Week in review

Let's do a week in review, starting with last weekend... (Note: I started this post last Friday and then got side-tracked. Now, I'm not even sure if this will be interesting to anyone, but too bad. It's already here...enjoy (or not)!)

Friday, Aug. 3: Mom came over, and we had a nice snack of watermelon and kiwi before heading out to play tennis with our 'oh-so-cute' matching rackets (it was her mother's day gift). After playing for about an hour, we headed over to Carbone's for some salad, pizza, beer and good conversation out on the patio. Good Friday night!

Saturday, Aug. 4: Went on a 20-mile bike ride with Aunt Katie, Rae and Tadd. We took the greenway (former railroad track turned bike path -- like the Monon in Indy) from South Mpls. through Uptown over to Hopkins and stopped for a snack of donuts and coffee at the Depot. (Common theme so far: working out and eating snacks). After the bike ride, I went over to Karin and John's new house in St. Paul and helped paint and sand -- they're totally re-doing this house. I mean, why anyone would want to paint over pink walls and tear up even pinker carpeting is beyond me... They're even tearing down some walls. I'm impressed and inspired by their hard work and can't wait to see the final product. After that, I picked up my brother Rob at his place and we played soccer with Indy for a bit and then headed over to Matt's bar (total dive with the BEST burgers and fries). We had juicy lucys (hamburger with cheese in the middle of it -- it's soooooo good, but HOT! Watch out for hot cheese squirting out of your burger!), fries and some beer. It was fun to chat and hang out with him -- he needed to get out of his house for a bit because he had been pretty down lately. Last week, he had his moped stolen -- he's pretty upset about it. (Side note: people who steal other people's things are some of the worst people in the world. I just don't get it. The only thing I can understand is if it's like the Jean Valjean story of how he needed bread just to survive. Do you think some guy needed Rob's moped or he would die? I think not.)


Sunday, Aug. 5: Looked at potential bridesmaid dresses for Alyse's wedding at the Mall of America. Dress shopping is really fun for like the first hour. After that, it's a challenge and tiring. I needed a nap after that.

Monday-Friday, Aug. 6-10: I worked three days at the U and two days at Fairview. Also tried to keep up with my training for the triathlon (which is coming up in three weeks!). It's really nice living near a lake when training for a tri. Monday, I went for a run for 25 mins, and then went on down to Lake Nokomis (about a mile from my place) and swam for 20 mins. It was good practice for the actual race -- but man, it's really so much easier to swim in a pool so you can see where you're going. The lake is a little claustrophobic. Yikes...Wednesday, I had dinner with Ang at a great BBQ place in south Mpls. called "Caps." Good stuff! Thursday and Friday were "goodbye/good riddance" parties for a friend from high school (Shehan) who is moving to Denver for grad school. I heart the Otter Bar in NE Mpls. It is such a dive, but they have karaoke and it's sooooo funny. Cousin Jess and I got up there and sang Ace of Base's "The Sign." let me tell ya....it was quite funny. My fav moment was when these two random guys got up and sang Boyz II Men's "End of the Road." It was AMAZING! This white guy was bustin' it out just like the real song. I was very impressed and entertained -- as was the rest of the bar.

Saturday, Aug. 11: Red Ribbon Ride victory party took place at a restaurant in Mpls. I got to have a little reunion with the other participants and watch a video that had pics and live-action video footage from the ride this year. They already have 125 or so people registered for next year. I'll probably be signing up here soon. So let me know if you're interested in joining me (or donating $$$). :)

Sunday, Aug. 12: Katie and I rode our bikes up to the U of M rec center (about 7 miles), then swam a little over 1/3 mile (the distance of the tri's swim), then rode back home. I felt great -- a little tired, but not too shabby. So that makes me feel like the training is working. I just need to keep working on the swimming. That's hard work -- I have a great respect for swimmers who can just keep doing lap after lap without a little break. After that, I took Indy down to Lake Nokomis and we just hung out on the beach. Me reading, and her jumping around in the water playing with a bone. It was one of those afternoons that just remind you that life is good. I love relaxing like that with a good book in the sun. Ahhhh....I want to go do that today, but alas, I'm at work. Then for dinner yesterday, I went over to Angie's (friend from high school) for a girls dinner. She combined her two worlds by inviting me and Ashlee over as well as her grad school friends for a nice dinner and good chats. What a great day...

Overwhelmed

I have actually had somewhat of a life the past few weeks, so after slacking off a bit, I have felt a little overwhelmed at the thought of catching everyone up on my life. I'll give it a shot...

