Life on a Plane

I have been spending a lot of time up in the air recently...NYC last week, LA yesterday, and Floriday today.
It dawned on my about half-way through my round-trip to CA yesterday that the amount of time I was in an airplane in a 24 hour period of time could have taken me Europe, or Hawaii. But instead it took me to LA. For a whole 2 hours.

Now flights have recently become MUCH more tolerable for my can't-sit-still disorder with the advent of in-flight INTERNET!!! Are you kidding me? I can kill like 6 hours on the internet before I even blink. Literally, sometime Nate has to remind me to blink...

But as I think about boarding another plane, EVEN THOUGH it is taking me to what I am certain is going to be an incredibly fun girls weekend, I just dread havnig to stay still, in one spot, for 4 hours, even with the Internet.

One of Those Weekends

It was a rare weekend with very few plans, but yet so full of things to do at the same time. Looking ahead at our calendars Nate and I realized this was the last weekend in a long line of weekends with 'nothing' to do so we tried to pack as much 'need to do' in as well as some R&R.

Nate had his secret date on Friday night and we went to see Anthony Bourdain speak at the State Theatre. It was a great event, and I have never heard someone so articulately use the F bomb so many times. He is a travel/food writer, and definitely made Nate and I even more antsy to plan our next big travel adventure.

Now, we always park in the same garage when we go to any theatres on Hennepin Avenue. It's cheap, accessible and never too crowded. And Friday night wasn't any different. However, with Nate behind the wheel, it took us about 10 minutes to park and after we were parked and I ribbed him a little he responds with: "Well now we are close to the exit so we can avoid the crowds".

Luckily, I had my camera, so I submit to you exhibit A:

We literally drove around the ENTIRE parking garage to get this spot so we didn't get behind the imaginary crowds Nate must have been envisioning in his head. Because from where I was standing (and where I was standing was right where I took this picture) I wasn't exactly worrying about an enormously long line getting out of this place. Unless that 1 SUV waaaaay in the back got stuck in the exit or something.

Saturday morning brought one of my favorite events: The Edina Library book sale. Edina--land of people with too much money, who also have great taste in books. Enter the Library book sale where all of these people donate their books, and the library charges $1.00 for them. And you have my personal heaven.

This is the grand daddy of all book sales the library puts on. There is an upstairs and a downstairs. Secret little rooms and so many great books you want to explode...or go to the bathroom (but thats another story). Nate had to calm the Justice Police as a 50 year old (or so she looked) woman BUDGED in front of 10 people in line, including some cute little kids. Really lady? Does budding in front of 10 people really get you SO Much more access to the books that you are goign to be able to scoop up all of the good ones? No. So why do you make yourself look like a total jack ass? Nate begged me to just let her 'deal with her own demons' and not get involved...so I did. But it was hard.

But this lady didn't get all of the good books, because I was feeling pretty darn good about my take home. Kate Furnivall's newest book...heck yeah! TWO scores from Ann Patchett AND Tom Perrotta. One THousand White Women-Journal from Mary Todd...YES!!! All of these books, plus 2 more Sci Fi pics for Nate for a mere $25--can you say jackpot?

 Once I write my final paper this weekend, reading for school will be done and I can dig into these amazing reads!

Gross or Not Gross?

The Scene: At the kitchen table prepping for a massive Target Run.

Me: "Hey, can you check to see if we have almond paste."

Nate gets up and walks into the kitchen to check. Silence. Silence.

So I get up to investigate the progress of said checking on almond paste (not sure why I sent him to do this task anyway given the 'Looking Disorder" that has been diagnosed...another blog post entirely), and I see Nate pouring Feta cheese crumbles from this gigantic container and popping a handful into his mouth.

After about 10 minutes of debate, we decided the best way to settle this argument was to let our blog readers decide...kind of like The Marriage Ref show but online and with a much smaller audience.

So the question is: Eating Feta cheese crumbles straight out of the container...Gross or Not Gross?

Exit

Today another major milestone passed me by: my exit interview for Grad School.

