three paces through the room

nolan sings A LOT

2011-04-11T20:11:00.007-06:00

I know it's been a long time! I'm back to blogging (sort of) and thought I would share some recent videos of Nolan singing various songs (all in the car when he can't run around!). He really loves to sing! Enjoy...

Nolan sings itsy bitsy spider

The ABCs

Twinkle twinkle

wheels on the bus, nolan style and some pics

2010-05-09T04:58:00.004-06:00

Here is a new video of nolan's interpretation of his favorite song...

and a few recent pics from the indy children's museum (before the haircut seen in the video!)

nolan dances for elli

2010-01-19T21:10:00.005-06:00

Nolan likes to perform for Elli. Poor poor elli.

and this is what happened at the end of nolan's dance party...

nolan and his animal sounds

2010-01-19T20:49:00.002-06:00

nolan--working on his animal sounds.

nolan's first haircut

2010-01-03T08:53:00.003-06:00

a few days before Christmas we took Nolan to get his first haircut. He was very good (just sitting in my lap) and the result was a great looking haircut.

before and after shots (with Amalia)

doggies!

2009-12-28T13:04:00.002-06:00

laughing

2009-10-23T09:24:00.001-06:00

This was taken in Maine but I forgot to put it up here...enjoy

new videos!

2009-10-15T19:04:00.003-06:00

Nolan loves Elli...but it's safe to say that Elli is taking awhile to warm up to him (that may be an understatement)

Nolan is so close to walking! Practice, practice, practice

crawling...FORWARD

2009-08-12T19:39:00.005-06:00

Nolan has been pushing himself backwards for a few weeks but this past Sunday he started pulling himself forward. And man he can really move especially if it's towards the cat or the cat's food bowl.

nolan's new smile

2009-08-04T19:27:00.007-06:00

Nolan has changed his smile a bit now that he has teeth. He crinkles up his nose a lot more. He just loves pulling himself up and standing up on anything and everything. No crawling yet but he can sure get around!

P.S. Those are blueberries on his shirt. He loves blueberries.

Traveling!

2009-07-30T18:28:00.003-06:00

Follow my brother-in-law as he travels around Indonesia!

www.swarasonora.blogspot.com

Leave him a message too...if you are so inclined

Nate and Nolan

nolan rocks

2009-07-13T18:53:00.003-06:00

Nolan has taken to rock back and forth when he hears music or a song. Here's just a short example of his new trick.

ALSO, he got his first tooth two days ago! Woo hoo!

a few new videos...

2009-06-07T19:06:00.003-06:00

Nolan is learning his consonent sounds. We've been trying to get him to make other sounds outside of "ooohhhh" and "ahhhh" and he just busted out with "da da da" recently. Check it out!

He's also rolling over like crazy. We took this awhile ago when he was just discovering that he could roll.

budding musician...

2009-05-22T21:16:00.004-06:00

Nolan practices playing piano with Grandpa Harry a few weeks ago during our visit.

Easter and Solid Foods!

2009-05-04T19:45:00.010-06:00

It's been a really busy couple of weeks! Nolan had a great Easter at my parent's house and then we got home and Nolan had his first taste of rice cereal.

He loved his little chicky in the Easter basket and he got a book and some sunglasses which he wasn't too sure about but he tolerates them pretty well and he looks so funny!

Outside at my Grandmas on Easter sunday. It was sunny and a bit chilly but we had a good time!

His first taste of rice cereal...he was not a fan. But a few days later he LOVED it. And now he eats all kinds of things--rice and oat cereal, carrots, peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, pears, bananas and he loves it all. We are introducing new foods every day!

Stay tuned for pics of Nolan's first Cubs game (go Brewers!) and his first swim "lesson"

new things for nolan

2009-04-05T14:11:00.004-06:00

We borrowed a jumper from Nolan's friend Ben to see whether he likes it and he loves it! He doesn't quite grasp the concept of jumping but he definitely moves it from side to side.

He also got a "highchair" this weekend. It's just a little seat that attaches to our countertop. He likes that too! We'll be starting to introduce solid foods after Easter. Exciting stuff!

Joel got a new guitar from Harry for his birthday and Nolan loves listening. He even got to strum a bit!

Shake, rattle and roll

2009-03-21T20:24:00.001-06:00

Nolan loves his new rattle...

Shawano...Colds...Aunt Nora

2009-03-01T20:51:00.013-06:00

The weekend of the February 21st, Nolan made his first trip up to Joel's hometown (Shawano, WI) for the annual ice fishing derby. We saw lots of old friends and Nolan met everyone and was in good spirits despite coming down with his first cold on Saturday. He had such a bad cough but he handled it like a champ.

Sunset in Shawano...

He met lots of new friends!

Leonard and Carol Kary with Nolan (above) and Joel's goddaughter Elizabeth and her dad Chad with Nolan.

He's been really vocal lately-making lots of noise but it seems like I just can't get it on camera! Everytime I turn on the camera he clams up. In the video below he stares at the camera for over a minute and doesn't make hardly a peep. What a stinker.

I did catch him making a few noises in this video!

Finally, Aunt Nora (my sister) came for a visit from Tallahassee last weekend and enjoyed lots of time with Nolan. He stayed home from daycare just to visit with her!

It's been awhile...

2009-02-13T21:21:00.019-06:00

A long while since I've posted anything...I never finished posting about France...maybe someday. Highlights included the 36 hours in a French hospital because Nolan (then referred to as Baby Krueger) made me really sick and I couldn't stop throwing up (a mix of exhaustion and morning sickness). But outside of that little detour, we spent some great and relaxing days in Paris. Nora and I spent a lot of time in cafes.

Summer was pretty low key with no other big trips although we did travel quite a bit around the midwest for three weddings (my cousin and two of Joel's childhood friends-see below). Also, the summer saw my belly expand to monumental proportions AND my parents move out of our childhood home into a condo. I also had two really nice baby showers in the late summer/early fall.

Travis and Barb at the reception. Yea!

Tina, Chad, Greg, Joel and Eric celebrating Chad's wedding. Congrats Chad and Cheyna!

John giving a speech at his wedding. Gina is on the far right. Congrats you guys!

And now onto the best part. Nolan was born on November 12 at 3:33pm. I went into labor at 1am. He was 9 lbs. 5 oz and 22.5 inches long! Yikes!

On to more recent events. My parents were up for a visit this past weekend and it was so nice we went downtown to the Art Institute and Milennium Park.

Nolan, Joel, me, dad and mom all reflected in the bean (officially Cloud Gate in Millennium Park).

Papa Mike and Nolan at the art museum.

Riding in the stroller like a big boy (his first time)!

This is his favorite expression! Lots of smiles!

He got a new chair from some friends (thanks Jeff and Beth!) and I put him in it for the first time. It should help him learn to sit up. He was a little unsure at first but now he loves it (please note the buddha belly)!

I'm going to try to post every week or so to get some new pics of him up and update on what we've been doing...and for those of you on facebook...I'll try to put some different pictures up!

Viva La France! Part Trois

2008-06-15T07:52:00.006-06:00

Friday May 2: The Loire Valley continued...

We decided to stay in the Loire Valley in the morning because we wanted to check out another castle and see a winery. Our next castle was Chateau d'Azay le Rideau. It was built by a French finance minister and when the King saw how elaborate and expensive it became-he confiscated it. The inside of the castle was much better kept than the prior castle because this castle was a national monument and one that the French government maintains.

It's all about symmetry for the French-the view down the walk.

A castle is a castle is a castle...

The family seal above the fireplace: this castle was really well maintained. Some of the tapestries looked like they were practically new even though they were over 100 years old.

Mom, Dad and the castle.

After the castle, we headed to a winery in a nearby town. I wasn't feeling great so I stayed in the car while the rest of the family went to a wine cave where they age the wine. They ended up with these caves when they were digging out stones to build the castle. They all said it was a great day (and they bought lots of wine!).

Then we all piled into our cars and headed to Brittany to try to get to Saint Michel (a famous Abbey) before it closed...we made it and the pictures will be up shortly!

Viva La France: Part Duo

2008-06-03T19:44:00.004-06:00

Thursday May 1: The Loire Valley

On the grounds of the first castle we visited, Chenonceau there was a 12th century farm. The buildings were covered with these purple flowers that I think my mom said were wisteria. They smelled like bubblegum. It was beautiful!

