June 22nd, 2011

So I decided to finally risk the grey skies today and ride my bike.  It didn't look like it was going to pour rain or anything so I took it as a challenge.  Well, sort of... 

Having not had a bagel from Bruegger's Bagels in far too long I decided that should be my destination.  There was more uphill parts of the path than I expected.  Guess I never really noticed while driving.  About half way there I walked next to my bike; I'll admit partly because my legs were not used to hills and partly because I had to answer the phone and make some other phone calls as well.  

I made it to Bruegger's Bagels without any rain.  Did I really succeed so easily?! Nope.  While I enjoyed one of their new skinny bagel options (egg white patty, turkey sausage, and some tomato tasty spread on a sesame seed bagel) outside in the cool morning air I got a phone call and moved back into the building.  

Shortly after I was on the phone it started to mist rain outside.  Bah!  I ended up having to ride part way home in the misting rain.  Luckily it was only the annoying mist kind and not heavy drops or I would have probably had to stay at Bruegger's until it let up...which probably would have led to me eating more bagels which would be oh so bad for the diet.

My reaction to having to ride in the rain.  I had to carry my purse under my light jacket to keep it safe from rain and I decided that I kind of looked like a pregnant lady on a bicycle.  I wonder how many people passing on the road thought I was.

June 5th, 2011

Just another lazy Sunday.  Laying around and looking at the internets.

I got so incredibly bored laying around that actually got up and went for a bike ride.  I ran into a dead end on the path I picked though.  I could have swore the path was supposed to go all the way around the lake, but I couldn't see where it went.  It came out to a street and I couldn't see it starting anywhere near by.  Maybe there was something I was missing.  I guess I'll try going the other direction next time.

After the bike ride I decided to work out a bit on the elliptical machine too.  I'm beginning to think the best way to lose weight is to work out every time you are bored.  I get bored pretty frequently when I don't have much planned so I'm pretty sure I'd be working out all the time. haha.  Something to try out at least.  It's a better choice than just napping when bored, or worse eating.

Maybe that would be the solution to obesity in america.  Work out when you are bored, or at least move around instead of vegetating.

June 3rd, 2011

In the oh so 'wise' words of Rebecca Black.  "It's Friday, Friday, gonna have fun on Friday!"  I now apologize for anyone that got that song stuck in their head now.

I went to the movie X-Men: First Class.  It was pretty good.  I'm not a big comic book nerd so I didn't know how much of it was true to the comics.  I hope most of it was true so that what I know now about the characters isn't all lies.

After the movie I had some tasty lettuce roll ups.  Lettuce roll ups have become a staple in my diet because they are so easy to make and not bad for you either.  Just take a leaf of romaine lettuce, and your choice of deli meat and roll it up.  You can add cheese if you please.  I have been splitting my cheese slices in half for one roll up.  Pretty tasty.

Later in the day I went for a brief bike ride because we lated so late to go for the ride.  We started to run out of sunlight so had to turn back.  My butt isn't use to riding a bike.  I definitely had a pain in my butt afterwards and it wasn't even that long!  I might have to invest in a new seat if my bum doesn't get used to it.

I didn't actually use my new helmet when I rode my bike... I was riding near my place on a path so I didn't feel like I would need it, and I also forgot I had got it. Haha.

May 31st, 2011

A day just like any other day, until I decided to actually inquire to medical professionals about what ales me.

I don't know about any one else but I'm the type of person that doesn't like to go to the doctor unless I'm loosing a limb or I can't walk.  Something along those extreme lines, but today was different.  I had some pain in my lower left abdomen for a day or so that I didn't think was all that normal so I took the plunge and called up a nurse.  I just wanted to see if they thought I needed to see someone right away or if it could wait for a few days until I could make an appointment.  Much to my surprise, the lady said that I should probably go to the ER and have them look at me.

A bit scary for someone to say go to the ER but I did and of course put up with the hours and hours and hours of waiting in the waiting room and missed work because of it.  Of those that read this and also work with me, I will say that I think it was worth finding out the issue to miss work but you can also know I didn't want to miss work...I just was a bit more concerned about myself.

Never fear though, I'm going to be fine.  There is just some inflammation that can be taken down easily enough with Ibuprofen.  I did however get to experience my first ultra sound and found out I have a cyst on my right ovary.  Cysts are normal to get and they said it wasn't anything to be concerned about.

So my body is on a week probation and if it doesn't get better in that time frame then I should probably see a gynecologist  Woo?

