2012- Week 42

1.  I started to go to yoga regularly in Elkader.  LOVE the teacher, Natalia (an attorney from Dubuque who drives to Elkader every day to work for the county).  First session seemed hard, but I am picking it back up again pretty easily.  Classmates are all very nice.  Natalia is also very knowledgeable about moons and takes the class out on excursions like kayaking to locations to do yoga, etc.

Kathleen at Strategic Planning meeting, making use of her 3M stock.

2. Lots of Farm to School work.  Strategic Planning, Harvest of the Month, and Harvest Challenge in Viroqua, much more.  It was a jam packed week.  The Harvest Challenge was very fun.  I got to hang out with Ella, Kathleen's daughter, who although only 11, has become a good friend and I ran into Katya, who I hadn't seen since birthing group.

Paul was a great husband and was sober chauffeur with the RV for the party.

3. Made it to a half an hour or so of Paula's birthday party.  The girl's were already having a good time when I got to the bar and after about 1/2 hour of laughs and deciding to hit up another bar, Paula was done for the night.

4.  We were able to enter our pumpkins into a contest after all.  St. Joe's Harvest Fest were taking submissions.  We took first in about each category.  My favorite prize is a $25 gift certificate to Drew's.

5.  We went to Michelle's birthday party in Manchester which doubled as an OHP meeting.  We thought we were getting there early, but our invitation had the wrong time and we got there right when the food was being put away (not that they didn't get it back out).  Lots of great conversation, Link slept most of the time, but woke up when Michelle got the cotton candy machine going.

Cold Rainy weather, but some beautiful scenes.

6.  I haven't gotten couchsurfing.com requests over a year but got two for this weekend.  Another cyclist on the Adventure Cycle route and a Danish Algerian woman who wanted to eat at Schera's.  Due to bad weather both ended up canceling.

7.  We took Agnes to the Norway Lutheran Meatball Dinner.  We totally prepared her not to expect much, but we all were blown away.  Great meal and she gave an A+ to everything from the meatballs to the rice pudding, except the mashed potatoes (which were instant).  Afterwards we went to the cemetery attached and she read tombstones to us.

Robin and Agnes' WWI bunker cake

8. Agnes had a hard week.  Her friend, the German Foreign Exchange student decided to move out of her host family's home and find a new one.  Which was doubly hard because she had a host sister the same age.  Robin, the host sister, came to make a cake for history class with Agnes during the whole ordeal. 

9.  Trish and Richard borrowed our second car for a few days so we went on Wednesday for dinner at their place.  Sam made "epic guacamole" and we had a good time catching up.

Bordeaux Pizza Special

10.  Link and I went to Manchester to visit Treasure Alley and a few of the stores that my own shop had been compared to to get some ideas.  We also ate at Bordeaux Pizza which I had seen several times, but never thought of trying until I got the recommendation from someone who I met in San Francisco (of all places).  It was mighty tasty.

2012- Week 41

1. 7 Year Anniversary!!!  It was also Columbus Day and Monday so we were not sure what to do.  We ended up having a great evening out at La Rana in Decorah.

2. Link spent an evening at the Mosers' and did a fun letter activity I have seen on pinterest and told jokes with one of his best friends, Taryn.  So greatful for Cheri's willingness to watch him so last minute.

The newsletter I made for the kids.

3. Anna and I started doing Harvest of the Month.  November is Green Beans and the Austin Rush Creek Farm.

4. Oliver!  I was the Strawberry seller and have my first solo on that stage "Ripe Strawberries Ripe."  It was good to connect with some old friends and new.

5. Laura and Agnes and I went to take fall photos before the leaves were all gone.  It is beautiful right now, but the rains are coming.  Laura is having lots of problems with her host family.  I feel blessed to have the such a great relationship with Agnes.

6. We got to watch Link do gymnastics and tap dance.  He followed directions pretty well, but didn't do front rolls without assistance so we have been working on them a lot and he is getting them.  He also can not balance on one foot at all.

7.  Square came in the mail.  So now I can do cards at Whimsy Market.  I am trying to figure out how to work that into my budget.

8.  We made fresh tomato soup from our garden and Agnes introduced us to boiled eggs in it, which is a tasty treat.

9.  Link has been super lovey and playful all week.  He is even starting to run his fingers through my hair just because he knows I like it.  He has also been creative all week.  He found a box with an oval cut in it and was pretending to be a robot so I added some tin foil for him.  He is really into Phineas and Ferb right now and has shown me a thing or two about running my ipad.