Nora stopped to smell the flowers...
The castle itself was built over the river for one of the kings mistresses. It was really crowded (even though we didn't get there until late afternoon). Nora and I took the audio tour which had some interesting facts...like that the hall that stretches over the river used to house soldiers in WWII and they used to fish in the river out the windows.
The gardens were along one side of the river-done in the French style, very symmetrical.

We spent that night in Tours, which was a really nice town. The hotel recommended a small little square with great old buildings and restaurants to eat dinner.
Stay tuned for more of the Loire Valley and then Brittany on the coast!

Viva La France!

2008-05-28T18:08:00.006-06:00

I realize it's been way too long since I've posted anything-but I figure nothing like a 10 day trip to France to get a person back on the blogging wagon. So, I'll go through our trip posting two days at a time. That will give me a chance to put lots of pictures for each day.

The real planning for the trip got down and dirty at O'Hare airport while we waited for our flight (which was delayed due to a leak in the plane's kitchen). My dad had a huge map of the whole country of France spread out and Harry was reading the driving directions. We had plans to head straight to Confolens to pick up Nora as soon as we landed in Paris and rented the cars.

Once we landed, it took us about two hours to rent our cars and get our luggage. We passed right through customs without any questions because we were told there was "no staff". I think it was lunchtime so there was no one working the customs desk. In any case, it took a really long time to rent our cars (they were "big" by European standards...about the size of a Toyota Camry), both Harry and my dad got Renault Laguna cars that were brand new. We lost Harry on the Peripherique (the road that goes around Paris) and my dad, mom and I decided to take the toll roads (which was the quickest way) to get to Nora. The scenery got prettier and prettier as we headed away from Paris. Nora's town was about 6ish hours. We stopped at an "oasis" along the toll road for some food and gas. The oasis' in France are really nice. You can get fresh cafe and glasses of wine and most had bakeries. I could've spent a long time checking out all the goodies. They also had any kind of ham sandwich you could imagine (the French love their jambon).
We arrived in Confolens before dark and Harry arrived about 45 minutes later and Nora had ideas for dinner. There was a restaurant in town that is owned by a British couple that just opened. Nora befriended the couple and spent a lot of time there with them so we headed there for dinner. They were delightful and it was a great first dinner in France (I had mushroom risotto). The restaurant is below and a picture of Confolens is above.

Mom and Dad and Harry spent the night in town in a small hotel and I stayed with Nora in her apartment (which was on the grounds of the high school). A picture of Mom and Nora along the river in Confolens before we headed out to our next town Tours (with a stop in Poitiers...where Nora lived with Ben in the fall). Mom stepped in caca de chein (dog poo) along the banks...which Nora and I thought very humorous....

A stop along the way at an idyllic French village. The French countryside really looks like everything you've imagined-the buildings are amazing.

Next up....Tours and the castles...

Halloween is for Kiddos

2007-11-19T20:15:00.000-06:00

Joel and I recently saw my godson, Anderson and his sister Ella at their house. It was trick-or-treat night and the kids were all decked out. I wanted to share the pictures because they are just so darn cute.

Brett Farve (he loved is Badger football)

Brett Farve explaining the logistics of football to Joel

Brett Farve and Blue ready to brave the cold for candy!

High School Musical

2007-11-13T20:27:00.000-06:00

Only without the singing! I'm sure you've all been holding your breath for the pictures from my 10 year high school reunion. It was well-planned (thanks, Rebec!) and the venue was great. The Midtown Bar and Grill, we had the whole place to ourselves until 11pm. It was a blast-and I saw lots of people who I haven't seen in as many years and drank a bunch of wine. Fun!

Rebec and an old friend, Amanda

Julie, Gina and I

A friend I haven't seen in years (Tamar)
And there was dancing...

And what's a night out without Qdoba with friends?

All in all it was a great night but I was happy to leave everyone else behind and eat Qdoba with the people that I see every time I come home. My best high school friends!

Did You Know?

2007-11-05T21:44:00.000-06:00

That we give approximately $1 Billion in aid to Pakistan every year

That the Pakistani government is beating its own people in the street.

BUT REMEMBER...That "We are the United States of America, we are very powerful, we have a lot of influence,'' the administration official said, "but we don’t dictate'.

Um...at least we're consistent?

Just a bit of political mumbo jumbo for this Monday night. Want to read more? Check it out.

Heartbreak

2007-10-23T12:08:00.000-06:00

Seems like I've been writing this too often. Bad news on the latest MRI for Anderson. Please stop by and offer words of support and encouragement.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/andersonbutzine

Simple Request

2007-10-15T20:48:00.000-06:00

Please stop by and offer words of support to a member of my godson's support group. It's a three year old girl named Erin and she and her family received some bad news today.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/erinroderick

I Once Knew a Man in Nantucket

2007-10-12T16:20:00.000-06:00

Apologies for the internet silence. Time has gotten away from me and all of a sudden summer turned into fall. As promised here are some pictures from our trip to Nantucket over Labor day weekend (already over a month ago!). We had such a great time-meeting lots of new people and relaxing on the beach. We even rented bikes and rode around the island. Good times!

At the beach for a sunset!

The whole gang at dinner...

The sunset (these pics were taken on the same night!)

We had beautiful weather the entire weekend. Nantucket is really a glorious place-the residents have worked really hard to preserve much of the island so it's not over-developed. A lot of the island is land trust and left alone.

Stay tuned for pics from my ten year high school reunion...

Ode to the Makers of Monuments

2007-08-31T21:03:00.001-06:00

I spent last week from Sunday through Friday in Washington DC for a week long training at the GAO Headquarters. They put me up in a really nice hotel (where presidential hopefuls and former presidents have stayed) at the government rate of course! Even though I was in training all day-I did have some time to see lots of friends from grad school and old work buddies for dinner. It was nice to visit with everyone and I learned a bit about GAO too!

My hotel (The Mayflower) is a historic building that they've restored. It's pretty fancy and very close to lots of great restaurants and just a few blocks from G.W. Bush's current home.

I met my friend Maggie for dinner one night in Georgetown which is just rows of little shops like this (though they are mostly chain stores like Ralph Lauren and Banana Republic).

On my last night in DC my friend Vered and I went to dinner and then took a hike around the monuments because I had been in DC all week but hadn't seen anything yet!

Our first president

The Washington Monument after dark across the reflecting pool

the first glimpse of Honest Abe (i was struck at how busy the monument was at dark on a weekday night)

I always get a little choked up at this memorial because it's so well done.

I had never been to the Korean War Memorial which is very close to Lincoln. It's extremely moving. The wall along the middle of the memorial is etched with the faces of soldiers and lit from the ground. And then on one side of the wall or life-size statues of a platoon of soldiers seemingly marching through Korea. They are also lit from the ground and the look like ghosts. I could hardly breathe when I was walking through it.

World War II memorial was very different with every pillar marked with a state name in an elipse with lots of water rushing along the outside and the inside of the monument. Standing in the middle is overwhelming and loud with the water. It was grandiose but really didn't affect me as much as Korea.

And last but not least...the White House

Stay tuned for pictures of Nantucket...Joel and I just got back from a long weekend!

Just a second...

2007-08-14T19:56:00.000-06:00

If you have a moment this week please head over to my godson Anderson's website and leave a note for his family. He was scheduled for an MRI yesterday but he was running a really high fever and the MRI will have to be rescheduled. He is still running a fever and I'm sure his parents will appreciate any notes/thoughts/prayers of encouragement. THANKS!

Opening his birthday presents (he turned 2!!)

Playing with cars

Market Daze, Elvis and Dim Sum

2007-08-12T18:17:00.000-06:00

This weekend was great! Joel and I were around Chicago and spent it with friends going to a festival, running a 5K and eating dim sum in Chinatown for the first time! During the summertime in Chicago the city neighborhoods hold street festivals from mid June through the end of August and it usually involves street closures, lots of music, and food. Joel and I went to the Wicker Park festival a few weeks ago and loved it. This weekend we went to the festival in boystown (the gay neighborhood in Chicago) called North Halsted Market Days. It was really hot but we walked through with our friends, Lindsay and Jeremy and their family and had lots of fun. This festival has a different flavor than some of the other festivals.

The entrance

One of the bars had an outdoor patio and there were lots of men sans shirts crammed into it. Everyone was staring as we walked by...so I took a picture!

