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January 01 Happy New Year 2008!Happy New Year! It's 2008! Where did 2007 go? We spent out New Year's Eve celebrating with wonderful friends at Eric and Denise's house. Jennie, Chris, Ty and Jess were there, along with lots of other folks. We had great appetizers and counted down to the new year together, watching the ball drop over Times Square and shared a toast to welcome in the new year. We stayed there till about 1:00am and then had to come home to the many pups that we currently have staying at our house. Dog count: 1. Zoe 2. Napoleon 3. Lola 4. Kota. Napoleon and Lola belong to Britani and Adam, who are in Jamaica for a week (lucky!). Kota belongs to Christie, a girl that Bryan's brother Derek is dating, they are here visiting from the US Virgin Islands. Kota went home today, so we are down to three dogs. It's been surprisingly quiet. The dogs are getting along well. I spent this morning watching the Rose Parade on HGTV and I love when the floats are from cities that I used to live in like Alhambra and Arcadia. When I was a kid, we went to watch the Rose Parade, so I always try to catch it on TV on New Year's Day when I have the chance.
Okay, so the last time that I posted was before we had even left to Malaysia. We spent two weeks there and had a great time, eating good food, meeting up with my old high school friends, YC, Swany and Gwen. We had the chance to meet Luis, Swany's baby boy and he is absolutely adorable. We were in Kuala Lumpur and Penang and met up with a lot of my extended family. It was hard coming back to a whole lot of snow and cold weather! Especially since we got sick after we got back and had to go straight back to work. I love my job training, but training sucks when you have to be sick and perform in front of a class full of people. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed.
For Christmas, we drove up to Bemidji for a long weekend and stayed at Derek's house. We celebrated with different families each night, first Gary, Kay and family and then with just Linda, Derek and Adam and then over at Bunny's house with the Hanson side of the family. It was great to get time off work, relax and just do nothing. I got some cool Christmas presents, the Scene It movie game, a waffle maker, All-Clad Emeril cookware and other fun things. The weather has been cold the past few days, but it's supposed to get nicer, up to the upper 30s and even some rain. That's really weird for January! November 17 Malaysia"Kilometers are shorter than miles. Save gas, take your next trip in kilometers." -George Carlin
How is it mid-November already? Last I remember, it was still the middle of summer and we were looking forward to our upcoming road trips to Chicago and South Dakota. Now I'm doing some last minute laundry and packing my bags for Malaysia. People keep asking me what I'm looking forward to in Malaysia. Here is my list:
Thanksgiving is next week, which only means that Christmas is about a month away and then it's 2008. WTF. I'm going to miss spending Thanksgiving with Bryan's extended family, but I'm glad we'll be there for Christmas. Work has been quite busy, of course with me preparing to leave for two weeks. We have a very large class of new hires starting next week and I'll only have a couple of days to recover from the jet lag before I have to jump right into training all of them. Hope I manage it and don't fall over in class or anything dreadful! I really, really love the people that I work with. My co-workers are fun, energetic, extremely intelligent and always up for a good time. If you've ever watched the customer service video called Fish!, it's kind of like that, expect without the throwing of raw fish. In this past week alone, I've gone to a co-worker's house to play movie trivia and mad rounds of Guitar Hero, watched another co-worker play bass in his band at a Thai restaurant/sushi bar and enjoyed a Friday evening happy hour at Santorini's (Greek restaurant) with them. I like that we can spend all day together and then hang out in the evenings. I hope to stay at this job for a long time (and that my co-workers do too!). November 04 Spider ManMy odd dog has now started answering to "Spider Man". We were in the living room, watching Spider Man 3 and Bryan called Zoe to join us and now whenever we call out Spider Man, she comes running. Weird!
We went to the Minnesota Wild hockey game last night and had a blast! We had dinner at Cosetta's before the game. It was my first pro hockey game and I really loved the energy in the Xcel Energy Stadium. I cheered loudly after each goal. It was nice that the Wild won the game (after a 5 game losing streak). Today, Rich and I went to a turkey cooking class at Williams Sonoma and then Jennie and I went to Cupcake, near the U of M, for lunch. After that, we went shopping for her wedding shoes and she found a very cute pair that she loved. After a Saturday excursion to the Mall of America for some new work clothes, I made a vow not to return until after the holidays. The horrible parking, lines and crowds are just too much! Otherwise, all in all, a nice, productive weekend.
