Busy Season

Well the title pretty much says it all. But I am doing my best to not let the 60 hours work

weeks intrude on my life, ha! The blog was one of the first things to slide, whoops. But I have managed to keep up the workouts (for the most part), and spend time with Blaine and friends on the weekends (and catch on sleep).

Unfortunately and sadly I know the next couple of weeks will go by TOO fast. At least my employer has been awesome and given me reduced work weeks, so I can spend some QUALITY time (not just sleepy time) with Blaine before he deploys. So until after that time, I am guessing the blog will once again be neglected.

Until then, enjoy a few pics: Christmas @ Stacy's!

Susy's gift - pop-up Britney Spears in a box!



Mmm...Stella!

Sexy Kinda

The fam : )

Train ride through the Mountains in Denver.

Christmas in Colorado!

'Tis the Season

Here are some fun pics to wrap up the last week!

We finished our little project. I thought it would take a weekend. I think we started this, oh, sometime in August? HAHA. But it is done and I LOVE it : )

Happy Birthday to Stacy early!!!!



Merry Christmas to us from Pat and Janelle early!!! I CANNOT wait to use our new popcorn machine. In case you didn't know I LOVE popcorn, and now Blaine will have to learn to love it as well : )

Lots of family bonding at home.... (try not to look into the dogs eyes directly, slightly haunting!)

I had the urge to decorate for Christmas, and this is my proud creation. I put it together all by myself! It looks even better in person. Now I am just waiting for my sweetie to get back home, so we can go get a tree!!! More pictures to come I am sure : )

Back in the Bis

We are happy to back home for Thanksgiving 2008!!! We plan on spending lots of time with family and friends. It should be nothing but relaxing and fun : )

Tomorrow a few us plan to participate in the annual 5k Turkey Trot! I missed last years, so I am a little excited for the challenge this year. It will actually be nice out, which isn't always the case! Hopefully, the previous weekends' successful run will follow through tomorrow as well!

I also signed up for the Fargo Half Marathon in May - yikes!! We'll consider tomorrow's run good training.

Well back to watching Susie take on Blaine in Wii darts, the smack talk is definitely on. Too funny!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Weekend Update

Eeks...it has been a couple of weeks since I have blogged. Its not that I didn't try - there were a couple of times I started a post only to draw a complete blank on anything interesting to write, concluded I got nothing.

I still really got nothing, but here goes anyway.

The past couple of weeks involved two trips to ND (helped Stace move/paint, Sioux Hockey!!!, and more painting).

One trip to SD, very quick one day trip. Productive, none-the-less (work-related).

I had a night out in hopping Anoka with the girls, while the guys attempted to shoot a deer. Unfortunately, for the second year in a row Blaine did not get his deer. But the group all split the meat, so we do have lots of jerky to show for it!

Blaine got his Bday/Christmas gift from me. I am not usually the type to give a gift early, nor let the surprise be ruined. But I did. I proclaim thought that it is a one-time event. He loves the new lap-top btw! I was going to get him a Veteran's day card, but if you didn't know those don't exist. I was NOT happy to find that neither Target, nor, HALLMARK sold them. Not cool. I was/still am pretty upset about that.

This weekend I convinced Stace to come visit, enticing her with a 5k Turkey Trot! It SO worked ; ) We were both very impressed and happy with the results of the run. Not only did we not stop, we also completed it with personal records!!! It was definitely a personal victory, as I have been struggling with my running lately. Now hopefully the traditional Bismarck Turkey Trot will go as well, if not better!!

We also had great success shopping (I even got ahead of the game with getting one Christmas gift taken care of!)

I of course have no pictures to show for it, but I am sure if you check Stace's blog in the next couple of days she will post some lovely ones!

Tax Calculator

AWARDS!

I was given TWO awards for my blog, by a fellow blogger!!!

I am suppose to give the award back to 10 others, but really I only read a couple of blogs on a regular basis, and they have already been nominated! But I will follow the other rules: List six things you value and six things you do not.

Six Things I Value:

1. Blainer - who btw cooked a delicous dinner tonight, that was already in the oven when I got home from work AND fixed the hem of my pants this morning during my usual rush to get out the door AND is now baking several loaves of banana bread AND did all the dishes - wow! What a sweetie : )

2. My Family - I had a great time in Fargo last weekend helping Stace move in and paint. I enjoy every opportunity I get to spend with them.

3. Deja-kins - all I have to do is look at my sweet puppy, and I am just happy. Its weird how attached you can get to a pet. She is the BEST!

4. My job - I know most people don't like work, and I don't either every day. But I do value having a job that pays well, has stability during these crazy financial/economic times, challenges me on almost a daily basis, and provides me with so many opportunities to meet people and learn things I wouldn't have otherwise.

5. Friends!!! - we are SO fortunate to have some AWESOME friends - a couple of which cooked us a yummy meal last night - thank you!!

6. Sleeping - I have always like sleeping. In my tween and teen years I use to be able to sleep in past noon, and LOVED it. Now I can't quite pull that off, but I do enjoy every minute of sleep I get. mmmmm.....sleepy time is right around the corner!

Six Things I don't Value So Much:

1) The war - I don't want to go into much detail here, but not a fan.

2) Campaign ads - aaaaahhhh - 5 more days!!

3) Loud noises - I swear my hearing is not that great, but I hate LOUD noises. Including Deja's barking, Blaine's random outbursts (done I'm pretty sure to ag me on), and any repititive type noise (banging, tapping, snapping, etc...)

