Living Lifes Mysteries

Hello Mister Handsome ~ Graeme Jeffrey

2011-12-29T14:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the world Mr. Graeme Jeffrey Martin!

Graeme was born December 9th at 7:36 pm and a whole 8lbs, 19.2 inches long. He is absolutely perfect, if I do say so myself! The first two pictures were taken 10 days after being born.
Of course you need to see the naked picture too! He is so darn cute!

This following picture was taken three days after he was born, while we were still at the hospital.

To tell you a little about the labor and delivery, it was long. Contractions started about 230pm on Thursday. We went to the hospital around 9pm after talking to the L&D nurse. I was estimating my contractions to be about 4-5 minutes apart, but not really progressing. We called my parents around 10 pm to let them know I was being admitted, just to give them a heads up. The nurse hooked me up to find out the contractions were actually closer than I was able to tell, closer to 3-4 and were stronger than I was I really thinking they were. Unfortunately they maintained there throughout the night. My OB doctor came in around 830 in the morning, saying I was at 5 cm dilated and decided it was time to break my waters bag. I had an epidural put in around 930am at which point I was at 6 cm. After that, things felt great! Unfortunately I didn't progress any further than 6 cm for four hours, at which point they started Pitocin, which they had to continually increased it until I was at 10cm. And that wasn't until 630 pm. We pushed for an hour, and at 7:36 pm, Graeme decided to make an appearance, coming out with his right hand on his head pushing his way through.

It was such an odd feeling of euphoria, excitement, exhaustion, you name it and I was feeling it. Despite the different feelings, the nurse and MD both asked us what we were going to name him. I didn't even realize it at the time when they asked, it just seemed like things were going so fast, we had forgotten to give them a name! I asked Joe what name he liked the most, and at first he thought Gavin. After looking at Graeme, I knew he was Graeme, which Joe agreed.

After chosing a name, Cathy the nurse asked where the camera was. We had totally forgotten to take out the camera! We were so caught up in the moment, the last thing we were worried about or thinking about was a camera. Joe reached down to the bag and was able to take a few pictures of Graeme on my chest and the foot prints.

While all of this was going on, the doctor and the resident were still working on me. Becuase of the way Graeme decided to come out, I ended up tearing fairly badly. But what was worse was that I had Pitocin for so long, my uterus wasn't relaxing like it should have causing problems. They continued to work on me for another hour and a half, at which point I was told had things not stopped bleeding, she was going to take me to surgery to fix it there. Thank goodness we didn't have to go that route! It wasn't until a little after 9pm that Joe was able to take Graeme out of the room to FINALLY show the grandparents.

Despite the problems with bleeding, everything else was great! Graeme was healthy and perfect! We ended up staying an extra day due to the infection and the problems I had during delivery. We went home Monday afternoon which was VERY emotional for me. I'm sure most of it had to do with hormones, but it was just scary and exciting as we were about to start our newest adventure with a perfect little man!!

The pictures taken by LeAnn turned out beautifully! If you want to see the others, please check out lbegnashphotography.blogspot.com in the December 2011 tab. LeAnn did a wonderful job!

Welcome Graeme Jeffrey Martin!

Times Are A Changing!

2011-10-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

Well, this year has definitely been one of many changes and opportunities. One big one for us was when we found out we were pregnant! Joe and I are expecting our first child on December 11 this year! We are both really excited, scared, nervous, overwhelmed, and every other possible emotion one could have! Right now, we are in week 31 with only 9 more weeks to go! Time is definitely flying by, I must say!

Here is our 20 week ultrasound! Baby Martin in the making!!

The first trimester I was utterly exhausted. I would come home from work at 4:30 or so, take a two to three hour nap, eat dinner, and go back to bed and sleep for another 8 hours or so. I also had a bit of "afternoon sickness" but other than that things were pretty good. The exhaustion with work was really the hardest thing to overcome. Second trimester was great! It was over before we knew it. Now, as we are in the third trimester, things are becoming more real and coming to end. We went to our birthing class a couple weekends ago which was fairly informational, yet I feel there is SO much more that I need to know! That's what books and friends are for as I am finding out!!

We did not find out the sex of Baby Martin and it has been interesting! I can definitely see the benefits of finding out the sex, but I'm glad we didn't. Joe's parents continually call Baby Martin HIM where my parents call Baby HER. Joe and I, well, depends on the day, but tend to call Baby more IT unfortunately. Until my dad came up with a good nickname: BOOMER! So now, Baby Martin has been referred to as Boomer, Boom Boom, or Boom. I have a sneaking suspicion that this nickname is going to stick around once he/she finally decides to shower their head!

Since we didn't find out the sex, we've been trying to figure out names for both a boy or girl. Needless to say, this has been a challenge. The names Joe likes, I don't, and those I like he doesn't. Some days I think we are making headway, and more on the same page, then something happens and the progress we made is gone! So any suggestions are appreciated!! We have a couple of front runners for girls names, but the boy names we only seem to agree on one name and I'd like to have a couple of options, just in case.

This coming weekend will be our first of two baby showers. This one is up here in Superior with most of Joe's family and our friends. Our other one will be later in November, when Emily will be home, and with the rest of my family. We got a lot of hand-me-downs from a couple of good friends and are VERY appreciative of their generosity! Its so hard to know what you really need, so I am very glad we have friends around to help me stay sane and relaxed!

Anyways, this year has been a blessing and is almost over with when you start thinking of things! Before we know it, Boomer will be here, as will Christmas and a new year. It really is amazing what happens to time while your busy making plans. Anyways, I just hope Boomer decides he/she doesn't want to be late, if you know what I mean!! Wish us luck!

A recap of the past year!!

2011-03-26T07:43:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I've last posted, but it really has been quite the past, what like 10 months! (No, no child yet, though!) Back in October I ventured out to Oregon, both Joe and I did, and did a site visit of a place I was looking at for a job. I was terribly unhappy with what was going on at St. Marys and feeling I was being pushed out my by manager. So I kept my options open and I started looking for opportunities. Our venture out there was a blast!! I got to interview at 2 great hospitals. One in Coos Bay, OR and the other in Eugene, OR. If we had chosen that was where we wanted to move, I would have chosen Eugene. That hospital was absolutely amazing!! Did I mention it was beautiful?! If anyone has been watching the new show One Born Every Minute, that hospital is fairly identical to the one I was looking at. VERY NICE! Anyways, after visiting, and getting an interview at home here, we decided we wanted to stay and I took a job over at St. Lukes as an inpatient PT at the hospital. It was the BEST decision I have made yet however very tough. I knew I was unhappy at SMDC but making such a big change after 5 years there was tough. I do know now, that I am more happy being at SLH and know it was the right move. SLH is so different from SMDC its amazing! I never really knew that until now. Calm, relaxed, and it's serious about patient first. Not pushing so much about money and administrative driven. its all about the patient and I love that! I'm not constantly looking over my shoulder wondering what I did this time or what I didn't do. I am honest when I say I'm so glad I made the switch. Nothing much happened around Christmas. A typical xmas in for our family I must say! Same w/ New Years. Nothing big. Dad stayed w/ use for a couple of weeks in February and March. He's doing great!!

In February I played in the Womens Bonspeil in Superior. It was so much fun!! Below is our team, minus our Skip (my mother in law) Donna. Anyways below in the red is Tina, myself, and Meg. We placed second in the B event, so we actually played really well!! Even beat the Canadian team in the morning!!!! Thats a huge accomplishment. Fun fun and more fun. Didn't think I was going to enjoy this sport, but its been a blast! Everyone should get it a try, I must say, I got a new broom (PINK!!) and new curling shoes (also PINK) all of which has helped alittle this year too. We ended up 3 overall at the end of the season this year, so that was exciting as well!

Also in February, my parents where asked by Kyle if he could marry their daughter, of course they said yes. So that means, Emily is ENGAGED!! They aren't too sure when or where the wedding will be yet, but its looking like sometime next year it sounds! Another trip in our near future that means!!

And in March, Joe and I look our trip to Jamaica agian!! We left on March 3rd and flew to Montego Bay where we stayed at the Iberostar Hotels. It was beautiful! We didn't do too much other than relax on the beach, but sometimes that is all you have to do!! Sitting under a cabana and reading was so relaxing! A couple of swims in the ocean, alot of drinking at the swim-up bar. (Ok, I only did that really once because I paid for that later. Don't drink in the sun and forget sunscreen....ouch and ooooh) We did do one big trip though. We took a catamoran ride and snorkeling adventure! It was a three hour long trip and it was amazing!! I am including most of the pictures in another other post just because they take so long to upload sometimes. Anyways, I got to hold a Sea Euchin and a Sea Cucumber!! It was such a werid feeling, but fun!!

We did dinner one night w/ Joes vendor that we got to visit down there and that was breath taking, if I dont' mind saying so myself! We ate out on the porch of a beautiful hotel called the Palmyra. Ron LIVES there most of the year and we were informed anytime we want to come back to visit we have a condo he'll let us HAVE for the time we are there! Anyone want to join! LOL It was amazing there! he even said if we wanted we could have Emilys wedding there. I"m still working on getting her to have it down there, but it looks like Denver is winning so far. Joe got to go out again with this group of men to a Jamaican Jerk place, seriously the best Jerk you will probably ever eat!

Before we knew it, we had to leave and we were back in the states. If anyone wants to know, Atlanta is the worse place to be your first point of entry in the country. I'm not say, but I'm saying. Customs was horrible and stupid! But I'm not going to go any further with that. We ended up not getting to Minneapolis until late, 11:45 thursday night. Needless to say we headed to bed. That following Friday we did some shopping up in Albertville and then dinner with Jessica that night! Its always good to see old friends!!

Other than that, we are just working like crazy, oh and running too! We are planning on doing a half marathon relay this April down in St. Cloud. A 10K is just the perfect distance if you ask me! Then I am also planning on running the Whistlestop again this fall. Not sure if it will be the half, but who knows, I may get ambitious and think about the full! We'll see! Oh, we'll also be down in the Cities much more this summer as we got season tickets to the Twins!! YEAH!! I will be honest, I'm not so much a baseball fan, but I think I can grow to like it a little more. :-) Thanks for reading and I hope to have more to write sooner than later!!

Oregon Coast Pictures

2011-03-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

Our venture out in Eugen, around Oregon University. Everyone was so happy to see Joe wearing a Wisconsin hat, as WI had last that weekend putting Oregon up on the rankings! Either that or w were going to get beat for him wearing that darn thing!

We had a little bit of fun out on the ocean beach.

Smiling pretty out on the coast. It was a bit chilly but beautiful.

We took a trip to Florence, OR where the Sea Lion Caves. It was such a cool natrual habitat of where sea lions live. This is a view from down under where they live. There were no sea lions in the cave, but out around the corner and down the road, there were literally 3 or 4 THOUSAND of them laying out on the ground. it was a sight to see!! Out in the distance is the most photographed light house in the world!

Here is a vie from the opposite side of the sea lion sights.

Here is a better picture of the most photographed Lighthouse in the world! It is so pretty!

Seashells on the the seashore!

Jamaica Pictures 2011

2011-03-26T05:55:00.000-07:00

Here we are sitting on the plane, the last seats of course, just before take off! All smiles of course, it's amazing what Ativan can do for an individual w/ anxiety of flying!

One of the meals we got to eat was Japanese. ANd I can actually say I loved it!! Even the smoked Salamon was delicious! All presented beautifully as well.

We did a day trip on the "Hip Strip" in Montego Bay. It was alot of fun! If you like to be hustled that is. Anyways we got to stop and drink and eat at this wonderful bar/tavern called "The Twisted Kilt" It is owned by a resident of New York City that decided there should be this great bar on Jamaica. I won't complain, it was so fun!

Our catamoran trip, all I can say is FUN!

All smiles in the water! Our digital water camera was so much fun and versitile! I even got a pic of the sea euchin, but I seem to have misplaced it on here somewhere....I'll keep looking! See our boat in the background here? The spot where we were snorkeling was also right below where airplanes start to land on the beach here in Montego Bay. It was so neat to be close to an actual landing plane! Right above our heads!

Here is one of the sunsets from the hotel.

One of our adventures out on the canoes/kayaks they had for guests to use. We also got to use the smaller catamorans ourselves, which was a riot to watch joe try to navigate at times.

No words to say here. Beautiful.

Colorado Adventures - June 2010

2010-06-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

What can I say, yes, we had another little vacation!! Since Joe and I haven't had much time getting out before, this year seems to be our year of trips!!! This adventure took us out to Denver, Colorado to visit my sister whom we haven't seen since last September. We flew from Duluth to Minneapolis to Denver. Not such a bad flight, but that thanks to Ativan, it does wonders if you ask me! We arrived in Denver on Thursday morning, taking advantage of some realixing time after traveling. We were exhausted, but I think that had to do from the lack of sleep we had the night before.

Emily came over to our hotel and we finally got to give her her birthday present that was stolen during our flight home from Jamaica. Thus, that was why she had to wait for it, it wasn't going to be mailed, thats for sure! After that, we headed out to dinner at a nice little pub, talked a little and enjoyed each ones company while we could.

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel, did I mention it was right next, literally next to Invesco Field AKA Mile High Stadium!? That place was beautiful, although our hotel was a little out dated, but very functional for the price. No complaints here.

Friday, Emily picked us up and we head to Red Rocks park. Wow, those rock formations were amazing and beautiful! It's amazing how nature had turned and changed things. Just beautiful! We parked in the South lot, so unfortunately for us non-Colorado people who aren't accustomed to the elevation, we had a bit of a hard time climbing all of those stairs and ramps!! Well, worth the effort, though. Look at these rocks!

This was taken at the top of the Red Rock Amphitheater. Just amazing!!!! When we were at the top, there were gym classes going on! I was amazed!! I'db e out of breath, although training at that elevation I'm sure would just get easier and easier. For a started, I was dying! Anyways, people were running up and down this theater. If you run from one side to the other, along each step here, you'd have done a 5k. Pretty neat, huh!? you cann't see it too well, but Denver is in the far background of this pic.
The three of us, after our breathtaking hike up the stairs!

If we were smart, we would have driven to the top like a lot of others had done, but the exericse was well warranted!

Just breathtaking!

A view from the bottom of the theatre.

After the Redrocks, we headed over, picked up Kyle and went to the Coors Brewery!
I've now been to five brewerys! And I don't really care for beer, figure that out!

Emily and I sitting and enjoying our free beer at the Coors Brewery! Minersmoon was what we were drinking. Half Killians and Half Bluemoon. Very tasty I must say so! You need to try it! By the way, we got a little tipsy there. You get three beers and a fresh brewed taste as well. Hey, that's a lot of beer for me!!! Especially since I don't drink all that much anymore. Wow, tasty, if I do say so myself!!!

After the brewery, we headed back to get ready for the baseball game. Lucky for us, the Brewers were playing the Rockies at Coors Field while we were out there! Joe, Emily and I went to the game on Friday night while Joe and I went to the game again on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun, unfortunately they didn't win until Sunday, go figure!

This is Coors Field, not a bad baseball park. I do think Miller Park is my favorite though.

Sunday was a bigger adventure. We drove down to Colorado Springs to Pikes Peak, the highest Cogwheel railway. We took the cogwheel to the top of the mountian. It was about an 1 to 1.5 hours to get to the top of the 14,110 feet elevation. A beautiful ride. The temperature changed from 92 degrees at the base (7000 ft) to 55 degrees at the summit of 14,110 feet. You can definately feel the lack of oxygen, but it was so beautiful.

Isn't this just beautiful! Breath taking, I must say so myself.

In the far background, you can see the continental divide!

Emily and I posing for the camera!

Yep, had to take a pic as a tourist! Pikes Peak, 14,110ft. The 34th out of 54 of the 14ers ( mountians greater than 14,000 feet in Colorado are called the 14ers!).

All smiles from 14,000 feet! Don't mind the hair, it was a bit windy up there!

After Pikes Peak, we headed over to the Garden of the Gods for a picinic lunch and a little walking and viewing the rocks. All of these places were amazing. Some, actually most, of these pictures do not do justice to the sights themselves.

This is what is called the Kissing Camels. If you look closely on the top, you can see the two camels kissing. Cute! Nature made, I must say!

Aren' these rocks amazing!? There were a couple of people actually climbing them, neat!

Joe and I at Garden of the Gods.

Here is the view from Garden of the Gods looking up to the top of Pikes Peak. It doesn't look too intimidating from here, but really, the top point there is 14,000 feet!! This picture just doesn't do it justice!

All in all, it was an amazing vacation. Breathtaking views and great company. It was so great to see Emily and I can't wait to go back to visit her again. A beautiful area. I highly recommend visiting it if you can. Just be warned, they drive very crazyily out there!

May 2010

2010-05-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

This May has been a fast, yet interesting month. Alot has been happening already, and the month isn't over with yet! I finally was going to graduate with my Doctorate in Physcial Therapy! It has taken me two years to complete, but now I can finally say I am done with school. It has taken a lot of time and effort, and I'm glad I'm done. That is until my next adventure I decide to take on!! A huge achievement I've accomplished!

Graduation was on the 16th, and I was pursuaded into walking. (Thank you mom!) Anyways, it really wasn't all that bad. Graduation was help at the DECC, and 635 students walked that day. This was the largest graduating class CSS has ever had! Something neat to be a part of; however, the whole process took a little over 2 1/2 hours!! I was one of the first to walk into the arena, all the doctoral students sat in the first two rows, with the masters degrees behind us and the bachelors behind them. Unbenounced to me, the doctoral canidates were the last to walk. We were the ones to actually receive our "hoods" on stage, so that was pretty neat. After receiving our "hoods" you walked across, they announced your name and you then received your "diploma", or the holder of a fake piece of paper! (I actually received my REAL diploma on that Tuesday after graduation.) It was a fun process, thank goodness I do not need to do that again! *S*

This past weekend, Joe got us tickets to the Brewers verses Twins games at Target Field! Fridays game were on the 1st level, not too bad. It wasn't that great for the sole reason that Twins fans do not quite respect baseball ettetiqute. When someone is batting, don't get up and walk up and down the isles! Other people may actually be watching the game going on. Being on the lower level, it was harder to actually see the game. That is why I actually enjoyed the game better on Satruday, the view was less obstructed! Oh, did I mention the game itself was actually better too, than 15-3!! Oh well, the company was great and it was nice to see the Brewers.

