Mi Vida Ocupada: My Busy Life!

Blue Moon on the Last Day of the Decade!!

The full moon on December 31st, 2009 was the 2nd full moon in December, making it a BLUE MOON.  It was FREEZING cold outside but I braved it anyway (for a few minutes!) to take my new camera and tripod outside to try to capture the special blue moon.

Have you ever tried to shoot the moon??!!  It is hard! Every time I try (here is another good pic of the moon I took with the Canon G10 back in September) it takes a lot of playing around with the settings before I get it right (otherwise it looks like a blurry white orb).  This was taken with my  55-200mm Lens at f/5.6  1/320

 

New Years Eve was pretty laid back again this year.  We had a very nice (but early!) steak dinner at the Lakeside Club, which has become a New Year's Eve tradition over the past five years.  We had planned to go to a party later at our friends Miles & Becky's pace but opted not to drive all the way to NE Mpls.  Too many cops and drunk drivers on the road made me feel safer at home!! I hung out with my neighbors for awhile and played a few games of darts

 

Noemy also stopped over for a little bit and since we were both wearing hats, I made her pose for a pic with me :) Now honest truth.....do I look like Elmer Fudd in that Hat??!! I thought I saw a wabbit!

Whether you went out or stayed home, I hope everyone else had a nice New Year's Eve too!

Christmas 2009

I spent Christmas morning baking a few different cookies to take along to my in-laws for dinner and to a party at my neighbors' house later in the evening.

Peanut Butter Blossoms- The best!!! I had never made them before but they turned out amazing.  Looking at this photo makes me want to make more right now just so I can have some again. I got only two out of this batch because they disappeared so quick!

 

White chocolate chip macadamia nut (with coconut).  Another fave of mine :)

The weather was slushy and snowy on Christmas Day this year so I am glad we didn't have far to travel to get to my in-laws'.  We had the traditional turkey/stuffing/mashed potatoes/ham/creamed corn meal and it was delicious!! 

After a few hours we headed home, relaxed for a little while and then headed next door to a birthday party for Darrell who shares his birthday with Baby Jesus.  Every year Darrell and Denise throw a Christmas/Bday party for friends and neighbors.  It is so much fun! This year we had smoked pork carnitas with fresh pico and rice.  Fabulous.  If I haven't mentioned before how lucky I am to have D & D as neighbors and for Denise to be such a wonderful cook (especially authentic Mexican food), they are the best!!

 

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas too!

Christmas Eve Fondue with the Fam

Christmas Eve fondue is one of my family's favorite traditions....

This is our set-up

 

Marinated Meats (and its hard not to notice all the other traditional fryer-foods like mozzarella sticks, tater tots, jalapeno poppers, etc that my brothers have incorporated into the dinner over the years)

 

Spear meats with fondue fork and place in hot oil! (The kids sit at a separate table and it will be a few years yet before they are able to fondue their own foods)

 

The process is lengthy and the kids were impatient waiting for the adults to finish so they could open presents! Here are a few other photos from the night

 

 



The kids had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed all the gifts they got.  We got the kids each two sets of nice warm, soft Carter's PJs and I think they really liked them... they wore them home that night :)

 

They even enjoyed Chocolate fondue in their Pjs!

 

PS I wasn't sure if our Christmas Eve get together was even going to happen this year since local meteorologists were predicting the "Storm of the Century" with 30 inches or so to fall over Christmas.  We ended up getting only 8" and the roads were fairly clear and drivable (although slippery)on Christmas Eve but still bad on Christmas Day.  I hope weather didn't postpone Christmas for others, I know weather was bad all over this year!

A Super-Hero Halloween

Almost every year our friends Matt & Colleen throw a big costume party for Halloween.  Last year was the first time they made it a "themed" costume party, with "Musicians" being the theme.  This year the theme was Super Heroes.  Since I am not the type to prance around in my tights and underwear, this was a really hard one for me.  I ended up going as "Spider woman" or some sort of variation.  I had a sexy black dress and a transparent cape with spider webs all over it.  I sewed little fake spiders onto the cape and had my bestie Denise crimp my hair.  It looked pretty cute but I didn't get any good pictures.  Here is me with Heather (Mystique) and Colleen (Wonder Woman)

Since Colleen went as Wonder Woman, her husband Matt went as her Invisible Jet.  Time for a plane ride!

 

My bff Sonja (aka Little Red Riding Hood) decided to come at the last-minute, it was nice to have her there too!

 

I was too busy having fun to take pictures, but here are a few:

 

 

 

 

 

 It was a lot of fun, thanks Matt & Colleen!

Early Fall Colors!

Back in August I started noticing that the trees had already started turning colors here.  Doesn't this seem too soon? I can't remember another year when they started changing so early! This maple tree next door to my parents' house is already at its peak.

My parents had us all up this past Sunday for boating and a barbeque.  This was the first time I had been up to their house all summer since Father's Day.  Of course I had to take some photos of my nieces and nephew before returning my dad's camera back to him.....

For as long as she has been around, Miss Bianca LOVES to wear sunglasses.  Little stinker knows she is adorable! (And doesn't her mama look beautiful in this pic too?)

Bennett was totally out of his element on the boat.  Unlike his usual busy self, he just sat there immobile, chilling on the boat!

This "I don't know what to do" look on his face is priceless!

