Weekend Review

Our weekend was nice, a bit quiet but really nice.

Friday evening we enjoyed having our SIL M over along with our nephew C, they are doing a major remodeling project on their kitchen and dining room so they have no furniture and basically are living out of their upstairs bedroom and basement.  We enjoyed chicken tacos with yummy wine, C had root beer, and ice cream for dessert.  It was a nice evening.

Saturday morning Mr. G and I enjoyed coffee and breakfast while watching television.  The weather here in Minnesota has gotten a little chilly so I had my slippers and a comfy sweatshirt on, I like the cool fall mornings.
Saturday afternoon I met my mother, sisters and future sister in law to shop for bridesmaids dresses for the upcoming wedding of my younger sister and her fiance.  It was a great afternoon spending time with my family, it was filled with laughter and fun.  We did find a great dress that I am really happy with and look forward to wearing at my sisters wedding.

Saturday evening Mr. G and I had some drinks and appetizers with some friends and I tried a really yummy dip to go with sweet potato chips.  It is goat cheese mixed with some honey and a little bit of cream, mix it all together and serve with sweet potato chips.  Can I just say, YUM!!!  I could have eaten the entire bowl, and with some really yummy wine it was fantastic.

Sunday was quiet, we went to church, watched some football and enjoyed leftovers for dinner.

With love,

Mrs. G

Weekend Review!

I know it is Thursday and another weekend is fast approaching but I wanted to recap our weekend as Mr. G and I had a very eventful and fun weekend!
We prepared for the TC 10 mile race, enjoyed a historic show at a historic theater and ran 10 miles...here are the details.

Friday afternon my older sister and I went to the River Centre in downtown St. Paul to pick up our race packets for the Twin Cities 10 mile, the race was on Sunday morning.  We ventured into runner's paradise (race expo) to get our packets, buy some Gu (energy gel to eat during the race) and some new socks!  We really enjoyed browsing all of the running gear and became pretty excited about the race even though we had not trained as much as we should have.  Life happens!

Friday evening Mr. G made a delicious fall dinner; we enjoyed a roast with potatoes, carrots, onions and mushrooms.  We had Mr. G's brother and sister in law (B&M) over along with their son C, our active and fun 6 year old nephew.  Dinner was great as was our company!

Saturday morning I was able to sleep in a little and once awake I made us breakfast and just relaxed at home...it was lovely.  Around 11am I had the pleasure of meeting both of my sisters at the local bridal shop to pick up my baby sister's wedding dress.  She is getting married on May 17, 2014 and her dress fit perfectly and looked beautiful.  The dress looks like it was made for her!  Sorry I can't post a picture of the dress just in case her fiance Sara decided to stop in to read the blog.

Saturday afternoon Mr. G and I met his parents in downtown St. Paul for some appetizers and drinks (sparkling water for me, no alcohol before a race) prior to enjoying Garrison Keillor's live radio show "A Prairie Home Companion" at the historic Fitzgerald Theater.  If you don't know what "A Prairie Home Companion" is, check out this link:  http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/about/

Here is some information about the Fitzgerald Theater: 
http://fitzgeraldtheater.publicradio.org/about/history.shtml

Mr. G loves this radio show and tries to listen to it every Saturday evening if possible, I have really come to enjoy listening as well.  To be completely honest I wasn't sure what to expect seeing & listening to the radio show live.  I didn't know if I would be bored, fall asleep or love it.
I LOVED IT!!  It was incredible to watch this LIVE radio show; it was funny, had beautiful music and incredible sound effects.  There is a man who creates all of the sound effects with his voice or little props, no computer whatsoever!  The two hour show went by in the blink of an eye and I cannot wait to go back again, I'm hoping we can purchase tickets again before Garrison Keillor retires.

After the show we went home to get ready for the TC 10 Mile race the next morning.  My older sister stayed with us so she could take the bus to the start with us.  Here is a picture of our running shoes, race chips on (this is how they track a runner's time) and all ready to go!