Here is a pic of Joe and I on the Golden Glove outside of Target Field! I think this is cute! Many people were out there taking these pictures!!

Here is one of us taken by us!! My arms are perfect lengths for self portraits!

Pictures from Jamaica

2010-04-01T18:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from our vacation. I could add many more, but that may take forever! These are just a glimpse. (I took over 400 pictures, and that is not including the pics Suz and Andy have on their camera. I'll have to add them once I get them.) Please enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Here is one of the pictures we had drawn there. The palm trees signify two people, and the hammock connects the two together! *S*

The vegetation was so amazing! There were these weird things all around.

Joe and I, at Christopher Columbus Point.

The main pool area again

One of the many scultures of food!

The ocean from our room!

Looking down from our room. It would've been nice to have our own "Plunge Pool" although the ocean was only a few steps away, why would you need one!?

View from our room.

Me partaking in the Beer Drinking contest. Needless to say, I did not win.

All giggles and smiles after tequila shots!

One of my views from my lounge chair!

Looking over toward the "family friendly" resort.

Me, the mean sky, and deep thoughts.

One of the gazebos used for weddings.

Looking out toward the main pool area.

Joe and I getting ready for our catamoran ride!

Me and my coconuts with Pina Colodas!! Yummy!

Looking at the main building.

The beautiful beach! The colors were so beautiful. I never really knew that there were places that had waters that look like this. Just breath taking.

Breezes Runaway Bay Jamaica 2010

2010-03-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

Last October, Joe and I decided we wanted to go on a vacation before we really started the whole family thing. So after talking to some friends, Andy and Suzanne were takers and we booked our trip to Jamaica! We decided to do an all-inclusive Breezes Runaway Bay Resort and Golf Course. It was great! We flew out of Minneapolis March 7th at 7:10, had direct flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica, arriving around noon! It was great!!! We had a driver pick us up at the airport and bring us to our resort, about an hour away from the airport. They drive like madmen down there. Literally, inches away from the car ahead of them, on the wrong side of the road, and horns, well, they are always blaring!!! But it was still great!

Upon arriving to our resort, we had drinks in our hands! Did I mention it was all-inclusive?! Anywyas, our first night in paradise was great! A little chilly, but hey, I can't argue when the temperature is 80!

Our first full day there, Joe had to travel back to Montego Bay to do some work at a call-center he uses down there. We ended up getting a couple little perks from this as well! While Joe was away, Andy, Suz and I hung around, partook in a beer drinking contest (I did not win, sorry!) and laid around, just relaxing. It was a little chilly, but it still was nice. We had three pools to chose from and, of course, the ocean! So many different things were available to us. Volleyball, water volleyball, glassbottom boat rides, snorkeling (which I absolutely LOVED!!!!), catamoran rides, and many more. hte best part of it all, NO WORK AND RELAXATION!
On Tuesday, we ventured out and went to Ochos Rios and played at Mystic Mountain. Here we took a ski lift to the top of the rainforest, and then Zip-lined down!!!! It was amazing! Suz has all those pics on her camera so I don't have them yet. But it great. The tour guides we had were hilarious and made it a great expereince. Since we also had the option to do the bobsleding, we took the lift back up, and Suz and Joe went ahead and do the bobsled. According to them, it was great as well! Overall, a wonderful experience!

After playing here, we headed into Margarittaville for lunch! Not thebest, but still good! We then did a little shopping, souviners of cours! Then we went to Dunns River Falls. So what do you think when you hear that? Yeah, you'd go see the falls. Nope! We walked down the mountain, just to find out, we were walking back up the mountain, but through the falls!!!! It was so amazing! There were tons of people and guides around guiding us up the falls safely. It was great! Something you just can't describe.

Dinner Tuesday night, Joe and I ate at the Japanese restruant, which was delicious! Wednesday we hung around and played by the pool and relaxed all day! Joe and I did some water activities, he had a golf lesson, and Suz and I got to go to the spa. Wednesday night the four of us went to the Luminous Lagoos. It was where the right combination of salt water and fresh water meet, bringing micro-organizism to around. It's hard to explain but it was absolutely beautiful! We jumped out of the boat and got to swim in this bay. Everywhere you moved the water around, it turned a luminous green!! Just amazing!

Thursday, the temp was high 80s and not quite as breezy, but great! Nothing too exciting happened, other than some easy reading by the pool and swimming! I actually read a book for enjoyment. Something I have not done in many, many years.

Friday it was mid-high 90s and hot! We relaxed by the pools and Joe and I got to go snorkeling for my first time! It was absolutely great!! The vest kept me afloat the snorkel kept me breathing! I had never really seen anything like that beore. So on Saturday before we packed everything we got to go one more time!!! Although this trip was alittle longer, I also go stung by two jellyfish. Nothing, bad, but it sure did sting a big!

Joe had the opportunity on Friday as well! I had never seen him do this before, and he did a great job!! Smile for the camera!!

Unfortunately our trip home wasn't as pleasant as expected. That's awhole different story though. All in all, it was a great trip! I'd love to go back to Jamaica again, so it's in the works! We'll see where we go next time! I must say, I am definately going snorkeling again!

Here Joe and I are, our last hour at the resort. Here's to a great trip and many more!

Let 2010 Begin!!

2010-01-07T11:14:00.001-08:00

2009 has pasted and it couldn't have been sooner. It has been a roller coster of a ride, and we're hoping this year will be a bit calmer. Emily moved out to Colorado with her boyfriend Kyle. Since she wasn't sure of her work schedule, she wasn't able to come home for christmas, and it's been since September since we've seen her. I can honestly say I miss that girl!!! Soon t hough she'll be here visiting so we are all looking forward to seeing her and Kyle.

On December 3rd, my dad offically retired from the Postal Service! It's crazy that I can say that, considering he's only 55!!! We are all happy and glad he's done. I keep telling him that if he wants, he can always come up here and babysit a couple days a week when we have children. (Granted that may not be for a couple of years, or something, but we keep putting that idea in his head, especially since he keeps asking where those grandkids are!!)

At the beginning of December, we had an unfortunate happening occur when Joe got laid off from Starbucks. Granted it was only a part-time job, it still sucked because now we are tighter with money than before and we were pretty tight before. Oh well, the upside to this was we get to spend more time together! Something we haven't had much of for awhile becuase he was always working. So this is a good thing!

At the end of December, Dad had surgery for prostate cancer. Everything went great and is at home recoverying. I'm glad it all went well, although he had a lot of pain to start with but I think things are settling down a little. The pathology reports came back this week and thank God, but they were all negative! Everything was contained in the prostate. He doesn't need any radiation or chemotherapy at this time. That is huge!! It's been a long past couple of months waiting and seeing what's going to happen. As you all know I tend to take on a lot and worry about everyone else, so this has been hard on me, and in turn Joe. So, I am terribly excited to hear good news from the Doctor.

As of now, we are heading into the new year slow and surely! We are hoping to get a couple of good weekends of skiing in along with some snowshoeing and getting out more. We are both still running and Joe is planning on doing another 1/2 marathon this year sometime. I may do another one, but depends on what happens. We are heading to Jamaica in March for a week with our friends Andy and Suzanne. This is a badly needed vacation and we are both excited to get away for a while. I'll post some pictures when we get back. I hope everyone had a great christmas and a great new year!

It's a Big Year for Turning 30!

2009-11-29T13:35:00.000-08:00

On November 17th, Joe turned 30! I was hoping to plan a surprise birthday party for him; however, he planned and did the exact thing I was hoping to do for him. So, things had to change, and I had to come up with something different and extraordinary, as his surprise for me was great. So I talked to a couple of people and got some ideas and decided to plan on getting Wild tickets. The venture looking into them, though, was a bit difficult, but in the end I was able to get great Club Level seats for the night of November 20th. I was able to get a good rate at the Hilten Garden Inn in St. Paul that we stayed at for the Rascal Flatts concert in Sept. and it being so close to the Xcel Energy Center, I thought it would be a great place to stay again, so we wouldn't have to worry about driving. I booked it without Joe knowning, and kept everything on the downlow. I told Joe he needed to take Nov. 20-22 off from both jobs so we could do something. He was sketchy about the taking the time off, but he did it anyways! Yeah, it was hard for me not to tell him though. I love but hate surprises and I knew he was going to love this adventure.

Anyways, about two weeks before the game, Joe got an email from the Hilton checking to see if he needed anything for his room on the 20th, the room he had no idea that was booked under his name!!! I almost died! I did so well keeping it from him, and this had to happened. So all I could tell him was "It's a surprise, you'll find out when we get there." Fortunately, he took that answer and ran with it, not asking anything more.

On Friday, the 20th, we left Superior and headed south. When we got to the hotel around 3:30 and got up and went to an early dinner. We talked about maybe going for a walk later in the evening then for drinks. Yeah, that's what we were going to do....we headed out around 6pm for our "walk". I got all bundled up, jacket, hat, gloves. Joe looked at me and asked, "why are you putting so much on for a walk?" My response was, "I get cold," and left it at that. As we were out walking, I was looking around at all the people wearing Wild Jerseys and outfits, I started getting worried Joe was going to pick up on what we were going to be doing, but for some reason he didn't say anything.
As we were walking, there was a little park downtown with a soon to be skating park once it was cold enough. Plus there were little Peanuts characters around, so we stopped to take a couple of pictures. During this time, I gave Joe a card that I didn't get give on his birthday. As he was opening it, his eyes kept getting bigger and a huge grin on his face. I asked, "What is it?" and all he could do was smile and say thank you. Here is his picture with his tickets!!

Here's me, playing around the Peanuts characters before the game!

I was so happy he was surprised and exicted!! I'm not the best person at keeping a surprise but this worked out great! Here's Joe at the arena, all smiles!

This was our 2nd professional hockey game we've been to together, and I don't remember all the fights the first time that happened, but within three minutes of starting the game, there was a huge brawl!!! Blood, punching, everything, it was great!! They actually fought for awhile, I was shocked! All Joe said was, "They do that in professional hockey," something that didn't happen the week before at the UMD hockey game. This was much better! Fast pace and exciting! We took a lot of pictures, but here is one picture of the fav player I was instructed to watch for, Clutterbuck. (I think that's how you spell his name, not sure.) We ended the evening with a drink and a walk back to our hotel. A great evening, all in all.

Anyways, on Saturday, we headed west to Alberville to experience the Outlet Malls. We really didn't need anything, but had a great time at the Under Armour, GAP, Eddie Bauer, and many other stores. We also stopped at Dicks in Bloomington to pick up suits to go swimming, then off to the Cheesecake factory for cheesecake dessert later. We also stopped at REI, and got our christmas present from Joe's parents: a bike trailer hitch for the car. Now we just have to have the hitch actually installed on the vehicle! It's a long story. All in all, it was a great, badly needed time away from everything, weekend. And the surprise turned out perfect. Happy Birthday, Joe!

2009-11-23T17:33:00.000-08:00

Alots going on, so I will update soon enough!! Sorry this isn't done but work and school have been consuming my every minute. Soon enough all you interested people!!

Whistlestop Half Marathon Weekend

2009-10-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Well, on October 10th, 2009, Joe, Kelly and I participated in the Whistlestop Half Marathon in Ashland, WI. The morning started off cold, a whole 26 degrees with a wind chill. Seriously, in October it shouldn't be that cold!! Anyways, we jumped in the car, after I scrapped the inch of snow off my car!! It was so cold, I had a hard time really warming up in general. While we were waiting at that start, we stood in the chip shack, with many other runners. Trying to stretch the muscles to get warm wasn't really happening for me. I was freezing. Nothing I did helped to get me warm. Kelly and Joe both looked comfortable, but I wasn't at all. Other than the temperature never making it about 29 degrees that morning, I needed more clothing to put on and I didn't have enough. Plus, I didn't want to wear too much for the run itself, but I should've. I really think part of the reason why I wasn't faster is because I lost/used so much energy waiting trying to get warmer I just didn't have enough for the run itself. Oh well I guess. To top of the waiting, the race ended up starting 10 minutes late. I wasn't really sure what to think of the black ice on the road, but sticking off to the side seemed to be a little easier. After running about 1.5 miles on the road, we took a turn onto the corridor for the majority of the race. It was amazing and gorgeous! At one point on the race track, I was wishing I had a camera with to take a couple of pictures to share with everyone. Anyways, it was a quiet run, but with great spectators, water stations and just in general a great race. Other than having a horrible stitch in my side from .5miles to the end, the run run wasn't bad at all. I only stopped/paused 3 times for water. Way better than how Grandma's went, thats for sure. Then again, there was a 55 degree difference between these two runs!

I am not sure what Kelly's time was, but she finished before the two of us. I finished, with a personal record, of 2hour 24 minutes. Unfortunately for myself, I had been training at a 10minute/mile pace, however, during this run, I think the cold took a toll on me and I wasn't able to maintain the pace I was looking for. Oh well, right? It just means I'll have to run it again next year! And surprisingly, Joe finished at 2hour 26 minutes! At one point, Joe was running ahead of me which caught me off guard considering he was training at a 12 1/2 minute pace. So him running up with me was a surprise, but good shock! He did great though, and I am terribly proud of him!!

Here is Joe, just after he crossed the finish line! All smiles! He looked great! Although, a couple of hours later were a different story. He was really sore, but didn't want to admitt it. But that didn't matter, he completed his first 1/2 marathon!!

Here is a picture of Scott Raaflaub (Joe's friend from high school, a great guy,) Joe, myself, and Kelly all with our medals we earned. Did I mention it was cold out there! After our run, we all had hats, and layers of clothing on to warm us up again!!

Kelly and myself!

After the race, we went back to my parent house and had lunch with Kelly and her mom, then relaxed for the afternoon. The only discomfort I had from the race was from my SI joint, due to the uneven groud on the corridor you experienced at times. A little bit of IT band discomfort, but nothing else. Way better than how I felt after Grandma's thats for sure. As for Joe, he's still waddling around a little, but getting better every day.

On Sunday, we stayed and watched a movie with my parents, placed Phase 10 (it's a card game) and then headed home. On our way back to Superior, we stopped at a local farm that had pumpkins for sale. It was fun! Both Joe and I picked out our own little pumpkins, and one big one for carving soon enough. Here's me, picking out our big pumpkin for carving! There were so many options, it was hard to chose! But, honestly, it was fun. I love spending time with Joe. We have so much fun and get to act like children some times.

Turning 30...Isn't Bad at All!

2009-09-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

To my surprise, my 30th birthday was wonderful, and nothing that I would have expected! It all started on Thursday, the 10th, at work. Joe brought in a huge, delicious cake from an amazing baker,"How Sweet It Is" (no, sorry, not my Grandpa, there are other people too) and 30 roses with a beautiful card. I had no idea, he was going to do something like that, but it was great! Everyone at work enjoyed at piece as we ate lunch and discussed my plans for my birthday. As I told everyone, I had none! None other than have a spa treatment, then going to dinner with Joe and my parents! That's what I thought was going to happen!

Well, on Friday I woke up to Nurse On-line calling me back from my call the night before about my ear. So I had to go in to see the doctor, but I had to go to Urgent Care because they had no normal openings....so I sat there for two hours to find out what I already knew, yep, it was an ear infection. But the best part was this time I got an antibiotic!!! YEAH ME! After that, I headed back across the bridge to Trends Salon and Spa which I had sent up an appointment for me to have a spa treatment for my birthday. I figured since no one was doing anything for me and Joe didn't take the day off like he said he was, that I knew of, I'd treat myself to a day of bliss. Upon my arrival, the girl at the front desk said, "You don't have to worry, this was already paid for." I looked at her and I got a huge grin on my face. I knew it, Joe came in and paid for it for me!! He insisted that he didn't, but I knew it was him! So, I spent three hours receiving a body wrap of chocolate rub, a facial, a glow treatment, and then a great pedicure. Oooo, don't forget the wine that was served as well! After that, I headed home, just in time for Joe to get there and spent some time together.

After awhile, my parents showed up, and we talked about where we'd be going to dinner. Mom suggested Ace's and I didn't oppose, they have fairly good food. But for some reason, we weren't going until 6:30 so we could meet Joe's parents there as well. Well, we were sitting on the couch, waiting, and waiting, and finally, at 6:20, she said we should go....weird. I would've left before, so we could get there and have a drink or two before others got there, but no, we had to wait. As we parked, I looked around the lot and I couldn't see Donna's car....weird. Joe said, "It's right over there," and just kept walking into the bar/grill. As I walked in, I looked to my right where there's a conference room and Suzanne and Andy caught my eye, but I didn't think anything of that. As I walked around toward the door, I looked in to find family and friends all yelling Happy Birthday to me. Joe had thrown me a surprised birthday party!!! I was so shocked and surprised, I didn't know how he kept it from me. Usually when I whine enough, (and let me tell you I had been whining alot that past week because we weren't going to be doing anything for my birthday) he'd give in and tell me what's up. But this time he didn't!!

It was great. My parents, Joe's parents, my aunt and cousin and her husband from Washburn drove up, my Uncle Jim and his friend Julie from Ashland drove up, and Joe's Uncle Le and Michelle from St. Cloud came up, as well as Andy and Suzanne, Seth and Traci, Krissy (Zach's girlfriend, but Zach couldn't make it cause he had drill), Amber and Mike, The Banker's, Kay (Donna's golfing partner), and Josh....man there are more that I may be forgetting, and I'm sorry if I do, it is not intentional!!! But the man of the hour, other than me, of course is Joe.
All smiling and happy he pulled off this great thing!! Of course, I threw out the idea of shots, and he was right on top of that!! Scooby Snacks and Sambucca for the men! And then, of course, you can't have a party without presents. People got me gifts, which I would never have asked for but are greatly appreciated.

