Monday, June 30

My Choice

As Wednesday gets closer I find myself pleading with the Universe:

"Please let things go well on Wednesday."

"If things go well and everything works out I'll even start recycling.  Voluntarily"

"See, I'm even using reusable bags at the grocery store.  Progress."

"Now just let me qualify for a home loan. Please?"

I still haven't made up my mind on if I want to buy a townhouse.  But I at least want it to be my decision to do it or not to do it.  It would pretty much suck to go to the bank on Wednesday only to find out that they reject me.  I would hate for them to make the decision on my future homeowner status.  Thus pleading to the Universe.  

Wednesday is the Mortgage Consultant appointment.  

Wish me luck.

Thursday, June 26

Out of the Blue

I know I should wright an update.  But for the life of me I don't know where to begin.  Nothing has really happened in the last week.  But it seems like I've been busy so it feels like there should be noteworthy topics.

Lets see...

A few weeks ago I traveled with my new friend Jamie to her parents home in Wabasha to surprise her Dad on Fathers Day.  This was the day after I had gone to the zoo with the Bain Train and LeFebvre party of 2 (CJ was at his grandparents house for the weekend).  So this is why it felt like I had traveled the state that weekend.  It was a fun road trip and it was nice to see trees and winding roads again instead of the flat, endless farmland we have around Owatonna.  Since it was Sunday we even made the trip across to Wisconsin to buy a bottle of wine for an amazing dinner that her parents made.  

The following week at work was a busy one.  It went from a drought to a flood of work it what seemed like 2.3 seconds.  But I suppose thats all I should say about that.

Last weekend continued my road trip around Minnesota.  I drove up north for the weekend.  Friday started out to be full of apprehension about the trip: gas prices vs. the bank account and thinking about the potential heavy Grandmas Marathon traffic on I35N.  It ended up to be a pretty good trip.  Traffic wasn't too bad, and I never paid over 3.90 for gas.  Considering the nations average was over 4.10 that weekend, I was grateful.  And how sad is it that I was grateful to pay only 3.89?  I even travelled with Ruby, and she didn't seem to freak out too bad over the change of location.

Sunday I had a date with someone I met on PoF ({Plenty of Fish).  We met in Lakeville for a small bite to eat.  It wasn't a bad date...but it wasn't great either.  The connection just didn't seem to be there.  Which is fine, they can't all be great, right?

That brings me to this week.  Work continues to be busy and doesn't show any signs of letting up.  Which is ok by me.  I prefer to be busy like this.  Jamie and I have to hanging out a lot, two single girls looking for love in a town we moved to because of a job opportunity.   

The other night we got to talking over a couple of half price appetizers at Applebees and the topic of moving in together came up.  Sure we've only known each other for a few months, but our personalities seem to fit well together, we already spend a lot of time together, and we could both stand to save some money.  We both knew there would be pros and cons to this situation so we just left it at we'll think about it and keep our eyes out for a good place to rent.  The next day a coworker/friend of mine sees that I'm looking up apartments for rent in town and mentions that the townhouse two doors down from her is for sale.  Next thing I know Jamie and I are checking out her townhouse to get an idea of the layout and area.  Wait, what just happened here?  We went from talking about moving in together, to me looking at a townhouse to possibly buy.  

WTF?? 

Trust me, I'm not going to be rushing into anything.  I'm just seeing what my options are.  I'm not going to do something that just ends up getting me in over my head.  I would only do this if I could afford it without Jamie paying me rent.  Looking at the places available in Owatonna, I think a townhouse is my best option.  And we are thinking about this logically, and have talked about singing leases and how long she plans on sticking around Owatonna.  

It kind of scares the crap out of me to even be thinking about this, but hey I might as well see what my options are, right?

Bet you didn't expect this when you checked in with The Single Sister today, did you?

Monday, June 23

Zzzzzz...

Weekend update coming soon.

Too tired think at the moment.


Thursday, June 19

Renters Insurance

I has it.  

How about you?

A coworkers niece just lost everything in an apartment fire.  Because she's a full time student, they were told she would be covered under her parents homeowners insurance.  But since its summer and she's not technically in school at the moment she won't be covered.  Stupid loopholes.  

It just makes me think of all my friends who are in apartments.  

If you don't have renters insurance, go get it right now.

