Sunshines and Creeps

Creep to a crappy week. Ready for a new one!

Sunshine to catching up with Kristen yesterday. I wish we lived closer to each other...

Sunshine to seeing my family tonight.

Sunshine the cabin this weekend.

Sunshine to the humidity finally dropping. It's been so hot this week.

Creep to Winnie having an accident in our bedroom last night.

Sunshine to having our neighbors over for dinner last night. Best moment - when their two year old son, who was covered in chocolate after eating cookie, used my t-shirt as a napkin.

Sunshine to our time at the MN State Fair. We were there for 65 minutes (Monday - it was HOT!!!!) and ate a bunch of yummy stuff: chocolate malt, MN Wine (bad :-( ), corn, cheese curds (the best!), an Italian stuffed sausage, and Martha's cookies. I probably ate a week's worth of calories in 65 short minutes, and that's totally ok with me.

Creep to my messy desk.

Sunshine to a three day weekend. I LOVE having Mondays off.

Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to our first Couples Weekend at the cabin. 10 adults, 3 dogs. It's going to be awesome!

Sunshine to my longest friend Kristen and her new little lady Sloane Elizabeth, born Wednesday. Cannot wait to meet her!

Creep to insane days at work. I could work 12 hours days and still never finish.

Creep to insane nights "at home." I use at home loosely because we were really not home at all this week. We had something every night, which made prepping for this weekend tough.

Sunshine to a fun wine tasting event at our favorite wine store on Wednesday. The timing was bad but it was fun.

Creep to Molly, Michael's sister, going back to college. I'll miss her, and I'll miss her help with Winnie.

Sunshine to getting some runs in this week. Must get back into this!

Creep to having to go to four stores to get everything I needed for this weekend.

Sunshine to awesome weather this weekend.

Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to good workouts this week, including yoga on Monday. That felt amazing!

Creep to constantly eating. That is likely related to the workouts but I need to do better with my snacking.

Sunshine to finding out about a practice session opportunity for our tri. It's a guided tour of the actual bike course, which will be so helpful for Michael and I since we've never done this before.

Sunshine to Michael making dinner for me last night. Even when I got home late from work and could help, he insisted on doing it himself (I couldn't cross "the line" in the kitchen). It was very sweet of him.

Sunshine to having lunch with a friend in my professional field. We used to be counterparts when I had my alumni job but she has a new job now too. It was really great to see her and catch up.

Sunshine to talking wedding stuff with that friend. I had sort of forgotten had much fun I had doing it all. But I do not miss the amount of time it took!

Creep to phone tag with Kristen this week. We will connect soon, I hope!

Sunshine to last night's series finale of The Office. I love that show and thought the finale was perfect.

Sunshine to all the yard and garden work we've done lately. We spent all of last weekend working outside and the yard looks so much better. We also planted our garden: tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, parsley, sage, basil, thyme, cilantro, peppers, and a bunch of flowers, including three dahlias this year. I LOVE dahlias!

Creep to the weather - rainy. We are supposed to go to the Twins game tonight.

Sunshine to going to the cabin tomorrow. We have lots to do - cleaning, yard work, etc. but once we get it done, we won't have to do much more this season. Woohoo!

Sunshines and Creeps

Creep to sucking at blogging this week. To be honest, I had time; I just had nothing to blog about. I guess I had a boring week.

Sunshine to seeing Steph and Kristen tomorrow at Steph’s baby shower.

Sunshine to finally catching up with Kristen this week.

Sunshine to my first UND hockey game in Grand Forks in 7 years and Michael’s first tonight. I am excited to show him what college hockey is like at “The Ralph.”

Creep to how cold it was this week. It was really, freaking cold in MN and I did not enjoy that.

Creep to being lazy about working out. I am blaming the cold weather (even though it’s really my fault).

Sunshine to our newly painted bathroom. Loving our color choice and excited to keep working on this project. Next up – finding floor tile.