Liquor, of course was present. Don't forget the Amaretto!! Yummy!

And the funny gift of the evening was from my cousin, Sara, whom I grew up with. Some might not understand, but I know, and Sara, this made me smile from ear to ear.

Thank you dear!

The best gift of the evening I thought was the whole party Joe was able to throw. But I was wrong. Joe had one more card for me. As I read it, I started to tear up. He usually doesn't get senimental cards....when I looked inside, there was a Northwest Airline voucher for $300. He had hoped to book a flight for me to go out see Amy in Arizona, but things just didn't work out. So instead, he got the voucher for me to choice when I want to go. I started crying, of course. I guess I never thought of him being so thoughtful and loving. Sometimes he doesn't show it, then others, like this, it just pours out. All in all, this was a wonderful birthday, and I have to say thank you to Joe and to the parents for helping plan this day. It was great! Thank you everyone! And a special thanks to my husband, I love you dearly, Joe! See, turning 30 isn't bad at all!

Just Keep Running!

2009-08-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

Say congratulations as Joe (and myself) completed his first 5.1k road race last night! It was held in Duluth at the Mount Olive church, called The Festival 5.1K. It was fun, but must I say a little tasking for your first race: the majority of the course was up hill! Joe's friend informed him of this race, saying it would be a good beginning run, but little did he know the actually race course until the day before. All in all, he finished, alittle out of breathe, but made it through. He keeps complaining, saying he didn't do well, but I am very proud of him for sticking with it and completing it. It was fun to actually say we did something together, sportwise of course! As for myself, I am sorta happy with my finish. I stuck to my 10 minute mile pace, slow but steady and that's all that matters. As you all know already, we don't have that runners body, but making the effort toward running and getting exercise is all that matters! So hopefully we'll get out more and do more local races. It's something fun to do and you're giving back to the community while getting exercise! Only two more months till the big race in October!

Changes in the Martin Household

2009-08-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

There really isn't much going on these days in the Martin household these days. Which is a good thing, right? Joe is still working full time at Advanstar and part time at Starbucks, and I'm still full time at the hospital.....but I'm loving it to wits end! *S* (Bet you never thought I'd say something like that, right? Ok, I should clear this up......I love what I am doing, absolutely love it! But I hate the politics behind what is going on. I know there is always going to be politics with things, but at some time you just get to the point of not wanting to have to deal with it anymore, know what I mean? Oh well.)

Other than my hours and schedule being changed at work, I am not back to working 8 hour days verses the 10 hour days I had been doing for 2 1/2 years. This, of course, was not my choice to change. It came from above, unfortunately I am not a big fan of the switch, but trying to deal with it. So, ultimately, I am getting a little bored of things. So I've picked up more running, now running between 4 to 5 miles each run. And, I've actually had the opportunity to run with Joe! Well, sorta! I finish before him, but we do start together, which is good for him. I'm so proud of him, keeping up on the running even though it isn't something he really likes. But having a goal in mind has kept him trucking forward. In the next couple of weeks, both of us are going to be running a 5k, this'll be Joe's first running race! I'll keep you posted as to our results.

So if anyone has any ideas for easy, part-time or at home jobs, please send them my way! Wish us luck, more Joe than myself, for the up coming community race we'll be taking part in soon! Hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for keeping up on us!

Next on the Agenda

2009-07-16T13:12:00.000-07:00

Finishing Grandma's was an accomplishment for me; however, I did not finish at the time where I wanted to, so I've continued training and pushing myself more. In my mind, move on to bigger and better things, right? Yep, another half marathon in October, The Whistlestop, which is held in Ashland. A close to home race, along the corridor starting in Iron River for the full and 1/2 way from there finishing in downtown Ashland. I've heard great things about this race and how most people get a PR running this race, something I'm hoping to achieve. Two other great things to go along with it is Joe, my husband, and Kelly are both going to run! Joe has this idea in his mind that he do it, and more props to him, who doesn't run for anything! He has a great mindset though: he has 6 hours to finish. Either way, if he doesn't run the whole thing, he can still walk! As for myself, I was not too happy with my finish during Grandma's so I figure I need to challenge myself one more time. The heat really took a toll on me, so hopefully a race in October I won't have to contend with the heat again! I'd rather run when it's cold any day!

Anyways, The Whistlestop is October 10th, and I am looking forward to finishing another race where I grew up. Who knew I'd grow to actually enjoying running? Sure not me! So I'm glad I've found something to keep me busy and healthy. I can honestly say this is the healthiest I've been in a years, and not only can I tell the difference, but I can see it in my work. It's a good feeling to be awake and healthy and traveling down that road is better than sitting around and watching my life pass me by, right?! So, wish Joe, Kelly and I luck in our training and on finishing the race!

Another Half Marathon Completed!

2009-06-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

Well, despite the heat and sticky weather, I finished Grandma's 1/2 Marathon in 2hours 33min for my chip time! It was a bit slower than I wanted. Okay, I lied, alot slower than I wanted. I was hoping to finish right around the 2hr 20min mark, but the weather took a toll on me. The morning started at 4AM with a temperature of 64 degrees with 98% humidity at my house. When we got to start of the race, it was about 70, and only got warmer throughout the morning. By the time I finished, it was 82 degrees! It was awful for running, we at least for me, but I finished.

The first 9.5 miles went great with a good steady pace, walking only through the water stations. for hydration. I usually don't stop for water, but had I not, I would have been one of those people at the medical tents or on the gurneys at the end of the race! The replenisher at the aid stations were great and really helped me out. I got to meet several good people to run with, each of which ended up finishing after me. (Yeah, I guess!)

The last 3.5 miles felt like they took forever. Getting down onto Superior Street should have been a great point, knowing you are just that much closer to the end, but I sure didn't feel that way. There wasn't much wind and it felt like the temperature jumped. I do have to say the last mile was the killer for me and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it to the end. I was exhausted, and ended up having to walk a couple of times. The crowd was great, just encouraging you the whole way. "You're almost there," and "You can do it" were all I needed to hear. I was so close, I just needed to finish. Then, without notice, the w/c top racer came flying past me! Now, if he can do 26.2 miles in under 2.5 hours, I can finish this 1/2 marathon!

Before I knew it, I was at the finish line, receiving my heavy medal and shirt, taking everything in. Everyone congratulating everyone else. Despite of the massive chaos, I got to see a couple of coworkers who were running, too, so it was good to know I wasn't the only one struggling. It was a tough race, had the weather not been so hot, I could have finished a lot better than what I did. Another great experience though. So a new goal for me now is to potentially run another 1/2 marathon this fall in Ashland, The Whistlestop. Since I have that competitive side, I need to beat my time this summer. Hopefully Joe will join me this round, but we'll see! I'll keep you posted on that idea. Thanks everyone for your support and encouragement! It really meant a lot!

8 Days and Counting Down....

2009-06-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

The count down begin.....for Grandmas is a week, and I feel like I may be ready. If not, I'm still in it to finish. Whether it takes me the planned 2 hour 15 minutes or 3 hours, I'm still going to cross that finish line! Joe doesn't have to work, so he'll be there with my parents and maybe sister, cheering me on! As I pass Starbucks, I'll have all the support from the crew there. It's been a long road of training, but well worth the time and effort I've put into all of this since February. I haven't pushed myself so much for awhile, it's been nice to have a challenge to make me work for my goals.

So, next Saturday as you all wake up around 6 or 7 or 8, think of me and wish me luck! I'm leaving the house around 4:20 AM with a friend and her family to get on the MN Power bus to bring us to the start on Old Hwy 61 to begin at 6:30! If all goes well, hopefully, I'll be finished by 8:45.....(I'll even take 9:30 if I just can't make!!) If you want, I'll post my chip number which you can go to the Grandmas website to track me through the race. A neat feature to allow those waiting to know how much more waiting they have to do!! Thank goodness I'm not running the full this year. So wish me luck! A week and counting.....I'll let you know where I end up!!

Easter Weekend and Work

2009-04-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

Well, for the past two and a half weeks, I had a horrible cold that put my training on hold. Fortunately I'm still motivated and looking forward to crossing that finish line in June. Easter was okay. Joe had to work at Starbucks, so he was unable to join us. Emily was able to make the trip up north so she picked me up on Friday, and drove us both to the 'rents house for the weekend. It was nice spending time with her, since it doesn't happen all that often. As a family, we decided to celebrate Easter on Saturday so we could all be together. It was us four, my Uncle Jim, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Virginia and Joe's parents decided to join us as well. It turned out to be a very nice day, enjoyable to spend time with the family. Unfortunately, not only was I not feeling well, but I had to go back on Saturday with Joe's parents because I had to work on Sunday. (A co-worker asked if I'd work Easter so she could spend time with her children. How do you say no to that especially since we don't have children yet, and Joe had to work as well.)

Easter Sunday working wasn't that bad, other than the fact that the other workers there didn't want to be there either, kinda making it a more negative day than expected. I thought I'd have egg salad for lunch, which was okay. Unfortunately, it didn't stay down. After work, three hours later, I made it home in time to have severe chills, vomiting for several hours. It was absolutely horrible!! Sick with a horrible cold/bronchitis and then food poisoning on top of it! What the luck?! I called my boss to inform her I woudln't make it to work on Monday, this time she was very sympathetic, hmm, can't imagine why?! Anyways, I did make it the rest of the week to work, however, it was just on Friday that I was able to actually start eating food without having the feeling of a full stomache with the need to vomitt again. This was such a horrible feeling, but once I could eat, food was amazing!

After work on Friday, the temperature outside was 72 degrees! Can you believe that!? Absolutely gorgeous outside! After stopping to see Joe, I thought I'd go for a run, so I called Donna to see if she'd be willing to drive me back to our house if I ran out to theirs. She agreed so off I went on 4 mile run. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of the wind direction when I started, and before I knew it, I was too far away from home to turn around. I had a heavy head wind the whole way. Bummer, if I do say so myself. But it was nice. I ended up a little slower than I wanted, but that's okay, I made it the whole 4 1/2 miles!! Yep, it was longer than I thought, but well worth the run! I'm glad I made it out last night, it definately made me realize that I can do this and I'll be able to finish the 1/2 marathon no matter what happens! Just gotta keep on training and thinking positive.

A small, yet huge accomplishment!

2009-03-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, this isn't going to be much, but I just needed to shout it at the top of my lungs:
I actually ran 4 miles this morning without difficulty!
Can you believe it? I haven't run that far in a long time, and it felt great after I was done. Who knew the more you workout the better you get at things!! Just add 9 more miles and I'll have completed another goals. I'm following a program offered by Grandma's Marathon and it is working out great. This week I'll have completed 16 miles for the week. So, you got to start somewhere, right!?

An Update...

2009-03-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday, and I'm at home alone. Joe took a temporary job and is at work, leaving me to relax on my own. Nothing is new these days, except I have a wedding to attend next weekend. My mom had a good turn out from her MD appointment on Monday for her ankle. She is free and can do anything she wants! That's great. Other than that, work for me is going well. I'm absolutely loving my position and I enjoy working with my patients. I've had great ones lately. Especially the ones that smiled and said thank you for helping them move. That's when I know I'm appreciated. Anyways, I started running. I'm excited and I need to get new running shoes soon. But my goal is Grandma's this summer, then maybe a whole in the fall,but we'll see. I'm not the fastest, but I'm excited because I'm actually doing well, and keeping up on my plan. I'll keep y'all posted on that! Wish my luck, hopefully this running this will keep me going in losing more weight, I only have 9 more pounds to make my goal, so wish me luck!

Sea Cave Adventures!

2009-02-16T18:19:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, Joe and I decided to take a trip up to see my parents and explore a little more around the area. I had heard about the Apostle Island National Parks and the Sea Caves many times, but I never took the time to venture out and see them. Well, Saturday turned out to be wonderful! Not too cold but not too warm. We got all dressed up, and headed north. (Who would've thought we could have gone further north than our house!) We got to Cornucopia, WI, which was 20 miles north of Washburn. I had a general idea of which way to go, so we headed east from there. Before we knew it, we were at Meyers Beach just outside of Cornucopia. A park ranger stopped us to give us the low down of what to come! And so our adventure began.

After parking about 1/2 mile from the stairs to the lake, we finally made it down to the lake and followed a path along the shoreline about a mile to the caves. The ice was chunky and difficult to walk on in some parts, but it was well worth the trip! Once we made it to the caves themselves, we walked about 1 1/2 miles along the shoreline, wandering in and out of caves, admiring the views along the way. There were a couple of times we got to crawl around on the ice in and out of holes and through barriers. It was great, and we got to be just like little children having fun! Here are some pictures from our trip!

Chilling between two huge ice chunks!

Check out the shoreline and the rocks. It's amazing how nature can change the shape of the land.

Joe tried ascending this trail but kept on sliding down. It was icy!

This was amazing crevasse, traveling further back than we were able to travel! It was so neat to see something like that! Some people were able to get up and over the ice mound in front of those people standing there, but we didn't have the equipment to get us back!

This is pretty neat. We crawled in and got to slide around for awhile!

This was cool. A huge hole in the wall! We did get our picture taken here, but the lighting was off and difficult to see. And as soon as we went to take a better one, some other couple pulled up in front of/behind us. Oh well! The picture itself is still amazing!

If anyone ever gets a chance to travel up here, please take it. This is something we have absolutely no control over and look to see what nature has done. The rocks, the ice, the colors. It is truly amazing and worth the truck out and back. If you want to see more pictures, please take a look on my Facebook page. I have them all there, waiting for viewing!! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16677&id=1135476093&saved#/profile.php?id=1135476093&ref=name

Iced Out

2009-02-13T10:24:00.000-08:00

During our recent "Ice Storm" event that happened earlier this week, Joe and I were a bit nervous about the commute, considering we never know what the bridge will bring us. So, on Monday we packed our bags, just in case (especially knowing what happened the last time we had a storm warning and I wasn't able to make it home due to the bridges closing). So, Joe drove me to work, he went and did his thing, then went to Starbucks for a couple of hours. Throughout the day, all we heard was how bad it was suppose to be, and how icy it was "suppose" to get. In lieu of the potential horrible weather, when Joe picked me up, we talked and decided since I had to be at work the next day and he'd have to be at Starbucks at 5 AM, it was in our best interest to stay on that side of the bridge, especially since our luck really hasn't been on our side lately! So, we got a hotel room at the Sheraton (I get a discount for being a SMDC employee!). We unloaded our bags, and took a stroll over to Fitger's Brewhouse for dinner and a drink! It was nice, just the two of us, a little vacation so to speak. After dinner, we headed back across the road, through the RAIN, to our hotel room and off to bed. In the morning, Joe left bright and early for his walk to the store, and me over the skywalk to the hospital. Yep, no ice, no snow. Nothing. It gets very frustrating. We rely on the news/weather to try and give us an accurate report, but this is another time they've been wrong. Oh well, we had a good time!

Congrats to the newborns!

2009-02-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how being around all these pregnant women makes one really want a baby, too! Unfortunately, we are just not at the point in our lives, but we'll see what happens. Two of my co-workers recently had their babies. Heather and Aaron had a baby girl, Elsa Rose, on Friday the 30th. She was born at 2 something in the morning after a long time of being in labor and was 8 pounds, 22" long. Heather had a whirlwind of a pregnancy, if I do say so myself. She missed so much work the first trimester becuase of low blood pressures and what not. All in all, she made it through with a beautiful little girl.

Today, my friend, Sarah and Tanner, had their little girl, Sophia Rose, at 11:13 AM. Sophia was 7 pounds 12 ounces, and 21" long. Sarah had a long time in labor but was lucky to have actually pushed for only twenty minutes!! Anyways, Sophia is just precious as well!! Needless to say, Sarah had a very eventful pregnancy as well. Something through the middle, she ended up having her appendix removed and missed 6 weeks of work as well!!

I'm very excited for these two families and envious. I know at sometime it will happen to us when the time is right. But honestly, I wish these two families congratulations!!

Our New Addition!

2009-01-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

Well, times change, and you move on. Joe and I, of course, have been going through a lot lately, but we're trying to keep a positive attitude about things. This week, we went up to the car dealer to see if the part was in for my Mariner. As Joe went to the service center, I decided to look around and see whats new since my lease for my car was going to be up in June. I've been in two accidents with my Mariner, and honestly, I was ready to move on and away from that car as soon as possible.

We talked to a great salesman, Ron, who I've talked to before about my lease and how things were going with everything. Anyways, it was brought to our attention that the dealership was willing to buy back my lease early, particularily because I had very low miles on the car. Well, of course!! Joe and I decided to we would buy his car, the Jeep Patriot, and I would continue to lease so we'd always have a new car around. So, looking around I found what I wanted. We've looked at the Nissan Murano and the Rogue a couple of times new, along with the Toyota Matrix, Highlander, and RAV4, as well as the Honda CR-V. I've also looked at the Saturn Vue, but that really didn't ride well at all.

Low and behold, yesterday Joe and I drove away with the Nissan Rogue. It is great. I has awesome saftey features, All Wheel Drive, Vehice Dynamic Control, side airbags, privacy glass, a moon roof! And we got this for a great price, something we can afford, irregaurdless of our financial situation. There are many more features, but these are the ones that make the car great!

As you all know how I am, I like to name things. Unfortunately, we have not come up with a suitable name! So if anyone has any ideas, please send them my way! All are appreciated!