I've had renters insurance from day one since I graduated college.  For me its not that expensive, $13 a month.  There are just too many things that can go wrong.  Sure you know that you won't leave the stove on, or that you won't let candles burn overnight.  But what about the neighbor down the hall?  Or the shady building managers/repairmen, who knows what loopholes they find to save a few bucks in repairs.  (Ok, I'm not saying that ALL building managers and repairmen and owners are shady.)  

Renters Insurance.  Its a good thing.

Here ends my public service announcement for the day.  

Tuesday, June 17

This last weekend was a busy one.  It feels like I went all over the state.  Oh, wait, I was.

Saturday I went to the Minnesota Zoo with these cute kids:
My nieces Reagan and Rylee,
and my nephew Nicholas.
Despite the look on his face in this picture, he wasn't at all crabby.
But look how serious he looks.  Do you think he's just as troubled by the price of gas?
Cheer up Nick!  You shouldn't worry your cute 5 month old head about that sort of thing!

There, thats better!

So we started out on the Minnesota Trail.  
Saw a cool bald eagle.

And saw some 5 year olds in their natural habitat. 
Oops, thats just Reagan and Rylee

I've been to the Minnesota Zoo a few times, but I don't think that I've ever seen the Dolphin Show.  
Till now...it was kind of short but still pretty neat.


After the Dolphin Show we headed over to the new exhibit: Russia's Grizzly Coast.  We had gone through it in the morning but all the animals were sleeping.  Apparently the best time to see them is after lunch.

The Sea Otters were playful and swimming around.
Don't they have the cutest faces? 

The Grizzly Bears were also awake.  Erin had been there a couple of days before and said that they were fighting/playing in the water, standing up and putting their paws on the glass.  They weren't as active this day, but this one kept swimming, looking for fish so I got some good shots of him.

It was a fun day at the Minnesota Zoo.  I even got to witness a trait that Rylee could have only gotten from her Auntie Emily.  The Gift Shop Indecision.  "I. Want. That. Turtle!"  Even though those weren't Rylee's exact words, I could see the frantic look in her eyes of "I can't decide what I want!  Too many choices!  What I really want, my mom won't buy me.  I. Just. Can't. Decide."  As a Gift Shop Junkie myself, I could sympathize.  The gift shop was always a favorite part of the zoo, or museum, etc. for me when I was little.  Ok, it still kind of is.

In then end (after 3 gift shops, and some tears) she did choose a nice nail polish set.  

No one walked away screaming "I. Want. That. Turtle!"

Ok, maybe I did. 

Just for old times sake.  

Friday, June 13

BTW

I totally just made my goal of getting someone from another country to visit my site.  

I had two visitors from Canada and another one from Israel visit within the last couple of days.  

Sweet!

Turns out that Sarah Nielson's idea of Pimp My Blog really did work.  I got a ton of hits from her site just by listing my blog in her comments.

I've said this before, but this is further proof that I'm easily amused.  

Another One Bites The Dust

A few of you have asked how things went with the Blue Earth Guy.  I haven't really written about him, because I just wasn't exactly sure how things were going.  Sure, our first date was wonderful; walking along the lake, under the trees full of pink blossoms.  He was an easy guy to talk to, and we had already hit it off on the phone the week before so there weren't many awkward silences.  It was pretty close to being one of those perfect dates.  But then the second and third dates came, followed by reality.  For some reason while the second and third dates were fun, that spark just wasn't there.  And reality came into play when we actually started to think about when we could see each other again.  Turns out June is a busy month for both us and we wouldn't be seeing each other for another month.  How could we try and build a relationship on that?  Blue Earth is an hour away, an hour in a direction I wouldn't normally travel.  While, in some cases I'm sure a long distance romance is possible, I know its just not what I want at this time.  Maybe if I was feeling head over heels for this guy.  Maybe if he lived in the cities where I'm more often than not, already spending my weekend.  

Reality was setting in fast.  

I was getting that gut feeling that I just had to put a end to what, at one time, was a promising possibility.  

Crap, I hate this feeling.  

I'm not sure which feeling I hate the most:  Knowing that I have to break up with someone, or hearing from someone that they have to break up with me.  

So last night I did it, tried giving him a call, but he didn't answer.  

Crap, I'm going to loose my nerve. 

Saw him online a few hours later.  I know this is a completely wussy move, (huh, my spell check recognizes pussy, but not wussy.  Anyways, moving on.) but I had to get it over with before I really loose my nerve.  

I actually ended it over an Instant Message conversation.  Lame, I know.  But hey, it started as an IM conversation so its kind of fitting, right?  

