Walkin' on SUNSHINE...WHOA!

I am so thankful for the sunshine this week! It is amazing what a little of that big golden ball in the sky can do for your mood!!

This weekend has been very nice so far, and it has consisted of me pretty much staying in the house-and I am perfectly alright with that! After working on the VMUs all weekend at home, I am glad to not be doing much!

I guess I got SOME things done today...

• laundry
• dishes
• started planting my seeds to get them started (hey, I was really thinking spring today!!)
• fixed Tucker's turtle stuffed toy
• put together 2 button designs for the Annual Father Hennepin Days Festival button design contest
• played more of a new video game that I am more and more into
• photo editing

For the most part, that was my day. Watched some TV, relaxed and got in the design groove. yay! I am looking forward to another day like this tomorrow, although more cleaning and workouts need to happen...heh heh.

Oh, and one more thing...Girl Scout Cookies are the devil...that is all.

-L

Time to Live Life?

That is what I have been wondering the past few weeks. Do I really feel like I am living life? To be honest right now, no. My weekdays consist of waking up, getting ready for work, going to work, coming home, making dinner, working out, picking up junk throughout the house, cleaning up after dinner, sometimes some small relaxation moment, getting ready for bed, then bed. Wake up, get ready to do it all over again Monday through Friday.

This past weekend I worked through the weekend to get a large work project done. I did, and in record time. I even saved the company money by working all weekend. But in doing so, have been coming to work really tired, fried and grumpy (hopefully that last part stays on the inside).

I guess I just feel like my life is passing me by and I am not really doing anything with my life that is of much value to me, or anyone else. I know that some of that is just due to my situation, if we can call it that at the moment. Sure, there are things I would want to do if I was able to do them. Travel. I want to go so many places, see and experience so many things, but you need disposable income, or a job that allows you to do that. I have neither at the moment.

And I believe in the saying that says if you are not happy, and want to be happy, change something, but really? In some instances, that is just really not an option.

At this point in my life, I have been wanting to move. Not just a town or two over, but really MOVE! Derick doesn't really want to because he wants to still be close to family, and I totally get that, but then again, we don't have any kids, we are just us right now. Now would be the perfect time to do it, if we were able. But again, not so much.

I know that money doesn't solve everything, but, quoting a quote I found the other day, "All I am asking for is that I would like the opportunity to prove that money can't make me happy." haha. I liked that one.

Well I guess that is about all for now. more later,
-L

Hearts, Stars & Horseshoes...

Valentine's Day once again decided to grace us with its presence. And quite honestly, I have a like, dislike relationship with the whole holiday - if you can call it that.

I tend to get a little stressed about what to get the one I love - do guys like to get flowers? Candy? A good book? Over the past few years, I have settled at Chocolates - one of his favorite kinds. But herein also lies a problem - Easter is right around the corner, when his REAL favorite kinds of candy come out.

Derick outdid himself one more time this year by researching how to MAKE me a dozen roses! He made me a dozen red and purple origami roses (in the photo above) and then spritzed them with his cologne! They are SO neat! I sat there looking at them for awhile until he asked me if I wanted him to show me how to make them. So, self-proclaimed Mr. Non-Creativity broke out a little of his creative side to make me my valentine's day present. How cute!

Then, if that weren't cute enough -- my dad pulled out all the stops again! He called us as we were on our way to Target to check out some things and just get out of the house! He said to swing by because he had some stuff in the back of the car for Derick. So, we trucked over there and found out that he had bought us ALL of the groceries to make the Wild Rice soup and his Chili recipe that I had been asking for! I mean EVERYTHING to make it too- Butter, bullion cubes, EVERYTHING! He is one amazing dad!

Saturday, I began my new 30-day workout routine and followed-through into Sunday. I began the Jillian Michaels 30-day shred. and YEOW I can FEEL it already! The workout was pretty decent. At the end, I was tired, sweaty and had noodle legs! But I am really pumped to stick with this to see some results!! Stairs are my Nemesis so far the past couple of days.

I hope that you and your loved ones were able to spend some time together whether or not you believe in celebrating the day, or not :)

-L

Life is like a day planner...

...everything is "penciled-in." Or penned, highlighted, doodled or sketched. (At least that is what my planner looks like). I have just been feeling rather "planned." I mean, I write almost everything down. I think people could quote me as saying, "Let me write that down so that I don't forget." I have a to-do list and a to-do list for my to-do list at times! It gets to be insane! I mean, I have come to terms with the fact that I have inherited the "antsy gene" from my father and his side of the family, ok, I get it. I have a hard time sitting still and doing nothing unless everything that I can think of, or that is on my "list" has been accomplished and is put away. Out of sight, out of mind eh? (wow, if I keep up at this rate, I will have all of the cliche sayings in this one entry!)

