Note to self:

• Just because you have fallen several times while out running you don't need to wait until every ounce of snow is gone before you get back out - you hate the treadmill - get off it and get outside
• Go buy yourself a bike - yours sucks the old lady nearly ruined yours- you got a tax return (REJOICE) - use it wisely - don't risk riding your crappy bike
• I know you are busy and holy week is happening at full pace and you feel like you are losing your mind - relax, think, pray, be - it's holy week - take the time you need
• also your family and Marc's family are here - I know you are introverted and holy week without family coming to stay at your house is an introverted hell - enjoy them - take what time you need but then spend it with family - they drove a long ways to spend time with you - suck it up and Monday you can go for a long run with you and Dakota and not have anyone else around 
• you love snow - yes I know April is on the horizon and you still have several feet of snow in your yard, but I promise it will melt - Spring will come and spring will bring lots and lots of new life
• crochet - enjoy the projects you have going - enjoy the hats you have been making and the squares you are beginning to figure out for your afghan - come summer it won't be as much fun to crochet - enjoy it while the weather is still cold
• Nala will be leaving this weekend - be patient with her - just because she is completely crazy and spazatronic (yes I am sure that is not a word - but it fits so roll with it) - Dakota loves her - you can handle her for a few more days
• Go buy milk and bread - you are out and your meals are getting a little weird
• while you are at it you should probably buy some food to feed all the rest of the people coming to your house this weekend
• Go take some fun pictures asap - the snow beginning to turn brown and the very very very faint signs of spring popping through would make for some sweet photos

What would be included in your notes to self?

Has spring arrived where you are?

Have you gotten in any good runs lately?

Nala

Meet Nala - my brother's dog

Dear Nala- 

   Welcome back to my house, you have spent a ton of time with Dakota and I over the years and I am to the point that I tolerate you. Sometimes you just annoy me, you are so stinkin high maintenance. Seriously, you have in your head what you want to do and until you get your way you throw a fit. This second picture is a perfect example:

Nala - under the covers in my bed

Last night you kept whining and whining and whining and whining all while I was attempting to catch some much needed sleep. You consistently whined for two and a half hours, I couldn't take it any more and finally let you up in my bed after kicking you out what was at least 2 hours. I finally let you stay on the bed and you then threw a fit until I would let you under the covers, then you curled up and passed out like nothing had happened. Seriously! YOU ARE A DOG, Dakota is happily sleeping in her crate totally oblivious to the fact that dogs can and do sleep anywhere other than crates. You annoy me when you sleep with me, you feel the need to sleep under the covers with your head on a pillow. Your legs are ridiculously long and move from time to time in your sleep and you scratch at my back or whatever part of my body is closest to me. 

Nala & Dakota
I can't only post pictures of my brother's dog

I must confess that there are nice aspects to having you around, you and Dakota do play nice (sometimes - sometimes you like to do whatever you can to irritate Dakota and she sits and barks at you for minutes on end until I make you stop doing whatever you are intentionally doing to irritate her). You and Dakota run around the yard until you can't handle the cold any more and then you come inside and run all over the house, sometimes I think you two are playing some type of hide and go seek game because you will take turns running somewhere and stopping and then the other one of you comes and pounces on whoever has stopped moving.

The other game that you two like to play that annoys me is you both open your mouths wide and make these strange noises while you chase each other around and attempt to pounce on each other's heads. It is strange and noisy and you run like fools while you showing each other your teeth.

Sometimes you do have super sweet moments, those moments when Dakota is laying on one side of me and you lay down on the other side of me and I can sit for a couple hours reading my book and the two of you will just sleep and snuggle me. It is glorious.

You hate walking outside right now because you have such a thin coat. Every time I start to get the leashes out you freak out and don't want to go for a walk (I don't keep you out that long that you freeze - it is only a short walk) and if you don't get a walk you are cRaZy!

Please tone down the crazy. Enjoy your stay at my house, and come Easter I will be more than ready to send you back to school with your dad (my brother).

Love,
   Sarah

Mom is here

Whoop Whoop! Late last night mom arrived, seriously there is something absolutely wonderful about having Mom at my place. She has been snuggling my sweet puppy (and feeding Dakota all sorts of things I wouldn't) and hanging out and helping me with projects. We also have come up with a list of miscellaneous wedding type projects that we plan to work on during the week she is here. It is WONDERFUL to have family around. I give thanks for my family who is willing to travel to see me and understands that I can't necessarily travel home and gather like we use to.

