15-21: Week Three/Picture a Day for a Year

15/365: I met Janelle, Sammi, Dana and Rachel at MOA today. Janelle and I went off on our own and found a frozen yogurt shop where you pick your own flavor and toppings and then pay by the ounce. I've been wanting one of these shops ever since I found out they existed. Needless to say, I am thrilled.

16/365: I volunteered at the Children's Museum today for 4 hours. It was exhausting to say the least but I had a good time seeing how happy the kids were (and how sad they were to leave). I may just do it again next month! (This is a picture from the parking garage across the street- I LOVE ST. PAUL).

17/365: I did some scrapbookin' today after work. This is one of the piles on my table- the green and pink flowers are a garland from my tea party that I ripped when taking down so it became scrapbook materials! I bought a new scrapbook (#19) today for $6. Outstanding.

18/365: We got something delivered in a very large box today. It sat empty in the back room all morning and every time I walked past it, I had the overwhelming urge to jump in. Once my boss left for the day, I did. It was difficult as it was a tall box but we have a table that raises up and down so I was able to launch myself into the box from there. It was nice to have a moment to play today.

19/365: The full moon outside tonight lit up our backyard in a beautiful way. I wish I could have captured it better but this picture is still kind of cool.

20/365: I got a lovely card today from Miss Janelle Jacowski. I opened it to find a picture sticker of Liz and me that we took god know when back in the day those picture sticker machines were the coolest thing to do. At first, I was confused but then I remembered I gifted Janelle a pocket full of stickers at the end of last year but did not go through them first, otherwise I probably would have taken the Liz & me picture stickers out. Still, it was nice of her to include it in her nice note!

21/365: New shoes! I bought a black polka dot dress to wear these with. I'm going to be SO cute this spring. :)

#14: BIRTHDAY

Today is my 23rd birthday.  23 is not an exciting birthday... until Liz THREW ME A SURPRISE PARTY!  I have complained/mentioned it for years that no one has ever thrown me a surprise party.  Turns out Liz has been planning this since NOVEMBER.  The best part?  I was LEGITIMATELY SURPRISED!  I don't let ANYTHING happen in my life without me knowing about it but this- THIS was a shock to me (I'm still baffled).  Mom and dad told me they had a friend coming in to town tonight so we'd have to do our family dinner on Sunday.  That was no problem and I picked Molly Cool's in Lakeville (I went there in Milwaukee and loved it).  We went there last night and the waiter said he had to check to make sure out table was ready.  I thought that seemed silly because there was NO ONE in the restaurant but still thought nothing of it.  Then we walked through the entire restaurant to the back which I still thought was strange because we walked past so many empty tables but no big deal.  Then we got to the back and there was a wall and then EVERYONE JUMPED UP AND YELLED SURPRISE!  I was surprised.  I didn't know what to do.  Some of my most favorite and amazing friends were there.  I am honestly the luckiest girl in the world.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from the night:

Liz: Party planner extraordinaire!

Every amazing person who came to my surprise party.

I love this picture.  Allison bought the cake at Cub and decorated it to say Happy Birthday.  It was perfect (and so tasty!)

Allison changed my sweet crown into a fauxhawk so I matched Ryan.

JUMP!  It is hard to get good jumping pictures with me because I cannot jump at all.  So I had to stand on a chair and jump off.

IT WAS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER.

8-14: Week Two/Picture a Day for a Year

8/365: Jazz got a new toy today- a new giant knot of rope. He had string hanging from his mouth and I tried to take a picture of it but it fell off as soon as the camera flashed. Still, this was kind of cute.

9/365: Mother/Daughter Tea Party today! I was only going to make banana cupcakes with honey&cinnamon frosting but at the last moment last night, I decided to make these tasty cakes- french toast cupcakes with maple frosting and garnished with bacon. Needless to say, they were a hit!

10/365: Its my birthday! This is the tasty DQ cake I got at work. I love making everyone celebrate with me because it brings cheer to people's lives!

11/365: This is the cutest picture of Jazz in the history of Jazz. He came in from his morning romp like this then sat like a little angel while I took the picture. Precious.

12/365: Sometimes when the sun is out, it shines in our handicapped door into our hallway. I like to stand in the sunlight and pretend its warm (even though its not). I love seeing the sun in winter!

13/365: GIANT SNOWFLAKES outside the window at work.

14/365: Chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes for my birthday potluck at work. I wish I had more places to bring cupcakes because I'm going to make my family/coworkers fat at this rate. I just love baking cupcakes and trying new things!!

Post Grad Book #5

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
Finished: January 6, 2011
Page Count: 322
Why I read it:  
It was on the "Buy 2 Get One Free" table at Barnes and Noble and I was intrigued by the blurb on the back.