I cannot tell you what a gigantic waste of time this required meeting was. First of all, I never even needed to take out a loan. I just figured, why not get some free moola from the government in the amount of $1,000. And, let's be honest, Nate pretty much told me I would be an idiot for not doing it.

So I did it. And now as I wilt in this stupid meeting, I literally am considering raising my hand and asking if I can just write a check for the loan amount escape this awful, poorly lit, crowded with undergrads room. Ugh.
I have about..oh...a million other things I could and would rather be doing. BUT I can't just leave because they won't take my stupid little gold slip of paper with my completion signature on it until 10:30. Really?

What if that slip of paper came witha $1,000 check? Would you take it then?

Because I promise you, University of Minnesota, I do not need your fancy power point on paying off my credit card bills, or your analysis on what happens when you have late fees on your loans. I also don't need your friendly tips on why it is important to pay off these loans so if you want to go to grad school you can get more loans. Why? Because I am done with school. Forever.

So take this ridiculous meeting and stuff it.

Things I'm Laughing at This Week

1) F U Penguin. Seriously, this website cracks me UP every time I read it. And it doesn't get old. For all of you who wish you could get a peek under the Hanson Household curtain, you would find Nate saying "I think you should read me an FU Penguin post." For some reason, we find it utterly and totally belly-laugh funny.

2) Look At This F*ing Hipster. You have all seen these people. The ones that are so cool that they can wear the craziest shit, and don it with a too cool to care attitude and somehow pull it off. Nate and I were cracking up all weekend in NYC and just kept saying :Look at this...well you get the picture.

3) School. I'm going to drop some secrets right here....I have ceased all school work. Don't tell my group members, or my professors. Oh I'll get my work done, but every day that passes a small giggle starts to form that will ultimately burst out into HUGE laughs and joy as I finish my last semester!

4) Modern Family. Nate and I have many, arguably too many, little inside jokes that usually stem from a variety of TV shows like SNL, Modern Family, etc. Recently, Nate and I have been using "Nailed It!" from Modern Family for pretty much everything. I actually have visions of myself yelling it out after a meeting at work, but figured no one would get it except Nate. So in essence, I guess I am kind of laughing at myself. Hmmm...

5) Offensive and Delightful. I'd like to think this sums me up on some days. I mean it is something people should strive for. To be offensive AND delightful. That takes skill...although some of my friends would probably call me inappropriate and not offensive. Seems as though I'll have to continue to fine tune. These cards, notebooks, etc are just the ticket to brightening up someone's day!

Run This Town

I learned a few things today.

1) Central Park is an amazing place to run.
2) It is much hillier than one would expect.
3) If you are dressed in running clothes you will be mistaken as a 'real' NY...many times.

Nate and I kicked off our Saturday in the City with an 8 mile run in Central Park. And it was amazing. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

After being asked 3 times for directions, and explicitly being told that we 'looked like New Yorkers' we clearly got a little to big for our Midwest britches and God decided to treat us to a real NY experience...get stuck in a PACKED subway train for 30 minutes.

Next up was checking out the Union Square Farmers Market. Nate was all jazzed about roasted sweet corn, and I with all sassiness possible in my voice stated: "It's a farmers market, Nate. Not a Fair." So you can imagine the grief I received when we stumbled upon this:

Note the shit eating grin.

There were all sorts of tasty treats, spices and crafts to be had.

We decided that when in NY, Broadway is a must so we braved the TKTS line and scored seats at West Side Story. It was great. The person who played Maria rocked the stage. I forgot how much I love the music from this show. I sang for most of the subway ride home (of which we did NOT get stuck, thankfully!).

In New York.....

Cue Empire State of Mind people, because we are in NYC for the weekend! I recently ripened to another year of age, and was in NYC for work so Nate joined me out here for a little romantic weekend in the city. And for only having a half of a day today and tonight we packed a LOT in! There is nothing better than NYC in the springtime.

There was a lot of strolling around SoHo, Chelsea and the Meatpacking District which led to lots of shopping (although not too many purchases!). Nate was pretty stoked to happenstance across one of his favorite t-shirt brands.