But the things that I write down aren't always:

A. The most important
B. Things that make me happy
C. Things I need to do right away (I tend to think about things sometimes too far into the future when planning)

I sometimes wish that I could break this cycle, but for work it is EXTREMELY necessary as there are many "drive-by" conversations where someone will ask/tell me to do something and I have another person come by 5 seconds later and ask me to do another thing. I would go bonkers if I had to remember all of the stuff that they tell/ask me to do! Yikes!

Even as I am writing this blog, I stop to think about what I want to accomplish this weekend while I have the house to myself for tonight and tomorrow. (Derick is in Medford celebrating his Grandma's birthday! I could not go because the party was earlier this afternoon, and I could not leave work as we have a floorset first thing Monday morning that I had to stay late to prep for anyway.)

So it is just me and the puppy tonight. I think he is bored with me. Since I got home later than normal, he has wanted to play whereas I have wanted to eat, change into comfy clothes and catch up on my Project Runway from last night.

Well, I guess that is all for tonight. I will try to resist the list. We'll see how I do :) I might have to break open one of the books on my nightstand that keep piling up. (I think I have 5 now that I want to get to reading!)

-L

"If God is trying this hard to talk to me, I'd better pick up the phone..."

So, I am not sure if you have ever felt the presence of something greater in your life, but for the past few months, God has been trying to whack me over the head and tell me to listen up. Other people have been praying for me in my current life situation and in the past few months, two of those prayers have been answered. Crazy. You know how things also tend to happen in threes? Well, I am now waiting on my "third thing."

All of the things that have come to be have been really good for my life - work life, me,life and I think just general overall life. I don't feel that I need to go into much detail here (and that might just kill some of you) but if you really care, we can take it offline and I can fill you in.

I just wanted to share that sometimes when you are really feeling all alone, that there is something bigger than all of us out there. And sometimes, all it takes are a few too many "phone calls" before you look and say, "Hey! I hear ya, loud and clear! Thank you for letting me know you are there!"

Really, that's all I got.
-L

Happy Holiday...break!

Ahh the great feeling that is Holiday Break time! Derick and I were blessed to be able to enjoy Christmas this year with many family members! Here is a small run-down of what we did!

Friday, December 18th
This was the day of our CBK corporate holiday party! It was a lot of fun because me and three other girls from the "Culture Keepers Committee" dressed up and were the hosts and MCs for the game! It was a really fun time at the Radisson hotel in Plymouth. The food was good and there were some really nice prizes given out at the end of the day, not to mention that we were all released from work at 10:45am and then at the end of the party at 2pm! whoo hoo!

Meet: Miss Ginger Bread, Ms. Holly Berry and Miss Candy Cane!

Saturday, Dec 19th
We drove out to Menomine, WI to watch Joe graduate from Stout University! Derick and I watched the ceremony from the comfort of swivel chairs in the student lounge - since Joey didn't have enough tickets for all of the people who wanted to watch him graduate! It was a very chilly day in Menomonie, and being that close to the lake didn't help! We met Joe, his dad, sister, Steph and Carol and Larry at Applebees where we had a celebratory lunch for Joe (and also a mini birthday celebration for Derick and Joey).

Sunday, Dec 20th
We traveleld with my parents over to Amery, WI to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We meet every year at Lucky's restaurant to eat and watch the kids open gifts. There was a small twist this year when I introduced the First Annual Nordquist White Elephant Gift Exchange! It was a big hit and a lot of fun to watch what people were trying to get rid of. I think the highlights of that were my cousin Dave, who ended up with a high-heeled shoe candle. He tried to persuade everyone who had their turn after him that they needed to take it from him! The other one was my cousin Eric, who ended up with an angel rose clock! That thing was so funny looking, it was ridiculous! After some chatting and eating and laughing, we headed home.

Monday, Dec 21st
It was Derick's birthday! I gave him his present right when we woke up, because I knew that he would want to play with it right away! I got him 2 video games and 2 movies (thank you Black Friday sales!). My assumption was correct - he played and played and played games all day! I made him a "Better Than Sex" cake for his birthday - his request. For dinner, my parents and sister came over and we headed to the 5-8 right across the street from us. Their food is SO good and cheap! At least there is a good thing about being married to a gamer - it is usually pretty easy to buy gifts for them!

