First Project: Complete

Okay, I promise a nice long blog or two about our holiday travels will be coming soon. I've been consumed with returning to work and getting ready for school to start. Because I'm going to weekend college I had some assignments due the first day of class. Tomorrow night begins "The Reflective Woman" and I had to do some reading and make a huge collage...which I hated doing...but with Kristin's help it turned out alright, I think...



I'm so happy to be done! I still have a bunch of stuff to do for my Sunday class (Spanish), but I'll tackle that on Saturday.

Oh, and a quick yay and congratulations to Senator Obama (look for pictures of my reaction to the news later!).


Night all!

Movies I highly recommend...

Two movies I've seen recently that I would highly recommend:

Juno

Lars and the Real Girl

Anyone have a lunch pail?

In just 2 ½ short weeks I will be hitting the books and returning to school…AGAIN. You know when you applied for college and it asked you to list all of the schools you had ever attended and then said to attach more pages if necessary? Yeah, that note was meant for me. When I had to send out requests for colleges to send in my transcripts I nearly choked at the number of schools I had credits from – 7. YES, SEVEN. Granted I had credits from three of those before I graduated high school, but the thought of me having credits from seven institutes of higher learning and no piece of paper to show for it was depressing. But that’s why I was requesting the transcripts, right? Right.

As of January 4 I will be starting at The College of Saint Catherine (or St. Kate’s as the locals like to call it). It’s an all women’s (for the most part) Catholic (but very liberal) college a short 10-minute drive from our new apartment. I will be switching my major to social work this time and should graduate in like 25 years. Just kidding. I’m hoping to finish up in about 2 years, although it could stretch a little longer. I’ve been really impressed with all of the people I’ve met so far. Everyone has been extremely helpful and kind which are rare qualities to find at colleges these days (and trust me, after going to 7 other schools, I know what I’m talking about!).

I went to orientation on Saturday. After sitting through a BORING couple of hours of email, safety, and other “important” training I was able to take a tour of the school, buy my books, obtain my parking permit, and get my student id all in under 30 minutes. Not bad at all (even if the books for my first two classes cost almost $300!).

I’m sure I’ll be writing a lot more about school as it gets started and I start getting inundated with work…something for all of you to look forward to, I guess :)

Happy Holidays!

We got our Christmas tree up! Okay, so it’s been up for a couple of weeks. I’ve just been lazy and haven’t had a chance to write about it yet! After a little nudging from Lisa last year we picked up a tree. As I was opening the box this year I worried that parts may be missing and chided myself for not setting it up last year to make sure all was well. The worry was for nothing, though, as all the pieces were there and we were able to get it set up.

Tempers only flared for a moment when I was trying to put it in its stand and Kristin was laughing at the sight of me with my head buried under the tree and butt in the air instead of telling me if it was straight or not. She finally stopped laughing long enough to tell me that it was all wrong – too far to the right, too far to the back, too far to the left …after some more laughing on her part and a death glare from me we finally got it done.

The tree sat for a few days without any decorations on it. At my begging Lisa came over to help me decorate. I decided I didn’t buy enough decorations last year and hope to buy some more for next year to make the tree a little more festive.

Surprisingly, the cats have pretty much left it alone (maybe it had something to do with our attempt at trying to force them to be in a 'family' photo - see below - none of them were very happy with the whole process, and that might have scared them off a bit ;)). Occasionally they’ll try to bite at the lower branches, but it’s been up for a few weeks now and so far hasn’t been torn down or otherwise destroyed by the cats.