Sunday morning our alarms went off at 5am, with a 7am race start we needed to be on the 5:55am bus.  The start of the Twin Cities 10 mile and full marathon is downtown Minneapolis near the Metrodome.  We arrived at the sweat bag drop (each runner is issued a clear plastic bag for extra clothing, etc that is transported to the finish line from the start line) at 6:45am.  That gave us enough time to drop our bags, use the facilities, stretch and find our starting corral.  Not all runners start at the same time, it avoids a traffic jam of runners if the race officials start the runners in 4 increments.  The elite runners start first as they will be in contention to win the race.  We started in corral 4 which is the final corral to start; we crossed the start line at 7:15am.
The Twin Cities marathon and 10 mile courses are known as the most beautiful urban marathon due to the gorgeous views along the route.  The participants run from Minneapolis to St. Paul through some of the most beautiful parts of the cities.  I will focus on the 10 mile course since that is what I participated in.  The 10 mile participants enjoy the scenes on both the west and east river parkways, these roads travel along the edge of the mighty Mississippi River.  The fall foliage during early October is stunning and with the early morning start the fog is slowly lifting off the river.  After following the river parkways the runners begin the long, and exhausting, run up Summit Avenue in St. Paul.  The 5 miles of the course that are on Summit Avenue are a steady incline until the runners get to about mile 9, in my opinion it is a brutal part of the course.  It is nearing the end of the race and exhaustion has or is beginning to set in.  At least for me it did.  Summit Avenue is a beautiful area of St. Paul with lovely old Victorian homes, the Govenor's mansion and the historic James J. Hill house. 
The spectators are GREAT!  People come out to cheer on all of the participants and it makes the run so much more fun.  We had a variety of people cheering us on. 
At mile 4 we had AL cheering us on, AL is an avid marathon runner and recently completed his first Iron Man competition.  He actually ran along with us for a little bit so he was like a traveling cheerleader. 
At mile 5 we had my younger sister, brother in law (my older sister and running partners husband), my niece and her roommate.  They had water, gu and vitamin chews ready for us to pick up and give us the boost we needed. 
At mile 7 we had Mr. G's parents, sister in law M, nephew C and great family friend Larry.  C decided to try running along with us for a bit but was very distracted when he discovered the bouncy house about a block down Summit.
Mr. G crossed the finish line about 20 minutes before me and was greeted by his brother and sister in law M&L, once he crossed he was able to join them at the finish line to cheer on me and my sister.  It was wonderful to see my loving husband holding up a sign that said "Go Mrs. Granberg!"
Thanks to all of the spectators along the way, your encouragement is wonderful!

Here are some great photos from the race, I need to get the pictures of Mr. G during the race from his mom...as soon as I have those I will add them.

After the race about 13 of us enjoyed some yummy food and drinks at Billy's on Grand Ave and watched some football.  It was fun to spend time with both sides of our families and celebrate a great accomplishment!  By 2pm...I was ready for a shower and a nap!  So Mr. G and I headed home and enjoyed some rest and relaxation before indulging in very tasty Chinese food for dinner.  It's not something we have often but it sure tasted great.

We hope you all had as great of a weekend as we did!

With love,

 
Mrs. G

Bombardment

One thing I have learned in our short time being married is not to bombard my wife with random information as soon as she gets up or as soon as she gets home.  To clarify, I'm up super early and usually scour my phone for news and current events while my wife likes to sleep.   And by news I mean I go to headlines, sports, entertainment and random Wikipedia pages just for S&G's.*

While I feel my wife and I share similar interests, it turns out that not everything I feel is interesting is going to matter at all to her.  For instance, I was reading about an island off of Sweden called Aland this morning.  While I find this fascinating, she and about 99.9% of the population outside of the people living on this stupid island would care.  My point is, as soon as she opens her eyes from hopefully I good night's slumber, not to be right in her face about the island of Aland.  (And maybe not mention it all actually.)  Also, if I read about something that is of similar interest that both of us would enjoy like, Kanye West's rant about Jimmy Kimmel, I should wait to bombard her with this info until later in the morning.  She, like everyone else in this world, needs time to wipe the sleep out of their eyes and wake up on their own without some idiot talking about God knows what.

I feel this goes upon her arrival home from work and what could be a nasty commute.  For instance, our neighbor pisses us both off.  She's a hoarder, a bitty, etc etc and won't stay out of our business.  Pretty much harmless for a 77 year old woman other than being annoying.  It's best not to bombard my beloved with a story about our neighbor complaining to me that the branches on our tree or overlapping her lot as soon as she walks in the door. (I will not cut those branches!!!!  Unless or course my wife tells me to.)  Again, people need time to come home decompress for awhile, let the frustration go from work and the commute.  If I bombard her with random stories it's just going to annoy her.  The same if she did it to me and I think this goes for everyone.

While thinking about this post, I was reminded of something I read long ago from the 50's called The Good Wife's Guide.  Please be clear, I am not in agreement with this article however there is a part that mentions not bombarding your husband (and in this case, your spouse)  with complaints from the day.  Once again, I don't agree with this post, however apparently I share a similar opinion yet maybe not so sexist.

