my parents and my brother Jeff.  It was probably the most gorgeous day possible.......the Lake was calm, the skies were blue, and the weather was warm.  Perfect for sight-seeing and taking scenic pics!

Our first stop of the day was Tobie's in Hinckley.  Its a tradition to stop there for a donut every single time we go to Duluth!

Once we got to Duluth, we stopped at the Visitor Center overlooking the city to get our map of the North Shore (although we have been up here a bunch of times when I was a kid). This is the view overlooking the city and tip of the Lake. I thought this bridge looked pretty cool.....

We stopped for lunch at Grand Superior Lodge just past Two Harbors.  The restaurant, Splashing Rock, had an excellent view from the patio...see picture below. I'd love to stay here sometime...they have large cabins for rent in addition to the Lodge.

Here we are at Goosberry Falls (the water level is EXTREMELY LOW... Normally the waterfall is raging!)

And then we drove a little bit further to a spot where we could see Split Rock Lighthouse

And then up to Palisades Head

We then drove up to Little Marais for a trip to a gift shop, but were disappointed with what they had there.  After that, we drove all the way back down to Duluth.

In Duluth, we went to Canal Park and down to the boardwalk. 

We finished the day off with dinner at Grandma's Saloon & Grill. (Another Tradition.  My family is FULL of them! )

Yes, Northern Minnesota is truly gorgeous.  God's Country!  Anyone out there spend time on any other part of the lake? I know it touches Ontario, Michigan and Wisconsin.... 

Lake Country!

They sure don't call Minnesota "The land of 10,000 Lakes" for nothing!  I have been on like 7 different lakes in the area within the past month....its great that so many of our close friends and family have boats to invite us on! My man has been out fishing with his buddy at least 2-3 nights a week lately, and sometimes I tag along.  They choose different lakes all the time, depending on if they have any luck or not ;) So I went out fishing with the guys on Friday night for about 6 hours.  It was 98'. HOT times out there, but we brought lots of ice and water.   I always bring my camera with in case either of the boys catches a "big one".  Jay got lucky here with this Musky.  Probably a 3-4 pounder!

I am not at all excited about fishing...I think its cool when they catch one, but I think the whole process is pretty stinky and gross.  I enjoy being out on the lake though, because it is usually very relaxing. I always bring along a book.....what could be much better than floating on the smooth- as- glass water looking at the cool scenery....

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.......and  soaking in the sun while  reading a good book.  And then watching the sun set......

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  So, speaking of books.....

I am currently reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.  It is a very well-written true-crime novel published in 1965.  Have any of you seen the movie Capote with Philip Seymour Hoffman?  This is the book that Capote was writing/researching in that movie, about a family in small-town Kansas who were brutally murdered in 1959.  I only just saw the movie about a month ago and bought the book last week at Shinders. I have never read true-crime before, but this story is very captivating....I often forget that it is a true story because I read so many other murder mysteries/thrillers.  He did such a good job of interviewing everyone for his book, that he was able to talk about the characters as though he made them up! It is cool that his book is making a comeback after the movie came out....good stuff.

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It was 100' on Saturday.  HOT!!!  I know it is like this everywhere.....I hope you all are staying cool! The Central Air runs in my house 24/7, I don't know how I'd live (or at least sleep!) without it.  We were supposed to hook up with Lanee, Rog and Jason on Big Marine Lake, but we never got connected with them.  We probably would've melted anyway! lol .  We ended up going to Jeff & Toni's house and watched Pirates of the Caribbean on cable, then we went to Heather's house to watch the Gravity Games on ESPN .....her buddy Tom Haugen was competing in the Bike/Vert event and took 6th place overall! These stunts are really cool (and dangerous)....reminds me of one of my favorite movies from the 80's, Rad.  Do any of you remember that movie? It has not yet been made to DVD and the VHS used is over $30.  Hard to come by, I guess! Makes me want to watch it again....

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On Sunday I met a group of friends down at Bald Eagle Lake (near my house).  We planned a little informal  gathering and everyone brought their kids.  Jere and Shannon also brought their boat to take some of the older kids tubing.

I was so happy to see Sarah and Chris's new baby girl, Mallory.  Such a  beautiful baby and family!

And there ya have it!

Stuck!

