My broken promise

So, no pictures from the party! I'm sorry - but I'll just leave you with it was so good there was no time to take pictures. Yup, that good. We had quite a few people show up and we had beautiful (but a little on the cool side) weather. I was so glad it didn't rain, but oddly enough we did run out of toilet paper. All my worst fears have been realized!

Otherwise Chris and I have been busy with work and planning for our vacation. Work has still been crazy, but should be a little better in the beginning of September. This is the first weekend I have been off in a while. For vacation planning, Chris bought a travel backpack and I'm looking into one. I was going to borrow one but I found one online for about $80 that got really good reviews. I should start thinking in euros soon!!! We also got a garmin that came preloaded with maps of the US and Europe. This way we can't get lost....because you see, my worry is that since we can't really understand the language, nobody could give us directions anyways. Even if I do know how to ask for them! We've been listening to "Italian for Dummies". I always find it strange that the For Dummies series are so popular. There must be a lot of people out there with low self esteem. I can't believe we're going in 6 weeks. It's going to be awesome.

As always, the only other thing we've been doing is dealing with our animals medical issues. Daly developed hot spots again this year. Hot spots are areas of irritated skin, Daly usually gets them on his face. They are itchy and on him develop into huge pussy scabs. Pleasant, right?! When Daly gets hot spots we don't have to bring him to the vet (anymore, apparently they consider us experts now), but we get to shave his face, apply an antibacterial rinse, and then try to prevent him from scratching. It always starts with us feeling really bad for putting the giant e-collar on him. This time, our sympathy resulted in us coming home to blood-splattered walls because Daly had been itching at his cheeks so badly. So now the e-collar has been a constant friend, and in the way of everyone. Daly takes up even more room with the thing on, and doesn't realize that he won't fit where he used to. It's endearing, if you find scratched walls and knocked over cups near to your heart. Poor dude.

Oh the drama

The eras are ending fast people

A short recap of this week and upcoming events!

I worked, oh how I worked. I've been working 60 hour weeks for the last two weeks. It hurts. Working this much apparently makes me very irritable. That Chris is still talking to me is a miracle. Work doesn't really look like it's going to let up either. It could be a long year. Good thing I have a 2 week vacation to look forward to in October! It's my little carrot on the end of the stick.

I biked into work twice this week! Twice seems to be about my limit, although I'm pretty sure that I biked in 3 times one week last year. Biking in every day is nearly impossible with meetings and rain. When I biked in on Tuesday, I was almost mauled by some wild turkeys. True story. The turkeys were crossing the road (is there a joke in there somewhere?), all the traffic had stopped and they were headed straight towards me. Turkeys are tall and ugly, so I admit I was a little scared they would peck my knees or something (at least I think they peck, I may have seen some fangs, maybe it's more like gnashing). I did some fancy maneuvering on my bike to avoid getting my blood sucked out by the turkeys and traffic was able to move again. One of the coolest things about living in Minneapolis is all the wildlife. Seriously, I live in a fairly large city and if you go to the right spots you can see deer, fox, turkeys, skunks, raccoons, and all kinds of little furry things. I think it's pretty neat that they're somewhat able to coexist.

I started going to yoga again, and I'm going to make it a habit. When I work too much I get overwhelmed and just have to do something for myself. Usually the things that run through my head that I NEED since I'm stressed are shopping, massages, or any sort of organized work out class, like yoga, spinning, or kickboxing. All of those things feel like a treat to me, and if I'm going to work a lot I need to feel like I'm getting something out of it.

It was Chris' birthday Wednesday, happy 29th baby! I love that you finally catch up with me every year, here's to the year before 30! We went out to a local bar and grill to play what's known as BARGO. Like bingo, but with an AR, so it's like pirate bingo. But not really pirate-like at all. Although there may have been a guy there with a wooden leg, I guess I wouldn't know. Chris won a round (seriously, it's kind of a big deal, not many people win) and got $10 off dinner, which in addition to his free dinner since it was his birthday made Chris an incredibly cheap date.

So what are we doing this weekend? Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a wee bit of social anxiety, especially when I'm in a group of more than 2-4 people (and maybe even if you don't know me very well actually, I have no idea how obvious I am. I often worry I come across as rude or snotty, but I'm actually just afraid to open my mouth. Worrying about how I come across then completes the anxiety spiral). We're having a party! With 10 times more than 2-4 people! As you may imagine, this is causing me to worry incessantly about things like:

What if nobody shows up?