All I can say is thank God it wasn't something worse and lets hope and pray it gets better and nothing else is wrong with me.  I can't afford to spend money fixing myself.

After four hours in the waiting room and 3 hours in the ER I think I deserve a nap. zzzzz

May 30th, 2011

Parents headed out bright and early. I guess I should say my family because my little brother came along as well. Would have been nice too keep them for longer but I knew they had to get back.

I honestly didn't accomplish much today.  I thought about riding my bike but then I heard hearsay about severe weather and decided to nap instead...  I don't even think the weather got that bad.

I did make up for that laziness by playing some kinect and getting a work out from that.  Some of those games can really get your heart pumping while you jump around like a fool.  I had no idea the adventure game that came with the kinect was actually fun until I had  played it with my brother and Scott in Montana before returning here.  I think I have discovered a way to work out that might actually be fun. :P

Oh, by the way, why can't the wind be a little less powerful so I can fly my awesome dragon kite?  It says it can only take winds up to 15 mph.  When I was considering flying I looked up how fast it was blowing outside and it say around 25 mph...so I decided to say no to the kite.  I'm sure I'll get another chance to fly it and it's awesomeness.

RAWWWWWWRRRRRRGGHGHHHH

May 29th, 2011

I got to spend my whole day with my family mostly looking at potential places to live.  If you were not aware I have been considering actually buying instead of renting as of late.

As much stress first time home buying is bringing me now I think in the long wrong it might be the best option.  I might be able to pay less a  month buying a house than I would renting an apartment, and I don't get to own the apartment.

It has been really nice having my family here to look at the areas I have been interested in because they can give me their opinion on things.  They were most helpful when it came to figuring out what I should be looking for in a house and how much is too much for what they are selling.  Nice having a second opinion that isn't trying to sell you something.  If you know what I mean.

As a 'reward' for a good day of house shopping I let my parents experience the Jucy Lucy for the first time.  They had only seen it on tv and we decided it was the place to go.  I believe the general consensus was that they were expecting it to taste better than it did.  Hey now, they were not saying it didn't taste good...just that all the hype made them believe it would be like heaven in their mouthes.

Nice day with my family but sad to see them go.  I'll see them all again in August for my older brother's wedding. Yay!

For all my homies at work who think all people from Montana have goats.  Here is my parents neighbors who have two goats. lol

May 28th, 2011

You know what sounds like a fantastic time to me? Driving 14 hours crammed into a Traverse does!  My family drove me back to Minnesota today.  I believe the trip is a bit over 14 hours.  I could look up the mileage and tell you but I'm extremely lazy and don't feel like looking that up. : ) 

It was too terrible of a trip.  The wind was blowing but I think it stayed behind us mostly.  At least I didn't notice it pushing us sideways.

One thing I have noticed from traveling with people during this stretch of road is that it seems to go faster than when you are by yourself.  Even if you were to drive faster yourself and take less breaks I'm sure it would feel like it took longer than with people. For one, you don't have to drive the whole time so you can nap and time flies when you nap.  Secondly, you have someone to talk to so you are not slowly going crazy.  Last time I took that trip was with my gerbil.  That is company but he can't drive or talk back...so that kind of renders him useless.

When we got in to my apartment place we were greeted by something pretty unexpected.

Some fire suburbans and soon a fire truck! My best and most likely right guess is that someone burnt something and decided that they should open the door to the hallway to clear it out instead of their patio door.  This makes the most sense because the apartment place smelled like burnt food once we got inside. Oh it's good to be home, right?

May 27th, 2011

My last day in Montana for my vacation.  It was a nice relaxing vacation for me.  Well, despite having to help my mom with some trophies and awards work.  It wasn't terrible to help out and at least I didn't forget how to do any of it yet.

I got to look through my families cupboards and snatch a few things though.  I mostly grabbed things for my kitchen.  Awkwardly enough, right now my kitchen has the least amount of space in my entire apartment, but is more for the future when I have to find a new place.

I'm hoping that I will be able to find a nice place that is with in my budget soon.  I don't really enjoy sitting around wondering if I'm going to be able to afford my next place.

Enough of that talk!  Back to what else I did today!  I had a fun time with my old friend Scott.  Not old as in age, but as in we've known each other since we were wee ones old.  He had never used the kinect before so he came over and played that with my brother and his brother.  All I can say is I'm glad that no one was filming it because I'm sure we looked pretty foolish at times.