Well, we got all 8-10 inches overnight as predicted.  They cancelled school in all the districts around the Twin Cities except mine.  Go figure! So I got ready for work, and stepped out of the house at 7:30am to find this scene:

And it was still snowing like a mad man!! It took 15 minutes to clear my car off....just for me to get stuck at the bottom of the driveway.  The plows hadn't come through yet and there was too much snow for Bessie to handle.  Poor, poor Bessie. E had to shovel me out and push to get me un-stuck but I still wasn't going anywhere until the plows came through.  I had to call in to work because it was impossible for me to drive anywhere.  I feel really bad about it, but when you're stuck, you're stuck.  What was I supposed to do? I have no idea how many people or students were actually able to make it in.  Seems like lots of people did the smart thing and stayed home today.  There were 600 accidents in the Cities this morning from all the snow.  Crazy! Sometimes the risks just don't seem worth it, kwim?

Of course I used the day for some "me" time.

I scrapped...too bad you can't see the ghost letter titles on this one (it says Xero Fanclub). Much brighter and cuter IRL!

This one is of 's grandma's memorial service last month in Chicago. 

I also finished My Sister's Keeper.  I knew there would be a turn of events at the end but it happened much different than I had predicted.  A very ironic twist!  I enjoyed the book, and plan to read more books my Jodi Picoult.

The snow finally stopped at around noon but the plows didn't come through my neighborhood until 4pm.  As of this moment, our HO association still has not come out to plow our driveways(9:15 pm Monday).  I had to shovel half of our driveway so that E could get up the driveway when he came home from work...took me over an hour.  Very heavy snow and LOTS of it! Like waist high on me.  Those plows better be out here soon to do the rest of my driveway and our sidewalks! Grrrrrrrrr.

Can't wait to go to work tomorrow and be back to normal!  I can't wait to go to the gym too!

Freakin BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Thats all I really have to say today!  It is currently -7' F right now.  With a -30'F windchill. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!  So if you are anywhere that is warmer than that, be thankful! Its times like this that I hate winter in MN!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Break out the sweaters, boots...and shovels!

We got out first batch of snow last night. I took this picture of the sole tree in my yard when I got up this morning!

  It wasn't a huge amount but it doesn't matter.  People here still drive like they've never driven in it before! Traffic is going to be terrible today and probably for the next 5 months.

As you can tell, I am not one of those people who jump up and down for joy when it snows.  I think it is very pretty as long as I am in my house and have no where to go.  I have lived with MN winters like this my entire life...with the exception of the year I lived in Arizona.   I do not downhill or cross-country ski, I do not play hockey or figure skate (although I loved skating when I was younger).  I do not play broom ball, snow mobile or go ice fishing. Forget about snowboarding or sledding!!! Basically my winter activities consist of eating, sleeping and hibernating!

I hate being cold too!  These are my favorite ways of keeping warm:

* Taking a Hot bath

* Drinking Hot cocoa/Hot cider

* Cuddling

* Sitting in front of the fireplace

* Snuggling up under a pile of blankets

* Big fuzzy slippers

* Warm sweaters and sweatshirts....polar fleece too!

* Eating soup

* Tropical vacations

* Dancing

PS  Did I mention the Bessie has a very difficult time in the snow? If we get 4 inches or more, she can barely make it through the streets until the plows come through (which sometimes takes hours).  I can literally feel the snow under my feet when I drive her!

Mary's Wedding

We had a beautiful day on Friday for Mary's wedding.  She and Troy were married at Albertson's Farm in Stillwater, a beautiful piece of real-estate overlooking the St Croix River, complete with flower gardens.  I was not able to take many pictures at the farm because they had hired a professional and he wasn't going for it.  Waaaaaaaaaahhhh!

Immediately following the ceremony, those of us in the wedding party hopped in the limo and made a stop at PD Pappy's bar while Mary & Troy went up to Pioneer Park for more pictures. Let the party begin!!

The reception was at the Hampton Inn in Shoreview.  Delicious meal of Sirloin Steak or Champagne Chicken.  That chicken was delish!!! It was great to be there with all my best friends and my parents too!

Showered with Love (and lots of HOT weather!)

One just never knows what the weather will be like 6-8 weeks ahead of time.  So how was I supposed to know that the day I had set for Mary's outdoor Bridal Shower would be in the middle of the longest heat streak in probably a hundred years or so?! We had the shower at Pioneer Park in Stillwater, overlooking the St. Croix River.  Thank Goodness for a nice breeze and a covered shelter to give us a little more relief from the 100' temps.  We had a pretty good turnout despite the intense heat.  Thanks to everyone who came! I know it meant a lot to Mary :)

Sonja, Kim, Lanee and I  brought a ton of ice and water and had some great food too.  Sonja thought ahead and brought a bunch of squirt guns which Taylor kept filled and came around to "refresh our feet".  It felt very nice!

