It was the coldest day of the season...or so they said. I didn't even own a coat suitable for being here. My body's cold-gauge had become numb about 30 degrees before. I looked around at the bare trees, the brown and gray that seemed to overwhelm every sight I saw. I breathed a sigh of relief and also felt an unidentifiable twist in the depths of my soul. This was my new home. For an unknown amount of time. It was both exciting and terrifying.
And from that day, my adventure began.
That was a year ago. And time has flown by so fast. I've been lonely. I've made friends. I've come to know God in ways I never had before. I gained an amazing church family. I became friends with the man I'm going to spend my life with. I have a beautiful niece and nephew and a loving brother and SIL. I have a job (three, actually) that I love. I have a puppy who keeps me busy.
My life is headed in a different direction than I ever thought it would. But it's ok. I actually like it. Don't get me wrong...I will always cherish things about how my life used to be. I wouldn't be who I am today without all of those people, places, experiences etc...
But here I am in Minnesota. Getting married. Living life. Loving God. And would I really want it any other way?
Today I'm in Mendota Heights where I am snuggling with a cute little baby named Kavya. Don't believe me? Here is some proof:
Normally a lady from church watches Kavya, but she is out of town today and asked if I would watch her. So we've been spending a lazy Friday together. She's a sweetheart and a very low-key baby.
So this blog has pictures. YAY PICTURES!
One night at work it was really slow. I told my manager Mike that I was really hungry for a burger. He exclaimed that he too was in the mood for a good burger! So he came up with the grand idea to have a "best-and-messiest-burger" competition.
We each came up with our own set of ingredients, gave it to the slightly apprehensive line cooks and awaited the results.
And me, being the always-ready blog-picture capture-er that I am, snapped a few pics for your viewing pleasure.
This GORGEOUS (and slightly stacked) burger is my genius creation. I took one of our house-made burger patties prepared medium. Melted some brie cheese on there, added a few slices of thick applewood smoked bacon, garnished it with a few crisp granny smith apple slices and topped all of that off with crispy onions, tomato and lettuce. (due to the fact that I was unable to get my mouth around it, I removed the tomato and lettuce). But seriously, it was a fabulous combination. I was so impressed with myself. The brie and bacon went together famously. The tart crispiness of the apple added a fun complementary flavor. DE-LISH!
This was Mikes: Same burger patty prepared medium, melted cheddar cheese, an over-medium egg, andouille sausage, applewood smoked bacon, pickled onions and our own homemade fresh pickled cucumbers and lettuce. Supposedly it was amazing and super manly and all of that. Honestly, it looked really gross. But hey, whatever floats his boat, eh?
Overall, it was a fantastic idea. Great way to kill time on a slow night. The cooks had fun critiquing the finished results too.
This is Sierra and a little doberman/rottweiler dog. Sierra is about 10 lbs heavier, but they end up having a pretty even wrestling match when we see them at the dog park.
Now for adventures with Ben and Suzy. When we aren't working hard, we squeeze in a few memorable and fun moments together!
As a side note, people think that because we live 15 minutes from each other we must see each other ALL the time. This is in fact a myth. Ben works a steady 8-4:30 job, has Bible study Monday nights and orchestra rehearsal on Tuesday nights, and church on Wednesday nights. I work a very unpredictable job where all of my evenings from Wednesday to Sunday could be scheduled to work at the restaurant. And I don't find out until one week in advance. I too have a Bible study on Tuesday nights and the rest of my evenings are hit or miss. In all, we see each other, if we're lucky, three times a week. This includes Sundays at church.
Anyway. On to adventure #1. First attempt at registration. I say attempt, because not much was accomplished.
Here is Ben using the awesome scanner gun.
We both struggle with indecision.
Their expansive selection didn't help with that at all.
Overall, we didn't get much done except expose ourselves to the wonders of Bed Bath & Beyond. and realize that we need a LOT of things to fill a house with. We're taking it in steps to guard and protect both of our sanity.
We wrapped it up with a date night to Kincaids. It was Ben's first time and all my coworkers were excited to meet him. They are always asking me about him.