It's hard to leave a place like Montana but when life and opportunities are pointing me towards Minnesota you can't really turn your back on that.  Maybe some day I'll come back to Montana. We shall see.

May 26th, 2011

Simple life lessons I have learned today.

Firstly! Don't ever trust a cat.  No matter how well mannered they seem and even with years of good behavior they could still lash out at you at any moment!  I have proof that at least my parents most recent cat, Turbo, is insane.

Turbo was being just as nice as could be.  He would cuddle up to me, and lay on my legs when I didn't want him in my lap while I tried to work on things.  Then all of a sudden he was laying on the couch next to me while I was searching on my computer and out of no where he decides to full on latch to my arm, teeth and everything.  His teeth and front paws dug into my arm while his hind feet began kicking and scratching my arm without mercy.  I of course promptly removed him from my arm and spanked him before tossing him out into the garage.  I mean I was nice enough to put him in there instead of out in the rain.  When my father found out he wasn't as nice and made him go outside in the rain.  I guess he is going to be an outdoor cat now instead of a half way cat.  Can't really feel bad for him.

Oh and here is my evidence.

 Look at him laying so nicely.  Just hanging out.

Now my arm is covered with scratches!  The other side of my arm has dots where his front paws dug in.  The top part of the arm is his teeth marks and then the rest at the bottom are just from his hind legs attacking.  So yeah, do not trust cats! But you can compliment me on my phone cover I got last week or the week before...I forget.

Ok and the second thing I learned was never expect things to always be fixed the way you want them to, but don't necessarily be surprised when they don't.  Does that make sense?  I say this because I had a massage today from a massage therapist in hopes of helping get some kinks out of my back but it's still achy.  So I know that massage isn't going to fix the problem.  Ah well.  It was nice though.  Felt good for awhile afterwards but now as I type this lying in bed I can feel a dull pain in my shoulder and my back.  Just sitting there.  Hanging out.  Oh and a nice headache coming on, most likely from my neck.  I'm just broken, but lets not listen to me whine about how broken I am.  Lets get some rest so I can pack and do a bunch of stuff tomorrow before I leave.

May 25th, 2011

Today was a day to travel to Billings...or at least do our very best to get there!  We knew there was water over the road but I don't think we expected as much as we saw.  The man claimed it was over a foot deep of water.  You can't really tell very well in these pictures how deep it was but it was pretty deep.

 
The water was going pretty quickly over the road too.  We had some time to prepare ourselves while two other vehicles went before us.  The flagger told us to keep our right wheel on the center line and maximum of 5 miles per hour.  The black truck looking thing at the end in the pictures above was how far we had to make it.  Kinda crazy? Yes, yes it is.

Here is some of the water to the sides.  The left side was the side the water was running too so it was just pouring over the edge.  I'm just glad we made it across.  I didn't get any good shots of the road in front of us so you could see how deep it was.  I'll just let you know that we couldn't really see the center line while driving so my dad had to look ahead and just hope he was matched up with it.

More shots of the same.


It's like we are sitting in a lake isn't it?  I'm just glad we were able to make it across safely and get my parents to there check ups in Billings.

I wish I would have gotten pictures of the smaller water crossing we had to do on the way home but my phone was dead already.  Oh well.

May 23rd, 2011

Coming home always seems to give you a chance to do some remembering.  My mother pulled out a box full of things she saved from when I was little.  That specific box was mostly papers, drawings, and some class pictures.  It's kind of interesting to remember the simpler days.  When your day to day issues were picking out what color of crayon to use, or what 1+1 is.

I could go for some simpler times in my life right about now, but being an adult you don't get that luxury. However, I do have a respect for the simple things in life that make you happy.

I know you are totally jealous of my awesome craft skills back in the day.

 Check out that awesome skill.  That is quiet possibly the scariest haunted house ever.  Let me get you a close up of the moon.

Just look at that emotion, the anger, and anguish in the eyes of that moon!  I should have been an artist. :P

Feb 15-28, Mar 1-5

(A towel at target, sounded fitting)

I have definitely let this blog go to the wayside.  I kind of lost the urge to keep writing it after my grandfather passed away.  While I was trying to figure out how to get home for the funeral I didn't really want to have to worry about posting on here, but now I have decided to try to come back to it.  I keep finding myself thinking of what I could put on here still...so I think I'll give it a go and try to come back.

But first I feel like I should attempt some sort of a catch up post for the couple of weeks I didn't write anything about.