Bennett DID help grandpa drive the boat for awhile

and so did Beebs

Me and Jeff

I was teasing Jeff about his baby "mustache" and made him pose for a close-up.  What a funny guy, this king of the Funny Video Search.  (Have you checked it out yet?) He is also "pretty much the only guy in the entire world who knows how to ______" (Only Jeff can fill in that blank with the special technological things he is able to do! LOL) PS Does teasing your baby brother ever get old????!!!

After a delicious meal of smoked turkey, twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob, salad and grandma's homemade apple pie, we took the girls down to the boat to do some fishing.

How cute are they?

Annika with one of her fish....

My grandparents were up for dinner as well and I guess I forgot to take pictures with them.  Hopefully I will see them again before they head home to AZ in a few weeks.

It was a great day at the lake, I hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend also!

Taste of Minnesota 2009 ~ Judas Priest & Whitesnake

It is tradition in Minnesota to host a "Taste of Minnesota" Festival every year over the 4th of July.  I know that was two weeks ago, but I am finally able to post about it now.  The original premise of the Taste is to try different samples of food from various restaurants around Minnesota.  I hadn't been to the Taste in about 4 years but wanted to go this year to check out Whitesnake and Judas Priest who were playing a free concert.  Here are my pictures!

Whitesnake

 

 

Judas Priest

 

 

Zas VS Food (I plan to someday blog about my friend Richie who thinks he can eat more than anyone.  I have a ton of pics of him eating like this one

We stayed to watch the fireworks which turned out to be pretty lame.  They only last 7 minutes! I remember them being much cooler at the Taste when I was a kid.

 

 

Here are a couple other random pics

 

 

Father's Day 2009

Spent Father's Day with my family up at my parents' house.  We had been planning to do some boating but it was very overcast and slightly windy, but we did get down to the marina for a little while.  The girls were trying to catch minnows in the little net my dad bought them for that purpose.

I don't think they caught many minnows but Annika was quite pleased with herself that she caught a "butterfly" in Grandma's garden (Made of wire! lol)

 Bennett trying to keep up with his big sis... this kid is always on the move and boy does he move quick!

Did you notice Bennett's adorable curls? When he would stop for a split second I had to get his pic no matter who had him! (Lots of Bennett pics today)

 

 

I have said it before, but my niece Bianca is the funniest little kid! She is talking so good and she has the cutest little voice and how she says things.  She is also the queen of funny faces. Here I caught a genuine smile and I just love it

For dinner we had Smoked Ham, cheesy hashbrowns, grilled veggies, baked beans, corn and dinner rolls.  Don't these grilled veggies look amazing? They were!

My Gram & Gramp also came to dinner.  The past year since their 60th Anniversary party went so dang fast! They celebrate their 61st in less than 2 weeks.

I hope everyone had a lovely Father's Day too!

Mother's Day 2009

And I now resume to my normal blogging!!
(Thanks for hanging with me through the many posts of photos from the Photo Hunt!)

Mother's Day was a very nice day, honoring the wonderful women who raised us.  I started this wonderful day with my in-laws at a Japanese restaurant.  Yay for sushi! (I can't believe I did not take any pictures at the restaurant so I will have to just throw in this gorgeous photo of sushi from my archives :)

 

Later in the afternoon we went up to my parents' house for dinner and some fishing.

The lake is so relaxing!

 

The girls did a little fishing with Grandpa and Daddy.  (Annika is obsessed with nightcrawlers and thinks they're fun to play with.  Gross! Michelle has more pics of the kids on her blog)

Me and my momma

 

The Sauer girls

 

Michelle and Bennett

 

Brian, Michelle and the kids (Bianca, Bennett and Annika)

 

I hope all of you had a nice Mother's Day too!

Cinco de Mayo.....

Did you all have a nice Cinco de Mayo? I don't even think it matters if you're Mexican or not! Any excuse to eat Mexican food sounds like a great idea to me!

I themed this week "Mexican Food Week" in honor of Cinco de Mayo, traveling around St Paul trying different Mexican food places to review for the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog (I still need to write up one more review).  I am used to making people hungry with my pictures, so here I go again!
Awesome chicken enchiladas at La Esperanza

 

Enchiladas & Taco at El Bravo

 

Tacos at El Amanecer

 

Tacos at Boca Chica's Taco House

 

If only I had had a yummy lime margarita on the rocks to go with any of it!!

Did anyone else go out and have an enjoyable Cinco de Mayo??

Day 84 ~ Cinco de Mayo Tacos

 Lunch

Dinner

A Hippity Hoppity Easter

It was a pretty nice day on Easter this year (in fact we've had about 7-8 days straight of sunny weather!).  Spent some time with the in-laws for a nice early dinner before heading over to my uncle's house later in the afternoon.  It was nice to see some of my cousins I haven't seen in awhile (and their kids!) and also my nieces and nephew. 
My dad and Annika

The kids had a blast playing on the giant trampoline. 

 

Bianca's hair was going wild with static electricity!!! Poor kid bonked her head last week and had to get a bunch of stitches.
 
One of my cousins has identical twin boys (4 years old).  DOUBLE TROUBLE, no doubt!

Just look at these little turkeys trying to get a nice family photo! lol

My cousin Nick turned 21 on Easter Day.  Ahh, to be young again!

Jeff and Amanda

Brian and Michelle

 

My mom and dad

Brian and Bennett

Some of my aunts, uncles and cousins

(Ooops-  no postable pics of me this year )

And that was our lovely 2009 Easter celebration  ;)

Day 61 ~ Easter Eggs & Deviled Eggs

Videoblog- St Patty's Edition

Sorry about the shakiness....I need to get a Tri-Pod ;)
Video Blog 3-17-09 from kristi s on Vimeo.