Sunshines and Creeps

Creep to the worst work day I've had in a year.

Creep to feeling like crap and hoping to work from home today, only to spend the entire day in the office.

Creep to not feeling like cooking lately.

Creep to sleeping poorly all week.

Creep to playing phone tag with Kristen - we're hoping to connect on Monday.

Sunshine to seeing Chad and Michelle tomorrow. It's been way too long!

Sunshine to painting our bathroom this weekend (I won't be helpful if I'm not feeling better).

Goals: January 2013

Wow – it’s January 10 and I am finally back into blogging. So I should probably post my goals since we’re already 1/3 of the way through the month!

Purple Bold = complete
Black Bold = incomplete

Professional Goals – December 2012

Figure out the plan for the Distinguished Alumni/ae Award. We have a tentative plan with a date in two months. The problem is that the winners are 90 and 95 years old and they don’t have a sense of urgency when it comes to getting me their bio, invitation list, etc.

Finish planning regional events. I wish I was done with this!

Update my strategic plan. Done.

Finalize date for Reunion Weekend 2013. Done (and it’s my anniversary weekend – boo!)

Change my stupid calendar. I don’t even know why I bother writing this on here anymore. If I wait two more months, it will be accurate…

Personal Goals – December 2012

Run three days a week. Minus my time in ND, I achieved this so I'm giving it purple status.

Yoga once per week. Nope :-(

Make Michael’s parents an anniversary dinner. Did it and it was fun. Wow, that seems like a LONG time ago!

Try a new recipe. Nope – I just made a bunch of my usual Christmas cookies :-)

Figure out wedding stuff to sell and get on Craig's List. Nope (that seems to be my word of the month). I’ll tackle that some weekend this month.

Get my wedding dress preserved. Should have done that this month too but I did not.

Change my name with all my credit cards, subscriptions, etc. I have one more magazine to go.

Post about our Advent Calendar 2012 activities. I have one more post to write.

Phone dates with my friends. Ah –I am the worst friend ever.

Bake more Christmas cookies. I made a lot! I should bake less and talk on the phone more.

Work on my costume and character for my family’s murder mystery party (more on that later). Yes and it was fun.

Read like a crazy person so I can finish all my books before they are due. More like watched Parenthood like a crazy person. I did finish one book and I’m almost done with another. In full disclosure, I currently have 12 books checked out from the library.

Finish Christmas shopping. Done (obviously).

Professional Goals - January 2013

Learn as much as I can at my conference this month.

Invitations out the door to NYC event.

Invitations out the door to DAA event.

Send save the dates for Reunion Weekend.

Begin transition prep.

Read one of the books I ordered.

Watch one of the webinars I ordered.

Change that freaking calendar.

Interview people for my job.

Personal Goals – January 2013

Run three days a week.

Yoga once a week.

Celebrate Michael’s birthday with special, fun surprises for him.

Try at least two new recipes.

Phone dates with Kristen, Steph, Jen, and Caitlin.

Hang out with Chad and Michelle.

Watch Miss America and talk with Kristie about it :-)

Figure out wedding stuff to sell and get on Craig's List.

Get my wedding dress preserved.

Paint the kitchen and guest bathroom.

Start planning our bathroom project.

Take down outside Christmas lights.

Start thinking about spring planting (yeah, I’m a nerd).

Order wedding photos.

Read at least three books (I have a plane ride this month so I should be able to knock out one book on that).

Shower #3

Last week, I had two showers: one with my coworkers and one with my family and friends. I forgot to take pictures at my work shower but we had a wonderful time. And I could not stop eating the white bean crostini my boss made - seriously, SO GOOD!

Then this past Saturday, my aunt Heidi threw me a shower. She is my dad's youngest sister and is actually closer to my age than my dad's. We grew up around Heidi and now that she and I both live in Minneapolis, we get together every now and then. It also helps that we work in the same field. She has really grown up since she was the Heidi I knew as a little girl, and I am glad that we have grown closer over the years.

