here we go

Well, I think I'm going to try this blog thing again. This blog fell to the way side when I decided I wanted to graduate sooner than later - meaning 12 hours of summer semester courses and 21 hours of fall semester courses. The good news is I did graduate and I'm so excited to have some spare time!

Also, I have a brand new fancy camera (a graduation gift from my super loving husband) that needs some attention and I'm hoping to do some sort of 365 project. However, I want to enjoy that spare time I spoke of and not be overly committed to a photog project... We will see!

Anyway, I want to post a few pictures from my fall semester photography class as a starting/reference point to look back on as I hopefully progress with my new camera and this blog.

12 days is too long

Its my Friday, its summer and I'm off to the lake for a long weekend! All is well.

Dylan has been at the lake for over a week. By Sunday evening it will be 12 days. I'm glad he had this time (shutdown week) at the lake, but I am ready for him to come home too!


I'm ready for my best friend back and the dogs are seriously depressed. Right now Meeka has a permanent sad puppy dog face and it is killing me to look at her.

I am also so grateful to soon have my husband back. Everyone knows Dylan has a somewhat flexible work schedule - what everyone doesn't know is how much he does for us, for me, for our home because of his flexible schedule. I try to tell him how much I appreciate all that he does but after this past week I have another level of appreciation!

And we (yeah, me and the dogs) miss his humor.


For example, last night while mowing the last section of the yard (the 'berm' or streetside grass) I seriously almost quit. How wonderful would that have looked? An almost mowed yard! I was so frustrated with the heavy-full-bag-mower, the uneven-snowplow-wrecked-berm, my lack of food, the list of things I still had to do, the joggers staring at my struggles, etc...


But most of all I was frustrated that Dylan wasn't there to laugh at/with me. I didn't need him to mow the yard, I just needed him there to laugh. He knows that stupid strip of grass gets me every time. :-)


It feels good to miss Dylan though. Some people don't miss their spouse when they are gone! :-) It also feels good to realize how much he cares for me by doing all that he does. Even the little stuff like the way he constantly makes me laugh even when I don't want to.

I can't wait to wrap my arms around his neck and spend a few days with him at the lake.




And next week, he is mowing the grass!

By the way, I did finish. I didn't want to be those neighbors!

Happy Thursday - almost Friday!

an old dork

“You know you are getting old when______” is a pretty common phase. Sometimes the blank is filled in by aches and pains, the joy of going to bed early, the decline of athletic ability and so on. This phase is also quite commonly heard around birthdays. Recently, I had a birthday so I heard this type of comment over and over.

Age (the actual number) or getting older does not bother me. Yeah I know, I say that now! But truthfully, age has never been that big of a deal to me.

I guess my phase would be, “You know you are becoming a dork when_____.” Turning into a full on dork bothers me! Forget my age.

Currently my phrase is, “You know you are becoming a dork when you get a sewing machine for your birthday and it feels like the best present ever.” For 2+ weeks I have been absolutely giddy about my new sewing machine.

Last night I hung out with a 65 year-old, Ellen, and it was a blast! Ellen gave me a sewing refresher course and a ton of hints from her many years of sewing that are invaluable.

I am also a full-fledged-dork because for 2+ weeks I have been scouring thrift stores, garage sales and the fabric store for great deals to stock up and decorate my sewing room. Though, my love of thrift stores and garage sales has been earning me dork points for awhile now! I don’t care. I love finding a treasure and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE it when a guest compliments something in our house and Dylan has to cringe because he knows I scored it at a garage sale! Example: our wooden living room chair. :-)

So hopefully I will be updating the blog with my sewing creations someday soon! However, it is summer and as much as I love my new sewing machine I also want to enjoy the summer weather. I need to do as many outdoorsy, non-dorky things as possible so that when the cold weather returns I can sew and sew until my heart is content! :-)

PS – While writing this I tried to get to the root of my dork anxiety. Where does this stem from? It actually didn’t take me too long to figure it out… It is all Kyle’s fault. Once again! Repeating in my head is Kyle’s childhood voice telling me “You are such a dork.” Thankfully God gave me a forgiving nature or maybe just the skill to block bad memories! :-) Big brothers are the best!

green dog

= happy dog

I recently printed out some (85!) lake pictures from the last two years to update our lake album. It is fun to see how things have changed over the last few years - neighbors, trailers, the shack, the pups, the water, visitors ... a lot has changed.