There is something about mom's cooking, or maybe it is just that I don't have to cook. Either way it is wonderful, my dog thinks she has died and gone to heaven because she hardly ever has to go into her kennel, someone is generally home with her. I do love the holidays but I particularly love time with my family.

Now slowly but surely my family will continue to arrive, Cubby and his girlfriend (brother and girlfriend) should be arriving sometime today with Cub's dog Nala. Marc will come back to northern Minnesota tomorrow after spending a little bit more time with his family. And dad will roll in on Monday evening after working. Christmas day we will all travel to the cities to hang out with my uncle and three of my cousins. I LOVE my family.

Seriously I think having many of my favorite people together is one of the exciting things I am looking forward to about my wedding. Super excited. Now to go work on wedding type projects with mom and have her quit feeding the dog all sorts of food.



Who are you gathering with this holiday season?
Any family traditions that you look forward to every year?

Prevacation Brain

   Sunday, Sunday I leave for vacation and couldn't be more excited, I am headed up to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area [BWCA] with a few good friends! We all are rejoicing that we have survived the summer grind (we all serve in churches and work closely alongside youth, meaning our summers are nuts). I haven't been on vacation all summer and am thrilled to be going. However, there is work to be done today (tomorrow is my regular day off) and Sunday I still get to preach and lead worship and then we are off!
   I have a list that is sitting in front of me structuring exactly what needs to be done before I leave for vacation, and a sermon that needs to be finished (it is getting close) but my brain is in the boundary waters, with thoughts of sitting in my hammock and reading a good book or going for an afternoon swim and even on brownies made over the fire. Yes it will be good and long overdue. I am excited that there is absolutely no cell phone reception. I am excited that we won't have internet connection and no one is hauling a computer (there will be no blog updates). Although there are certain people I will miss talking to and hear from but it will be a marvelous week!
   I.Must.Try.To.Focus. on things other than BWCA. In fun between now and then I am running the Dru Sjodin Purple Elephant Run in Pequot Lakes on Saturday. Saturday evening another group of friends and I are having what we have dubbed "bacon fest" - we all are bringing some type of bacon related item. I am bringing bacon wrapped water chestnuts. I hear another friend is making bacon bowls to put salads in and what not. The last exciting piece is my brother is coming up at some point, he is going to stay with Dakota for the week while I am up in BWCA and he is going to putz with my house (YAY!). It will be wonderful to see him again. Although when he leaves he is taking Nala with him and I am certain Dakota isn't going to know what to do with herself as Nala has been around all summer and we have gotten up to 6 dogs in the house this past week. She will be one lonely puppy - we'll have to spend lots of time with her best friends Gus and Luther to help her cope. I am thrilled to be going back down to a one dog house!
  Now I must go back to work and attempt to focus on work not all the excitement coming up shortly.

The Chaos in my world

Here is a video glimpse into what my world is like at moments, the video is of Dakota & Nala playing. I have my brother's dog, Nala, while he is out east interning for the FDA. Normally the dogs are amazing but sometimes they go crazy in turn driving me crazy.
I am prepping to leave for the Synod Journey to the ELCA National Youth Gathering tomorrow and know I will miss my sweet puppy like crazy!

Long time no blog

Excitement in my world right now:

