I should know by now

not to read Agatha Christie murder mysteries right before I go to bed.



but they're just so hard to put down.

my orchid is blooming!

It's so pretty....

weeds

Dad made us walk beans last night after supper. I haven't done that in ages. (I didn't really miss it either...) But it was a nice night, and the beans were dry, and there weren't any aphids so it wasn't too bad.

I got a blister, and then the rough handle of my hoe ripped it open. ow. It's a little tender today. I still hate horse weeds and butter prints. (giant ragweed and velvetleaf for the horticulturally inclined)

So today at work they had a seminar and I got to listen to a lady talk about how she worked in Antarctica for six summers. It sounded amazing. But it made me really cold... I think I'll eat lunch outside today...

champaign

Last night I went on a random trip to Champaign with Gab and Bob. It's been a while since I've been there... and a while since I've seen Champaign people... ok, so it's been like a week and a half but it feels like a lot longer.

We stopped at the Shaker and chilled with Mike and Mark for a while... ate out at Dos Reales (so good)... played some volleyball... discovered that I will never make it to the Olympics (sad news!)... and pretty much had a good time.

O and Karen was there and I haven't seen her in ages! So that was super cool. I had to work in the morning... so my chauffeurs were kind enough to leave at the early hour of 11:30ish. But I managed to get a little sleep in the car so I really wasn't too dead tired this morning.

I have nothing planned this weekend and I'm so excited.
Blessings.

nothing much

So last week was really uneventful. My boss was gone so I had a pretty slow week at work.

My grandma's 80th birthday is this week, and the entire family was in town for the weekend. There are 50 of us now... kind of a lot of people. We had a big party Saturday night. And cousins overnight. We attempted to sing the Hallelujah Chorus... and And the Glory. Shelly and Abby and I spent some time educating Ned about hair and makeup and other girl stuff. We played some rook... good times.

Otherwise... nothing exciting going on. Blessings.

Up North

So... such a good weekend. It felt like I was gone a week... but it was only three days.
Amber and Sarah and I met in El Paso at 5 am Friday morning and headed north. We stopped in Rockford to pick up Natalie and then we didn't stop till we hit Minnesota. Ok, not really. We might have stopped at IHOP and got to listen to some crazy girl talk about picking up strange guys in Florida. I guess nobody ever taught her how to use her 'inside voice.' Haha. We hit Duluth around twoish and took the scenic route along lake Superior. So beautiful.

We stopped at Gooseberry Falls State park to hike around and wade in the river. It was such a nice day out.



Our hotel was farther north, in Silver Bay. I had printed out a bunch of maps for the trip and we were looking at the wrong one so we got to see a little bit more of the town than was expected. :D Driving past the cute statue of Rocky Taconite was worth it though. And hearing Sarah use Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconios-is in every day conversation was pretty great too. When we did finally find our hotel, our room wasn't cleaned yet. So we got free pizza! And bread sticks and cinnamon sticks and Pepsi. It was pretty much amazing.

After supper we went down to the lake shore and climbed around on the rocks. The lake was so calm- I've never seen Superior without waves. It was gorgeous but cold! I stuck my feet in and they went numb... it was great.

By the shores of Gitchee Gumee...

There was a hot tub at the hotel... and a frog water slide (the tongue was the slide) in the kitty pool... Amber and I might have checked it out when the pool was empty. *grin* Hooray for hot tubs and heart-to-hearts...
Saturday morning we headed to Split Rock Lighthouse and spent some time exploring. We walked down a bunch of stairs to the lake... I got my feet wet again... the water was still icy cold...which I love. We stopped in Two Harbors for lunch (at pizza hut- yay for pizza two days in a row!) and then headed south to Minneapolis.


We got to our hotel at the same time as Nic, B.J., and Mogus... and barely in enough time to change for the rehearsal dinner. I caught a ride with B.J.- good times. I met him in the lobby for our 'hot date' just as the entire Zehr/Waibel/Schambach clan arrived. And Nic was there smirking. I thought it was funny.

I got to sit by him and Blake which was good because otherwise it would have been slightly uncomfortable. But they kept me laughing so it was all good and better than I was expecting. I dislike those things excessively, but I ended up being really glad I got to be there.

After the singing at church, a bunch of people came to our hotel to play games and chill. I was in and out... went for a walk with Sprout and Kris... and then went on a pop run... and then took Gab back to Dill's (and got extremely lost! not cool! I have no idea how we found it finally)... and by the time I got back it was 1am so I went to bed.


Sunday was really great. The wedding was good. They all looked cute and Dale and Meg were so happy and all that good stuff. :D There was all kinds of fun food at the reception... and a cheese table... definitely Meg food. Bovee was there!! I haven't seen her since February, and she brought her guy along. The Ideal Man reappeared in the getaway car- so great!

709 Girls

We left for home as soon as Gab was done working. It was a pretty uneventful trip. Well, other than when we were sitting at a subway listening to the music they were playing and Sarah mentioned that it made her want to bust a move. So Amber told her to "drop the sandwich." And she did. And did the sprinkler. It was awesome.

Seriously such good times. I love those girls a lot. And I like Lake Superior a lot.
Blessings.