New Hair

Not sure how this picture will show up - as it was taken using Lonny's "PhotoBooth" on his computer - but here's a not-too-shabby shot of my new hair. (I got it "did" yesterday.) I LOVE it. It's a little on the RED side right now - but in a month - it will be the perfect color.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Ok - I have less than ONE hour to go on my birthday!

At school - my department gathered for Krispy Kremes and juice this morning. . .however I missed it - as I had a meeting! :) It was nice tho - and I got balloons and cards and a Caribou Card. . .so all in all - a good start to the day!

For the umpteenth (seriously - I'm not sure when this started) year - I surrounded myself with dear friends and crab legs for my birthday dinner! Yes, yes, a good time was had by all at Red Lobster! It was a yucky night weather-wise - but a lot of people made it! Miriam and hubby Travis, Terry, Lon/Jaime/Alice, Hayden, Bruneau, and Becky. It was an awesome dinner!

This was taken after Becky had already left - and Lon's taking it - so it's not the whole group - but you get the idea!



HERE's proof that baby bro was there! :)



My work buddies:



TOTALLY cheating - this photo was taken at work March 1st - but had to include Becky since the camera didn't come out til after she left (she had to leave early to coach).



Lon & Jaime left right after dinner - as the rest of us kinda hung out and visited - but after the chit chatting was over - I made my way to the Jerome/Olesen house for LOST and PRESENTS! Jaime made me these beautiful frames for the pups (yes, purple for my living room!) - and Lon gave me a print that I lusted after at the Skull Show. I have to include photos of the frames tho - because they were so freakin' awesome!



Thanks to all who thought of me today with emails, texts, cards, calls, sharing donuts, or going out to dinner with me! I truly am spoiled by all of you who love me - and I love you RIGHT BACK!

Snow Dogs

I came home last night to about 6 inches of wet snow - and it continued snowing all morning! Baxter and Bella are loving it though! It was hard to get them back inside last night - they played tug-o-war with Bella's ball.



This morning I went out and shoveled a path - the girls upstairs did the big job of finishing it (it was their turn). I shoveled out my car - with Julie's help - and hopefully I'll be able to actually get out of my spot tomorrow morning! At least Mpls finally declared a snow emergency - so the streets will be all plowed by Tues. night!

Here are some puppies enjoying the snow today. (With no cars moving this morning, B&B thought they were pretty cool - because they got to hang out with Mama in the front yard while she shoveled!)





Here's the view from the backyard . . . .



. . . And the front . . . . you can kind of tell how high the snow went up on the front door - it covered about 6 inches of it! I LOVE MinneSNOWta! :)

This Week

Getting back into the swing of things after our trip to Lancaster wasn't that difficult - because I kept busy!

Monday night - just a few hours after we got back - I had a date. - ok - a "meeting" - since this was the first time I met him. He was a really nice guy - with one major flaw. He's allergic to poultry. - yup - chicken, turkey, any bird. Also - sea salt. This knocks out shrimp, crab, lobster, even chips and other products made w/ sea salt. Ughhh. .. . like he can't even be in the same room. He arrives to Thanksgiving dinner 5 min. before it starts. Hrmphh. He doesn't go out to eat much - clearly - he could die. He ended up in the emergency room after eating a Subway ham and cheese - not knowing they have turkey something or other in their ham. So. .. . yeah - nice guy - just urghh. I LOVE Chicken. I LOVE Crab! Ok.

Tuesday night - went with cousins Heidi and Julie and Joey IV to the Wild Game. (no - it was not a LRH event - w/ Joey Joe there!) :) It was fun - I had never been to a Wild game before. They won in the "shoot out" ?? Also - Becky (from work - friend who got married in Fargo last fall) bought tix from another girl at work - and surprised her new hubby with a night at the game. So that was cool too!



Wednesday night - I took Eli and Elizabeth off of Shelley's hands for awhile (Joe was still in India!). I took them over to Kim's house to play w/ her Stephen and Olivia. We ate grilled cheese, mac and cheese, and broccoli - played Dora, cars, and duck-duck-gray duck. THEN the fun began! When Greg got home from work we left Livvy behind and brought the "big" kids to McDonalds for PLAYLAND, "Milkshake Time" (as the boys called it), and french fries! It was a blast - and the kids had fun too!



Thursday night - I finally just chilled out at home! - watched my stories - including The Office - had to call Lon to laugh outloud with him - I think he thought I was cracking up! That's what she said! :) bwah ha ha ha!

Last night - met Jaymie at Long John Silvers (yes - my fave) - (her's too!) - and then came home. Michele and Kelsey were out and about - so they stopped over to visit and watch part of The Breakfast Club. Then Julie and Abbey came back from the Wolves game - and they all took off right away - as it was sleeting - and getting icy on the roads.

I woke up expecting a bunch of snow (predicted huge snowfall this weekend) - but all it is right now is less than an inch of crunchy ice/snow that is kinda fun to step on! (for sure the pups love it! - they're hoping for a few more inches of the big fluffy stuff!)

Day 2 in Lancaster

Today was fun here in the tundra. I got up this morning to go to church with Grandma and Grandpa. (Julie went to the "other" church with her relatives.) I visited with Lea (yes, Jaymie - the one who rides your bus - expect her to say hi when she gets back to the cities!) :)




After church - Mendy picked me up and brought me out to her place for lunch and visiting. Trevor wondered if I was part of their family - and when Mendy said, "well, sort of" - then Trevor wanted to know "how is she sort of part of our family?" :) Cute. What a doll. It was great to spend the afternoon @ Spear W - and I'm anxious to host them in the Cities - as soon as I can convince Whitney Paige that I'll keep her safe from sex offenders - and I won't make her drive on the freeway! :)



Back to Grandma's for supper - Grandpa and I got ready for it - he told me Grandma was going to make a salad. Yum - How about boiled eggs for our salad? Sounds good. Know what happens when you put soft boiled eggs (cuz you didn't boil them long enough) - in the microwave? Nothing - until you cut into them with a knife - and then "POOF" - they explode! All over the kitchen! Grandma and Grandpa will be finding bits of egg for days at least!