Earlier in the week, I decided to run a 5K on Saturday night so after the festival Joel and I headed down to the race start. IT WAS SO HOT! I knew it was going to be rough but it was a fun theme! It was called the Elvis is Alive! 5K and you can see above that a bunch of people dress head to toe as Elvis and run 5K like that! Crazy.

Run Elvis Run!

Run Mollie Run! I was hurting-it was really hot and I was struggling. But I finished!

On Sunday, Joel and I headed down to Chinatown for dim sum (it's like chinese tapas...small portions for the table). It was the first time we had ever been down to Chinatown to eat-it was great. But the company was even better than the food! We met Chris and Christine who are living in Hyde Park for the summer. It was great to catch up (they were living in Seattle last summer...when I was there!) and visit.

North Dakota's Goodlands

2007-08-06T19:10:00.000-06:00

On the way home from Glacier we stopped in North Dakota at Teddy Roosevelt National Park. We camped one night in the park and had planned to do some hiking the following day-as we set out on our hike we encountered a herd of buffalo across the river...blocking our trail. We stood there for a bit but it was obvious the herd was in no hurry to move on. So we scraped our hike and drove around the park and we saw so much wildlife! Lots of bison, wild horses, and prairie dogs. The scenery was breathtaking and totally different from Glacier. Enjoy the pics!

The river through a canyon

A herd of buffalo across the river-Joel and I watched them for quite awhile

A herd of wild horses resting by the river (they were very close to the buffalo)

Another herd of horses-there were so many of them

We watched the prairie dogs for a long time too. They are so entertaining!

The young male bison (below) walked to the middle of the river and watched us to make sure we didn't come any closer (and we didn't!). Here he is giving us one last look...

We heart grizzlies

2007-07-29T12:06:00.000-06:00

The reason that we love grizzly bears is that we didn't see one during our time in Glacier National Park. Although we did buy the $45.95 "combat assault pepper spray" made specifically for grizzly bears (you can see the can hanging from Joel's pack in a picture below). We bought it mostly for our own peace of mind and thankfully didn't have to use it...does anybody need any bear sized pepper spray? In any case, we had a great time and we saw plenty of non-aggressive, vegetarian wildlife!

It took us 23 1/2 hours to drive out there and bit longer to drive back. The drive was nice and we listened to a few books on tape (most notably, the 5th installment of the Harry Potter series which was 27 hours long!). The Honda civic held up well although a few times it didn't want to climb the mountain. We hiked a total of about 40 miles over the course of the trip-the weather was hot but it didn't rain so we couldn't complain.

We spend the first four nights and five days camping and hiking in the Park out of our car. We did the Highline Trail (which follows the continental divide) up to an old Chalet and then back down (on this trail we saw mountain goats and a marmot!). We also hiked up to avalanche lake which followed a pretty amazing gorge.

The last two nights we backpacked 8 miles along the US/Canadian border to Cosley Lake. It was gorgeous and relaxing. I read and we played cards. Joel and another guy tried to "bush-whack" up a creek bed to a peak above Cosley Lake and while they didn't get to the top they managed to have a pretty nice view (see below). Our campsite was right on Cosley Lake and though it was too cold to swim we still enjoyed the views!

After our backpacking extravaganza we headed back to St. Mary's (which is just outside the Park) and stayed in the lodge before leaving Montana the next morning. We stopped at Teddy Roosevelt National Park on the way home (and saw lots more wildlife). See tomorrow's post!

Joel all loaded up and ready to go backpacking!

We had to cross the river to get to our site on Cosley Lake-this bridge was really wobbly!

There were so many wildflowers blooming while we were there...this is Indian Paintbrush

A mama grouse that got pretty upset and poofed up as we tried to pass by!

A fawn was running around our campsite the day we left Cosley Lake

We saw a few big horn sheep right by the road drinking from waterfalls

Mama and baby walking right above us on the highline trail

Joel on the highline trail

At avalanche lake

On the highline (the views were breathtaking)

Joel's view after he hiked up off-trail to a peak (that's Cosley Lake)

Cosley Lake from our campsite

The trail leading to Cosley Lake (the lake is just over that ridge on the right)

A view of St Mary's Lake in the morning

Two Weddings, Two Graduations, and One Godson

2007-07-02T21:02:00.000-06:00

Yikes! It's been a long time since I posted anything! These past two months have been pretty intense. We've been to two weddings (Alyssa and Keith, Andy and Meghan), two graduations (me and my sister), and had lots of visits with family and friends in between all of that! We leave for our road trip to Glacier National Park on Wednesday morning but I wanted to get a few pictures up before then to show everyone what we've been up to... so enjoy!

Everyone stopped at Luigi's for a picture on the bar!

Chad and Cheyna

Elizabeth (THE cutest flower girl) bustin' a move at the reception.

Alyssa and Keith were married over memorial day weekend and we spent the long weekend in Shawano where there was lots to eat and horseshoes to play...Chad and Joel even slept under the stars by the fire!

The second wedding was friends from college, Andy and Meghan. They were married in Waukesha and it was great to catch up with everyone!

Andy and Meghan right after the ceremony!

Joel's college classmates and fellow chemical engineers!

In between and among all of that...I graduated from University of Chicago graduate school and my sister graduated from undergrad at Lawrence. It's been a really wild two months.

We were also able to spend some time with my godson who recently finished a round of full spinal radiation and as we approach his second birthday there are many things to be thankful for...he's almost walking on his own! Enjoy this video I took a few weeks ago and don't forget the sound!

The painted house!

2007-05-08T16:11:00.000-06:00

YEAH! After two weekends of nonstop work-the house is painted, the blinds are installed and it looks great! Enjoy the pictures...

Kitchen

The living room

The second bedroom with Joel's blue wall...

The master bedroom

Our New House

2007-04-15T18:56:00.000-06:00

We were over at our new condo with our realtor this afternoon to check out the progress-and I remembered my camera! So here are a few pictures of our (very dusty) condo. We close in less than two weeks and move in on May 12!! So exciting. Enjoy the pictures...

The view from the front door (our living room/kitchen and hallway)

The living room from the hallway (front door to the left and fireplace to the right)

The kitchen and breakfast bar

The second bathroom (off the hallway)

The master bathroom

I took pictures of the bedrooms (there are 2!) but they don't do them justice so you'll have to wait!

Congratulations Barbara and Travis!!

2007-04-13T21:40:00.000-06:00

My cousin Barbara had her second baby boy on April 10. He was 7 lbs. 2 oz., 18.5 inches long and HEALTHY!

Looking at mama

Welcome to the world Logan Lee!!

Hop Hop Hop

2007-04-11T20:15:00.000-06:00

This past weekend was Easter-and Joel and I spent it with my family (and friends) in Indy. We got down there fairly early so my friends from high school (Gina, Julie and Rebec) headed out to Broad Ripple to celebrate Julie and Gina's birthday's in style. We went to the Red Room where there was drinking and dancing...

Then we headed over to Rock Lobster which is a bar right in the heart of Broad Ripple (the area where we were). And the music was REALLY bad and there were two guys for every girl. makes for a creepy evening...but one guy (who was about 40 years old) liked Gina ...and he had a really sweet shirt on. He thought he was posing for a picture of he and Gina but I only cared about his shirt. He sure was HOT!

And of course the night ended with some late night NACHOS at Qdoba. Mmmmmm...

I took some pretty funny videos at the bar which I will post later this week, those take longer to upload. So stay tuned...

Going Once...Going Twice...Gone!

2007-04-05T19:58:00.000-06:00

Last weekend Joel and I went to an auction-a black tie optional fundraiser to raise money in support of students who take unpaid internships over the summer as a part of their grad school experience. It was in the "Winter Garden" at the Harold Washington Library downtown. Very fancy. It was open bar which means it was a crazy time. It was really nice to see some of my old classmates and spend money that we don't have! We got a great deal on tickets to the Shedd Aquarium and we hope to entice Joel's goddaugher and her parents down for a weekend! Overall-we had a great time. Enjoy the pictures...

The Winter Garden (looking up from our table)

Joel and I

Marnie and LindsThere was dancing!The Crew! (friends from grad school)

Itsy Bitsy Spider

2007-03-29T19:39:00.000-06:00

During her birthday weekend, Elizabeth treated us to a rousing rendition of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" while jumping on the air mattress...don't forget the sound!

A Month in Pictures

2007-03-26T20:22:00.000-06:00

This month has been so busy-I haven't had much time to blog. But I wanted to share some fun pictures of what we've been up to!