What if many people show up?

What if people show up and have absolutely nothing to say to each other and we sit there in a circle of awkward silence?

What will our separate groups of friends think of each other/say to each other/talk about? And related to that, why do we have so many separate groups of friends? This is totally a larger problem that I can analyze to death.

What should I wear?

Where will we sit if it rains?

Why haven't we finished the base board in the dining room (coughChriscough)?


We do this every year though, and it always turns out fine, with me only having slight panic attacks about the lack of pictures on the walls and incessantly checking whether we have enough toilet paper.

I hope to remember to post some pictures!

Last bit of information - one of my favorite restaurants in Uptown, Golooney's, closed. It's the end of an era and I am in mourning. I didn't even know they were going to close so I couldn't go for one last Veggie Verrazano sandwich. They were so freaking good. I'll miss you sandwich.

My pictures are worth what?

I was reading back over my entries and realized that almost every time I included a picture in a post it was fuzzy or taken with my cell phone. I have some friends who are AMAZING photographers. I, however, am not an amazing photographer (this blog illustrates that perfectly).


Illustrates. Pictures. Get it?


Anyways. I can and have taken some decent pictures. I have a decent camera (although a decent camera does not a decent photographer make). Here are some of my favorites. With stories


So this picture I didn't even take. But it's one of my favorite shots right after we got the new camera, and my eyes look so blue! 10 points if you can spot the dog!


Ah, the dock at our cabin...at one of the many many amazingly serene and beautiful mornings on the lake. I don't know the date, the time, or even the year, but I like to think of this when I think of the cabin. That it's always there, waiting for me.



And here we have Chris' car.. He bought it last fall. It's a 1950 Ford Shoebox and it is a miracle that I know that much. It's a beautiful car though and it even runs now. One day I will get to ride in it. Up until now I've got to push it places. It's all fun though!



Daly's first day at the cabin. Oh my god, the cabin. I caught him mid-action when I asked him to come and sit and I took a picture. If you can't tell, Daly LOVES the cabin.



This pretty picture was taken on a walk during fall of 2008 along the Mississippi in St Paul. I think the building is some sort of granary, it has a lot of conveyer belts coming out of a boat landing.

If you haven't had enough of him yet, this is Daly. Young and old. He sticks his tongue out at you. What a handsome boy. Lord help us when we have children.
Chris and I went up to Bluefin Bay on Lake Superior 2 years ago. We were going up there to snowboard but it had been so warm and there was no snow. We were able to go out and take a few walks. This picture is of Lake Superior. I loved the way the ice clinked together, it was such a beautiful, soft, constant clattering.
This picture I absolutely love. I have it hanging up at work. It's Daly to a 'T'. Bonus points for spotting the cat.

This was fun...I'll do it again sometime.

I wish I had my camera!

There was the strangest casheir at Walgreen's this morning. When I got up there she was trying to get me to take an empty Swisher Sweet cigar box because she thought I could make it into a purse. After convincing her that no, I did not want a cigar box purse, and no, I was not crafty enough to do something like that she started ringing me up. This was a lady in her 40's to 50's who you could tell had done her share of smoking and drinking and generally enjoying life too much. She was someone you could see in a bar in the country - bleach blond with the roots growing out and too skinny and too wrinkly for how young she was. The funniest part?

Her nametag.

"Cougar"

Travel Edition

Chris and I recently returned from Florida and Mickey and Disney and MAGIC, PEOPLE! Everything Disney apparently shrunk since I went there 16 years ago. Don't you hate that feeling. Oh, and it was hot. Like toss me in an oven hot. I spent most of our first day there running from shade spot to shade spot and sweating. And then we went to the water park, which was the only place I wasn't hot and I got a sunburn. Ouch.

Contrary to what that last paragraph sounded like, I really did have a good time. We were there with Chris' family and I got to hang out with them, which is a rarity, and hang out with my nephews. I would totally go back, but in the winter next time. We stayed at the nicest, most amazing hotel I have ever stayed at. The rooms were spacious and comfortable and the pool had a waterfall and nightly swim-in movies. I have to thank Chris' mom for taking us on this trip! Did you know Winnie the Pooh and Tigger were Disney? I had no idea. Disney has the monopoly on childrens everything.