Friendly Fun @ Fuddruckers: Valentine's Tradition

I think it has been at least five years now that I have celebrated Valentine's Day at Fuddruckers with my Valentine and various friends.  Its  a great place to go as a group, and isn't as busy or expensive as other restaurants.  Its also cool that each person can order what they want and pay before eating, eliminating the need to break down the tab.  My favorite reason to go is for their World's Greatest Hamburgers.  Every single time I go to Fudd's I always get the Southwest Burger.  My appetite has been out of control the past week or so and I not only ate all of my burger, but I also splurged and got a strawberry malt.  Ice Cream is like Heaven to me, I have the hardest time saying no to something that feels so right.  LOL.

Anyway, this year one of my buddies who came along was a Fuddrucker's Rookie.

Other friends that joined us were Ang, Brandon and Richie.

The only only photos of myself that were taken that night are this one and this one of the socks I wear only once a year!

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's weekend!

New Year's Eve....

I have been rather lazy about taking photos lately, but I did take these three on New Year's Eve, which was a very relaxing, low-key evening spent with the neighbors.


Hope everyone had a fun & safe New Year's!

Family Christmas.....

Christmas was a busy day, many places to be a people to see!
One of my stops was the Sauer Family Christmas at my aunt & uncle's house (which happened to be just two miles from my house!)
Me and many of my girl cousins

Me with my nieces

Me with my cousin Katie

And I attempted to take a family photo for Brian & Michelle (the girls were obviously being stinkers!)

Bianca is such a funny girl!

Uncle Jeff and Bennett

Christmas Eve.....

I went up to my parent's house on Christmas Eve for our traditional Fondue dinner.  Dinner was great but what was the most fun about Christmas this year was watching the kids enjoy it.  This was my nephew Bennett's first Christmas :)

Jeff got the girls each a cool play-tent and spent the time setting them up.  Annika's was a Princess Castle and Bianca's was a Garden Tent (or something like that)

Bianca and Grandma sitting in her tent
This one cracks me up....Bennett was ticked about posing for this pic with uncle Jeff!

 

 

 

My brothers chipped in and bought me a new external HD for Christmas.  500GB. Score!  I have since backed everything up from my computer and encourage you all to do the same.  Better safe than sorry! 

Thanksgiving......

Spent Thanksgiving Day in St Cloud with my dad's side of the family (well a 1/3 of them anyway- we have a HUGE family!)

Michelle and I enjoying wine while overlooking the action in the kitchen.....


Brian and Bennett

Jeff and Amanda

My mom and Annika

Heidi and I

The food I ate.....

One of our family traditions is to take a walk around the block after dinner.  Work off some of the calories in time for dessert! This was an apple crumb pie, unbelievably delish!

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday!

Halloween Weekend.....

Ahhhh, what a busy but fun weekend!
Time flies when you're having fun!

Friday night I passed out candy for a little while and then got together with a bunch of the neighbors for a little fire.  Its great having cool neighbors to hang with and still be within feet from home!
Saturday night was the annual Halloween Party at our friends' place.  I have to give a huge Thank YOU shout out to Denise for helping me put my costume together and doing my makeup.  It was a musician-themed party so I went as....... Crazy Britney!! Many people wore costumes that were not music-related and it was still cool!
Here I am with my friend Heather (aka Poison Ivy)

There were some great costumes at the party and I don't think I took nearly enough photos, but here are a few.  Some of the guys jammin out on Rock Band
 

 

 

 

Unfortunately I am unable to post a photo of my favorite costume of the party......the Snake Charmer! Seriously too funny!!!

On Sunday night I went with a big group of friends to The Soap Factory's Haunted Basement.  We were brought deep down into the chambers below the Factory (in groups of four) and had to discover our way out (ALIVE!)  It was the scariest haunted house any of had ever been in, but I think I was more disoriented that scared.  I was more concerned about finding my way out and making sure I didn't trip in the dark that I didn't really allow myself to be scared.  It was still cool and glad I got to go!

Hope everyone else had a nice Halloween weekend too!

The Ghost of Halloween Past.......

Found a  couple old pictures of me on Halloween in past years, thought I'd post a few.....
I was about 3 years old on this Halloween, dressed as a gypsy.  See the terrible look on my face? If I remember correctly, I got sick with the flu later this same night and puked my brains out!! LOL

Here I am as Bat Girl

Not sure if this was Halloween or not, but I was dressed up in one of my dad's suit coats & tie! LOL

And I cannot believe I was ever a CLOWN!!! I HATE clowns!! I look like a little creep!! LOL

How about me as a UGLY WITCH

I am pretty sure I did NOT dress up between ages 12-19, so fast forward to college years! I am the farmer on the right side.  I am so embarrassed about the stupid cigs I used to smoke back in the day (GROSS! PS Its been over 8 years since I have touched a stinkarette)

I made a pretty good Devil!

Here I am as a Mensa Nerd (not too far off the mark! LOL) with Kimmy who was J-Lo that year

Then I was a Purple Lady

And here is last year semi-dressed as a witch

It is going to be a surprise what I dress up as this year (a surprise to me as well since I still haven't figured it out!)
Hope everyone has a Safe and Happy Halloween!

Labor Day at the Lake....

Some photos from Sunday up at my parents' house.....

Michelle and Bianca

Patio/garden in the back of the house (overlooking the lake)

Salad that my Gram made with many bright and colorful fruits....

