I'm back in Minnesota after a great long weekend with friends in Washington, D.C. While I enjoy looking at my trip photos and dream of the 70s and 80s in the city I just left, to distract myself from this week's forecast, I will share a few marvelous tidbits:
1) I got to reunite with Wish today! There was jumping and playing and snuggling.
2) I put away my travel bag and its contents, which is a huge step and a major rarity for me.
3) Today was predicted to be Washington's first 80-degree day of the year, I think. The first part of my travels took place during a warm, sunny, beautiful morning.
4) It's almost five months until the wedding! Josh and I are working on some planning details this evening and will check a few more items off the list this week. Also, all but one of the bridesmaid dresses have arrived and are changing hands at an extraordinarily rapid rate. There is one in D.C. now. One is at my parents' house (I think). Next month, one will head to Massachusetts. I think two are with their rightful owners. I kind of want to make a little map tracing these dresses' paths. (Thanks again to my sister for her help with them!)
5) Two friends are welcoming their baby boy to the world very soon, and I am so excited and thinking of them as they wait to meet him.
The trip recap will be here momentarily! Hope your week is starting out well!
Monday, April 8, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
A happy weekend
Hi from DC, Reader! It has been a truly wonderful weekend here with friends (including a snuggly dachshund). The cherry blossoms bloomed more each day of my trip, I loved exploring this fascinating city, and the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler is one to put on your list.
That's the quick version. I'm hopping on a plane back to Minnesota soon, and as you might expect, the full report (with photos) will happen then.
Hope your Sunday was great!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The Easter Bunny's hunt
Ever since I was a baby, my dad has arranged an Easter egg hunt. There exists a home video of me toddling around my old yard, picking plastic eggs out of the sandbox and behind trees, and ultimately finding the grand prize: a tiny white patent purse. As I got older and my brother and sister joined the festivities, the hunt got more intricate, and my dad made us work for our Easter baskets by sending us all over the yard and house (and sometimes into the adjacent cornfield) to get from one clue to another. As you can imagine, the hunt ramped up another level when I got my driver's license. We got sent all over town: to the water tower, to a bridge over a highway, and so on. As we got older, we also got to hear some behind-the-scenes details about how a father's good intentions can sometimes be confusing to local police officers as he lays out one clue after another around town late at night before Easter morning. Really, the whole thing is amazing.
And then last year it all halted abruptly! Not because we were all well in our 20s - don't be silly - but because Dad was out of town for work. We all gave him a healthy amount of guff but also wondered if 2012 was the end of the scavenger hunt.
We heard murmurs of a hunt this year, but the cards were stacked against the hunt again when Dad left for another work trip days before Easter Sunday. I think my dad planned out a couple of scenarios, and I heard rumors that my brother was being briefed to lead the effort. Luckily, Dad came home just in time, and I mean just in time. He flew in Sunday morning and got back to our house minutes before the scheduled start time!
We started with a new element for 2013: a quiz (20 questions, I think) incorporating Easter Bunny jokes, trivia from previous family vacations, and impossibly hard questions such as the number of steps to the second floor in our house. I thought that was the replacement for the scavenger hunt given Dad's travels. But then a mini-hunt began!
We pondered the first clue over caramel rolls. (Photos courtesy of my mom, by the way.)
That clue sent us downstairs. I forgot to mention earlier that the clues usually aren't little index cards. Sometimes they're in a huge plastic egg. Sometimes they're...a gigantic cardboard rabbit.
This one had text on it welcoming Wish to the group, and we were given instructions that he was to accompany us for the duration of the hunt.
Per my request, we paused briefly to snap a First Family Easter photograph with the pup. Wish hated the cardboard rabbit and stayed as far away from it as possible for the rest of the day.
That clue led us to the mailbox. Argh! I wish I had copies of the clues. They usually rhyme, poke fun at us for being one step behind the Easter Bunny, and tell more Easter Bunny jokes.
And that one sent us to the park, to Wish's favorite off-leash tennis court. He went wild while we retrieved our next clue. I wish I had a photo of that. I think he hip-checked my sister mid-air.