Publisher's Weekly review:
Moore (Anagrams) knits together the shadow of 9/11 and a young girl's bumpy coming-of-age in this luminous, heart-wrenchingly wry novel—the author's first in 15 years. Tassie Keltjin, 20, a smalltown girl weathering a clumsy college year in the Athens of the Midwest, is taken on as prospective nanny by brittle Sarah Brink, the proprietor of a pricey restaurant who is desperate to adopt a baby despite her dodgy past. Subsequent adventures in prospective motherhood involve a pregnant girl with scarcely a tooth in her head and a white birth mother abandoned by her African-American boyfriend—both encounters expose class and racial prejudice to an increasingly less naïve Tassie. In a parallel tale, Tassie lands a lover, enigmatic Reynaldo, who tries to keep certain parts of his life a secret from Tassie. Moore's graceful prose considers serious emotional and political issues with low-key clarity and poignancy, while generous flashes of wit—Tassie the sexual innocent using her roommate's vibrator to stir her chocolate milk—endow this stellar novel with great heart.


What I thought:
It was good but I didn't love it.  Moore was praised for her use of descriptions.  A quote on the front of my copy from The Washington Post Book World states "Profound... get ready to expand your sense of what Moore- and a novel- can do."  Yes, the descriptions and the scene she set through the entire book was impressive but for me, it was too much.  The story was okay but I really feel like not much happened by the time the book was over.  It's supposedly a "coming of age story for a girl in college post 9/11" and that's what I was originally intrigued by but I didn't see it.  Maybe it was because I was bored by the excessive amounts of descriptions, metaphors and paragraphs of nothing I found terribly interesting.  I like my stories to be simple, involve some intrigue or mystery and a lot of dialogue.  This was the opposite and therefore, not my favorite.  Still, I made it a point to finish the book (mostly to see if it ever got better- it did not). 

1-7: Week One/Picture a Day for a Year

1/365: I woke up this morning (at noon), got dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and walked out to the living room where I was told "ITS PAJAMA DAY!" so I turned around and changed but not before taking a picture of my family enjoying pajama day (though I just noticed my sister is now wearing jeans- fail). What better way to start a new year than lounging around with family?

2/365: Today my mom and I visited Colin Hall's house for his art open house after graduation.  One of his paintings was published in an Eau Claire collection and he let me have one and then I made him sign it.  Now I have this piece of history forever.

3/365: Guess where I was this morning?  Crentist, my dentist!   Who is actually quite good looking (and obviously not named Crentist).  The verdict?  NO CAVITIES!

1/4/11: This is Ivan.  He wedged himself down into his rocks today.  I think he'll probably be dead when I get to work tomorrow because he was acting all weird today.  It was just strange.

5/365: Hello, splurge points.  I love Gyropolis.  So totally worth the excessive Weight Watchers points. I even had a real Dr Pepper because I was like hey, why not?

6/365: Most mornings, I let Jazz out when I go eat breakfast before work. Sometimes he sits in the kitchen with me but this morning he disappeared. I was concerned he was off eating Kleenexes somewhere but when I went to find him, he was just laying on my bed like a perfect, sleepy angel. Then I say "Do you want to go back to bed?" and he runs to shove his nose in Liz's doorway. This is when I like Jazz the most.

7/365: We went to Cam Rahn Bay for Trudy's birthday dinner. Our service was lacking and Liz's food was late but when she got her rice pan-cake she said it was worth the wait. We're not 100% sure what it was made of (I swear it was egg, Liz thought it tasted like tofu, Allison kept reminding us it was rice) but it was good and Phil LOVED it (and happily helped Liz eat it). She also took several bites of the chunk of iceberg lettuce that accompanied the rice pan-cake.

#13: New Year's Resolutions

1. Cut out sweets.  I just started Weight Watchers with a goal of losing 20 pounds by the summer.  I pledged to lose 20 pounds to this website that will donate money to the Second Harvest Heartland in St. Paul.  Of course, I'm drinking a Diet Coke right now but its better than a regular Coke, right?  According to Weight Watchers, it is 0 of my allotted 34 points per day so that's good.  I'm going to have to try Diet Dr Pepper (THE HORROR).

2. Take Jazz for a walk every day.  As part of Weight Watchers, I need activity at least once a day.  I'm going to start waking up earlier than I have been to take him for a walk before work.  I'm not doing this for Weight Watchers, mostly because that dog needs many walks a day and I need to get moving in general.

3. Be more positive/find some sort of faith.  We get calendars every year from "Santa" and this year I picked one out from Calendars.com that was called "Sassy and Sophisticated" or something like that.  All I could see in the previews were bright colors, quotes and cute pictures so I was sold.  When I opened it Christmas morning, I realized it was a Christian calendar.  I was initially a bit turned off but now I think maybe I needed it this year, maybe the subtle Christianity and basic bible quotes will be good for me.