 

4th of July Party at the Lake

What a beautiful 4th of July we had this year!
The weather was great and I got to see many of my aunts, uncles and cousins.  We have a lot of papparazzi in our family, so the amount of pictures I took were just a sampling....

 

Croquet anyone?? (Insert British accent!)

Here is Bennett (almost 4 mos.) with his 2nd cousin Grace (6 weeks)

 

Looking forward to seeing more of my family this weekend!

Memorial Bonfire Party

Kim and Brent threw a BBQ/bonfire at their place on Sunday night, so once I knew that my house was still standing after the tornado came through, I went straight over there from Jeff's house.
It was a fun time (although I was somewhat preoccupied because of the tornado.  I might've spent as much time answering calls and texts as I did talking with my best friends.)
Early in the evening.....

Later in the evening.....

Memorial Day BBQ....

So while the tornado was touching down near my house, I was having a nice time over at Jeff's house.  He had another BBQ party this weekend....a much larger crowd of both family and friends. 
Jeff has become quite the grill master....


The day was super hot and muggy prior to the storms.....check out the ultra curls on Ms. A....

Bianca with her mama...

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

May your day (and bellies!) be filled with yummy Mexican food!
(and perhaps a Margarita or Corona?)

Easter Brunch....

This morning I went  to Brian and Michelle's house for brunch....they had both our family and Michelle's family over to celebrate Easter.  This was my first time really being able to see my new nephew, Bennett.  Oh, he is just the cutest & sweetest little guy!

We all contributed to make one huge, delicious breakfast buffet.  Holy moly, I swear I am still stuffed! Oh, and did I mention the mimosa we had starting at 10:30am? So good!

I took a ton of awesome pictures, but I want to post just this one so Michelle can post some on her blog too! (Her kids are so cute I can never resist taking a zillion pictures of them)

Me with my "little" brothers

 

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Whats up, friends?

I had a really boring weekend, it was lovely.

Now that my shoulder muscle is back in fine form (thanks to muscle relaxers and a LOT of relaxing!), I am ready to get this week started!

Today is St Patrick's Day.....wow, has March flown or what!?

Is anyone out there Irish?  If not, how about just for today?! 

I do have some Irish blood in me....1/8th to be exact (maternal great grandmother) but even if i didn't, I would surely be eating corned beef & cabbage for dinner tonight! (Never-mind that it is made by my Japanese MIL!)

Have a good one!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Today begins the first day of the Chinese New Year, Year of the RAT!

ETA: Maria and I must be reading minds, because she just posted about Chinese New Year  too, she just has way more info about it !

The man who had a dream....

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, I wanted to pay tribute to a very important person in the history of our country.                                                                              
Words cannot express the greatfulness I feel toward this man and the work he set forth to help African-American citizens get the Civil Rights they deserved.

I truly appreciate being able to work in an educational environment  that celebrates his dream every day; with little boys and little girls of all different races learning and playing together.

If not every other day, please remember and celebrate M.L.K Jr's dream today!

Happy 2008!

Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a fun night (or at least a safe one).
I know I had a great night!

I had to make a new banner to celebrate the new year....
(The other languages besides English are Spanish, French and Japanese, all saying Happy New Year.) The Crystal Ball is from Times Square...

Cheers to a great upcoming year!

Merry Christmas!

A few photos from Christmas Eve...

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas...... It is snowing like crazy again here today, please drive safe in the snow!!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

There are only two material things I really NEED this Christmas.

1.  A new camera.  Mine is broken again and will probably not be fixed and returned to me by Christmas.  However will I make it through the holidays without being able to take my own photos? So very sad!! I'd like a Canon, PLEASE!!

2.  A new phone.  Mine is on the fritz....it goes dead after only 10 minutes of talk-time (and that is when it is fully charged!).  Do I have to drop this one in the toilet again, or would you please just bring me the iPhone that I covet so strongly?

I have been a very good girl this year and I have worked awfully hard :)

If you can't swing either of those for me, maybe you can work some of your magic and extend my holiday break by a few extra weeks!?? Just maybe?  8 days off of work is just not enough time to read all the books, do all the scrappin, and see all the friends I haven't seen in months now!

Yours truly,
Kristi

Thanksgiving & Pie Poll

Hey all,
Hope you're having a nice Thanksgiving!  I am feeling majorly wiped out today despite 14 hours of sleep last night. That's insane, isn't it? I never sleep that much unless I am sick.  I spent most of my day lounging around on the sofa. 
Since I don't have any fun pictures to share, I thought we should do a "pie poll" to determine most popular type of pie :) 
Hard to choose, I know!

I hope everyone enjoyed their time with their families today :)  It would've been great to see the entire Sauer clan (about 40-50 people), but I just wasn't feeling up to traveling and socializing today. Thankful to have a few more days off this weekend to relax and recover!

Halloween re-cap

Glad I got to enjoy my evening (despite not feeling well for the past couple of days).

Went "trick or treating" over to Lanee and Rog's house for a brief time after work.....

Lanee made me wear this witch hat because it "matched" my orange/black outfit.  Have I mentioned before that I hate the color orange? Orange/black were my HS colors.  Ewww. 12 years of playing soccer in orange uniforms ruined the color for me. It is slowly growing on me though.  Halloween is the only day you'll catch me wearing this color combo!!

And there was a scary spider and a freaky pumpkin head doll...

.

Went home handed out candy to the trick or treaters for a short time before going to get some yummy tacos in the hood near where I work. Also went to see the late night showing of 30 Days of Night.  Kinda scary movie about vampires.  Perfect for Halloween!