And after some strolling along Bleeker street, we just had to stop into Magnolia bakery (it is my birthday afterall). It savored the cupcake as it will be my last for a while as I embark on my no cookies/cake for a year (except in VERY special celebrations)...

We continued our stroll to Chelsea Market, which was a great spot. The energy that the city has was bottled up and bursting at the seams in this market. Great places to eat, gift shops, book shops, sample sales, bakeries, and grocery delis. We did lunch at a place called the milk bar and I am pretty sure I had the best sandwich I have ever had in my entire life, and sadly I didn't get a picture. BUT we did get a picture, which I am especially fond of because of the message on the chalkboard.

An extra special event that got thrown in at the last minute was a game an Yankee Stadium! Nate swears the new Twins stadium is cooler, but personally I think he is just drinking the Target Kool-aid...we'll see. It was a very cool experience to be there, amidst all of the hard-core New Yorkers in their thick accents.

You know how the greatest part of ball games is getting classic ball-game food like hot dogs, cracker jacks and popcorn? Well at this stadium ALL of the calories for every menu item at every station are posted. Seeing a 2,400 calorie serving of popcorn or 1,200 calorie serving of french fires quickly takes the joy out of snarfing up all of the delicious snacks. Which is still ultimately did, and the whole time I just kept thinking that this stadium would bring Jamie Oliver to tears (anyone out there watching Food Revolution?)

Enough rambling, the point is Nate and I are having a great time this weekend, and are looking forward to another fun day tomorrow. Every time I come to NYC I slip into a day dream where I move here, live the big city girl life--maybe some day?

Holy Sh.....

I just got home from a quite enjoyable evening of dinner with Summer and Katie at a new place in town. I was settling into some work emails, and reading for class, and I just happen to glance at my syllabus and see:

4/14 Relfective Paper #3 due

SHIT! It's 9PM on the 13th. I have work work to do. I haven't even done any of the reading for the paper yet. ARGH!

Here's to hoping my BS skills are top notch tonight.....Can anyone say graduation?!?!

Play Ball!

We were in Viroqua this past weekend and got to spend some great time with Finn outside in the gorgeous spring weather we are having. With the Twins stadium opening up today, baseball must have been in the air.

Becca had bought a baseball game for Finn, and he loved it.....couldn't quite keep up with how fast he was talking because he was so excited.

And seeing as we were in Vernon County, the baseball plates were home-made with class.

And some extra photos just for a bonus:

The biggest event of the weekend was not the baseball game but my Dad's discovery of iTunes.....can you sense the excitement?

Now we've got Mom and Dad on iTunes, surfing the web, set up with Gmail, Skyping and shopping online all over the place. It was quite the sight...at one point we were all huddled around the table with 3 laptops with shouts of "ooooo, I like that song, that's an automatic super buy.."

Kind of like the super, top secret fishing spot, or the ultra hot spot when we are fishing right Dad?

Listmania: The Things That Suffered

We have officially made it through our one over-lapping semester of grad-school! (Arms in air, fist pumping action). Nate took his finals this week, and they went great. I have to schlep through 4 more weeks of school but then get to officially retire my backpak.

Nate and I went to dinner last night to celebrate and were commenting on the 'things that suffered' while we were both in school two nights a week, training for our upcoming races, working full time, you get the picture.

1) Not surprisingly, housework took a major hit. Who wants to scrub baseboards, and clean toilets after staring at a text book all day? Not me. Not Nate. And so the dust bunnies took over. I looked up last night and saw we had a ceiling dust bunny in our bedroom. I am pretty sure it is fairly difficult to form on the ceiling, so mad props to us for helping make that happen.

2) Cooking.....didn't happen as much. Exhibit A: Our weekly "try a new recipe out of our cookbook of the year" is failing miserably with It hink only 8 or 9 recipes tried. I am pretty sure April 12th = 15 weeks...so we are at 50%. My grad school education would tell me this is failing. Exhibit B: The popcorn maker has been used more in the last 6 months as it relates to a dinner item that it has in its entire life.

