Happy Anniversary, Gary!

Wow! I haven't blogged in a few days. I'm so very sorry
to all my loyal readers. I promise you that this will not
continue. I know it's nearly summer now and things are likely
to get a bit out of hand as the Wedding and Portrait season
goes full blast but that doesn't mean that I will put off
blogging.

Okay, now that that's out in the open, I want to wish my
husband of nearly 11 years a happy 14th anniversary.
It was on this day that after about a year of knowing one
another that we finally...well..decided to date.
Our first date? An REM concert. It was magical.
Not Gary...being that close to Michael Stipe! ;)
Happy Anniversary Gary!

Yesterday we lost power shortly after my day began so I
was forced to move clients to today making today the longest
of the week.

My iMac is off at Gary's brother's getting everything
re-installed. Something happened and I ended up having to
reboot, it seemed, every time I changed applications.
Thank goodness for my new MacBook Pro! I just plugged in my
external TB and voila!! I'm back in business!

Hey, have a fabulous day.
Finish something you started! :D

Who's Better Than Me Today?

Today marks my 6th anniversary of not smoking!
Wow! QUIT NET has a great program for
anyone that you know who is quitting, struggling
with quitting or just wants to keep a tally of
their stats through the years....



Do something special for your heart today!

April Fools!

Calling all April Fools!
There is snow on the ground this morning and
that's no joke, dang nabbit! Thank goodness we
didn't get the 8 to 12 that fell just north of us!

Happy Anniversary to my brother Tim and his
wife, Laurie. Today they celebrate 26 years!



Happy Birthday to Cory Barton, my web designer
extraordinaire and friend!

Today I will be at a NACE event all day at the
Hilton on France & 494. Next month, I am being
spotlighted and I've been preparing for that
for a couple of months. Actually, I was supposed
to be spotlighted last July but it was on the
very day that we put Hobie down and I just couldn't
bring myself to do much of anything that day.

I have a bunch of photos from Owen's birthday party
and JoAnn & Rick's wedding from last weekend, I'll
be sharing them tomorrow.

Have a great day! Don't fall for any stupid tricks!
Are you going to get the worm virus today?
I'm not...get a mac!

Drizzly Tuesday.

If it rains in Minnesota in February,
it just means is warm...and I'll take it!

Back from the gym, Boo at my feet, a fresh
Vienna roast press and lots to blog about.

I'll start with Reese's birthday brunch that
took place on Sunday. She turned 1 on Wednesday.
She is so darn cute and at the tender age of
1 she is already fascinated with opening and
discovering gifts.
Owen helped a ton and I have to say that it
was remarkable how Owen didn't get the least
bit jealous...most kids do...he just helped!
Good job Owen!












Today is my sister and Pete's wedding
anniversary! 13 years?...wow! Congratulations!

Nine One Two...

It's now the day after our 10th anniversary and
I have to say that I don't feel that our marriage
is that old. ;)

Seems like yesterday that we stood in our back yard
and exchanged vows, rings and kisses in front of
our families. It was perfect. I should really scan
some of those negatives and post them. Hmmm, where
are they?

I have to say that altho' I got up pretty early for
a dental appointment (Dr. Michael Johnson and his
staff are totally awesome btw!!) Gary had already
whipped out the flowers and cards....he's so amazing.

We opened up the bottle of 2000 Niebaum Coppola Rubicon
that I picked up several years ago when we were out
there with friends for our anniversary ( I've seen
it on wine lists at restaurants for as much as $250 now).
We toasted our 10th and did a little yummy bread
& butter as a prep for dinner.

I surprised Gary with not only a town car to take us
forth and back to Kincaid's but I ordered the most
delicious bottle of Silver Oak Cabernet to have with dinner.
It was amazing and dinner was FABulous!

In years passed, we have traveled for our anniversary
and hit Northern California's wine country many times.
This year we thought we'd just keep it simple (even tho'
is was our 10th) and save ourselves for a
longer stint in Mexico this winter! Good call.
Thank you Gary for 10 terrific years. I love you.
Thanks to everyone who texted, twittered and facebooked
us throughout the day yesterday!

Nine One One.

"...call my sister, she's not doing anything.
She's normal...."

This was what my brother, Tim, said to Gary
about 12 years ago. And the rest, as they say,
is history. Thanks Tim!

I'll post more later, gotta get to the dentist!