Tuesday, Dec 22nd - Thurs, Dec 24th - Christmas Eve
We packed up and made the 3hr drive to Medford, WI to spend time and Christmas Eve with Derick's family! We stayed at his aunt Steph's house and spent a lot of "couch bonding time" with Steph, Ratt and Megan and Cassie. I also finished one more of the book series that I am reading! I was able to experience High School Musicals 2 and 3 with Cassie...that was entertaining. I had Cassie singing every song right next to me, and when I had confessed earlier that I had not seen the second or third one, I thought her jaw was going to drop through to the center of the earth, and she proceeded to drag me into the porch to educate me in the ways of High School Musical sequels. Christmas Eve, we went to church with the almost entire family! (man, can we pack a few pews!) When the time came to light the candles, I looked down the row and saw, what any normal person would expect to see...straight candle, straight candle, straight candle...curvy candle...wait...yes, Ratt had softened the wax between his hands during the ceremony and then curved the candle. I wish I would have gotten a picture. It was pretty funny. Then we all trucked back through the snowstorm to the house for Christmas dinner and the chaos that is gift opening! I helped Dawn slice about 20 Granny Smith Apples for her Snicker Apple Salad and a lot of other prep and finishing work on all of the yummy food! After we had stuffed ourselves, we all sat down again and then the present pass-out began and then the insanity that was the unwrapping.

Friday, Dec 25th - Christmas Day
We packed up and left Medford Friday morning before the weather was supposed to get worse. It was pretty decent conditions getting home; we didn't hit snow until Hudson, WI! When we got back, unpacked the car and showered, we headed over to my parent's house to celebrate Christmas with them and my sister. Upon our arrival, we were greeted with our stockings that "santa" had delivered. Then we ate (more food!) and talked for awhile. We made our way downstairs to light the advent wreath, read the Christmas story from the Bible and then open gifts. I got many gifts this year! Derick got a lot of clothing (which he needed to round out his teaching wardrobe). I think one of the highlights was my Top Chef cookbook and new baking utensils! From my sister, we got Mario Brothers for the Wii and Mario Party 8 for the Wii as well. I have been playing both games like crazy since we brought them home that night!

Saturday, Dec 26th - Day after Christmas
On the day after Christmas, we woke up and went right out after Christmas shopping! We headed over to Maple Grove to the Walmart to spend our gift card from Derick's mom and step-dad. From there, we trekked to Hallmark for me to get some small things for gifts for next year and the Snoopy ornament for this year. After that, it was off to Target in search of the lighted moose lawn ornament (which sadly, we did not find) and "my" snowflake First Frost dishes! (which we did not find either). Since we did not find those things at the Maple Grove Target, we decided to run to the Champlin Target where (yay!) we found 2 dinner plate sets of my dishes and 2 bowls! No moose there though either, which we were bummed about. People were CRAZY shopping! It was almost worse than shopping on Black Friday! After our shopping trip, we spent time at home, cleaning up our gifts and our house that looked like it had exploded with Christmas gifts and decor! And when I say we, I mostly mean me. Sometimes I think that most men cannot tell when things are out of place or need cleaning and straightening up, until, in my terms, it is almost a lost cause to do so! We're talking catastrophic World War zone here! Not that our house was that bad...

Sunday, Dec 27th
Just another day of being lazy and playing with our presents!

Monday, Dec 28th - Tuesday, Dec 29th
I spent these days easing back into the little thing called
"a corporate job." I am glad that I only had to work 2 days this week! I actually didn't really mind coming back into work. I think too many days at home would have bored me to tears! But, on the other hand, I do have one design project to start and finish as well as a stack of books to read from my new series of interest as well as a few new video games to play...hmm...maybe I jumped to that assumption too quickly. Good thing that there is a weekend coming up!

So that, in a nutshell is what we were up to this Holiday season thus far. My uncle and three cousins are in town from North Carolina, and we will be getting together with them during New Year's. We will also be getting together with some family friends- the Sunnarborgs during that time as well! There is no rest during this busy time of year!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Wow, Christmas time is really upon us! I heard on the radio..."Christmas is only eight days away!" Yikes! With the snow that finally came, the decorations in my house and the cookies baked, it is really shaping up to be Christmas time!

The other day we decorated our office area for the Christmas decorating contest. We were able to use many resources that no one else had access to - Old Acorn holiday decorations and the current stores garland and things. It turned out really nice! I made about 20 huge 3-D snowflakes that were hung up in the ceiling. I hope that we are able to keep the ceiling part up for the entire winter season!