Nuthin’ but an H thang, Baybay…

I hate it when the weekend…ends.

Friday night, Adam and I went to Adam V & Dena’s place to celebrate their brand new engagement. Tom & Gwen also came to the little gathering and we all sat by a warm fire in their backyard. We are so excited for Adam V & Dena – they make such a great pair. You know how being around happy people can be infectious? That’s what it is to be around these two.

Saturday, I woke up and promptly decided that I needed some photographic healing. There have been a few flutters of pictures in my mind that I have wanted to capture on film for some time as I pass them each day. So, I strapped on Adam’s camera bag as I was on a mission. I first attempted to stop at my Mom’s for another wedding dress fitting but I was out of luck…she was running errands. I headed back toward downtown Mpls to get what I was after. I snapped a few shots in about a 4 block radius until I got my fill.

I drove down to the Farmers Market amid scores of people and found ample inspiration. There were so many points of interest to photograph! I also did lunch there: a homemade brat loaded with onions on a hefty wheat bun and freshly squeezed lemonade complete with the lemon in the glass. It was starting to get steamy outside and I had a slight headache (from champagne the previous night, I think) so I retreated home. I wholly welcomed the AC in my house while I played with downloading my loot.

Saturday night, I was supposed to attend a party at the home of my Cube-Mate, Cole. I call him that because there is a half-wall between our cubicles. I harass Cole at work all the time (and vice-versa). I feel like a jerk because this is the fourth work-buddy-invitation I’ve received and didn’t go. I just didn’t feel like going out again. I was tired and my headache was lingering. Adam suggested we cheat on our diets by getting some movie-candy and watch the Bourne Identity. It was the perfect thing to do. I have to say that the part where Matt Damon washes Franka Potente’s hair was tres magnifique.

Sunday, we slept in. We shook off the sleep and caught up on a few household items, including hanging a new light fixture in the spare bedroom. I also sent out all of the remaining monthly bills. I made it to my Mom’s again for the fitting but this time she was there. I tried on my wedding shoes with the dress and we agreed on a dress length. Afterward, I ran to Home Depot for a few odds & ends. I came home and we patched the lawn.

Adam made the most delightful salmon dinner that night. I had the leftovers today for lunch, to the envy of my coworkers. We had a romantic disco-music-playing-blackened-salmon-eating-chardonnay-drinking-brilliant-conversating dinner. I love that man.

This morning, I awoke to thunder. It waited to rain. I finished my toast and still it waited. I dried my hair…yet it waited. I opened the front door to leave, and it dumped big fat raindrops all over me. I catch the bus across the street – it’s not a lengthy walk. In the few minutes it took my bus to arrive, my bare legs became soaked. The rain splashed against my calves and ran down into my open-heeled shoes. Squish. Just as the bus squeeked to a halt & I was lamenting to have to close my umbrella, the rain altogether stopped. Totally stopped. I thought, “Weird,” and boarded.

Stormy summer day.

I can’t believe it’s already June 27th.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been getting these blasted headaches. I think it was a combination of things…I know I was stressin’ out at work because a headache would start to crop up right around 3:30ish almost daily. And my seasonal allergies certainly didn’t help. AND I was entirely ready for all of the rain to cease.

However, this past week has been my light at the end of the tunnel.

Starting on about Wednesday, the sun broke free of its cloudy jail and cast those warm satisfying rays all about me. Doesn’t that make you wanna say Halleluia? I know I did. And of course, during the day, I made it a point to go outside at least once the soak up some sun. We had a celebratory meeting at work (with food, champagne & beer) because we had a very large retailer client in town for the kickoff of a joint business venture. Practically the entire company was in attendance. During all the hullaballoo, I was notified that an important fax had come for me. A contract from one of my prospects had arrived…and this one was sizeable. Upon hearing this, my managers dragged me into the front of the crowd and rang their little copper sales bell. They forced me to announce the new sale to the crowd, who subsequently cheered. That’s what I call a “Rockstar Workday.” My cheeks were beet red though.

When I arrived home, I hopped in my car and drove down to Audra & Kel’s for Girls’ Night. Katie, Cori, Casey, Devon and the Daydah were all present too. We had brats on the grill and sat around on the deck chatting. It was a perfect clear summery night for it.

Thursday was also fantabulous. I picked up Audra after work and we went wedding shoe shopping at MOA. We went to several shoe hot spots in the Mall, including Aldo’s, where Audra tried to talk me into the most gorgeous shoes ever. The only problem was that the heels were HIGH…like stripper-high. OK, they did make my calves look faboo…but I was imagining my 100 lb dress weighing me down on these heels and I passed on the idea. We eventually strolled into DebShop, where we found the perfect white shoes with an acceptable amount of heel. Because they were so cheap (it was DebShop after all), I found a flatter pair for the reception and bought them too.