It is also fun to see the good times captured in time.

This day with our green dog was one of those. Taking a clue from Meeka's bandanna it was around the Fourth of July. Dylan threw the football into the water for hours and each and every time Meeka launched herself off the end of the dock into the water to retrieve the football. Sometimes she was graceful, other times not so much!

Meanwhile, Lizzie played with rocks and sticks. Lizzie hates sticks. They make her mad. Meeka was probably very relived Lizzie was playing with sticks - Lizzie is known to be the best mini-dachshund-retriever anyone has ever seen. Liz was letting Meeka shine on this day!! :-)

Looking forward to capturing more good times at the lake this year! So far we are on track for a bunch - especially if Kevin is around the campfire! :-)

open season

It is officially lake season.

The lake is completely different this year. The water from this past fall, winter and spring has created an all new lake.

It feels so good to be back. I just love the feel of being at the lake.

These pictures are all from last year and really have nothing to do with it being the beginning of a new lake season! I'm not sure why I chose to show these dark, colorless pictures when I am so happy to see all the bright colors of early summer! Maybe next time. :-)

my lake

I want to be here.


But I have to wait. Hopefully just one more weekend.

so dramatic

Just thought I should clarify that I know the Captiva street sign picture is horrible. Possibly hard to look at. That is the point! So was the island itself!

I think I was shaking from disbelief and sadness of how much everything had changed. The whole experience didn't make for the best pictures.

changed

Florida was great. I took almost 1000 pictures and that truly wasn't enough. (I blame it on my rookie mistake of leaving my lens hoods at home - what was I thinking!) There are at least 20 different scenarios of photographs in my head that didn't get taken. Bikes on the beach (hello kelli, our first date was biking!) More of Grace's little rolls and toes. Reflections on the water. Grace in her bike seat. All of us dressed up for dinners. Textures. Strangers. More beach life ...

I really am regretting not capturing everything better. Why? Because I really understand that we will never have that time back. Everything changes ...

So much has changed since the last time we were in Florida. Kyle and Miranda have been married for 3 years. Grace is 1. Dylan and I have been married for 1.5 years. New houses, new jobs, new kid, new relationships, new dog, new cars. New lives!

Florida has changed too. Hurricanes and foreclosures really change the landscape of a place. The beach mansions have always amazed me, but to see them boarded up (and not because of an approaching hurricane) was total amazement. See there is another picture I wish I had taken! A 10 million dollar beach side home with rotting boards covering the windows...

- - However, the foreclosures have kept some people from snatching up all the old time Florida beach classics - and then tearing them down just for the land. I LOVE, LOVE the little yellow and pink beach bungalows!! - -


And specifically, my little self-proclaimed favorite place on earth has completely changed. Captiva Island is no longer what it used to be. Gone are the dirt/sand roads. Gone is the quaint feeling. Gone are the silly and unique markers at the end of driveways. Gone is the hidden jewel.

Hurricane Charley changed it all. Roads are paved. Developers have taken over the quaintness and filled it with condos. And a cute sign doesn't really fit outside the gates of a newly constructed Roman castle - I'm not joking, a whitle marble castle is currently being built!

The entire time we were on the island Dylan kept asking, 'why are we here?' I think he was so confused because he was seeing nothing I had ever described about Captiva. For about an hour I tried to find a piece of the old Captiva.

