Pumpkin Blumpkin

The last few weeks have been a blur.  First, Mike and I had the best time at our wedding.  We have been so happy and celebratory lately as we are still riding the high from that night.  Everyone says the day goes by so fast, and in a lot of ways it did.  However, everything went so perfect and there was absolutely no stress from sun up until sun down that I was the most peaceful I have been in a long time.  I have so many people to thank for that, but I'll save it for another day. 

Second, we went on our honeymoon.  San Francisco is such an awesome city.  Sonoma is pretty fun too.  I can't wait to update on all of the things that we saw and ate.  Holy goodness.  There is so much good food in San Francisco.  Mike and I definitely overate. 

Since we have been back, we've been trying to slow life down and just relish in the newlywed glow.  I think I'll relish it a lot more once the house is put back in order and the thank you cards are written. 

Last night, we partook in one of my favorite activities...pumpkin carving.  I actually don't love carving pumpkins, but I love pumpkin seeds, so I insist on pumpkins every year.  This year we just did one.  Isn't she lovely?  We named her Allison Blumpkin, the country pumpkin.  I can't wait to put her out tonight.  I didn't want to put her out last night because I was afraid that squirrels would eat her.  What is that anyways?  This year more than others I've noticed squirrels eating pumpkins.  Is there a nut shortage that I don't know about?

I will update a lot on the wedding stuff, but for now, just one picture...

Don't Call Me A Photographer

I had this really great, fun-filled weekend. But, it would be hard to share it with you now or even remember it all that well later because I didn't photograph it. Why do I do that? I really wanted to photograph the events that happened this weekend and even carried around a camera, but still didn't take photos. On Sunday, I felt really bummed about it. Then I went to my respective Easter celebrations and...didn't take any photos. Shitballs. I'm sure that's what Jesus would want me to say about my lack of photos.

I didn't really make a NME resolution in April because I kind of forgot about it. Now, I'm making a 10 day delayed resolution. I am going to take photos. I'm going to hold onto the guilt and sadness that I had on Sunday morning and use that as a reminder for why taking photos is a good thing. I think I'll make this my monthly resolution until I actually do it. It really sucks having great times with your friends and family and not having any proof. I envy those who have a lot of proof.

Feb's Eve 2012

Here it is, my favorite holiday of the year. I can't really celebrate this year like I have in the past. I have yogilates this evening and while skipping it entered my mind, I also realized that my arm flabby-jabbies aren't going away by themselves. And nothing looks worse in a wedding dress than bingo wings! So, I'll be celebrating by going to my class and then probably sharing a pizza with my mother. Yogilates and pizza go hand-in-hand.

I hope that you all are out celebrating big time. What are all of your Feb's Eve resolutions? My resolution is to drink more sangria. It's been awhile since I've had sangria and I miss it. Anyone want to go to Brasa with me?

Good One April!

April Fool's. You will have one more month of winter. Resolution of the month: Create a cleaning schedule. I've been a lazy mofo these last few weeks and need to get my rear in gear to open the house up for spring. I wish my resolution could be to create sunshine out of puppies farts or something like that. But, that violates one of my rules for resolution making.

Welcome February

Last night was Feb's Eve, my favorite holiday of the year. And I rang in the new month with gusto. Now that we are in a new month, I can make new resolutions and my resolution for this month is to finish at least two books. My reading has been really atrocious lately and I need to get back to it. My to-be-read list keeps growing longer and longer.

For the record, I did not finish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest this weekend, but I am very close to finishing. I think I have maybe 75 pages or so left. So, hopefully this week I will finish it. BTW, I can't wait to skewer that thing.

What are everyone else's resolutions?

A New Month Is Upon Us

December is basically my favorite month. But, also sort of my least favorite because of how quickly it all flies by. I am one of those people who love Christmas. And in December you get to celebrate the season for an entire month. It's awesome. Here are all of the things I look forward to this month:

