Thoughtless Thursday: Fall Plans

It's Thursday so it's time for Thoughtless Thursday. Isn't this button cute?!

Today I'm writing about my fall plans. I cannot believe tomorrow is already the first day of October and my schedule is filling up so fast. Here are all the fun things I have coming up in the next two months :-)

• Oct 1-3: Trip to MSP for our football team's tailgate/game and to see my family and Michael's.
• Oct 7: If I can get done with work early, go to an Atmosphere concert with Michael and his sister Amy
• Oct 10: Chicago Marathon. I'm just watching :-) 10-10-10!
• Oct 16: Second City with Michael
• Oct 17: Aunt Melanie is in town for work so we are hanging out this day
• Oct 23: Homecoming at my school
• Oct 27: Lion King at Cadillac Palace Theater
• Oct 29-31: Kristen's Bachelorette Party and girls weekend :-)
• Nov 5-7: Trip to State College, PA for football team tailgate/game
• Nov 12-14: Parents Weekend so Michael's family is in town
• Nov 17: Lady Antebellem concert with Michael
• Nov 23-29: Thanksgiving with my family and Michael's

I'm almost exhausted thinking about everything, but I cannot wait!

Top Two Tuesday: Favorite Songs

It's Tuesday, which means Top Two Tuesday!

This week, it's Top Two Favorite Songs. I thought for a long time about this before deciding on these two songs (and I will probably surprise you). They both remind me of my childhood and I know I could listen to both songs on repeat forever. I can't decide which is #1 and which is #2, so I didn't :-)

You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC

I have a cool, young dad who loves AC/DC. Therefore, so do I. I could dance to this song all night, and I have never met anyone who doesn't love this song (or know most of the words).

Sweet Child of Mine - Guns & Roses

I specifically remember I had a karaoke machine as a kid and I would sing this song at the top of my lungs, holding the mic in my hand. My dad would play his guitar and I would pretend I was Axel. It was awesome!

And the rest of my top 10 include (in no particular order - I would have wasted way too much time doing that):

3. Then by Brad Paisley
4. Love in an Elevator by Aerosmith
5. Low by Flo Rida
6. Close to You by The Carpenters
7. Falling Slowly by The Swell Season (from the movie "Once)
8. If It Kills Me by Jason Mraz
9. Everything by Michael Buble
10. Melt by Rascal Flatts

Weekend Recap

Hello all! I haven't been very good about blogging lately, but now that my work conference is finally over, I have some free time at work and a life again so I can keep you updated.

Thursday and Friday were good, but long and busy days. We had about 140 people at my conference, and other than a keynote cancelling the day before (his mom was dying - sad!), there were no major hiccups. On Thursday, I woke up with a sore throat that I still sort of have. I woke up at 4:30 on Friday morning so I was exhausted and not feeling well. On Friday night, I was in bed very early.

Saturday morning I went to my usual Spin class. I love that class and am glad I went, despite not feeling great. Lucky for me, my LOML's dad is a doctor and called me in a prescription, which I picked up on Saturday. Thanks Ed! I feel much better today.

Michael came over on Saturday afternoon and we went and got his tail light fixed on his truck, then went to the grocery store. We had to stock up for our yummy weekend menu. We watched college football, took a nap, and then watched some episodes of How I Met Your Mother. He recently started watching the show and loves it, so I taped a bunch of epsidoes airing on Lifetime last week.

We made homemade pizza for dinner and it was SO GOOD! Typical for us, we didn't eat until 10pm, but that's probably because we had lunch at 4pm...

Sunday, we woke up and walked to Ann Sather for some delicious cinnamon rolls. Wow - those are so good!


These are the best cinnamon rolls ever!

 We watched the Vikings game and more HIMYM before eating my new favorite dinner: beef tips with garlic mashed potatoes and garlic bread. It was seriously heavenly and probably one of the easiest things we've ever made. All you need is a crockpot and 3 ingredients fpr the beef tips. Can't get much easier than that! I can't wait to make it again.

To Do List

I don't have much to say other than my To Do list for my work conference went from 52 things on Thursday (and grew to nearly 70) is now down to 6. And since it's tomorrow, I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Happy Hump Day!

It's just another manic Monday!

Oh wow! I haven't written for a week. Bad me! It's just been so crazy busy! I can't believe it's already the end of September!