(BTW, I don't think my wife would like the part about "Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.")

Love,

Mr. G

*Shits and Giggles

Weekend Review!

Hello!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, Mr G. and I certainly did, we were able to spend a beautiful weekend with my parents at their lake place in Northern WI (not far from Danbury, WI).

About a month ago when we decided to visit them this weekend we asked my parents if they could borrow my grandfather’s four wheeler (which he happily said of course) this weekend so the four of us could go for a ride, my parents own one as well.  There are great trails all around them and with the leaves just beginning to change color we knew this would be a perfect time to enjoy a ride through the woods. 

So on Friday Mr. G and I left Minneapolis at 3pm in order to get ahead of some of the afternoon traffic and headed north.  We planned to make a couple of stops on the way to my parents since we were not in a hurry, usually my family is eagerly awaiting our arrival and want us to get there as quickly as we can.  We stopped in North Branch, MN to visit the cemetery where Mr. G’s grandparents are buried; we try to do this a couple of times a year since we drive right by on our way to the cabin.

We needed to stop at the grocery store in Danbury, WI to grab a few things and outside of the store is this gigantic Leinenkugel’s Adirondack chair.  I see this chair every time we stop in Danbury and I’ve never climbed on it for a picture (usually there is a bunch of people around).  This time there were very few people around so I decided to climb up and get some pictures!  I am short, 5’2” to be exact and this chair is big and the front of it came up to my chest.  I had to climb in from the side (in heels of course) and because there is so much lacquer on it I kept slipping around, Mr. G thought it was very funny.

A nice gentleman offered to take a picture of both of us so Mr. G climbed up as well!  It was fun and I think the photo turned out cute.

 

After our adventure at the grocery store we decided to stop at the St. Croix Casino in Danbury; no joke this is one of the smallest casinos I’ve ever seen.  After having my feelings hurt when the security guard at the door didn’t want to card me (actually laughed at me when I took out my ID) I decided it was time for a cocktail.  We both enjoyed a drink and spent about $30 playing some slot machines; it was fun but definitely not something I can do a lot of.

We headed for my parents about an hour later and $30 poorer.  Friday night was spent hanging out with my parents, enjoying some cocktails and warming ourselves by the fire.  Let me tell you, it was cold!  My parents have a place in a resort and they always have friends stopping by so we were able to catch up with a few of my parents friends which was great.  Mr. G and I turned in about 10pm, it had been a long week and we were both exhausted.  My mother stayed up longer than us, she went to bed around midnight after sitting by the fire with some friends.  Dad was in on the couch watching the news by 10pm and sleeping shortly after.  The four of us had decided that we needed to leave the resort by 11am the next morning in order to enjoy our four wheeler ride that day and get back before dark.

Saturday morning we enjoyed coffee and breakfast together, my mother is known for her amazing breakfast.  She even let me cook the bacon, which is unusual, breakfast is her “thing”.  After breakfast we cleaned up and started to get dressed and get ready for our ride.  It was a chilly day but thankfully the sun was out.  I had tights on under my jeans, smart wool socks & tennis shoes, two shirts and a fleece as well as a scarf, mittens and hat on.  I was determined to stay warm, and I did.  Mr. G was layered as well but not nearly as much as me.  3 other friends of my parents decided to join us as well.  We had 4 four wheelers hitting the trail, my dad led the pack with a buddy of his bringing up the rear to make sure we didn’t forget anyone.

We are all safe riders, we take our time and enjoy the scenery; there is just no need to ride fast and unsafe.

Just after leaving the resort we went by a bar that is very scary, it is called Bud’s.  It is an old trailer house and they only serve beer, it stinks horribly in there and how it can be up to code is beyond me.  We had been to Bud’s over the Fourth of July with my 2 sisters, their spouses and some family friends; it was frightening.  The people that own the bar had animals in the bar…ducklings and cats and who knows what else.  So as we drove by I took a photo and sent everyone that had gone with us a text, “Bud’s anyone?”
FYI…I was riding and Mr. G was driving so this was completely safe and we weren’t going very fast.  Here is Bud’s!  I know you want to go;)

 

 

The remainder of our day was perfect, the sun was shining and leaves were beginning to change color.  We got to play in the mud a little, here are some photos of the mud and our gorgeous surroundings:

 

 

 

And we also were able to visit some old friends at “Bear Camp”.  My father used to hunt black bear and this family sets up a camp for a month in the fall during bear hunting season.  It was great to see some familiar faces and catch up with old friends.  Here is what "bear camp" looks like as we drove into it.

