finally friday

A rather quick week around here, probably because I wasn't scheduled to work 2 of the Twins games and after moving down to the second level because of the bats I am finally getting a full night's sleep.

But with no further ado, here are 5 quick facts for you.

1. This weekend is the only weekend of the next 5 where we don't have an event to vend on both Saturday and Sunday. I am not looking forward to September at all.

2. I have done surprisingly well on my 2013 Summer Bucket List, however with Labor Day quickly approaching I have at least 3 more things I need to cram in this weekend. Luckily as I proved in point number 1, I have nothing else on the calendar for this three day weekend.

3. After a week in the 90s with high humidity Sunday finally promises to be reasonable end of August weather in the 70s, which means we can finally enjoy being outside again, which plays in nicely with point number 2.

4. While walking through the U of M campus on our way to work the Gopher game yesterday the thought crossed my mind that I was so glad I was not in college anymore. When I expressed this to David he disagreed saying he wouldn't mind being able to hang out in the middle a week day with friends before going to cheer at the football game, instead of heading to work everyday. I thought he was crazy. Then today I ran across this video on Facebook and just maybe it made me miss college. Something I never would have thought possible freshman year.

5. Also while walking across campus I spotted this: Chi O, finally back at the U!

ski-u-mah

First Gopher game of my vending career last night. 95* weather, long sleeved uniforms, pure chaos in the vending room. It may have been just as overwhelming as my first vending game ever at the Metrodome 7 years ago. I think this little anecdote sums the evening up nicely: 

Not 50 feet from the vending room with my first load I go to set my tray down on the concourse and my top bin starts to tip (I'm too short to carry two bins on top of each other, I should have realized this from the start and gotten a bag). As I try and stabilize my bin, so to not spill the snacks, I squat quickly and..... rip my shorts (I also spill my snacks, but that was clearly not that bad considering the other issue). Black shorts I had to scramble to buy because of the warm weather and thus ended up with shorts a size too small from the thrift store. Shorts now with a solid 8 inch rip down the seam in the back. I recovered by pulling down my luckily dress-sized uniform and quickly going to get a bag that I could carry around covering my butt for the rest of the game. 

Now I'm just hoping for slightly cooler weather for the remaining games so I can wear my tried and true black pants.

bats

So I thought it was time I filled everyone in and gave my excuse for being MIA for the past 2 weeks... bats. We have had four (as far as we know) bats get into the finished bedroom portion of our attic, at night, during an 8 day span. As you can imagine I was not getting a lot of sleep as a result- maybe 2-4 hours a night- and extracurricular activities, like blogging in the evening, required using energy I did not have.

The first 3 nights the bat got in I am sure I was awake when it happened- lying there listening to it scratching for what seemed like hours, then I would hear a scurrying noise (it running across the carpet) before finally hearing the flap of wings and seeing a blurry object go flying over my head (horrible horrible horrible). The fourth night it got in, I am still fairly certain I was awake when it happened. But at three in the morning when you have been lying awake listening for animals to get in your room, aka, going crazy, it is probably easy to slip in and out of consciousness and not know it. So after a little discussion, and calling of doctor's and insurance companies, the next day we decided to go get the rabies vaccine as well as finally seal up our attic bedroom, move all of our necessary clothing down to the second floor and call the bat eviction professionals. They are coming tomorrow, I will let you all know how that goes and how much $$$ this is ultimately going to cost.

But before we can get to that exciting portion of this drama I have to just mention a little bit about getting the rabies vaccine, because it has been a fairly horrible experience- and not because it involves so many needles. It has been horrible because each doctor/ nurse we talk to gives a different account of the process: where to go, what shots to get, how many shots will be given, when to get the shots, and even different accounts of whether or not the shots are necessary. All the doctor's I spoke with said that if you have been asleep in a room with a bat you need to get the shots (surprisingly David's doctors did not say that). I was 99% sure I had not been asleep, but David had been (so he was for sure going to get the shots). Since my insurance covered most of this, for around $200 I figured I would get the shots as well, as it is a better alternative than dying from rabies. And bonus, now we are vaccinated against rabies for up to two years, so we are free to go throw a rave in our attic with the bats, or go frolic in the ally with the stray cats without worry.

First a broken water main, and now bats... bring it on home ownership! But let's wait a year or so before the next big thing, okay? Or at least til the end of the Twins season...

happy birthday to me

My birthday was this weekend, and we filled the weekend to the brim with festive activities. Saturday started out with our garage sale part 2- okay, so not really a festive activity, but we finally emptied out the sun porch and made $70, bringing our summer total for garage sale money to about $270. Then Saturday night we went to a Saints game with friends and did a little tailgating before hand. Sunday was a day of lounging capped by seeing Pride and Prejudice at the Guthrie (where Vincent Kartheiser, ie, Pete Campbell from Mad Men is playing Mr. Darcy) and late night appetizers at Sea Change. All around a much more enjoyable birthday than the last few which have landed on the same day as a Twins game.

One of 4 pics I took on Saturday

running wishlist

I know I said that running is a cheap sport and that's why I do it, but since my birthday is right around the corner, I thought I would go ahead help some people out and share a few running-related things I have been eyeing... of course I have to wait for my knee to recover to use them, but who pays attention to those details when there are all these pretty things out there?

