Box-Elder Bugs...ish.

These darn Box Elder bugs are making me hate being outside.

They are AWFUL right now and basically cover the house.  They are some how crawling into the sunroom and I swear every time I kill 5, 10 more find their way in.  Thankfully they are not getting in anywhere else in the house...just the sunroom.  Here's a picture of how thick they are on the outside of the house.  I focused in on one area so it was easier to see.  You'd think we had a black speckled painted house.

Adventures in Babysitting

I usually try and take on more than I can handle, this is nothing new.  On Friday afternoon, however, I met my match.  Joe had told his sister that we'd watch his niece and nephew for an hour or so while her and her husband had some errands to finish.  An hour... how hard could it be?  We've done it before...

Well, let me tell you... after babysitting a four year old, two year old, and 6 month old puppy...Joe and I are definitely content on skipping the parenting in the future.  We will more than likely be sticking to dogs.  We were amazed at how much work it took and it was only for an HOUR!  If Gordie wouldn't have been at home it would have been a breeze but that little devil made it quite difficult to pay attention to anyone but him.  If only he would behave like the calm, sweet little guy that he is in this picture....

Bump in the road...

There is nothing I hate more than being sick.  I have been battling a cough for a good three weeks and finally went in to the doctor on Monday...damn cough has turned into pneumonia.  Lovely, just lovely.  Talk about a bump in an already bumpy road lately.

I hate being sick for the simple fact that I feel weak.  It's a time when all I want is for someone to take care of me but yet I'm so stubborn that I don't like to ask for help.  It's basically a no win situation, ha!  I can honestly say that this pneumonia is kicking my butt.  I don't know if I've ever felt so at a loss for energy.  What is the most frustrating is the pain I feel every time I breathe.  Definitely not something I can avoid doing, haha... so I just have to deal with the pain and hope it goes away, SOON!

The doctor told me to stay home from work for at least a week to make sure I get adequate rest and don't wind up in the hospital.  However, I am finding this order nearly impossible.  It's "busy" season at work for my campaigns and there is almost no way for me to figure out how to "rest".

If I'm home resting this week... I just may need to come up with some blog topics to keep me occupied.

Gordie's home!

Although the last week and a half has had it's up sides, it definitely had it's down sides without my favorite little buddy.  It was nice not having to worry about where he was and what he was doing but I actually started to miss having to chase him around.  I missed him hogging the bed and I even missed having to yell at him for whatever naughty thing he got into.  He may add stress to my life at times but he definitely knows how to take the stress away too.  I am so happy to have my favorite little snuggler back :)

When we went out to pick Gordie up, Mike made sure to show us (mainly Joe) what Gordie has been learning.  It was actually fun to watch Gordie so excited in the field with the bird.  Plus, it was nice to hear about how well he did while he was away from us.  I like to think we have the Albert Einstein of dogs.  He's going to be a good little hunter.  And if he's not... that's okay too, just means he'll be home with me instead of hunting with Joe!  Ha!  I also think he added a good 5-10lbs on and grew a few inches while gone.  I was amazed by his new found strength when I grabbed his leash and quickly realized I was no match for him anymore.  Sad...our puppy is growing up.

He'll be going back for FOUR long weeks in January/February... it may be the longest four weeks of my life.  Although, one of the weeks Joe and I will be in the Bahamas so maybe it won't be SO bad.

Autumn

It's the first day of Fall!

Fall (or as some call it, Autumn) is definitely my favorite time of year.  I love the cool temperatures, the crisp smell to the air and the beautiful colors that take over the trees.  Who doesn't love orange and red leaves?!  I am currently wishing we had more trees in our yard that turn colors.  Hmmm...maybe I can convince Joe that we need to plant some more trees so in years to come we'll be able to enjoy more color in the yard.... 

As Fall just started, I will say that part of me this year is looking forward to Winter... for the sole reason of getting to see Gordie experience snow for the very first time.  I am almost certain you will never hear me say such a thing again after this year :)

Pedal Pub

Yesterday, I joined some friends for a Pedal Pub tour.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a Pedal Pub is, it's basically a bar on wheels that you pedal around town.  You can either stay on and drink while driving (awkward as it sounds) or you can drive it to stop at bars.  Although I knew we had to pedal I was under the impression that the hired "Pilot" would be the one doing the work moving us... not the case.  We really did have to pedal our butts off to get that baby moving.  And of course, we chose the routes with hills.  Needless to say, I got a workout.  My thighs and butt cheeks are definitely feeling the burn today.  I'm not sure if that means I worked extra hard to make us move OR that I'm THAT out of shape.  Wowsers.

We all had a blast and are definitely looking forward to doing it again this fall yet or maybe this spring.

Sunday has a new meaning these days...

A few weeks ago my favorite day of the week took on a whole new meaning....