Oh, and Casper visited my house last night....

Also wanted to show off the cutest picture of my nieces, Annika and Bianca.  Aren't they adorable? Michelle has a few other pics on her blog too.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone!

I re-discovered the other night that carving a pumpkin is a major PITA. Here is my attempt!

My classes were canceled for tonight, so hopefully I will be doing something fun to celebrate one of my favorite holidays!

I can't wait to see pics of all the kiddos dressed up in their costumes!

Be safe and have a great night!!

Labor Day wknd on the lake.....

I am quite busy today (it IS the first day of school, ya know!), but I figured I better update so that Kim and those of you who check this blog faithfully every day for new reading material have something to read!

It was a glorious, hot & sunny weekend in Lake country.

Sunday was spent out on White Bear Lake with Lanee & Roger...

Wow, I am HOT!!!! The humidity and wind obviously LOVE me! LMAO.  Sadly I have also lost the two pair of sunglasses I bought this year, so I am stuck with these ugly backup pair....

Monday (Labor Day) I went up to my parents place on Lake Chisago for dinner and some fishing...

Mmmmm, ribs!

Fish that were caught...

My sweet little nieces...

And a gorgeous sunset on the lake....

Goodbye, Summer.  It was fun while it lasted!!

Cinco de Mayo

I was definitely in the Mexican spirit yesterday in honor Cinco de Mayo :)

Despite the un-Mexican type weather we had (windy, dreary and cold), it was a pretty good day.  Had to have me some good Mexican food (I realize that is bad grammar), but we decided not to brave it down on the West Side where the "real" Cinco celebration was happening.  Went to La Casita instead....

Yummy margarita and chips w/ salsa...

And the biggest platter of food I have ever seen....for less than $12!  I have not yet written my review yet, but it was excellent!

Later in the evening I went to my neighbor's house to watch the Big Fight between my man Oscar de La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.  Enjoyed plenty of Corona, margaritas and pico de gallo while I was there!

 

Okay, so its Cinco de Mayo; Oscar is Mexican, Mayweather is not, right?  So despite that fact, Mayweather makes his entrance into the arena wearing a robe in green, white and red and he is wearing the largest freaking white sombrero I have ever seen.  he looked like clown!!  It was funny, but also seemed to be mocking the Mexican culture.  Either that or he thought he was showing respect??!!!  Who knows....

It was a pretty good fight, but neither of them stood out, and neither of them got very hurt.  It went the full 12 rounds without so much as a knock-down.  Here is The Sport Network's rundown of the fight.  Those of you who are boxing fans always know that when it comes down to a decision, there is usually politics or some other funny business happening.  They ended up giving it to Mayweather by split decision.  Bullshit!!!  It should've been a draw, IMO.  Oscar still reigns as champ in my book ;)  Either way, they both made out like bandits ( It has been reported that Oscar will earn at least $25 million for the fight, and Floyd will earn at least $10 million.)

More about Oscar.... his wife, Millie Corretjer, was watching the fight last night.  She is cute, but looked about 18 years old.  She is a famous singer in Puerto Rico.

Easter

Thought I'd share some pics taken on Easter Sunday. We had a large gathering up in St Cloud....not the entire family, but we came close!  We had all 9 great-grandkids there too...all of them under the age of 4!!!

Annika and Bianca had the cutest matching dresses!!

St Patty's Day with Sevendust!!!

What could be more fun than seeing one of your favorite rock bands with a huge group of your friends on St Patrick's Day?!!  Thats right, Sevendust was in town last night to play a kick-ass show at Myth and we were ready!!!!!!

Pre-show party at my house.  Lots of beer and pitchers of margaritas (mean and green!)

Lets get this party started! Richie and St Patrick himself!

Now of course I thought ahead and called Myth to find out their camera policy for the evening.  You may remember this post how pissed they made me about the cameras at the 30STM show.  They told me that disposable cameras were fine, but no digi.  So I stopped and picked up a couple of disposables on the way...there was no way I was missing a ton of drunkin-rockin-party pics, ya know??  But wouldn't you know that the DAMNED MYTH CHANGED THEIR DAMN CAMERA POLICY FOR THE EVENING BEFORE I GOT THERE and wouldn't let me take the disposables in!!!!!!  And I wasn't about to walk the effin cameras two miles back to the car, so I left them at the door and never saw them again.  Damn waste of $12...good thing the cameras were on sale!!!

The show was amazing....Sevendust has like 6 albums or so out now and they played a really good mix off all the old albums.  The boys were all down in THE PIT, but Toni and I were ROCKIN it at the back of the floor.  I would've had a good time no matter what since I love Sevendust, but each beer I had made the show more and more fun.  By the end of the show, I was feeling GREAT!!!! LOL

A group of us went to Perkins after the show to get our late-night grub on.  Kinda like the olden days of 10 years ago!!  We were all starving and decided we were going to "destroy" our food. (This means eat it ALL, no matter how much is on the plate) I ordered the corned beef hash and eggs with a side of pancakes...and YES, I DESTROYED IT!!!

Hope everyone else had a great time too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day!  Tonight we will not be going to Fuddrucker's for our traditional VDay burger...instead we are going to Mpls. to see Dir En Grey...a Japanese Rock band who happen to be Stateside for a tour.  Should be interesting....I can't understand any of their lyrics, but they should give a good presentation {I Hope!}

Today is also Lanee Valentina's 30th birthday!!!  Happy birthday Shaniques!!! Enjoy this little slideshow I made for ya :) Have fun at the North Shore this weekend and I will see you next week to celebrate!