• Christmas lights. Love them. I would go out driving every night if it was possible. It's not, but I still go out at least once a week.
• Christmas trees. There's nothing quite like decorating a tree. I like to pull out each ornament and remember where I got it. My mom still has ornaments that I made when I was 4 or 5. Every ornament that I put on the tree has a memory for me and I love a good trip down memory lane.
• Christmas music. I'm not as into it as a lot of people I know (Anne, I'm talking about you), but I still like it a whole lot. Pandora's Swingin' Christmas station was on all day at work and I know I'll go home tonight humming O Holy Night.
• Christmas cards. I'm very old fashioned this way. Really I love receiving mail, and sending out Christmas cards ensures that you will get some in return.
• Christmas movies. My biggest complaint is that the networks put them on too soon. I saw the other night that The Grinch was on. Can't they show that a bit closer to Christmas. I think they do it so that people will buy the movies. Consumerism.
• Christmas baking. This year I'm looking forward to another successful cookie baking day with my mother. The two of us make hundreds of cookies together. Then we eat them with little to no help from family and friends. We're gluttons.

But like all things that are meticulously planned out, they go by way too fast and leave the planners with a certain amount of the blues. That's one thing I don't like about Christmas.

Happy December everyone!

I Welcome October With Open Arms

September has never been my favorite month. It's too much of an in-between, like May. With these in-between months I never know what to wear. This morning I was cold, so I wore to work: tall boots and thick socks, skirt, longsleeved tshirt and a long sleeved cardigan. I am so effing hot right now. And it's warm and sunny outside, so when I walked outside to get lunch, I started sweating and now I'm a hot and sweaty mess and can't really change anything about it. I'm giving a big middle finger to September right now. Are you summer or fall? Make up your damn mind.

But, not to fret because tomorrow is October and I love me some October. This October will be particularly sentimental.

My October goal will be to do Octobery things like pumpkin carving, apple orcharding, leaf viewing and picking and hot apple cider drinking.

Happy October's Eve to all!

September, Don't Be In Such A Hurry

In theory, I love the fall. I like the change from a steady heat to a more subdued crispness. I like the idea of colors and moods changing. I feel happy when I think about cuddling up in the perfect over sized sweater with the windows open and a cool breeze coming in while sipping hot cider and watching a movie on my large and plush sectional sofa and an awesome scented candle burning in the background.

The reality of fall is that none of those things will happen. I will more likely be itching like crazy in a wool sweater that is far too hot for fall, it will be gross and rainy meaning the windows can't be open, I never have hot cider available to me, I don't own a large and plush sectional sofa and I never notice a candles scent until I leave a room and then come back into it.

So, even though everyone else is becoming ecstatic for the changing seasons, I'm holding onto summer with everything I have. I want the weather to be hot and sticky, the days to be long. I want to be always in dresses and flip flops. I want to be able to go outside whenever I want and not think about whether I need a jacket. Give me one more month of summer September, I know you have it in you!

My NME goal this month is to enjoy every last moment because soon it will be winter once again.

Holy S!@#, it's August

I'm using a gorgeous summer night sky to lament the fact that I'm sad summer is coming to a quick close. I know that fall is awesome and fun and I'm not not looking forward to it, but I am a summertime gal and I will miss warm nights where the sun is with us until 10:00 and wearing flip flops all day every day. But, I will certainly enjoy this month whilst I can.

I celebrated August's Eve by going to the Lowertown Music Festival (if you were there, you might refer to it as Faint Fest 2010 because people were going down left and right). It was a fun night of MN bands, Summit beer, fainting and cheese curds. I'm not even kidding, one old man went down right in front of me. I'm always amazed that people can catch fainters. The guy who fainted in front of me sort of sagged and then the guy next to him had his arms around him and helped him to the ground while he was unconscious. I can imagine that if I ever faint, I'm going down like a sack of potatoes...fast and furious style. Anyhow, the festival was fun and I bid adieu to July in style.

There are many things to look forward to in August. Namely vacation (YAY!), Michael's birthday, the new Ray LaMontagne CD, gearing up for fall television and shopping for fall clothes.

I think my NME resolution for August will be to enjoy every last drop of summer.

Happy June!

I am so happy that it's June. And I'm hoping that June means beautiful days and no sickness. Because honestly, sickness killed May for me.

However, this Memorial Day weekend as well as June's Eve somewhat made up for it. It started with a half day on Friday where my mother and I had lunch and did some shopping as well as replanted my basil plant. Later that night it was dinner and sangria which always puts me in the happiest of moods. Saturday was a gloriously hot day enjoyed at the Twins game. Sunday was relaxing from morning to evening. And yesterday not only did I have the day off, but the weather was glorious AND I spent the day at the Arboretum (see flower picture above) followed by dinner at Sea Salt. I really celebrated June's Eve yesterday, let me tell you.

