Family Photo

This past weekend my grandma had us all over to celebrate my mom and my birthdays.  We ate homemade stew, Kris's homemade cookies, opened gifts, and laughed at the little character Niall is becoming!  It was a lot of fun.  With only a few groans from the peanut gallery, I was able to get an updated family picture.  We haven't taken one for about 3 years.  It's sad to not see my grandpa in pictures anymore but we now have the special addition of Niall and Drew.  By the looks of it, Niall will be taking over as comedian in the family.  His Great Grampy would be proud!

The Armpit of Home Improvement Stores



I am officially boycotting Menards for an unknown amount of time.  It could be a month, it could be a year.  It probably won't be forever because I can't hold a grudge that long, but I am really upset with them at the moment.  I had a meltdown at the customer service counter on Sunday and it wasn't pretty.  I would have said a lot more and had planned to say a lot more to the lady at the counter but I was on the brink of tears and I didn't want to lose my cool AND my emotions both in the span of 1 minute.  The story is hard to explain over type and I get a lot more animated when I tell the story in person, but the story goes a little something like this:

I went to Menards Sunday morning at 7:40 (not knowing it opened at 8:00), waited 20 minutes to get in to buy TWO things:  a heat register and a threshold for the floor transition between the kitchen and hallway.  Of course, being the sh!t hole store it is, they only have ONE of two possible registers that I need in stock.  I didn't know the exact measurements so I was going to buy one of each size and return one.  One size was totally emptied out and the other size had ONE left and not to mention, it had a small bend in it.  So I kind of wandered around hoping to find an employee who could check in back for more for me but no luck.  So I walked over and got the threshold and went back to the register aisle.  After waiting for about two minutes I decided to leave the aisle and see if I could get some help.  So I walked up the main aisle and met up with this tall dope of a guy who works in the paint department and is ALWAYS there and he is just a huge dufus and a complete moron and not to mention totally RUDE.  I asked him if I could get some help in the register aisle.  So he waltzes as slow as he can over to his precious paint desk, helps someone else first and then calls someone to come and help me.  As I'm staring him down the entire time, he shouts over: "he'll be right there".  So I go back to the aisle and wait and wait and wait and wait.  By this time my blood is boiling and I'm on the verge of just throwing my two items into the middle of the aisle and walking out.  Instead of losing my cool in the aisle with nobody around, I march up to the service counter in the front of the store where a man is filling out some paperwork to rent a some equipment and another lady is kind of fiddling with her receipts so she's really not in line yet.  So I go up to the older lady at the counter (rather than dealing with the two teenage workers who won't care, anyway), slam down my two items and in the middle of my hands shaking, my voice trembling and me trying to hold back tears I say something along the lines of this: 

               "Hi.  I'm sure you don't care but I'm going to tell you anyway.  I came here and waited in your parking lot for the store to open to buy TWO things...TWO THINGS!  I come in here and out of all the registers and popular sizes, you have ONE of the two most popular sizes.  One bin is completely empty and the other had ONE.  I asked the F*cking DOPE in the paint department to help me and he waltzed as slow as he possibly could over to his desk to call on the walkie talkie to have someone come over and help me.  I waited and waited and waited and nobody came.  So now I have to drive to WOODBURY to get these two things when I live five minutes from here.  GOODBYE!"

And with that, I turned and walked out, slamming the door open (and PRAYING that I was pushing open the right side, as opposed to the side with the hinges!) as I left and shouting "God this store irritates me!"

 

And that is why I am currently boycotting Menards.  I'll save big money elsewhere.

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...



Casinos, Skiing and Ice Caves, Oh MY!

Have you heard of those ice caves on Lake Superior up in Northern Wisconsin that formed for the first time in five years this year?  I am just assuming you have because they've been in literally every news outlet across the country the past few weeks.  Anyway, I had a huge, and I mean HUGE hankering to go up and see these caves for myself.  That is kind of around where we sail during the summer so my interest was sparked even more.  Drew and I had planned on going up to Bayfield on Sunday, Feb. 16th, staying over night, looking at the caves on Monday and then coming home.  We had originally wanted to plan a full weekend up there with skiing in Lutsen, too, but it just wasn't working out with our schedules.  Or so I thought...

So Friday the 14th (Valentine's Day) rolls around and it's just another day at the office.  I am really looking forward to leaving on Sunday for the ice caves and excited for my "don't worry about it" plans for what Drew had up his sleeve for that Friday night.  Well 9:00 AM rolls around and I get a call from the receptionist: "cupid strikes again," she says, and I waltz down to pick up a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  On my way back up to my department, a small army has gathered and all eyes are on me and are googling (not the search engine) over the fact that I got this huge bouquet delivered to me and what a sweet guy I have, etc.  My red face almost matched the roses in the bouquet.  Anyway, I open the card and I see a note that says something along the lines of "Let's Go! (Time to leave)" Love, Drew.  Of course everyone, including myself, is sent into a frenzy.  I glance out into the parking lot, expecting to see Drew in the Highlander waiting for me.  Anyway, long story short is he had arranged (with the help of my mom) with my boss for me to have a half day off (the flowers were supposed to arrive at 11:30 and he WAS going to be in the parking lot, waiting) and I was to meet him at my house at 11:30.  We met at my house and I opened my gift and inside the card was a typed out itinerary for the entire weekend.  We were scheduled to leave that afternoon, head to Duluth, spend the night, ski at Lutsen Saturday, stay in Grand Marais Saturday night, ski again on Sunday for part of the day and head over to Bayfield, stay the night and see the caves on Monday as planned.  I could not believe what I was reading!  I don't think I wiped the grin off my face until we hit Forrest Lake.  :)

It was a jam-packed weekend and it was so much fun!  It was one of those trips where you felt like you were gone a week, we packed so much in.  Drew definitely out-did himself.  It makes those 'cozy pants' I gave him for Valentines Day look pretty lame!

Before I get to the insane amount of pictures I took, I will type out some of the highlights of the weekend:

• Two casino stops on the way to Duluth--we both won money.
• Valentines dinner at Black Woods Grill in Duluth
• Tequila shots (not my decision) at some local bars
• Hungover skiing on Saturday in not the best of weather conditions - I took a couple wipe-outs but managed to keep my tears of frustration at bay (gotta be tough, you know)
• My Sisters Place & Sven and Ole's in Grand Marais
• Taking in the best local "up north" people watching scene that you'll ever see at the Birch Terrace Supper Club bar Saturday night 
• Excellent skiing conditions Sunday. I was not hungover and the weather was awesome --therefore had a pretty good day on the slopes
• Stopping at Gooseberry Falls to see the frozen, snow-covered waterfalls on the way out of the North Shore area
• Lunch at the famous Betty's Pies
• Stopping at the Port Superior Marina on the way into Bayfield to see the snow-covered sailboats on top of their stands.  It's unreal how that marina changes in the winter
• Red Cliff casino lodging in Bayfield Sunday night --neither of us won money and Drew beat me in pool, 2 games to 1
• Taking the "ice road" from Bayfield over to Madeline Island--how Lake Superior freezes that much to allow the weight of cars is beyond me
• Going to the caves and walking a total of probably 5 or 6 miles in boots, snow pants and on ice but it was totally worth it!
• Doing crossword puzzles on the way home and actually learning a thing or two!

And now for an abundance of 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!