Happy Fall Ya'll

Pffffeeeewww! Blurg, I am wiped. This fall has flown by. Probably because I have been super busy with all kinds of exciting things. Let's sum it all up in a blog post, shall we?

It started with the second annual wine stomp. My lovely friend Carol and her husband Nick hosted a little gathering at their new home in Alexandria near the Carlos Creek Winery. We rocked the vineyard this year and had TWO of our three stomping teams make it to the semi-finals. Next year, I think we really have a good shot at winning the grand prize basket full of wine. It's probably fine that we wait a year anyway, seeing half of the ladies in our group were preggos (not my half!). I learned all about the nonsensical things that make pregnant ladies vom and celebrated my ability to touch raw meat and use toothpaste without gagging. I also bought a wine glass holster. Cheers!

Then Jacob's family came to visit for a couple weeks and his brother stayed with use for a weekend. On Friday night we enjoyed some wurst, beer, and sauerkraut balls at The Black Forest Inn's Oktoberfest celebration. That's right, SAUERKRAUT BALLS. Try saying that without giggling. HARD TO DO. Now enjoy a stein of Hacker Pschorr and try again. IMPOSSIBLE. It was David Hasselhoff night and we cleaned up in the raffle. Jacob took home a Night Rider stamp set. Adam, Jacob's brother, won a real dollar bill with David Hasselhoffs face in place of President Washington, and Trevor made us all jealous when he won a case of collectible Baywatch stickers. Wunderbar! The next day we UM YA YA'ed our way on down to St. Olaf for Homecoming. The weather was chilly, but the nostalgia warmed me right up, along with a large eight dollar pizza from the Pause Yummmmm...

The next week I did my Practicum for school. What is practicum? Practicum is where you spend a week observing and interacting in a classroom at the grade level for which you plan to be licensed, but do not plan to teach. So, since I plan to teach high school, I spent the week in a sixth grade class. That way, you have some experience in all areas of your licensure. Comprende? It was really fun to be in a classroom and even more fun not going to work. Man, sixth graders are weird though. One second they are talking about how they lost their tooth last weekend while chewing on the neck of their t-shirt, and next they are discussing phases of matter and whispering about so-and-so who got high last weekend at her cousin's party. Whoa.

Then, randomly, a train derailed behind our apartment.

On Friday, October 8th this girl *pointing to myself* turned 26 years old. You guys, I am closer to 30 than 20 now. SCARY. So, yeah it was my birthday and we did a little celebrating. Jacob put together a "roll your own sushi" party for me on Friday night, made me a cake, cleaned our apartment and hung the birthday banner. Then our Friends Trevor and Jean came over and rolled their own sushi while I rolled my own sushi and Jake rolled his own sushi. I highly recommend doing this. It was soooo fun and sooo delicious. We already had the sushi rolling mats but Jake got sushi-grade yellow tuna from Byerly's and cucumbers, carrots, green onions, avocado, cream cheese, Nori, sushi rice and edemame. My favorite part was the spicy mayo though. Here is a recipe on this great website that tells you how to make your own sushi. Looooovvve the spicy mayo.

The next day, my wonderful Mom, Dad and brother came over and took a bike ride over to the Sea Salt seafood eatery over by Minnehaha Falls. It was a gorgeous fall day and we got some good pics along the way. This is also something I recommend everyone do. There are bike paths all over this wonderful city and you should find one and make your way on over to the Sea Salt. Next year though - or tonight. They close tomorrow for the winter. Yeah, sorry - I should have told you sooner.

For my birthday I got a camera from my Mom and Dad, that I can fit into my pocket, like the kind normal people have. No more hauling the D60 around to events and totally intimidating everyone. My favorite brother Kale gave me an awesome gift certificate for Kiva. Have you heard of Kiva? It's a program where you loan money to entrepreneurs in need around the world. Instead of just giving them money, you empower them by giving them a loan, which they then use to build their business or support their livelihood. Then they pay you back! It's not guaranteed that you will get paid back, but I guess most people do, and then they loan that money again. It's pretty awesome. Jacob gave me a MEND bag from the Invisible Children organization. Another very awesome gift that gives back. The bag was made by Pamela Laker who was abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda until she escaped and Invisible Children found her and taught her how to make these bags. Now she is supporting her whole family with her new income and I have an awesome new messenger bag. Win win.

The following week I spent pulling together my 34 page practicum report, studying for a physics midterm, and registering for next semester after registration was already past due. What can I say, I was a little distracted.


Last week, I used birthday money and gift certificates I earned through my health insurance provider by being healthy to purchase an awesome new arts and crafts tool called a Silhouette. I have only tested it out twice, but I have so many plans for this thing. T-shirts, etched glass, temporary tattoos, cards, window decals, wall art, posters... the possibilities are endless. I will definitely be using it to beautify my future classroom too. Who says science can't be pretty?

