Nate's Secret Date

Last night was Nate's secret date for January. He was so thoughtful, in that he knew that with class, being home the previous weekend and leaving for NYC, I would want a night at home to veg.

So he thought of the perfect thing for a cold winter night: Indoor Picnic!!
We had a great spread of picnic-y food, like chicken salad sandwiches, crackers and cheese, grapes, nuts and of course wine.

I was pretty lame, and had Sprite though.












We even had S'mores that Nate roasted on the oven!! Yum!

The Wheels on the Bus

This past weekend the whole fam was back in Viroqua! We were home to see my Grandpa and also because he was being honored for 53 YEARS of service as a bus driver in Westby, WI!

It was amazing to see how many people came and how much my Grandpa had touched so many peoples lives.

Here he is with his current bus route kids. The kids were adorable when he showed up. One of the little kids yelled, "He's Coming! He's Coming!"

We're talking the celebrity of Westby WI here folks.

The even had a delicious school bus cake!

It was great that so many people from our immediate family were able to come home for it!

And of course this weekend was also filled with FInnegan spoiling time! I snuck him his first taste of butterscotch pie, and scotcharoo! I am now known as Aunt Candy, which I'm not sure how I feel about.....let's be honest it kind of sounds like a stripper.

This kid may not be able to crawl yet, but he already has his yoga poses down. Here is demonstrating the superman pose.

Surviving the Writers Strike: Part 2

The writers strike has only been magnified this week and the frigid temps persist in the grand state of MN.

Luckily, I have been crazy busy at work and have had little time to think of television. However, when I do get home and am looking for a little R&R my TiVo has little to provide.

Here is a list of shows that I will ashamedly admit that I now watching--I use the word watch loosely as I usually am reading magazine, on the internet, etc during said watching--to get me through this horrible, new episde-less winter.

1) Crowned--the most horrendous guilty pleasure yet. Teams of mothers and daughters compete in a beauty pageant agasint other teams. Challenges are your typical talent competition, public speaking,e tc.

2) Make Me a Supermodel-this a Bravo's attempt at America's Next Top Model. You would think anything that eliminates Tyra Banks from the equation would be more successful but I still think it is worse.

3) Cashmere Mafia-this show is probably the only new one that I would watch if other new TV were on. It's good but a definite Sex and the City knock-off.

4) John and Kate Plus 8:--definitely the most entertaining show as it follows a couple who had twin girls and then tried for one more kid and ended up with sextuplets...to total 8 kids.

Thank goodness Friday Night Lights still has new episdoes as that is our favorite show. I start school again tomorrow, so the yearning for new TV will very soon fade into getting papers written, chapters read, and group projects complete.

Fun fun.

Surviving the Writers Strike: Part 1

I have to admit I was hoping to blog about how cool the Packers are tonight, but alas, Favre could not pull through. It was a sad night in the Hanson household.

Instead, let's talk address what Nate and and I have been doing now that the Writers strike has stripped us of the TV shows that we love. Our TiVo is empty, and the boredom has set in.

So much so that today, on one of the coldest days of the year, Nate decided that he couldn't take being inside anymore and layered on the clothes and went for a run.

I did not join him.

Hell Hath Frozen

Well, I'm pretty sure it has happened. Hell has most likely frozen over.

Why you may ask?

Because our cat, Lucy, in her determination to get some quality loving time descended the stairs to our basement.

Now to those normal pet owners, this seems like no great feat. However, Lucy has spent the last year avoiding the downstairs at all costs. From spending lonely nights upstairs while we watched movies, to reducing her food and water intake this cat has gone to great lengths to avoid the downstairs.

But for some reason, tonight was the night she chose to storm downstairs and pretty much say "listen up...I want lovin' now...not after you've eaten dinner, and changed clothes and watched a TV episode...NOW"

We were so taken aback of course we didn't get to snap a photo of this momentous occasion, but I had to share.

Secret Date Night

Saturday night was the first secret date of 2008. It was my night, and I had gotten tickets to go see Avenue Q at the State Theatre. I have been wanting to see this show FOREVER, and it didn't let us down. It was hilarious, and very entertaining. Some of favorite songs were "What do you do with a B.A. in English," "If You Were Gay, That'd Be Ok," and "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist."

We hit up Solera afterwards for their super cheap, super delicious late night tapas menu. We had three different small plates, and I think it was a toss up between the goat cheese stuffed roasted red peppers or the grilled asparagus for the favorite of the evening.

It's a good thing I had a 'post' dinner planned because there was no way that Nate was missing the Packer game.

Winter Wonderland!

Break out the spring clothes! It hit 40 degrees today in Minneapolis, and that meant fun in the sun.

We did our home-owner duties first and cleared our driveway of all remaining snow/ice/etc.

But then we reverted back to childhood and decided that we definitely needed to build a snowman.

Ringing in 2008

Who would have guessed that the night would have started out with a blind champagne taste test courtesy of one Ryan Plonske? That's right..you never know what will happen when Ryan rolls into town. Last night, he brought 3 bottles of champagne with him, and immediately popped them all open (although we later learned, they should really "sigh" when you open them vs. pop).

The votes were tallied and it was determined that the "Barefoot Bubbly" was the best value and taste. I personally thought the Tosti Asti was good, but I was definitely alone on that one.

It was the last child-less New Years for the Schuster family. Summer looked absolutely adorable of course. I took it upon myself to crown baby Schuster with a tiara because I am still adament it is a girl.









It was the first New Year's as a married couple for Nate and I. Lucy even showed up at midnight for a party picture.

It was a great night with the best of friends!

Wishing everyone a happy, and healthy 2008!


And for your viewing enjoyment.....check-out these two dance videos...

More Christmas....

I am so lucky that Becca caught this Christmas moment on her camera and shared with me.

This is proof that Christmas actually isn't just for kids.