Prayer Intentions

I was on a walk with the dogs tonight and was remembering one of the things I loved about my high school. I went to a Catholic high school and many of my teachers started their class off with a prayer. Most often the prayers would start with a call for intentions -- either concerns or joys -- that my fellow classmates had in their hearts. I'm not really sure why I was thinking of that today. But I do have some intentions on my mind that I'd like to share...

For my next-door neighbors and their family. Jim found out that he has stage 4 cancer late last week while he was at the hospital for a few days getting treated for a large blood clot in his leg. It's quite a shock that he only has a few months at the most to live. His children and step-children are grown, and he has several grandchildren. He is younger than my parents. Even though he's facing the fact that he doesn't have much time left, his greatest concern is who is going to take care of his wife.

For the family who's 2-year old son died and who's 4-year old daughter is still in critical condition from the tornado in Hugo, Minn., last Saturday. The father was also injured. I don't know this family personally, but my best friend's parents work with the dad. My sister works with the aunt of the kids.

For my friend, Tonya, who had to do a routine round of tests in the last week to make sure she's still cancer free. She meets with her doctor and gets the results tomorrow. And she's a little nervous.

And, lastly, for me! This one is actually a joy -- hopefully. I'm getting close to some new job opportunities. Yes, that's plural! The job search is going pretty well, but since my blog is public I don't want to elaborate too much. But please pray that these opportunities work out and that I'll make the best choice for my career and family. I feel like I'm coming upon a crossroad and I'm not sure which way to go. But I'm praying that I'll be led in the right direction. I don't even have any choices to make yet....so I'm trying not to worry about stuff that hasn't happened yet. And I have better things to do -- like running 4 miles and updating my blog! ;) I'll be sure to keep you updated as things progress.

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A year ago this week, I got to meet Baby Edwin for the first time! It's been a year now, so he's due for a trip to his favorite Uncle's house (my house). Here's a photo of me and the little guy! Look how little he was! And I haven't worn this shirt since...maybe someday when I need maternity clothes. lol.

A Day Off Together!

Dave and I enjoyed a day off together! For most married couples, that doesn't sound that exciting...but for me and Dave, we cherish the little bit of time off we get to spend together. A whole day off together is comes about once every blue moon. I'm not kidding. Aside from our last few 'vacations' (our quick trips to Kansas City in April, Duluth in March, and New Jersey in February), I think our last day off together that we actually spent at home was the day after Christmas. And that day I was sick on the couch (not so fun).

But today was great. The dogs let us sleep in until 9 a.m. After we woke up, got ready and fed the dogs, we took a short little bike ride to the Caribou Coffee nearby our house. We ordered pastries, coffee and bought a paper and hung out there for a while reading our paper and sipping our mochas. Then we went to Best Buy and used the Rewards certificates we got from buying our TV a couple of months ago.

The best part of our day was taking the dogs to the dog park. We met our friends Matt and Angela and their dog Jack at Minnehaha Park. The dog park there is basically a trail through the woods that takes you down to the Mississippi River. The dogs went swimming in the river. Well, Otis just waded in the water. It was Coopers first time at a body of water, so he went swimming and did the doggy paddle (I think it was probably an accident as he didn't realize the water would get deeper the farther in you went). We spent a good 1 1/2 hours walking around and watching the dogs play with other pups and explore and swim and run. And man, did the dogs get dirty! Between the water, the sand, the mud...they were one big mess.

On our way home, we had to stop at the 'pet wash.' It's this building that has three different sections. On one side there's a self-serve car wash, and on the other side there's an automatic car wash. In the middle, there's a self-serve dog wash. You walk the dog up this ramp that basically walks the dog into a tub. Then you hook the dog up to a post and there is a hose you spray with the with...it was pretty cool, because there were different buttons you could press that made different things come out of the hose with the water. There was a button for shampoo, one for conditioner, one for flea protection, one for rinse and the final button was for a giant blow dryer tube. We had never been there, but it worked great! It was so much better than drying to use our cold hose outside (it wasn't very warm today), or trying to carry them through the house up to our bathtub...and they would have clogged it with how messy there were today.

Tonight we went over to my parents' house for dinner. They had some of their friends over and my sister Rachel was there too. Oleg was there. He goes back home tomorrow. Dinner was tasty.
We got a lot of great photos at the dog park. Here's some of the best.