Here's To A Better 2009

2009-01-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

2008 has been a year of many trials. Especially the last quarter. I know we all want the best, but then again, life throws you a curve ball and some how you get over that hurdle, and another one gets tossed your way. The past couple of months have been difficult and I'm not sure it's quite over with yet. First it started with my uncle getting sick. He is still struggling with things, but slowly getting better. Then I had a bit of a scare at the hospital that almost left me jobless. Needless to say, I was able to retain my position, but at a little less pay that previously. A week later, Joe showed up at the hospital unexpectedly with horrible news. He was permanently laid off from his full-time job. Thank goodness for Starbucks and Joe's supervisor being able to give him some more hours; however, that is not enough to get us through this time. A week after this happened, my mother fell outside of her work and sprained her back and broke her ankle. Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

As of right now, my mom is doing well. She is moving around better than before, but the non weight bearing is difficult. Surgery went great and she has a doctors appointment on Monday to see how things are holding up. She hasn't left their house since the Monday before Christmas. Christmas itself wasn't the best this year, but it was great to see my sister and family and just spend some quality time with them. My uncle, well, is good. We're keeping our fingers crossed the infection is gone. As for Joe, we are both looking hard to find a job. We've applied several places but a lot of them are gone and on vacation until after today. So hopefully we'll hear something soon. If all else fails, he'll be working in the Cities and commuting. (At that point, just an FYI, I'll be getting a puppy to keep my company if this happens.)

It has been difficult to keep a positive attitude right now, but we're both doing our best. We really didn't celebrate the new year last night, but I did spend an hour with my good friends Zack and Mike and Zack's brother Abe. Other than that, the New Year hopefully will be better than the last. So, I wish you all a great start to another year. And please keep us in your prayers during this time and keep your fingers crossed we find something sooner than later.

Fun Activities Needed

2008-12-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

What can I say. Sometimes life throws us curve balls and we all have to deal with the ups and downs. Today, Joe and I put up at small, and I mean small, 3ft christmas tree. Nothing big, but something to hopefully get both of us in the christmas spirit we're having a hard time finding. Other than that, things have been better.

So a question to everyone:

What are easy, fun ways to spend time together with friends and family that are inexpensive? Better yet, free! So if you have any easy, fun ideas, please pass them our way. It'd be greatly appreciated.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

The 1st Day of December

2008-12-01T16:58:00.001-08:00

Last week was nice. I got to go to my parents for thanksgiving, although Joe was unable to come with. He had to work at Starbucks. But, it was still nice to see my parents. Emily was unable to come up but she was there in spirits. She had to work as well, but was able to share Thanksgiving with Kyle and her other friends. Thursday was spent at my parents and my grandparents and aunt came over. My uncle Jim called about 11:30 saying he wasn't going to be able to come over. He said he wasn't feeling very well. He then followed it with, "My jaw is swollen, too." At that point, I told him to go to the ER to be checked out. With his recent hospitalization, he couldn't afford another infection. He, unfortunately, he didn't make it over, and I ended up leaving around 3pm. When I got back, I stopped at Starbucks to see Joe and got a call from my parents, "Uncle Jim in an ambulance, on his way up to St. Mary's." My jaw dropped. Somehow I knew that was going to happen. But it's a good thing I told myself. It meant the doctors in Ashland knew enough to send him back to the doctors that were already involved with this massive infection. So, he was readmitted to St. Mary's again, for medical care.

Friday, I got up nice and early and started shopping with Donna (Joe's mom) and her friend Betsy, her two daughters and daughter-in-law. We started at Younkers, headed to Kohl's then Target. We also hit Sam's Club, and a couple of other small shops. After shopping, Joe picked me up, we hung out with my parents for a few minutes, and then went down to Ski Hut. I've been looking for ski boots for about four years now, but just haven't found a pair that actually fit. Well, Joe had a surprise for me. Upon trying on a pair of boots I've found that fit fairly well, he told me they were mine. He bought me a pair of ski boots!!! I couldn't believe it! He said he was sick of me finding a pair and not buying them, so he just bought them. It was going to be a surprise, but he couldn't wait. So, yeah, I got a new pair of boots!!!

All weekend I worked, which was a busy, and I mean BUSY weekend. But good. Our co-worker had her baby! Congrats, Kristi and Thomas on baby Abigail. She is so adorable. It was werid. I got to hold her and for some reason it felt good. And almost natural. I'm sure those of you who have children may have an idea of what I mean. But it just felt good. I didn't want to give her back. It's a werid feeling to describe. Just good. After visiting them, I found out another co-worker had her baby. Baby Taryn Jane. She was adorable too!! It was a baby filled weekend!

As of today, well, I called in sick to work. I didn't feel well and not feeling well and being around other people who don't feel well doesn't go good together. So I stayed home and relaxed, slept and worked on my case study that is due on Friday for my class. Tonight I talked to my parents and they had good news for me. Uncle Jim was on his way home. Although this infection is still present, the doctors placed a PICC line in him and will be receiving home antibiotics for several weeks now, in hope of getting rid of this anaerobic infection that just won't budge. So it's good to know he's on his way home and hopefully on his way to recovery.

So, I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Just think: only 24 more days until Christmas. Happy holidays.

Rehashing Memories

2008-11-21T17:49:00.000-08:00

This morning I work up and had a memory from college. I was thinking about the night a bunch of us, I think it was Kelly, Amy and April and then myself and Destinie, were in our apartment on campus. And Kelly said, "I'm eating peach ice cream and I don't care what you think," directing that comment to me. As you all remember I can't stand peaches and to this day, still haven 't had one since kindergarten!

I remember the day I got my first pound puppy, it was the day my sister, Emily was born and his name is Sparky! Yes, I still have this little guy too!!

Barbies. I use to have a suit case full of them, outfits to dress them in and accessories to accessorize them accordingly. And don't forget Ken, too. But I never had a car for them. Then, I start thinking about my grandmother. She use to play with me and my barbies all the time. I really do miss her. A good memory I have of my grandmother is her playing with me in the jungle gym by her house at the age of 75. Oh, and her dumplings she use to make. And her little smile and way she even smelled. It's almost as if she is still here.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time with the Boys, more for the fact that I got a long with them better than females. But that's besides the point. Anyways, we use to play flashlight tag in our yard and also up in cemetery that's by my parent's house. If we weren't playing there, we'd be playing tennis-baseball at the park a block from my house. And then there were the times we'd have a little festival at our house of fireworks. Everyone in the neighborhood would come over and it'd be a great show. Even when the cops came up. Ahhh, memories.

College, memories both clear and hazy and don't forget those you'd like to forget. Let's see, Freshman year:

The best roommate, Kelly Pieters. Need I say more!?
Kelly's alarm clock that was so annoying, but I loved it!
Getting my nickname, TwoCan. I earned that name, that's for sure.
Kelly's mom getting sick and not being able to do anything to help her out.
Kelly walking in on Chad K. and I laying on our bunk bed. Honestly, Nothing was going on between us! I was just hiding him from the RA's that were walking around, I PROMISE!!!!
Oh, Halloween and dressing up as a doctor with Jess, then drinking a bottle of Bacardi Lemon....Oh, that wasn't the best idea.
Decorating the dorm hall ways. Ours looked like a fish bowl, it was great!
Falling asleep in Amber and Lori's room with Screech, or Aaron. No, nothing happened that night. I just didn't want to go back to my dormroom drunk, so Amber offered me a place to sleep. Does anyone remember his last name?
Oh, how about hanging out with Sarah L. And being infatuated with Russ.
Going to Canada with everyone. And then going there with Sarah and Russ.

Sophmore year:

The Chemical free floor. Don't need to add any more on to this one.
Celebrating my 21st birthday.
Drinking at Stargate.
Drinking at Grandma's.
Meeting boys.
Going to the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra with Suzanne.

Junior year:

Applying for PT school
Getting into PT school.
Hmm, I'm sure there was something else that happened.

Senior year and grad school:

Living with Amy, April and Kelly in Maple.
Experiencing the terrible attacks on Septembe 11. Although I do remember and will never forget the birthday dinner everyone put together for me. And the great dinner that was made. Bad event, but it turned out good in the end.
Drinking to help me get through PT school.
Ok, Brad wasn't the best choice, but hey, we've all made them before.
Graduating with everyone with a bachelors degree.
Living with Mariah down on 1st street in Duluth.
Living out in Las Vegas for my first internship at an acute care hospital. What happened in Vegas, had to stay out there. *grin*
Andy and Suzanne getting married, and walking down the aisle with Joe as bridesmaid and groomsman. (Been with him ever since.)
Traveling out to Seattle with my sister for my third internship and then traveling back with my mom. Man, that's a long car ride.
Attending my last internship down in Rochester, MN at the Mayo.
Experiencing the loss of my first patient.
Graduating from PT school with a master's degree.
Moving in with Joe in our first apartment in Duluth.

The rest is history.

I know there are other memories, but these seem to be the ones most prominent today. I often think about things and wonder how they may be different. But the thing is, I'm glad they're not. If these things haven't happened like they did, I probably wouldn't be where I am today, or, for that matter who I am.

An Eventful Weekend

2008-11-11T10:47:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I attended another continuing education class focusing on the management and treatments relating to patients who've experienced a stroke. The class started on Friday afternoon and continued all day on Saturday. A great way to take care of my CE credits needed to renew my PT license. Friday after the class I went up to see my uncle, still in the hospital, to see how he was doing. He informed me he'd be going home probably on Monday. After talking for awhile, I decided I should get going, and stop to say HI to Joe down at Starbucks before I made it home. Upon leaving the parking ramp, I started down 3rd Ave toward Superior Street, although I never made it there. I was stopped at the 1st Street stoplight because it was red, and some little old lady rear ended me, lifting my vehicle's back end right off the ground!!! I couldn't believe it! I put my car in park, got out to see if she was ok, and found her to be a bit confused, but nothing wrong. Her car still under mine, she started reviving up her engine, but not going anywhere because she had put her car in park! I told her she needed to put it into reverse, and that then we'd pull the cars over to the street so we'd be out of the way of other vehicles.

I told her I was going to call the police, to let them know what had happened, and so we could report this to our insurance company. Norma Jean, 84 years old, kept telling me that wasn't necessary and that she would just give me her insurance information; however, Norma Jean wasn't able to find her cards in her purse, "I just changed insurance agents and I can't find my cards!" Well, after standing out in the rain for 15 minutes dealing with this, the police finally showed up, as did my husband. I needed to get a my insurance information from my car, although I was I was looking for my cards, I remembered that they were stolen out of my car with my owners manual a couple of months back. Luckily, the police officer was able to use an older card of mine, and the reports were being written up.

Upon completion of the all the paper work, I read what Norma said had happened: "My foot must have slipped off the brake." Now, going down a hill in Duluth, that is not the best time for your foot to slip off the brake, don't you think! Oh well, there wasn't much damage done to my car this time, but I'm still concerned since my car is a lease, it has to go back in the same condition it was bought at. So it is something that needs to be looked at.

Yesterday I worked hard. (Ok, I worked, but not necessarily hard.) I called my mom and found out she was coming up to pick my uncle and bring him home. He was discharged to home and home health was going to help out with the dressing changes that need to be done daily, if not twice a day. He still has two OPEN incisions on his neck, but is taking antibiotics. He still has an infection and they will not close the incisions. They want them to heal from the inside out because of how severe the infections truly were. I'm worried things may change and he ends up sick again, but he's a fighter and things should fall into place. My parents will be able to help out if something is needed. Other than that, I'm glad things turned around for him. He's been through a lot this year. So lets pray things keep heading down this positive road for awhile.

As for today, I was able to have the day off from work because we are currently over staffed at work and our census is low. As a result, there were three of us who were able to relax and take care of things that need to be done. As for me, I ran to the gym and worked out for awhile, ran to Target to pick up another baby shower gift, and then headed to take care of an extra charge found on my credit card. A nice, relaxing day.

The Good with the Bad

2008-11-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I attended a course down in St. Paul addressing vestibular rehabiliation. It was amazing and I learned so much. Much more than I ever did during school, that's for sure. Joe and I also got to spend a few minutes with my sister, as well as seeing her boyfiend Kyle whom we do not see too often. Anyways, it's amazing how time flies when your're enjoying yourself and the company you have.

Emily and I at the Town Brewery in Minneapolis, MN.

Unfortunately, the good weekend ended sooner than expected. On Monday, I ended up injurying myself again at work. If I didn't have to do lifting, I'd love my job but that isn't the case. Since most of the patients I work with have injuries that leave them debiliated, I'm the person who helps them move. A very rewarding job, but physical. So, Tuesday I was nursing an injury but dealing with the problem.

Wednesday I had off. So I scheduled a massage to relax a little more, and then planned on taking care of some other things around the house and then cooking something for dinner. Little did I know, none of that was going to happen. I was heading out of the house to grab my breakfast when I got a call from my mom who was down in the cities visiting my sister. She said she had a big, huge favor to ask of me. She had gotten a call from my uncle's dentist saying he needed to be admitted to the hospital because the abscessed tooth he had pulled last week on Friday was not healing and he required medical attention. He still had significant swelling on the right side of his face and in fact, he looked just like the Nutty Professor (except he isn't black). That is how bad the swelling was. It was freaky looking!!

So, instead of a relaxing day, I drove out to Ashland to pick up my uncle to bring him back to Duluth to St. Mary's to be admitted for the infection he has in his mouth. Upon arriving at his house in Ashland, I realized this was the first time since 1991 I had been in this house. That was when my grandmother had passed away. 17 years is a long time, let me tell you. As I walked into the house, I realized everything look the exact same. Nothing had changed. The flooring, the walls, the bathroom. It was freaky. And of course, I started to get a little emotional. It was so weird. I expected to see my grandma walk around the corner to start cooking or something. Just weird and unexpected emotions to have. I didn't expect to have any, but I did.

Well, upon arriving at the hospital, the registration nurse told me and Uncle Jim that he was MRSA + and required to be in a private room. I looked at her and asked how she had gotten that information. She said she didn't know but they would look into it to see where this came about. I explained to her no one had completed blood work or even a nasal swab to test for this, so he shouldn't have been marked/flagged as MRSA+. This was disturbing and boggling to me, but I just let it be. We walked up to his room, and my parents soon showed up before we knew it. We sat around for about five hours before any doctor showed up. Upon his arrival, I decided to I needed to get going home to relax. It had been a busy, and emotional day. My mom said she'd call and give me an update when they knew something.

At about 9PM, she finally called me to say Uncle Jim was going down for a CT scan, and we'd know a little from that. Well, about fifteen minutes later, she called again and said they were taking him directly to surgery because of how bad the infection and that this was life threatening. So, I stayed at home, while they waited at the hospital to find out the results. Around 11:30 that night, my dad called to give me an update: Surgery went well. They were able to intubate him through his mouth, meaning the swelling was not affecting his trachea. They had to surgically open the side of his face, one incision under his jaw, and another just caudal to his right clavicle. They had to do two incisions, secondary to how severe the infection was and how far it had spread down the right side of the neck. They had cleaned out the infection as much as they were able to, but may still need to go back to surgery to clean it again. After surgery, they admitted him to the ICU for close monitoring.

Thursday morning, he was still intubated, but doing well. He was then exbutated on Friday, but still in the ICU for continued care. Yesterday, after I talked to Dr. Eyer, a critical care doctor I work with at my facility, we were informed he was going to be transferred our to a general medical floor because Uncle Jim was considered to be medically stable. After hearing the good news, my parents decided to head home. Well, this morning I talked to my mom again, and she had informed me the Uncle Jim was transferred out, but then was readmitted to the ICU because they had found bleeding in his abdomen and required to have a couple units of blood. I was informed this evening they are attributing the bleeding to diverticulitis, something that is actually stemming back to his achilles tendon repair back in May. Partially because of all the NSAIDs and Tylenol he's been taking for pain, along with his diabetes medications. At this juncture, he is still in the ICU, but should be transferred back to a medical floor soon; however, it is dependent on how things go.

Honestly, this has all been a very trying time. I've seen infections before, but this is something I have personally not had to deal with and it is just nerve recking.So, in a nut shell, that's what has been happening. Hopefully things will start heading back to the good, but in the mean time, it's just a waiting game to see how things will pan out. Wish us luck and pray for Uncle Jim.

A Beautiful View

2008-11-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

The first week in October is Apple Fest, something I love attending every year. It was great weather, and Joe, my dad and his dad along with our friend Seth, went golfing down in Hayward. My mom, Donna and myself ventured up to Bayfield. It was wonderful and we had a great time together. After our time in Bayfield we headed up to Mt. Ashwabay to check out the colors and of course, the views. Since my parents are on the board of the hill, we have the advantage of trucking up the hill, or basically doing anything we want! So, us in my little Mercury Mariner followed the back run up to the top of the hill, and here is what we saw:

Beautiful views looking out over Lake Superior, Bayfield to the left, and Madeline Island straight forward. It is great! It was also neat because I got to show Donna and my mom the exact spot Joe proposed to me on top of the hill. Ah, memories. So, please enjoy these two pics. If you're ever looking at going on a vacation, I highly recommend taking a trip up north in Wisconsin. May seem weird, but it is beautiful!

Good Friends Over A Drink

2008-10-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was good, even though I had to spend it working. I had great patients to work with at work, which made the weekend go so much smoother. I actually got to say "I enjoyed working this weekend!" To add to this, I got a call from my good friend, Zack (one of our ushers in our wedding), who informed me a friend of ours was going to be up visiting this weekend. I hadn't seen Mike since 2003. He was unable to make it to our wedding because he was over in Iraq, and during his tour over there, he ended up in a near explosion of their base. During this incident he actually ended up injured and has required multiple surgeries on his arm and hand. Things are better now, of course, but it has been a long road for him and will still require a couple more surgeries here in the near future.