Heidi threw me a wonderful shower - it was totally perfect for me: classic and tasteful. Instead of playing games, she had me answer a question every time I was to open a gift. It was a fun way to share more about the relationship Michael and I have with one another. We actually kept the questions and asked Michael to answer them later, and his answers were all the same :-)

Here are some pics from the great day!

My grandma, sister Jami, me, sister Jessi, and aunt Heidi

Grandma, mom, me, Jessi, Heidi

Me and my awesome aunt Heidi

Mom, me and my sisters

Mom, me, sisters, and Grandma

me and my sisters

Me and my best friends Steph, Michelle, and Kristen

 I forgot to take any pictures with Michael's family. Oops!

One side of the lunch table (that sash I am wearing left my covered with glitter).

Other side of the table, part 1.

Other side, part 2. Michael's mom, two grandmas, and my grandma.

Opening gifts.

Everyone watching me open gifts. I haven't open gifts by myself in front of a large group of people since I was at my 8th birthday party. It was weird.

It was a great afternoon and I feel really blessed for all the things everyone there did for me, whether it was driving/flying in from ND to the thoughtful gifts.

Only 38 days! HOLY CRAP...

Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to my friends Chad and Michelle coming over tonight for dinner. I haven't seem them in WAY too long!

Creep to the incredibly hot weekend we are about to have. We'll be at the cabin working so I am sure I'll be exhausted, and probably sunburnt, by the time we're done :-(

Sunshine to my 2+ hour conference call with my friend Amanda and Katie from my old job. SOOOOO good to catch up!

Creep to playing phone tag with Kristen all week. One of these days I hope we can connect.

Creep to how incredibly messy my desk at work is. I need to fix this.

Sunshine to actually cooking dinner a few times this week.

Sunshine to feeling more organized about the wedding this week.

Sunshine to my friend Becky for sending me her wedding day timeline in Excel format. So helpful!!!

Creep to all the work I have to do in the next few weeks.

Sunshine to seeing my family in one week!

Creep to no more free lunch starting Monday.

Sunshine to becoming Mrs. Jenni Beadle three months from today!

Sunshines and Creeps

Woohoo - it's FINALLY Friday. That means, time for Sunshines and Creeps.

Sunshine to working out every day this week. Yay me!

Creep to my crabbiness on Tues and Wed. Don't know what my problem was...

Sunshine to shopping for my wedding band tonight.

Sunshine to finishing up our registry this weekend. Last stop - Target.

Creep to Reunion planning.

Sunshine to a yummy menu last night and the next two nights: Thurs = Fried Rice and 3s Company; Tonight = Pizza; Sat = pasta with red sauce. All homemade (even the pasta) and delicious!

Sunshine to catching up with Kristen this week. Now I just need to catch up with some of my other friends.

Creep to seeing a centipede in the bathroom this week. I HATE them and now I'm paranoid all the time that they are in our house.

Sunshine to the pretty blue jays that hang out in our backyard.

Sunshine to almost being done with our wedding invitation design. I hope we can order them within the next week so we can check another thing off of our to do list.

Sunshine to planning to go home for a weekend in June to see my family.

Happy weekend everyone!

Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to my last day of work for two weeks! Spring break!!!

Sunshine to seeing two of my best friends tomorrow and their families.

Creep to burning my tongue last night as I was cooking dinner. It's killing me today.

Creep to not doing yoga for awhile. But  Sunshine  to redeeming my Groupon next week so I can get back into it.

Sunshine to lots of wedding appointments over the next two weeks.

Sunshine to our couples counseling. We've only had one session so far, but I like our therapist and I think it's going to be really good for us to do this.

Sunshine to doing pretty good on my NCAA bracket picks yesterday. I only got two wrong.

Creep to still not knowing what I'm going to wear for our engagement photos yet. Luckily, I still have a few weeks.

Creep to my insomnia on Wednesday night.

Sunshine to going to the cabin last weekend.