Here are some random pics from the shower:

****As I mentioned before, Pioneer Park has a very beautiful view of the River.  There were two wedding parties that came to the park to take pictures while we held the shower.  What do you guys think of this dress????

Father's Day

It was another gorgeous day this year for Father's Day.   I went to my parents house later in the afternoon and spent some time fishing with my brother, Brian.  All went well until we ran out of worms! Does it sound like I am giving the impression that I actually fished???  Okay, I just watched the boys while working on my tan inside the boat.  It was HOT out there, whew baby! Gram and Gramps were also up for dinner...my mom made a fabulous rotissierie turkey on the grill (dad's day off, of course!).  Jeff spent some time working on Gramps' new laptop...yes, we finally convinced them to get with "it".  We joked that they are no longer part of the stone age!!  It will be fun to send them pictures, etc. this way :)  Here is a little collage from the day (I didn't take too many pics) The font I used is SP Love Life by Kelly Purkey and can be found at Scrap Supply

 

I LOVE being on vacation from work!

There is nothing quite like the freedom of having the day off...especially when the weather couldn't be any more gorgeous at 80', low humidity and no clouds to be seen anywhere!

Yesterday was my first day off...

* Blogged and read blogs in the morning

* Scrapped for a few hours

* Sat on the deck and started In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner (is that pronounced how it looks or do you think it is "whiner"? Just curious!)

* Went swimming  for  a few hours later in the afternoon (getting pretty brown...I was white before boating last Sunday!)

* Met my old college roomies for dinner at TGIFridays (Laura brown is having a baby in Sept & Laura blonde is getting married in October)

* Came home and scrapped some more!

Could summer be any better than this???!!  (Only if I won the lottery!) Now if only I didn't need to go back to work in a week!!

Oh, such a Beautiful Day!

The weather was predicted to be beautiful today...first nice weekend day in months...so mom and dad had called and invited me up.  I was somewhat hungover and tired as he**, but the good weather and the sun were calling me out....

We grilled burgers and then spent about 2 hours out on the pontoon. Michelle is huge...her due date is still 6 weeks away, but she will have a C-Sect. in about a month.  She and Brian brought Sarge and Tucker...Tuck is a big wussie, but Sarge loves to swim and play fetch.  But please don't let Tucker find any old dead, fish to chew on.  Yuck!!!!! Stinky, stinky

I went home early and then met a friend and  swam in the pool for a few hours.  I went from white to pretty tan after spending most of the day in the sun!

I was craving pizza so I went to Cossettas for dinner.  Yummy!!

Another busy, tiring weekend. Only three more days of work this week and then I will get a whole week off before summer school starts.  Oh, I cannot wait to sleep in!

The Hail Fell from the Sky...

Oh yes, this morning as I drove to work I had been watching the clouds moving pretty quickly, forming a giant swirling mass in the immediate distance.  I knew this would mean rain at some point....the optimist in me thought maybe I could make it to work before I got poured on. I was really thinking, "Dang, I wish I were still in bed sleeping right about now." I even contemplated turning around and going back home!

So less than 5 minutes after I took this picture, I was heading straight into the storm.  I saw the biker right in front of me shake his head and then ping, ping, PING, PING, loud, heavy hail started to fall...crashing into my poor little Eclipse.  Just my luck!! This hail continued for at least five minutes...several motorists pulled over to wait it out, but not me! I had to get to work on time, ya know? At first I was ticked and then a sick part of me was calculating how much money I might possibly get for insurance if the damage was bad enough.  I somewhat surveyed the damage when I got to work and noticed several big dents in my hood...a closer inspection will probably reveal more when the car dries off and gets cleaned up. Hmm...not worth reporting unless it is $500 worth of damage or more.  We'll see!!

Baby Its COLD Outside!

One of the first things I do when I get up every morning is open all the blinds on the mainfloor of my house....what a disappointment to look out and see FROST on the ground today....last I checked, it will be MAY in just three days away! I mean it was actually snowing last night when I was on my way home from dinner with Kim and Sonja. Crazy! I sure hope it starts getting warm and sunny out before I completely lose my tan from Mexico (which is rapidly fading away after three weeks now)