We started the month with Elizabeth's (Joel's goddaughter) 3rd birthday. She's loads of fun and she got tons of presents!
Then I went to Austin, Texas for work-it was beautiful and brief (24 hours!). 70 degrees and sunny-my co worker and I ate at the Iron Cactus on 6th Street...it was great!During my Spring Break, I went up to see my godson. And during that time I got to see my friend Tina and her son Jordan. The kids played so well together, they are getting so big. It was a great visit!

Anderson Mark

Ella Beth

Jordan Thomas

February was Birthday Month!

2007-03-01T21:38:00.000-06:00

So many birthdays in February!

The 14th-My friend Dee's 30th Birthday
The 18th-My father-in-law's Birthday
The 22nd-My friend Lindsay's Birthday
The 25th-My other friend Lindsay's Birthday
The 27th-Jolio's Birthday
The 28th-My friend Julie's Birthday

For a short month...that's a lot of birthdays!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYBODY!a picture Joel took in Yosemite-I miss summer!

OBAMAnia!

2007-02-16T18:38:00.000-06:00

I try not to make this blog political and those of you who know me...know that's really rough for me...

This time, I just can't help myself.

He's an amazing man. Check out his site and help make history!

My Sister, the Flutist

2007-02-09T19:40:00.000-06:00

So proud. Joel and I went up to Lawrence University for my sister's senior lecture recital. It was phenomenal. It was obvious that she had practiced and she played two pieces on her flute and had some of her fellow students sing and play as well. The topic was Native American and American Art Music through the 20th Century: From Appropriation to Cooperation. She highlighted the evolution of American music's use of Native American traditions. She played works from Charles Wakefield Cadman, Katherine Hoover, and Ling-Yu Hsiao. She was great and the lecture was really interesting.

There was tons of food at the reception afterwards and Dan even treated us to "Mary had a little lamb" on Nora's Native American flute.

After the recital we headed up to Shawano for a weekend of sub-zero temperatures and what else, ice fishing! I never made it out on the ice but Joel got some great pictures. He and Chad got up at 4:45am.

An added bonus was spending some time with Elizabeth-Joel's goddaughter. She's getting so big and she's lots of fun!

We are Family!

2007-01-24T21:42:00.000-06:00

Congratulations Lindsey and Clayton Hardsaw!

I realized this weekend that I am a very fortunate person. You don't get to choose what family you are born into and sometimes family turns out to be more of a burden than anything else. I was blessed with a great family. Not that we don't have our quirks and disfunctionalities (see the video of my brother) but we love and support each other. And perhaps most importantly, we enjoy being together.

This past weekend we were in southern Indiana for my cousin's wedding. She looked beautiful and happy and everyone had a blast. All of my cousins on my mom's side were together for the first time since our wedding five years ago! It was fantastic...enjoy the pictures...

My aunt, my mom, and my uncle(father of the bride)

The ring bearer (Trent)

My dad and uncle

My cousin, Kendall and Nora

And then there was much dancing...

My brother might be one of the funniest people I know...

Sometimes

2007-01-17T21:22:00.000-06:00

Sometimes words cannot express exactly how you're feeling...And so I'll let his mother say it:

In the words of our oncologist, Anderson's latest MRI showed 'no evidence of disease!' The areas of enhancement on the MRI are believed to be scar tissue and Anderson is TUMOR FREE! Thanks be to God!

Merry! Merry!

2007-01-03T19:50:00.000-06:00

Whew! Thank goodness the holidays are over! I'm not sure I could've taken much more. It seemed like Joel and I were always going somewhere. There wasn't much downtime but it was a great Christmas.

We started on Christmas Eve at Joel's cousins house for dinner. It was great to see everyone and Julie fixed a fantastic meal (she made an appetizer with gouda and carmalized unions...mmm). We played a few games and puzzles with Joel's cousin's daughter Nadine. She's 3 1/2 and loads of fun. Then headed home to Joel's dads for Christmas gift exchange. I got an IPOD shuffle! a digital camera! and work clothes! It was nice to spend some time with just Joel, Nathan, and Harry. Pictures and video on the blog are courtesy of my new camera!

On Christmas morning, we relaxed and fixed an appetizer and salad for Christmas dinner. The day was filled with backgammon, Connect Four, and more food. We had a sit down dinner of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc....

I learned how to put videos on my blog (so exciting!) After dinner, Nadine had great fun using Nathan as a trampoline!

The day after Christmas I spent with my best buds from college. We had our annual post-holiday get together. It's one of our holiday traditions and it's always nice to catch up, relax and eat great food!
Ella also sang "Jingle Bells" all the way through for me! She's definitely a talented little girl.

After those visits, Joel and I headed down to my parents on the 27th for a few days. We had the Gifford-Hertel family Christmas two nights in a row! Once at my parents and once with my brother at a restaurant. It was a really nice visit-filled with more great food and my mom's cookies! MMMMMMM.
We also had time for some DDR (Dance Dance Revolution!) with my high school friends. Joel turned out to be really good! Who knew he had such rhythm?

Stay tuned for New Years!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2006-12-24T09:04:00.000-06:00

In many ways this has been a challenging year. It was the first year without Joel's mom and also marks the ependymoma diagnosis of my godson. But it was also a joyful year filled with family and friends and trips to Tucson, Seattle and Vancouver. I feel so fortunate to have a great group of people around me. Merry Christmas!

Good News

2006-12-22T09:32:00.000-06:00

The MRI results are in! No new tumor growth and the tumor that was there was reduced! What a great Christmas gift.

Thoughts

2006-12-18T21:33:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to let everyone (at least the several people who read this on a regular basis) that my godson is having another MRI tomorrow. Thoughts and prayers for him and his family are always appreciated and will be especially nice tomorrow.

I visited with he, his sister and their mom today at their house. It was a great visit-he's walking along the furniture and we had a great time playing with play doh. Check out his website and leave a note!

ICE!

2006-12-15T17:22:00.000-06:00

The weather has been amazingly mild this December! We've been above freezing for the past week or so. Last weekend Joel and I headed up to his goddaughter's place in Shawano. She's two and a half and so much fun! We spent all day Saturday watching her. We took her down to the river where she had a good time throwing ice chunks into the river. Then we took her to lunch. She is talking in full sentences now and is really developing a great personality. Here are a few pics....

Food + Games = Thanksgiving!

2006-11-29T17:57:00.000-06:00

My parents playing Sequence!

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to get out the games and put away the belts! Joel and I spent Thanksgiving down in Indy with my parents. Every year my mom hosts Thanksgiving at our house with her side of the family. My cousin Barbara was there this year and she brought her son Trent (who's two!). I forgot how fun two year olds are-he was full of energy and a bit of mischief but on the whole-very well behaved.This year we had an extra day with everyone-as my Uncle Joe had to work in Indy so they all stayed on through Friday. Good times. My mom made a great meal and I got to spend time with friends and we even made a trip up to Batesville to see my Gram.

On the whole, it was delightful! Enjoy the pics...

My Uncle with his daughters, Lindsey and Barbara

Cosi Fan Tutte

2006-11-28T12:19:00.000-06:00

AKA: All Women Are Like That

Nathan performed in the above Mozart opera the weekend before Thanksgiving. Joel and I went down to Tucson to see it. The subject matter was pretty funny-it's about how women can be convinced to stray...it was entertaining and Nathan was great (as usual). He played Guglielmo one of the main characters. His friend, Ken (pictured left) played the old trickster Don Alfonso.

Not only was the opera fantastic but the weather was 80's and sunny the entire time. On Saturday, Nathan wasn't performing so we went to the mountains (Mt. Lemmon) and it was georgeous. We drove up to the top and did a two mile loop...checking out the vistas. You could see for miles-it was so clear!The views were terrific and we had a chance to relax and spend time together.

Just in case

2006-11-15T10:24:00.000-06:00

Any of you all are interested in what I'm working on...check out this write-up by the Kaiser Foundation on the Medicaid prescription drug program. This is the program that we are evaluating, though my specific project is much more detailed- we are looking at a very small issue related to the Medicaid Rebate program.

http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/Medicaid-Purchasing-Prescription-Drugs-Policy-Brief.pdf

It's totally awesome.

Good Genes

2006-11-10T18:00:00.000-06:00

My husband comes from a musical family and I just wanted to brag about them! Joel can play lots of instruments-but prefers the guitar. He's great at it even when it's been months since he's practiced!