We put up a few of my nativity sets. I used to collect them. I remember seeing a news thing when I was 12 or so about some weirdo who collected them. She had like 300 sets or something. I decided I wanted to have more than her. I never made it past 75 or 80 sets before I gave up on that. Most of the sets are stored in boxes at my parents’ house. My mom keeps telling me that she’s going to mail them all to me, but I always come up with a reason for her not to (the current excuse is living in a 1-bedroom apartment with 3 cats!). The cats have pretty much stayed away from the sets as well with the exception of Milly’s obsession with my s’more set (which Kristin thinks is totally sacrilege!). For some reason Milly thinks it’s hilarious to knock the marshmallow Mary and Joseph off of the shelf they currently reside on, so every day I search the floor and behind the couch to find them and put them back on either side of Jesus so she can knock them off again.

That’s about it for decorations this year. We’re leaving for Utah/Idaho on the 22^nd and won’t really be around until New Year’s, so I figure a tree and a few nativities are good enough for this year.

Hope everyone has a great holiday season!

Birthday Time!

A couple of weeks ago I celebrated the coming and going of yet another year. For a full 29 years I’ve been taking up space on this planet. I’m getting old, folks (even though I'm not yet to the ‘holy shit’ age of 31).

I’m not a huge fan of celebrating my birthday, so Kristin agreed that this year it would just be the two of us for a quiet dinner (last year it was a surprise party at Dave and Buster’s – which was fun, but not what I was really going for this year). She mostly kept to her promise and we went to dinner at La Casita with a few surprise guests (Lisa, Kamie, and Michele) followed by cake at home (made especially for me by Kami!!).

It was nice to see everyone, and we had a great time catching up. The worst moment? When Kristin decided everyone should share a memory of me. Interesting the things that people remember… ;)

Anyway, it was a good day, and I appreciated all of the wonderful cards, emails, and phone calls I received. Thanks, everyone!

PS - A few photo highlights:

Aw, how cute ;)

With Michele

Blowing out the candles!

Throwing coins in the fountain of youth...

haven't been able to determine if it worked yet or not...

Kami and Lisa

Knitting!

So I have taken up a new hobby – knitting! I have always wanted to do it, but it’s something I haven’t ever taken the time to learn (and, to be honest, I was pretty much just chicken to go to a class). Several weeks ago, though, at the urging of a certain someone, I enrolled in a 2-hour class. Up until the moment I walked through the door of the store I was certain I wouldn’t do it. I’m just not the “crafty” type and learning with 5 other people wasn’t my idea of a good time. But I went and managed to survive the class just fine.

I’ve now made several scarves and have watched my one grocery bag of supplies multiply to 4 bags, a box, and part of a shelf. Obviously I need to invest in some organizational items. It’s been a great learning experience for me, and I’m so grateful to those who urged me to ‘just attend the class already!’ :)

Here's a picture of Kristin 'modeling' my very first creation:

My next adventure is going to be a baby blanket. I’ve spent the last week or two looking at various patterns to find an easy one that won’t overwhelm my fledgling skills and hope to buy the yarn for it this week.

Monopoly Night

I've been going through some...stuff...lately and so Wednesday night Kristin decided to help cheer me up by playing a game! A GAME! She normally doesn't like to play games, but she gave in that night and actually SUGGESTED playing one. I was so happy that she wanted to play a game that I even let her choose the game - Monopoly!

We were just about to get started when our friend Kami stopped over (Lisa stopped over too but had to get back to some homework - who in the world would choose Law School over Monopoly?!? ;)) and decided to join. I don't think I've ever played an entire game of Monopoly before...we were playing the .com edition which my sister purchased for me several years ago. It was cool to see some of the internet companies that made the board who are no longer around - those that had merged, and those that are now bigger than ever. We even talked about some that were missing - like Google...amazing to think that just a few years ago there wasn't such a thing - or at least that it wasn't as big as it is now. CBS MarketWatch is even on the board. Little did I know back then (when I got the game) that I would some day be working for them (although now they are Dow Jones soon to be News Corp). - I was even wearing a MarketWatch shirt - I was in the mood to make money.

The game started well and went on for some time, and then, in the heat of the moment, I convinced Kristin to give me 5 of her properties for 1 of mine (Yahoo which was one of the two big ones - she already had the other big one). Those 5 properties, though, gave me lots of monopolies and it was pretty much all downhill from there. I ended up winning with 3.9 trillion dollars (I wish!).