Anyways, Saturday night I got to the boys! It was great. I walked from our house down to the Anchor Bar and grill, about two miles from our house. Upon my arrival to the bar Zack, Abe (his younger brother), and Mike were there. You know that feeling you get when you're excited to see someone and then you finally see them? Elated? Excited? Nervous? Everything! It was great. I got a huge hug and we talked, had a beer and ate great burgers. (Even though they were a little tipsie, it was still worth while.) The only thing that would have made this better would have been having Amy there with us. Then it really would have been just like old times!*Memories* After finishing our burgers, Joe and I headed home, and the three of them worked there way down Tower Ave to Frankies for a bloody mary. Great memories. Seriously! I wish I could have gone with them, but it is more important to earn money these days, oh, and being able to work not hung over is a bonus!

Other than this past weekend, this coming weekend will be filled with learned and a relaxing. I get to attend a Vestibular Rehabiliation course down in St. Paul. During this venture, I also get to see my sister for a few hours. Maybe a couple of other friends too, we'll have to see how much time we have. The fun thing for Joe is he'll be able to attend the 5th Annual Miller Bowl. A bunch of his friends have been getting together for the past couple of years and play flag/touch football and drink. Unfortunately, I have never been able to attend, but at least this year he'll be able to be a part of the game. After that, we have plans to go to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, and well, cheesecake!! I can't wait! Sometimes breaking the diet for a good piece of cake is worth it. Rules are meant to be broken, right?!

Enlightened Perspective

2008-10-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

This was an email I got from my mom and mother-in-law. After reading it, I wanted to share it with all of you. It's nothing special but makes you think of things and remember each other. Please enjoy!

Thoughts written by Andy Rooney , a man who has the gift of saying so much with so few words.

I've learned.... That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
I've learned.... That when you're in love, it shows.
I've learned.... That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day.
I've learned.... That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.
I've learned.... That being kind is more important than being right.
I've learned.... That you should never say no to a gift from a child.
I've learned.... That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.
I've learned.... That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.
I've learned.... That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.
I've learned.... That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.
I've learned.... That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
I've learned.... That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.
I've learned.... That money doesn't buy class.
I've learned.... That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
I've learned... That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
I've learned.... That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
I 've learned.... That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
I've learned.... That love, not time, heals all wounds.
I've learned.... That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
I've learned... That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.
I've learned..... That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.
I've learned... That life is tough, but I'm tougher.
I've learned.... That opportunities are never lost, someone will take the ones you miss.
I've learned.... That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
I've learned.... That I wish I could have told my Mom that I love her one more time before she passed away.
I've learned.... That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.
I've learned.... That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
I've learned.... That when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life.
I've learned.... That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
I've learned.... That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

Here's to Us!

2008-09-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well, if you can all imagine, two years had past and Joe and I celebrated out 2nd anniversary on September 23 this year. It was wonderful. Even though we spent a good chunk of the day at the tattoo place, we got to spend quality time with each other in the end. We spent the afternoon just "being" and then head over to Blackwoods for our dinner. We were given a free bottle of champagne to celebrate and had a great dinner. The funny and ironic thing was in the middle of dinner, it started to down pour and the winds picked up out of no where. The ironic thing was, on the day of our wedding, it was the same type of weather! It really brought back great memories of that special day.

Here's a picture of us during our anniversary dinner. Even though we didn't spend tons of money on each other, we still thought of the canoe we got for us, and thought of how nice it was just to spend time with each other, something we haven't been able to do too much of lately. So here's to two years and to many more!

I love you, Joe, with all of my heart.

Friends and More

2008-09-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was great! Not only did I have a good birthday, but a great friend came to visit. It's been awhile since we've seen each other, but it felt like we hadn't even been apart. It's great when you can reconnect and things didn't even seem like they changed. Anyways, Amy came up from Sheboygen, WI where she had just finished an assignment for her traveling PT job.

She arrived on Saturday afternoon, we talked a little and then headed out to Aces on 29th for dinner, and Joe's parents showed up. It was great. Good food and great company always makes things worth while. After dinner, we headed back to our house and got to look at all of Amy's pictures of her travels. She got to take an Alaskan cruise this year and the pictures were absolutely amazing. Not only was she there, but she was also in Seattle on assignment. Looking at her pictures really brought back memories of when I was out there on internship. Seriously, Seattle is one of my options if we ever think of moving. Definitely on the top of a short list. Anyways, great pictures. The glaciers and landscaping was amazing. Something I'd like to visit. I've heard of nothing but great things.

Well, to go along with Amy's travels, she bought herself a new vehicle. Yes, as you can tell, it is a Hummer! This thing is absolutely enormous! But it is great to drive! Here is a picture of its size in comparison to my vehicle and our garage! It made my car look small, as it did our garage! I could fit my car in hers without problems!!!

Since no one in our families have such a large vehicle or something so rare, Donna was very excited when she got do drive it! There is always a first time for everything and I don't think she will ever forget about this one. It was cute, she looked so small driving this huge car!!! Let's just say the wheels came up to her waist line!

Since we are spontaneous at times, we both decided this would be our time to get something done again. I've often thought, yes, tattoo's are permanent, but honestly, why not do it now while you can. And don't regret your actions. I've wanted to get another tat for awhile now, but hadn't been able to find something I wanted. Until I saw a flower a co-worker of Joe's had drawn. it looked perfect, so I asked Casey to draw me something that would look nice on a foot. Once he got the picture to Joe, Joe said I was going to love it, but it was alittle bigger than what I had wanted. Upon looking at it, I knew then what he meant, but the picture was beautiful. So deciding on a location for the flowers was a little harder than previously thought. Originially it was going to go on my foot. Well, things changed as did the picture. So, the location had to be big enough were it wouldn't lose it's detail, yet somewhere it could be covered up if needed. Deep thought went into this, as did much debate with Amy and Joe.

So, on Tuesday we ventured over to Anchors End Tattoo and both got new tattoos done. Amy had four Asian symbols down the middle of her back. I believe they meant strength, love and faith. They looked amazing, very nice. For those of you that would like to see mine, here it is. I never thought I'd have something done this big, but honestly, it looks nice. I was worried if it were too small it would lose detail.

I am very pleased with the way it had turned out. The colors look great and it isn't too large. Jay, the tattoo artist colored it accordingly. I told him I wanted pinks and purples, and it turned out beautiful. I was able to show Casey the final result yesterday and he loved it. It was great, he was a little surprised that it was as big as he had drawn the picture, but it still turned out wonderfully. Today it is still a little painful, I should say sore, but not too bad. All in all it was a good, two hour experience. As the was the weekend. It is always nice to see friends you haven't seen for while. It brings back good memories as well as making more memories. It was nice to see you Amy!

The Summers Recap!

2008-09-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

This summer has been a trip, needless to say!
A quick recap of the wonderful, yet over summer:

Emily graduated from college, and started a "real job" in the "real world".
We experienced the Wii in a whole different light: Wii Fit rocks, whoever came up with the idea of exercise and fun together is a genius!!
Wii experience number 2: Mario Cart over took us ......it is an addicting game!!
Joe took a second job at Starbucks.
I got the position that was well deserved as the Neuro/trauma physical therapist at the hopsital. Well worth waiting for!! I can actually say I love what I am doing and enjoy my job very much.
Joe and I got to see a Neil Diamond concert in St. Paul.
We got to spend time acting like little kids at the MN Zoo and Como Zoo.
We both attended out 10 year High School Reunions. Wow, how time flies and people change.
Got food poisioning. (That was something we don't want to talk about.)
Joe won a case of steaks through playing in a golf tournament.
My mom and I dug out my garden and planted some pretty flowers. It's still looking good!
The biggest of all events and most expensive was reroofing our house. It looks great now!! The first day I drove around the corner and saw the roof, it looked great! The color matches the house perfectly, and the house actually LOOKS nice now. Next year we will paint, or possibly side. As of now we aren't too sure, but something else will be done. Owning your own home is nice, but the upkeep sometimes out weighs everything.
We bought ourselves a canoe and ventured down the Brule River with two good friends. Communication is extremely important when it comes to directions when traveling down the river.....bad communication just lead to funny moments though!
Played alittle mini golf with Seth and Traci, and Andy and Suzanne and then had a great dinner Joe cooked those wonderful steaks as I defrosted desert.
Painted our kitchen. No more "pink" color, hello sandy tan and a marshmellow white!
I experienced another birthday. Number 29, still under 30! As Joe called this my 4th 25th birthday. He's afraid of being older than 25 these days. Not too sure why though. It was a good b-day. Nothing too exciting happened, other than work, dinner and spending some quality time with my husband.
And tomorrow we will have my best friend up to visit for a couple of days!

All in all, the summer was great. No children yet even though most of our friends traveled down that road this summer, but our time isn't now. Even though the summer is over with, as of tomorrow, more great things will happen, bad things will happen, and we'll just have to deal with them too! Life just keeps us wondering what's next. That's why it's always a mystery. Time for fall to come, Apple Fest to attend, then halloween. Soon after that will be Thanksgiving then Christmas. Before that, it'll be 2009. Time flies, doesn't it!?

Just an FYI:

2008-09-08T14:50:00.001-07:00

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!
Time to party!
Joe said I could to tell everyone because I get to be special all month long!
YEAH ME!

The Inaugural Voyage of S.S. Callypso!

2008-08-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was wonderful. Joe and I got to take our canoe our for "spin" with two good friends, Seth and Traci. It all started off Sunday morning with Joe and I getting a call at 5:45am from a co-worker calling for Joe saying she was sick and needed him to come into work to cover for her. I felt bad for her, but Joe stood up and said No! because he had plans for the day! Way to go Joe for once! After that we really didn't get back to sleep, just tossed and turned for two more hours. Finally we got out of bed, headed down stairs to make a shake for breakfast, and then headed out the door to get the canoe on the car. Let's just say, that's a feet in itself. I can't lift anything straight over my head very well, so it was a difficult task at 8 in the morning for two non-morning people. But, somehow it got done and was there for the trip to Seth and Traci's house. After meeting them there, we headed to the gas station to fill up for the ride out to Lake Nebagamon to their cabin to get their canoe as well! Joe and I talked on the way and decided on our canoe's name: S.S. Callypso the Canoe. From there, we decided to refere to our trip as the Inaugural Voyage of the S.S. Callypso! Catchy phrase isn't it!?

During our drive out to the cabin, we acquired some problems with the canoe on the car, slipping and sliding back and forth, almost to the point of it coming off the car! IT was freaking me out, so we had to stop to tighten everything down. During this process, we lost sight of Seth's truck, thus leaving us out in no where without any sense of direction of where to go! Lucky, they noticed we slipped back and waited for us before they turned a corner! Once we made it to the cabin and got out of the car, I thought I was going to freeze. Traci and I were just shivering as the boys rounded up the canoe. I was hesitant about the voyage, but tried to think positive that it would be warmer up at the river. We decided to take the trailer for the two canoes, although the tires on the trailer were low, and needed air. So, we got the canoes on, the trailer on the truck and headed to the little town of Lake Nebagamon for air. Joe and I followed with my car. Once we got air, turned around and headed to the Winneboujou landing, where we would finish. Joe and I got into the truck with the other two and headed up north to Stones Bridge, our departing spot, 12 miles away.

Once we made it to the landing, we unloaded, got a couple of pictures and jumped into the canoes to start our adventure! It was great, a comfortable temperature outside, with some wind but not too much. It, needless to say, was a perfect day for a trip with friends.

Along our way, we got to see many different things and we even had a little picnic on the side. The scenary was great, fishes, birds, landscaping. It was awesome. Great photo ops throughout the day as well! Traci had a waterproof digital camera and was the one taking most of the pictures. Thanks to her, I was able to put them on here for everyone to see! I, of course, had a little waterproof fun camera, which I have not developed yet, so I'm taking advantage of these! Great pictures Traci!

Along our way, Traci and Seth came across a rock and decided to call it the Nipple Rock! I think the picture explains itself! As you all know, I usually come up with comments like that, but this time it was someone else!*S* But honestly, the rock looked like a nipple, what can I say!

Here's a cute picture of Joe and I lagging behind the other boat! Just relaxing along the way!

Traci was doing great with the camera and taking pictures of all of us together! Usually when I try to get a good angle for a picture, they don't turn out this well!

Like I said there were great photo ops along the way. This was taken near Cedar Island I believe. Cedar Island is a little area along the way were many US Presidents would visit to be secluded from the public. A perfect summer home away from the White House.

On the river, there were two sections of small little "rapids" as one would call. The last time I ventured down them I was in a canoe with my mom, and we ended up tipping the canoe over. Well, this time, that didn't happen, but we also weren't entirely lucky. Seth and Traci went first and made it throughout unscathed. Joe and I went, hoping to make it through, but unfortuntately, we ended up traveling alittle too far to the left of the rapids, and our canoe ended up getting jammed between two rocks, and wouldn't budge!!

Literally, Joe had to get out of the canoe, and try pushing enough to get us unstuck. As he did this, we ended up getting unstuck, then stuck on another rock! Traci and Seth were at the other end, laughing as we were too! Joe was complaining because the water was so cold, but I just kept on laughing. What are the odds that we'd get stuck. Now seriously, it just wouldn't be a trip without something happening, right?!

After the rapids, we had to travel across the "Big Lake". Lets just say, it was more difficult than I remember. We had a little bit of a head wind, not making it any easier. But as we made across, we knew were nearing the landing point. Here's another picture of a neat bridge we saw. As we neared the finish, I was getting tired, especially my upper trap muscles which I have been having problems with since I got hurt at work. Joe told me to just relax and he'd push, but I felt too bad. It was a great trip. A little bit of arguing happened, which happens all the time with us. That's just how we are. If we didn't argue al ittle, it wouldn't be an outing with us!*S* I love you, Joe! At the landing, we had to pull our canoes up over the ledge. Joe and Seth took my car to go and get Seth's truck at Stones Bridge. Traci and I sat and waited. Once we got everything loaded, we headed back to the cabin, unloaded the trailer and their canoe and then back to Superior. Seth helped Joe unload our canoe from my car, we changed clothing, then went back to Seth and Traci's for pizza and some Nintendo Wii. After a couple of hours there, Joe and I headed home for a good nights rest! It was a great weekend with great friends. We can't wait to do it again!

Relaxation and vacationing!

2008-08-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

Vacations are wonderful! But the return to reality itsn't. Joe and I were on vacation for 10 days and even though we didn't go too far, it was still a blessing and we actually enjoyed every minute of it! It all started off with us stopping at Cold Fusion in Duluth, a new store for utilizing Herbalife as a weight loss basis. Anyways, the store is fun and you get to try different drinks and mixes and loss weight! Now who wouldn't wante to try that! After that, we decided to head up the North Shore to the Tettegoochie State Park, just north of Silver Bay, MN. I had never been there before so this was fun and great to be outside! We just walked around for awhile, got lost because of bad directions and signs in the park. Who could imagine bad signage in the middle of the woods in a state park. We didn't, that's for sure! So we added about a two-mile hike extra onto our ventures! It was fun, but tiring. Worth while though.
And of course we have to have pictures of us!! It just wouldn't be a vacation without those!

Here's a cute one of me, too!! Joe, of course, has all of those great ideas for pictures, even in the woods!

After our outdoor adventure in Northern MN, we decided to head on down to the Minnesota State Zoo and the Como Zoo in St. Paul, MN. It was great! I was like a little kid running around seeing different animals and hearing different noises! It was awesome! Here are a couple of picuters from those trips to the zoos. And, as you all remember the Two-Can nickname I acquired during school, Joe thought this would be a good picture to go with the theme of the vacation!

Here are a couple of cute and fun picture throughout our trips at the zoos!

Me having fun on the turtle! And as soon as we entered this facility, the monkeys started making monkey noises!! It was great! I almost got a the best picture, but then they moved! Their arms were around each other like "Hey Buddy!"

This one was perfect too!! If only the moose looked up too!

And don't forget the lions, tigers and bears! Oh my! Okay, there isn't any bears here, and the tigers were actually hiding, but here's a lion!! He was roaring loudly! It was just amazing to hear the noises they produce! It was amazing!

Don't forget Joe likes to play and have fun too! Smile for the camera!

These lilies were at the Como Zoo. The lily pads were seriously HUGE! I had never seen anything quite like them! And the colors were beautiful! Something we don't see up here all too often! And during the vacation, I almost forgot to tell you all! I, missy who hates to garden, decided to make a garden, flower one, in my back yard! It was a lot of work, and my mom came up and helped a lot as well! There is over 800 pounds of extra top soil sitting in the corner of my back yard, but it was worth it! I have lilys, a rose bush in the corner and a couple of other flowers, ones I don't really konw what they are! But it turned out great and looks nice! The true test is to see what happens next year, in pray they will return again! Man, this was a lot of work! I never expected it to be that much but it was worth it. And I got to spend good time with my mom!

And to finish it all off, Joe and I decided to make a purchase for the both of us! We have been talking about getting a canoe for awhile, but just haven't found something in our ranges. Low and behold, our last day turned out great! We called a couple of places and were able to find this Old Towne Canoe, 160 series, about 84 pounds! We got it on sale, and it is brand new! This of course is our birthdays, anniversary, and christmas presents to ourselves. We thought instead of buying multiple gifts, we'd go this route and get something out of a gift we'll both enjoy! Our first outing is going to be this weekend traveling down the Brule River in WI. Wish us luck!! I'll get pictures from there as well!

The Class of '98 Reunion!

2008-08-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well, it has finally happened, (and I have finally had the time to write about it) and I can say it was pleasant! We had out 10 high school class and out of the 65 classmates we had, these are the ones that were able to make it! Fifteen of us!! Even though we were all not there, it was still a good time. The reunion was held out at a bar called the Pub and Grub, a small little bar about ten minutes out of Washburn. Joe got to meet a some of the friends from H.S. which was nice. I haven't seen several of these people for quite some time, so catching up was nice. Some are married and have children, so just have children, some have jobs and some don't. But honestly, who cares! Life is life and we do what we want to do as long as we like it and are enjoying ourselves. Some people have changed, where some people have stayed the exact same. It's amazing how our personalities keep with us. You would think over time it they may mellow, but they don't. But that's why we are the way we are, right?!