Sunday's are now dedicated to football.  Yes, football.  I will say that at first I was less than pleased.  I am NOT even close to being a football fan.  The lingo I do not understand, the point of the game I do not understand... it's just an awful sport in my eyes.  In Joe's eyes, however, it is the greatest time of year.  So... being the awesome girlfriend that I am (or that I think I am) I have made an effort to learn to tolerate football and just learn about the game in general.  Who knows, maybe once I understand it I'll become a football fanatic too.  Highly doubtful though.  Right now football Sunday's mean us sitting in the family room, in our sweatpants while the TV is on football from like 11am until god knows whatever time it ends at night.  Joe is glued to the TV while I'm on Pinterest or whatever other site I can find to occupy some time in between my random football related questions to make an effort of interest.

I will say that although I'm not a football fan, I do love just being able to spend time with Joe doing something he loves.  He gets pretty into the games and THAT I enjoy seeing :)

This Sunday we decided to make homemade buffalo chicken pizza.  We've tried this recipe before when we first started dating and decided it would be perfect for a football Sunday.

Buffalo Chicken  Pizza

Pizza dough (homemade or store-bought dough ball)

Blue cheese dressing 
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 - 2 T. olive oil
1/3 c. Frank's RedHot cayenne pepper sauce
4 T. butter
Shredded mozzarella

Prepare blue cheese dressing, if using homemade.  Refrigerate dressing while you prepare the rest of the pizza.

Heat olive oil in a saute pan; saute chicken until cooked through.  While chicken is cooking, melt butter and combine with the Frank's RedHot sauce in a medium-sized bowl.  Once chicken is cooked through, combine it with the butter/RedHot sauce mixture; toss to coat the chicken well.  Marinate the chicken for about 15 minutes.

While chicken is marinating, prepare your pizza crust.  Roll pizza dough out to desired size; place on preheated pizza stone or baking sheet. Spread a layer of blue cheese dressing over the crust for sauce. Top with marinated chicken, then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 425 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, or until crust is cooked through and the cheese is bubbly and beginning to get golden brown.

Happy Sunday! 

Almost to the ONE mark!

Today marks 10 months since meeting Joe.  Normally, I'm not one to pay attention to dates or any of that silly stuff.  However, these past ten months have been some of the best of my life so I do feel there is a need to acknowledge this milestone or journey, whatever it may be called.

Only two months shy of a year.  It's crazy to look back and think I almost passed up the opportunity to meet his amazing guy.  It's a good thing I kicked my nerves to the curb and went through with it.  It clearly may have been one of my best decisions of my life.

There are so many small qualities that I adore about him that he may not even know.  I am so amazed at the patience level he has for my quirky ways. He has an ability to some how de-stress me in every situation possible, even if it's only a little bit.  Although we are very simliar, we also couldn't be any different.  He compliments me perfectly and am very lucky to have him.  Often times I wonder if he is too good to be true. 

"When I saw you, I fell in love.  And you smiled because you knew."

-William Shakespeare

Doggie Training

This morning Gordie was dropped off for training... 

I definitely have mixed emotions about this.  On one end, I'm thrilled that he will get great training and that we are able to have that for him.  On the other hand, I am so sad that my little snuggle monster will not be home for 10 whole days!  Seriously, TEN whole days with no Gordie around the house.  At first I was a little excited about the thought of being able to sleep through the night and now I'm just sad. 

Joe was hilarious as he put it best when he said he felt like he was about to drop Gordie off for his first day of "school" -- I guess this is what a parent may feel on such a day. 

I am worried about how Gordie will do as he really is a spoiled dog.  He's never slept in his kennel at night.  He's used to the luxuries of 800 thread count sheets and two snuggly parents at night time.  NOT a 5x5 kennel with concrete floors.  He will probably have a blast with all the other dogs and with the excitement of the bird training BUT hopefully he'll be thrilled to come home :)

Hopefully the ten days goes quick.

Birthday Weekend!

Saturday after the Brew Review, we headed out to Excelsior to meet up with a few friends.  We stopped at Jake O'Connors for a few drinks and then went straight to Bayside.  It was a perfect night to sit on the lake overlooking Lake Minnetonka!

Sunday for my actual birthday we had a pretty lazy day.  Our pajamas, the couch and football... that was how the day was spent.  For dinner we headed to Pizzeria Lola with Joe's parents.  We had watched it on Diners, Dives, and Drive-Ins and wanted to check it out.  GREAT pizza!  We tried the Boise, Iowan, Forager and Sunnyside.  The Iowan is definitely one of my new favorite pizzas.  I'd highly recommend checking this little place out if you haven't already!

Autumn Brew Review

We started my birthday weekend off by heading to the Autumn Brew Review at the old Grain Belt Brewery in NE Minneapolis.  What better way to spend the afternoon than at the historic brewery which also happens to be my favorite beer...

There were soooo many different breweries there that were amazing.  I will say that my favorite beer by far was a local beer from the Excelsior Brewery called Bridge Jumper.  It was delicious and we'll definitely be making some visits to the brewery to indulge in some more!

Some other favorites came from the House of Shandy, Full Sail, and Lucky Bucket.  After sampling numerous beers we hit up the food trucks that were on site as well.  I love the concept of a food truck.  I wish there were more around.

I also was thrilled to see A Cupcake Social had a food truck there.  They are by far my favorite cupcakes.  We shared a "the dude" cupcake which was a White Russian flavored cupcake with vodka whipped cream frosting.  AMAZING!!