The weather has been pretty decent, sweater weather. I can't say I'm looking forward to the snow coming soon. Hey, maybe we won't even see any before we leave for Malaysia. Or then again, maybe there will be a huge blizzard. Ah, the joys of living in Minnesota! We had to turn the clocks today for Daylight Saving Time. That always gets to be pretty confusing for the next couple of days. It's depressing when it's dark out by 4:30pm.  Too bad it can't be light out until 10pm all year round.October 23 october! please don't go!dum dee dum dum, so it's been 23 days since my last post. i have no idea where this month (and this year) and gone to. so let's see, what has happened this month. things that i can think of involve the birth of eric and denise's son, evan christopher schmidt, on october 15. congratulations eric and denise! also, tyler and jess got married in grand forks on october 20. they are currently honeymooning in cabo. congratulations ty and jess! earlier this month, we took a weekend trip to bemidji and stayed at derek's house. we met up with britani and adam downtown for oktoberfest and had a fun time. melissa also came down for a visit and i had a great time with her, going out to eat and shopping at the mall of america and ikea.
things coming up include our trip to malaysia and of course, the holidays are coming up. halloween, thanksgiving, christmas and then new year. wow! the holidays always come and go so quickly. work has been going well, i enjoy my co-workers (they like to go to happy hour!) and am getting comfortable with the material that i train. my participants have been really great, all intelligent (which helps) and friendly.
bryan has been busy renovating our basement (we got water damage, yuck) and it'll look very different when he's done. i picked out paint colors and it's going to be a darker, more "industrial" look. i need to start reading the sunday newspaper earlier in the week. i've gotten into the habit of carrying it around with me to and from work, until it's the end of the week, then i throw it away/put it into recycling and never even read it. sad, since it's the only hardcopy newspaper that i get delivered! everything else i read online (www.startribune.com). once i can catch up my periodicals, i'll feel more content.
best shows on tv (in no particular order):
- the office
- grey's anatomy
- house
- lost
- how i met your mother
- chuck
- heroes
- private practice
hope your autumn is going well! October 01 Ren Fest/Les MisHappy October! I guess that really means that summer is over and we are on our way to winter. Last weekend, Linda was here and we went to the Renaissance Festival and Les Miserables at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. Bryan has been busy renovating the basement and my job is to go to Home Depot to pick out paint colors. A new hire class has started at work and it'll be my last time teaching this round before our trip to Malaysia. The weather has been cool and rainy the past few days. I wouldn't mind just a bit more sun!  We are getting excited to go to Bemidji for the Oktoberfest celebration. Woooo! Britani will be there as well, so it'll be doubley fun. There are now commercials on TV for Christmas toys. Wait a second, it's only October. How come it seems like retailers are always 2-3 months ahead of schedule? Okay, I better get my errands taken care of. Cheerio!  September 26 Title (required):The weather has been abso-freakin-lutely perfect. 60s and 70s, with the tree leaves turning red and gold. Chilly mornings and evenings with warm afternoons. Who could ask for more? Didn't have the best day today, just one of those days where things just don't feel right. Oh well, tomorrow is a brand new day. Linda and Bryan's grandpa are here on Friday and we are meeting them for dinner. We'll try for the Renaissance Festival again this weekend and I've got tickets to Les Miserables at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. Unrelated note: bought a pair of Dr. Scholl's gel insoles today, so now I'm gellin'. I'm off to bed. To better days and brighter tomorrows. September 23 orchard/valleyfairhohmygoodness, i'm not doing a good job of keeping this blog up to date lately. had a busy weekend, yesterday, linda got into town and we attempted to go to the renaissance festival. it took us 2.5 hrs to drive from eden prairie to shakopee, normally a 20 min drive. it sucked! by the time we even got near, the line to get into the parking lot was at a standstill, so we gave up and went to emma krumbee's apple orchard in belle plaine instead. had lunch/dinner there and bought some apples. also got a chance to meet a 3 month old cockapoo outside the store and she was so cute! first time i've ever seen a cockapoo puppy. i wonder what zoe looked like when she was younger. last night, i went to jessica's bachelorette party with jennie. today, we went to valleyfair for carlson's family day and went on a bunch of rides. wow, there are some really disgruntled workers at that amusement park. the weather today was very hot, 85 degrees and pretty humid. i'm looking foward to just relaxing, reading my book and watching the family guy season premier tonight. thank goodness for sunday evenings! September 15 Autumn breezesOops, I guess I haven't been doing a very good job of updating my blog lately. I'm usually better than that. I'm going to leave pretty soon to meet Veronica at the General Store of Minnetonka for their annual tent sale. After that, we're planning to head to the art fair at Parkers Lake Park, right by my house. Then, it's of to the outlets at Albertville for some fall clothes shopping.
It's employee giving time at work (where they raise money from employees to contribute to charities like the United Way and health related organizations). There was a picnic last week with a live band, Medtallica (hee hee) and I brought Zoe along. It was held at the park across the street from the office and the weather was gorgeous. Zoe wore a Medica bandana and was very popular with all of my co-workers. They even asked about her the next day. I attended an orientation event for new employees to the company for employee giving and won a pair of Wild hockey tickets in a lucky draw! I've never been to an NHL game before and the seats are great, so I'm very excited to go.