Last week went by in a flash because of all that I had going on: work trip to Toronto, Twins game, and my aunt and uncle from Austria visiting.

Toronto was cool. I would like to spend more than 24 hours there next time. I immediately noticed how clean the city is and the people I met were really nice. We ended up on a rooftop bar after our meeting for a late happy hour and that was a lot of fun. All of them went to school in "the States" so we talked a lot about what they missed (Mexican food being #1) and what they didn't (dumb people - apparently they do not have them in Canada).

Michael and I went to the Twins/White Sox game on Wed. We won! YAY! I went 5-1 this year! We sat by some nice people and ate delicious food. I loved seeing Mauer hit a 3-run homerun and it was great to see how many Twins fans were there. We stayed for the whole game - despite the blowout win - and watched the fireworks show at the end. The only bad part of the night was when we were running to catch the train. I was sprinting towards the front of the train b/c there was not any room in the back cars and I literally just missed it. Of course, we could have hopped in a car or two back from where I was, but I really did think I could catch it. Moral of the story: do not think you can outrun the train.

Thursday, my aunt and uncle, Maria and Christoph, came to visit. They flew into Chicago because Christoph had never been here before. We went out for burgers on Thursday night and then out for a nice dinner with Michael on Friday. I was bummed I couldn't spend the day seeing Chicago with them but they are world travelers so they got around the city just fine.

My weekend was pretty low key. Sat morning I went Spinning (thank you Dawn for kicking my butt once again) and then got my hair cut and colored. It's definitely my "fall look" as it's probably the darkest I've been in 10 years but I like it. I picked Michael up and we were pretty lazy the rest of the day. Sunday we slept in (well, Michael did. I read the paper in bed) and then watched the Vikings suck it right up. I did some yoga before we tried and failed a new recipe. Then it was pretty much bedtime.

This week is the week of my big leadership conference at work. I hope to write again before the end of the week. Have a good day!

Weekend Recap

I'm in Toronto today and tomorrow for work so I do not have much time to write, but wanted to give a quick weekend recap.

Friday

• Worked all day, and for some reason, wasn't stressed at all. Which is odd because work is absolutely crazy busy right now.
• Michael and I went out to dinner at Wildfire. It was the first time in a long time where we went out for a nice dinner, just the two of us. During dinner, we worked on our bucket list (now 100 things long - we've probably done about 20-25 things on the list so far), talked about the upcoming year and our future, and shared a lot of laughs. My favorite moment was definitely when Michael was convinced he was right when we were guessing the price of the bill. Guess who was only off by $.55?! ME! We had a wonderful time and were completely full by the time we left.

Saturday

• Ran errands in the morning
• Watch football all afternoon
• Made homemade meatballs and my dad's yummy red sauce for dinner. It's only a 4 hour process.
• Watched more football

Sunday

• Made brunch
• Did a massive clean on my apt
• Went for a walk - the weather was beautiful
• Watched football and worked
• Made finger steaks for dinner
• Finished Season 3 of Dexter. Season 4 needs to become available on Netflix asap :-)

Overall, it was a great weekend. This week is crazy busy - Toronto, Twins/White Sox game, and my aunt and uncle from Austria are coming to visit. And I have so much work to do. AGH!

Have a great Monday!

Happy Birthday K!

Today is the birthday of one of my very best friends: Kristen. She is my "longest friend." Kristen and I met WAY back in the 4th grade when we were part of a city children's choir. In high school, we both continued in choir and became really good friends during our junior and senior years, when I started dating one of her good guy friends and we did boy basketball stats together. In college, we ended up joining the same sorority and have remained close friends since then. Despite my moves far away from GF and MSP, we still see each other for our Girls Weekends twice a year and for other fun things along the way (this year, we have bonus time because she's getting married!). Kristen is a friend who I love so much. She is someone I can tell anything to, and she would never judge me for it, no matter what. I cannot imagine my life without her and for that, I want to share some of my greatest memories of us.

Extreme close up of K and I.

1. Singing "One Small Voice" together approximately 100 times a year for four years. I still remember the words and now have it stuck in my head.

2. When a "big, fat nothing" happened when we did basketball stats together. I was the computer person for stats and Kristen was the spotter. She would tell me what was happening so I could track it on the computer program, and often, a lot would happen so I would be looking down and I would miss things, so she would fill me in. But sometimes, there would be a lot of pandamonium while I was looking down but there would nothing for me to track. When I would ask her what just happened, she would say "Big, fat nothing."