3) Remember when Nate and I got all excited an asked you, our loyal readers, to tell us what adventures to on next? (Read here). Well we have done approximately ZERO of these wonderful suggestions, and literally it hangs over my head like a guilty, gloomy cloud when I think of it. BUT, come May 1st, we are ALL over it. So watch out people.

4) Secret Date Night just hasn't happened. Oh we schedule them. We send each other cute little meeting notices. And then we reschedule, adn update those meeting notices, and ultimately cancel those meeting notices. But both have one on the calendar in April and for sure one of them can't be cancelled (or so Nate tells me)....The reality is we have prioritized time with friends and family when we have a spare night so the couple time has been...well...cancelled.

5) Sleep. Apparently Nate is a robot and requires about oh...5 hours of sleep and he can function as a nice, respectful human being. I cannot. Since I am not getting my required allotment to put my battery at a full charge, this means lots of napping on the weekend, lame Friday nights where I am sleeping by 9, and Diva Doug-less Saturday mornings as the thought of dragging my ass out of bed to work-out on a Saturday just wasn't quite motivating enough the last few months to spur me to action.

But with 4 weeks left with me in school, and Nate done, we will be back in action soon (and still taking recommendations for our next adventures...hint hint)!

Bid It Up!

It's official! Our 3rd Anniversary trip is booked...well 60% booked.

I got a little trigger happy on Luxury Link and started bidding on anything in our price range and in California (it's a tradition now after all). Of course since we had so much time until OCTOBER to figure out the details I was low-balling everything. So imagine my surprise when I get a confirmation bid email that tells me I have the highest bid for a 3 night stay. And now imagine even MORE surprise when I find out I didn't exactly read the fine print and the days it's good on is only Sunday-Thursday. Whoops. Oh well...guess we will just have to enjoy the CA sunshine a little longer.

This year's theme is WINE COUNTRY! Yeah! We are staying at the Hanford House in Sutter Creek and plan to do lots of relaxing, wine drinking, and outdoor exploring.

The best part of Luxury Link (besides the joy and suspense of winning a bid, and picking from amazing properties) is all of the little extra's you get included in the price. In our package we get:

• 3 nights in your choice of suite, each with fireplace, oversize soaking tub, flat-panel television and DVD library, and private balcony
• Coffee & tea tray delivered to your room each morning, including freshly baked scones
• Full gourmet breakfast for two each morning
• Amador County wine and artisan cheeses each evening
• Complimentary internet access
• Complimentary private parking 

I'm not going to lie. Not sure why one would need freshly baked scones every morning AND free breakfast, but I'm not complaining. So now we are looking for our flights and dreaming of future travel adventures. I cannot plug Luxury Link more...their customer service is great, we had no issues last year and cannot wait to experience it again this year!!

An Alternative Easter

No bunnies. No eggs. No spring dresses.

Okay...there were maybe some springtime dresses. But none worn, just purchased. But there were mojitos, a massive Costco run, and some serious shopping.

My Mom came up to visit us this weekend since we are celebrating "Easter and etc" next weekend. And it was a great weekend. We did some shopping at my all-time favorite store Anthropologie (Meghan--we were thinking of you, and missing your discount :) ) for some birthday ideas, and then headed out to the mall. We watched basketball,  made turkey burgers, had brunch.

Yummmmm.

Nate has finals this week and then his first semester will come to a close so he studied hard all weekend. Me...not so much. I did some 'fun' reading, went for a run, and took a nap.

Nothing too exciting to report, but it is a report nonetheless. Hope everyone else had a great holiday weekend!

No Fool

Ahh--April Fools Day.

I sit here reflecting on my biggest April Fool's Day coup EVER last year, and know there is just no topping that...at least not this year.

I figured everyone would be on high alert, and to be honest it kind of snuck up on me this year.

Nate thought I should fake winning a sweepstakes, but that really isn't that fun for anyone else. What WOULD have been fun was to fake someone else winning a sweepstakes but to do that you have to know whether or not someone had entered. And ultimately that ends up being quite mean.

So I will recycle my glory from last year, and use this day to brainstorm for next year.

Did any of you get fooled today?