For Gracie

Here is a picture of your favorite northern uncle.  Your dad told me you sometimes read this blog – you must be the smartest 2 year old ever!

And here is a picture of a puppy.  Well she is not a puppy and lately she has been acting like a very old dog.  And she kinda stinks – that is why she has a plastic orange hunting color. :-) 

Winter Bins

It rained yesterday and today.  This is a good thing!  Winter is on its way out hopefully.  I’m clearing memory cards and charging camera batteries to get ready for Mexico.  I’m kinda sad about deciding to leave my new camera at home, but my Olympus is full of sand from trips to Mexico and FL and my new camera is too new/nice to get if full of sand!

Here is a picture from a little over a week ago.  An hoarfrost Sunday morning. I liked the numbered bins – very Pottery Barn like.  HaHa!

18/365 ...

I came, I tried, I sucked, I quit!

I have decided to stop my 365 project. I made it a few whole weeks. Great job Kelli. Ha!

I have numerous reasons… First, it is way too much of a commitment that I am not ready or willing to make. Second, I am not taking quality pictures – it’s more just quantity, which was not my original goal. And my reasons and/or excuses continue on from there. :-)

I do see the value in a 365 project because it pushes you to find beauty in everyday situations or to find cool things to photograph each and every day. Therefore, I did learn something in my 20 days!

The hoarfrost early this week was just awesome. I remember in my Climatology class taking notes specifically about what type of weather lead to hoarfrost because I wanted to know how to predict when I could get some cool pics. I really want to get hoarfrost pics at sunrise someday!

These pictures do not do justice to how pretty all the trees look coated in the little white icicles. I was in a GIS training course all day so I was unable to get out to any of the wide open spaces. These pictures were all taken in my alley right at sunset.

Here is a photo of the night before (Monday) as the hoarfrost was forming on the trees. This photo may or may not have been taken on a late evening stroll to get junk food… I have the worst time returning home from vacation. It doesn’t matter whether it is a big vacay (like FL or Mexico) or if its just a few days in the big city eating sushi and such!



At least I made it to the gym before I had to have a late night junk food fix. :-)

11/365 – 17/365

Wow.  This little take a picture a day project is really making me aware of how fast each day goes by and how fast each day becomes a week or two!

School is back on and I am not at all in my groove yet.  I’m taking a break right now from writing my first review paper of the semester– which is due by midnight… :-)  I really have no clue what I am writing about in my review.  I’m hoping it will come to me asap!

11/365

Last Monday I flew to Minneapolis for a few days of training.  Flying out of our little airport is usually pretty interesting.  This day it was uneventful but the runway view from the boarding area made me laugh.  I think the flat land of the north commonly looks like the end of the earth.  :-) 

12/365

Tuesday I was in training all day and then it was off to Mall of America in the evening.  (actually I was at the mall within hours of landing in Minneapolis the day before!)  The training coordinators chose a great hotel very close to the MOA with a direct shuttle bus.  I was very appreciative of this hotel and shuttle!  The shuttle bus driver said that MOA attracts more people than Orlando every year!  This picture is of the carousel at the amusement park in the middle of the mall.  

13/365

Wednesday was the final day of training and Dylan arrived Wednesday afternoon.  After the training I had to take a short nap because my brain was fried from the training.  I also had to take a nap because I was cranky – I know I’m such a wonderful wife.  HA!!  My loving husband just drove 5+ hours to be welcomed by a cranky wife. :-)  In my defense, I was stressed because I hadn’t had the time to search the internet for the #1 sushi place in Minneapolis.  Searching the internet for cool restaurants and off-the-beaten path type places in kinda my travel OCD. :-)

In the end, I didn’t need to be so stressed about finding us the best sushi.  We found a pretty good place and had a great time in a neat little neighborhood.