I gave up and it was hard. I was disappointed and sad. I wanted to share my favorite place with Dylan.

But Dylan and I don't roll like that! I take pride that we can turn some really crapping lemons into the tastiest lemonade! And so we did.

With all of about 10 minutes to spare we picked up a bottle of wine (twist off cap), paper cups and some 7-hour-old slices of pizza (buy 1 give you 2 more because no one else is going to buy pizza that looks like that) from Santiva's little convenience shop. We then sprinted across the road with our wine and dinner and watched the sunset over the ocean.

IT WAS PERFECT. IT WAS THE BEST. IT WAS AWESOME.

We toasted each other as we sat on a large sand drudging pipe. Along with a few others.

So yeah, Florida has changed. However, had it not changed I possibly would not have experienced the BEST sunset EVER!

But not the best photos of the sunset ever, so I decided to play around with funky processing.

End Note: Grace must stay exactly the same. I don't ever want her little-scrunched-up-nose-squinty-smile to change.

Happy Birthday Miranda!

Hope you have a great birthday!! Hope you receive a perfect birthday gift!

Love and Miss You.

Gracie Poo

We miss our Gracie Poo. her pointing. her smile with the squinty eyes and scrunched nose. her cute little outfits. her little screams. her little noises (ssshhhiii). the constant dada words. her little attitude. her dancing. all 20 pounds of her. her little claps. her few curls. her little baby belly.

We miss watching her work that left hand. We miss playing on the floor with all those musical toys. We miss playing quietly in her room. We miss watching her little bit wobbly walk that she surely has mastered by now. We miss hearing that wobbly walk on the wood floors.

What shoes is she wearing today? Where is her tongue? What letters has she thrown away today from off the fridge? How big is she? Who is she talking to on her cell phone?

We would gladly give her more of whatever she wants. Dylan would love to throw her on the bed and watch her roll.

We most definitely miss our little Gracie Poo.

you sandbagger

Please proceed, but please keep your mind out of the gutter and think happy thoughts. Remember this.

So what did you do last Friday night? I had a nice date with my husband. And the date continued on Saturday. How romantic, huh? We like to keep that loving feeling alive? Even if our ‘good old days’ are only like 3 years ago! :-)

The majority of the date I watched my husband laugh and have fun with other women. I also watched him get dirty, hot and sweaty with those other women. And, there were several other women. I watched all of this from afar and he knew I saw him.

No April Fool's joke here.

Oh, but don’t worry. I did the exact same thing with other men. I laughed, had fun, got dirty, hot and sweaty with several other men. And Dylan saw it all.

Okay enough! Just writing this is making me ill! Wow! Anyway, all of this is the honest to goodness truth BUT it was all innocent and for a good cause…

We spent our Friday night and Saturday afternoon sandbagging! If you ever need to meet a large group of the nicest people just go help sandbag. Everyone was there to help others. It was pretty awesome! Additionally, sandbagging is not an easy job nor is it necessarily the most fun thing to do, however you would have never know by looking around…

The river is set to crest on Thursday at 50’. Our town should be perfectly fine. And our outlying neighborhoods that put up sandbag levees should also be fine. Yippee!

Here is the happy couple together (at last) leaving Sandbag Central on Saturday afternoon.

PS – sandbagging is also one of the best workouts EVER!!! :-) I can still feel it days later.

I ♥ Faces - week 12 - pets (anything goes)

I have seen so many cute kids and awesome pictures on I ♥ Faces and until last week I didn't have any pictures that I could post as part of the weekly contests. Now I have a ton of cute pics of Grace just waiting for the upcoming contests. :-) However, I don't have a picture for this week's 'Pouting' because Grace is such a happy little girl. Lucky parents.

And lucky for me, this week's other I ♥ Faces contest is a pet theme! I have thousands of pictures of Lizzie and Meeka! The good and the bad is that the theme is 'Anything Goes'. How can I choose just one?