*ETA  I removed this slideshow because it was too much memory.  View it here instead.

We had dinner last night with Erick's parents.  They got me this beautiful flower arrangement and a couple of other really cute things!

  I looove getting flowers....my cats do too, unfortunately.  They like to eat the flowers until there isn't anything beautiful left about them.  So I had a little talk with the cats when I got home and told them they better leave my flowers alone...or else!!! Guess what? They still looked great this morning!

Our friends Rusty and Alex stopped by last night with their 6-mos old daughter, Kylie.  She has gotten so big so fast!

We had a "sweet" little celebration at work this morning...check out how cute this arrangement is....

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Me and Farrah....

 

Have a great Valentines Day! Let the ones you love know how much you care :)

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!

Christmas Feasting

I think I may have overdone it with the eating and drinking this merry, merry Christmas.

I'm so full that I don't think I am going to need to eat ever again!

I finished up my shopping on Saturday afternoon and then went downtown and had  all-you-can-eat sushi at Ichibans.  It was all downhill from there...

I spent Christmas Eve at my parents house for our traditional hot-oil fondue dinner.  The house was looking very festive as usual!

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Plenty of marinated meats for the fondue, as well as jalapeno poppers and mozzarella sticks (Nice thinking, Jeff!).  My family has been doing the fondue on Christmas Eve for about 20 years now.  Its so good!

After our fondue we always open all our presents to each other.  I got a couple of giftcards for Archiver's (yay!), a cook book, a pretty purple sweater and amethyst earrings, a quesadilla maker, some calphalon pots, some DVDs, Scrabble, and I can't remember what else at the moment!

I made a little video montage with my Christmas Eve pics if you'd like to take a look :)

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

Later on Christmas Eve Rich and Angel came over for awhile (bearing gifts..all food related!)

I had a huge breakfast on Christmas morning and then spent the afternoon with the Sauer family.... my cousin Katie was in town from IL...it was great to see her and the rest of my cousins that were there too.  Its fun to have a big family :)

I had Christmas dinner with family and friends in WBL (seafood alfredo and lasagna).  Again, stuffed to the max!! 

Later that night we hung out with our next-door-neighbors, Darrell and Denise.  They had a few friends over to celebrate Darrell's Christmas birthday.  It was a good time! More eating and drinking all night. Denise makes the best fresh pico de gallo with tons of fresh cilantro.  I love it!!! Stayed up way too late. Was nice that we only had about 20 feet to stumble to get back home! LOL

Had dinner and celebrated Christmas at Lanee & Roger's house tonight.  Lanee made some of the best lasagna I've ever had....delish! 

My appetite has now met its capacity and I must take it easy for a few days :)

Hope everyone else had a great Christmas!

Gobble Gobble

Had a nice, relatively quiet Thanksgiving this year.  For the first time in many, many years, my parents hosted the holiday at their house.  It is tradition that we spend Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family, alternating between St Cloud and the Cities.  My dad's brother Steve and sister Susan and their families joined us, making it a much smaller gathering than usual. (Instead of 40 we had 12)   Jeffrey couldn't make it because he was in AZ celebrating with my mom's side of the family. 

Here are some pics of our Thanksgiving:

Me and my Mamacita (For the record, I have always hated the color orange and I am trying to break out of my shell)

Brian, Michelle and Annika.  Annika is so funny and cute! She speaks her own language now...you can't understand it, but she is always talking away at full speed.  She is going to make a wonderful big sister to Bianca (only 10 weeks to go!)

Susan, Gene, Katie and Mike

Cindy and Collin (who just turned 16 and now has his driver's license!!)

The table centerpiece....

I took pics of all sorts of things, including my plate of food! Have I ever mentioned that Green Bean Casserole is my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal??? It is usually the thing my aunt Janice brings, but since she wasn't able to attend this year, my mom put me in charge of making it.  The recipe calls for cheddar cheese croutons, which are impossible to find around here.  Sure you can find cheese and garlic at any store, but never cheese without the garlic.  After stopping at four stores on Wed, I found Romano cheese croutons and made it with that.  Turned out pretty good!!

Following dinner we had our traditional "walk around the block" after dinner.  My parents neighborhood looks great with all the Christmas lights!

For dessert we had brownie cheesecake, some sort of apple bar/cake, and pumpkin chiffon pie.  Yummy!

Hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!

Lots of Green!!

Happy St Patty's Day!

The sun is out today, I have a feeling it is going to be a good day!!  Despite the 14 inches of snow we have gotten in the past four days, I really believe spring will soon be here :)

Fridays are treat day at work....today's group went with a "green" theme in honor of St Patrick's Day. Check out these cute cupcakes and cookies:

I've got my corned beef cooking in my crockpot right now and I cannot wait to have it for dinner.  I love real corned beef....its one of my favorites! It guess it is nice that us Catholics got the "go" from the Church to eat it today, being that it is a Friday during Lent.  I haven't really been a good Catholic and I hardly remember not to eat meat on Fridays anyway, but there are many Irish Catholics out there! Speaking of Irish, I am only 1/8th, but this is still a fun tradition :)

Tonight's Agenda:  E and I might be going to see DreamTheater in Mpls. We would both like to go, but tickets are spendy.  There will also be a million drunks downtown partying it up and drinking green beer!  I have heard there are more drunk drivers on the road on this day than any other day of the year.  The buses around here run free all night though, so that seems like the safest way to get around (unless you live in the sticks like we do!).