 

We arrived back at my parents place around 6:30pm and we were exhausted, dirty and my face was red from the wind.  All four of us were in desperate need of a shower and some clean clothing, so after cleaning the four wheelers up a little we all cleaned up and changed clothes. 

Saturday evening was spent relaxing, enjoying some beverages and eating my mother’s incredible potato soup!  YUMMY!!  Mr. G & I were in bed around 11pm Saturday night and slept fitfully until 9am Sunday morning.

Sunday we had planned to eat breakfast and get on the road but we ended up having a bloody mary (my homemade recipe) with some friends before a wonderful breakfast of homemade pancakes and syrup. We were on the road about noon, just in time for my husband to turn the Vikings game on the radio.  I received occasional updates about the Green Bay Packers, guess that’s what happens when you live with a Minnesota Viking fan.

Our weekend was fantastic, beautiful weather and perfect company!  Thanks to my parents for planning a great weekend!

 
With love,

Mrs. G

 

Lessons learned from Mom!

Most of us learn a lot of very valuable lessons from our parents, I am no exception, they raised their children to the best of their abilities thus supplying them with lessons to apply throughout adulthood.  I thought it would be fun to put a short list of lessons I learned from my mother, not the serious lessons about love and life....more so the fun small lessons that at the time I likely rolled my eyes and thought, "I'm never going to need this info".

Here are five lessons I learned from my mother, these are supposed to be fun and not serious:)

1.  Never use generic dish soap, always buy Dawn Dish Soap. 
I learned this one the hard way, Mr. G went to the store and picked up some generic dish soap (instead of Dawn).  This by no means was his fault, I simply asked him to get some dish soap and a few other things we needed at home.  I began using the generic soap and quickly realized that I needed to keep adding more because the soap just kept disappearing.  After some contemplation I laughed out loud and told Mr. G that once again.... Mom was right (shhh, don't tell her).  When using Dawn dish soap I don't have to use much and it works like a charm.
* Dawn dish soap did not pay me to write about their product, these are my own personal feelings about the soap.

2.  Sewing on a button. 
My mom taught me how to sew a button at about the age of 15, I'm sure at that time I thought she was nuts and just didn't want to do it for me.  But as the years have gone on her lesson has come in handy so many times!  The buttons on coats, shirts, jackets, etc are not sewn on very well and often times come loose or fall off quickly....I just snip off the button, find some matching thread and fix it right up!

3.  Don't call in sick to work unless you are sick. (This one is from both Mom & Dad)
My parents are very hard workers and have been throughout my life, they both instilled a sense of hard work in all of my siblings along with myself.  One of the things that I remember hearing them say over and over again was "never call in sick to work unless you are really sick."
In the interest of full disclosure, I have called in sick when I wasn't 100% sick.  However, I do try to remember this lesson as much as possible.  Let's be honest, everyone needs a mental health day every now and then...even if that includes wine with your girlfriends;)

4.  Always eat a little something before you go out drinking. (Remember, I am from Wisconsin)
I was a good kid and teenager, I didn't drink while I was in high school...I chose not to and enjoyed being a three sport athlete.  Once I got to college I experienced a few parties and enjoyed myself but I was always very careful.  While home on Thanksgiving break I attended a party hosted by one of my high school friends and before I left the house my mom asked if I had eaten anything.  My response was, "Nah, I had a few M&M's...I should be fine."  Needless to say the next morning I wasn't so fine; I was hungover and my mother knew it.  She didn't take the opportunity to scold me or torcher me (she could have) but simply said, "next time, eat something before you go out and maybe drink a little less".  She knew I had received a ride home the night before and was with long time friends that she knew well, so she took a moment to give me a little advice before handing me 3 ibuprofen and some water to make me feel better.

5.  Don't underestimate the power of a little mascara and lipstick.
My mother does not wear a lot of makeup, just not her thing.  As I grew up and started to wear a little bit of makeup she often times said to me, "always wear mascara and lipstick, never underestimate those two items".  I live by this little rule even today, whether it means putting a little on before running out to do some errands or even a casual night out.  Sometimes all you need is a little lipstick and mascara.


Like I said at the beginning of this post, these lessons are not the most serious lessons my mother instilled in me but some of the more fun and light hearted lessons.  My parents will be the first to admit that they weren't perfect but tried with all of their hearts and sould to raise good kids and did they absolute best they could.  I feel lucky and blessed to call them my parents and hope and pray that I do things as well as my parents did when I have children.



