day 355

This is part 1 of 2 from the Minnesota Zoo.

I went sunday to work out the kinks of my new lens.

Can't remember what this thing is

Bald Eagle

My relatives :)

day 354

just a couple of photo of the effects from the storms over the weekend - more of just me taking photos than the damage

Tree branches everywhere

my vines were all wind blowen

day 353

My back yard was invaded by ANTS!!!!

grandma

My parents are here! However Ana is still not sure about my mom...my dad however she likes. It should be interesting when they watch them. I hope it all goes well.

sleep

no blog today...I need to sleep but not sure if I will be able too.

damn dogs :)

service

Most of you know I have 2 cars. I never sold one after Joe died I just kept both of our cars. Also you might remember the terrible experience I have at Borton Volvo in May when I brought my car in to be services.

With one bad experience in the car world and being busy I never got around to getting my other car's recall taken care of. (I never drove it all winter or spring) Till now. I drove out to Wayzata which is on the west side of Minneapolis to bring my car. I didn't bother asking for a loaner car because it was an afternoon appointment and Borton was always out and gave you an Enterprise rental car which seams like a lot of monkey business.

Anyway I got there drove my car in waited a little bit then a guy helped me got me a loaner car (with out me asking) and said my car would be done at 1:30. I got a sporty little number that if you barely touched the gas pedal you were going 80 and didn't even know it.

When I picked up my car, they called to tell me it was ready on my cell. (Borton never called my cell called the house which I thought was strange since they asked what number they should call) I got my car it was washed and if you can believe this they even filled it up with gas at no charge!!!!!

What a different experience with my two cars...

sweets!

I know alot of you have been giving me a hard time and some think it if cool that I have been doing the vegetarian/vegan thing since February.

Saturday my friend Ben got married to Julie and they had a dessert bar after the wedding. I gave in to peer pressure and had some...ohhh that was a mistake. My poor tummy did not like that I was bloated till Monday morning and felt bad and sluggish.

I knew I felt good starting to eat healthy but I guess I didn't realize how good I felt until I ate stuff I shouldn't eat.

Just another reason to not eat processed, dairy and other bad foods. You can be sure I'm not going to do that again, well not until I have pain chocolate for breakfast in Paris :)

day 346

I don't need to go to Scotland anymore...Nessie is in lake harriet!

Weather in Edinburgh today 65 where nessie is 68 with showers till June 29.

foxy friday

Foxy has really had a rough year since Joe died...She had the anal gland problem, then all her teeth pulled and now...She went to the vet yesterday to have her rabies shot and heart worm test. When they were talking blood for the heart worm she moved or something who knows what really happened but basically the needle rip her vain and she didn't stop bleeding for a while and had to have a big blue bandage around her neck.

Then I got her home and she started to puff up...back to the for a vet for a benadryl shot! Seriously my poor little girl.

Mom help me get this off!!!

day 342

I thought I would show you Joe's neighbors. I also got some new camera accessories so I went practicing in the cemetery. I can't believe that it is almost a year since the accident. Some days went by fast other dragged on...

Mr. Stockman - his family sold all there plots and Joe is now apart of his family plot.

Practicing my depth of field/aperture technique - took me many tries to get this right

The Hughes are right across from the Stockman plot

Twins Wins!

Last night Jodi and I went to the Twins game...Twins Win and weather was great!!

Good or Bad?

My neighbors house finally sold after being on the market for over a year. They actually had a number of excuses for why it didn't sell from my other neighbors need to paint their 3 ft section of there fence to Foxy and Ana barking in my house. It had nothing to do with the house that is a one bedroom or that it has no closets only one that was 2 1/2 ft long...seriously that wouldn't be big enough for my shoes!

The other day the builder came over and introduced himself to me (the builder is in his late 20's to early 30's). I'm not sure how they are going to make any money building a new house. The plan is to move it up even with my house and the one on the other side and make it a little bigger than mine (mine is about 1975 sq ft) and of course they love the look of my house so they are going to make it like mine.

After 6 years of not having any house on either side of me I'm not sure how I'm going to like having a huge house right next to mine.

Let the fun begin

Yesterday my friend Jodi from Chicago came to visit for a couple days. Those of you who know her know she is fun crazy. I started to laugh and haven't stopped since.