I chose this picture of Liz because it one of my all time favorites. We were on the boat and it was just a couple months before we got Meeka - meaning Lizzie was loving life, loving fishing and loving having the boat all to her own!

This photo was also taken with my old point-and-shoot. The only editing was a crop and a little boost of light.

the Red we know

Here is Kyle and Miranda (again) at the memorial marker. As of today we are just under the 1882 Flood of 48'. There is a possibility that the river could reach 53'. Fargo is setting all new (and very scary) records as of 1 a.m. Friday morning. AND the Red River flows north.

I tried to get a zoomed in picture of the marker as of Thursday, but my hands were too frozen to get a steady picture. :-)

The first four images have been borrowed from a flickr photoset.

back to reality

Florida was great. Leaving Grace and the 80 degree weather was not so great. (more on the trip later!) I think we were ready to return to winter but I'm not sure we were ready to return to 'Flood 2009'.

We are safe and dry (right now). Unfortunately, many around us are not. It's insane and also very heartbreaking to see the rivers in full force. Our projected crest is not until Monday however the information is constantly changing...

So here is a glimpse into our current world. Remember - we do not have it bad AT ALL compared to other towns around us. Our town built very expensive earthen dykes, pretty flood walls and invisible flood walls to protect us from floods - we are just stuck with very high property taxes for eternity to pay for that safety!

Please note, there were a couple things going on during these photos... 1. We were in a hurry because it is illegal (during floods) to be where we were to take some of these pictures. :-) 2. it was freezing cold outside. 3. some pictures were taken on the fly while Dylan was driving.

Tonight's River Level: 47'
Projected Crest: 52'
1997 Flood Crest: 54'


downtown. north of Sorlie Bridge.




downtown. at Sorlie Bridge.

Notice the sign? It says, "Watch for ICE on bridge". I think they mean the usual ice and snow... not a ginormous ice jam raging down stream!



downtown. south of Sorlie Bridge.


For comparison, summer 2008.


down stream. Kennedy Bridge looking south.




downstream. Kennedy Bridge looking north.




For perspective of how vast the river currently is... the same tree spanning west to east. And I brought the wrong lens so this isn't even the entire picture.


downstream. at the walking bridge and boat launch.

not good

I think these two images speak for themselves...

No one wants to see this forecast with less than 48 hours until their departure to sunny fun! I'm trying to think of all the positives.

1.) At least this storm hasn't hit us out of the blue. I have time to prepare myself for any bad news about flight schedules.
2.) We live in ND where storms are normal. We have plows! And people know how to function through weather like this.
3.) I have had horrible flights lately - it is my turn for things to go my way. :-)
4.) We purchased trip insurance for this very reason. I have the entire contract (20 pages) printed out and phone numbers ready.
5.) My GIS field lab on Friday has been rescheduled due to the weather. This is really good because I am not sure I could have made up this lab's field work.
6.) We are now even more grateful for our Florida vacay.
7.) Jim Cantore is in Duluth. However, during his report from Duluth he specifically talks about our little neck of the woods...

Ok, I think I have tricked myself into thinking this will all work out and everything will be just fine! :-) Positive vibes!!

Side note: Kyle taught me about the Jim Cantore factor. If Jim Cantore, from the weather channel, is in your town it is not good news! Jim's not usually in a location with desirable weather conditions. Think of those images during hurricane season where Jim is standing in the rain and roofs are flying straight toward him...!!!

perfectly stated

A few people have already seen this picture but I had to put it on here...

Dylan took this picture last week with his cell phone while driving for work. He titled it, I found the middle of nowhere. I think it is absolutely perfect!

He has driven past this sign and all around this area for 6 years and never realized how removed from everything it truly is. And I completely understand. I try to visualize the remoteness of this picture from an outsiders perspective and it just makes me shake my head with disbelief and confusion...

If there were any questions as to why we are so excited for Florida this picture should answer all of those questions! :-)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!