Last weekend we went to Milwaukee to see Harry (Joel's dad) perform in the Milwaukee Symphany Chorus. It's a big chorus and in addition to singing Mozart's Requiem Mass, we also were treated to selections from the Magic Flute. The singers were just fantastic and it was a great evening.

While Harry was singing in Milwaukee-Nathan (Joel's brother) was singing in Tucson and he got a great review!

Check it out:

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/154548.php

Go Jo Go!

2006-10-28T19:59:00.000-06:00

Last weekend my buddy Jodie ran the Chicago marathon (for the third or fourth year?). Every year Joel and I travel around and try to see her at different points around Chicago. This year Joel was away at a conference but we (me and Jodie's friend, Bill) still managed to see Jodie at miles 10, 17, and the finish line! It was soooo cold. At one point we looked at the temperature and it was 39 degrees. Imagine running a marathon in that weather-yikes. Jodie did great! She was in the preferred start since she did so well last year-and this year she did pretty well. Under four hours!!! Woo hoo!

Anyway, I still didn't get marathon fever. It really doesn't appeal to me at all-but tomorrow I start training for an olympic distance triathlon! IT's a huge commitment to complete even the "base" training for it (10-15 hours per week) but I really want to challenge myself so I'm going to do it!

Wal-Fart

2006-10-11T21:44:00.000-06:00

Great article on the corporation of corporations. I'm taking a labor markets class and we spent a week on the retail giant. It's short. Read it and weep.

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/retail/walmart.pdf

Today

2006-10-09T18:42:00.000-06:00

Today marks the one year anniversary of my mother-in-law's death. I've thought a bunch about whether I wanted to write anything on my blog about her-it feels too personal to share with the outside world and when I start thinking about what I would write-it becomes a laundry list of all of her personality traits that I loved and I wanted it to be something more. I decided to go for it...so here it is-for better or worse:

In 1976, my mother-in-law started a support group for women who had cesarean sections. Nathan (Joel's brother) had been delivered via C-section and Linda said she had a hard time bonding with him because he had been delivered that way. When a woman who had also had a baby via C-section called and asked her if she wanted to start a support group, Linda said yes. They started the group and provided information and support for other women who had a difficult time coming to terms with their own C-sections. The hospital provided information on the group and women who were interested were contacted by Linda or another member.

Linda told me that story in the Spring of 2005. They had just moved down to Johnson Creek and Linda had her last Dr. appt in Green Bay. I drove up there with her because Harry had to work. She shared a lot with me during that trip and I learned a lot about her. Looking back, I feel really fortunate to have had that time with her-it was the time between the hospital stay with meningitis and her death before her health really started to fail. It gave me a whole new perspective on what an amazing woman she was.

I met Linda on Joel and I's very first date. It was Joel's 20th birthday and we were passing through Shawano. We stopped for cake with his parents. Linda made his favorite-angel food and she was so friendly. I was a bit overwhelmed meeting the parents on the first date but she welcomed me with open arms (as was her style with everyone). Over the next six years (three as my mother-in-law), she was nothing but a source of constant love and support.

Linda was a great caretaker and mother as I know Joel and Nathan will tell you. She was always cooking something (mac and cheese, coffee cake, banana bread) and trying to feed you or get drinks for you. She was constantly trying to make things easier for you-laughing and never taking "no" for an answer. When my sister went to college in Appleton-Linda drove to see her with cookies and took her grocery shopping. She was that kind of a woman. I really miss her-and the loss is only deepened as Joel and I think about starting a family. She would have been a great grandmother and would have relished the job.

Maybe it's cheesy but Nathan made us a mix tape and the last song is Johnny Cash singing "My Life" and I heard it in the car tonight on the way home:

There are places i'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends i still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life i've loved them all

Friends!

2006-10-04T20:30:00.000-06:00

We had such a great time at the wedding-I wanted to share a few more pics!

Marnie and Linds and then the girls.

Here's the maple ice sorbet-there was even a glowy thing underneath it!

And finally-Joel and I. Good times.

Cosmopolitan Sorbet in Maple Leaf Ice

2006-10-03T21:31:00.000-06:00

That was one of the courses at the wedding Joel and I went to this weekend. It was a beautiful wedding in a great location (Birmingham, MI). The reception was very fancy and the food was great (they had a great Veggie entree-squash ravioli). We had a great time dancing and catching up with some of my buddies from grad school who graduated in June. The bride is one of my friends from policy school and we have become friends with her husband and Joel played soccer with them this past spring.

They really love each other and it was a delightful weekend!

P.S. The Maple Leaf Ice was just that-a maple leaf made of ice on top of which was the cosmo sorbet...I told you it was fancy!

P.P.S. I haven't forgotten about the vaca pics...more soon...

P.S.

2006-09-21T16:57:00.000-06:00

More pictures and synopsis to come! I promise.

By the way-if you haven't checked out my godson's site lately. Stop by and leave a note in the guestbook.

Highlights

2006-09-21T15:12:00.000-06:00

Yikes-it's been a long time since I've posted anything! Sorry about that. I've been playing catch up since I moved back to Chicago. Lots of things to do before school starts next week. I'm all registered and ready to go!

As for our vacation. I decided to post pictures from my favorite day on our trip. We camped one night in Olympic National Park and hiked along the beach. It was the most beautiful beach I've ever been too-and I've been to lots of coasts!

There are lots of sea stacks...with trees growing on top of them. The sea stack on the left (the one that looks like a square in the distance is called "the cake".

We arrived as the tide was going out so there were lots of tide pools with sea anenomes and starfish. We walked up about 1.5 miles and then back. It was my favorite part of the trip. Enjoy the pictures!!

I'm Back!

2006-09-11T10:54:00.000-06:00

In Chicago! Joel and I had a great time traveling around the pacific northwest and now I've got lots of cleaning and unpacking to do! We're going to go through the pictures tonight so I'll post an abbreviated journal of our travels and share some pics.

LU WOW

2006-08-30T21:28:00.000-06:00

Well it's official- only have 2 MORE DAYS of work! I can't believe it-but my final week is here and I'm so excited to be done and headed back to my "normal" Chicago life! This summer has definitely been a strain but I learned so much and had such a great experience, it was worth it!

Anyway, I got the opportunity last weekend to be a part of something amazing-a celebration for my godson-Anderson. His parents hosted a huge party at a park in Wisconsin and invited everyone they knew (and even some they didn't know) who supported them and their family over the past 6 months. It was a great turnout and really great food! I think Joel is still eating the pork sandwiches this week!

I wanted to share some pictures I (and Joel) took at the party. Anderson was still feeling a bit under the weather but I got a few smiles and he was pointing and clicking his tongue. I even got some "la la la's" out of him. He's such a joy. I was so happy that I was able to come home and be a part of it.Lori came all the way from Omaha to be at the party-it was so nice to be together with some of my best friends. Good friends that now feel more like family...

Ella (Chelle's daughter) always takes a bit to warm up to Joel but he eventually won her over.
She even let him push her on the swing!

And of course-the little guy-he's watching his sister swing!

Amazing Adventures-Part Duh

2006-08-25T10:24:00.000-06:00

First and foremost-I'M HOME!! Back in Chicago for the weekend-going to celebrate my godson Anderson's amazing life tomorrow at the LUAU!

Okay back to my chronicles...

SATURDAY

After our tour of parks on Saturday we went back to my 'hood and ate at my favorite Thai place. It was good stuff. Then we went back to my house and watched the new Pride & Prejudice. Nora had never seen it and I've seen it about 25 times but could definitely watch it many more...

SUNDAY

We got up early and headed to the ferry terminal to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island and then drive to Olympic National Park. It was an early morning ferry and there really weren't very many people on it. As you can see from the above picture-mom and nora were wusses-Nora thought it was too cold. I took that picture standing on the deck looking in on them. As you can see, I did finally get them out on the deck for a bit-and if you look to the left of them (their right) you can see the Mountain. It made an appearence for us on the way to Bainbridge! How nice of it. Once we reached the island we stopped at the Blackbird bakery and had a GREAT blueberry lemon scone, cinnamon roll, and orange roll. It was fantastic. Mom and Nora read the paper while I tried hard not to read anything!