Last night at dinner I almost lost it when she asked me if anyone ever asked me to take prescription meds that were not mine. Ohhh the conversations we have if only Karen was here we really would sound like a episode of Sex and the city. It really makes me want to move back to Chicago to be with my girls all the time.

We are going to the twins game when she is here so I'm sure we will get into some kind of trouble.

Not to mention she started dating again after her boyfriend died and her stories are so funny.

On the other hand I'm so happy to get out of the house and be social I can't even tell you now if it would be warm so I can wear my cute summer clothes.

rainy rainy friday

Last night I went to the twins game...I'm 50/50 for wins and losses. Hopefully Tuesday they will win. I went with a girl from the gym that I met - if you can believe this she was in Brussels the same time I was and we never met. She also lived in Ixelles and has no kids :)

Good luck to everyone riding the MS 150. I hope you don't have rain the whole time.

last night

Oh you guys are not going to believe what I did last night. I took a rock climbing class at REI. I did pretty good considering we were not on the easy climb wall, I made it up 3/4 of the way and that was enough. Not sure if I want to do that again but if I ever do the Amazing Race I got the climbing thing down a little.

improv everywhere

When I was at the airport in New York waiting to fly home I saw a photo that this was on the street and texted Karen that we missed this...I never knew it was the group improv everywhere! I love this group they do the funniest stuff all over NYC. They are the ones that started no pant subway day!

Any way here is the clip and the link to photos from the day (click on clip...I meant to hightlight link but oh well) - I wish we would have ran across this, it is kind of like when I missed the no pant ride by a day in January.

basil

So I almost freaked out this year when i went a couple time to get basil and it was all sold out. Finally I got 3 plants.

Also to day I'm meeting my sorority sister that lost her husband 7 years ago for coffee. It should be interesting to hear her progress I'm only now surrounded by recent losses or people that never lost.

My dinner last night

back yard

Memorial day weekend I spent the whole time cleaning up my back yard! It was a job, the grass needs to be cut again and the damn vines are already growing back onto the patio. Yikes!!!

Some day I need to paint my steps they really look bad.

Minneapolis photos

Last week I went out taking photos of Minneapolis. Here are some of my favorites, as you can tell I was obsessed with the reflection on the river - but I have never seen the river so calm before.

Grain Belt Sign

Full moon rising

I love the way the clouds and the blue sky are reflecting on the river

The Grain Belt sign reflection

Sunset

Downtown

Brooklyn, NY

Can you believe with all my trips to NYC I have never made it to Brooklyn. After all the Bridge was finished on May 24th so I celebrated it's b-day and mine at the same time.

Nothing says tourist more than a camera on the subway

The first train we missed

The center of the bridge

We made it

Even with this compass we need our iphone map to find the base of the bridge and the pizza place

The line was down the street to get in good thing it went fast

Jill & Karen as seen through the eye of some photographer I asked to take our photo

How fun would it be to live in the brownstone under the bridge

A man in an air conditioner-it was even funnier when he turned around he had a cigarette with a huge ash just hanging there

FOOD!

With me flirting with being a vegetarian/vegan since February, I found the perfect restaurant in NYC it is called Candle 79. It was really good so good we ate there twice. Here are some photo to make you hungry.

My birthday cake at Union Square Cafe

Black bean with guacamole and chips

Roasted Garlic

A yummy salad

Gnocchi with fresh veggies

Setain and onion rings

Black bean burger with avocado

Stuffed avocado with quinoa - it was really good.

love lost and what I wore

When Karen and I were in NYC we went to see "love, lost and what I wore". We got tickets in advance because I heard Brooke Shields was going to be in it. It was in a very tiny play house in the hell's kitchen area of town. Also with it being Sunday and the summer there were street fairs and parades going on which caused Doris Roberts to be very late. That was almost more entertaining watching every one scramble trying to figure out what to do than the play.

I also need to apologize for my out of control hair...it is summer in NYC with the humidity and it did sprinkle on and off that day. It has a mind of it's own. Not to mention we walked around all morning then went to the play.

Brooke and I - she asked me how I like my Leica Camera, so if she gets one it is because of me, just kidding.

Karen and Brooke

Me with Doris Roberts

Us with Julie Halston - she was Bitsy Von Muffling on "Sex and the City" we also saw her walk the carpet at the SATC 2 premier.

Anna Chlumsky - you might be like who is she, well she is the little girl from the movie My Girl.