Friday was nice and quiet. My boss left early, and so it was super-duper quiet around the office. That night, Adam and I had a very nice romantic evening together and locked out the rest of the world.

I woke up stupid-early on Saturday. Though, the benefit of that was that I accomplished several household tasks. Afterward, I threw on my bathing suit, armed myself with tanning lotion, a pink beachtowel, a book and a bottle of water, and into the sun I went. Adam later brought me my forgotten sunglasses and his iPod speakers with my iPod. He then left to run a few errands. I couldn’t stand it out there long…but it still felt good to be hot in the sun again. Adam returned and we invited his parents over for dinner. George came with too and we had a wonderful supper a la Adam. We really enjoyed their company. Adam’s dad stayed the night. His ‘57 Safari was in the Back to the 50’s display at the State Fair that day, and it was running pretty hot. He let it cool overnight and trekked back to Duluth Sunday morning.

Father’s Day was also perfect. I had my heart set on a picnic at Minnehaha Falls, but my Daddio elected to stay near home due to the heat. So we grilled and ate way too much at his house. My Uncle Lenny and cousin Mark were also there and it was great visiting with them. My Uncle has a sweet camera and he even let me play with it. I also played a little Frisbee with the Daydah, whose energy knows no bounds. We said our goodbyes and headed to Home Depot for a door mat. Mission accomplished, we headed home with smiles on our pink faces and our fingers interlaced.

*Crossing my fingers* that our good weather continues.

The rain must be stopped.

We had our final softball game of the Spring season last night. Being that I’m one of the “weaker” members of the team, I normally play right field or catcher. I fully expected to play right field last night, but our team captain asked me to fill in as catcher in Leslie’s place. Leslie was supposedly “on her way to the game.” Of course, she never made it.

There were puddles of brown gravel at second, third and home base. Yep, home base – where I had to squat down and catch pitches that often splashed the mucky water right into my face. I got dirrrrrteeeeee. Not only that, but the humidity out there was stupid-high. Mud and sweat mingled on my face and neck. The ref apparently had some “rollers” on the way to shove off the pools from the bases, but those never made it to the game either.

The other bad news is that I fell. What, Graceful Heather?? Yep – right on my hands and one knee. I was so excited because I thought I had a homerun. As I leaped from third base to the soggy gravel path to home, my foot lost its grip on the ground and I fell forward. I got up and continued to run but was barely tagged right at home plate and called out. I have a nice shiner on my knee and road rash on my palms to show for it.

The other other bad news is that we lost, 10-7.

I blame it on the rain.

If you shop at Byerly’s, and your diet has room for the occasional ice cream, you should give Blue Sky Creamery a try.

The night I pulled my quad muscle, Adam ran out to the store to buy me all sorts of wonderful pick-me-ups. One of those was a little carton of ice cream. It was midnight…I hadn’t had any supper…and it sounded darn good to my stomach. Even in my Vicodin-induced stupor I could tell that this ice cream was superior. And I’ve had a taste for it ever since.

My favorite is the Premium Strawberry. I know, I know…boring, right? I guess you’ll have to try it for yourself to taste the difference. Blue Sky attributes the extra creamy smoothness to a patented Nitro-freezing process. They freeze the ice cream quicker to reduce ice crystals and preserve the actual ice cream taste.

I thought it was interesting that this company has a history of local ties: a couple of college kids came up with the idea in Iowa and it eventually made it to the Minnesota State Fair. Their first retail store was located in Lakeville. And now you can purchase it at Byerly’s.

Yaay, Blue Sky Creamery…there went my diet.

This gorgeous park is very near our house. The sun was out this morning as I rode my bike past and so I was compelled to snap a few shots. As a sidenote, I posted a few new photos in my Objets Gallery in the Photography album.

I go out of my way to drive through my old neighborhood.
I am fairly lactose intolerant.
My fingernails and hair grow like crazy despite this.
I find The Velvetine Rabbit very sad.
My favorite movie is the Wizard of Oz.
My favorite book is The Great Gatsby.
I read without proper lighting and subconsciously squint ’til my eyes hurt.
Reading makes me sleepy.
My first kiss was at age 11.
I take pretty good care of my 7 household plants.
As a kid, I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up.
I hate it when people read over my shoulder as I am writing.
I took second place in High School State Speech, in the Original Oratory category.
I have now realized at age 29, just how immature I was at age 19.
I have trichotillomania.
I cannot sleep through thunderstorms.
I run credit reports on myself often.
I want to be a kid again.
I had Mono when I was 16 during Spring Break.
I love looking at houses that are for sale even though I’m not in the market.
I suffer emotionally without the sun.
I’m subtly self-conscious.
I say things I wish I could take back…
I hate spiders. And centipedes.
I’m more sensitive than I let on.