I would make my June goal to not get sick, but I think doing so will give me a 100% chance of getting sick. Instead, it will be to do push ups everyday. I know that I'm recycling, but I seriously fell off the push up wagon in May.

Happy June!

Yay for May!

The above flower really isn't a "May" flower, it's an "August" flower. But, it was the first flower picture I could find on my computer before I had to run off to work this morning. Maybe I'll change it later to something more appropriate.

In the meantime I am heavily anticipating tonight's May's Eve festivities. It involves a band of public defenders (and by band I mean actual musical band and not like the tribe kind of band) and a below average bar. But I have had a very long week and even a totally below average bar has alcohol.

Now, onto the important stuff. I have had great success in my April goal and I am going to ride that high right into May. My May's Eve goal is to be more photo happy. I used to take a lot of pictures of festivities, merriment and complete randomness. But now I don't. So, May will become about being an obnoxious lenswoman. I will once again learn to take photos of everything. Because photos are like memories and my memory is getting worse with my old age, so pictures are almost all I have left. Aging is a bitch.

Happy May!

I Have Been Delinquent

Trials drain the life out of me. So, I haven't been able to even think of things to write about. Plus, I don't know what people put in the July water that makes April a month filled with birthdays, but hot diggity! I have 8 birthdays to celebrate in April and that list keeps on growing.

One thing to celebrate this Friday is the yearly return of May's Eve. It's an ancient holiday where children and old people alike prepare for a day of prancing around large poles with ribbons and throwing flowers in the air. Most people will prepare for this by drinking heavily with loved ones or random strangers. Either way, it's truly a celebration you will not want to miss!

And just in case I forget to inform you on Friday...my April goal was a complete success! I vowed to do push-ups everyday to make my large upper arms dwindle in size. Well I have done push ups everyday (almost) this month and I have had marginal results. But I'm still happy because I think my arms have downgraded (or would it be upgraded?) from a hippo to a gorilla. Except a fatty gorilla, not a muscley one.

Farewell to the Best March Ever

The weather this March has been the best that I can remember in a long time. And by that I mean since March 2007. So, I have really high hopes for a fabulous April! Happy April Everyone!

Last night I celebrated April's Eve by having dinner on the Happy Gnome patio. It was so nice, until the sun went down and then it got cold and I got cranky. But up until then it was awesome. Plus, it's Holy Week. And that means that this upcoming Sunday I can shop again. Hallelujah indeed.

This year for Lent I gave up shopping, which may not seem like a big deal or a good thing to give up for Lent, but it actually was. I learned that I have a lot of stuff and I probably don't need to have that much stuff. Also, while I love shopping so much, I learned that I can live without doing it every week. I think I'm going to continue not really shopping for awhile longer, until I see summer stuff that I really want.

Anyhow, NME resolutions...push ups everyday. It's almost tank top season, and while my wrists are pleasant and dainty, my upper arms are flabby as a hippopotamus.

Ramblings

I haven't posted anything in awhile, mostly because I've been mysteriously busy and because my job has somewhat changed. I say mysteriously busy because I don't really have much going on, but have found myself really behind in everything. Maybe it's a spring thing?

Anyhow, starting this week, I started a new assignment in my same job. I will be at the county hospital 2 weeks at a time with the judge that I work for doing civil commitments and then the next 2 weeks will be back at the courthouse doing trust/probate hearings. The main issue is that while I am at the hospital I have very limited Internet access. I share a computer with someone else and can only use it when they aren't doing examinations in the room that the computer is in. So, I'm not really on the computer at all at work and then get back home and have to look at work email, my regular email, my regular websites and anything else. It feels so frantic and I don't want to spend my entire night on the computer, so I haven't even been able to think about updating ye old blog.

So, being a few days into March, I thought I'd do a little bit of an update. I sort of forgot about March's Eve until about 8:00 the night of. Whoops. But I spent it eating Thai food and watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. So, it was pretty good. I did make a resolution for March. Drumroll please...I am going to try to plan less. I don't know if this makes sense, but the last half year of my life has felt very planned out where every weekend I have a couple of obligations and most weekdays I have something going on. I want to find a better balance of being planned and doing nothing, so this month I'm not going to plan much.