My friend Jeni also had a birthday this month and a bunch of my good friends from high school all got together for a girls night on the town. So much fun!

So, it's Halloween this weekend. I probably could have waited and included it in this post too, but you're probably tired of hearing about all my antics. It's a lot, I know. I promise to try and space it out better, but it's hard to keep up. So much to do, so little time :) Oh, by the way, did I mention I have been playing badminton on Monday nights through Community Ed? No? Well, yeah... there's that too.

I need a nap.

Food, presents, friends, and fun

I am happy to report that I had a fantastic birthday weekend, even if it did end in snow, which, by the way, is STILL falling... sigh. Pretty sure the leaves will be going from green to dead this year. Very disappointing, but I'm just not going to think about that right now...

We went to Muffaletta's for dinner in Saint Paul on Thursday night and it was soooo delicious and cozy and great. In addition to a wonderful dinner, Jacob also gave me a sewing machine! Woot! Like a real "modern" sewing machine that he found in a store, and not on the side of the road. I am sew excited (hehe) to start letting out hems in my too-short pants and attempting to create some new things without the fear of electrocution or severe frustration! If it weren't for the loads of homework I had over the weekend, I would have spent all my birthday money on patterns and fabric. Probably a good thing I didn't do that. I also got an awesome tripod from my brother, photoshop elements from my Mom and Dad and new shocks! Yes! Now I can be super creative AND maintain contact with the snowy roads while driving! AWESOME! I can't even begin to express to you how difficult it is to sit and do homework with all of these new toys in my apartment. Let me tell you - graduate studies are TIME CONSUMING. Anyway, Friday included another delicious dinner (ala Jake and Kate this time), and fun with good friends, and on Saturday we went to Prairie Home Companion and the Fitzgerald. Neko Case and The Steele Sisters were guests. So good.

Happy Birthday to ME!

This morning, when I woke up, this comic strip was taped to the bathroom mirror. Hahahaha!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

Today is my Grandma's 91st birthday! We are headed for dinner tonight to celebrate another happy year for Irma Lundquist. She is a sweet, spunky, amazing lady and I am so grateful to be a part of the same gene pool. So, here's to you grandma, and another year full of love, laughter, and sticking out our tongues in joy while squeezing each other as hard as we can :)

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Last Friday was Jacob's birthday and there were several creative projects worth sharing, including my favorite Black Russian cake recipe. It's very moist and has a chocolaty-bitter-boozy-raspberry-heavenly flavor to it. Here's how I do it...

1 (18.25 ounce) package moist yellow cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix (this is the big one guys)
1 c. oil
1/4 c. vodka
1/2 c. kahlua
3/4 c. water
4 eggs
more kahlua :)
confectioners' sugar
a bunch of raspberries (frozen, fresh, or in a pie filling)

All you have to do is mix up the package of cake mix, pudding mix, oil, eggs, water, vodka and kahlua in a big bowl. Then you bake it in a greased and floured bunt pan at 350 for 50 minutes. While it's in the oven, mix up some kahlua and powdered sugar (maybe a cup or so?) Also mix up your raspberries in a separate bowl with some powdered sugar to create a berry topping (you can add some water too - you want them to be sort of saucy). Leave the cake in the bundt pan and poke the bottom with a fork to create some holes and pour the kahlua glaze over the top. Let this sit for at least an hour, so it can soak in. When you're ready to serve it, put the cake on a platter and put the raspberries all over the top and sprinkle with powdered sugar to make it beautiful. Then enjoy!


Mmmmmm... it's sooooo good! I think I actually like it leftover better, because the kahlua sort of does this caramelizing thing in the cake and it's just glorious.

I was really happy with how Jacob's birthday present turned out. It's sort of non-practical and artsy, so I also gave him a camp chair and a manly plaid shirt, so I wouldn't feel guilty about giving him something that I might like more than he does. He is from Petoskey, MI , which is at the very, very top of the lower part of Michigan right on the edge of beautiful Lake Michigan. He is always talking about the lake and it's beaches, so I decided to give him a little portable piece of Lake Michigan. I got my inspiration from Design Sponge and ended up basically copying what I saw because I loved it so much. I definitely might love this more that Jake does... is that bad? Anyway, I had this artist from Etsy custom-create this beautiful glass pyramid box for me. She was so incredibly helpful and nice, and her prices are fantastic! I highly recommend her. Inside of the box I placed objects from that beach that Jake's mom collected for me including some driftwood, a seagull feather, a genuine Petoskey stone, a skipping rock and some beautiful beach sand. I think it turned out well. He said he loved it. Maybe when he becomes a teacher, he can use it as a paperweight. Right now, it's sitting by the window and reflecting light all over out living room :)