Linked 52:Trees

So I missed last week's "linked" because I am a procrastinator and then it was too late.  I'm back this week for trees.  Happy Arbor Day!

I took the boys out to snap a few pics of my favorite weeping willow by where I live.  It was a little sad though because it's not filled in and looks a little scraggly this time of year.  There are plenty of trees so we just goofed around and took pictures.  James and Joe even took some too.  They seem to have a problem holding the camera still though.  I should have upped the shutter speed.  Next time.

Brings new meaning to the words "tree hugger" doesn't it?  He told me to take a picture of him marrying the tree.  Where do they come up with this stuff?

I made in a picture.  I might have to let Joe take some pictures more often.  :)


 Be sure to check out these other ladies to see their take on "Trees":  Michelle, Stacey, Andrea, Tracey, Heather, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Kristin, Amanda, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, Heidi, and Jean

100

Warning:  Long post ahead

Today is my 100th post.  It's taken me a long time to get to 100.  That's something I'd like to change.  Instead of thinking what I'd like to blog about, I'd like to actually take action and do it.  That's my goal for the next 100 - to blog more often.

I decided that for this post I would include 100 things.  Ten lists of ten.  I could not put them in order 1-10 because I'm very indecisive and trying to rate them would take me forever.  This lists are in no particular order.  :)

10 places I'd like to visit:

1.  England
2.  New York, New York
3.  Italy
4.  Ireland
5.  Disney World
6. Washington, D.C.
7.  New Orleans
8.  Japan
9.  Boston
10.  Grand Canyon

10 places I have traveled to already:

1.  Honolulu, Hawaii
2.  Niagara Falls
3.  Toronto, Canada
4.  Sacramento, California
5.  Dallas, Texas
6.  Winter, Colorado
7.  Las Vegas, Nevada
8.  Chicago, Illinois
9.  The Dakotas
10.  Mexico -- Mazatlan, Alcapulco, Cabo

10 of my favorite movies / movies that I've watched too many times to count:

1.  The Parent Trap (1961)
2.  Tommy Boy
3.  Newsies
4.  Father of the Bride
5.  Bridesmaids
6.  Dodgeball
7.  City Slickers
8.  Clueless
9.  27 Dresses
10.  Sleepless in Seattle

* Too many to name everything here.  I know I'm forgetting some great ones.

10 of my favorite book series/ authors:

1.  Harry Potter -- all of them (think the 4th is my fav)
2.  Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum series) -- if you haven't read her you should, she's hysterical
3.  Women's Murder Club series by James Patterson
4.  Hunger Games
5.  Joanne Fluke -- easy reads, take place in MN, has recipes
6.  John Sandford -- Prey series -- take place in MN
7.  Selma Eichler -- Murder Can Ruin . . . series, also quick, easy reads
8.  John Grisham -- it's been awhile since I've read his stuff but I own / still really like it.
9.  Goodnight Moon -- it reminds me of my kids because we have read it so many times they recite it.
10.  Dr. Suess -- love to read his books to my babies  (What Was I Afraid Of? is a favorite of mine)

I read pretty much anything and am always open to suggestions.  These authors I know I can pick up pretty much any book and enjoy it.

10 of my favorite TV shows (non reality)

1.  Friends
2.  How I Met Your Mother
3.  Big Bang Theory
4.  Modern Family
5.  Fresh Prince of Bel Air (my fav in high school)
6.  Grey's Anatomy
7.  Royal Pains
8.  Brothers & Sisters
9.  The Office (with Steve Carell)
10.  Glee

I don't have premium cable or maybe I would have gotten into shows like Weeds or Dexter.  I don't have Netflix to watch them on either.

10 favorite reality shows (including talk shows)

1.  Amazing Race
2.  Survivor
3.  The Ellen Show
4.  Top Chef
5.  Project Runway
6.  So You Think You Can Dance
7.  Big Brother
8.  Biggest Loser
9.  Next Food Network Star
10.  HGTV's next Design Star

I don't do the "looking for love" reality shows.  I'll watch pretty much any cooking competition though.  The sad thing is that I watch more reality shows than this (that seems to be about all I watch) but I think these are my favorite.  I know -- I need a life.

10 favorite places / activities in Minnesota:

1.  Minnehaha Falls
2.  Sculpture Garden
3.  U of M
4.  St. Anthony Main
5.  Target Field -- isn't outdoor baseball great?
6.  Holidazzle parade
7.  Tubing down the Canon River -- so many great memories from college
8.  The Drive-In (I'm sure they have these other places but it's still a favorite.)
9.  Shopping / Eating / People Watching / Going out in Uptown
10.  Canterbury Downs -- I've spent my last 2 birthday celebrations there.

10 "Fun" Facts about me:

1.  I was named after my grandparents -- grandpa Carl and grandma Sue -- Carla Sue
2.  I had a tumor on my tongue that was removed when I was 10.
3.  I took dance lessons for 15 years and loved it.  I bust out moves everywhere now.
4.  I didn't drive until I was 32. 
5.  I hate rice.
6.  I don't like hot beverages.  No tea, coffee, cider, hot chocolate.  Bleh.  (This past year I've been having bits of coffee though -- we might be turning a corner on this one.)
7.  I always have to put my left shoe on first.  I'm a little OCD.
8.  I have double jointed elbows.
9.  I have celebrity crushes on Anderson Cooper, Neil Patrick Harris, LL Cool J, and Jeff Probst.
10.  I used to own a turtle named Doozer, after those little guys on Fraggle Rock.