On another note, how much do you miss the Olympics?

Happy Happy October

Only 3 months left to this year! Madness. But seriously, I almost forgot about NME this month. The horrors. I'm sometimes a calendar idiot and didn't realize there were only 30 days in September. Big whoops! I should be fired from my position as CEO of the NME movement, but since I'm the only one who cares, I ain't skerred.

So, Happy October to everyone!!! Anyone up for a little pumpkin carving?

It's September, Yo.

So, this weekend it decided to turn fall. I have mixed feelings. I love the fall, but also love the summer and we didn't really have much of a summer. But, oh well. Let the apple picking begin!

BTW, how much do you bitches need to thank me. I think August on the whole was much warmer than the rest of the summer and I'm sure that my NME resolution has the world to do with it. I resolved and it happened. Just call me Gandalf (the Grey, not the white...as I told you when reviewing The Return of the King, once he turned white he lost all of his mojo).

September is going to be one helluva fun month. I have a couple of friends going back to school, Jess & Tony's 5 year anniversary, hs reunion (which I'm actually not that excited about) and most importantly the READATHON!

If you haven't heard, I'm hosting a charity readathon. 12 hours, $10 per book read.

So, my September goal is to read 7 books. I'm actually hoping to surpass this, but you know how I feel with NME resolutions...baby steps!

New Month Eve Success!

Remember when I asked you all to help me with NME resolutions for August and wish for warmer weather. Well, looks like it worked. For the past few days I have had to take off my sweater or jacket while I am walking the 4 (or so) blocks from my car to office....in the morning. Now that's something to be happy about this summer.

I'll celebrate my contribution to the world with sangria this evening.

I Need Your Help!

Happy August! No, seriously, it's August. I know that you might think it's May or early June, but it's not. It's August. Summer's almost over bitches.

August is going to be a busy month for me. I'm moving, I've got trips I need to plan, trips I need to take, a charity event to organize, an apartment to paint, doctor's appointments, car issues. I'm tired already.

Speaking of apartment organizing and styling, what do you think of the bookshelf shown in this pic:

I've seen this before and I kind of love it. It's books organized by cover color. Is that too anal?

Don't worry, my complete busyness is not going to detract from my main responsibility of promoting NME. I do need everyone's help, though, in this month's NME resolution. My resolution is to make it warm and sunny outside. I know I'm setting myself up for failure with this one, but seriously. I'd like to not wear my lightweight sweater one of these days. I mean really is something in the 80's too much to ask for?

So, who's with me!! Who will help me achieve success with this month's resolution?

Happy July and Birthday!

First off - Happy Birthday to Annie! Anne, you are so much older than me. No, but seriously, happy birthday. You have one of the greatest birthdays ever because it's not only your birthday, but an obscure and made up holiday! I'm so jealous. Hope you have a fab day.

Secondly, it's July! A month of heat and fireworks. I do have to say that out of all the NME celebrations, July's may be my least favorite. Only because it's impossible for me to plan and falls 4 days before the most depressing day of my year. But, with that being said...I will still drink and will still make resolutions.

My July resolution: to be outdoors more. Here's a reason why I may need to be outdoors more...
Friend: Everyone wants to sit on the patio even though it's freezing because we've all come out of our winter lockdowns and feel guilty about not being outside.
Me: I never feel guilty about not being outside.
Friend: Well, you're an exception.

I think what he wanted to say was "you're weird". Anyways...this month brings us Bastille day and the birth of Baby Habben. So let's get celebrating.

Happy Beginning of Summer!

June's here, June's here!! June's Eve is my third favorite NME as it marks the beginning of summer. Summer is a time when I make lists of things I want to do and then never do them, so it fits right in with NME traditions.

Here are things I'm looking forward to in June: the arrival of FBH (future baby Hauth) (although when he arrives, he will not be future), my baby brother's trip to France and birthday (I don't get to go to France, but I do get to see his pictures), Grand Old Days, Becca's Going Away party (although not looking forward to the going away part...boo), Annie Mish's bday (whoops, it's Bosick now, but I love her birthday the most because it makes her 4 days older than me). I'm hoping there will be other things to look forward to, but the way 2009 is going, I'm on a bullet train to snoozeville.