winter warm up?

Let’s hope it lasts. Now that skiing is over and it’s almost March, I have no desire to wait for the bus in -15 degree weather. I’d much prefer the 20s-30s we had this weekend.

Yesterday I began training for a half-marathon that I’ve resolved to do this year. I’m not sure which half marathon I’ll run (if I can actually make it that far), but I’m hoping that this will get me in shape for the wedding. Not to mention, it’s good to get out in the warmer weather.

Today was beautiful, and we took full advantage of that with a trip to the doggy park. The park near our house is amazing. It lines the Mississippi and there are miles of off-leash fun to be explored. Much of the park is wooded, but there’s a little beach area along the river for doggies that like to swim (fortunately, Barley is not one of them). Barley had such a good time – we could tell by his wagging tail. He played with a bunch of dogs, and one of them was even a Barley-look-alike! We decided that Barley is sort of the geeky indie kid in the bunch (he takes after Jason) – he’s never quite in the center of action, but is always paying attention to what the other dogs are doing. Sometimes he’ll join in with their chasing and wrestling, but he’s mostly pretty aloof.

Barley looooves the doggy park.

So does Jason.

After our trip to the dog park, I cleaned out the vacuum cleaner (because it was completely clogged) and then vacuumed much of the house while Jason brewed beer in the garage. I went on another run with Barley late in the afternoon and then headed to my aunt’s house to have dinner with my aunt, uncle, cousin, and my grandparents who are visiting from Milwaukee. I came home to find Barley looking uber-pathetic and tired… I think I wore the boy out.

Jason’s brew set up in the garage.

I think he’s tired.

barley *loves* his new house

I think Barley’s favorite thing about the new house is the windows. He’ll sit and look out them for hours. He will occasionally bark at someone walking by – the other day, it was a man carrying a Starbucks coffee (we suspect he prefers Caribou, because he likes to support local businesses).

Oh man, I could sit here all day.

He’s also learned to do his job in the neighbor’s yard (good boy!). We didn’t even have to train that behavior.

He’s been remarkably good the past few days – he is normally a very good dog, but we think he is even more so because he’s not even remotely interested in any of the boxes or other junk we’ve got laying around, and the doggy food and treats have been laying on the floor since we moved in and he hasn’t touched it at all.

Jeez you guys, pick up your crap.

Other than obsessing about Barley’s good-ness, we’ve been busy cleaning, putting furniture back together (thank you, Ikea, for making things that are easy to move), moving furniture from one room to another, and doing other minor fixes.

“Barley, this is a tool, it’s what separates us.” -JTR, 8/14/07

In other good news, despite some skepticism, we managed to rig up a shower (the house didn’t have one before), and it only looks slightly ghetto.

Yes, that is a handheld shower, and yes, it’s super-cold when you have to put down the handheld shower to wash your hair.

a new house!

We closed on our Minneapolis house yesterday. Yay!  Barley came with me (Jason had to work)…  I suspect he was bored.

There are too many boxes to count, but since we haven’t seen any of this stuff in 3 months, I suspect it will be a little like Christmas. (though I am a little concerned because the box labeled “dishes” makes a suspicious clinking noise when it’s picked up).

Barley loves his new house and has already met a playmate that lives down the street. He especially likes the big windows that he can look out, and since his brother, Karl, isn’t up on a table yet, he has fun watching Karl (and trying to get him to play, and whining quietly when Karl won’t play).

Let the unpacking and home improvements begin! (as in, today – so I can shower).

Belated Thankful Blog

I’ve been meaning to blog about our wonderful Turkey Day in Philly all week, so here goes nothing.

Our trip started off with us running through the airport. We thought we’d be late for our flight, but when we made it to the airport earlier than anticipated, we stopped for dinner. And then, just as we were finishing up, we heard our names called over the loudspeaker. Oops. We ran. All the way across the airport. Neither one of us is in good enough shape to be doing such a thing. But! This provides evidence in support of my theory that once you check your bags, they will search for you – they won’t just ditch you.

The important thing is that we made it! Thursday we went to Thanksgiving mass with J’s immediate family, and I actually understood it! Even though it was in Catholic (and not, for example, doggy barks or mime), I knew many of the prayers, etc. I was psyched. Thursday afternoon, we went to Jason’s Aunt Elaine’s for a Thanksgiving Feast. It was delicious, and also very fun, thanks to Jason’s large and very hilarious family.

The rest of the weekend was a blur – it went by so fast. Highlights included: attending J’s cousin’s soccer game, meeting Scout (J’s cousin’s dog), going out to dinner with the Ross’ (and Sean), hanging out with J’s cousins, bowling with some of J’s friends from high school, and playing with the Heine’s. Did I leave anything out? I hope not.

Pictures are here, although I didn’t take very many:

Thanksgiving 2007

A glimpse at what I’m thankful for this year:

• Family: I already have one super-cool family, but in 2008, I’ll get a second one! What would I do without them?
• Health: my own and that of those around me
• Jason, even if he has scheduled October 4, 2008 as the end of his life on his Google Calendar
• Barley
• The roof (roofs?) over my head
• Having a job that I can show up to whenever I want, leave whenever I want, and wear jeans while I’m there (even if it sometimes means doing a tremendous amount of work at home).
• My aunt and uncle for letting me live with them AGAIN! And for putting out a delicious home-cooked meal every night. I am certainly going to miss that when I move out!
• Living in Minnesota… Snow! We’re supposed to get SNOW soon!
• Bowling!
• Friends! (if only I could convince them all to move to MN)!

All-in-all, I am a lucky kid.

Minneapolis House

The home inspection went well last week, so I suspect we will have no problems moving into the new house in December.

Here are some pics:

Minneapolis House

Other weekend activities included: registering for wedding gifts (more on that later, as it deserves its own post),  visiting with my grandparents (they were in Minneapolis for the weekend), and taking Barley to get his nails trimmed.