Family Photo!

The Plitzkow's!

Cooper got so dirty!

Me and my boys!

Cooper before he jumped in the river.

Cooper's a big boy -- taught himself how to swim in the river.

Cooper was so cute all wet and dirty.

Otis practicing his agility.

The boys were so tired on the way home.

TransOtis

Last weekend, I watched TransAmerica while Dave was on the fishing trip. Otis freaked out and was barking at the TV in the beginning. Today, I wanted to show Dave how goofy Otis is and re-played the beginning of the movie. He freaked out again (I knew he would). And I also captured the crazy dog on camera. It's pretty funny, so you have to watch this!

You can call me Tiger...

Tonight we went to the driving range with Andee and Bryan to test out the golf clubs I got for my birthday. They worked great! I was able to hit the ball in the air a couple of times. And a few times I made it to the 100 yards sign! I think it was 100 yards. Maybe it was only 100 feet. lol. Ok, Dave confirmed it was yards. My swing is really funky looking. I'm used to hockey sticks, and there's a big difference between shoot a puck and hitting a golf club. My left forearm is really sore...it hurts to type! (No pain, no gain, right?) But according to Dave that shouldn't hurt at all...so I have some more practice and figuring out to do. We took some photos today, so enjoy watching the slide show!

Bridges for Obama

My mom sent me this link. I thought it was really cool, so I'm going to share it with you all. It's photos of people all around the world support Barack Obama. Check it out!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/bridgesforobama/pool/show/

So fun...

Last night Dave and I got out our bycicles, dusted them off, put air in the tires and took off for a nice bike ride. Remember that paved trail I blogged about that I went running on? Well, we took that trail (and went a little further) to the Dairy Queen on Marschall Road....or about a 30 minute ride each way.

It was a really nice way to spend the night...being active, but doing something fun (not running)...enjoying time with my husband...and the weather was perfect. And there was a nice reward involved (Dairy Queen). Here's an image of the map. If you click on the image, you can better see our route.

One Month From Today...

...I will be crossing the finish line at the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon!! I can't believe it's coming up so fast. In most ways that makes me happy, because at this point training has become very, very tedius. But, it's also alarming, because it means there isn't much time left to train!

The same day Dave and Bryan will be running Grandma's Marathon. I wonder how there training is coming. Maybe they should updated their blogs and let us know! hint, hint ;)

This year you can follow our race progress (yes, even if you're not in Duluth), by signing up for text or email alerts. The race is timed by a chip we attach to our shoes, and when we cross certain mile markers, you'll get the update. You'll be able to sign up for the alerts by visiting Grandma's Marathon website between May 26 and June 18. Don't worry, I'll post a reminder on my blog!

Here we go. All the way. Every day. Oughta be. In Hollywood. Don't stop. Don't quit. We are the Turtles. The mighty, mighty Turtles.....

Kudos for Stevie

Probably most of you know that my younger sister, Stevie, lives in Los Angeles and is working on a career in the movie industry. She sent me an email a couple of weeks ago and said that the website www.imdb.com (Internet Movie Database, which is a huge database of movies and people that work in the film industry and all of their film credits) now has three credits under her name.

Here's the direct link:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2756050/

Run for the Ribbon

This morning was the Run for the Ribbon 10K for the MN AIDS Project. All in all, in went well. It was a bit chilly, but that made for some great running weather once the race started. My dad and sister Rachel ran the course with me along with our new Pastor Joy (she starts in June) and Nancy from church, and Oleg, who is an exchange student that lives next door to my parents. My mom came and cheered us on. The course went up three miles on the trails along the Minneapolis side of the Mississippi River, and went three miles down on the other side of the river in St. Paul. The two best parts of the race?? One was finishing in under hour (58:40) and crossing the finish line with Oleg. But even better was watching my dad finish with Rachel. My dad was cheering with his arms in the air and chanting cadence ("We are the Turtles, the mighty, mighty Turtles") (The Turtles was our team name.)

Spring is here!!!

Spring finally came to Minnesota! The weather this weekend has been awesome! Partly cloudy skies, sun, 60's and 70's, low humidity. Awesome! The boys have enjoyed several walks today. I think Pappy must have brought this weather from North Carolina. Hopefully, he doesn't take it back! The guys lucked out for their fishing trip. Last weekend was pretty rainy. Speaking of the guys being gone, Otis and Cooper are moping around. I think they miss their Daddy.