The off-site clue is key, because it gives the Easter Bunny a chance to bring our baskets out from hiding. We were directed to each of our rooms, where our baskets were waiting!
Wish might have been the most excited about his, because 1) he did not know he was getting a basket and 2) it was filled with dog treats and a new squeaky toy. I think he is trying to eat his basket:
My favorite part about that photo might be the mega-creepy rabbit shadow in the background. Oh, my.
Kudos and thank you tomy mom and dad the Easter Bunny for another great year, for one of my favorite family traditions.
And then last year it all halted abruptly! Not because we were all well in our 20s - don't be silly - but because Dad was out of town for work. We all gave him a healthy amount of guff but also wondered if 2012 was the end of the scavenger hunt.
We heard murmurs of a hunt this year, but the cards were stacked against the hunt again when Dad left for another work trip days before Easter Sunday. I think my dad planned out a couple of scenarios, and I heard rumors that my brother was being briefed to lead the effort. Luckily, Dad came home just in time, and I mean just in time. He flew in Sunday morning and got back to our house minutes before the scheduled start time!
We started with a new element for 2013: a quiz (20 questions, I think) incorporating Easter Bunny jokes, trivia from previous family vacations, and impossibly hard questions such as the number of steps to the second floor in our house. I thought that was the replacement for the scavenger hunt given Dad's travels. But then a mini-hunt began!
We pondered the first clue over caramel rolls. (Photos courtesy of my mom, by the way.)
That clue sent us downstairs. I forgot to mention earlier that the clues usually aren't little index cards. Sometimes they're in a huge plastic egg. Sometimes they're...a gigantic cardboard rabbit.
This one had text on it welcoming Wish to the group, and we were given instructions that he was to accompany us for the duration of the hunt.
Per my request, we paused briefly to snap a First Family Easter photograph with the pup. Wish hated the cardboard rabbit and stayed as far away from it as possible for the rest of the day.
That clue led us to the mailbox. Argh! I wish I had copies of the clues. They usually rhyme, poke fun at us for being one step behind the Easter Bunny, and tell more Easter Bunny jokes.
And that one sent us to the park, to Wish's favorite off-leash tennis court. He went wild while we retrieved our next clue. I wish I had a photo of that. I think he hip-checked my sister mid-air.
The off-site clue is key, because it gives the Easter Bunny a chance to bring our baskets out from hiding. We were directed to each of our rooms, where our baskets were waiting!
Wish might have been the most excited about his, because 1) he did not know he was getting a basket and 2) it was filled with dog treats and a new squeaky toy. I think he is trying to eat his basket:
My favorite part about that photo might be the mega-creepy rabbit shadow in the background. Oh, my.
Kudos and thank you to
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Opening Day 2013
Opening Day is one of my favorite days of the year!
There is so much energy and excitement and hope, no matter how your favorite team performed last year or what lies ahead in the new season. In Minnesota, of course, Opening Day is also the door to all kinds of glorious warm-weather ballpark memories: ice cream cones melting faster than you can eat them, sunscreen, ice cold sodas, and so on. And that's all kinds of refreshing after a long winter...
...even when Opening Day weather conditions aren't so summery. Yesterday's game just missed the Twins' coldest Opening Day on record, with temperatures in the mid-30s at game time. I was seriously bundled up: winter down coat, ski hat, snow boots. It reminded me of another Opening Day outfit, from 2008:
But that was just for the mid-snowstorm trip to the Metrodome. Now the Twins play outside, at Target Field, and I hope you'll never catch me complaining about outdoor baseball conditions. It is a wonderful place and I always try to remember what a dream come true it would've been for my childhood Twins Superfan self, to imagine that the home team would someday play in this beautiful stadium. I went to my share of games at the Metrodome with my dad and, as I've written about before, listened to zillions of them on the radio and really settled in for the evening for the rare Twins games on network TV.
So you see why, for me, it's really a treat to go to a stadium with this view, even on a chilly afternoon like yesterday.
A stadium with conditions that create real late afternoon shadows!