10.  We decorated pumpkins like we do each year for the Heritage Festival in Osborne.  Only this time when we opened the door to get out the loud speaker said "1st place goes to..." so we missed it.  I was upset and because it was raining and we didn't want to tramp in the mud, we just went home.
We used pumpkins that grew out of our old pumpkin compost so they were all white.

2012- Week 39 & 40

(Yes, I forgot I had a blog)

 1. Agnes had homecoming and as a cheerleader she was busy all week, building floats, leading pep assemblies, going to the dance, etc.

2. I ordered shirts I designed from Rusty Phillips and have been pretty happy with them.

3. Sadie had a women's circle at her house.  It was great.  Very positive and nice to be with her again.

4. I had several big events at the store including Red Hat Day and Witches Night Out.  The latter went better than the former.  Agnes and Laura made cupcakes for the Witches Night Out.

5. I got an iPad from Bryce for our anniversary.  I got him tickets to Morrissey at the Surf Ballroom.

6. I've been working a lot with Kathleen with Farm to School Planning.  She is awesome to work with.

7. I went to a meeting for the Mud Run follow up and as fund raiser for the skate park we are almost to the goal. 

8. I went to a meeting for after-school programming that I used to head and it looks like it is going to go well even without me, but with a little of my help.  So that makes me feel like I did my job well.

9.  I fell asleep at the library when Link had story hour, I'm so tired from #10.  Also love the book "Not a Box" and I am putting it on Link's Christmas List.

 10.  SOOO much play practice.

2012- Week 38

1. Gabe Martin-Hiner's Birthday Party was on Sunday.  The theme was "Knights."  This kids designed their own shields and Jason (Gabe's Dad) made some great games like lancing and archery.  They even dressed the part.

2. Agnes had a sleep over on Saturday night.  Laura (the German exchange student) came over.  The girls had fun making chocolate covered strawberries and hanging out in their room.  We had a great breakfast conversation over French Toast and Coconut Syrup.

3. Bryce, Link, and I went to see a Simon and Garfunkel show at the Opera House.  It was a very nice show and it made me appreciate the duo even more than I already did, which was a lot.  Link was good through the show and ended up falling asleep in the second half.

4.  Friday I had a great meeting with Kathleen, Jane, Amy and Tarasa in Prairie.  It was about the future collaboration of grants and what not for Farm.  I loved it, but I couldn't tell if I was shaking from excitement or caffeine.

5.  Link started gymnastics and tap dance.  He really enjoys both.  Somersaults are still a little scary for him.  But he loves jumping and doing heel/toe.

6. I was at Whimsy Market a lot this week.  We had an After 5 on Wednesday night which went well. I rearranged and got in new inventory from Reality Check that I am excited about.  Cassey, my new renter, is proving to be a valuable resource for display and all sorts of ideas.

7. First Day of Fall was this week.  The low temps are scaring everyone for this winter.

8. Guttenberg Garage Sales were on Saturday.  I got a few items, my favorite being a nicely painted table I got for $15 that fit perfectly at the store.

9.  The Mud Run happened while I was gone.  The event tripled in attendance this year.  I feel it was largely due to my marketing campaign, which makes me proud.  (And if it would have not tripled I would have also blamed my marketing campaign, so I don't feel bad taking credit for it when it is positive as well.)

10. Got a lot of compliments on photos I took of Amber's wedding.

3-year-old Link

1. Every morning we hear this "A! I think the sun is out.  Time to wake up and get up."

2. Every meal time when asked something like this "Do you want some dinner?"  or "Do you want a hot dog?" etc, this is the answer.  "Nah, I just want something to eat and something to drink."

3. When he is doesn't like what you have to say you immediately hear this "Pssssssssssss.   You're stuck in a web" as he makes a spider man hand at you.  He thinks Spiderman is a bad guy.

4. "Aaaa!  I'm growing."  (usually followed with something like, "and my hair is too" or "just like SuperDad" or "and it hurts".)

5. One day Link said to me "Do you know (the word) attitude?"  I can definitely say "Yes."

2012- Week 37

1. The day after the wedding we went to San Francisco.  It was Link's first flight.  He did great.  He was amazed when looking out the window and kept saying things that made people laugh, like "We are soo far away!"

2. The hotel we stayed in was AWESOME.  The W, a starwood hotel.  We would have never been able to afford it had it not been paid for by Bryce's company.  It wasn't the luxurious rich type hotel, it was the totally rocking super star type hotel.



3. Bryce spent Monday-Wednesday at TechCrunch events hob-nobbing with celebrities like Jessica Alba, Mark Zuckerburg, and Cory Booker. Actually it was more like gawking at them, but it was pretty cool that his small-ish company made such headlines this week.  Heard it on NPR and saw it all over the papers.