It says "She welcomes the years with arms open wide and loves life with the kind of passion that comes straight from God"

4. Cut out the crap in my life.  I'm tired of being upset, letting the little things get to me, not being happy due to stupid things.  I feel like this is a resolution of mine every year so maybe 2011 is going to be my year to make this a reality.  

Favorite Memories of 2010- A Year of Moustaches

1. January- I love this picture.  Everyone keeps asking "what's the thing with the moustaches?" and I honestly have no answer other than how amusing it is (and you'll see it is a theme throughout the year).  I love that we started making snowflakes for me to hang at the front desk and ended up making paper moustaches to wear for the rest of the night.  A lot happened in January (including my birthday) but this is probably my favorite memory of the month.

2. February- For Valentine's Day for the first time probably ever, I had plans with some of my favorite girls in Winona.  We made heart shaped pizza with heart shaped cupcakes and dressed up cute just because we could.  It was a fun night and the best Valentine's Day I've had so far.

3. March- March is a month of friends' birthdays yet I only have a few pictures that captured the events of the month.  This is from Phil's golden 24th birthday, celebrated at Buca as a surprise party.  He had a Star Wars cake and the toppers had a button on their backs so their light sabers lit up.  I like that Phil is like a big kid.

4. April- In April, I got the opportunity to drive to Milwaukee with Janelle to see "Legally Blonde: The Musical".  I watched it on MTV a few years ago but was excited to see it live and it definitely did not disappoint!  It was a fun weekend of driving, shopping and spending time with Janelle's family.

5. May- The highlight of this month was graduation, of course!  It's still hard for me to believe that I have a college degree and Winona is no longer my home away from home (though deep down, it always will be).  I thought I was so ready to leave- boy was I wrong!  Graduation was a great thing but everything post-graduation has been a new kind of challenge for me.

6. June- June was my month of Heidi and I wouldn't have had it any other way.  First, Heidi, Erin and Rybecat came to spend the night at my house (and to visit Jazz).  Then for the summer solstice, I drove down to La Crosse to attend and bartend Heidi's parents' solstice party.  It was a blast and I hope I get the chance to go again next year (or have a party of my own!)

7. July- In July, Peter was home before moving to D.C. to his new Air Force base.  We finally went to the new Twins stadium for a game and had a great time!  That stadium is beautiful and it was nice to be outside like that one time we saw the Twins play the Royals in Kansas City (or like every time we go to a Saints game).  Peter went home on his and Nina's birthday when Liz, Nina and I went out for super fancy birthday dinner to treat Nina when she turned 19!

8. August- August was the time to buckle down and get stuff done for Allison & Phil's wedding.  I was BUSY working full time, volunteering at the WCCO booth at the State Fair, and wedding planning but we made it to the end of the month in time to party!  This is one of my favorite pictures from the bachelorette party (again with the moustaches).

9. September- I have so many favorite pictures from Allison & Phil's wedding but I think this one takes the cake.  I was so proud and excited for my best friend to get married (even after the stressful few months of wedding planning and preparing).  The day seemed to go off without a hitch and was a beautiful ceremony and gathering of friends and family to celebrate their marriage!

10. October- I think this picture expresses the sheer happiness we all felt when we went to HPOT WORLD in October.  We tried Butterbeer (and loved it), bought sweet treats at Honeydukes (where this picture was taken), participated in the Tri-Wizard dragon challenge, explored Hogwarts, rode on a Hippogriff, wandered the streets of Hogsmeade and enjoyed the nice Florida weather.  There is only one word to describe our trip- AWESOME.

11. November- For the first of many parties of Allison's birthday (she took a page out of my book this year and celebrated her birthday for a week), we went to Paint Your Plate, just us girls.  It was a great choice of venue for our artsy group of friends!  My favorite was watching Liz enjoying herself so much she was practically giddy.  "This mug needs 100% more lightning.  This mug needs 100% more fire."  She was thrilled and our painted pieces all turned out amazing!

12. December- December knocked an item off my bucket list- be in a parade (preferably the Holidazzle).  The Holidazzle is my favorite parade of all time as it is a family tradition, takes place in downtown Minneapolis, and is a festival of lights.  We got the chance to fill in for a few people who couldn't walk in the parade one night and I couldn't have been happier about it.  Sure, they aren't the most flattering costumes, but it was an experience to be had!

Starting tomorrow- A PICTURE A DAY FOR A YEAR!  My plan is to start posts at the beginning of each week and then adding as the days go on so there will only be 52 posts as opposed to 365 separate ones.  I'm excited about this thing I want to do before I turn 24!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!