I almost always take the bus over to Target Field and meet Josh there after he's done with work. Yesterday I nearly missed it because Wish practically demanded an impromptu photo shoot. I got the idea in my head that I'd send Josh a little photo message with Wish wearing a Twins cap. But then, when I was deciding what jersey to wear, I looked at the jersey and decided it was perfect for my little dog to model.
It is our only first Opening Day with him, after all. Indulge me?
I acknowledge that he doesn't look thrilled. But then he rolled over onto his back to catch a bellyrub and then just stayed there. I think the jersey grew on him.
I had to scurry over to catch the right bus but arrived at Target Field with plenty of time to find fried pickles (YES), take in the scene, and settle into my seat. For the first couple of innings, the sun was shining brightly, and I was downright comfortable. Later in the game, the sun dipped behind the stadium, and I started to feel the chill. We were always blocked from the wind, but the folks sitting out in center field, I suspect, were feeling it more.
Two bad tidbits: I forgot to get ourapparently not so traditional Opening Day photo for the second year in a row, and the home team lost. Nonetheless, I am happy to continue our Opening Day streak (I think Josh and I have attended seven years in a row) - the latest little chapter in nearly three decades of being a Twins fan.
There is so much energy and excitement and hope, no matter how your favorite team performed last year or what lies ahead in the new season. In Minnesota, of course, Opening Day is also the door to all kinds of glorious warm-weather ballpark memories: ice cream cones melting faster than you can eat them, sunscreen, ice cold sodas, and so on. And that's all kinds of refreshing after a long winter...
...even when Opening Day weather conditions aren't so summery. Yesterday's game just missed the Twins' coldest Opening Day on record, with temperatures in the mid-30s at game time. I was seriously bundled up: winter down coat, ski hat, snow boots. It reminded me of another Opening Day outfit, from 2008:
But that was just for the mid-snowstorm trip to the Metrodome. Now the Twins play outside, at Target Field, and I hope you'll never catch me complaining about outdoor baseball conditions. It is a wonderful place and I always try to remember what a dream come true it would've been for my childhood Twins Superfan self, to imagine that the home team would someday play in this beautiful stadium. I went to my share of games at the Metrodome with my dad and, as I've written about before, listened to zillions of them on the radio and really settled in for the evening for the rare Twins games on network TV.
So you see why, for me, it's really a treat to go to a stadium with this view, even on a chilly afternoon like yesterday.
A stadium with conditions that create real late afternoon shadows!
I almost always take the bus over to Target Field and meet Josh there after he's done with work. Yesterday I nearly missed it because Wish practically demanded an impromptu photo shoot. I got the idea in my head that I'd send Josh a little photo message with Wish wearing a Twins cap. But then, when I was deciding what jersey to wear, I looked at the jersey and decided it was perfect for my little dog to model.
It is our only first Opening Day with him, after all. Indulge me?
I acknowledge that he doesn't look thrilled. But then he rolled over onto his back to catch a bellyrub and then just stayed there. I think the jersey grew on him.
Two bad tidbits: I forgot to get our
Monday, April 1, 2013
Marvelous Monday: Week 13
A quick Marvelous Monday to begin the week:
1) Some truly marvelous time with my family this weekend: Easter brunch at my parents' house, then dinner at my grandma's.
The weather report: chilly with bright sun:
I will tell you more about the festivities at my parents' house later this week, because they include a major, beloved family tradition that might take up more space than a regular Marvelous Monday tidbit (and also I need some photos from my mom).
2) This guy had a ball yesterday. He might have gotten an Easter basket. I told you, more on this soon.
He adores my sister, in case this isn't obvious.
3) It's finally travel week! I'm heading to D.C. soon!
4) Josh cooked dinner in our cast iron skillet over the weekend. I had been avoiding it since a distant skillet-too-hot fiasco, but now I am very excited (and determined) to get more comfortable with this genre of cooking.
5) Last but not at all least, it's Opening Day! Go Twins! I'll be cheering (and bundled up).
How was your weekend? Are you a cast iron fan, and if so, what's your favorite meal to cook in it? Are you catching any baseball this month?
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