Oh, and by the way, we're going to freaking Italy people! That's right, Italy. With the food and the wine and the amore. Yes, that Italy. We will be there in T-3 months and counting. I'm nervous about the plane ride because I have a wee bit of anxiety sometimes (ahem.), but I am so excited to see the colliseum and Caesar's (old) grave, and Florence and Venice and ride in a canal and eat a boatload of pizza. I can't wait.

We also just got back from the cabin over the 4th of July weekend. It is a sad fact that I haven't been to the cabin this year since we put in the dock back in May or June or whenever. If I would've blogged about it maybe I would remember. Let this be a lesson to me to keep this thing updated. I digress. It was great to hang out with my extended family and go tree hunting with my dad. We did find a tree, but many people and trees were almost injured in the process.

Maybe I stink?

We came back from the cabin and the dog and I promptly got sick. Me - some sort of cold/throat thing, which is awful because I haven't worked out for 2 weeks prior to this, and now that I finally feel up to working out, I'm not up to working out. I keep telling myself my body knows what's best, but I wish it would hurry up with itself. Daly - puking/pooping/refusing to eat. Which is typical of Daly when he's had too much fun....or when my grandma feeds him too many table scraps!

Just this side of nothing

I started this post on Earth Day...I'm finishing it in June. I've been just a little busy, although I think it's funny that every time people ask me what I've been up to all I can come up with is oh, nothing. So here is my nothing.

Ignore the fuzzy thing at the bottom of the picture. I was simply too lazy to crop it out. It's a miracle I'm even updating this blog really.

Something for the spirit of Earth Day! Chris and I went out and bought ourselves a rain barrel. Chris headed up this effort almost all by himself, and I was thoroughly impressed. Our adventure started by driving in circles around a port-a-potty graveyard looking for a lady from craigslist who said she had wine barrels. Silly us, we had been looking for an office of some sort but she was stationed out of a giant cage. We got to pick out our own wine barrel from about 80 of them, and you can't imagine the smell! It was a little much. We picked a Cabernet Sauvignon from some region in France, which happens to be my favorite wine, but really it was the best barrel there. We drove home praying not to get pulled over while smelling like a winery....and Chris set it up after only one trip to Home Depot (and that was an earth day miracle people). It rained the next day, and not very much, and the barrel was half full! Then it rained for real and we got to see the overflow spout work. It was very dry for about 2 months, and we watered all of our plants with this, and still didn't run out (it's a 55 gallon barrel). For about the first month though all of the water that came out was slightly red and smelled like cabernet, which may be a marketing ploy because I find myself craving red wine. Or else Jesus is in our barrel. I figure we will have the best tomatoes ever because they've been watered by wine. I'll let you know in a month or two.

Fashion Cents

I splurged and bought a new dress. I have nowhere to wear this dress and no need of it, but I saw it and I love it and it is just so freaking cute!

So that is me, just out of the shower, trying to figure out what goes with the dress (definitely the green towel). We went out to dinner Friday and I wore it with jeans, but I would really love some boots. The dress is fun and kind of 60's and needs tall boots. But I (and by "I" I mean my right big toe) found a hole in my only pair of black work flats this morning. Those need to be replaced stat because I am so done with heels. I'm all about COMFORT. Except when it comes to that dress and I would suffer in whatever looks good. Any advice? I really don't know what to wear with it, which is probably why it's been sitting in my closet for 3 months before I just did the jeans thing.

You're probably wondering why I'm in a cheerleader stance. That's because we do not own a full length mirror in our house so I am straddling the bathroom sink with one foot on the toilet and one foot on the tub and OH MY GOD DON'T FALL. Which is a serious concern because have you seen my bruises from falling down a staircase? Um yea....I've been so very coordinated lately and have fallen many, many times. Everything hurts. So it's a good thing I wore jeans with the dress because the bruises and the bumps and the oh yea(shhhh..) unshaved legs.

Oh yea, dinner! We ate at the Craftsman on Lake Street. It was good. For the appetizer we had the cheese plate (always a good thing). Chris had a steak and I had the gnocchi - which was amazing. I've never had homemade gnocchi before, and this was the best gnocchi ever. I wish I could cook like that. But we probably won't be going back there often because HOLY EXPENSIVE. And we didn't even get dessert.