Lady-cation

'Girl-cation' didn't quite sound right, and 'woman-cation' sounded almost dirty, so it was dubbed 'lady-cation', defined as a vacation where only the ladies could go :) Well, Heather, Nancy and I went on such a trip this past weekend as a shopping trip to Maple Grove.

Saturday morning, I got up early to see Mark off for his day of hunting with his Dad and Jamie, and then decided that after making some fresh oatmeal for breakfast, and putting the caramel rolls in for Heather and Nancy, I might as well whip up a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies. I was just finishing them up and fresh out of the shower when the girls arrived, so I got ready to go while they had breakfast.

We took off around 10am and headed up to Mankato, where we stopped to get some of the early-bird specials at Kohl's, check out a few things at the nearby strip mall, and for lunch at Panera.

After a yummy lunch at Panera, we finished the drive up to Maple Grove, and then on to the Albertville Outlet Mall, where we shopped until around 8:30 or 9pm. We then went back to Maple Grove and checked into our hotel before heading to supper at Buca Di Beppo, home of the wild and crazy photographs on the wall lol

After Buca, we stopped by Byerly's (had heard so many things about Byerly's from my buddy Ben Stoner, but hadn't ever been there before). We putzed around there for a bit, picked up some breakfast foods and sparkling cider for the night ahead and next morning, and then went back to the hotel to give our doggies a rest!

The next morning, I got up a little earlier and went down to the fitness room to bike for 20 minutes or so, and scoped out the shopping deals in the Sunday paper. I then headed up to the room to shower and get ready for the day.

We dropped Heather off at her church - St. Joseph the Worker - and Nancy and I went and fellowshipped and read some Proverbs at Starbuck's down the street. We picked Heather back up around 11:30 and then continued our shopping extravaganza before having lunch at Potbelly's. Frigid cold day, so the hot soup and sandwiches tasted great! We shopped a bit more in Maple Grove, and then headed back to Mankato for a bit, to the mall to hit JCPenney quick, and then went home. Before Mankato, however, we stopped in at Emma Krumbee's for a quick bit to see what it was all about.

We got back home to our men around 8pm, after a long, exhausting, but FUN 2-day shopping trip. Lady-cation 2009, anyone? :)

Java - not just a programming language!

If you don't know about my love affair with coffee (and Christmas music year-round), you probably don't know me all that well. I've been hooked on coffee since I was 14 and used to go to Courthouse Coffee with my friends from PVBC when I lived in Indiana. Granted, back then, I was more hooked on the 'Judicial System' (basically a caramel mocha) :)

I'm not entirely sure how I got hooked on coffee, seeing as how no one in my whole big family of 8 drinks it, but I am definitely a coffee-addict, sad (and glad) to say :)

For my birthday two weeks ago, Mark got me this really wonderful coffee maker, and I've been really excited about it! The first couple of cups I made were fabulous - the best coffee I've ever had, to be honest! Well, after those first two cups, things got bad. I was so confused, and didn't want to say anything about it, but the coffee was downright bad! I've been kinda bummed about it, thinking maybe we got a bad deal or something, but figured I'd just continue drinking bad coffee for a while.

This new coffee maker is a 14-cup coffee maker, whereas my old coffee maker was only a 4-cup. There is a 1-4 cup option on my new coffee maker, which, of course, I HADN'T BEEN PUSHING! :) This morning, I was getting ready to brew another cup of bad coffee when I noticed this and pushed the 1-4 cup button! Now my coffee is back on top :) PRAISE THE LORD! :) My morning has been fantastic thus far :)

New Job!

Well, its been quite a while since I updated my blog - shame on me! But there has been a lot going on in my life since my last post :)


I got a new job at Toro, here in Windom as an IT Application Developer and Programmer! I can't emphasize enough how HUGE this is for me, and what a phenomenal improvement it has been for me personally. My stress level is at an all-time low. I LOVE what I do, and I love my new co-workers. I'm sure the stressful times will come (don't they always?), but for the time being, I'm reveling in my newfound time and energy due to a lack of stress and frustration. (Not to mention the additional 6+ hours each week and practically non-existant commute)


I had my day at Raven, but it was beyond time to move on. It had been tying me down and leaving me stressed for entirely way too long, and left me feeling isolated, surrounded by people who had no idea what I did, and had little (if any) appreciation for the hard work and long hours I put into my job. What a change :)

Another huge benefit of the new job is a lot of extra time to spend with my hubby :) We now have about 7 hours a night to get things caught up on, make REAL meals (not just frozen pizza and spaghetti), and relax :)