Then we headed north and west towards the park and the ocean. We stopped at the Visitor center and got a suggestion for lunch at Lake Crescent Lodge and then we headed up to Hurrican ridge. It was breathtaking-the views of the Olympics and it was a beautiful day.We hiked over the ridge for views of the water and Port Angeles and then headed back down and made our way towards the Rainforest. There are lots of different climates in the park. Rainforests, oceans, mountains, it's really crazy. So we drove and stopped at Lake Crescent Lodge for lunch. Lake Crescent is a huge lodge in the middle of the park and it was so beautiful. The water was really clear and warm. I wanted to take a swim but we settled for lunch and looks.

Then we headed to the rainforest. I guess the rainforest doesn't get much rain in the summer. The moss was pretty brown and we didn't get to see any of those giant yellow and black banana slugs that the rainforest is so famous for! But we did take a nice walk and saw some really large trees and it was still nice and green!

Overall it was a great visit. I wish we had more time but we sure filled up the time we did have!

The Amazing Adventures of the Gifford Hertel Girls

2006-08-22T21:17:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting at Cafe Allegro with my friend-Christopher Jette and trying to catch up on many many emails received and not answered...check out chris' blog, it's way more interesting than mine.

My mother and sister flew back east yesterday after three days of fun in the Seattle sun! Here is a abridged chronicle of what we did....

THURSDAY NIGHT

They arrived and we headed to my fav cafe-cafe on the ave for a little snack and some catching up. I had to work on Friday morning so we arranged for them to meet me downtown at my office around noon.

FRIDAY

We met up at my office and I took them up to the 73rd floor for a view of Seattle and the surrounding water and mountains (a much better view than the space needle and who could beat the price tag-free!) Then we headed to Pikes Place Market and walked around the market, ate homemade powdered donuts, and had lunch at Lowells with a view of the Sound. Then we headed over to catch the monorail from Downtown to the Space Needle. We rode the monorail just in time-it stalled the next day and is now defunct! Anyway, it was a short 5 minute ride, I think we waited for it longer than we were actually on it. The space needle was fun-we just admired it from ground level and browsed the gift shop. Then we went to a store with a sign that said "WoW this was made in Seattle" and mused about how much in the store was absolutely NOT made in Seattle. Good times.

Then we went back to my hood and walked down to Ivar's Salmon House on Lake Union.
Had a great dinner of salmon cakes topped off with chocolate mousse cake! It was delicioso.

SATURDAY

We started the day at my neighborhood farmers market. Eating Washington fruit and pastries while we enjoyed the seattle morning. Then we went resale shopping along the Ave and I found my sister a pair of jeans for fall. Then we did a tour of the parks along the Puget Sound-starting at the Ballard Locks where we watched some salmon jumping and enjoyed the day. Then we headed up to Ray's for lunch. Had a great view of the Sound as we ate some really great food and split a fruit cobbler for dessert. Mmmm. After lunch, we headed up to Golden Gardens State Park. The beaches and dunes were amazing, we walked up the beaches for a bit, enjoying weather. The mountains and the beaches were gorgeous. After our trip to Golden Gardens we headed south towards Magnolia to Discovery Park where we drove out to the Lighthouse and the beach-it was high tide so we sat on the rocks by the lighthouse and listened to the ocean. It was so nice in fact that mom and nora decided to lay down and listen to the waves. It was just grand.

Stay tuned for our Sunday adventures tomorrow-with more pictures of our trip to the Olympic Peninsula!

Silence is Golden

2006-08-22T10:07:00.000-06:00

Sorry I've been remiss in posting over the past week. My mom, sister and I were out and about this weekend and I seem to have contracted some kind of ear infection. I'll download the pictures from our adventures this past weekend and post more soon.

Life isn't fair

2006-08-12T18:35:00.000-06:00

That's what my mom told me...countless times. But as I get older the more I realize it really isn't. Anyone who knows me knows what's going on with my godson, Anderson. I just wanted to remind everyone to continue to keep him in your thoughts this week.

He has his first post-radiation MRI on Tuesday.

Look at all of the progress he's made since I last saw him...

My last visit...
A more recent picture...His parents are hosting a party to celebrate his extraordinary life. Anyone reading this blog should come and show support for them. They draw so much strength from it...

ANDERSON BUTZINE’S POST RADIATION LUAU!

Please join us in celebrating life and the many
miracles we all enjoy every day!

When: Saturday, August 26th; 1:00 PM until ???

Where: The Ixonia Fireman's Park Outdoor Pavilion
N8345 Park Street, Ixonia, WI

Dinner will be at 4:00 pm. Anyone willing and able is asked to please bring a side dish or dessert.

There will be a DJ, and don’t forget the HULA DANCING!
We will also have activities for adults and children.
(volleyball, horseshoes, cards, limbo, duck pond, and more!)

If you play an instrument, feel free to bring it along and join in with the family for a few songs!

Tammy Tietz has organized a silent auction to cover the costs of the party. For more information or to donate, please contact Tammy at rtctietz@sbcglobal.net. We will be recognizing all donors at the party and on Anderson’s Caringbridge site. The requested cut-off date to make a donation is August 20th.

RSVP to Michelle at: michellebutzine@hotmail.com

See-attle

2006-08-12T18:24:00.000-06:00

Well, as Joel told me this week..."this is your last 'free' weekend in Seattle" and he's right! So, I spent my Saturday doing laundry, going for a run, reading and relaxing. I think tomorrow I'm going to go to a park or beach-not sure which one yet but I'll let you know!

I can't believe it but I only have 3 weeks left in my internship and I'm done! It's really amazing to think of everything I've learned in just 7 weeks. Amazing really.

I finished a book this morning. My friends Brian and Audrey gave it to me for my birthday, it's called Marley & Me about a guy and his dog. I really enjoyed. Of course, I bawled the last three chapters but it was a pretty interesting story and a quick read. I recommend it (especially for dog lovers)!

Joel complained that I didn't have any of the pictures he took of me on my blog so here's one he took while I was trying to figure out where the flip we were on our walk up to Capitol Hill.

It's really gorgeous here-I think I'm going to go outside and enjoy it!

Hella Tired

2006-08-09T21:19:00.000-06:00

That's what I am. Super tired. I had a crazy day at work. The good news is...I finished up my intern project. We (my team) presented to about half of the office (55 people) on Tuesday morning. I think the presentation went well. It was on pandemic flu preparedness and we've heard nothing but great things! So, yeah!

The other news is...I had my "mid-point review" with my supervisor today even though I'm over 3/4 done. It was good. Really good. Joel and I have some big decisions coming up...but I'm confident we'll do what's right for us! She told me that I'm a "joy to work with" which I'm sure is a surprise to some of you!!

I love flowers...so cheers!

Weekend Wonders

2006-08-07T21:18:00.000-06:00

I wrote this on Monday night...but for some reason it wouldn't let me post pics...so it was a bit delayed.

Joel just arrived back in Chicago :(. We had a great weekend hanging out in Seattle-even if he did miss his flight out here! On Saturday we got up early and went up to the Farmers Market and picked up some broccoli, green beans, a few really yummy pastries and some fruit (particularly good were the donut peaches-I'd never seen them before but they were tasty). It was fun to show Joel where I'd been going the last few weekends.

Then we headed to the capitol hill neighborhood. It was a pretty long walk but we got to watch the Blue Angels along the way because the Seattle SEAFAIR was happening (an air and water show) all weekend. Capitol hill neighborhood is on a hill...a really BIG hill so we walked around checking out some really awesome houses and walked to Volunteer Park-which is on the north end of the neighborhood. They have a conservatory with some really gorgeous flowers. check them out! Then we walked down to the main street in Capital Hill and stopped for some coffee (of course!) and then walked up and down looking at the shops. Finally, dinner at the Coastal Kitchen-which was excellent. It was recommended by a few interns and Joel had the herb-encrusted salmon and I had the ravioli fresca-excellent. I even ate some salmon-which was good!

Sunday we had brunch with some old friends at our favorite cafe and they suggested we check out the Ballard Locks-the Army Corps of Engineers run the locks going from the Puget Sound to the lakes around Seattle. It was really neat. They had a brass band playing Big Band music and they had some really pretty gardens and the locks themselves were pretty cool to watch. The highlight was the fish ladder. It's spawning season for the Chinook (King) Salmon and they are moving from the ocean to the freshwater to spawn. Watching them move up the ladder was amazing. Some of them were just jumping out of the water. It was amazing to watch. Then they have a place to watch them "resting" in a small pool that's part of the ladder.

We also watched V for Vendetta-both of us thought it was generic and the characters were flat...

Book it!

