The Gift of Flight

For our wedding, Chris's parents gave Chris and I the gift of flight...for one hour. It's not like a video game power-up - it was a gift certificate for a one-hour helicopter ride with Minnesota Helicopters. I just about died with happiness when we opened it.

For those who are unaware, I toyed around with the idea of becoming a helicopter pilot. I have never taken any lessons because of the cost, but I thought about joining the military to pay for flight school.

Chris and I cashed in the certificate last Saturday on a gloriously clear afternoon. We chose to start shortly before dusk (we wanted to blind the pilot for at least part of the trip). I was lucky enough to get the front seat :) We circled downtown Minneapolis, flew over our house, around downtown St. Paul, and finally followed the St. Croix. It was unbelievably incredible, especially seeing how large the mansions on Summit look even from 800 feet up and how flooded the river still it.

Chris brought up his camera for some fun shots, although I will only be posting one today:

Yes, I am alive

Hmm...almost a whole month without posting anything...

I've been attempting to focus. I feel like my mind is pulling me in a lot of different directions and I can't seem to choose that direction (or keep up!). Part of the reason is that I find myself going through a cycle of liking my job for a bit and then not liking my job for a while. I'm now in the phase of liking it again, mainly because I'm deciding what I work on and I basically haven't had any interruptions for about three weeks. It's been quite fantastic.

I've been lacking a big goal. This spring, it was gardening and the wedding. Now I'm left with a large chunk of time (which one would think I would use to write all of my thank-you's from the wedding). I have been thinking about new endeavors, but I need to think about it more. I have been knitting a bunch, which is quite fun. I am working on Kim's Christmas stocking (which is technically her gift from last Christmas). I'm also been knitting for myself - I have a new scarf and am working on a neck warmer - it turns out when I have short hair, my neck tends to get chilly!

I've also been biking to work often, which is fantastic with my short hair cut. I've noticed I'm a stronger biker and have been slowly improving my speed. It gives me time to think about things and to enjoy the fall leaves changing color.

Next week, Chris and I are headed out to Pennsylvania for our friends' wedding and to visit family. I am super excited about the wedding and seeing them!

The hunt to Courage-ville

I recently cut my hair short, shorter than I've ever had it. Most people react with praise, and some act surprised, refusing to say what they really think. Those people have asked me why I decided to cut my hair so short. The reason is because I'm tired of other people defining what beauty is. I'm tired of blindly following.

I had really long hair for a really long time. I told myself I wouldn't cut my hair until I was 30 because my hair was too pretty to cut short. I had various boyfriends and potential boyfriends tell me how much they loved my hair. I foolishly began to believe long hair was the reason I should consider myself beautiful. Those were the days I spent a ridiculous amount of time drying it, combing it and curling it. It was pretty, but it was never the reason I found myself beautiful. It's taken me a while to realize that.

As those around me know, I've been toying with shorter hair for the past few years. That's when I finally cut my hair shorter again (chin length - watch out!). Then I'd let it grow out, waiting about six months to a year to get it cut again. I quickly lost interest in spending a lot of time on my hair. I had so many other things to do with my life.

I really didn't like growing my hair out for the wedding, but I knew how much I'd love it on the day. That kept me from the barber's chair. But after the wedding, away it went, but only to chin length again. It went along like that until I decided to schedule another appointment. An hour before my appointment, I searched around on the Internet for a hair style. I lack the ability to adequately describe what I'd like, so I bring in pictures. I found an adorable chin-length hair cut...and I found a really short, wild hair cut. I printed both, unsure if I had it in me to cut it crazy short.

When I got there, I showed Andrea the pics. I said I was leaning towards the wild cut and she said, "That's the one". She was so ridiculously excited to cut my hair that short. She said I made her night. As the hair fell off my head onto the floor, I was continuously amazed that I had finally done it. I finally found the courage to cut it off, to create my own sense of beauty.

Welcome to Courage-ville:

The Return of Allergies

Bah, buh, BAH!

They have returned. Allergies that is. They have struck with a vengeance. My sinuses are completely full of nastiness; I have trouble breathing out of my nose; and I feel tired all the time. Oh Allergies, how I've missed you!

Completely unrelated to that is my apparently inability to focus. I feel as though I have no direction. I've been eagerly knitting for a bit, and then I'll get distracted by starting a new book, and then I'll decide that I should really finish the other book I'm already halfway through...oh wait, I should finish all the projects I have on my needles. It's getting a bit frustrating to say the least. I'm trying to figure out how to get re-focused.

Part of the issue is work: we were working a lot of overtime (including working two-and-a-half weeks straight). Then we got the budget out and the workload has not stopped. We haven't had a break. My coworker accurately described it as going through intense finals and not having the break that is supposed to follow. I'm finding myself becoming more removed because I literally have a difficult time thinking at work now. Luckily I got to test software most of last week which kept me productive. It was also a nice change of pace.

I'm thinking about what I want to accomplish in the next month. What I need to do is put them down on paper (my brain likes lists). Then I need to figure out how I can accomplish all the things on the list. Hopefully that will give me enough direction to feel somewhat grounded again.

As a side note: congrats to John and Maria!

Happy Anniversary!!!

We bought our house one year ago today! As Chris said, that means something is going to break tomorrow because our warranty just ran out :)

It's incredible to think that we've been here for that little of time. It certainly feels like home. I've even had a dream about the house, which means it's pretty special to me. I realize how weird that sounds, but I'm sticking to my story.

Happy anniversary!

Return of free time

Today is my first day off from work and I'm absolutely giddy! It's always crunch time the first two weeks in August, and this year has felt especially bad. The crappy thing is I've been putting in overtime since I don't know when. It's only gotten worse.

But today I'm free!!! I forced myself to sleep in until 7am - woohoo!!! Banjo was thrilled because I let him into bed. I'm going to the farmers market tomorrow morning with Kimmi which will be my first time shopping for food in how many weeks. In anticipation of my first day off in quite a long time, the weather decided to be perfect today. I'm immensely enjoying the cool breeze this morning.

I have other exciting news: I biked in 87-degree weather yesterday and didn't die! I have long had difficulty biking in temps greater than 76-degrees because I'm a wuss when it comes to heat. Yesterday it was different - I was mentally determined to bike because I was stressed about having to go into work yesterday for the second Saturday in a row. I felt fine until I stopped moving. When you're biking, you constantly have a slight breeze (and there were gusts of wind yesterday which was amazing). When you stop, no more breeze. Chris was incredible and cooled my craft room and had a smoothie waiting for me when I stepped in the door. Best husband ever!

I'm really looking forward to fall and doing some more yard work. There's lots to do still and I couldn't be more thrilled! The bee balm is attracting bees already and is starting to turn it's purple color. You're going to love it when you come down Mom!

I'm off to have adventures!

Sailor Dog

Me and my hubby went up to my parents' for the weekend and Banjo had some fun adventures.  He first got to go fishing with my parents - he helped them fish:

It was his first time swimming...with us that is.  It makes me wonder if he's ever really swam before :)