14/365

Thursday was a full on shopping day.  We hit up IKEA right away.  I was so excited to show Dylan all the fun things I had found a few days earlier.  We spent 4+ hours in IKEA!  We also hit up the mall and REI.  The mall was okay, but REI was awesome.

Thursday night we enjoyed a few (free) cocktails at the hotel bar/reception and then hopped on the lightrail toward downtown Minneapolis.  This time we found a neat (and very tasty) Irish pub.  Downtown Minneapolis was a lot of fun late into Thursday night/Friday morning. 

At the end of the night I could not stop laughing at the timestamp on our lightrail tickets.  I felt so young and hip seeing 3:42 AM!  :-)  Such a fun, fun night!

15/365

Friday was a more educational day.  We toured the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  It was a great museum with a rather impressive collection.  We wondered around for quite awhile.  I love doing stuff like this with Dylan!

I was not sure if I was allowed to take pictures inside the museum, but I really wish I would have tried to sneak a few.

 

Friday night was a bit more mellow than Thursday night, but it was also an awesome time.  We returned to the neat little neighborhood we found on sushi night.  This time we returned for Indian food.  It was tasty.

Funny note about Friday night:  we missed the lightrail by seconds just like you would see in the movies (bells ringing alerting riders of the approaching train and us sprinting toward the train station).  The next train wasn’t for 25 minutes (I think).  It was one of the moments in life when you realize you are with the person that God made for you…  Dylan and I just laughed and laughed and laughed while we stood outside in the cold with no gloves (we both managed to lose our gloves the night before) and waited for the next train.

16/365

Saturday we packed up for home.  We stopped along the way at an outlet mall people rave about.  I was skeptical because we did just visit the largest freaking mall in America!!!  Basically, we never need to return to the MOA because we now know of one of the best outlet malls in America.  Go figure!

17/365

Sunday we stayed around the house.  Both of us were spent from all the walking and running from the past few days.  The pups were happy to be home and back on their blankets.

Alright I have to get back to my paper so I am done for tonight.  I also want some extra time to edit the hoarfrost pictures I took late this afternoon.  Hoarfrost is our little gift for living with the cold temps and I just love it on the trees!! 

8/365 – 10/365

8/365 was a hockey night.  We walk to the games because the arena is not too far from our house.  Friday night we pretty much ran to the game because it was somewhere around 40 below.  It’s a tricky run because some sidewalks aren’t shoveled very well and it’s icy.  It’s also kind of a workout!

9/365 was a very special day in our house.  Dylan (and I) bought our new boat!!  This boat has been talked about for years and the time finally came Saturday morning.  Dylan loves to fish and I love to be on the water so we agreed on a fish and ski combo.

The boat is in Iowa until March so it hasn’t yet sunk in for me.  However, Dylan is pretty happy right now and I’m sure he will be absolutely giddy come March!  Overall, I feel very blessed to have our little lake place and our new boat.

10/365 was a common Sunday.  The day was uneventful until this afternoon… Meeka and I went outside to take pictures as Dylan was finishing snowblowing/shoveling.  Dylan and Meeka began playing around in the snow when all of the sudden Meeka started acting very strange.  She got progressively worse very quickly.  It was very scary to watch what we think was a seizure.  We brought her inside and we laid her on the kitchen floor.  She did not look like her normal self at all.  After awhile we thought she was doing better but then she seemed to have another seizure…  We had no idea what to do.  It was so scary.

Tonight Meeka appears to be fine and she is acting like her normal self – the lovable and loyal lab.  She has had a small seizure like episode before when she hit her head on the concrete slab and today she hit her head on Dylan’s goggles while they were playing.  We are hoping she just knocked herself silly like she has done in the past.

Either way, I am very thankful Meeka seems to be doing better.  I don’t know what we would do without our lovable lab and cranky daschund!! :-)

I’m off to Minneapolis for work and Dylan is meeting me there later in the week.  I’m excited to spend some time together in the big city! :-
)

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. :-)

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.