2006-08-04T21:50:00.000-06:00

I'm just sitting here in my favorite cafe-trying to kill time before Joel arrives. He missed his flight out here and now won't arrive at my apt until after midnight...

I've been reading a bunch this week. I finished two really great books and thought I would plug them...Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson. It's part family drama part mystery and floats back and forth between dream and reality and the past and present. It's really well written and great. The second book I just finished is Stop that Girl! by Elizabeth McKenzie also very well written and it's a much faster read-only 200 pages and it flew by. That one made me laugh outloud. Good stuff. I recommend both. Next on my list is The Time Travelers Wife loaned to me by a fellow intern at my job.

Speaking of my job-done with Week 6! I have been so busy-it's really insane. In addition to my primary engagement (that's what they call projects) I have an intern project assigned to me. Our big presentation to the entire office is this coming Tuesday and it's on Pandemic Flu preparedness...I don't feel prepared but I'm hoping that I will feel better by Tuesday!

I'm hoping Joel and I will be visiting new neighborhoods around Seattle and I'll be posting more pics later this weekend. In the meantime, some flowers for you...happy weekend!!!

Today is the day

2006-07-31T21:07:00.000-06:00

After I finished work today I realized that at the completion of work today-I am now over half way finished with my internship. I can hardly believe it but I now have less than five weeks before I'm done in Seattle. It's really just flown by and has really been an amazing experience so far.

I also realized this weekend that I only have one more weekend here where I'm alone. Joel will be here this coming weekend (yeah!) and then the following weekend I have no visitors. But the weekend of the 19th my mom and sister are coming for a visit! Then I'm home for the last weekend in August and I'm done September 1st!

Reading my post about Vermont-I realize that I didn't really do it justice. Yeah, I was working a bunch but the food and atmosphere was amazing. Jancey-thanks for the suggestions. In Burlington, we ate on Church Street (which is a pedestrian walkway lined with shops and restaurants) twice. On Monday night when we went to Church Street-there was a band from the University playing jazz at a bar and you could hear it up and down the street. Pretty cool. We also saw Nectar's (which is the bar where the band Phish started...you can order fries with gravy from a walk up window!) In Montpelier-the downtown is filled with used book stores and independant coffee shops-we perused through quite a few! Then we ate at Main Street Grill which is part of the New England Culinary Institute.

Well-that's all for now. I'll leave you with a picture of the thing I miss second most since I moved to Seattle (Joel, of course is first!!). A very fat and affectionate cat...

Because what's better than a really big tree?

2006-07-29T20:04:00.000-06:00

Nothing. Just couldn't post one day without a picture. I couldn't even fit the whole tree in the picture it was so big.

To be a Vermonter...

2006-07-29T19:31:00.000-06:00

Finally back from Vermont! What a trip. I learned so much about the project I'm working on-looking at Medicaid in various states. It's a complex program and we had at least 4 interviews a day and some of them lasted well over two hours a piece. Good times! Anyway, that didn't leave too much time for fun, I was usually with my team from breakfast to around 8:30 at night. It was really intense. All work all the time.

Vermont, of course, was beautiful. The Mountains and rivers were gorgeous. The weather wasn't the greatest (upper 80s, rainy and/or humid) but I was in Vermont!

I'm really tired and haven't had much of a chance to relax yet since we got in around 4am eastern time last night-so the transition to Pacific Time has been difficult.

I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures-I was depressed about that. The only really fun thing we did-was tour the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory, it was really fun (even if they did sell out)! And we got ice cream at the end of it (American Pie). It was good-even if I was in my suit, fresh from an interview!

I discovered Discovery Park

2006-07-23T18:52:00.000-06:00

Today was a great day! I got up early and went to Discovery Park-which is a really huge park on the western edge of the Sound-north of downtown Seattle. It was a great bike ride-not too hilly. And when I got there-I locked my bike up and started hiking. The Loop Trail goes around the inner parts of the park and it's 2.8 miles around. I added another mile on the South Beach Trail because I had heard that the beaches there are amazing. There were these gorgeous meadows with amazing views of the Olympic Mountains on top of the bluffs. Then I headed down quite a ways towards South Beach and the Lighthouse. The beach was nice-definitely not a swimming beach. It was low tide and there were lots of people looking for sea creatures. I watched this
huge bird-with long legs and a really long neck walking along the beach in water all the way up to it's body-it was spearing fish with its beak. It was cool-but none of my pictures turned out! Darn camera. The lighthouse was practically on the beach-not on a bluff which I thought was interesting. And I want to end this week of posts with everyones favorite-Mt. Ranier. When I turned to walk back along the beach to head to my bike. There it was-looking massive and a lot like my eyes were playing tricks on me. Can you spot it? (hint: It's right in the middle of the picture-click on it to make it bigger). Not sure how much I'll be able to blog from Vermont (I leave tomorrow) but I'll try to at least tell you what I'm up to. I will only have my work computer and I'm not sure how reliable that is. We'll see.

Bite it!

2006-07-22T19:55:00.000-06:00

Today has been a crazy day! And it's still 87 degrees in Seattle at 7pm. I know I shouldn't complain since most of you are in the Midwest and it's like this all the time-I guess I'm getting spoiled with the upper 70s every day. Anyway, we set a record yesterday it was so hot here-97 degrees. Everyone is complaining.

Back to today...I got up and went for my usual run on the Burke-Gilman trail by my apartment and it was 75 degrees already at 9am so it was sweatier than usual. And then I headed up to the Farmers Market (the one with the berries) and spent some time there. Then I headed down on my bike to the Space Needle. Gina asked me what the needle was today (gina-you need to read up on Seattle!!) so I'm including a picture I took this afternoon. The Bite of Seattle was going on in the area around the needle. It was really touristy, and there were midway rides all around the actual space needle-and you all know with midway rides comes carnies (small hands-smell like cabbage...) and they were particulary sweaty today. Ew.

So, I had this great veggie crepe from the booth of the restaurant Crepe Thyme. I'm not sure where it's located in Seattle-but the crepes were amazing. Then I had a strawberry lemonade. I managed to resist all of the desserts they had-including the generic elephant ears (which I love). Then I rode my bike home without getting too lost-downtown Seattle is kind of confusing because of the way it's shaped around the Bay and the lakes that I get confused and tend to take the wrong way. I've gotten lost every single time I've rode my bike towards downtown.

There is also this really strange looking building at the base of the needle. I think it was built or paid for by one of the founders of Microsoft (Paul Allen maybe?-I'm too lazy to look it up) anyway, there is some kind of music museum and the science fiction museum housed in the building. It reminds me of the big weird looking pavilion at Millenium Park in Chicago. Those two concrete rails are actually the tracks to the Monorail that is supposed to run from Seattle Center to Downtown but there was a fire on it last year and they haven't gotten it up and running yet. Hopefully, I'll get to ride it before I leave. It's pretty funky looking isn't it??

After I got back from the Sci Fi Museum I took the bus north-which I haven't done yet to the Target. It was pretty uneventful. There is a big mall but there was nothing special. It looks like the mall was an afterthought actually-Macy's and Nordstroms were built first as separate buildings and they decided to through up a mall in between and it looks really strange. Good times.

I think I've bored you long enough and Joel pointed out that I've already started repeating myself (with the berries)...sorry about that!

I think I'm going to go to Discovery Park tomorrow morning so that the heat doesn't get so unbearable. I'll post more pics tomorrow!

I like pictures

2006-07-20T21:54:00.000-06:00

And I don't have any for this post. So, I'm going back into the archives and posting this picture of Joel's goddaughter Elizabeth. Because she's cute. And everyone loves cute!

The other reason is that she's eating a strawberry...and it reminds of the AWESOME berries out here. I have never had raspberries this big or good tasting, seriously I'm not exaggerating...and the cherries...to die for...Amazing. There is a small farmers market a couple blocks north of me every Saturday morning and they sell only Washington produce. I've had the greatest raspberries from there over the past two weeks, good stuff.

Speaking of weekends, I'm not sure what I'm going to do this weekend! The "Bite of Seattle" is this weekend at Seattle Center (the area around the space needle), and there are a bunch of restaurants highlighting their specialties and some local music. So that sounds like fun and it's a fairly short bike ride. On Sunday, i thought I would go to a big park on the Sound called Discovery Park and go exploring-the beach there is supposed to be gorgeous. I'll let ya'll know!

