Decade in Review.

Taking a cue from others friend's blogs... I'm going to wrap up some highs and lows of the past decade.

Ten years ago, I was a senior in high school trying to decide my future. Where to go to college, who had the best program for physical therapy. Yes, ten years ago, I was confident I wanted to be a physical therapist. I was going to help people, not advertise to them.

But in the past ten years, I..

I graduated high school. I became a cheerleader. I lost my grandma. I changed majors. I went to Europe. I changed schools. I met Adam. I added a second major. I graduated college. I got a job in advertising. I bought a house. I lost another grandma. I got promoted. I lost 2 aunts. I got engaged. I started grad school. I married my best friend. I lost my great aunt. I got a new job. I lost my grandma-in-law and my uncle. I got laid off. I got my masters. I had the best summer ever. I got a job. I ran a marathon.

This past decade had a lot of funerals for me with family I was very close with and some not as close, but because of some of the losses, I got to get to know some family again. My mom is from a big family and a lot of them grew apart over the years, or at least my family did. When my grandma passed away, it was a catalyst that brought me closer to my aunts and uncles again. A few have already left us... much quicker than they should have. But I'm thankful for having had the opportunity to re-get to know them and thankful that I took the time when I could. Not everything in life can wait. Some things need to happen whether the timing is perfect or not.

In the past ten years, I have spent seven of them going to school. I got three degrees in that time and went to 4 schools: 1 high school and 3 colleges (Mankato, St. Marys in England and the U of M).

A lot changes from 17 to 27. I can't even imagine what will change from 27 to 37....

Chillaxing.

I did it. I cut my hair. So far, no regrets.

Straight.


Curled. (photos taken on different days, but I'm wearing the same shirt...)

I was thinking that shorter hair would be easier to manage, but I have to do more to it to get it to look how I want it to, so not exactly. But it takes me less time than long hair, so that worked out. Of course, the first thing Adam said to me when I walked in the house was "its too short". Not exactly the first words one wants to hear when you've just changed your appearance. Of course, Adam prefers my hair long and blond. I've compromised and kept the highlights but just needed a change. I do sort of miss the ease of putting my hair up in a ponytail as now I'm resorted to pigtails and a few bobby pins to make it happen. But I'm learning to deal with that.

So, unlike everyone else, I don't have any Christmas photos because I got sick on Christmas eve/Christmas day. I have a feeling it was something I ate, but if it wasn't, it was only a 24 hour stomach bug. Its been a long time since I've felt that awful and I hope its a long time before I feel like that again. Naturally one of Adam's aunts asked if I had morning sickness. NO. Just a stomach bug. We've officially been married long enough so that everyone jumps to that conclusion anytime I say I don't feel well or don't feel like drinking. For the record- no pregnancy here.

Adam and I have both been off of work for a week now- its so nice to just relax! Of course when we don't have a schedule of things to do, we tend to not do anything. But I'm not complaining. I've started to forget that people are working this week since I'm so out of the loop spending so much time with just Adam.

Hope you had a good Holiday and are getting your resolutions ready...

Wandering Mind.

I'm having a horrible time focusing right now. Anything and everything is distracting to me right now. I think it stems from two things- 1. I haven't worked out much this week, so I haven't had a chance to clear my mind and 2. I keep thinking how busy the next 5+ days will be...

To do list

Today: work, meet a friend for HH, then probably some more work, clean house, laundry
Friday: work 1/2 day, try to meet my sister when she gets into town, department holiday party, meet out of town friends for a drink around 9
Saturday: Hair cut, donate blood, family bowling, family lunch (all before 2pm)
Sunday: Maternal In-laws Christmas
Monday: No work but meet out of town friends for lunch and other friends for Happy hour.
Tuesday: No work and no plans, so probably grocery store and finish Christmas shopping.
Wednesday: No work, but we're having another set of out of town friends over for dinner so I'll probably spend most of the day cooking and cleaning. I'm going to attempt some new and complicated recipes for this...
Thursday: My family Christmas
Friday: Paternal in-laws Christmas
Saturday- Sunday: No work, so relax and recover. Actually, Adam and I have some house projects we want to attempt- we'll see what happens. We've had a list going for about 4 years of things we want to do and have done very little of it.

I have about 24 hours left to work before I'm off for two weeks. I'm realizing that my time off won't be as relaxing as I originally anticipated, but I'm looking forward to a couple days to myself to get things done as well as challenging myself with some new recipes. My dad (the cook in my family) always makes sweet and sour chicken for our Christmas dinner. This year, he was going to try something else, so I thought I should try to make it for when our friends come over. It's one thing to watch/help someone make something, its certainly going to be different for me to do it all myself. Of course, I'm not going to stop there, I also want to make cream cheese wontons, egg rolls and spring rolls (all from scratch, not pre-made varieties). The only thing I've made before are the wontons and spring rolls. This is an excessive amount of food for 4 people, but I intend to bring the left overs to my parents house the next day for our Asian themed Christmas potluck.

I'm pretty sure I have the only Scandinavian/western European descended family that opts for a home-cooked, Asian-food family meal. You won't see any jello salad at our family gatherings...

The other thing on my mind- I'm thinking about cutting my hair. I've had it fairly long for about 3 years, which is a very long time for me. I don't know what I want to do, but I just might let my stylist go to town and do whatever she wants. I'm open to suggestions if any of the 3 people who read this have any. :)

Happy Thursday.

