Another day..

Did you have a good Memorial Day?  A nice and needed day off for most people, I'd assume.
We had a busy one - on Saturday I went with Shannon to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater to see Hairspray!  It was so much fun - and my first time to the Chanhassen!  I had a blast and it was good to finally catch up with my cousin since she had been married almost a month and I hadn't even heard about her honeymoon yet!

Sunday we spent the hottest day of the year (so far) at the Twins game - sweating.  The Twins lost... yada yada.. tell you something you don't know, right?  It was so stinky muggy outside and our seats were directly in the sun - what a day!

boyfriend and me at the game.  This picture made it on the big screen when they show fan pics!  I almost peed I was so excited!

Monday we went up to my aunt and uncles new lake home in Lindstrom, MN.  It is about 50 minutes from our house and it's a perfect place for them to live happily ever after together!  My aunt made pealla - yum!

Now it's Tuesday - I'm at work.  Sadly, 4 days wasn't enough.  I still hate it here.  Like, before I even walk in the door I hate it here.  This morning I walked up to the door to find this:

Yep - it is what you think it is

a dead bird... on the sidewalk.

Then... the company we share the building with has some very nice people who work for them - all of whom talk to me when they walk by and ask me how my weekend was and ... well, I feel like they genuinely care about knowing this stuff and that it's not just 'office talk'.  Even though a minute of conversation with them is not enough to make me feel less lonely, I'll take what I can get.  One of the guys brings me this:

Rhubarb Custard

I'm a sucker for anything rhubarb.  It was the nicest thing anyone in this building has done for me.  I'm super emo lately too, so it almost made me cry.
I was talking to my dad this morning - he called me at work bright and early - and just talking to him about how much I hate it here and other things like Father's Day... I was tearing up.  After I got off the phone with him, I had to go into the bathroom and I just bawled for a couple of minutes (no one else was here yet, but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry).  I'm not preggo, don't worry, just emo about a lot of aspects of my life right now.
I was laying in bed last night, not able to fall asleep and I just started to cry... then it dawned on me that I haven't had a good cry in some time.  It felt good, but as soon as I realized it, I stopped.  So that was lame.

On a brighter note: I have lupine in my yard.. I think I've told you this - here are a couple pics:

Purple

Pink

The plant with the pink flowers has several more flower stalks growing, so I'm anxious to see how it all comes along.  Lupine HATES to be transferred/transplanted... so far, I feel like they are doing okay.  Fingers crossed.

I have my camera today, so hopefully I'll get some New York pictures up?  I wouldn't bet on it... OR it might just be a post of pics... unedited.

Other than that... I've got nothing.

What do you expect?!

Quick, super quick, like stealth little ninja quick... update on my life.

We made it back from New York - New York City was simply amazing!  Just as I expected.  I do have pictures, and I will post them (I know you've heard that before, but I really will!!).  Steve loved it, he's obsessed with the Subway system there; can't say I blame him.  I'll most more on that once I have my pics on my computer.

I changed offices last week - I still work for the same company :( but because we are merging with another company, we are rearranging some of the office staff - myself and my co-worker, Bob, moved our spaces to Elk River.  Which is about 20 minutes closer to my house!  My commute is now 15 minutes!  That is about the only bonus of that.  I just moved down on Thursday of last week, so I have really had much time to soak it all in... but the one thing I have noticed already is that I'm super fucking lonely.  Before I sat in an office with open walls and we could talk (work or personal) whenever we wanted, now I'm all alone in a little space - well here, let me snap a pic with my phone:

So, that view is what you see walking in the front door - I sit behind that desk.  excuse the mess, I just moved ;)
To the right, is the offices of the company we are merging with - to the left is the offices of the company we share the space with, also a vendor of ours.  Straight back (to the right of the desk) is the bathrooms and a door to the plant/warehouse.  I also sit right next to the lunchroom.
ALL ALONE.  People walk through randomly, say hello, and carry on.  I really feel like I'm going to go crazy - before I could hear every conversation whether I wanted to or not.. now I don't even get to hear people talk about what they had for dinner last night :(

Moving on... what else has been going on?
My #2 niece, Cayden, turned 2 at the end of April - she's a fricken doll.
My bestie, Pam, is getting married at the end of June, so lots of stuff going on with that (showers, bach parties, etc.) - all the planning is going super awesome, finally!
It's our last week at Kettlebells this week... talk about an ass kicking!  Hey-Zeus!
Steve and I will celebrate 3 years on June 1

That's it for now.  Just wanted to check in and let you know I'm alive!

NYC Bound

Tomorrow at this time, we'll be arriving into New York's JFK Airport!

That's right ladies (and if there are any men out there..) New York bound until Monday!

Isn't that top picture cool as hell?!

I hope to come home with a ton of pictures - pictures I've probably already taken on my past trips, but this time they'll be with a better camera to hopefully be able to frame a few!


AHHHHHHH - I'm so excited!
The only plans we have set in stone are the 9-11 Memorial on Friday, and the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island on Saturday.  Other than that - Steve wants to eat a lot, we'll be doing a lot of touristy sight seeing (he's never been to The Big Apple), and LOTS of walking/riding the subway.

I downloaded four square yesterday... I think I'm gonna try checking in on that (it links to my Twitter too), if you're interested in following me, just add me!  Twitter handle is @aalstrup88 - same on foursquare :)
In all honesty, I'll likely forget to check in anywhere, but... we'll see!

Until next time people - take care and have a good weekend!

Cooking Class

Back on December 16 I turned 30... the BIG 3-0!!
My wonderful aunt told me that her gift to me was a cooking class at a little store here in MN called Kitchen Window - I posted about it here.

Well... somewhere along the line that class was cancelled because of low participation.  lame.  Because it was bound to be amazing.