Sunshine to both my sisters' birthdays next week. Happy early birthday Jessi and Jami!

Sunshine to the awesome weather!

Sunshine to the weekend!

Creep to a busy, busy weekend after a busy, busy week.

Sunshine to working out for three days in a row. Is it sad that I cannot remember the last time that happened?

Sunshine to yoga tomorrow morning with Michael. I need it!

Creep to not getting my creeps up until this afternoon.

Sunshine to my work colleague Ami for helping Michael and I out this weekend.

Sunshine to my Miss America party on Saturday night. But  Creep to never knowing what the scoring is going to be. There's no point in making a score card when they change it EVERY year.

Creep to the cold front and change in weather. Here's comes winter, just a few months later than usual. Please don't stay a few months longer, ok?

Sunshine to a really fun weekend last weekend for Michael's birthday.

Sunshine to FINALLY making a chocolate cake. And it was good!

Creep to ridiculous people at work.

Sunshine to the ridiculous hour that Michael and I spent together last night in bed before we fell asleep, which involved us singing an acapella version of "Elephant Medley" from Moulin Rouge to each other, followed by listening and singing along to songs from Wicked, the Beatles, and the Lonely Island Boys. It was so much fun to just laugh and not be stressed or worried.

Sunshine to making wedding decisions.  Creep to sucking at blogging lately and not sharing those. So here's a teaser - date is September 8, 2012. More to come! I promise I'm actually going to do Wedding Wednesday posts.

Creep to sucking at talking to my friends lately. Steph and Kristen - you are on my to-do list!

Sunshine to trying our homemade pasta machine this weekend for the first time. Cannot wait to make lasagna!

Sunshine to my fiance. I only get to say that for the next 7.5 months so I'm probably going to say it a lot.

Sunshines and Creeps

It's Friday, and that means Sunshines and Creeps!

Sunshine to not working today.

Sunshine to a successful alumni event last night. Too bad the football game didn't work out in our favor.

Creep to all the leaves in our yard, and not having any time to rake them until Monday. It's driving me nuts.

Sunshine to a little getaway to the South today - we're going to Michael's cousin wedding in Sea Island, GA.

Creep to the weather forecast in Sea Island, GA - 60% chance of rain today and tomorrow. Most of the events, including the reception, were supposed to be outside.

Sunshine to the amazing weather we had this week. I hope it's like this every fall.

Creep to last minute planning and people being picky.

Sunshine to my friends Kristen and Josh - they welcomed their little one, Caleb Joshua, to the world on Monday.

Steph and Ross Got Married!

Two weekends ago, my great friend Steph and her man got married in Turtle River State Park, just outside of Grand Forks. Steph asked me to be a bridesmaid in the wedding, which I happily agreed to do.

Steph and I met our second week of college at UND. We were in the same group for sorority recruitment. I remember we went to the same two chapters the last day of recruitment and thinking "I hope we join the same one" because I really liked her. Well, we did and we were very good friends in college. Fast forward ten years, we are still great friends. She is a friend I can confide anything in, count on to be excited about whatever news I share, and love me no matter what. I am happy to call her my friend and was so happy to be part of her and Ross' very special day.

Steph and Ross took a chance by planning an outdoor wedding in ND in late September, but it totally paid off. It was absolutely gorgeous!

I took some pics on Friday during decorating and at the rehearsal dinner. They are on my iPhone so I apologize that some are grainy.

Reception venue - loved the fire place (and we actually had a fire in there during the reception).

My place setting. The little pearl accents on the namecards were adorable!

More table. Loved the acorns. Her family collected them for her.

Beverage and cake table.

Engagement photos by Katie Lewis.

The bride and me at the rehearsal dinner.

I also took some pics on Saturday morning too.

Getting ready

During her makeup session

Just got into her dress - lovely!

Steph and her brother Zach. I just missed capturing this moment so I asked them to recreate it. Zach kept saying "This is awkward, this is awkward" as I was snapping photos. Thanks for being a good sport, Zach!

