I See It

OHHH.... I definitely see it.

Do you?



Prayer Request

Over the weekend, my childhood friend Trina was blasted with the news a mother should never have to hear.  Her seven year old son Gage has cancer.  He has a malignant and inoperable brain stem tumor.  The cancer is called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG).  Trina is a nurse and is able to provide Gage with the comforts of home every night while they make daily trips to Minneapolis for radiation treatments.

My heart hurts for them badly.  I want to take it all away.  All I can do is lift them up in prayer and rely on my Heavenly Father to give them the support and guidance they so desperately need.  The more prayers, the better!  Gage has a 5% chance of beating this horrible cancer with radiation.  Thankfully, God doesn't work according to #'s and statistics, He works on miracles everyday!

To visit Gage's Caringbridge site Click Here.

Gage is on the left

Renaissance Festival

Being the great doggie parents

that we are... we are taking

Lucy to the Renaissance Festival

on Sunday!

She is going to love it!

I'm going to try by best

to find her this outfit to wear.

I've never been to Ren Fest before.

Matt acquired free tickets.



Disclaimer:  I'm not the one to dress my dog in clothes.

The only exception is if it's Halloween and

the costume is hilarious.

Some of Lucy's costumes are...

a hot dog

a scare crow

a bumble bee

a referee

Santa

and a reindeer.



Autumn Has Arrived

I am more excited for this season

than I have ever been before.

After going through all the wedding craziness

over the last 18 months

I can finally kick back and do

things that make me happy!

Like... puree pumpkin.

Step 1:  chop pumpkin in half and clean out the guts (separate seeds from guts).

Step 2:  Place pumpkin skin up on a baking sheet and cover with tin foil.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Step 3:  Uncover pumpkin and let cool on oven.

Steps 4 & 5:  Chop pumpkin into cubes and puree in a blender or food processor.

Don't waste those yummy seeds!  Bake them with worcestershire sauce, salt, and butter!

YUM!

This looks like a lot of work

but once you taste the difference between

fresh pumpkin and canned pumpkin in recipes,

you will NEVER buy canned pumpkin again. 

I promise you.

Other things that make me

happy include...

...changing leaves...

...football...

...Halloween...

...Thanksgiving...

...Brisk air in my lungs during a jog...

Happy Autumn!

Shower Pictures

Here are some pictures from the shower last week.

We had ice cream sundaes with all the yummy toppings!

Opening presents

We had one game that consisted of pictures blown up

of Tasha and Jami.

Everyone had to cut and paste parts (eyes, nose, mouth, etc)

and combine them together to see

what Jami & Tasha's baby will look like.

It was so much fun to watch

coworkers get into such an artsy-craftsy project!



The results were a little creepy.

Baby Shower

Today my coworkers and I are hosting

a baby shower for Tasha Rothstein.

I was in charge of decor & group gifts.

I made a diaper cake for our

friend Kim and the tradition

continued with my friend Sadie.

Here is Tasha's cake.

Simple & sweet.  I was able to

use my cake stand for the first time!

I'm excited for Tasha to open

all her baby gifts!

I'm even more excited for

baby girl to arrive!!!

Congrats Tasha & Jami!





Must Love Pink

Last Thursday was my friend Emily's bachelorette party.

I met Emily through her boyfriend (now husband), Chris.

Chris was Matt's roommate in Eagan after we first started dating.

He went to chef school and taught Matt how to cook.

Chris is one of the nicest guys I know.

I was thrilled when he found Emily.

You could tell they were a perfect match from the start.

Fast forward three(?) years and we are celebrating

her last night as a single lady.

Her step-mother-to-be put on an AMAZING

bachelortte party!

We met at the Marriot downtown Mpls for

drinks, appetizers, cake, and gifts.  We were all dressed in PINK

(because pink is fun.)

From there, we hopped in a white limo

and found gift bags full of MORE FUN.

Pink feather boas

Pink glow necklaces, bracelets, cups,

and plenty of champagne to go around.

The limo took us to the starting point of the PedalPub.

We took a route through North Minneapolis.

We took seats (bike seats) on the outskirts of the pub/bike

and in the middle was our navigator (from the company)

and someone to bartend (from our party).

The pub was tougher to pedal than I thought it would be.

It was a surprise workout - to work off those alcohol calories.

We pedaled around to different bars.

We had some tag-a-longs.

I asked them if they would go home after I took their picture.

To my surprise, they agreed.

We stopped at many bars.

Which bars, you ask? 

I can't remember.

I know we stopped at Gastoff's (hence the boots)

This little lady is Chris's (the groom's) mother.  Love her.

The limo was waiting for us at the end of our route

to take us to the Shout House

where we would meet up with the guys.

I haven't much memory of the Shout House,

so I'll leave you with some pictures to tell

the rest of the story.