BRIDGE

First of all, thank you to everyone all over the WORLD who has contacted me to see if my family, friends and I are okay after the bridge collapsed here in Minneapolis yesterday. Luckily, although I work about a half mile from the bridge, I do not commute to/from work that way. None of my family or friends were on the bridge. I did hear stories from several co-workers who had just driven over the bridge about 30 minutes prior to the collapse on their way home from work. Crazy timing. Today after work was my happy hour "going away" party at a nearby bar/restaurant, which happens to be located at the exit ramp just before the bridge (a football field or two away). From there, looking down 35W toward the river, I could see the other side of bridge, and it just looked like a steep hill leading down into the river. It's hard to explain, but I really didn't get up close or even try. There are news crews and rescue teams everywhere. And it was really sad walking to our cars. The parking ramp happens to be right next door to the hotel where the family waiting area is -- so there are chaplains and police and reporters hanging out there, while family members give descriptions of their missing loved ones and just wait to hear if they're found. My co-worker and I had actually gone inside the hotel to use the restroom before we knew what it was. It was as I was walking to the bathroom that I overheard a terrible portion of a conversation between a red cross worker and a man describing a missing woman. I felt bad just being there, like I was trespassing or something. I can't even imagine what that would be like.

RED RIBBON RIDE

A couple weekends ago, I volunteered as a crew member for the Red Ribbon Ride, a 4-day, 300-mile bike ride that benefits eight AIDS/HIV organizations in the Twin Cities area. My aunt Katie has done the ride for the past three years as a bike rider, and I wanted to participate this year as well, but I had a crappy Huffy from 10 years ago. Hence, volunteering as a pit crew member was more realistic for me. It turned out to be an awesome weekend filled with lots of funny memories.

I was part of Pit 1 (which was the first pit stop every day of the ride). There are five pits total each day, and each pit plans a theme for each day as well. Our themes were: Village People, Jetsons, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Phantom of the Opera. We were up at 4 am each day, set up our pit stop with food, water, decorations (of course!), ice, etc. and then we'd welcome the riders and entertain and cheer them on. After they left our pit, we'd pack up and follow along the route, cheering out our car windows, stopping at the other pits to chat with them and check out their themes, and then we'd finally get to camp each night at a different high school in a different city in southern MN and camp out. Oh yeah, and our team (Team Wells Fargo) would go out each night for a beer. :) Don't worry, we'd be in by 9:30 pm. Anyway, if you want to hear more about it or get involved, call me or write me. It was so fun. Exhausting physically and emotionally, but also so refreshing to be with such a positive group of people for four straight days. Oh yeah, and I was so inspired that I have now upgraded from my old Huffy and just bought a Trek 1000 road bike -- yay! I'm seriously considering doing the ride next year, so let me know if you want to join me!

My RRR pictures

Team Wells Fargo RRR photo site

RRR site

BASTILLE DAY WEEKEND

The weekend prior to the RRR, I went to Indianapolis for yet another college friend's wedding. I got the chance to hang out with all my old roomies and co-workers, hit up my favorite places out on the town and also see my first pregnant friend, Eleni! We had a surprise baby shower for her, and she is just so darn cute. This is my favorite picture of the weekend (only the girl in the middle is pregnant -- we didn't all get knocked up just for the picture):

It was so fun to see everyone and see Nathan and Leah get married -- the whole wedding was like a mini-Butler reunion. Here are more of my favorite pics of the weekend:

Where did ya come from? Where did ya go?...

I created this cute little map a couple weeks ago for my facebook profile and have now been inspired by cousin Katy to add it to my blog. I think I need to travel more. Who wants to take a trip???

Graduate Assistant

That will be my new title as of July 30. That's right....I got the offer! For working in the Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota 20 hours per week, I will get all of my tuition waived. You really can't beat that. I turned in my resignation at Fairview on Monday afternoon and finally have all the "employee termination" details worked out. I'll be working full time at Fairview through July 27. Then, from July 30 - August 17, I will be working part time at the U and also part time at Fairview. And then, from August 20 - Sept. 3, I will just have one part time job at the U. And then finally on Sept. 4, I will be a full time grad student with one part time job. Whew! Can you keep that straight? Oh yeah, and I'll probably have a little freelance work to do on the side. The best news of all is that I am pretty darn sure that I won't have to take out any student loans. That makes me happiest of all. :)

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July!


I'm working this morning and then heading over to the Ritchies' house for a BBQ, wiffle ball and fun on/in the lake. Hope everyone has a great holiday!


In other news: I had an interview for a graduate assistantship on Monday, and I think it went pretty well. The position is with the Center for Spirituality & Healing at the U of M, and it involves copyediting, posting content on the Web and researching topics related to different therapies (music therapy, massage therapy, etc.). Sounds really interesting! And.....if I get the job, then my tuition for grad school would be completely waived. Can't ask for much more than that, can I? I'm supposed to find out if I get it early next week, so please keep me in your thoughts and prayers -- send positive vibes to Louise (my interviewer/potential boss). This would just be absolutely GRAND if this all works out. THANKS for your support!