Bag of Kisses

For the last week, I've had an awful cold/cough.  It just doesn't seem to want to go away.  Of all the weeks of the year, of course it would have to fall on my birthday week...and last all the way into my birthday weekend.  Ugh.  Such a pain.

I will say that as usual, Joe made me feel better.  Friday night when he got off of work, he came home and gave me this...

The letter was my birthday card and he also gave me a bag of Hershey kisses, to replace all the kisses he hasn't been able to give me since I've been sick.  Pretty sweet idea if you ask me :)  I knew there was a reason why I loved this guy so much.

Fall is near

This weekend there wasn't a whole lot on the agenda and we were both looking forward to that.  There is always something coming up, something that needs to be done or places we need to be...this weekend we were staying home!

We managed to get the garage cleared out completely and knock down the existing shelves.  With the garage re-do the beginning of October, we figured it might be a now or never type of deal getting this done. 

That was about the only labor type task we accomplished this weekend.  The rest of the weekend was sitting around watching movies, football, playing Scrabble and just relaxing!  We also had Joe's parents over for dinner tonight.  Joe made some white chicken chili and it turned out great!  I'd post the recipe but he sort of made it up as he went along so I really have no clue what the end result had in it!

We also now have two mums on the walkway to help the outside of the house look a little more "Fall-like" :)  My favorite time of year!

Happy Dance Time!

Today may have been the best day of my life so far.  All my test results showed the tumor is benign!  NO cancer!!!

I can't even begin to describe the amount of relief and happiness that I feel.  I am looking forward to putting the stress of this situation behind me. 

Because of this whole experience I will now have to go in to get checked a few times through out the year and the whole regular mammogram testing will start a lot earlier for me rather than later with age.  Honestly though, I'll take it!  I'd be fine getting checked once a week if it meant all is well in my world!

Thank you to everyone who thought positive thoughts and kept their fingers crossed for me.  Very much appreciated. 

And the biggest thank you to the most amazing guy ever... without him I'd have probably gone nuts during the whole process.  It's a good thing he's a glass half full kind of guy or I'd have been doomed.  Day in and day out he was constantly trying to take my mind off of everything and make me smile.  He put up with my cranky/stressed out moods and did so with a smile.  As I've said time and time again, I am so lucky to have him in my life. 

Mr. Sensitive

I'm learning that we may have the most sensitive dog alive.  He is constantly pouting after getting yelled at...which occurs often when he's naughty.  Today I honestly think I yelled at him to get off the couch while chewing his bone at least 50 times in about ten minutes.  He then proceeded to drop his bone in his toy box and wander off into the laundry room to lay by the basement door...probably waiting for Joe to get home.  He is proving that selective hearing is his specialty.

I'm afraid to see how stubborn the little guy will get as he gets older.  Eek.  I think we have our hands full.

Labor Day weekend

Labor Day weekend we packed up the car and took a quick road trip Saturday morning.  Some friends of Joe's had invited us up to their family cabin for the weekend.

Long car rides always make me a little nervous now that we have Gordie.  He's always been pretty good about car rides but I'm just anticipating the nightmare that could happen should he decide to be a brat. Thankfully, this trip was a success!  The biggest problem we have in the car with him is his need to always sit on my lap instead of in the backseat.

It was a perfect weekend for some cabin time!  The weather was gorgeous, sunny all weekend!  We spent most of our time down by the lake, consumed a few too many beers and barbecued some tasty food!  It was definitely a nice little getaway that was greatly needed with everything else going on.  For once I actually relaxed a little, which was great.

Gordie also met his new BFF, Stewie.  He's a 9 week old yellow Lab.  ADORABLE is the only word to describe this little fella!

Those two were inseparable over the weekend.  We will definitely be planning many play dates with Stewie in the future.  I had never witnessed Gordie so tired in the whole three and a half months that we've had him.  Stewie just may become our lifesaver to wear our wild and crazy guy out!

Bucket List

I generally do not consider myself to be a procrastinator but I think I just may be in denial.  There are so many different things I want to experience in life but yet for some reason may not try too hard to make them happen.  That is something that I am now determined to change.  I have a list of things that I'd love to accomplish or experience some day.  And there is no better time than the present to start.

Here's my list:

• Skydive -- this is something that for a good 5 years has been in the making but have just never followed through on.  So... still on my list.  Ugh.
• Travel to Australia
• Go deep sea scuba diving
• Go to Napa for a weekend of vineyard tours
• Marry the love of my life
• Go on a road trip and drive through as many states as possible
• Have a career as a wedding planner... I want to at least plan one wedding for someone other than myself and make money while doing it.  Call me crazy but this is my dream career.
• The chance to experience having nieces or nephews
• See the Northern Lights
• Swim with the dolphins
• Go parasailing
• Ride a gondola in Venice
• Attend Oktoberfest in Germany
• Finish my pilots license
• Have my dream home built
• Become a foster parent for dogs

Although it is a fairly short list, I am finding it difficult to accomplish.  Or maybe I've just never made any of it a priority until now.  That is about to change...

"We should all start to live before we get too old.  Fear is stupid.  So are regrets."