The bride and I just before the ceremony.

Michael forgot my camera so I'm stealing Kristen's (and Josh's) pictures from the ceremony. I was so glad Kristen and Josh made it. Kristen was the matron of honor, but since her little baby boy was due a week after the wedding, she opted not to wear the dress and walk down the aisle, knowing there was a chance she might not make it. And she did make it to the wedding. It was great to see her and everyone else.

It was a lovely ceremony, except for the fact I got stung by a bee :-(

Ross waiting for his bride.

The flower girl stole the show as she walked down the aisle.

Bride and her dad

Husband and wife!

And now for some reception pics!

Super cheesy smile by me here - not my fave. Oh well!

Brookee and Brian. I finally met him!

Chad and Michelle

Josh and Kristen

Michael and me. We are the only non-married couple left.

During speeches.

Some of the absolute greatest women I know.

Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to a short work week. Why are work weeks 5 days and weekends 2 days. It should be 4 and 3…


Sunshine to a fun date night last night with Michael. We went to the MN Lynx WBNA game. It was really fun, and it helped me remember how much I really like watching basketball, especially women’s basketball. They are the playoffs so I hope we can make it to another game this season.

Creep to breaking the zipper my favorite pair of jeans last night. They are no longer wearable :-(

Sunshine to seeing my dad this week. It was only for an hour but it was totally worth it.

Sunshine to lunch with my aunt yesterday.

Sunshine to the weather forecast this weekend - mid 80s in Sept = amazing!

Sunshine to lots of projecting this weekend.

Sunshine to NFL football kicking off this week/weekend.

Creep to stress at work.

Creep to my to-do list at work.

Sunshine to girls’ night on Monday.

Sunshine to Kristen, who is celebrating a 20-something birthday today.

Traveling Tuesdays - B and B Showers in ND

Last weekend, I headed back to ND for two showers: Kristen and I hosted a bridal shower for Steph on Saturday, and then there was a baby shower for Kristen (and Caleb - cute name, huh?!) on Sunday. It was a whirlwind weekend, but it was a lot of fun.

Steph, Kristen and I all joined our sorority at the same time (our 10 year anniversary is coming up) and have remained great friends during all those years. Despite me leaving all over the Midwest, these two, along with Michelle and Brooke, are my very best friends from college, and I am so glad that we all - i.e., ME - live closer now.

Kristen is the honorary maid of honor is Steph's wedding, but since her due date is just a week after the wedding, she is unsure if she'll make the wedding. We are all hoping she does! So she and I threw Steph a shower with friends and family. Here are some pics from the day (thanks K for letting me steal some from you):

Drinks and favors table

Cupcakes - Kristen made the toppers

Food table. Tea sandwiches, caprese salad, and cupcakes.

Kristi (bridesmaid) and Michelle working hard on Bridal Scattergories.

The bride!

College besties. Brookee, me, Steph, M and Kris. This is our first picture of the five of us in years.



Bridesmaids and the bride. Kris, me, Kristi (old coworker) and Kari (sister in law).

 After the shower, Brookee drove me to Fargo (thanks Brookee) so I could spend the night with Jessi. We had a lot of fun, just hanging out and watching HP 7 Part 1.

On Sunday, we went to Kristen's BFF Jen's for a baby shower, hosted by Jen and Kristen's sister Michaela. Everyone there for the most part was at Kristen's bachelorette party and/or wedding so that fun. Of course, we forgot to take a group picture that day but I did get a few fun photos.

Super adorable book cake.

People decorating onesies.

Steph working on her "peanut" onesie.

Jen and Kris. Loved that dress.

Gift opening.

I gave her a whale bathtub. So did Steph. Good job Target on updating her registery :-(

Cute little book box for Caleb, mad by Jen's husband Quinn.

Diaper bag.

It is really nice to live within driving distance of everyone for the first time in 6 years. It was a very fun weekend and I am so glad I was able to see my friends.