Power Tower, part 2

Note: Please read the post "Oh my word!" below to understand this.

After e-mailing some of the Butler girls (who frequented Cedar Point, a great amusement park that also has the Power Tower), this was the conversation that ensued between me and Megan...

Heidi: Please check out my blog at http://thelifeofheidi.blogspot.com/ and see my latest post about the Power Tower. Em, it's a sad day for that ride...

Megan: I haven't had breakfast and that made my stomach turn. Eww. Poor girl. Can they reattach feet?

Heidi: They didn't mention that, but I definitely wonder if they were able to find her feet. That's just crazy...

Megan: What if you were in the crowd and you got hit by a foot? Freaky!

Heidi: I was thinking the same thing.... Yikes! The next news story we'll hear will be: "Boy gets more than he bargained for when ordering a snow cone..." This is so wrong, but that puts a whole new meaning to "foot in mouth."

Megan: Aww, good thing I am smacking on some cheerios right now. I want a sno-cone. If I had to pick my three flavors right now, it would be lime, cherry and pina colada.

Heidi: I like how the foot in the sno-cone didn't deter you from wanting one.

Megan: What can I say, sno-cones are a tasty treat. And I don't plan on eating it anywhere near a Power Tower.

Oh my word!

I will probably never ride the Power Tower again. Here's why.

Monday, Monday....da da...da da da da

Since Alyse was in town this weekend, Stacy, Taylor and I took the day off to go play on the lake at his parents' house. At first, the sky looked pretty foreboding, especially after the big downpour.

Then, the clouds drifted away and the sun came out. Alyse, Stacy and Heidi were happy. :)

After Taylor peed in the lake (not really...but doesn't it LOOK like that's what he's doing?) and threw the ball a lot for Indy to fetch.....

Taylor put on his captain's hat and took us around the lake on the pontoon.

Indy liked it so much, she gave Stacy LOTS of kisses.

Here's Indy's summer pose.

I wish I could take long weekends every weekend. It was so nice not to have to get up for work this morning. If anyone else wants to visit, just let me know -- I love taking days off work!

Grand Old Day

Last Sunday was Grand Old Day in St. Paul, and Karin and I ran into some old high school friends. So then we all hung out together at Plum's to listen to The Careys (my cousins) play. I love it when a big group of people who might not know each other very well, but who know maybe one person in a group, can all hang out and have a good time. I love my family and friends!
Here are all the pictures from our night.

Up North

This weekend, my mom, Indy and I took a trip up north to stay at my aunt Katie's cabin before she sells it in a couple weeks. It was a lovely weekend away, and I was excited to be out of cell phone range. HOWEVER, I was surprised to find that Verizon (the best network ever) does get very nice coverage up in the northwoods. Who knew? So that was good solely for the purpose of getting in touch with my other relatives who have homes or cabins up in the Longville/Hackensack area of northern Minnesota.



We arrived Friday around dinner time and spent the evening watching Indy play in the lake. She actually got some action this weekend (Indy...not my mom). :) A black lab named Bear swam all the way across the lake (a smaller portion of the lake) to play with Indy. It was hilarious! He came over and chased her around and then actually jumped on top of her from the dock while she was swimming. He then proceeded to try to hump her while she was swimming. Being the modest lady she is, she batted him away with her paws (while swimming) and discouraged the sexual advances. Luckily, she's spayed or we'd probably have some new puppies on our hands soon. I yelled over to Bear's owner that Indy must be a hot commodity if he swam all the way over just for her. He didn't really laugh, but my mom did.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend, we read, played Scrabble, laid out in the sun, drank some girly drinks, visited with some relatives (Jan, Jim, Bill, Sue), took a boat ride around Lake Wabedo, played tennis in town and had some ice cream at Frosty's (you really can't leave Longville without visiting Frosty's at least once). Oh yeah, and we had high hopes of going hiking and even started hiking for about 5 minutes, but then we decided that the grass was too high, and it is tick season, so we turned back to the car. And in that 5-minute window, here was the tick count: 5 found on me, 4 on Indy and 3 on my mom. Sick! I hate those things. They freak me out. So then for the rest of the weekend, we kept checking Indy for ticks every 5 minutes, and every time one of us had an itch, we'd freak out and do a little dance to shake off whatever it was that made us itch (lots of times, it was just a cool breeze or a piece of grass -- but you can never be too careful!). I actually found one more on Indy when we got home. Let's hope there are no more to be found.

See all the photos from the weekend.