Home alone....AHHHH!!!

Tonight's my first out of three nights for being home alone. It's strangely quiet. Me at the computer with the itunes on. The dogs downstairs...I can hear them chewing on rawhides. I really hope that's what they're chewing on.

lol. I'm so used to trying to stay awake at night until Dave gets home from work, so it feels really weird to be up and know that I don't have to stay awake and I can go to bed anytime...yet my body feels like it needs to fight to stay up until Dave gets home.

I actually had book club tonight. It's been several months since I've been...my class this last semester happened to fall on the same night of the week. It was fun. Those girls make me laugh so much, which was really needed after my long day at work. I would have been miserable if I had just been at home.

I think the blog post ranks as my #1 boring post. Hope you're not too bored. At least it's short.

Tomorrow's Friday!!! Hurray!!!

Shameless plug...for a good cause...

All right. It's time to promote my fundraising efforts for a 10K race I'm running Sunday morning to benefit the MN AIDS Project. I'm running the race to keep me on track for my half-marathon training, and I thought if I'm going to run a race, I may as well run one with a good cause -- AIDS prevention and education.

I must admit I'm not a huge fundraiser. So I gave myself a very ambitious goal of raising $75 dollars. The good news -- with your help, I can blow this goal out of the water.

And if you don't have anything to do Sunday, there is still time to join my team and run with us!

For all the information about this race, the purpose of the MN AIDS Project, donating to my team, and joining my team, visit this link.

In advance, thanks so much for your help!

And if you get an email with pretty much the same message, I apologize for stalking you!

Pappy's Here!

Pappy back on Minnesota soil. His plane arrived about an hour ago. We are so excited to have him visit! It's the first time Otis and Cooper get to meet their Pappy! I only have to be at work for 1.75 more hours...then I get to hang out with Pappy all afternoon before he's off to the fishing trip tomorrow.

Big Mistake...

I made a big mistake this week, failing to fill the gas tank when it was half-way empty. Instead, I waited until the low fuel light came on and the tank was empty. $53.18. My most expensive fill-up ever. Yuck!

What's the most you've paid yet to fill up your tank? And to think, it's only going to get worse. ;)

A week of celebrations...

The last week, our family had quite a few things to celebrate. First, it was my birthday. Then it was Mother's Day. And today, it is Dave's birthday. We celebrated our birthdays by going to a Twins' game. Here's the last week in photos for you guys to get a better picture of what we did to celebrate ourselves. lol.

Cooper helped me blow out my b-day cupcake.


Otis and Cooper looking to see who came to vist.

Mike and Dave at the baseball game.

Aimee and Jim at the baseball game.

Bryan, me, Krissy and Andee at the baseball game.

Jacoby's up to bat. He plays for the Red Sox, and I know him because he's friends with my roommate from PLU.

Cooper Joe at the dog park. I think he needs sunglasses! Poor guy was squinting in the sun.

Coops and Otis checking out some dogs on the other side of the park. Look at how much Cooper is than Otis. Although Otis is definitely still the Captain at our house! ;)

Dave just got home from school. Hurray! So that's the end of this post!

Happy Birthday, Dave!!

Happy Birthday, Dave! Make a wish!

Today is Dave's 26th Birthday! We went to the Twin's game on Saturday night to celebrate both his and my b-days with some of our friends. I'll post photos tonight...hopefully. I've been a big blog slacker lately...but I guess that's what happens when life keeps you busy. I actually have lots of photos and things to blog about from the last week...so stay tuned.

In honor of Dave's birthday, I will take the dogs outside tonight.

Hurray!!

Economics is done! My last class was yesterday. And we did great on our last project. My professor's feedback: "To summarize, it was basically perfect." That really took us by surprise, and hopefully that means we'll get a decent grade (you never really know with this professor).

I feel a great sense of freedom. I can get back to doing the important things in life...blogging, cleaning my house, cooking dinner, running, taking the dogs to the park, hanging out with Dave, watching Thursday night TV, seeing friends and family, finding a new job, reading books, scrapbooking, learning how to golf and everything else on my 101 in 1,001 list.