It's been a blast so far. Julie and I have to get on the road tomorrow morning. I have a Dr's appointment in the afternoon. Oh well - all good things must end! :)

Greetings from Lancaster!

Well, we made it!



Julie and I drove up last night - and arrived in Lancaster a little before 11:30pm.

Julie's been spending the day with her relatives - Grandma and Grandpa and I have been visiting, making pancakes and bacon for lunch, and going up to wish Roger Weberg happy birthday. (Jana's birthday too, I guess!)

My eyes are doing good - I have a little headache right now - but not sure if it's because of my eyes - or just all the PHOTOS I've been looking at - Yes, I've already scoured 3 of Grandma's albums!

We're off to the fish fry here in about an hour - more eating! :)

Why Am I Single???

Ok - So I did it! I got LASIK yesterday!

It was all very exciting and I was just a little nervous (mostly excited). Today I'm already seeing much better - drove myself to my post-op appointment - and to work - and now home.

Here's me getting ready for bed last night - the goggles are to be worn for this first week - to make sure I don't rub my eyes in my sleep. I also wear a mouth guard to bed now - because I grind/clench my teeth at night. Sooooo Sexy! Who wouldn't want to sleep with this???? :)

Alex Girls

Yesterday and last night were awesome reminders of just how good I've got it. I've got some of the greatest friends in the world - and here are three of the oldest (as in - I've known and been friends with these guys since 7th/9th/10th grade!).



Since Julie's shower - we've been talking about getting together in the cities just to scrap. It worked out - in the emails it sounded like we'd have a few hours during the day to scrap, relax, visit - whatever we wanted to do. Nancy was spending the weekend with her sister's family in St. Louis Park - so wanted to head back that way before it got dark. We wrote out directions, hugged, posed for the above photo, and said goodbye.

I really thought Julie and Mike would have to leave soon after that - as they'd be heading home (about 3 hours away) and wouldn't want to be driving too late. To my surprise we spent another 6 hours after Nancy left looking at old pictures and talking - and then we dug out my old VCR, plugged it in (it still works!) and watched our Girls Weekend videos from 1996:



and 1997:



It was a lot of fun - my face hurt from laughing so much - and the videos brought back so many great memories and times we've had together.

Here's to my "Alex Girls" - I love you all and can't wait 'til "Girls Weekend '07!"

The Quilt

Ok - I waited til today to post pics of the quilt - so it would have it's own "day" :). I started this baby about 3 years ago. My friend Terry's sister knew I wanted to attempt one. She gave me a photo copy of a pattern, shhhh, and brought me to a fabric store. (To do this again - I would totally shop with coupons and sales - do you know how expensive flannel can be???) Anyway - I carefully chose rich reds, yellows, and blues to match Lonny and Jaime's (at the time) living room. It was fall. Must have been fall of '03. I worked at Terry's sister's house. She had a rotary trimmer and cutting mat. I cut squares for hours and hours. After that night, I didn't pull this stuff out until this past spring. I opened my cutting mat and trimmer that I had purchased just DAYS after that first night - for the first time here in MPLS - Spring '06. (ya - I know).



I finished cutting squares. Cut more squares out of the batting material - and then the fun started. I started making the little "sandwiches" by pinning flannel, batting, flannel and then sewing an "X" over it with gold thread. The sandwiches were by FAR the best part of the project. Then, I put the sandwiches together to make 9 stips of quilt. Then, I sewed the 9 strips together. At this point, I was so proud, only to find out that the most time consuming part of the quilt was ahead of me - the cutting. So I had to now take scissors to all the unfinished edges - and cut them - so as to cause fraying when washed.

This is what brought me to Christmas - and I was able to present this cut quilt to them -but I wasn't done. Finally, yesterday, I brought it to a laundromat (for the industrial sized machines - and so as not to clog my lint catcher). Another friend suggested I wash it with a product called "color catcher" - which I did - and so far, none of the colors have bled into each other. I was very happy with the laundromat results - and my first "Rag Quilt" turned out exactly as I had hoped!



I hope Lonny and Jaime enjoy it - but it's already proven to be a hit with Alice, Icky, and Nipsy - so that works for me too!

:)

Happy New Year!

Well - it's 2007 - and here I am. My Christmas break seemed really short. Mom and dad were here and then gone - even tho we did a lot in the short time they were here. Then I had a few days to myself - and before you knew it I was back at school! Ok - I did manage to sneak in some fun. Julie took me to a Timberwolves game (went to another one just last night also - if you're keeping score - that's 3 games this season!). Her tickets are even closer than our upgrades from the other time Paul and I went.



It was a lot of fun. Here we are - Julie in her Christmas Wolves hat - and you can even see the kids behind us who kept kicking our chairs the whole night! :)



New Year's Eve was outstanding. We had our first real snowstorm of the season - which was ok - since I had my jammies packed with a plan to stay at Heidi's new condo. Let me tell you - she put out quite the spread! She even had her punch fountain going! Julie and I brought snacks (enough for a party of 20 or so) and Heidi prepared a four star menu - steak, shrimp scampi kabobs, fresh green beans, baked potato, and we had a chocolate fountain with things to dip for dessert.



I don't think I stopped eating all night - I for sure donned my jammies a little early - to take advantage of the elastic waist band! - as you can see in our "Just before the ball dropped" timed-photo!



So, I'm back at school and back into my more normal routine. Hope you are having a wonderful start to the new year!