Here are a few photos of the evening (taken by Kristin since she had already gone bankrupt).

Kami and I battle it out for first place

Kami realizes there is no hope.

I relish my victory...now, if only the money were REAL!

Weekend Visit

Kristin’s parents came to visit last weekend. We had a great time…which I’m told I can’t tell you about. Kristin’s mom threatened me with my life if I dared write anything about what happened…so I’m just going to put the very bare minimum of info here…don’t want to be on the wrong side of my mother-in-law!

Roger and Helen arrived Friday evening, and we visited awhile before heading to Cleveland Wok for dinner (our new favorite Chinese place).

Saturday Kristin, Lisa, Roger, and Helen went to meet Lisa’s family for lunch. I had to miss it, unfortunately, but I hear they had a smashingly good time.


While they were gone I made some cookies that turned out okay even though I didn’t like the Hershey’s Kiss chocolate I used (don’t worry, next time it’s back to plain old chocolate chips). Even with the gross chocolate, Kristin’s parents graciously ate one with a smile!

Saturday afternoon we went to Kristin’s school. She showed us around (I’d already seen it, but she showed us the new section that is being dedicated tomorrow) and introduced her parents to the guinea pigs.

Saturday evening was the much anticipated trip to the CASINO. I think this is the part I’m supposed to edit, so I’ll just say the following:

1. ALL cars do that sometimes, and I truly think it could be bad gas.
2. Video slot machines are apparently far inferior to the good ol’ reel ones.
3. Moe and Mohen sound the same over a loud speaker.
4. There is always room for a little bit of ice cream.
5. Downstairs can mean 30 steps or 3.
6. Whether you’re talking to a yo-yo or a string, bad news is still bad news.
7. Hot chocolate from a microwave is much better than from a machine.

We safely made it back to their hotel in Eagan and visited for awhile before heading back to our apartment.

Sunday morning they stopped by our house for a few minutes before heading on their way back to South Dakota.

The visit was fantastic (she knows I love her family!)! We were so happy to have them come visit and hope they can come again soon (and I promise to research all of the casinos within driving distance between now and then ;)).

Happy Anniversary!

First, let me wish a very happy 4th anniversary to Kristin.

Some of you may be confused. How can it be our 4th anniversary when we just got married in July? Before the big day we always celebrated our anniversary on October 17. That’s the day we first met in person again after several years of very sparse email contact. It kicked off a period of newness, crazy-in-loveness, and me flying to Minnesota at least once a month (sometime 2 or 3 times a month) to visit (thank goodness I moved here the following April or I would now owe the airlines a fortune!).

To celebrate, Kristin informed me today that we are going to see a film I have wanted to see for awhile – she typically doesn’t like going to see movies that I do, so I had given up hope that we would go and resigned myself to the fact that if I wanted to see it I would have to see it on my own or with friends in the next couple of days before it leaves the theater here. But here she is, being the awesome person she is and reminding me, on this, our 4th anniversary, of all the reasons I fell in love with her.

Thank you, darling. Happy Anniversary.

FILM SYNOPSIS

Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate?


Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival, Dan Karslake's provocative, entertaining documentary brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture, and in the process reveals that Church-sanctioned anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon a significant (and often malicious) misinterpretation of the Bible. As the film notes, most Christians live their lives today without feeling obliged to kill anyone who works on the Sabbath or eats shrimp (as a literal reading of scripture dictates).


Through the experiences of five very normal, very Christian, very American families -- including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson -- we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. Informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard's Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO offers healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders

For the raw emotion, the unconditional love, and the ability to stand up for what you believe in - even when it may not be the most popular position - Mayor Sanders - I applaud you.

Thank you for reminding all of us that hope, optimism, and persistence are important and necessary in the fight for equal rights for all people.