Now I have to figure out how to get that hold off my school account, so I can register for next semester. I'm going to have to pass the math placement test or take a math class....grrrr.

So much to blog, so little time...

This last weekend was awesome! It was super busy but with fun stuff.

Saturday was the DFL 2nd Congressional Convention, for which I was a delegate. There were two primary purposes for this convention: 1) to endorse the candidate who will run against Rep. John Kline for the House seat, and 2) elect our convention's allotment of delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Before I go into much detail, I just want to give a disclaimer that I totally respect each person's own political views, and I hope that when you read this you'll respect my own view. Saying that, the main reason why I'm blogging about his is because it was such a great learning experience for me, and it was really exciting to play a larger role in the political process than just going out once every couple of years to vote on the first Tuesday of November. The only thing I'll try to convince you of is that it is important to stay current on the politics in our country. I think now more so than ever in recent years, people are feeling the effects of the choices politicians make in our government -- from the war, to the economy, to owning a home. So it's important to be aware of what our politicians are doing so we can make educated choices when we vote. And I don't really care who you vote for as long as you're doing your part in the process. And I am finding out that it's actually really fun to be part of the entire political process.

Now that I'm off that soapbox.

One of the things I did at the convention was run to be a delegate to the National Convention for Barack Obama. Unfortunately, I didn't win. But in the process of running, I really had to step out of my comfort zone. I had to talk to lots of people on Saturday and lobby them to vote for me. One of the things on my 101 in 1,001 list is to get more comfortable with meeting people, and I have to say that I took a big step toward that goal by talking to hundreds of people I had never met and ask them to support me. Then I had to take a bigger step out of my comfort zone and give a speech in front of everyone. And I did that too. And I survived. And I'm proud of myself for doing those things that I hate doing. And I actually did pretty well.

Take into account that unlike me, a lot of the people running for national delegates are really involved with the DFL and are already friends with each other. That's what I was competing against. So we were able to elect two women to be delegates to the national convention for Barack Obama. There were 19 other people running with me for those two spots. After everyone gave their speech, we did a vote. After the first round of voting, they dropped off the bottom 10 people and voted again with just the top ten. I made the top ten!! And really, that was good enough for me.

The other thing we did at the convention was endorse a candidate to run against Kline. I am really excited about the candidate we endorsed, Steve Sarvi, who is an Iraq War vet and I think that gives him good credibility for a campaign against Kline who always touts his former military experience. If you're in the 2nd Congressional District, check him out!

After the day-long convention, we rushed home from Faribult to change so we could go to my cousin Ginny's wedding. We didn't make the ceremony, but had a great time at the reception. It was gorgeous. My nieces came too, and they were loving it...though they got tired quick and Steven took them home. The rest of us got to stay and dance all night long to the awesome band that featured three lead singers and a band director who also played the saxophone.

Sunday was fun too. Krissy and I went to see Maid of Honor. It was predictable, but really cute. And I liked the ending better than the movie My Best Friend's Wedding, which has a similar best-friend-of-the-opposite-sex-realizing-they're-in-love-after-the-friend-gets-engaged-to-a-near-perfect-person-plot.

After the movie, Dave and I went to my parent's house to have a birthday dinner in honor of both Dave and my birthdays. My mom is going to visit Stevie next weekend, so it was the closest day to both our birthdays that the family could get together for dinner. My mom made a terrific dinner consisting of brawts and hamburgers, the special salad w/ avocados, German potato salad and broccoli....and red cake. Yummy! It was kind of funny, because we were all wore out from my cousin's wedding...so we pretty much ate quietly and were pretty low-key.

Now that I'm done with the novel, I'll share some photos. And I really just need a photographer (Katie?) to follow me around to take pics, because I didn't get any pictures of me at convention, or Lake Calhoun (which the club where the reception was at looks over), or a full-length photo of my dress, or a non-blurry photo of the bride, or any photos of the b-day dinner.

Here's Sarvi giving his speech before voting on the endorsement.

Me and my nieces!


This looks like it could be a family photo. We coordinate nicely and my husband looks hot!



Emily and Amanda and their cousin Preston are all in love. He says he's going to marry both girls. lol.



And Amanda loves Unlce Dave! He entertained her with his goofy faces at the dinner table.


Rachel and Dad getting down on the dance floor.