Weavonomics

2006-07-18T21:15:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, I discovered this fun yarn store in my neighborhood and they actually had some really great yarn on sale-so I bought some and I knit half of a scarf! It's turning out really nice and it looks kinda funky. I like it and I hope the person I'm knitting it for likes it to! I also bought a couple skeins of great crocheting yarn and I'm going to try a more difficult pattern (it looks like a shell) to make another scarf. I'm trying to become a better crocheter (i.e. a person who crochets!). When my mother-in-law died she was in the middle of crocheting an afghan (she was really talented) and I'd like to finish it but I don't have the pattern and I'm certainly not going to take the chance of ruining it. So I need to get better before I attempt it. Knitting and crocheting is really relaxing for me-I can just do it without putting much thought into it and I like that a bunch.

Here's a picture my dad took during their recent trip to Glacier National Park-he's a much better photographer than I am and I really love this picture. Thanks Dad!

I've been trying to read a bit out here too-and for those of you that like book suggestions...I just finished The Jane Austin Book Club which I really liked and am currently reading Three Junes on suggestion from my bro-in-law. I enjoyed JA Book Club and am enjoying Three Junes but it's a little too heavy for me so I've been taking it slow (lots of death).

You guys know me-I'm a pretty lefty liberal and I don't want this to be a political blog but just in case you haven't been keeping up on the news. 100 people a day-it makes my heart hurt. Read this and write someone to stop it.

Hillacious

2006-07-16T13:43:00.000-06:00

Joel and I biked up Cadillac Mountain last year in Acadia National Park-and I'd have to say that was easier than the ride I did yesterday around Bainbridge Island. The hills were really steep and very long and it was like 3 hours of torture. My bike was not happy and neither were my legs but we made it! I will never do the ride again on a mountain bike but I may be tempted on a road bike.

My day started with a ferry ride-which was really cool. The ferry was huge and holds cars and people-the views of Seattle and the Cascade Mountains were amazing. I met a guy on the boat who has biked on Bainbridge Island for ten years and he offered to ride with me for the first part-he gave me some history of the Island. He actually turned out to be a social worker who runs a local non-profit that fosters international learning-basically he works with Seattle schools and schools all over the world. He said he just finished a project with South African schools. Really interesting guy. Anyway, he took me as far as Fay Bainbridge State Park where I stopped and tooks some pictures. They had a pretty nice beach. (see right) After that the ride got really hilly but it was also really quiet. There really weren't many cars or bikers on the roads. Lots of really big houses and rich people but not so bad! I biked until I got to another State Park-Battle Point where I stopped-it was basically just a big open space with lots of playground equipment. From there-the ride got even hillier-at no point was there any flat stretches. I was either busting my @#$ trying to get up a hill or pedaling furiously trying to get enough speed going downhill that I didn't have to pedal so much to get up the next one. It was really painful-but I managed only to have to stop and walk up a hill one time-which I HATE doing.

After that the ride goes right down to the shore on a small bay on the Southwest side of the island called the Port Orchard Narrows. There was a pebble beach and more really nice houses...That was a nice ride around there. Then came the climb back up and over the hills to get back to Eagle Harbor to catch my ferry. They were brutal-I don't want to think about it anymore. I spent a bit of time in Bainbridge Island "town" or whatever it is, and i was disappointed. There were a few stores-but no sandwich shops, I had to eat at Subway. I caught the 5:30 ferry back to Seattle and on the way back there was an amazing view of Mt. Ranier in the distance-I hope you can see it in this picture. I think I could live here 20 years and still that mountain would be breathtaking. It looks like it's floating. Click on the picture to make it bigger. The mountain is on the left side of the picture and if you don't look closely it blends into the clouds.

p.s.

2006-07-14T21:58:00.000-06:00

I got Anne of Green Gables DVDs yesterday (I know I'm a dork-but I do love them) and they actually led me to the title of my blog...if you google "three paces through the room" you'll find out where I stole the phrase from. It's a poem by Tennyson. Really good stuff.

Check it out.

Week Three-Done!

2006-07-14T21:26:00.000-06:00

Next week will be my fourth week at my internship already! I really can't believe how quickly it's going. It really feels like there is no way I'll get a true grasp of how the agency operates in so short a time. The following week I'll be traveling to VT to interview a few peeps, I'm really looking forward to it-though I hear that there isn't much in Montpelier. We'll see.

In other news...this is my second weekend without Joel which I'm depressed about. To deal with my depression I'm going to take my new bike (isn't it pretty!?) on a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island. For those of you who are as ignorant of Seattle as I was-Seattle is not on the ocean. And there are mountains and land to the west. I'm going to an island that's about a 35 minute ferry ride across the bay. It's supposed to be a really neat island (cliffs...trees...water...etc) so I'm going to ride the 28 mile ride around the island...it's supposed to be pretty hilly check it out...

Should be a really good time...speaking of time...I plan on taking my time with this ride since I don't have a road bike out here-should be slow going. But that's okay-I have all day. So I'm going to take lots of pictures tomorrow and put some up so you can all enjoy.

Other than that-I have to say...the berries out here are amazing. I had the best raspberries of MY LIFE last weekend from the farmers market and the cherries are outstanding. Makes a person contemplate moving out here!

joel-hiker extraordinaire

2006-07-12T22:15:00.000-06:00

This picture made me laugh because I couldn't figure out why Joel has his hands on his hips. If you look closely you can see the trail we took and the outlook/fire tower we hiked to. It was an awesome hike-I highly recommend it if you ever go to Mt. Ranier National Park.

In other news...because the trip to Mt. Ranier is almost old news, I discovered a new coffee shop with free internet. It's called cafe Allegro and it's off the "Ave" (the main street in the University District where I live) and faces an alley which makes it semi-sketchy to walk to. Inside it's really cool-most of the walls are painted in warm colors and the remaining are exposed brick. It's my new favorite hangout-they have free wifi too!

It's really hard not to love Seattle, I can really see why people come out here and stay here. The vibe and attitude of the city is so laid back and outdoorsy. At the same time-I miss Chicago (yikes-never thought i would say that) and being a three hour drive away from family and friends. As we learned in policy school- there are always tradeoffs...

In other news, I think I'm going to take a ferry to Bainbridge Island this weekend-bike around and see what I can see. That should give me lots of good pics to share with ya'll. Time to go home-it's getting dark here...stay tuned...

Yo! ga

2006-07-11T20:27:00.000-06:00

I went to my first yoga class at the Seattle Y last night. It was pretty good. I've been going to yoga on and off since my living in Madison four years ago...and it's always painful and always sweaty. I just feel so good afterwards. Last night in honor of the full moon, we did a sequence of poses that are a salutation to the moon. It was weird and hard and I had to use a block because I'm so inflexible. Embarrassing. There was a sixty year old woman in front of me who put me to shame. oh well.

I also found out yesterday that I'll be traveling to glorious Vermont for a week this summer. I'm excited about that, I think it'll be really interesting and I'll be in Vermont...nothing bad about that!

I haven't taken any really interesting pictures in a few days. Here's one of my office taken by Joel when he was here. I work in the tallest building in Seattle-the Columbia Tower

This is a little crazy

2006-07-09T18:04:00.000-06:00

Having a blog...it feels strange since I know the only people that are going to read this are friends and family but it's been keeping me entertained all weekend so who cares??

I wanted to share some pictures of Joel's visit to Seattle last weekend. We were outside all weekend and the weather was great! We kayaked on Lake Union-renting kayaks at this great Mexican Restarant/Paddle Club, biked to the Red Hook Brewery, and hiked around Mt. Ranier National Park. It was fantastic.

I got a new bike out here-it's a mountain bike and I love it .
It's perfect for shorter rides out to the grocery store or down to the shopping center close to my house. I don't think I'll be doing any triathlons on it though-It's really heavy and the bus system is so good here in Seattle that I may not ride it to work either. It takes me 9 minutes to get to work from my house in the morning!

Birthday!

2006-07-09T13:21:00.000-06:00

Today is my godson, Anderson's 1st birthday! He's a very special little guy. Go check out his website and if it's been awhile say Hi! And while you're at it...say a prayer for him and his family.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/andersonbutzine

He really is the cutest.

Into the blogosphere...

2006-07-08T18:09:00.000-06:00

Yeah! Seattle and a blog...I'm so excited. I read lots of blogs...and now I have one. I wonder if anyone will read this. It remains to be seen if I can think of anything interesting to write.

I finally thought of a name...stay tuned for more...