One thing I find funny, ironically funny that is, there were a couple of people I haven't seen in TEN years. What was nice was people were actually excited to see me as I was excited to see them! Even though time has passed, its amazing the bonds you have with people and how they have impacted your life. Seeing these people made me realize that no matter what happened in the past really doesn't matter. I was so worried about seeing some people, and worried about what they would think of me. But it didn't matter. I didn't care nor do I think others really cared about others thought.

These three girls, Rachel, Cary and Hannah were they ones I spent a lot of time with throughout the good ol' days! I often saw Cary at SMMC where I work, but now she's moved down to the Cities for a job. Rachel is in Eau Claire working and Hannah is over in Green Bay for her job. We are all scattered around, but still keeping in touch one way or another.

All in all, it was a good reunion. Who knows where we'll all be in the next ten years, but hopefully more will show up for the next one. If not, I'd be content with the ones who were there this time.

Possibilities and Outcomes

2008-07-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, Joe and I went for a venture in Jay Cooke State Park and walked around there for awhile. Here is a picture from the walk! It was a great day, although we walked along the river for quite some time, he had to hike back up, and it was a hike "Back Up" the trail. Joe was panting at the end, but it was good!

This is day four of my six days off from work, without having to take vacation time! During these past couple of days, I've had the opportunity to think about things and clarify some questions in my mind I haven't been able to answer. And see some people whom I haven't seen in quite awhile.

This past weekend, I got a phone call from my friend Zack. It caught me off gaurd because the number on the phone was his cell phone. I thought to myself, he couldn't be back from Bosnia already, but I was wrong! He was back here in Duluth, at least for the next school year!! So I hurried up, called Joe and told him to meet me at the bar so we could catch up! It was great! I hadn't seen Zack in over a year because he was stationed in Bosnia for some peace keeping trip. Needless to say, it really didn't turn out the best but he made it home safely. It was great to catch up on things. Lots to talk about and just chill. I don't drink as much as I didn't back in the day, so the three drinks I had was enough! Joe finally met up with us at the bar and enjoyed the time as well. The only thing that would have made this a better evening would have been the people signing karaoke, not sign! They were absolutely horrible, but the time was pleasant.

On Monday, I made a new goal for myself. I am hoping this is something I'll be able to reach, but we'll see what happens between now and then: I am hoping to run the 1/2 marathon on Ashland, WI called the Whistle Stop. It is on October 10-11 this year and it is a great run. I follows the corridor along the highway from Iron River to Ashland (that is the full marathon and the 1/2 starts halfway through). It is a fairly flat run, on a paved limestone gravel trail run. I am hoping this is something I'll be able to attain, but we'll see what happens. I may not be able to run it in 2 hours, but i really want to try again. I didn't run Grandma's 1/2 twice during college. I know it can be done and with this course being a fairly "easier" course, I figure I should give it a try! So wish me luck with training. If anyone has any tips or ideas, please send them this way, I'd appreciate them! Here is the link to the website for the marathon/half. http://www.whistlestopmarathon.com/

Something that has also been bothering me, in a good way was thing: Why have I been so positive lately? For some reason, I have been looking at the bright side of things/life, something I am not known for. And you know what, it actually feels kinda good. I don't really know why it is happening, but I am actually happy with where things are in our lives right now. Don't know why, but I think I'll take it while it is here. Hopefully things will keep on traveling down this route, cause I kinda like it!

Plus, on July 20th, Joe and I will be down in the Cities for the Neil Diamond concert at the XCel Energy Center! Joe is a huge fan of Neil and he thinks this is something I'm going to enjoy. So we decided to get tickets and see where it takes us. I am hoping while we are down there, we may be able to see a couple of friend while we are there, but not too sure what'll happen or if we'll have time. But it is always a good idea to have a couple of plans/ideas of what to do. So wish us luck!

What Goes Around...

2008-07-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

As you have read before, I was hoping to get the position at our hospital as the primary physical therapist on the Neuro/trauma floor; unfortunately, I was overlooked, and the position was given to a co-worker whom had little experience. At first, yes, I hated it and felt I was not a good therapist. Well, last week my supervisor came to me and asked if I was still interested in being the PT up on 8East because the person who was chosen the first time, wasn't able to handle the position and was often forgetting important things needed in documentation. I told my supervisor I'd have to think about it. I didn't want to be thought of as second-best.

A decision was made, and I said yes. As of thursday, July 10th, I am officially the primary therapist on 8 East!! Yeah! I've had many people say that things happen for a reason, and I truely believe there was a reason for this, however, I am not sure what it was. But, what goes around, comes around, and look where it has gotten me now!? Now starts a whole other world and keeping me more busy than before. I guess this is a good thing. I must say I'm a little nervous but I know I have what it takes. Hopefully everything will work out and I'll be able to do what needs to be done and make sure my patients are receiving the care they deserve. That is the main thing to think about!

Congrats to the Graduate!

2008-06-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

Well, for all of you who know my little sister, Emily, she has finally graduated from college!!Friday, June 13th, Emily got to walk down the aisle for her college graduation from Arts Institute International with a bachelors of Science in Advertising! As you can see, she makes a cute graduate!! My parents, Joe and I and his mother Donna, and Em's boyfriend, Kyle were all lucky to attend this magnificent event. It was held at the St. Thomas church on the St. Thomas Minneapolis Campus in downtown Minneapolis. It was a beautiful afternoon for a wondrous day! Here is a cute picture of the new Graduate! Now all we have to do is help here find a job! So if any of you know of anyone in the Twin Cities looking to hire someone with an advertising degree, please let me know so I can share the news with her!

Here is a picture of the two of us together! It's hard to believe the two of us are actually related! But I must say I do love her dearly!

Here is a great family photo since the wedding! We really don't have too many of these so they are precious and worth while.

After the graduation, Emily had the decision on where we would go for dinner. Since we were in downtown Minneapolis and it was just at the start of rush hour, no one really wanted to drive anywhere. So we settled on eating at The News Room, which was only two blocks from the Hilton hotel our parents were staying at. Aren't we all just cute!

One side of the table was Joe, myself, and our dad!

The other side was Donna, Emily, and our mom!

After eating, we headed back to my parents hotel room for cake made by my grandfather. If you can remember, he was the one who made our wedding cake, as well as most of the other ones I may have brought up to school with me. ( Sorry, no picture of the cake! Oops!) After saying our good-byes, Joe, Donna and I headed down to Bloomington toward our hotel. The reason why Donna was with us, she was flying out of Minneapolis to St. Thomas for two weeks!! Lucky her! She asked us to take her car home instead of leaving it down at a Park-and-Fly. Mike, Donna's husband, will be driving down to the cities to fly out on Thursday and the car'll be left at that point! Anyways, she in the sun and having fun, of course!

Over the rest of the weekend, Joe and I stayed down there till Sunday, hung out with the family and the new grad, did some shopping at the Mall of America, traveled over to Golf USA, and just relaxed. It was a nice little get-a-way from Duluth. Sunday, we drove back up to Superior, stopping in North Branch and did a bit more shopping, not that we really needed to buy anything else, but we stopped, as well as my parents. After a brief stop there, we headed up to Hinckley, had lunch at Tobeys, bought two caramel rolls, and made the rest of the trip to our home. Upon getting back, we ran inside, stopped in the bathroom (I really have a tiny bladder!!), and then headed back over the bridge the Miller Hill Mall to Gordons to have my ring checked out. I was informed down at a Gordon's in MOA my diamond was loose and needed to get checked out. So stopping up here made sense! Upon talking to the associate working there, he informed us this wasn't something they could get fixed!! So right now, I am ringless, and not happy about that. But that's another story to talk about another time! I must say I miss that ring. All in all, it really was a great weekend. Congrats again to Emily! The whole world is at your fingertips! I love you!

And of course, I had to add one of Joe and I, just so y'all can see our smiling faces!!

The 10-Year HS Class Reunion

2008-06-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

The other day, I received notice about my upcoming high school class reunion. I can't believe it has already been 10 years since I left the little town of Washburn and ventured out into the big unknown. Well, I started looking back at the times I had during high school and realized, yet again, I need not go down that road. I hated almost every moment I had during that time frame. I was teased often, more so because I was better at sports than some of the guys in my class. I wasn't necessarily part of the "in crowd" so I more often than not, got left out of things and was very rarely invited to events or parties. (Hmm, this is sounding more and more like my time in college and post-college times.) I guess I felt school was more important than drinking, drugs, and getting into trouble, something my parents instilled in me, "You have to get a good education to make it far in this world." I'm glad I had a family that pushed me to be the best I could be and to do whatever I wanted to do. (Otherwise, I probably would have given up on being a Physical Therapist after the second time I didn't pass my boards exam and I'd still be working at hell, I mean Sam's Club.) I should say thank you to all of those who have helped me to get to where I am today. If it wasn't for y'all, I'm sure I'd be a whole different person. Our friends are the ones to get us through those hard times and make sure we still have our head above the water to breathe.

As for the reunion, I'm not too sure this is something I really want to do. I feel obligated to attend because of the time Kristen is putting into everything to set it all up. But honestly, I'm not sure if I'm ready to travel down that road again. When I graduated, I wanted to get as far away from some of them that I could. Some people made my life a living hell. There are couple of people I'd like to see though. I have discussed with a fellow classmate, Travis, that we'd drink together, and this time I wouldn't throw up on his shoes like I did the first time we drank together. (The first time I actually drank during HS was a our graduation, so I held out for a long time, all things considered.) There are many things that have always bothered me: many of my classmates never left Washburn, and still live there, either working in the grocery store or not making it is life with many children hanging on their arms. Some have done wonders for them and have their own businesses. To me, I just don't understand why they didn't want to try bigger and better things than little ol' Washburn. But other than these little things, I'm not even sure if many people are going to attend because a fellow HS classmate is getting married that weekend as well. I'm not invited, thank goodness, but I know she is still good friends with a lot of others from our class. So who knows who'll show up either venue.

I'm thinking the appropriate thing to do is attend. I do have things to hang in front of others and of course that include: my great and wonderful husband; my good health after losing 36 pounds and a breast reduction; a great job working as physical therapist; and the ability to say I've made something of myself and have moved on from the small town and ventured out in life to try something new. No matter what happens or what people may think, I can honestly say I am finally happy with myself and am glad as to where I am in life. Granted, we haven't taken the "baby" road yet, but that's to come shortly. So I guess going in with a positive attitude is what will have to be done, and be happy for others choices as to where they are in their lives as well. So if any of you gal's have any hints of making it through the night sober, please feel free to chime in any time! Otherwise, it's looking like my parents are going to be picking us up again at the bar. Its a good thing they'll be around, cause I think I won't be sober enough to drive. Oh well!

Wonderful "US" Day!

2008-05-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Joe took the day off to spend with me. We both had a horrible week at work, and he felt this was a good opportunity for us to have an "Us" day that we've so badly needed. Ever since Joe started his second job, we haven't had too much "Us" time lately and when we can find it, it is golden. Since he surprised me taking the day off, it meant a lot to know he's been thinking of us. To start the day off, we slep until 8 A.M.! A late day for us! We then decided to get some coffee at Starbucks and then make our way up the North Shore. Along our way, we had a great talk, granted it was mainly me bitchin' about my job and new supervisor, but it was pleasant. After passing Two Harbors, we still hadnt decided where we were going. As we passed Gooseberry, we decided to head up to Split Rock Light House. As we stopped at the front gate, we decided to by a Yearly Pass to MN State Parks, that way we have to get out more, hicking and what-not to get our money's worth. Plus, then, we have to spend time together!

Pulling up to the visitors center, we came across this vehicle, which just added to our day. Definately made me and Joe smile! How could you not when you see a sign like that!?

Arriving at the visitor center, we looked around to notice hardly any one else enjoying the day. We thought the two of us were the only ones there, until another couple showed up about twenty minutes later! Upon rounding the visitors center, we literally had to follow the signs to the lighthouse. How appropriate! It's amazing how much fun you can have when you don't have a care in the world and you are just out to have a good time together!

Another photo-op! Aren't we just cute together!?! Smile for the camera! Lovely!

Since we were really the only two around for awhile, we decided to have a little fun, and started taking pictures and poses to remember the moments!

After spending some time around the actual lighthouse, (we couldn't go into any of the buildings at that time because we were there early in the season and there were renovations still going on), we thought we'd walk around and take the trail down to the lake. It was a pleasant, yet long walk through the woods. We spent some time looking at the vegetation and trees that were eaten by rabbits! As we grew closer to the lake, we stopped and found the stairs we'd be taking back up to the top. Hmmm, I was planning on counting them during our venture back up, but then I changed my mind when I saw really how many were there!! Alittle too many for me!

As you can tell, it was a beautiful day outside. You couldn't have asked for more, I must say! While we were walking around on the rocks, we stopped and sat for a bit to enjoy the atmosphere and the company. Before long, another couple showed up. It was interesting listening to them because you could tell they were from another country. Foreign languages are always fun to listen to. They were taking pictures as Joe and I were, so we offered to take their picture, as they did for us!

After leaving the lighthouse, we headed home and stopped at Ski Hut to look for new bikes for the both of us. Once we were done there we headed to the movie theater and watched a great, funny, yet stupid movie: Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It just put a great twist to a wonderful day. Spending this quality time with each other meant the world to the both of us.

Mother's Day and Breast Cancer Walk

2008-05-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

Since it is Mother's Day weekend, I decided to sign up for the Mother's Day and Breast Cancer Walk here in Duluth at the DECC. I had asked my mom and sister if they'd be willing to join me in the little venture, but they were unable to make it up for the early morning walk. So, I asked my mother-in-law to join me! It was a good morning. We only did the 2-mile walk, but it was so worth it. It was only about 40 degrees out or so, but there were so many participants! Made me feel good to know there are so many people out in our communities that are willing to share and be a part in saving lives and raising money for such a great cause! I couldn't tell you how many people were exactly there, but I know I saw numbers higher than 1200 for bibs! That's over $30,000 from one little walk! I just think its a great way to get everyone moving and raising funds for a good cause! Anyways, Donna and I had a good talk and finished the 2-miles in just under 29 minutes. For us, that's good!! So, yeah for those who work for others and share ways of changing peoples lives.

Fine As Wine!

2008-04-23T18:45:00.001-07:00

As most of you know when Joe and I got married, we decided to have a toast with wine instead of the traditional champagne most weddings tend to have. Instead of having any ordinary wine, we went to Wine Creations here in Duluth and made our own. We chose a sweeter wine, a white Merlot, with a soft taste. It is absolutely wonderful and has only gotten better as it aged. This was our final product. I fell in love with the cobalt blue bottles, which went perfectly with our wedding colors and the rose theme. How can you resist such a beautiful color?!

Since we've been running low on our reserves, I think we have four bottles left out of 60 bottles, we decided to venture back up to Wine Creations and make another batch. This time, we decided on a trying a Riesling, something I am not too sure about, but was willing to try. We chose a Washington Riesling, obviously, based from Washington state. At first when we were making it, I thought it was going to be a little too sweet. But today, we were a little surprised: It tasted absolutely wonderful! Tonight we weren't the only couple up there bottling and making wine, but the Fox 21 News station was also there doing a segment on "A Day in The Life" story of the owners of the facility! They recorded us cleaning and bottling our wine, as well as taping us answering questions about how we got started in "the wine business". It was great and she loved our story, which made me feel even better. So not only did we get our wine, but we are now TV stars! The segment is going to be aired tomorrow night on Fox 21 at 9pm here in Duluth/Superior!

Anyways, we'll be having a wine and cheese party as well! Since our cheese board isn't here yet (I got it from my Pampered Chef party two weeks ago!) we'll be planning it soon. Anyone who is around, even though I know y'all live far away, but you're all welcome to join us! It's great wine, and of course, wonderful company! *S* But if not, you really need to try making your own wine, not only is if fun, but its something you can enjoy with your significant other, and they don't mind it much at all! Plus you get to try different types of wine, to find out what you like and don't. In the end, it is all worth the time and effort. The end result is pleasant and tastefull.

Vacation Ideas Needed

2008-04-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

I need some help. Joe and I are trying to plan a trip for the second week in August and are looking at going to Milwaukee for a Brewer's game (I really want to see my man, JJ Hardy!). While we are there, we are hoping to go to Chicago to spend some time as well. If anyone has any good ideas, I'd really appreciate them! Where are not too sure what to do or where to go, so ideas are greatly needed! Please feel free to point them out! The more the merrier! Thanks everyone!

A New Do

2008-04-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

After the break-in today, I decided to make a change. I got a hair cut! I decided to try a new do, more so because my hair otherwise just sits there and has no body to it whatsoever! My hairstylist loves it when I show up, because I just let her do what she thinks will look nice. For those who were here for my wedding, she was the one who had done my hair for me!
Hopefully others will like the do! It's a hard thing to see, but I have many layers and even BANGS!! Who would have thought I'd go that route!? Anyways, change is a good thing! And it even fits into a small ponytail for working out! Thank goodness!

An Odd Break In

2008-04-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

Last night after I got home from working out, I got a phone call from my friends Andy and Suzanne while I was still in the car. While I was talking, I got out, grabbed my bag from the back seat, LOCKED the doors, and headed into the house. Joe got home later than usual due to a rush at Starbucks. This morning I could hear Joe getting ready for work, making an assortment of noise. Never the less, after he left I fell right back to sleep. At about 8:30 I awoke and got ready for the day. After getting dressed and ate some oatmeal, I headed out to my car. As I started looking a little closer, I noticed some things (paper and an odd object) laying on the floor of my car, NOT where I had placed it. Then I noticed something even odder: the glove box was open. I picked up my phone to talk to Joe and he said he had nothing to do with it. So I started looking at the things in the box and realized the Owner's Manual and my insurance card were missing! Who breaks into a car and steals the Owner's Manual?!? My name badge for work, snowshoes, and money were in my car, but nothing else was taken or touched! I found this to be very odd. So, of course, I called and reported this to the Police, just so they have an idea of what is going on in the area. Ironically, they have had a couple of other reports about break-ins of vehicles. Although, they probably were taking other important objects other than an Owner's Manual! As for now, I'm being super sure things are locked, even if I have to check them fourteen times more than usual!