Well, it turns out that he wasn't feeling it either.  He was going to give it another date, and then decide.  But it seems like we were feeling the same way.  We had hopes that it would work, we wanted it to work but both recognize that it just wasn't going to work.  So that made things easier.  

So I'm back out there again, and this time, trying out a new dating site.  plentyoffish.com  Its a free one, we'll see what happens out of this one.

Oh, and one last thing to add about the small world of online dating...turns out that I should have waited to sign up for plentyoffish after I ended it with Blue Earth Guy.  I just did the first steps of picking a screen name and password and uploading a photo the night before.  Yeah, he's on that site too and he noticed that I had joined.

But like he said, "Its not a good sign when you are signing up for a dating sight, and I'm still checking them."

Yes, that will be added to the Top 10 Signs That Its Not Working.

Wednesday, June 11

Virtual Age

Someone at work sent me this link for a Virtual Age Calculator.  It asks questions about you life and how healthy you are and calculates your Virtual Age and how old you may live.  Of course its probably not all that accurate, but it was still kind of fun.  

Here's my stats:

Actual Age - 24
Virtual Age - 10.7 (how come I don't feel 10?)
Life Expectancy - 87.3 (not bad)

Check out the link below to find out your virtual age...and if your brave go ahead and post it in the comments!

Sunday, June 8

I've never waiting so long for something.

11 years.

I've been waiting 11 years to see a Guthrie production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  

11 YEARS.

I had the chance to see it twice in high school.

TWICE. 

Both chances were disrupted by danceline.  

When we were in 7th grade Abby, Sarah and I had the chance to go with the senior College Prep class on their trip to THE BIG CITY.  To see a PLAY.  At THE GUTHRIE.  But of course, the State Danceline Competition was that same day/weekend.  It just wasn't going to happen.  Sarah got to go see A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Abby and I didn't.  And really, we didn't know what we were missing, at least I didn't.  After Sarah told us about it, I knew it was something I wanted to see.  And after seeing my first Guthrie play in 8th grade (10 years ago, Much Ado About Nothing), I defiantly knew I had to see A Midsummer Night's Dream.  

9th grade rolls around.  The Guthrie has A Midsummer Night's Dream on tour.  They were actually coming to Grand Rapids.  Sweet!  Abby's dad buys us tickets knowing that we missed it the first time.  Guess what?  Its the same time as our Danceline end of the year Kicks for Kids performance.  We have to miss it again.  But of course I get to hear ALL about it from my boyfriend of the time.  Brent.  

So over the years its been in the back on my mind, on my "Things To Do List".  

About 6 months back I had an urge to check the Guthrie Schedule.   Knowing that I hadn't seen a play at the new and improved theater I thought now would be a good time to see what would be showing over the next season.  Guess what was going to be playing?!?! 

A Midsummer Night's Dream

By the end of the night I had charged 7 tickets to my credit card for a June 8th matinĂ©e.  Abby and I would finally get to see it!  (Along with Sarah, Troy, Sam, Chris, and Manda.)  

The play was fantastic.  We had great seats, dead center.  If any of you are familiar with the old Guthrie Theater thrust stage, the new Wurtele Thrust Stage looks pretty much the same.  Not a bad seat in the house, but I still  wouldn't recommend sitting on "The Slope".  Of course the Guthrie put a different spin on the classic shakespeare play, adding quirky song and dance numbers which sound lame, but really did work.  The costumes and stage design are always my favorite parts and these were no exception.  While the "modern day mortal" costumes and setting were kind of drab, the "fairy world" was fun and the costumes were great.  I was able to "borrow" a few pictures from the interweb.  
I will say that I was a little disappointed that the giant flower didn't make a comeback in this production.  That's all Brent could talk about when it was on tour in Grand Rapids, how the entire set was this giant flower.  So I was kind of hoping that they would do something along those lines.  But with fairies dropping in from "heaven" on ropes doing Cirque du Soleil acrobatics, I quickly forgot about that tired, 11 year old flower.  

Incase you couldn't tell, or didn't know, The Guthrie Theater has always been a special place for me.  Seeing my first play there 10 years ago, and continuing to see many more plays throughout the coming school years and summer workshops, getting to meet the actors and work even work with them.  I was sad to see the old theater go, Abby and I even went and saw Hamlet a few summers ago, the last show that ran at the old theater, to say goodbye.  But the new one has much more room and is pretty spectacular with great views of the river.  