Relaxing Coffee Morning.

There is something to be said about starting the day with coffee and good conversation. Albeit, "starting" my day at 11 am, is a rather late start, but I'm not complaining. A large cup of coffee and a couple hours of conversation are exactly what I needed today.

I love how coffee can bring people together. Its the perfect beverage to force you to stop and just reflect.

Thank you coffee for being the catalyst for me to stop, relax, and catch up with a friend.

From an "I" to a "We".

This summer when I was spending the majority of my time alone, I really began to appreciate what it is like to have alone time. I spend so much of my time with other people that I forget to take time just for myself. I've had a busy week this week, but wanted to make sure I went to the Walker to see the annual British Television Ad Awards show. They show them for about a month, during the busiest month of the year- December. I've learned in the past that I just need to get a ticket and go early just so I ensure that I actually make it to the show. So I booked one ticket for last night knowing that the the museum is free Thursday nights and I would have some time to walk around. I was looking forward to some relaxing alone time with art and advertising. I could have asked others to go with me, but I made a conscious choice not to. It was going to be my night.

Apparently when one is married/coupled up, this is an odd concept. Adam didn't understand that I was content going alone and told me he would come with me. I decided that it could be a fun date and bought a second ticket for him.

My original plan was:
Grab some dinner downtown, get to the walker around 6:30 to walk around and then go to the show at 8pm.

This is what happened:
Adam and I planned to meet in Uptown for dinner at 6. We both got there at 6:30. We got to the Walker around 7:25, leaving us with a couple minutes to wait in line before the theater opened for the 8pm show. No relaxing and no art was involved. Normally, this would have not bothered me, but I just kept thinking about my relaxing alone time and got frustrated how the night unfolded.

I made a comment to Adam that I want to try to come back next Thursday to see the galleries and he said that we should. I have no idea how to tell him that I just might want to go alone...

Quotes from my house

"Can you take the garbage out? You still have pants on." Pause. "Nevermind, it's not garbage day yet."

I love that our household duties are getting divided based on who is ready to leave the house or not, or in this case, who has pants on.

Car vs. Bus

I was listening to MPR this morning on my drive into work, like I do every morning. This is one of the perks of having a car again- MPR. Its one of the only places I get my news, or the opportunity to listen to interesting discussion. The topic du jour?

How Minnesotans love their cars.

Ouch.

The original topic was in reference to President Obama heading to Copenhagen next week to discuss cutting back on emissions. Of course that spawned the questions of "how will we cut back on emissions?" They said for Minnesotans specifically, they love their cars, and it will be hard to make lifestyle adjustments to meet the new requirements (ie. Carpooling, alternate transportation, etc). I started working downtown 4 years ago and as soon as I got my job, I knew I would take the bus, it was the most obvious choice. I live on a bus line, I work on a bus line, I'll take the bus to work. For a year, I did it without complaint or much issues, then one day, I had to drive. It was amazing. It cut my 45 minute commute to 15 minutes both ways. Driving to work could save me an hour a day? This seemed to good to be true. I traded in my bus pass for a parking pass, then my car broke and I didn't fix it for 6 months, so I was back on the bus. My car worked for a month before it broke beyond repair, and so back to the bus I went. No car = bike or bus. For another 2.5 years, I took the bus. To work, to school and then back home. When I came back to CL this summer, I figured I would take the bus again. That lasted 2 weeks...

If I had a job with set, standard hours, I would take the bus without any issues. I have a job where I show at the same time everyday and leave when I'm done- that's the fluctuating point. And the frustrating point. I've fallen in love with the freedom a car has to offer. I can run errands after work, I can leave when I'm ready, not when the bus is ready. I don't know how I'll cut back on my emissions, perhaps biking to work in the summer? Of course that hinges on the purchase of a new bike...

I would like to think I'm not at fault for global warming and do my part to cut back. But I'm not. I love my car and I'm not ready to give it back yet.

Deal with it.

"I'm making dinner"

Adam's had limited cooking experience and when he does venture into the kitchen, I generally get a call (or six) to walk him through the steps. Tonight, I was just getting ready to leave the gym when he called to tell me he was heading to the store to pick up ingredients for a grilled cheese recipe he found. What? My husband is finding recipes and going to make dinner? Awesome!

Call #1: Adam calling me to tell me he's making dinner

Call #2: Me telling him I'm on my way home

Call #3: Adam calling to ask how much cheese I want on my sandwich

Call #4: (about 2 minutes after call #3) Adam calling to ask if he should spray the pan with non stick spray. At this point I informed him I was a block from home and he should not call anymore.

I walked into the house and it smelled really good. Adam emerged from the kitchen and said, "I burned my hand and the oven broke." (I wish I was kidding).

I didn't even know how to respond to that. Somehow the screw holding the oven handle to the oven broke off, so the oven handle is now only half attached. So, while he was trying to open the oven sans handle he burned his hand (not seriously).

The good news- it was amazing grilled cheese! Here's the quick recipe summary: assemble grilled cheese as usual (buttered bread and cheese in the middle), sprinkle parmesan cheese on each buttered side of the sandwich, cook in oven for 8 minutes at 400 degrees, flip and continue cooking for 6 more minutes. It is a nice crispy grilled cheese that's quite perfect. Adam made them with cheddar, but I have a feeling they'd be great with swiss. I think we'll try to make them again, but perhaps together.