10 things that make me smile:

1.  My family!  They are crazy but I love hanging out with all of them.
2.  Snuggling with my babies.
3.  Taking pictures.
4.  Dancing.
5.  Pretzel M&Ms (let me be real -- all M&Ms)
6.  Cherry Coke
7.  Phone calls / text messages from friends.
8.  The kids at work all calling my name when I walk in a classroom.
9.   Reading my US Weekly.
10.  Being barefoot.  (Oooh, I could add pedicures to go with this.)  :)

10 Random Photos (that have me in them)

1.  2003

2.  2004

3.  2005

 

4.  2006

5.  2007

6.  2008

7.  2009

8.  2010

9.  2011

10.  2012

 

Evidently I have not been in any photos this year because I had to pull this off of my phone.  I need to get in front of the camera more so I can prove that I did the stuff too.  :)

These photos were kind of like a walk down memory lane.  

That's it folks.  My 100th post.  :)  Thanks for reading!

linked 52: Work

Work?  What's that?

In my real life I work about 45 hours (sometimes more) a week as a director for a child care center.  I love my job most days.  I also am a Lia Sophia advisor.  I do those at home parties.  It works around my schedule with my regular job and my kids.  I've been taking some pictures for some friends / friends of friends too.  I keep pretty busy.  Here is some random stuff about work or relating to work.  :)

My main work -- these guys:

This is a picture of me at work.

Not a great hair day for me.  Yikes.  My orange water cup, my old zebra purse, and various clutter in the background.  My desk is always cluttered.

One last pic -- I took this on Thursday with my phone.  It's the tree right outside of work.

There's my randomness about work and things maybe related to work.  Now you all know me a little better.  :)

 Be sure to check out these other ladies to see their take on "Work":  Michelle, Stacey, Andrea, Tracey, Heather, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Kristin, Amanda, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, Heidi, and Jean

This place

I traveled back home for Easter to spend time with my family.  Every time I am back in Fairmont I drive past a place that I want to stop and take pictures.  The past couple of times I have been back we have been busy or it has been dark.  Yesterday after all of our Easter festivities when then the kids and I were on our way back to my mom's house, we stopped.  We were there for less than 5 minutes but enough that I could snap off a few shots and secure the area as a future photo location for me.  

We went to this place:

It's just this one blue panel among brown ones.  It's right by the railroad tracks.  The tracks are still used so we didn't stay long.  One of the children did not want to cooperate too much either.

I was still able to get a few.

Yes, you did notice an injury on James' nose.  A result of getting hit in the face with a basketball by a cousin (an accident) and body slammed on the floor by his brother (not an accident).  That's how we celebrate our holidays.  :)

They want to make sure that I include their favorite:

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Linked 52: Excitement

So I didn't even realize it was Friday.  I've had a bunch of days off of work recently and have been traveling to visit family so my days are a little messed up.  It's not necessarily a bad thing.  :)

I tried to think about what I'm excited about.  I'm excited about summer and warmer weather.  More trips out of town to visit family and more days to bum around and do things like this:

So excited that it's been getting warmer earlier.  ♥

 Be sure to check out these other ladies to see their take on "Excitement":  Michelle, Stacey, Andrea, Tracey, Heather, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Kristin, Amanda, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, Heidi, and Jean

Sweet and Innocent

So while we were at my cousin's house this past weekend we were playing outside with some sidewalk chalk.  I asked the kids to sit on the step so I could get a picture but Karli and James were the only ones that humored me.  James thinks Karli is pretty cool and often wanted to be where she was.  Out of the pictures of them together this one is my favorite.

Sweet and innocent, right? 

Chicago - part 1

I thought I'd do a post about my trip to Chicago (which I'm still on).  My intention is to do a follow up post but if you know me you know that there is a distinct possibility that it won't get done.  Not finishing what I start . . . something that I'm working on.  Anyway . . .

I took a few days off to visit my cousin Jenn and her family in Chicago. Well, we're actually way in the suburbs, but you get the idea.  We don't get to see each other near often enough so I was really looking forward to this trip.  I have not been disappointed.

We've been hanging out with the kids -- she has 4 and I brought my two.  We're like the Brady Bunch -- 3 girls and 3 boys.  The best part is that they are all 6 and under.  Yep, 6 kids ages 6 and under.  We've got 6,6,5,3,2, and almost 5 months.  Nice relaxing vacation with all those kids right?  In reality the kids have been doing really well together.

We've tried to keep busy.  We had an Easter egg hunt at the house, took the kids bowling, have done a bunch of talking and cooking, had to have one kid (Ryan) get stitches, and took a quick trip downtown.

I thought I'd just include a few pics from that trip downtown.

The 3 boys holding hands while we were walking to get some pizza:

The kids holding up the bean:
(all but the baby)

The gang at the park downtown:

From left to right:  The grownups:  cousin Jenn, her husband Jason, and Jason's longtime friend Casey who was in town visiting on the same weekend.  The kids:  Joe, Karli, Siobhan (in the baby sling), James, Ryan, and Aly.

♥ them!