Shoes (only after getting properly fitted though, I just thought these were pretty)/ 

Running Skirt/ Garmin/ Foam Roller

13.1

Race: Gopher to Badger Half Marathon

Date: August 10, 2013

Time: 2:23:17

Pace: 10:57

Place: 865 of 1048 finishers

Just a brief re-cap. The race didn't go quite as well as I would have liked, but in general I am quite pleased to have finished it (and to have run the farthest I have ever run!). A week and a half before the race my right knee was a little sore after my last long-run before the race (to clarify it didn't hurt while I ran, but became sore by the next day). Unfortunately a week straight of vending followed, thus my knee did not have time to fully recover before the race. I considered not running it, or just running the 5k, but as it was not bothering me while vending the Vikings game the night before the half, on Saturday morning I thought I would give it a shot, knowing I could always stop. Well my knee ended up feeling tight after just a few miles, and had a dull pain by about mile 6. I stopped to walk and get some gatorade at mile 8, hoping that a brief rest would let my knee recover enough to finish the race. Walking hurt much worse than jogging did and after looking around and not seeing any event staff/ not knowing what to do if I decided I couldn't finish, I decided that I would try to run the last 5 miles as I would never make it to the finish line at the rate I was walking. I started my jog back up, knowing that if I had to stop to walk again I would be done. Miles 8 and 9 were extremely difficult, but by the time I saw the 10 mile marker I knew I had it in me- I just took it 3 songs (or 1 mile) at a time.

This race was much harder than the 10 miler we ran a few months ago. It was obviously 3 miles longer, but it was also much warmer and sunnier (there was no shade, running on county roads for about the first 9 miles), and it was much hillier (not steep hills, but long, slight inclines). This combined with my sore knee led to a very physically and mentally tough race. Even David, who finished with an average pace under 8 minutes and who has run a marathon said it was a tough course/ race for him. And in case you are curious he finished in 1:44:11, which was 186 overall.

The race itself was a lot of fun- it went from Stillwater, MN to Hudson, WI  and was supposed to be a "border battle" between the two states. Each runner had a bib color that corresponded to their home state as well as their state initials written on the back of their calves (presumably to motivate the runners behind you not to let the opponent finish in front of you). There was music, snacks, and massages at the finish line. And since this race was approximately 7x bigger than the last one I did, crossing the finish line felt a lot more festive. Oh, and during the race there were a lot more fans/ spectators/ cheerers than the Mississippi 10 miler, due to size of the race, and accessibility of the course, which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. From now on when I drive by a race I'll be sure to start honking my horn!

throwback thursday

In honor of our real 3 year anniversary, which we officially celebrated yesterday, here are some pictures from when we celebrated 3 years of dating with a day trip to Duluth, MN.  This would have been around May (31st) of 2007.

Location: Glensheen Mansion

Location: Shores of Superior, Glensheen Mansion

Location: Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center

 Location: Park Point Beach

Looks like we had a pretty good time celebrating 3 years together back then, although I think this year's celebration probably trumped it. For more dorky pics from our day trip in 2007 feel free to peruse my Facebook album!

salted caramel and chocolate popcorn bars

A work potluck today meant I of course signed up to bring dessert- my favorite to make, and also coincidentally, the easiest. Not having AC, the 85 degree weather, and the severe storm that came through forcing me to shut my windows meant that turning the oven on last night was out of the question. So I could not go with the usual, which meant I turned to my pinterest boards for inspiration. I ended up settling on a salted caramel popcorn bar, that I adapted slightly to what you see below.

Ingredients: 
-1 bag salted, unbuttered popcorn (roughly 6 cups)
-6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-1/4 cup granulated sugar
-1/8 cup water
-3 Tablespoons flour
-1 Tablespoon vanilla
-dark chocolate, for melting
-course sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions:
1: Pop the popcorn, remove unpopped kernels (no broken teeth please) and place in large mixing bowl
2. Line 8x8 dish with parchment paper- do not use a 13x9 pan, you will not have enough popcorn to pack in or you will have the world's thinnest bars.
3: Melt the butter, brown sugar, sugar, water, and flour in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously being careful not to allow the caramel to burn. Cook until sugar is completely melted and no longer grainy (or apparently 245* and you are fancy and have a candy thermometer). Remove the caramel sauce from heat and stir in vanilla.
4. Pour sauce over popcorn, stir until all kernels are coated.

5. Quickly, before popcorn begins to harden, pour popcorn into pan and press firmly spreading it evenly as you go. Do not be scared that you can press too hard- my first batch I did not press down hard enough and when I went to cut it, the popcorn crumbled. Do not make my mistake (although this allowed for a tasty baggy full of salted caramel and chocolate popcorn).
6. Allow popcorn to harden (in freezer if kitchen is quite warm).
7. Melt chocolate and drizzle over bars. Sprinkle sea salt over pan.
8. Allow chocolate to harden then slice and serve.

red wing

We went on a little overnight trip down to Red Wing, MN as part one of our 3-year anniversary celebration (part 2 will be dinner on our actual anniversary- tomorrow, August 7th). At just over an hour drive from our place, and with free accommodations at the historic St. James Hotel from Mom and Dad, the trip was the perfect end of summer getaway crammed between a Twins game and the start of school.

Enjoying the complimentary robes and some cable TV.

View from our room of the Mississippi.

Dinner in Lake City at Nosh- located right by the marina on the river.

A night time stroll on the docks to pick out our favorite boats.

The next day after a delicious breakfast of donuts from Hanicsh Bakery, where they cleverly put crushed up cookies and candy bars on top of their already tasty donuts, and a few dozen missed turns to find the trail, we hiked Barn Bluff.

The hike was a little more rigorous/overgrown than we expected, and that combined with the drizzle and the humidity meant we were quite sweaty and frizzy by the end. But we still enjoyed a little picnic of crackers, cheese spread, pickled herring, and fruit at the top. As well as some great views of the town, the river, and Wisconsin. 

Our final two stops on Monday were compromising at its best- a few hours antiquing followed by a few hours at Treasure Island casino. See what we have learned after three years of marriage?!

National Night Out tonight, aka, finally meeting most of our neighbors, and more celebrating tomorrow. It's going to be another busy week even with the Twins out of town. Luckily there are only 4 days left!