With love,

Mrs. G

You know you are from Wisconsin when...

I got this idea from Kate (Set this Circus Down) http://www.kaitlynandbryan.com/. 

 

The major difference between Kate and I...she is from South Orange County California and a lot of the points are MUCH more glamorous than the following WI points. 

YIKES!  Here goes nothing, the italicized points are the ones I relate to.

1.      Your whole family wears green and gold to church on Sunday (I’ve never done this but have seen it).

2.      Snow tires come standard on all your cars.

3.      You refer to the Green Bay Packers as “we”.

4.      You have gotten frost-bitten and sunburned in the same week. (Not quite this drastic however this May we had 17 inches of snow on Thursday May 2^nd and on Saturday My 4^th it was 60 degrees)

5.      You can identify an Illinois accent.

6.      You know what cow-tipping is.

7.      Down South to you means Chicago.

8.      Travelling coast to coast means going from LaCrosse to Milwaukee.

9.      A brat is something you eat.

10.  You have no problem spelling Milwaukee.

11.  You can actually pronounce Oconomowoc.

12.  You don’t have a coughing fit from one sip of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

13.  You know how to Polka. (I can Polka, sober)

14.  Your snow blower gets stuck on the roof.

15.  You think the start of deer season is a national holiday.

16.  You design your Halloween costumes to fit over a snowsuit. (This is so true!!)

17.  You enjoy driving in the winter because the potholes fill with snow.

18.  You know what “knee high by the Fourth of July” means.

19.  You know it is traditional for the bride and groom to go bar hopping between the wedding ceremony and the wedding reception.

20.  You find 0 degrees just a little chilly.

21.  You are a connoisseur of cheese curds and find anyone unfamiliar with them to be frighteningly foreign. (I was at a MN Gopher football game a year ago and did the happy dance when the cheese curd guy told me he only buys Ellsworth Cheese Curds.)

22.  You know that Kaukauna is NOT an Hawaiian Island.

23.  You think Lutheran and Catholic are THE major religions.

24.  Football schedules are checked before wedding dates are set.

25.  At least one kid in your class had to help with morning chores.  Stinky!

26.  You always believed that vacation meant “going up North”.

There are plenty more where these came from and I have to admit that I am giggling uncontrollably while writing this blog!

I hope you enjoyed these silly little tidbits about Wisconsin, even as silly as these are Wisconsin is a nice place and my hometown provided a nice place to grow up.

With love,

Mrs. G

 

Birthday Celebrations - just the beginning!

My birthday is in one week and birthday celebrations began last night with a wonderful dinner at a little Italian restaurant in Edina, MN called Arezzo Ristorante. This birthday dinner was part of my gift from my new in-laws.

Arezzo is a charming little Italian restaurant, they have a lovely patio and we enjoyed our dinner outside last night as the weather was perfect.

The waiter suggested a bottle of Rizzi Barbera for the table and all four of us enjoyed the wine, it was easy to drink and went very well with our dinner choices.

We started the meal with Strangolapreti (oven baked spinach and ricotta dumplings, topped with fresh tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and grans padano) and delicious bread with olive oil to dip.All four of us thoroughly enjoyed the appetizer.

My MIL ordered the Tagliatelle di Pollo e pinoli (house made tagliatelle pasta tossed with chicken, tomatoes and pine nuts in white wine sauce, topped with goat cheese).

My FIL enjoyed the Torteli Padrino (spinach tortelli hand stuffed with a blend of ricotta cheese and fresh spinach, finished in a tomato and eggplant sauce).

Mr. G ordered the Pollo alla Marsala (sliced chicken breast sautéed in Sicilian Marsala liqueur, served with mashed potatoes and asparagus).

I ordered the Farfale alla Gorgonzola e Salsiccia (butterfly pasta tossed with gorgonzola sauce and spicy Italian sausage).

All four of us loved our meals and shared the tiramisu for dessert. We were very full and enjoyed the evening immensely.

Each year I often say that I'm going to scale back on the celebrating but then another year rolls around and I celebrate with my in-laws, my family, Mr. G, some girlfriends, a birthday weekend at the cabin, etc etc....and by the time August is done I've had 7 "birthday celebrations", drank too much red wine and probably gained 7 pounds.

So to say I'm grateful for amazing people in my life is an understatement...I love celebrating with all of them and wouldn't trade it for the world.

How many birthday celebrations do you have?

Check back next week after Mr. G and I return from our couples weekend at the cabin. 4 couples are accompanying us to the cabin, lots of food, drinks and great company!!

 

With love,

Mrs. G