We rescheduled and last night was our class.  I don't have pictures (dirty hands don't take good photos!), but I do have the class description:

Whether it’s a hearty swordfish steak or the local catch of the day, fish is wonderful on the grill. But cooking it takes some care. Because fish cooks quickly, it’s easy to overcook, and to lose delicate flavor and texture. This hands-on class will show you the way to fabulous fish every time – and you’ll get some great recipes as well. You’ll learn how to use different smoking woods to add flavor to your fish; the merits of gas vs. charcoal grills; and how to build a sauce. To kick things off, we’ll enjoy SMOKED SCALLOP TOSTADA with PICO DE GALLO & CREMA FRESCA. We’ll learn how to shuck oysters for BLACK PEPPERCORN SMOKED OYSTERS. We’ll follow that with SUGAR CANE SHRIMP with FRUIT SALSA and STUFFED CALAMARI – whole calamari filled with a savory stuffing and grilled to perfection. We’ll cook two kinds of fish: GRILLED ARCTIC CHAR with VERMOUTH COMPOUND BUTTER & GRILLED GREEN BEANS; and CRUSTED MAPLE-PLANKED HALIBUT, which will show you how much flavor a simple piece of wood adds to your cooking. For dessert, we’ll make STRAWBERRY-ORANGE S’MORES – grilled shortbread with Cointreau, strawberries and charred marshmallow.

The class was a 'grill masters' class, so they focus more on the grilling vs that basic chop some onion now type of thing - all the ingredients for our sauces or stuffing were pre-measured (which I like because going to a class to chop onion does not sound like a good time when I cry 5 seconds into cutting an onion).  We just mixed everything together and go about grilling the stuff.

It was an absolute wonderful time!  We drank wine while we cooked, mingled with the other cookers, and enjoyed being together - aunt and niece.
Not only do I have wonderful memories of the night, but now I have a good seafood market to go to when I want to get some good stuff :)  oh, and the skill to grill it :)

Jealous much?

It could be true people... 2 blogs in one week, back to back(?!) - this kid could be making an epic comeback.  It's not likely true, but we can hope right?

Once upon a time I wrote a blog and Steve got upset with me for essentially airing our business when we weren't even a couple, officially.  It was more a matter of not talking to him before I put the situation on blast;  I took the blog down.  No big deal.
This time Steve already knows how I feel... so it shouldn't come as a surprise. ;)

Back in the fall - October/November specifically my dad and his wife had a baby and then my best friend Pam had a baby.  There were a lot of friends on Facebook having babies and posting photos... I started to get baby fever.
Steve and I don't specifically want kids - so I told him... if I start talking crazy and telling him let's make a baby he needs to remind me that, while they are cute when they are just born, they do grow out of that phase and begin walking, talking and forcing you to spend money.  I feel like my baby fever is slowly going away and once my bratty half brother and Pam's little girl start talking back and hitting me just because they think it's cool, I will be snapped back to reality and baby fever will be gone.  Until then...

Moving on... I have wedding fever ya'll!  As you know, my cousin just got married.  Pam is getting hitched in June... I'm simply dying to be married all of the sudden!
Sure, I've always wanted to be married, but now my desire is stronger than ever.  I want to be engaged, I want to tell our friends and family and have them be so happy for us, I want to plan a wedding, I want to have showers, I want to have a last night out with my girlfriends, I want a beautiful white dress, I want my dad to walk me down the aisle, I want to officially be joined to Steve for the rest of my life.
Steve and I have talked about doing something small and not spending a ton of money, because neither one of us want to go into debt just to be joined in Holy Matrimony.  I don't need fancy, I just want all of it.  I want to be a wife.


bah.

Shannon & Joe - MARRIED!

My little cousin got married this past weekend, as I may have mentioned in the past, I was in the wedding.  It was a great time; happy it's over and life can get back to normal for everyone!  Here are some photos from the night:
a sneak peak from the photographer was on facebook at like midnight that night... now THAT is what I call service!

They also had a photo booth - tooooooooo much fun!

Steve, my mom, my brother, SIL, and me.  I love these pictures!

Steve and me with my mom and her boyfriend

My auntie Jayne and Bob (my favorite co-worker)

cousins

cousin Michelle

MSA - Michelle, Shannon, Angela

Other randoms throughout the day/night:

after the ceremony

auntie Jayne

On the bus, party rockin'

BOB!

TONS of dancing

The highlight AND low-light of the night... the bouquet toss.
I'm in the photo booth and someone comes over "Ang, she's going to throw the bouquet" "Do I have time to take these pictures?"  "No."  I take the pictures anyhow.
Once finished in the photo booth - which took like 10 seconds - I ran to the dance floor and jumped in front of all the girls out there and started sticking my butt out in order to say 'I plan on catching this thing, so back off!'
Then my mom comes running over in quite the same fashion as I did.  She says "It's okay, we're a team, if I catch it, I'll give it to you"
(quite some time before this, Steve made a joke about if I caught the bouquet I really would be the next one to get married)
Shannon throws the bouquet, I feel it hit my hand and fall to the side, with my 'teammate/mom' next to me I don't panic we're a team... she catches it and runs SO FAST the other way with the bouquet in hand.  I've never been so bitter in my life.  That was the low-light of the night.
Steve said I stood on the dance floor with my hands on my hips like WTF?!
From there, we went right into the photo booth to capture my feelings.

Steve took this as we were getting ready to take the pics

These pics make it the highlight of the night - I think they are so funny!

There is a video out there on my mom's boyfriends phone... I need to get it, because people tell me that my mom ran over a stiff armed me to catch it... I feel like I might pee my pants laughing when I see it.

Anyhow - that's that.