Other than that, it's been work, home, work, home, as usual. In just a couple of months, we'll be back in Malaysia. I'm looking forward to the trip, not so much to the long flight or the jetlag (especially coming home). It'll be great to see everyone again and to show Bryan around. And of course, to eat the great Malaysian food! Yum.
Over and out. Have a great weekend everyone! September 04 Labor Day weekendWow, what a FANTASTIC holiday weekend! The weather was fantastic and we had a great time on our trip to South Dakota. On Friday after work, Bryan and I drove to Brandon, SD and went to Carrie's family's house. We had a chance to meet Carrie's mom, sister, aunt and cousin. After that, we went over to Corey's parent's house and stayed there for the night. On Saturday morning, we headed out of town early and drove towards Rapid City. We made stops in Mitchell to check out the Corn Palace and at Wall Drug. We also drove through the Badlands and I was amazed by the scenery, who knew we had such great views only hours away? We set up tent at our campsite at the Rafter J Bar Ranch and then drove to Deadwood for dinner and some good ol' gambling. We woke up early on Sunday morning and drove on the Needles highway and again, saw beautiful views of the Black Hills and a couple of animals in Custer State Park. After stopping for lunch in Keystone, we headed to Mount Rushmore, looked through the exhibits and walked along the Presidential Trail alongside Mount Rushmore. We took lots of pictures and were very impressed with the great customer service that we received from everyone. On Monday, we made the long drive back, stopping in Brandon to drop off Corey and Carrie. I think we drove for almost 10 hours yesterday!
It was hard getting up this morning, especially since I had to be at work early to teach a class all day. I definitely was not on top of my game, but my end of class survey came back pretty good, so I must just be hard on myself.
This weekend is Jennie's art fair at Centennial Lakes in Edina. Here is the website if anyone is interested: http://www.fallintotheartsfestival.com/
It's the unofficial end of summer.  Awwwwww.August 28 mmmmmmrrrrrrrrrrrr?why I like facebook:
a) it allows me to keep in touch with old friends and classmates that i normally would have lost touch with
2) i can see what everyone is up to, who is engaged, married, etc.
c) it's a great time waster (when you have time, that is)
yes, i wrote 2 instead of b.
it's been busy. so busy that i don't even have the time to use the shift key. the non-stop training classes have taken over my life, but they are going pretty well. yesterday, i went to dinner at TGI Friday's with jennie, her mom, dad and bro. after that, jennie, her mom, chris' mom, sister, cousin and i went to the wedding chapel bridal store. jennie tried on more dresses and found one that she wanted. it'll take 6 months to come in. wow, that's a long time. we'll have to order our bridesmaids dresses sometime early next year.
it's almost labor day weekend. yay! we are getting really excited for our camping/road trip to mt rushmore and the black hills. i still have to pack and get everything ready. that's about it from me. cheerio. August 26 Engagement party/State Fair/baby showerThis might have been the busiest weekend I've had all summer. Saturday morning started with meeting Jennie, Chris and Jennie's parents at the Reserve, the reception site for the wedding. It was set up for a wedding later that afternoon. After that, we headed to the liquor store to buy mass quantities of beer and ice to fil up the coolers. Then, we went to the picnic shelter at Round Lake Park and set up for the engagement party. The weather was beautiful, in the mid-70s and sunny. We ate great food and played games at the park. After the party, Bryan and I took the express bus to the Minnesota State Fair, one of my favorite times of the year. YAY! I had such a great time and we ate cheese curds, roasted corn on the cob, Sweet Martha's chocolate chip cookies (the best!). We checked out lots of booths and exhibits and I can' wait to go again next year. It was such a blast that we didn't get home until about 10PM. Adam met us at the house, he just got back from working on the road out near Washington DC. Suffice it to say, we didn't get to bed until pretty late.
On Sunday morning, I went to Denise's baby shower in Eden Prairie. The house that it was hosted in was gorgeous, beautifully decorated and with state of the art appliances. Denise received some really nice presents and we are all excited to meet the baby when he arrives in two months (give or take). After the shower, Jennie, her mom and I went to David's Bridal and met up with Chris' family and Jennie tried on wedding dresses. We are also going to look at more wedding dresses tomorrow evening and Tuesday evening as well. Tonight, Bryan and I are going to Don Pablo's for dinner. It's been years since we've been there and there was a coupon in the Sunday Star Tribune, so we thought we'd give it a try.