3. Joining Gamma Phi Beta. Tomorrow marks our nine-year anniversary of our Bid Day. I remember going to Preference Day and seeing Kristen (we went to Gamma Phi in separate parties) and yelling "Happy Birthday"across campus.

Bid Day our Senior year

4. My 21st birthday. Kristen took care of me that night after I had had a little too much to drink. She even put my hair in a ponytail for me (which I told her wasn't high enough and she had to do again). I think I still owe her a bajillion dollars from that night...

Love this picture!

5. Fall semester of our senior year. We spent a lot of time together, and with two great guy friends, Justin and Jeran. Things that stick out from that semester: Whitey's "beat the bartender" night, especially the night before classes started, scrambled eggs with Bacos, hottubbing, breaking into the guys' house and decorating their Christmas tree, and watching Elf together. I also believe this is when our drunk "fun" names for each other were created: Jen Pen and K.

6. Shopping. Anytime I shop with Kristen is a good time because we are very similar shoppers. No wasting time - just get in and get out. Most of the time, Kristen doesn't even try things on! I love it!

7. 4th of July 2007. I called her the day before and said "Want some company?" She picked me up at 6am from the airport and we spent the morning in bed, followed by a fun trip to the Minnesota Zoo. It was a great improptu trip.

4th of July 2007 in front of a fish tank at the MN Zoo.

8. Girls Weekends. Twice a year, a group of us get together for a weekend. The weekends have calmed down a bit as we have gotten old- i.e., perusing kitchen stores in downtown Stillwater vs bar hopping in Uptown - but I love every second of them because I get to see my best friends. They are always fun, always full of shopping, and always full of surprises (this year, Kristen got appendicitis!).

Girls Weekend in Chicago - May 2008.

9. Meeting Josh, Kristen's fiance. I met Josh the weekend our good friend Michelle got married. I knew immediately that 1. I liked him and 2. He was a great match for Kristen. Since then, I have gotten to know him better and I love, love, love Kristen and Josh together. I am so happy they are getting married.

Love them both!

10. Kristen's wedding. Ok, so this hasn't happened yet, but it's coming up soon (12/31/2010) and I am SO excited! Kristen has asked me to be a bridesmaid (I, of course, said yes!), and I feel so blessed to be part of this very special day. Pictures of that event to come :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN!!!

Sunshines and Creeps

Thank goodness it is finally Friday. This has been a REALLY long week and I definitely have a lot more creeps than I usually do this week. I hope this is not a recurring theme.. 

Sunshine to an extra long weekend and a three day work-week next week.

Sunshine to my sister and nephew making it home to ND yesterday, and the nice flight attendant that helped them during the flight.

REALLY BIG CREEP to the awful sickness my sister, b-i-l, and nephew all had/have. If they aren't feeling better by Sunday and/or my parents get it, then I won't be going to ND this weekend :-(

Creep to BCBS for not covering my eye surgery pre op. You cover the surgery but not the pre op?! That doesn't make sense.

Sunshine to Michael's dad's birthday this weekend and celebrating at their lake cabin.

Sunshine to college football starting this weekend, and NFL next week.

Sunshine to the amazing fall weather we are currently having. If this could last until Dec, I'd be ok with that.

Creep to the "test" banana cream pie I made in preparation for Michael's dad's bday ending up all over the inside of my car during the fender bender I was in this week.

Creep to that fender bender and my poor, poor car, and my poor, poor bank account.

Sunshine to my aunt calling me yesterday and telling me she's coming to visit in Oct. Fun, fun!

Creep to all the stress that me, my team, and basically everyone I work with are feeling right now. When you work at a University and classes are about to start, things get crazy. As my friend Kristen said the other day in her blog, September 1 is definitely the start to the new year.

And I have to end on a positive note:

Sunshine to seeing the love of my life in 10 hours and a hopeful Sunshine to seeing my family in 48 hours!

Have a great weekend!!!

Is it Friday yet???

In preparation for tomorrow's Sunshines and Creeps, here is a preview of some of my creeps.

• I was in a fender bender on Wednesday. I'm fine. My car, not so much...
• My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew are all really sick. And my sister and nephew are supposed to fly home tonight. I hope they make it and feel better soon!
• I got an unexpected bill for my eye surgery. Apparently the pre-op wasn't covered by my insurance.

Is it Friday yet???!!!