I finally learned how to upload videos to Youtube last night.  The reason it never worked before was because I was trying to upload them at work...they must have some kind of block to prevent it.  It was driving me crazy and I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work, then I tried it at home and was successful!

This is just a quick demo....its an older video of my cats Phoenix and Pharaoh playing their favorite game (taken with the crappy school video camera), but you get the idea.  Now that I have figured this out, I totally want to get a more modern digi-video cam!!

Have a great weekend and be safe tonight, everyone!

Creating Traditions...

Creating a tradition is as simple as doing something more than one time, usually around a specific date or event.  Traditions are a big deal in my family...we have lots of 'em!

Er and I started a Valentine's tradition about four years ago when we first went to Fuddruckers for Valentine's Day.  We wanted to go somewhere yummy and fun that wouldn't involve reservations or an hour long wait to get food.  Fuddrucker's fits all that criteria! A few years ago our friend Rich and his friend Ang started having Valentine's dinner at Fuddrucker's with us.  This was our 3rd year with them, and probably 5th year for us.

The boys pride themselves on being able to eat the "pounder, with all the fixins".  Here is Richie with his burger (there is no way E would pose for this pic!).  Now THATS a BURGER!!

I know I have said it before, but all you meat-eaters MUST have a burger from Fudd's....they really are the World's Greatest!! My favorite is the Southwest Burger. Yumm!

Thanks, MLK Jr!

Today was a holiday from school, in honor of the great Civil Rights movement leader, Martin Luther King Jr. I sit here thinking about his "dream" and can't help but feel proud of the progress our country has made.  I know we still have a LONG way to go in the fight for racial equality and the end of hatred, but I appreciate every single day that I can go to work at my inner-city school and see the positive relationships and attitudes among our diverse student population.  My students get so angry about the injustice and racial attitudes that many of our citizens faced prior to the Civil Rights movement, they cannot even imagine it.  Their positive attitudes give me hope that each generation will become more and more united and less hateful. It is a beautiful dream.......

Did I mention how great it is to have this day off? Especially when one is in the mood to scrap and has a million other things going on this week! LOL.  So of course I scrapped all day long, with a long break at lunch to meet my honey:)

Created this layout for April's Teal Circle Journal.  I LOVE teal too!! I think it looks much cuter IRL!

Then I did this one.....tried to make it masculine, since the event was a heavy metal concert! It was sooooo hard for me not to put a flower on this!!

And then this one of me and Jenny, having lunch downtown right before Christmas.

And now I must sign off....working out with my personal trainer tonight!

Our Christmas Eve Fondue

Merry Christmas everyone!!

It will be fun reading about the fun Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions that many of my other blogging friends will be writing about these next few days.  Now here I am writing about our family tradition.

Every Christmas Eve for the past 20 years or so, my family has been doing a hot-oil fondue for dinner.  We have bite-sized pieces of marinated beef, chicken, pork, scallops, mushrooms and tator-tots.  We have three pots set up for the seven of us and we each get a bunch of fondue forks.......

Each person eats whatever and as much as he/she likes! If you have never had fondue this way, I highly recommend it!  It takes us about an hour to eat because you only cook a few pieces at a time. Here are Brian and Michelle waiting in anticipation for the oil to heat-up for the fondue.

After dinner we always open our gifts to each other.  This is our first Christmas with a grandbaby....and boy, did my niece Annika get spoiled! She was the most fun to shop for by far and got so many cute things!  Here is (my dad) Grandpa Jim with Annika

I got several really nice  frying pans and a small crock-pot from my brothers.  Perfect for making chilli-cheese dip or reuben dip (Kara...I must get that recipe from you, it is soooooooo good!)

I got a couple of sweaters and a large Samsonite suitcase from my parents. Yay! Now I won't be needing to borrow theirs anymore when I travel!

I got my mom these gorgeous Swarovski Crystal and gold earrings ...she loved them! Michelle made her the cutest scrapbook of Annika pics too.  Lucky grandma!

My brother Jeff is going to the World Cup in Germany next summer so I got him this USA Soccer T-shirt so that he can "represent" while he is out there!  I am also going to take him out for a sushi dinner sometime soon!

Merry Christmas and let there be Peace on Earth!

Thankful!

Gobble Gobble!
Today is the day when most American Citizens sit back, eat a huge turkey meal and think about what they are thankful for.  I like to think I show my thanks in my everyday life, but I rarely ever acknowledge it here.  So today I am going to join many of my blogging girls and make a list of what I am thankful for, in no particular order.

My darling E- For being so smart, for always thinking three steps ahead, for loving me and being so generous.  For being a music lover and a collector of many things. For being a good friend and for putting up with me for the past seven years :)

My brothers- I have two amazing younger brothers, Brian and Jeff. I am a very proud big sis....Jeffrey is super cute,  smart and witty...and he helps me with my computer problems.  Gonna be a millionare someday soon.  Love him to death!  Brian is also adorable in a serious kind-of way.  He became a father this past summer and it is amazing to see him with his baby girl.  He is incredibly smart, a leader, a hard worker and has built himself a wonderful life, including marrying Michelle.  Michelle is my beautiful little sister (in-law) who has become the most proud mama to Annika.  She makes my brother so happy...she is also his high school sweetheart, his #1 love.                             

My parents- the role models who taught me to be responsible, independent, open-minded and kind-hearted.  Raising me and my brothers within a strong marriage, being supportive, authoritative and putting $ aside for the important stuff like taking us on family vacations!

