Off to the Races!

This past weekend was full of firsts.  Well, actually just two firsts, but "full of firsts" sounded a bit better.  First, I had the first fire of the year in my fire pit.  Friday night was absolutely perfect for a fire.  A bit chilly when you stepped away but it was all snuggly and not too hot when you got close to the fire.  Isn't this just a perfect postcard picture??  Keep your fingers crossed that the grass still looks that good come July.  :)

The next first came on Saturday.  Just about my entire immediate family went to Canterbury Park to watch and bet on some horse races.  The weather was perfect and it was just so much fun!  Drew's birthday is on Tuesday so my mom surprised him by bringing cupcakes.  We started singing and pretty soon almost the entire deck of people around us joined in.  I brought my big girl camera along for the day of fun but got so wrapped up in betting on races that I only got a handful of phone pictures.  Next time I'll get all my betting done ahead of time and try to get some more creative shots--it's the perfect atmosphere for it!  We all had a great time and decided that we have to do it again before the season ends.  And now some pictures...



The less I write the less I have to say.

I know I say this before every post I post after it’s been awhile, but this blog has been neglected since my birthday and has grown a long, long beard.   The beard is so long I think I see some hairs starting to creep down below the screen.  Not cool.  I think the less I write, the less I have to say on this little slice of internet heaven that is my own.  Again, not cool.  This is valuable space that people would love to have.  Ok, not really but whatever. 

Anyway, what can I tell you that’s interesting?... 

Did you know that I was getting new/used kitchen cabinets?  Well I was and I was super pumped about them.  My friend’s mom was gutting her kitchen and offered me her solid oak cabinets.  So after measuring and looking at them, I decided to take them.  Well long story short, after four pickup truck loads of hauling cabinets and putting them into my garage, I decided that they weren’t going to work after all.  Too much time would have to be invested and they maybe wouldn’t have looked right in there anyway.  So after discussion with some other peeps in my circle, I decided that I was just going to keep the cabinets I have and do some updating to them.  I am kind of excited about it.  It’s going to be a long project but will hopefully be worth it.  I plan to start it after vacation so that will HOPEFULLY mean that my blog will be back in business in the New Year.  There is also another change to it that I have been thinking about making to the blog so stay tuned for that, too. :)

Did you hear all the ruckus about the Holiday Train that made a stop in Cottage Grove?  It was kind of a big deal and was the only stop in the country that had a free little concert to go along with the stop.  There were three acts: The Claytones, Take 6 and Sheryl Crow.  Drew and I went and it was cold, but it was also really fun.  We were about 15 feet from the stage—I could literally see the pattern on Sheryl’s mittens.  Sheryl played for an hour and the other two acts played for about a half an hour each.  It was a pretty sweet gig.  Nothing like a free concert in CG to kick off a Saturday night! 

I just pulled my camera out of my purse the other day to find the battery completely dead (surprise, surprise).  After I charged it I looked at my last pictures taken and they were the pictures I took during pumpkin carving!  That means it’s been almost two months since I’ve taken a “real” picture.  That’s pretty unacceptable in my book.  I need to get on that in the New Year, too. 

Since I slacked in the real camera department, I’ll leave you with some pixelated cell phone shots.  (I have since upgrade my phone so hopefully my next ones won't be so rotten!) 

Have a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!  Thanks for being a blog reader.  :)

Long Overdue...

Holy smokes!  I knew it had been awhile since I posted a post--I guess I just didn't realize it was way back in July.  Smack dab in the dog days of summer and now I am sitting here in a long sleeved shirt and socks.  Where did the time go?
This summer flew by for me which is good and bad.  The bad is that summer flew by and now winter is going to show its ugly face in no time.  The good is that it flew which usually means that fun was had. I had a bunch  of fun this summer.  The past couple months have been filled with boating, cabin trips, a couple weddings, a long weekend to Chicago and neglecting to properly water my yard.
So although I do plan on A. blogging about Chicago and B. Telling you about other things that may or may not interest you, I am going to leave you with some pictures that have described what I've been up to--because you know what they say...a picture is worth a thousand words.
Pardon me if you've seen these via Instagram...some of these pictures are just too dear to my heart not to share again.  :)
Oh and fall is almost here (it's official on Sunday, did you know what?) which means Honeycrisp's are in season. Grab yourself some next time you are at the store; you won't regret it.
And now for a few photos:

Caitlin and I being geeky outside of the Twins game.

If this crew didn't take Chicago by storm, I don't know who else would...

That's one small food for man.  One giant pumpkin for mankind. #mnstatefair

My favorites.