I suppose I can start with the funeral.  I managed to get some train tickets to go home for the weekend.  If I had done more research before hand I could have taken a few more days off from work to spend with my family but the few days I had were nice.

The funeral went really well.  The pastor did a great job with the service.  Everyone I talked to seemed to agree that he did a great job.  He wasn't the type that was trying to use that experience to convert people but more to help people remember and celebrate how wonderful our Grandfather was.  He made connections to my Grandfather's hard working attitude and how much he cared for other people to how Jesus was a hard working carpenter and really cared for people.  Also, my grandfather was really into building things with wood.  So he also connected to the carpenter thing too.  It was a well done funeral.

However my train rides were a bit more interesting. The ride home was fine, only a few hours late, but that is to be expected from winter train travel.  The ride back to MN was a bit more interesting.  How so, you say?  Well it all started with an automated phone call from amtrak saying there was a service disruption with my train.  So we called amtrak to ask what was up and found out a freight train had derailed somewhere and I had to wait for a bus to come pick me up and take me to Minot, ND where I would take the train from there.

They were not able to tell me when the bus was going to come for me exactly so my family and I sat at the depot watching cars drive by until we finally saw a bus...which soon passed us by.  Apparently they forgot to mention that they would have multiple buses and not necessarily the first would stop for me.  So after a few hours of waiting and seeing two more buses pass by, a fourth one finally showed up and picked me up.

My bus had apparently waited for the bus after mine because it was having mechanical issues, so it that was why it was much later than the rest.  Luckily I some how found myself with two seats to myself and was able to sleep off an on during the trip.  I was on the pick up and drop off bus and not a straight through one though.  I'm actually glad I was because then I didn't have to wait so long at the train station in minot, wondering why we weren't moving.

In the end I got on my train and arrived roughly 7 hours later than I should have.  I got a 40 dollar voucher out of it though.  So I can take a train again but for 40 dollars less, woo? lol

Now that I have been back I spent the next few weeks getting back into the swing of things.  I think the amount of days I have missed kind of put me off starting back up, but I miss doing this so I decided to catch myself up.

I'm almost done with the show I'm working on.  We have one more weekend left after this one.  It was a fun run but I have already planned to try to clean up my living space after the show is over.  It'll be nice to have a break from the show, but I hope I keep getting work at places.  I'll need to start applying to places again.  I haven't done that in awhile either.  Gotta get my "poop in a group", or whatever it is they say.

Oh and just yesterday I raided a closing blockbuster for some movies.  Can't really pass up four dollar movies can you?  I also bought my first ever LBD (Little black dress) the other day.  It was on clearance but it is super cute.  I wore it yesterday for my double show day.

I just keep remembering random things that have happened so this post just keeps getting longer and longer!  I had issues with my power windows not working in the back passenger side of my car.  So I went to get those fixed and lo and behold they find the issue in my brakes they should have found when I took it in over a month ago.  I was not too pleased to add 850 more dollars to my already stupid car bills.  My car better not break anymore or Ima have to kick it or something.

I think that is all that has happened to me since I stopped posting.  I'm sure there is other things but I can't think of anything.  I'm going to attempt to keep up with this again.  Wish me luck. : )

February 14th, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!!! (Yes I am aware that this post is late for the day)

I hope everyone spent the day with people they love, from your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, friends and family (maybe even pets).  You don't have to just spend the day being all mushy with someone.  You can spread the love to everyone.

So, for all those people out there who get all mopey and obsessed with the fact they are single on Valentine's day, I say let your family know you love'm instead.

In fact even though this post is later than V-day, I say go tell the people you love that you love them right now.  Today.  You don't need a silly day to tell them.  I certainly hope you let them know more than once a year that you love them.

February 13th, 2011

Sundays are always strange when you have a show in the middle of the day.  It was kind of nice to be up for the day, but had to suffer those consequences when I had work that night.

Random thought to put in this bloggety blog.  You know what I hate?  When you get a drink like an Icee or a smoothie and you can't get the drink off the bottom.  Try as you might all you can do is move the straw around and attempt to suck up what you can in tiny bits. It's frustrating, but so worth the effort at the same time.

Anywhos, back to my day.  I decided to do some baking in time for Valentine's Day. And the strangest thing happened when I tried to crack my egg.

I'm really not sure how it didn't break open all the way.  The shell kept flaking off but I had to crack the other side of the egg in order for it to get open.  It was strange.  I have never seen an egg do that in my years of cracking eggs.