Working with REALLY Little People!

2008-04-12T09:32:00.000-07:00

This week has been an adventure to say the least! But the good news is I get to start working more in the world of infants, and premature infants! It all started on Monday, when I was called into my supervisors office. I was a little worried, more becuase I know things were happening and changing at work. The reason for the visit was to my advantage: I was asked if I'd be interested and willing to start learning and training more up in the Neonatal ICU and the Pediatric floor! I was extatic becuase this was something I'd been hoping to do and explore a little more, even before the job up on the Neuro/Truama floor came about. So of course my answer to this was YES! So, to start that all off, I got go up to the NICU with Gail, the therapist that works up there, and watch and observe her working with of the triplet boys! To me, it is easier to observe and then do, I'm definately more of a hands-on person, I seem to learn more and better that way. Soon enough, I will be able to work there more on my own and hopefully have some courses in dealing with premature infants and being able to recognize when it is appropriate or not to have a therapy session with these tiny individuals. I'm sorta glad I didn't get that position up in neuro at this time becuase had I gotten it, I wouldn't be having this opportunity to work in pediatrics as I orginally had wanted. I guess going with the idea: Good things do happen to those who wait.

Party At My House!

2008-04-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

As you all know or have heard the past couple of days has been interesting to say the least. Wednesday night the weather started issuing a Blizzard Advisory for our area and winter weather warnings and watches. Last time this happened, I ended up staying in a hotel in Duluth because I wasn't able to cross that darn bridge. But this time was different. I had to make it home because I was having my Pampered Chef party at my house! I had talked to Michelle, the consultant who had done Rachel's, a co-worker. Michelle lives in Hinckley, MN and I was a little worried she wasn't going to make it up, but at noon Thursday, she decided it was a go and would be here. I was very excited, needless to say! As soon as I was done, early too, on Thursday from work, I rushed home to pick up my mom and run to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for the Creamy One Pot Pasta we were making for dinner.

Well, I seemed to have forgotten how busy the grocery store gets when a winter storm warning occurs! It took us twenty minutes to get through the check-out. You'd think people would have started planning ahead of time since we all know this is what happens when winter is here! Anyways, we made it home in time for Michelle to show up and start the prepping for the party. My mom and mother-in-law, Donna, were helping pick up a few more things and set up others. Before we knew it, it was already 6:30 and people started showing up! The party-goers of the evening consisted of: Rachel (my co-worker), Amber Manion (Mike M.'s wife who is due at the end of the month), her mother-in-law Mary Jo Manion, Carleen B (Joe's parents neighbors), Peggy (Joe's co-worker), Alaina and her daughter Kristin (friends of the Martin family), and Betsy (Joe's god-mother). It was great! I got to show alot of them our house since most of them hadn't been here, ever! Plus, Joe took my dad and his over to Canal Park to check out the amazing waves on the lake and then out to Shammrock for pizza. Keeping them out of the house was the plan, of course, for the girls evening!

The party went very well! We had a great little meal and deserts, as well as people being very interested in ordering items! So far, there were over $900 in sales for the few people that were there. Since the weather wasn't playing with us well, alot of people called and placed order over the phone. I am hoping to get a couple more throughout the week as well. Since I knew Michelle had a ways to drive, we finished things up fairly early around 8pm and she was on the road. Just as she left, it started snowing a little here. I didn't get a call from her until after 10pm that night. It took her almost two hours to get from my house in Superior, to Hinckley, MN! She ended up running into more weather along the way, but did get home safely.

Throughout Thursday night, all you could here was the wind blowing, heavily. I didn't sleep all that well, but at least I got a little. On Friday morning, my parents and Joe were already downstairs watching the news, only to find out we were to get more snow throughout the day. So my parents decided to stay and hang out little more until things settled down. Well, at about 9 AM, our power went out and we were powerless for four hours! We were all wrapped up in blankets and sat around for the morning playing Phase 10 (thanks Jess!). At about 1pm, the power returned and we sat to watch a movie. Unfortunately, everyone else fell asleep while I was stuck watching the movie, The Day After Tomorrow by myself. At about 4:30 or so, we jumped in the car and headed out to Joe's parents house for dinner. Since my parents weren't too eager about jumping in the car quite yet, they stayed the night again. Early Saturday morning, they took off and headed home, Joe went to work at Starbucks, and I returned home to work on school work and to relax without anyone around!

Time For A Job Change

2008-03-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the day I'd find out if I got the new position at the hospital. And the results are in: NO! I DID NOT GET THE JOB! My thoughts at this juncture are poop. I honestly can say that I feel like crap. I was asked by my supervisior to apply for the position, allowing myself to move on and upward at the hospital. Unfortunately, at the end of everything, I missed out on the position by ONE MEASLY LITTLE POINT! ONE POINT! Not only was I informed that it was a very close "race" but I even interviewed better than the other person. According to my supervisor, ideally I had answered everything correctly, to the point where she really wanted me to be the chosen one. Since she was not the only person looking at everything, she really didn't have the final say in things. The story of my life. I have missed out on many things by one ot two points and this has just solidified how unlucky I can really be. I'm glad for the person who wanted this position, however, there are many things about this unfortunate situation that bothers me.

Some issues are still bothering me, though. I have worked at this facility for almost two years now. I was hoping this would have been my opportunity to move up and onward and show my co-workers how good of a therapist I truly am. Although the issues that bothers me more is the fact that the other person has only worked with us, and ever, a total of 6 1/2 months! Now how does that look to you? If you applied for a position and they gave it to someone else who is less experienced than you are, how do you think others would look at you? Think maybe you aren't adequate enoguh or a good therapist? It may cross my mind. According to my supervisor, "We'll find something for you," although this comment really doesn't seem change things or the way I am feeling. And right now, I am feeling like I'm not adequate and that I need a change. I am feeling like I have things ripped away from me, and that no matter what I try to do, I'm just going to be pushed right back down on my ass, where I belong.

I don't necessarily want pity, but maybe a little. Why is it, when you hope for something worth while to happen, it just doesn't. When you try to move on, you can't! How do you change this, but you really can't. I can say that I am honesly looking for a new position or job, and not necessarily here. Joe said he'd be more than willing to stand behind me no matter what I decide. So, yes, I will be looking around for something a little more than what I have now. As Joe reminds me, maybe this is suppose to happen, as in things happen for a reason. Hopefully there will be something out there that is right for me. What I do know is no matter where I end up, hopefully the politics won't keep screwing me over as it seems to keep happening here. Where ever we do end up, hopefully things will just fall into place, and we won't have to make too many drastic changes to begin with.

Working Around the Clock and Daily Living

2008-03-16T08:09:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago, Joe and I decided he would take up a second job to help us pay off some of our credit cards, before we travel down that road called parenthood. Well, I am glad to say he is actually liking it! I was alittle shocked to hear him actually say he liked it, but I am glad he does! He ends up working from seven in the morning to about 8:30 at night. It really isn't all that bad, becuase I work 10-hour days as well, so it atually turns out fairly well!

I do have to say, though, it is hard for us to try to find, US time. This weekend I went out to my parents house for my last weekend of skiing, but he wasn't able to join me because he had to work. The extra money is nice, but I'd like me US time. What can I say, I enjoy being with my husband, who would have thought of that, right?!

The good things in life and right in front of our noses. You just have to be willing to grab them while you can! I have a course down in Minneapolis on Apri 4-5 to be trained as Clinical Instructor, so I can actually take a student at work. This is pretty exciting, I must say. As soon as this course is over, Joe will be picking me up and driving us over to Eau Claire for a friends wedding. So that night will be a drunken blast, needless to say!

And, on the 10th of April, I will be hosting my own Pampered Chef party at my house! I'm alittle excited about this, more so because people are going to come over and see our house! We never had a house warming party, so this'll count a little for that! As soon as this is over with, I will be heading down to St. Cloud for another baby shower (Joe's cousin is pregnant as well). Not only will there be a shower, but it'll be a weekend of martini's at the Red Carpet (it's a martini bar) but shopping at the outlet stores!

Needless to say, it is going to be a busy time the next couple of weeks. Granted, it's not like our lives aren't busy enough already, but we might as well keep on traveling down that same road. Why slow down when life keeps on taking us forward!?

Job uncertainties....

2008-03-06T17:32:00.000-08:00

So things at work have been changing and I decided that I might have to be a part of this change. One of our co-workers took our supervisor position and left her position open working on the Neuro/Trauma floor. I have been contemplating whether or not this is something I am interested in taking. A good friend of mine whom I work with also wants this position. I feel bad, as if I may be taking something from her. Unfortunately for her, I do have seniority over her and would be offered the position before her. But I still feel guilty taking the job. I have enjoyed doing what I am currently doing, however, I feel that I need to challenge myself a little more. I don't feel that I am using my knowledge to it's full extent. I think that if I take this position, I will be able to challenge myself more, but I will also be able to show my other co-workers I really do know what I am doing. I am very nervous and hesitant though. I am terribly afraid of taking that next step in my career. I see how many of you all have had the opportunities of changing jobs and moving up in the world. Is this something I should be so worried about? I know I am afraid of moving forward...I know I'm afraid of doing anything out of my ordinary. But I honestly don't know what to do. Joan, who took the supervisor job, has taken me into her office and said I'd do wonderful up there. I honestly think I would too but I don't know how to move forward and leave something behind. Something I was enjoying. I know the Trauma floor is intimidating. But the great thing about it are those patients who had a stroke and have a droopy face that turn and smile at you, and say thank you. Those patients that initially can't move, but you reteach them to take their first steps again.....It is amazing to see them move (literally) forward. It is truly great. To know you are helping someone over-come a major road block in their lives is amazing.

Do you just stay where you're at, and watch things go by? Or do you jump in with both feet, even if you are terribly intimidated by the floor and the patients you'll be treating? I just don't know how to go about things. I think I want to do it, but I am just scared I won't like it, or I won't be what I think I am. What do you do? If anyone has any ideas for me, at this point I'd taken them with open arms!! I'm a little confused and not sure which way to go.

Pampered Chef - Erin!

2008-02-26T18:41:00.000-08:00

So I have found a new thing for me to start working on: cooking! I have been to several of these Pampered Chef parties and I think I want one of everything in that darn book!! So to start off, I'm picking out a couple of things to begin my New Year's Resolution off on the right foot, a little late but it's better than never, right, as long as Joe lets me! The past couple of times, let's just say the house almost burnt down (well, almost is the key word) and the food just didn't turn out. So no matter what I do, I have to get moving on and trying cooking again. At these parties, everything is terribly expensive! If I was made of money, which I can honestly say I'm not, I'd keep on buying more. The last party I attended, I bought one item: a cute Irish-like trivet. We haven't used it yet, but I have plans for it! It looks great on the wall where it hangs at this present moment. The one I attended tonight, I ventured off in a different direction and bought a few items to start a good kitchen with:

A 8" saute pan for Joe to cook me omelettes in the morning.
Small batter bowl (glass) for Joe to mix things.
A can strainer for me to use to drain out excess water, (i.e. cans of tuna) so I won't spill everything all over the stupid countertops any more.
A stone for cooking Joe's pizza's on instead of the pizza over!

So if you have noticed the list of items seem to revolve around Joe.....yep, he's the cook, but I'm definately trying! He's not the best teacher, but you gotta try somehow! And I've actually used my spices, too, that we've had for over a year now! Who would have thought, Erin a chef! So, my new ventures seem to be promising. Since we started going to Meal Time here in Duluth, things seems a little easier, and more adventurous then we normally would be. But it is worth it. So if anyone has any good, yet easier recipes they would be willing to share, I'd greatly appreciate some ideas or recipes themselves!! Let me know and wish me luck!

Reconnecting With Friends

2008-02-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

So I finally decided to join the world of Blogging! And, on top of it, I also joined Facebook! You can thank my sister for that one! Since I haven't had much contact with people since graduation, I thought it would be a good idea to try to relight those old flames/friendships and see how everyone is doing. It has been different, but interesting. I have had the opportunity to talk to people from High School whom I haven't conversed with since 1998! And I have also found out that we may be having a HS Reunion this summer, which may be a bust, but we'll see. I think it would be nice to talk to some of those individuals; however I really hated high school, in particular one individual, but I will leave his name out of this for now! So, if I'm lucky, he won't show up and he'll still be in jail when the reunion happens, I can only wish! (Normally, I do not wish bad things on people, but he was just a rude, inconsiderate individual whom I would do absolutely nothing for.)

Not only have I had the opportunity to discuss with high school friends, I have've been able to talk to people from college, ones that I thought I wouldn't see or hear from again. It has been a great feeling to know you are still loved and you did make an impression on people. I like the feeling of being wanted and liked. It just feels good! Sometimes all you need to hear is hello, and you get that warm, tingling feeling inside. Just to say 'Hi' is all ya need. I'm not too picky about things, but like I said before, I have been enjoying this time reconnecting with friends. I wish I had more of an opportunity to talk to others, but I don't want to seem like a stalker either, you have to be careful these days!*s* I do want to say thank you to all of you who do read this. I want you to know it means alot and I appreciate the fact you take the time to see how I am doing. I means the world to know I've done something good and others really do care!

Day By Day

2008-02-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

Today was an ordinary day. Nothing much going on, none other than me not being able to get into my class on-line. Oh well, if I can't do it right now, I'll just have to do it later, right? Things are going well. Joe and I are planning a trip for August: some baseball games, a trip around Chicago, and relaxing! Nothing much but enough to get out and around. Joe just got another job, more to pay off some bills and save some money to work toward growing our family. So we'll see what happens. Life is what happens. I am looking forward to spending some time alone, yet I hate being alone. I don't know. Life. What a trip. Oh we are also looking at getting a puppy. Yep, a little Pug named Wally! A friend of mine at work has a pug and they need to find a home for it, and Joe actually said yes! I couldn't believe it! So I'm hoping we'll be good dog parents!! Starting out is worrying me but I think it's time to try something new. I've wanted a dog for a while and he finally agreed on something smaller. I'm a little worrried about being "tied down" but I've been told it is worth it. So I think we are giong to try one more time! It can't hurt, right?!

Baby works, #2!

2008-02-12T18:37:00.000-08:00

My job allows me to work with all different types of people and various sizes. The best thing yet happened the other day. I have been very interested in working in the Neonatal ICU and was able to go up there with a co-worker who is "introducing" me to the unit and what she does. During some orientation, we got to go into the unit to work with a week old baby, born at 33 weeks. Basically, she was born seven weeks early!! She was in an incubator, keeping her warm of course.

Gail was working with her, checking out her tone, providin passive range of motion as well as checking out her movements, everything. Gail then asked me, "Do you want to hold her?" I was speech less!! Of course I did! I actually go to hold baby "B" for a few minutes, and got to feel what she felt like and really see how small she was. It was amazing! Absolutely amazing. For a body being so small, she was alive and moving and doing well! It was great!! I never thought I'd say I enjoy something like this, but it is the best feeling!

The good news, I don't have to be there all the time, but it is nice to be able to try something different. I am looking forward to seeing more little ones in the near future. Joe, of coure, was a little hesitant when I told him, because he is afraid of anything smaller than a football basically. He doesn't want me to get too close cause he isn't ready for a wee-one yet. So, I have to limit what I do for the sake of Joe! So more stories to come, hopefully!!

Awaiting acknowledgement

2008-02-05T17:23:00.001-08:00

Well, thinking about all of this and things going on in life, I am feeling a little neglected and left out of things. We gradute from high school, move onto college, meet great people, graduate again, and then we all go our own ways. Life always treats us all differently. But what seems to bother me the most: No matter how hard to you try to catch up with others and find out what's going on, no one really wants to return the favor. I think it is hard, especially with everyone living distances apart from one another, but sometimes I really wonder why other don't try to make an effort. Maybe I was not or am not really part of the "group" of girls that are here, but I definately feel left out. Reading what's going on in other people's busy lives is great. Yet still, no one really cares about mine. Maybe I'm just whinning, that's possible, but I just don't like to feel like I'm left out anymore. The great news is: IT WON'T MATTER ANYWAYS. All others seems so busy with everyone else, that I just seem to get pushed off to the side. Hell, I found out Amber was pregnant this way, so maybe it's better I'm not included. I dont' know. I guess I am just a little bummed that I don't get recognition as others do. I'll say it is nice to hear how others are but it is also nice to have people acknowledge me once in awhile as well. So, I'm sorry for venting and sorry for complaining but I've said a lot, and I'll stop for now.

Baby Work!

2008-02-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

So, I finished our taxes and Joe and I have already spent the money! Go figure! But the good news is what we spend some of it on: Two new pairs of SnowShoes!! We were so excited about the first time we went out snowshoeing together that we said if we had the money and they were resonable enough, we'd get a pair. Well, saturday we were at Fitgers for dinner with Joe's cousin and at Trail Outfitters, everything we 20% off, including the snowshoes! So we just had to do it while the price was right. The rest of the money though, we'll be paying off credit cards and Joe's mom.

But the best news came today. I got to go up to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with a co-worker and I got to watch and observe and work with a 36-week old baby boy! It was amazing to see what a premature baby can do and how to relate everything to what I had learned during school. For me, it is so much nicer to be able to put things with what I've learned. Hands-on is much easier for me! Anyways, the baby was adorable. Hopefully I'll be able to get to work more in the NICU as time goes on. There is so much more to learn, but now's the time to do so.

