6/365 & 7/365

Funny note about my 2010 word of ‘grow’.  The root of it is that I want to grow as a person on the inside…  As soon as Dylan heard my word he quickly rebutted with ‘well I hope not out of your pants!’  Yes dear, I hope not out of my pants as well!!  After all, not growing out of my pants is a default New Years resolution that does not need to be noted or stated.  Its just a given!  :-)

Snow and seashells are not typically found together.  However, this winter has brought snow to Texas and Florida residents are currently freeeeezing.  I know about those cold Floridians because Kyle keeps telling me how much everyone is complaining about the 50 degree temps.  However, I’m pretty sure he is complaining a little too even though he won’t admit it to me!

Anyway, these shells and snow signify one thing…  We booked our annual winter trip to visit the sand and sun!!!  We are off to Mexico!  Well not now, but soon enough!

We are going with three other couples to Cozumel.  I don’t think Dylan nor I would have originally chosen Cozumel, but in the end I think it’s going to be great!  I just care about the sun and sand… all the rest is just icing on the cake. :-)

Now back to our currently reality, it was finally our day to have our street cleared from the latest snow.  This may sound like nothing special, but trust me the walls of snow are dangerous to drive among!  You can’t see anything!

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I have no idea where the city puts all of this snow they haul away.  Some people think they drop it in (actually on the river because the river is frozen solid) the river – wonder if Canada knows this?  Remember the Red River majorly floods EVERY YEAR and it flows north!

I’m going to end my night by listening to Dylan yell at the tv.  He is not usually one of those type of guys but tonight is the big Texas versus Alabama championship football game. Its been a big week for sports in our house!  Hook ‘em Horns!! 

4/365 & 5/365

This is the exact reason I did not set any rules for my little 365 project… :-)  I did not feel well yesterday and I came home early from work today.  However, I did take a picture(s) yesterday and I took a few today as well.

Yesterday, my goal was to think of a word that I wanted to represent 2010 for myself – seems to kinda be the trend this New Year as apposed to all the resolutions!  From that word I then wanted to take a picture relating to my word. 

I came up with GROW.  I then took this picture of my dusty office plant (our house plants actually grow quite well!).  I hope to elaborate more on my word, but not tonight...

Today, my picture was all about my favorite northern necessities.  Uggs.

 

I don’t care if they are ugly.  I don’t care if they are last season, five seasons ago or never in season.  They are warm!!

I think northerners should be given a free pass in regards to style during winter.  At least a free pass for the days when the high temperature is barely above zero (not above freezing, above zero!) i think we should only have to worry about being warm – not warm and stylish! :-)   Hopefully, my cute scarves and hats make up for my somewhat stylish/somewhat ugly boots!

In other northern news, the USA Junior Hockey team (under 20) just won the World Juniors!!!  Against Canada!  In overtime.  I think I should take a picture of the tv right now to document this day for Dylan. :-)  One of the best players on the USA team is a UND freshman and the USA coach was a longtime UND coach.  Pretty cool!  In the hockey world, this win is big news. 

3/365

One of my favorite things about the weekend is our morning trip to Starbucks.  We usually get there about the same time every Saturday and Sunday, meaning we often see the same people every weekend.  One group of people is rather different (or at least rather different from us)… lets just say they bring dolls with them to morning coffee and they do NOT bring children to play with the dolls.  I really have no idea what it is all about, but we see this group almost every weekend!

Neither Dylan or I order anything fancy so I’m not sure why we both like our Starbucks weekend run, but we both miss it during the lake season.  However, I’m guessing I miss it a little more than Dylan does. :-)

Dylan doesn’t like this picture because the Sioux hockey headline is blurry while the NDSU headline is not. :-)  I originally tried to take a picture of the Starbucks street sign as it sits just above the 12’ snow drift in the parking lot, but it just looked like a heap of dirty snow.

I’m off to edit and upload NYE pictures.  This should be fun!

And I need to organize my new iPod for the gym tomorrow night.  That won’t be as much fun.

2/365

It’s another cold day today so my pictures were limited to the indoors due to the record low temps.   The albedo effect was very intense today making for very intense lighting and shadows.  Funny thing about the bright sun and clear skies is that it tricks my brain into thinking it is nice outside… not so much though! 

Today I wanted to take pictures of just Lizzie because there are far fewer pictures of Lizzie since Meeka joined the family.  Everyone always gushes about how pretty Meeka is and I always feel bad for our crabby, bossy, stubborn and stinky mini daschund. :-) 

But these two dogs both love the sun at the back door and they are both curious about the other’s doing at all times.  So naturally Meeka ended up in pictures too.

  

1/365

This is quintessential North Dakota.  Freezing cold temps and the oddest stores like Home of Economy or Fleet Farm!  At Fleet Farm you can buy groceries, horse supplies, tile for the bathroom, fishing tackle and somewhat normal clothing.  It’s odd.  Very odd. 

Today was my first visit to Fleet Farm and it was all about finding Dylan some crank baits (fishing tackle) for spring fishing.

These temp readings were in the car driving back from our New Years Eve activities in Lisbon, ND and then about 1/2 hour later at a local bank to verify the temp.  Currently it is –26!  Without wind chill.

Did I mention we were welcomed home to a furnace that was not working?  The poor furnace repair man (afterhours of course!) said he was very busy tonight.  Ours was an easy fix, thankfully.

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. :-)