I decided to make red velvet cake in honor of the whole red thing with Valentine's day.  When I saw the mix first I was confused about how it was brown.  I didn't understand how it became red...until! I added some liquid and bam! The red became to appear! I'm so easily amused, but I have never made red velvet cake before....

I have also never used one of these silicon pans.  To be honest they kind of scare me.  I'm just unsure how a floppy pan is gonna cook something.  While it was cooking it kind of let off a very weird smell.  I didn't like that smell, to say the least.  I'm just hoping that it doesn't cook into the cake and make it taste strange as well. Also, if I choose to use it again...doesn't make that smell again.

BUT, if the cake tastes funny I used some of the mix to make some beautiful cupcakes!  I haven't used my single cupcake/muffin glasses before, so that was a new experience for me as well.

They loooooook soooooooo perdy!  Yum!

I topped off the cupcakes with some cream cheese frosting that I dyed pink with food coloring.  I wanted them to be dark red but I couldn't get them dark enough.  Oh well!  They taste fantastic.  In case you wanted to know.  I have not tasted the cake yet though.  Soooooo I can't tell you what it tastes like.

I will show you a picture of the cake tomorrow for Valentine's Day. : )

February 12th, 2011

Didn't really feel like writing anything but I didn't want to get super behind again.

I saw this awhile ago but I always forgot to post about it.  One of my goals for my blog was to get a hit from Russia and as you can see I got one! I was extremely excited the day I noticed that I did.  I mean, who doesn't want Russia to be looking at their blog? Haha.  Now all I need is to get more than one and I'm on my way!

Also it is kind of odd to have views from Slovakia. Kind of amusing to see where people are viewing from.  Maybe I'm just easily amused.

February 10th, 2011

In case you didn't know....Joseph is actually Batman, or some sort of moth man.

At the end of the show we have a reveal of the big colorful coat and it got twisted in the pile before it was hung up.  Thus, it got tangled to make this kinda cool looking Bat/moth thing.  As cool as it looked, I really hope it doesn't happen again during the performance.  If we had raised it up higher it could have done some damage to the coat and probably how it was hanging.

Oh live theatre, always there for some interesting happenings.

February 9th, 2011

Ugh, I'm a terrible person.  I broke my streak of not having fast food for months.  I think the last time I had it was november.  I didn't want to eat it but I didn't have time to eat before rehearsal so I had to pick up a bite to eat or I was going to be dying by the time the rehearsal was over.

I was afraid my body was going to scream angrily at me for doing something like eating fast greasy food, but it actually didn't get upset.  In no way does this mean I'm going to start eating fast food again.  I can't afford to eat that all the time like I used to and what not.

Fight the power! Haha. Stupid fast food.

February 8th, 2011

So I don't think I told anyone this yet but I'm pretty sure Scuba Steve has died.  I don't see anything in his shell anymore...so I would assume he is dead, right?  I also have a strange feeling that he was eaten by G.P.S. (Giant Pink Snail for those who forgot the names of my snails)  Do snails eat each other?  I'm just really confused about where he would have gone... Strange.

Another day of rehearsal.  I will say it went better than the day before.  Found myself things to do backstage and stuff.

February 7th, 2011

Sorry. It's Tech week....That's my excuse for being so far behind on my blogging.

I started Tech week for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  It's always great to be working on theatre work. : )  Considering that it is my passion in life.

Work is work, and hopefully they will start giving me the hours I need.  I am missing the money cushion in my pocket.

(These posts I have been super late on are probably going to be super short and really boring.  Sorry, but I just didn't have the motivation to type them up.)

February 6th, 2011

SUPER BOWL!!!!!!!


It's always sad to be away from my family when it is super bowl sunday.  Grew up watching the super bowl every year with them and even when I have years of college under my belt away from home it doesn't make you not miss those things.  It's kind of like a holiday, but not. Haha. I don't know.

All I can say is, nothing like a super bowl sunday to inspire you to make foods you usually wouldn't. : )  Trying to keep with my own traditions I made a homemade pizza again.  I made one last year so I thought it would be neat to make another one.  Maybe one of these years I'll go so far as to make my own dough instead of buying it premade.

I only took a picture of it before I put it in the oven, but if I do say so myself, it looks just as good before as it does after.  It is mushrooms, olives, and turkey pepperoni with a three cheese blend.  Yummy!

I also made velveeta and no beans chili dip.  I made waaaaay too much.  I'll be having leftovers for days.  Anyone want some dip?