My Grandparents- For letting me come and stay with them in Scottsdale whenever I am am visiting AZ.  My Gram for being an awesome cook/baker and taking me shopping and my Gramps for always doing magic tricks with us when we were growing up.

My HUGE extended family- It is so much fun having a million aunts and uncles and cousins.  I love them all!  I wish I could see you all more often

My FRiendS-  I have too many to name them all, but my very bestest are Lanee, Sonja, Mary and Kim.  For being there for me for sooooo many years.  Jenny for being such a great listener and loving to do different kind of activities with me.  Shannon for being such a great friend/neighbor....I wouldn't have found my house if it weren't for you! Kara for being so much fun and showing me a good time just when I need it. Bradie for being my oldest friend in the world. Mandie for all the fun we used to get into...love telling old stories with you! My college roommates, Laura, Laura, Katie and Cora...for having so much fun with me while preparing for our futures.  Jen and Lori...for venting with me about that place we used to work! I could go on and on and on....

My blogging girls- .For giving me something fun or thoughtful to think about.  For enjoying the things I have to say and letting me know that you're there to listen.  For being my friends.

My Kitties- Phoenix, Pharaoh, Isis and Dusty.... for being so SMART, sweet and lovable.  Such unique personalities in each of them.  I adore them all like my babies

The roof over my head-  Owning a place that is big and inviting.  Having it filled with artwork and other things I love.

Bessie- For not nickel and diming me over the past 7 years.  For the fun road trips

Scrapbooking- For being a way to combine my thoughts, feelings, creativity with pictures of the people I care about.

Scrapjazz- For all the amazing ladies who answered my questions when I was just beginning to scrap.  For the fun message boards that allow me to waste some time whenever I have some to spare.  For being able to post my layouts and getting feedback about my work.  For the friends that I have made.

Books- For the stories, information and letting me escape.  For being my most favorite hobby of all time.

My education- For providing me with the skills I need to be a good teacher, but also for the general background knowledge that seemed so pointless at times. 

My Camera- For always being there when a Kodak moment arises.  For capturing a moments in time.

My Computer- For storing all my photos and music, for allowing me to connect to the WWW, for having programs that make my job and life easier.

My Career- Having a job that I love.....educating high ability/gifted students.  For challenging me to think "outside the box" in order to keep these smart kids on their toes!  For providing me with a decent salary.

I have many more things that I am thankful for, but it is now time to get the Thanksgiving Festivities underway!!

Happy Halloween!

**A new banner and some new colors for ya'll today!!  The car is a new Shelby that I saw at the Auto Show last spring. Its on my list for when I win the Lottery!

Saturday was a very busy day with the wedding of my college roommate, Laura Blonde to her soul-mate Jeff, and then later the annual late-night Halloween Party of our friends Matt & Colleen.  It will take some time to get through all the pictures and fix the red-eye, so I have decided that since today is Halloween, I will post some of the costumes people wore to the party on Saturday night.  Wedding pictures will follow tomorrow (hopefully!)

Since attending Laura's wedding was my #1 priority, finding a costume was left to 5 minutes before actually leaving the house for Matt's party.  I quickly decided to go as a Purple Mardi Gras Dame.  Here is me with  Enrique Iglesias

Here are party hosts Matt & Colleen.....a Nascar driver and his "trophy" wife:

This picture cracks me up....Rusty with some crazy get-up:

Hmm, next we have the "Gina"cologists:

 Night Stalker and  Captain Gordon:

    

And here is  Foxy Brown!

*****

Matt's mom, her chicken friends and the Colonel!

This is Matt's sister......this costume is great!

And the most-last-minute-hardly- a-costume award goes to Chris, who went as Oprah:

Bob as Tom Selek:

Here I am with   (Flower Child) and  (Trailer Trash)

It was a fun night and we took advantage of the clocks rolling back an hour.....didn't get home until after 4am!

The 4th

The morning of the 4th didn't start off the best...I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing when I downloaded all my pics from the weekend and accidentally wrote over the pics I took on Saturday.  Then I did a load of white laundry for E.  I am usually pretty good about checking  pockets before doing the wash but somehow I missed the pen that was hidden in there somewhere.  I found it at the bottom of the dryer along with ink spots all over his clothes everywhere.  Man!

I went over to my Gram and Gramps house for a few hours in the afternoon, but had a terrible headache for most of the day.  Here are the few pics I was able to get before my camera battery died. You'd never know that there were about 25 people there from these few pics....my family is rather large :)

 

E, his friend J, and I all went to The Taste of Minnesota later to see the fireworks.  How disappointing! I remember going when I was younger and all the food vendors were local restaurants selling samples of their best dishes.  Now it is all Carni (val) food.  Nothing wrong with that (they did have cheese curds!) but just not the same as before.  Not to mention that I had to BUY a wristband in order to buy one beer.  They told me E would have to buy one too if we would be sharing.  That seems so stupid to me but they must have a reason behind it. 

So then we waited until the fireworks at The Taste started at 10:30.  Another disappointment!  Just nothing compared to the way it was when I was younger! The finale was pretty cool and thats it.  So then we get back to the parking garage to try to fight the traffic and someone (supposedly) gets shot outside our ramp and they close the street off and wouldn't let any of us leave.  For two hours!!! I didn't get home and to bed until 1:30 and had to get up at 5:00am today.  Ooooouch.

I actually had a pretty decent 4th despite all the whininess of my story!