Happy anniversary baby! I love you!

May 28th

Today, actually, marks our 13th anniversary.
Gary and I "hooked up" 13 years ago today.
It was over Memorial Day weekend. WOW!
I think I might smile all day long today!

Lots of hair to do today and then I'm taking
Boo up to the vet for an overnight stay.
I know, I know, it's bad but I'm having
Boo de-clawed. It's totally different now
than it was 12 years ago when I had Hobie
& Katie done so Dr. Toogood sort of talked
me off the "ledge" about the whole ordeal.
I'll miss Boo tonight and tomorrow morning.
He'll be back tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow I"m going to head out to Crown College
to take a look around the grounds there.
I've never been there and I want to be
prepared for my Wedding on Saturday. And if
it should rain, the ceremony will take place
there, I want to know where the best place to
do a photo walk will be. No surprises!

No Minnesota Miracles this weekend. That's nice.

Still looking for a home for Boo's sister.



She is a full bred Birman. 13 weeks old.
DARLING!

Happy Birthday to Me!

A gray, dreary, rainy birthday. I guess they
can't all be perfect and I've had a few in my
life. Some birthdays sunny and 80, some with
blowing snow and 30. I guess if given the choice
between rain and snow, I'll take the rain.
It'll wash away the last of the dirty snow.
And anyway....April showers, right?

Oh, and remember how I said I like birthday
phone calls? My phone is working overtime
this morning but not with calls...all texts!
I can hardly keep up...it's pretty funny!
Thanks for all the messages everyone!

Gary hates my Wellies, and I intend on wearing
them today. This is one of those days just
made for wearing rain boots! Gary always
says, "you're not really going to leave your
pants tucked into those are you?" HA!
I have 2 pair, one with hearts and one with
flowers. I think I should start a collection!

I got a lovely gift from Owen and Reese.
They purchased a gift certificate from Shootsac.
There were 2 covers that I loved that I wanted
to add to my collection and so I already
ordered them this morning when I got up!
I got "Spinner" & "Festive"!! Can't wait for
them to arrive! Thanks Owen & Reese!!!!


Last night everyone turned out for Tim & Laurie's
25th wedding celebration out at Dahlgreen Golf
Club out in Chaska. I grabbed a shot of them
before guests began to arrive.



I think that Gary and I are planning a dinner
out tonight...nothing big.

Tomorrow, Nicki and I are going to go out to
IKEA for birthday meatballs. We've started a
new tradition! I like it. Besides it's such
a crazy, fun store and once a year is good
for me!
If anyone else wants to come along, give me
a call or shoot me an e-mail! :)

Well, back to my soggy day.
Think I might grab a couple of cats and pop
back into bed.

Happy Anniversary Anne & Pete!

Last night Anne & Pete (my sister & her husband)
went to Redstone in Eden Prairie for dinner and then
called us and I told them to c'mon over (they were out
celebrating their 12th wedding anniversary).
So they braved the elements and granted my request.
It was about 9 below zero and wind gusts to like
30+ miles per hour taking what little snow we got
yesterday and blowing it into 2 foot, rock hard,
snow drifts! We were doing absolutely nothing, and by
nothing, I mean nothing...NASCAR Bud Shootout and
Willy Wonka (the one with Johnny Depp...so weird.)~
Hey, quality time is totally overrated!
Pete thought we were kidding...NOT!

Earlier in the day, I picked up Sherrie at Fitness 19
and we drove to Valleyview Middle School (um, yea,
NOT Eden Prairie...Bloomington. And it was snowing
and blowing so bad and the roads were pretty awful.
We made it there just fine and RAN in!

This was a Posing Seminar for NPC athletes competing
in the upcoming Gopher State, Northland and one other
show, I can't remember which. Anyway, Ken "Flex" Wheeler
was there and WOW, altho' he's retired, he knows the
business and was there to give insight & tips for posing
to those preparing for upcoming NPC shows I was amazed
at how funny he was!



Chris Bongiovanni was there and I went up and said
hi to Chris. I wasn't sure that she would remember me
but she did. It was fun seeing them both and I want to
thank Sherrie Carnicle for asking me to come along.
It seems like just yesterday that I was training for my show.

Here are a couple of "figure" athletes (Chris is far right)~



And here are two bodybuilding athletes 8 weeks out
from their shows...