Three Years Down!

Yesterday was our 3rd wedding annivesary.

I got a label maker!

We celebrated with afternoon naps and then dinner at Olive Garden. (We should have stayed home and ordered pizza).

I love you Kurt!!

Date night

Kurt and I went to see he's just not that into you. It was cute. Then we went to Wal-Mart. We do live a glamorous life. Don't be jealous.

Venice - Final shot

We had a great time. This is on the Rialto Bridge spanning the Grand Canal.

Venice IV

On the balcony at San Marco

One of the many canals and bridges we crossed - constantly!

On the balcony at St Mark's. The Doge's Palace on the left, the column with the lion looking out toward the lagoon.

Prociutto at the Christmas Market.

Yummy THIN pizza. It was soo good!

That Man has good taste!

My birthday earrings.

Gifts Galore!

Kurt got me the bestest birthday gift ever!

I also got Scene it Seinfeld, a garden rooster, an ipod holder/player thing and a party! I got money from Mom and Dad, my inlaws and Marn to take on my trip. My birthday is still 4 days away!

The Skinny

Last Saturday Kurt and I went to the book sale at the library. I bought 2 diet books mainly for new recipes NOT for the diets.
Well, now Kurt is on:

yep....the South Beach Diet. So far he has lost 12# since Sunday. He's being very good about it. I'm being supportive. I'll start it when we get back from the country of carbs and pasta at the beginning of December.

Catching up

Not a lot has been happening around here but I haven't been in the mood to post. Why is it that we either have no invitations or multiple invites on a single evening?

Friday night we went to Okoboji Grill with my parents for my mom's birthday. We and the Steins gave her a Jim Shore ....sculpture? figurine? Anyway, it's the Mayflower one for Thanksgiving. We had a mix up about where we were meeting so it ended up being kind of a long affair. The food was ok (not very hot) and the service was very very slow. Of course, when only half our party was there the server was very attentive.

Saturday we were invited to a surprise birthday party. However, we had already committed to going to the CAAP - Community AIDS Assistance Program - benefit. We try to go every year. CAAP provides AIDS education and other programs as well as supports Hospice. The majority of the money goes to individual assistance for persons living with HIV and AIDS to help with medication, food, housing, and quality of life needs. Brian has been asked to apply to be a board member and he's trying to get me to apply as well.

Table deocrations - jelly bracelets, 80's movies, ring pops, pop rocks etc

The theme was "Rockin' into the 80's" so dress accordingly. Lots of people copped out with concert t-shirts. We dressed up. It was fun. I was disappointed that it didn't seem very 80's over all. The girls mostly did their regular acts. The goal was to raise $15,000. The last I heard we were at just under 14k.

Notice the tight roll jeans and the fingerless lace gloves!

Sunday was spent lounging around. Small chores were done in between naps. I really can't stay out late anymore. Add some gin and tonic to that and I was pretty much a slug all day.

I am a Lucky Girl!

My best friend Brian, my husband Kurt and me. Love them!

A picnic at the River

When I woke up on Sunday morning I wanted to do something fun. I usually feel that way on Sundays. When spent most of Saturday cleaning so we deserved something fun to do. I really wanted to drive over to the Mississippi since it was such a beautiful day. I didn't figure Kurt would be too interested though because he's told me he's not a picnic person.
I called my parents for some reason and discovered they were going to do exactly that! I invited us along so we got to picnic on the river!
Our picnics are different from when I was a kid. We stopped and got Subway rather than make sandwiches or haul along stuff to grill. We had our staple of cold pork and beans (yum!) as well as potato chips, macaroni and 3 bean salad and some grapes. We drove over to Guttenburg. We picnicked by the cannon (our usual spot). We didn't see any barges but there were plenty of pleasure craft to see. A bald eagle was soaring overhead as we ate.



After lunch we headed north to Pike's Peak, McGregor and Prairie du Chien. Pike's Peak never changes but it's always gorgeous. The river seemed low. There was lots of visible sand and water hyacinths. Dad pointed out that the sand may have washed in with all the flooding we had this year. Kurt and I walked over to the Bear effigy mound. It wasn't mowed like the surrounding grass so it was much easier to see.




Lastly we headed across the river to Cabela's. I can't stand that place. Looking at dead animals sniffing each other's butts is not my thing. Kurt got some wool socks for shoveling snow this winter (which is a horrible thought).



Oddly, we were in Wisconsin and did not pick up any cheese curds.



It always seems like it takes forever to get home from the river. Naps were had on the way home (by Kurt) and then at home (by me).



I'm very glad I happened to call at the right time!

A Wonderful Weekend

Despite the awful weather in Iowa, it was a wonderful weekend. I got to spend 48 uninterrupted hours with my husband. I didn't have a headache and I didn't have to get dressed.

Kurt and I were/are REALLY lucky. Our little town was spared the damage that is all around us. We got about 3/4" of ice and then a few inches of snow on top of that. We never lost power. My dad was without for several hours and my grandpa was without for a couple of days. I finally got him convinced to come stay with us. He is almost 92 and is out in the country on the farm. I called yesterday at 5pm to check on him. He'd been without power since 11 pm the Saturday night. He said he was plenty warm and had enough to eat. At 6 the phone rang and he asked if my offer to come get him was still good. He said, "it's getting a mite chilly." I was very relieved he came over and accepted our help. There is a long 4' drift in front of his garage so he wasn't going to be going anywhere. He is one of 2300 people with out power on his electric co-op. We went over at 1 today to empty out the fridge. Five minutes after we arrived the juice came back on, so I left him there. Of course he slipped me a little something for helping him out. It will be nice to sleep in our own bed again tonight.

We left the kids at their mother's since some of the roads were closed by the high way patrol. Alex was mad because he wanted to see his girlfriend. He actually was mad when he left on Friday because he claimed he had homework and needed to use the computer. Upon further investigation it was because he wanted to see his girlfriend. I'll be lucky if I don't end up with an illegitimate step grand kid. Ugh. Kurt went up and got them today. Hopefully, they'll have school tomorrow.

I hope everyone is safe and warm and not sitting in the dark.

A Year Ago Today....

I married my very best friend. My one and only true love. I never knew I could love and be loved like this. We've had our ups and downs, but even the downs are better than anything either of us knew previously. I love you, Kurt. xoxox