I'm glad the first show that I saw at the new theater was A Midsummer Night's Dream.  

It may have even been worth the 11 year wait.

Dito

I had heard mixed reviews on the new Sex and The City movie. Of course it wasn't going to keep me from seeing the movie with my three long-time girlfriends. But after reading thehansonhattrick post Friday night, Getting Carried Away, I knew I was going to enjoy it. She was right when she said that the girls defiantly didn't dissapoint, she was right when she said it made you reflect on your friendships in life, and she was right when she said it was the perfect movie to go see with your girlfriends (next girls night movie? He's Just Not That Into You).


I read her post on the SATC movie now and think, "Dito". There were so many highs and lows that it felt like I needed to eat a 4 pound cheesecake when the movie was over. Watching the women on SATC go through their highs and lows made me think of my own highs and lows in my dating life. It was a good remembrance though, even though I felt like eating a 4 pound cheesecake, it wasn't over my own dating life. That 4 pound cheesecake was for Miranda, Carrie, Charlotte, and Samantha. My friends always compared me with Charlotte, the forever hopeless romantic who always knew her man was out there even after being heart broken so many times. But in this movie I sympathized more with Miranda and Carrie. It made me think of my own on-again-off-again-never-ending-romance with The Marine. Finding out last fall that he is getting married to the girl that ultimately ended our on-again-off-again-never-ending-romance was the ultimate test in how I still felt about him. Turns out, I'm finally over it. But every now and again I still think about him and how he's doing. The temptation was too great last night when Sam had her myspace up. (His myspace is private so I can't see it, but Sam is still one of his friends so she can still see it.) So she reluctantly went to it, knowing there were new pictures up. New pictures of his Hawaii wedding on the beach. They were beautiful.

Of course seeing him happy made me think about the good times. And guess what? It didn't make me sad!

This is progress people.

Tuesday, June 3

Pictures of Ruby

I've been trying to get some good pictures of Ruby, but doing it by myself has proven to be more difficult than I thought.  A couple of my work friends came over last Friday to meet her and LM got some good pictures of Sandy holding Ruby.  Head on over to Sandy's blog to check them out!


On a side note: Telling my landlords about Ruby turned out to be just fine.  I wasn't really worried, but of course in the back of my mind I wondered if they would be mad.  The wife and kids came up to visit her yesterday and we had a good laugh about how her husband was going crazy thinking the squirrel was back.  Apparently he was ready to tear down the siding to get it out of there.  She said not to worry, that its not that she's too loud, they just couldn't figure out what the noise was.

Monday, June 2

Notes on Ruby

Its been a few weeks since I got Ruby and I think she's enjoying her new home.  Although, I'm still trying to figure out how exactly I would be able to tell if she wasn't enjoying her new home.  

I've been meaning to tell my landlords that I have a new pet.  I don't think they would have a problem with it, or at least they shouldn't.  Its not like she runs free in my apartment.  I just don't want them to be surprised if they ever have to come into my apartment for any reason and wonder what the heck I have in the cage in the corner.  Last night was a perfect example of why I need to tell them.  

I get a phone call rather late in the evening and don't recognize the number so I let it go to voicemail.  It's my landlord.  He's concerned that he's hearing strange noises above his living room and he's wondering if I hear it and wonders if I can tell if its squirrels or not (we had a problem with squirrels living in the attic last winter he's probably worried that they are back.).  So I'm laying in bed trying to listen to hear what he's talking about.  Nope, not hearing the tell tale signs of squirrels in the attic, I'm not even hearing them jumping around across the roof.  

All I hear is Ruby running on her wheel.  Ah-Ha!  Thats what he's hearing, the pitter patter of her paws on the wheel.  And the wheel kind of bounces so its making the bottom of her cage hit the floor repeatedly.  

Yep, I bet he thinks its a squirrel.  Of course thats his first thought, and not that his crazy tenant randomly bought a hedgehog that likes to run marathons on a wheel all night.  Boy is he going to be surprised when I call him and let him know today.  :o)

This morning after I fed Ruby she was pretty playful.  She discovered the new toy (aka: toilet paper tube) that I had given her.  Not sure if she was playing or just plain stuck.  But it was pretty funny to watch so I had to take some video with my phone to share with everyone.  


And no, I didn't just sit there and laugh the whole time.  I did help her pull the tube off her head, but 5 min later she just did it again.  So maybe she was playing.  This will probably be a "under human supervision only" toy.