• I am actually getting somewhere with remodeling the kitchen - the countertops are off and I think I have the sheet rocking done, now to finish taping and mudding and get it all sanded down and what not so I can paint and get the new countertops back into my kitchen (LONG OVERDUE)
• There is a high likelihood that I will get to play a role in helping to run a camp in the area (more on this when it becomes official)
• Dakota is amazing as always
• Work life is coming along fabulously - now I just need to nail down all the little details about the trips & summer ministries for the summer and I'll be good to go
• My brother's dog is moving in with me this weekend (excitement... not certain it is good, but his dog is CRAZY so I am certain you all will hear about the crazy dog, who I have grown to love)
• I bought a KAYAK!!! SUPER excited about this. It is a wilderness systems pungo 120 and it is lime green.
• This weekend I get to see lots of friends in Fargo as we all run various races Friday/Saturday - I am running the half marathon which I feel quite unprepared for but... it is what it is...
• I have a to-do list that feels like it is about 7,000 miles long that is slowly but surely getting chipped away at
• I have tried a ton of new crochet patterns lately and am loving them
• I realized this week that I have successfully taken a picture every day this year so far, I am compiling them into a shutterfly album and am loving it, I update it about once a week, so it doesn't become too overwhelming and I don't have to try to figure out what pictures are from what
• I'M NOT MOVING! - okay, if you know me this is very exciting as it is the first year since high school that I haven't had to move every year - I am jazzed about this
• Sunday nights are becoming a beautiful tradition between a group of friends and I and we are constantly getting new people: we pack up our canoes, kayaks, dogs, whatever else we want and head to a camp here in town and spend the day playing - currently we all bring our own dinner but we are moving to pot lucking it every week - the photo below is from last night

Dakota and Luther swimming in Whipple Lake

First 2012 Ride your bike to work day

    Today it is absolutely beautiful outside, gorgeous day for March. I was excited and thrilled and was happy to have the chance to be outside. Yesterday a friend and I cleaned up my backyard and got to spend a couple hours raking leaves and other good things along that line it it was glorious. This morning I woke up and thought to myself that it was absolutely ridiculous that I drive to work as it is only 1.5 miles one way to work and I could easily do that on my bike and it would be good for me.
   So I got up checked the tire pressure, put air in the tires, packed my backpack [my usual bag wouldn't be great for riding bike], put on my helmet, and I was off to work. On my ride to work I thought about how it will be fun to keep track of how many times I ride to work and home and how many miles I keep off car and come this fall when the snow falls again calculate how much I saved in gas. BRILLIANT plan for sure and I am stoked and excited about it.
   I rode my bike home for lunch so I could play with my puppy and my brother's puppy [who I am dog sitting for a few days] and eat something yummy for lunch and chill for a little bit before heading back to work. On the way back to work I put on my helmet and my light spring jacket and was off and going. I stopped at every intersection and waiting for the walk signal and crossed when appropriate. About half way to work I had been stopped at the intersection and got the cross signal, looked, and then crossed the street. As I was crossing the street a very elderly woman hit the back of my bike bending the frame, bending the tire way out of place, and breaking my little gizmo [I don't know what it is really called] that keeps track of my mileage and tells me the time.
   Now here is the part that really annoys me: the lady didn't stop! She didn't stop to see if I was okay or if my bike was okay or what she hit. She kept going, I have no clue what her license plate number is or what kind of car she drives [I am horrible with identifying cars for the most part]. I called it into the police, not really much they can do with the super vague description I gave them but file a report. So in the long run I am left without a working bike and have to pay to replace it. Yes, technically I can turn it into my homeowners insurance but I have a high deductible I am not turning it into my insurance, my bike wasn't super off the wall amazing, let's be honest I have had that bike since 8th grade and have more than gotten my money out of it. But the point is it got me from point a to point b very well and for what I use the bike for it was absolutely perfect!
    My attempt to be healthy and be well has totally backfired and trashed my bike leaving me very annoyed! Here ends my rant for the day. Yes, I do give thanks that I walked away from it totally unharmed. I am thankful that I am not visiting the Emergency Room. I am thankful that she (I assume) is totally fine and not hurt and hopefully not too much damage was done to her car (if she even has any). I am thankful for the ability to rant and be annoyed and now to move on.
    God grant me the ability to forgive this woman as you forgive me day in and day out. Amen.

Unusual January

 This is my photo from January 7th, I wonder where our January weather is hiding. I have been slightly disappointed by October, November, December, and January so far, I want snow, feet upon feet of snow. I am ready to dust off my snowshoes that have been sitting by my back door just taunting me daily. I went to Crow Wing State Park with my brother, Marc, Dakota, and Nala (my brother's dog) and we walked around for a good couple hours, we had the park to ourselves. As we were walking along the banks of the Mississippi river we happened upon these beautiful birds and I was able to quick snap this picture. The birds in flight look pretty sweet in my opinion, although I am slightly frustrated that I didn't notice the grass in my shot until the photos were upload on my computer.