Next weekend is Labor Day weekend, yay! A day off work is always great. We are headed to South Dakota to hang out with Corey and Carrie and to take our road trip to Mount Rushmore. I've heard great reviews about the Black Hills, Deadwood and the Mt Rushmore monument. We are really looking foward to it.  August 23 addendum...Also, congratulations to David Hanson on his new position as the Assistant County Attorney of Clearwater County! CongratsA great big congratu-ma-lations to my sister Michelle for getting her first job out of college as a Consulting Analyst with Accenture! Also, congratulations to David Konerza, who will be a brand new International Business Analyst for Target and to Richard Partial Martial for his new job at Lifetime Fitness. Everyone is getting new jobs and things always happen in groups of 3.
Corey, Carrie and Carter are coming this weekend and we’ll all be going to Jennie and Chris’ engagement party at a park shelter in Eden Prairie. The weather is supposed to be perfect, so we are also planning to go to the Minnesota State Fair after that. Sunday is Denise’s baby shower and after that I’ll be going along with Jennie and her mom to try on wedding dresses.
How is it already almost the end of August? This means that Fall will soon be here and then of course, winter. Only a couple months away until Tyler’s wedding and three months away until we are back in Malaysia for a couple of weeks. Then comes Christmas, New Year and 2008. Wham! August 21 Question and AnswerIf there was suddenly a flood, fire or other disaster at your home and you had 10 minutes, what would you take with you? August 19 Rain, rain, go awayIt's been raining all weekend  , which is unfortunate, becuase we were hoping to go to the Renaissance Festival today. Yesterday morning, I went to Heartstrings Bridal store with Jennie to try on more wedding dresses. After that, I ran some errands, got a print framed and bought some Nutella from Cost Plus World Market. YUM. Bryan and I went to Davanni's for pizza and then spent the night watching movies and relaxing. It's been pretty cold outside as well. I hope it clears up by next weekend! Over and out.August 16 Maple Grove vs. RichfieldAfter work today, I went to the Maple Grove Farmer's Market. I liked it better than the one in Richfield. There was a wide variety of fresh vegetables, flowers, meat, cookies, dog treats and I even got a free chair massage. It was a beautiful day outside and I enjoyed walking around and sampling my way around the market. We are planning on going to the Renaissance Festival this weekend and I'm hoping that it doesn't rain when we go. It's my 2nd favorite thing to do in the summertime, #1 would be the Minnesota State Fair, which starts in just a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to the turkey legs. Yum! We finally got around to cleaning the house and now it looks pretty good. Nothing beats having a clean, nice smelling house. Well, a clean, nice smelling dog comes pretty close. It's Friday tomorrow. YEAH!! Have a great weekend!August 14 training-trainerson These past few days have felt like a week! It's been very busy at work, we just had a new hire class of 32 start on Monday (usually, our average classes sizes are 12). They are a great bunch of people, very diverse and with lots of experience. It's been fun getting to know them and to make my training classes more interactive with the Bob Pike Train the Trainer tips that I picked up a few weeks ago. Guess it was well worth it for me to attend! I hope to go to more of those in the future, they are definitely helping me to develop into a better trainer. Yesterday evening after work, Becki and I went with Jennie to try on wedding dresses at the Wedding Chapel Bridal shop in Crystal. Today, I went to happy hour with some co-workers and then we went to Let's Dish to prep some deeeee-licious looking meals. I'm already planning to sign up for September's Let's Dish because the menu offerings look fantastic. I'm already looking forward to the weekend and it's only Tuesday! We are planning on going to the Renaissance Festival, always a fun time with turkey legs and soup bread bowls. August 12 BemidjiHad a fantastic weekend by the lake and now my body hurts! We drove up to Bemidji on Friday evening after work, sitting through traffic along with the other folks going up north for the weekend. Bryan went golfing on Saturday morning and I got a haircut at First Impressions SalonSpa. Met up with Rich and Brett after that and I rode on the jet ski while they went wakeskating (like wakeboarding, but without the bindings). They are both really good! It was a beautiful day outside, hot and sunny, even though the weather forecast called for rain. Then, with much help from Rich and Brett, I was able to go kneeboarding. Fun! After that, I headed to Derek's with Steve and Kyrsten and we sat in the hot tub for a while before heading back to the cabin for Steph's birthday BBQ. I played Guitar Hero for the first time and had a blast! We drove back home today after having brunch. Of course, we also hit traffic coming back. Annoying! The weekend flew by too quickly and it's back to work tomorrow. It's going to be super busy for the next month or so, we have a very large new hire class coming in. Tomorrow, I'm going with Jennie as she tries on more wedding dresses. Hope she finds one that she likes. Lots of things going on this week and all the upcoming weekends in August and September. Next thing we know it, it'll be winter. |
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