4. Day 1- The kids and I spent our first day at Pier 39.  We ate a great breakfast at the Eagle Cafe (I had crab cake benedict and Agnes had strawberry french toast) and then we walked around the pier and watched the Sea Lions.  We rode the carousel, shopped the farmer's market (bought leches, champaign grapes, and dried kiwi), and then took the cable car all the way to Market Street.  We walked back to the hotel for some relax time with Link and then headed out again.  The hotel has a free car ride in an Acura so we took it to Chinatown and walked back.

 

 5. Day 2- We walked by the unveiling of the iphone 5 going on outside next door to our hotel and then we went to Market Square and Agnes bought her homecoming dress.  We stopped into other shops along the way too like Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, etc, and ended up eating at Boudin's Bakery (famous for sourdough bread).  We took the F line cable cars (cool vintage cars brought from all over the US) and went to Ghiradelli Square for an ice cream sundae dinner.  Agnes also got some cupcakes there.

6. Day 3- We got picked up in the morning for a trip to Muir woods.  We didn't get a lot of time at the woods but it was still great to see the redwoods again.  Our tour guide was eccentric to say the least.  He recited us poems that he had written or memorized to go with our tour.  I did enjoy the short jaunt through Green Gulch.  The Zen Center Garden's look amazing and something I may want to return to.  We ended up in Sausalito where we could roam around and take the ferry back, but by that time Link was zonked out so we just took the bus back.  We went to Hard Rock Cafe on Agnes' suggestion and walked the cold harbor at night, eating crepes for dessert and looking through tourist shops. Then ended up in a really weird situation where a somewhat scam artist tour bus picked up a bunch of us at the F line.  We had been on so many shuttle buses at this time that we thought nothing of it, until we went to leave and the guy followed us because we didn't pay, although we already had F line tickets.  Had we known we needed to pay in getting off we would have saved the cash we threw into street musicians buckets, but we were plum out.  It was embarrassing.

 

7. Day 4- After a morning Starbucks run and some play time on the free Pac Man game at the hotel we checked out the hotel and used Yelp to visit the Tech Crunch office.  Christine gave us a great little tour.  Then we went to Hertz for a car and drove 3 hours to Oakhurst near Yosemite National Park.  We ended the night with some bad Chinese and a very tired boy.

8. Day 5- We traveled to Yosemite today.  Stopping first at Mariposa Woods for some more time with red woods and then off to Glacier point for some amazing views.  We ended our time photographing deer in the valley that came right up to us and having some great BBQ at Todd's.

9.Day 6- We went back to San Francisco for our last day and played at the beach.  Lorri recommended Baker Beach and it was perfect.  Link loved getting his toes tickled by the water and watching drawings get washed away.  Following the beach we had dinner at Musical Offerings in Berkley.  An friend of ours from Elkader passed away last month who used to live in Berkley.  His memorial was on Saturday and since we were near his old stomping grounds we asked what we could do to celebrate his life, his daughter recommended visiting this place.  The nice meal and the classical music reminded us so much of him.  After dinner we went to a nearby playground to visit Erch, a friend of Bryce's from Cranbrook.  His wife and two daughters were there too.  I loved getting to know his wife, MB, who had so much in common with us.  She even lived in Manchester, IA for 4 years when she was young.

10.  We had to wake at 4 am to catch a 6 am flight back home.  Still were not into the house until 6 pm.  Blah, traveling back in time is always so draining.

2012- Week 36

1. On Tuesday I went to Madison for AmeriCorps training.  It was great.   I met lots of great people and am really excited to do the work this year.  I was sad to hear, however, that because I was already an AmeriCorps member I can only do 2 more years, not 4 like I we had all thought.  One of my favorite things was visiting Troy Gardens and eating at an Indian restaurant.

2. Friday was Amber's rehearsal and dinner.  Father Peters was a complete dick during the rehearsal, even being mean to the 3-year-olds.  We had a great dinner at my parents afterwords.  We did paper lanterns and fire works.  Bryce's parents came from Ohio to go to the wedding so they joined us here too.

3. Amber and Paul got married on Sunday.  It was a beautiful day.  The wedding was beautiful and Father Peter's service was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen.  It was great

4. Amber and Paul had a party bus between the wedding and the reception.  It was really fun.  There was lots of dancing and rum chata shots on the bus.  We also stoped by a firetruck for some photos.

5. The reception was very nice too.  They had a good dj and food.  Everything went so fast that we didn't even do speeches, which is ok because I didn't even get mine written.  I was kind of wanting to do a flash mob and talked to my cousin Tyler about doing it, but it was too late to really put anything together and I got promoted to photographer during the reception so it was nice to not have another thing to do.  Agnes and Monet really got along during the wedding.