A vintage chair that I had been eyeing on Craigslist showed up in my driveway one day.  Aren't surprises the best?!?

A pit stop at our old SCSU stompin' grounds on the way up to Kari's cabin.  She's lookin' a bit run down these days, but that didn't stop the memories from pouring out of our mouths!

We made it to the cabin, but we were missing one vital person at that kitchen table.  She knows who she is.

The before. (excuse the yellow-ness--that's what you get with a phone camera + very poor lighting)

The After.

That's it!

Speaking of before and afters, or just photos in general...October is right around the corner which means...wait for it....yes, you guessed it!  My THIRD ANNUAL 30 Day Photography Challenge will be starting Tuesday, October 1.  I know you can't hardly wait!

Artsy Fartsy

This past weekend, my friend Kari and I got our paint groove on.  We busted out the paints and canvases just like the days back at 308 Ave. in St. Cloud.  It was almost like old times.  I spread out some very old sheets-turned-paint throws, a folding table, chairs, paints and we watched the Olympics, painted to our hearts content and chatted away.  It was a lot UN like our last painting experience where were getting "advice" on how to paint from tree hugging art "instructors".  This time we were free to paint whatever we wanted and however we wanted.  Kari chose to make a silhouette of her dog, Mason and I was inspired by this post on a blog I read to do some putty knife/textured artwork.  After I finished my painting, Kari was still working on her Mason Masterpiece, so I took another stab at a smaller canvas.  Both aren't perfect and probably won't sell for millions until long after I kick the bucket and can reap any of the profit, but hey, they'll do for now.

This table looks so inviting, even the girl on TV wants in on the fun!

Painting number two.

Painting number one.

4th of July

Yea yea, It's well past the 4th of July, which in turn makes this post old news, but better late than never.  My fourth was extra awesome this year.  Not only did we do our usual big family gathering with games, prizes, food and fireworks on the 30th of June, but I took extra days following the 4th off of work and went sailing with two of my uncles to the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior.  To say it was fun would be an understatement!  Sun + wind = perfect sailing weather.  We even anchored by Madeline Island Wednesday night and saw a beautiful fireworks display that I swear, lasted at least 45 minutes.

 

Thursday late morning we headed out to our Julian Bay destination on Stockton Island.  The wind was perfect and the sun was HOT.  As I sit here and type over a week later, my legs are still peeling from the lack of sunscreen I used.  Once we hit our destination, the dinner was set out to thaw and we had a beautiful sunset to watch.

 

Friday unfortunately didn't bring us the best weather.  Some very questionable clouds cut our open water time short and we headed straight back to the slip before the storm hit.  It was fine though.  We hung out on the boat for awhile before going into town before dinner.  Speaking of dinner, we met some friends that enjoyed our leftover brat buns.  We think they were husband/wife, but we nicknamed one of them Chaz Bono due to the random green markings on her head that indicated she may be going through a sex change.

 

 

Sunday the 8th was the much anticipated Brothers Of the Sun concert at Target Field.  

Tim McGraw came out first.  The outfit he had on may lead you think he came out of the closet, but nope, he just likes his jeans tight I guess!  He's hot and he knows it.  I guess you can pull it off though when you are Tim McGraw and your arms are the size of small cannons and your butt is as tight as a drum.  I wonder what Faith Hill thinks...even if my husband was that good looking and in shape, I don't know that I'd let him out of the house wearing that!

 

 

Kenny came out next and was his usual awesome self!  Singing and bounding around the stage and letting the audience sing a long to more than a couple songs.  Ironically, he had on the same shirt that he wore last time he was here in concert.

 

Tim came back out after Kenny's set and they did four songs together.  Tim changed clothes and his blue jeans may have been a smidge tighter than the white ones.  You be the judge.

 

 There you have it!  My sailing turned concert turned fashion police 4th of July blog post!

 

 

Any day now...

I am not a professional photographer and I don't claim to be one but when my sister in law asked me to take some maternity pictures before the new little bundle of joy arrives, I jumped at the chance!  Any excuse outside of work to play around in Photoshop is always fun.  Plus, it was a good reason to use some new filters found here and fiddle around and try some homemade ones as well.  So Sunday evening was the perfect night for pictures.  We loaded up Maize and were off to the park for some fun, some awkward and some trying-to-be-serious shots!
Anyway, here are some of my favorites--I think they turned out pretty well.  It didn't hurt that the subjects were easy to look at and the sun setting gave us the perfect light.
Thanks J & A for letting me take the pics!  Can't wait to take some pics of the baby when he arrives!  xoxo