Adventure #2: Short weekend road trip to Indiana to visit my brother John and his beautiful wife Amy! It is a 10-ish hour drive...and we took Sierra. You might remember from a previous post that we said we road trip well together. And it's true. We talk, listen to music, I read books aloud, we eat, sleep...overall a really great time. And to answer the question I've gotten multiple times since we've gotten back: Yes, we still like each other.
This was the first time Molly (John and amy's dog) and Sierra had met. At first Sierra was a bit overwhelming for Molly. And quite invasive on Molly's territory. After a while, though, they realized they both enjoy a rousing game of tug-o-war. And it was a little bit intense. Honestly not sure if they were playing the whole time or if there was a little bit of alpha-dog establishment going on.
While there, we had an adventure within an adventure (those are the best...seriously)
On Saturday evening, we couldn't decide where we wanted to eat, so we landed on a food tour of Fort Wayne. For those of you who aren't familiar with a food tour, allow me to explain. You compile a number of places you are interested in eating and go from one to another only having a little taste of what they have to offer. In big cities, they have pre-arranged food (or wine) tours where they are themed or organized in a way to complement each other...you pay a certain amount and go to each place. It's more fun to make one up yourself.
On our way! Such happy campers!
First stop was close to home: The famous Grabill Dairy Sweet. we decided to bookend our fooding with dessert =)
I got my favorite: A pomegranate dream-cloud. What is this, you ask? It is a pomegranate flavored slushy on top of soft-serve vanilla ice cream. So yummy.
Next stop...ghetto-ville, Fort Wayne. Otherwise known as Taqueria Coahuila. Also otherwise known as the most delicious tacos I've had in a long time.
See those happy smiles? We were well-impressed by this little stop.
Technically Family Dollar isn't for food...but this sort of thing is about spontaneity...and that's just what this stop was.
A little bit of back story. One of my co-workers is Bob the Dishwasher. He's a pretty fantastic guy and is always a source of entertainment for everyone he meets. Anyway, Bob went to the dollar store to shop for certain people at work for Christmas gifts. I was one of those lucky people. So to return the favor, even though late, I decided to do a Christmas-dollar-store-gift for him! Here is the loot:
On to the next foody spot!
Saigon Vietnamese food...and Chinese food...and American food. We got Kung-pao beef, egg drop soup and some sort of coffee drink and crab rangoons. It was very fun and yummy!
John eats quite attractively.
After Saigon, we went for SUSHI! Definitely a more classy stop than the previous...and SO yummy. We shared some yummy rolls.
Me and the boy.
There was a soup ordered...oh the soup. Smelled and tasted like warm ocean water...complete with floating seaweed. In my humble opinion? Disgusting. John was a little apprehensive as well.
Benjamin, being the adventurous foody that he is, enjoyed it. So we let him finish it off =)
Apparently being a Klotzle means you're a lil' bit crazy. And our S.O.'s are the normal ones. But it's ok. It's why they love us. And we love them for loving us. Win-win.
I didn't get any pictures of our final stop: Debrands Chocolate Store. It was good...well I didn't have any of the chocolate...but it looked scrumptious. I had coffee gelato instead. Also yummy. Overall, it was a fantastic food tour. I'm so glad that I have family and a fiance that are adventurous, spontaneous and so much fun to be with! Also super fun doing double-date type things. who knew?
Mr. Ender in his super cute and trendy skinny-jeans. The kid is a stud.
Karlina got a hold of the Nuk (or Nuht as she calls it). She didn't used to want it ever. And all the sudden she has gotten obsessed. It takes a lot of distracting/compromising/downright refusing to deal with the issue of the Nuk. But she does look super cute.
Sometimes we play the game, "No! No! Don't give me kisses!" and then of course she showers me with kisses. A little reverse psychology ;) Sneaky Auntie. But the sweetest moments are when she gives kisses all on her own. The other night as I was getting ready to leave, she was playing in the other room and I called, "Good bye!" as I was about to walk out. She ran over and said, "Hug, Auntie!" and grabbed me around my knees. Melted my heart.
Overall, I am completely and totally blessed. 'Nuff said.