4) Ironing - oh it sucks. Especially for girls, with all the pleats and small areas...grrr...

5) Clients who think they can treat me like crap, because I am young and an AUDITOR (such a scary word to some)

6) TRAFFIC - my drive out to St.Paul (the opposite side of my world) is definitely my least favorite. I especially dislike it when I just want to get home and I am hungry, which then leads to carsick, which then leads to very crabby me.

Wow, I think I should have wrote what I valued last. Now I am all fired up over what I don't value - hehe.

Back to laundry now (another thing I don't value so much, well I value the clean, nice smelling clothes, but not the folding and hanging, etc...) TTFN

A Little Fall FUN

We made the most of the 60 degree weather on Sunday, with a visit to a local farm that sold pumpkins! It is literally like 3 blocks away - that's Chan for ya, farms in the middle of a suburb!

The next two weekends we won't be around, so we had to enjoy Fall before its over (it is my favorite season afterall). We had fun bowling on Friday with friends. Saturday was spent shopping, I actually had luck finding stuff. The evening was spent helping friends put in a new water heater and sump pump. That is, the guys did the work, the girls watched movies! We are SO glad to have such awesome friends so close by, that we spend pretty much all of our time with. It wasn't a big deal helping them, because we know they would do the same no questions asked. They have basically become a second family. We are lucky!

Here is the end result of Blaine's artistic work:

No One Has Swagga Like Us

The weather this weekend was perfect for our bike ride and our grilling party - 70ish degrees, no rain, slight breeze!

The Ride for Awareness went really well. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it, but when they said it would be a casual ride, they were not kidding. Some of the people showed up all decked out in their crazy biking gear, then there was a guy wearing jeans - yeah jeans, and then there was us, somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. We rode in a group, making numerous (too many) stops to make sure everyone was there, and to figure out where to go next. I am guessing because it was their first time hosting this ride, they weren't as prepared as they could be. But the paths we took we're gorgeous. I wish I would have thought to bring my camera. However, the leaf-covered paths proved to be a little dangerous for some, as one girl wiped out only a few miles in, needing to get stiches on her lip. Yikes. We opted to change the route to more of an urban trail ride, which meant lots of stop signs, and more waiting for everyone. In the end we averaged about 11mph, and both Blaine and I came out winners. He won a t-shirt and I won a new helmet!

Post ride pic - sexy kinda!

Even though the ride was not that challenging, it still made me very tired, sleepy tired. But we invited people over for grilling, and there was no time for a nap. The grilling turned out great, and some people even liked the duck Matt and Blaine cooked up. (I wasn't one of them, sorry). We even got a lessson on how to make yummy egg rolls! I may need to get myself one of those handy deep-fryers!

Unfortunately, all the fun of yesterday left us bums for today. Couch Potatoes - but hey the Vikings won! No one has swagga like us! (Jay-z and T.I.)

Book Club!

Tonight I hosted our 3rd book club meeting to discuss A Long Way Gone. It was hard to choose a place to meet, since even though we all work for the same employer, our clients are all over the cities, not to mention our homes. I found a quaint little coffee shop in SLP, that turned out to be perfect! It had THE best ice cream - best surprise of the week!!! I had the Pumpkin Pie flavor, delicioso : ) I am sure their coffee would be great too, but we all know I can't have any of that after say 10AM. The discussion went well also; it was definitely a thought provoking book that I recommend to all.

I am now excited to go out and buy our next book, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I haven't gotten all the details on it, but it sounds like its a long one, so we are going to break it up into two meetings. I am so glad that we started this - I am pretty sure I wouldn't get any reading in without it.

On a related note - I was invited by my neighbor to a monthly Bunko meeting with the ladies on the block!! HAHA. I have no idea what Bunko is, but I figured why not? I need to get to know who lives around us anyway, great opportunity!

Now, it is time to watch the "town-hall style" presidential debate. Should be interesting and exciting! Ok, maybe just a little intersting, and not so exciting at all. I already know who I am voting for, but we'll give the other guy a fair shot at winning me over ; )

OUT!

Here We Are

September has come and gone before I had a chance to blink.

I managed to work-out 17 of 30 days, which I guess is not too bad for me. The work-outs included a variety of running/walking, Tennis, and Wii Fit! Unfortunately there was little to nil biking done.

I have registered Blaine and I to participate in the Ride for Awareness - a 25 mile bike ride done in cities across the nation on the same day to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. I got the idea from Stace, who is doing it in Fargo. It is next weekend, so it will be interesting to see how bad 25 miles hurts. I think the furthest I have ever gone is 12 miles - yikes!

The cool weather has definitely set in. I hate to turn the heat on already, but last night my nose was freezing! With winter fast approaching, I am hoping to spruce up the "work-out" room so I can stay/get in-shape indoors without an expensive membership. We have the treadmill, but now I would like to get a bike trainer (you put your own bike on it to cycle indoors!) and some DVD workout vids.

I am quite sure this month will go by just as fast, but hopefully I will maintain the blog a little better. We will be out-of-town for 3 out of the next 5 weekends - should be interesting!!

In the last couple of weeks we managed to take in the BEST Twins game EVER (swept the CWS in OT)! I got free work tickets to the Wild Exhibition game (Club Level!) - also a win in overtime! Participated in some volunteering, Sisters Weekend at a cabin with all my aunts and female cousins, got a promotion and raise, and other things I am sure just as exciting!

Here are some pics to keep you coming back for more - ha!