A Busy Weekend

2008-02-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my day off. I did a couple of errands and then had a therapy appointment for me neck. I think it is finally getting better, although, we will find out the true results of my MRI on Friday next week. Hopefully nothing will be wrong, but you never know there days. After running around, I came home and sat down to do our taxes. YEAH! THEY'RE DONE! And I can't wait to get our rebate back and pay off some of our debt. Thank god for school loans, lets just say that!

During my afternoon at home, I thought I'd start to pick up the house a little for the visitors we are having over on Saturday. I went downstairs to find one of our bottles of wine from our wedding, broken on the floor with wine all over! That explains why the cats haven't been keeping anything down these days! THEY WERE DRUNK! So I was on my hands and knees for an hour cleaning and cleaning some more. It's a great wine cellar, but things keep getting broken. We have to start fixing that I think.

After that, we went out to dinner with Joe's parents and his cousin and husband from St. Cloud. We went to Grandma's Saloon, not my favorite place, elts just say that. But oh well, it was free! It was great to sit and talk with Tiffany though. They are pregnant as well as all the other people in our lives these days, and is due in June. Good for them! I'm happy, yet jealous. Our time is soon to come, right? After Grandma's we went over to the Martini bar for a drink! Gotta love that place. I had a nice mixture of liquor, couldn't tell you what was in it though. Then we headed home for a nice night of SLEEP! In the morning, we watched a movie in bed, fell asleep again, and started working on my school work again.

This afternoon, Tiffany and Nate are going to come over and check out our house, they haven't seen it yet. After that, Joe and I are heading over to Trek Outfitters in Fitgers to pick up our new Snowshoes! It's a great new winter sport for the two of us and Joe actually doesn't mind it. So it's keeping us busy during the cold times of the year! I'll keep y'all posted as to what else is happening! Every day is a little different from the next!

Winter Outings!

2008-01-12T16:21:00.000-08:00

This weekend Joe and I decided to get out and try something different: We rented snow shoes and headed out into the wilderness for a day of adventure and loss of direction.

We drove over to the Superior Hiking Trail in Superior, and lead ourselves into the woods, without GPS!! It was great! Something we haven't done before, yet had a wonderful time! Granted, we didn't spend too much time out in the woods, it was still quite a workout! We ventured off the beaten path and traveled through pine trees and oaks, finding many places where deer had bedded down and animal paths all over the place. Soon we lead ourselves back to the road, crossing over to the ski trails. It was different, challenging and FUN! Once on the ski trail, we decided to get off there and back into the fresh crisp snow. We both enjoyed making our own paths instead of staying on the groomed areas! Of course, Joe and I went our different directions, yet we always ended up together at the end. A great adventure we are planning on tackling again! Something new for our winter outings! Skiing, tubing and now snow shoeing! I'm sure we can find other options, hopefully it won't stop here!

Snow-filled weekend!

2008-01-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend was great! We headed out to my parents house for the weekend of skiing and fun! We left late due to Joe getting done with work a little later than usuall. But we got there about 6:30P.M. which is fine. We then headed down to good ol' Patsy's Bar for dinner and "entertainment" if you know what I mean. Dinner was fine, had a drink and went home and played Phase 10 with the four of us. My sister had brought home one of her kittens she had living with her over christmas and left her at my parents house becuase her apartment isn't big enough for TWO cats. So my 'rents are taking care of her and getting her spaide and possibly declawed (she claws everything). Well, the good thing is she is just a sweet heart! She loves everyone and loves to be petter. The unfortunate thing: she's in heat!! I feel bad for her but yet she is just crazy and looking for some "fun" for herself which she won't find up there. We had to listen to her all weekend. A little annoying but funny!

Saturday morning, Joe and I headed out to Mt. Ashwabay for a day of skiing! Since this is the ski hill I grew up on and of course was proposed to atop of it, it has a lot of sentatmental value to me. After the struggle of putting on the ski boats, we headed out for some runs! It felt great to get back out on in the hill. This is something I would do year round if I could afford it!

Throughout the day, we skied several runs, had lunch, then headed over to the tubing park! Yep, I said tubing park! It is great! There are about six lanes for tubing and you are taken up the hill by either a snowmobile or a the Tucker snow machine! It was great! A little something fun to add to the hill, which is needed! I have some more pictures to come as soon as my dad forwards them to me, you'll see them soon of course!

As for that we headed home Sunday morning after having breakfast at the hill with my parents! No matter where we go or who I go with, it always feels like home when I'm out there! I don't think anything can change that for me. All the great memories you have mean so much and going back to add more means just as much!

P.S. I DO Love You

2008-01-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

Last week, Joe and I decided to go to a movie: P.S. I Love You starring Hilary Swank and, of course, Gerard Butler whom is absolutely gorgeous! Let me tell you, this was seriously the best movie I have seen in a long time. The movie is based on a couple who are madly in love with each other, unfortunately, the husband dies of a tumor early on. On Holy's 30th birthday after Gerry's passing, she received a letter from her husband, saying there are more to come, encouraging her to get out into the world and living her life. I have never cried so much in my life during a movie, but I absolutely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a movie that makes you feel good, yet makes you take a look at your life and realize are a part of your life and tell them every day how much you love them. A great date movie that's for sure. Even my husband, the action-packed person he is, liked this movie. And that takes a lot for hime to say something like that! Plus, how can you go wrong with three hot men: Gerard, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Harry Connick Jr! Seriously, that almost makes the movie worthwhile in itself right there!

Christmas at the Martin's!

2008-01-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

Our trip to my parents house was wonderful this past time. Joe and I got to take a ride on the a snowmobile after the snow up at the Ski Hill and this is what we found: a beautiful snowy trail. Just gorgeous and serne. Perfect for Joe and I.

As for christmas, it has come and gone and yet another year has ended with another one beginning. It was great to spend time with the family at christmas, something I don't get to do all that often. Emily came home for the weekend and we got to spend some good bonding time together. Christmas eve consisted of going to my grand parents' house along with my two aunts and uncle, and cousins. All 20 of us squish into a tiny house that should only hold 10 people! But it is great as always. Other than my stupid-ass uncle, it was very pleasant.

After the night there, we returned home and did our christmas with my parents and sister. It is always great to know other are happy with what they get. I got Emily a couple of nice things, all of which she just loved. My mom, we got a new Wintergreen coat, which she absolutely loved. As for my dad, we got him a pair of cross country skis, which he can't start using until February because of his new Left Total Hip he had replaced in October. Needless to say, he was happy yet a little mad because of the stipulations put on the gift, but he does understand why. As for Joe, well, I had gotten him his birthday and christmas gift together: Nintendo Wii! It is absoulely great, if i do say so myself! Anyways, christmas day, we returned to our house, finished wrapping out Joe's parent's gifts and then went out to Joe's adopted family for christmas with them. It was ok, but could have been a little better. As for my gift, Joe got me a new digital camera, which was great!

For New Years Eve, JOe and I went out to dinner with Andy and Suzanne at Applebees. After the two hour dinner, we drove out to Joe's parents for a little after-dinner desert (or a drink or two) and then returned to O'Neils Pub and Liquor and played darts and a little shuffle board. After that, we all headed back to our house for martini's and a little Wii! It was great! Seth and Traci came over and we all played a little Wii Tennis and Bowling! Let's just say, it's funny to watch 28 y/o people yelling and screaming (kindly) at each other for missing a stupid ball when playing tennis! At midnight, we kissed, drank some more leading up to a mean game of golf! At about 1:45 am, we decided to call it a night and all said their goodbyes. In the morning, Joe woke up at 7 and then went out to his 'rents to watch the Badgers play as I stayed at home sleeping until noon! For our New Year's tradition we have been doing for about hour years now, Joe and I went to the movie, "I Am Legend". Now, that is a weird movie, if I must say so, but good. Although, i definately recommend "P.S. I Love You" over this one, but they still good!

As for the new year, Joe and I are doing great and looking forward to starting another year together. Still happily married, and going strong. No baby for now, but I'm working on that one with Joe! *G* Other than that, that is us in a nut shell! I hope everyone had a great holiday season and hope to hear from anyone whenever they get a chance!

Good News of the Month

2007-12-22T06:01:00.000-08:00

Well, the good news of the week, other than being on vaction for another week is: my tests came back normal! I will just have to continue with 6 month pap smears and check ups to monitor all. I have been being tested for cervical cancer for the past year and a half, due to abnormal changes on they didn't konw why. So now, things look as if they may be heading in the right direction. Yeah, a repreive for once!

Other than that, I am done with my class for the semester and will be beginning another class this January. Hopefully it iwll be a little easier than the last one. I do know I ended up getting an A in the class though, so that was pretty exciting. Joe and I are doing well, and have had limited fighting which is awesome! We've been ride-sharing to work and working out in the morning or afternoon during work days. We've also been doing a spin class at the Center for Personal Fitness in Duluth, which is great! I love how much you can put your body through and still be able to stand up!

My best guy friend, Zack, who is in the military is doing well, as of the last time we talked. He said he may be coming home sometime in June, which seems like forever from now. But as long as he is safe, that is all that matters to me. I may not agree with the reasons why we are over there, but I will support our troops while I can, even is that is all I can do.

I am also contemplating a change in where I work. Even since I had that internship down in Rochester at the Mayo in Rehab, I have been thinking about returning to that field of work. I was over at Miller Dwan Rehad two days ago working with a severely debiliating patient who was in a car accident over a year ago. She was given a less than 1% chance of survival right after her accident and she is just amazing now. She now has an Above the Knee Amputation with a prosthesis and is walking amazingly. To me it is so rewarding to work with patient's like this. To see them recover from terrible injuries and to say I helped with it is great. I absoluately love what I am doing. Someday soon, I hope to say I will be over in that area permanetly. We'll see what Joe feels about that as well but he is always supportive about the choices we and I make. He loves me so much I often wonder why!

Well, now that I have nothing more to say, I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and are able to handle those family gatherings as I am preparing for. I found out that the drunker you are, the easier it is! Who would've thunk that!? Anyways, I wish you all well and safe ventures in the next couple of days!
Love and friends as always!
Erin Marie

Snowed In, but actually over!

2007-12-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday started off great! Joe and I woke up, showered and drove together to work. Outside, it was just snowing little pelts of snow, nothing big, right? Well, I dropped him off at work and drove to the hospital. Just a nothe normal day in the lives of Erin and Joe. At about 9 AM I looked out side, and wow, it was snowing and I mean snowing. Lunch rolled around and the entire time I sat eating and attended a meeting, it kept snowing, about an inch an hour! I talked to Joe and he said there was a Winter Advisory for us again. Now it was up to 6-8 inches with over an Inch an hour falling. Great! Just what I wanted to do when I got home was shovel. oh well, right, things happen. So at about 3:30 Joe called and said he was going to get a ride home with a co-worker to start the "clean-up" at home. I thought, ok, why not, leave your WIFE to drive home by herself in a hell-of-a-snow storm. Great idea.

At 4:00, I talked to my co-worker and said I needed to leave. The Blaknik bridge was closed because of an accident and the Oliver bridge in West Duluth was closed because of a jackknifed truck, which only left one other bridge home. So, I left to brave the snow and the idiot drivers. As I left the parking ramp, I thought "Ok, I can do this, just take your time and you'll get there." I got down to 3rd Street and sat there for about 20 minutes. It took me and all of the other million of cars on there to move 1 block in 20 minutes! 20 MINUTES! Ok, I can handle this. The radio said there was a huge mess on Mesaba Ave, so I thought I'd head on down to Superior Street towards Lake Ave.

So I turned down 2nd Ave East, thinking it might move a little faster. Well, it took me about 40 minutes to travel TWO BLOCKS! I finally made it down to the Casino on Superior Street, although I was still behind four cars. NO ONE WAS MOVING!! EVERYONE WAS AT A STAND STILL!! And some idiot, lameass b--ch cut me off and starting yelling at me! I had never felt so claustraphobic in my entire life. I couldn't go anywhere or do anything! My heart was pounding like crazy, and I just couldn't slow it down. I called Joe and he told me, "Don't bother heading to the bridge, they are all closed now. Just park the car and go get a hotel room." I just about died and started crying. How do you get home now when there is no other way across to the other side. "I give up! I need a cigarette or something, maybe a drink too" I said. The great man that Joe is just asat on the other end trying to calm me down. I don't know what I would do without him.

Well, I took matters into my own hands at this point. Since no one was able to turn RIGHT onto Superior, Street and no one was moving that direction at all, I decided to go down the wrong way of the ave and I turned LEFT! It was so wonderful to move! I went and entire block in three minutes verses four blocks in 1 HOUR! It felt awesome! As I was driving down Superior Streat, heading out East, I passed so many cars just sitting there, no moving at all. No one was going anywhere as I had been previously. I made it to Fitgers, thinking I could just go in, grab a bite to eat and then wait out the storm. BUt then i realized they were taking the plows off the roads at 5:30 p.m. so they woudn't go over their 12-hour shifts per law and the DTA buses were coming off the roads at 6p.m. So obviously, nothing was going to be cleaned or moving for awhile.

With my nifty old cell phone I called Best Western Edgewater and got myself a room cuase I knew I wasn't going to be going anywhere. I finally made it to the hotel at 5:50 pm. after leaving the hospital at 4:15. Serioursly, it shouldn't take you that long to go about eight blocks, especially in Duluth! Once I got to my room, I took my good-ole drink tickets up the the bar level and got me a drink! Actually three and a little tipsie as well! There were about six of us who all had the same idea, not to drive and just stay where while we could. Let me tell ya, its not 10 in the morning almost and I just got home. Granted now things aren't all that bad but last night just was horrible. Hopefully this won't happen again, but if it does I sure know which direction I need to go to avoid all the stupid drivers.

My---Space!

2007-12-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

If anyone is interested, I also have a myspace account. Yeah a little overboard, but its a great way to keep in contact with others from high school to college. Hopefully I'll be able to keep in contact with more. But we'll see

http://www.myspace.com/pterin

Hope all are doing well!

Snowy Sunday Afternoon

2007-12-02T14:28:00.000-08:00

Last night during the snow storm, we ventured out in our All-Wheel/4-wheel drive Jeep and went out for food and a nut roll from Joe's parents house! The roads, well, let's say they weren't the best but it was definately fun! Sometimes venturing out is what you need. After getting back home, we sat down for a mean game of Scrabble! Yep, I kicked Joe's ass again! Gotta have some fun I say.

Today we woke up to about 7 inches of snow in our yard and the roads too of course! Personally, I love the snow and inter!! The way I look at it, you can only take off so much clothing during the summer whereas the winter you can usually keep piling on the layers! I'd rather be warm than cold! But today, ater getting dressed, we headed outside in our snow pants and coats and started to shovel. Low and behold, the snowblower didn't work again!! I guess last year it didn't work because it was out of gas, okay that was my fault (but how was I to konw that! It was my first time using the stupid thing in three feet of snow, I can't figure everything out on my own!) But this time, after trying several times, nothing. Then Joe noticed gasoline leaking from a tube. Great, nothing neither of us can do about it. So we went out and got the snow scoop from his parents house. Again, roads not too bad but could have been better, but oh well. You'd think they'd want to keep everything cleaner around here, especially since it's the beginning of the season!

Anyways, I dropped Joe off at home and then ran to the grocery store. I had already shoveled the walkways and the patio, so I left him with the driveway. After I returned he was almost done, so assisted a little more. During this time, I slipped and fell, landing on my knee. Let's just say, I have ice on it and it still hurts! So we'll see, if sometime happens tomorrow and it hurts more, I may have to visit Urgent Care or something. It's not like I won't be at the hostpital already!

So, now, its almost five in the afternoon and I, again, am working on my final paper for my pharmacology class and Joe is watching Saw III, stupid yet suspenceful movie! Then we'll head on out to his parent's house for dinner. Nothing else too new now! Everyone is pregnant except me, but we're okay with that for now! Our time will come soon enough, right?!
Christmas is almost here! I just love this season cause everyone is in a good mood. It just makes me smile. The new year will be soon as well! Hope all is well! Love you all!

P.S. This week they are going to be putting up the chairlift at Mt. Ashwabay at home this week! I am excited, so I may be going out there to watch them, maybe help if I can! Try to watch the news this week, up here that is, cause they are going to have something on there about the hill and everything!! It's all very exciting, especially for this small ski hill!!

My Beginnings

2007-11-24T13:55:00.001-08:00

Well, life has thrown all of us a twist once in awhile, but sometimes others get handed a difficult hand. I wish there were easier ways to live life, but day by day seems to be the best. Joe and I have been busy with school, and let me tell you, it has been work. Joe goes to class one day a week and I am all on-line, but I really think I need structure and I'm not good at setting that up for myself. Work has been busier than needed, but it's what is keeping me intouch with everything else.

Healthwise, things are going in a different direction than I'd like to go, but I'm along for the ride now. Joe and I are going to the gym three to four days a week, and I'm learning how to swim at the ripe old age of 28! But it's fun. I'm at 35 pounds lost so far, yeah me, and I have about 15 more to go. So I can actually say I'm a little lighter in my boots! But on the other side, things could be better. As we all go in for our yearly pap's, last year was odd. It came back abnormal and since then I've been doing in for them every 5-6 months to monitor everything. I have had two biopsy's of my cervix, both of which have come back with mild to moderate changes, potentially and more than likely cancerous. They are continueing to do studies to see what is going on, but yet haven't figured out what it is. As for now, I have another appointment here in two weeks, another biopsy and possible taring of the cervix. We'll see. All I have to say is give me some good drugs and I'll just have to live with it.

So, as we go on with out daily lives, I am wondering what to do. So many of my friends are pregnant now, but as Joe and I say this is not the time for children. I know that, but I really want them. I know "they'll change your life" but sometimes we have to expereince that for ourselves to actually get that full meaning or that statement. So, we'll wait and see what else life is going to throw at us!

Life is what happens while you're making other plans. -- John Lennon