It started the other day when I was walking back from Common Roots cafe and I passed by my toothbrush. Well, not MY toothbrush, but someone who had the same toothbrush as me. Except they kept theirs on the front lawn. For some reason, I foudn this to be incredibly funny and I wished that I had my camera with me to take a picture of it. And then I thought about all the funny little things that happen to you and how nice it would be if you could remember them in some way. I know there are other photo blogs out there and other people using the one photo a day concept, but I think ours is fun because you get TWO photos a day and its interesting to see how different our days can be! I hope you guys find it to be really fun too! Maybe you can post a photo as a comment too if you want to remember your funny little thing of the day.

We’ve been meaning to visit Holly ever since she moved…but lacked funding slash the right time. It was a great weekend for a visit: the weather was beautiful, it was free day at the botanical gardens, and we had a blast! Highlights of our trip:

• Seeing lots of Bowdoin kids!
• Fun trip to Fort Collins for beer tasting and Rasta Pasta (new fave beer from New Belgium: Bier de Mars, of course not sold in Minneapolis)
• Hike to the lake and seeing herds of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park
• Delicious Denver meals
• Hanging out with TRE!! Coincidence of us both being in Denver at the same time made it possible for us to sneak in an extra visit!

Overall, we had a great time. Spring break mini-trips are way funner than going to school! just kidding, school is fun too. Just in a different way.

Some pictures:

Now the reason why there have been no adventures is simple and can be described in one word: Spreadsheets. I am addicted to them, it’s all I do. The eye doctor said my eyes might be dry if I spent a lot of time staring at the computer screen, I was like lady, I do nothing BUT stare at computer screens. All my classes this semester involve making Microsoft Excel…and specifically, the VLOOKUP function. I remember distinctly at this time last year, Jake and his dad were doing a lot of VLOOKUP stuff and I mocked them. I was like I will NEVER be so boring that I have phone conversations about Excel formulas. Oh look, that day has come. It’s real. Today I said VLOOKUP (which isn’t even really a word, right?) 10 times at least and talked about it with at least 5 different people. Probably seven or eight actually. That’s what my life is all about right now.

I’m not sure when I will emerge from this cave of numbers, formulas, spreadsheets, talk about total employment in industry i and the NAICS code for dog and cat food manufacturing, population density measures and so forth, but when I do, I hope it’s sunny and warm outside and that there will be plenty of time for adventures then. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

But this past weekend I LOVED January in Minneapolis. Jake and I went out to Baker Park and went for a little cross country ski. I felt happy that I could kind of remember how to move forward on my skis. Then on Sunday we went to play broomball on Lake of the Isles and had a blast. (Jake was ultimately more successful than I was, since he could move around, hit the ball, score, AND defend. I on the other hand just scurried around, fell hard on my butt and complained about how hard it was to move in one direction and then immediately have to go in the other direction.)

Anyways, now I have to decide if I actually will go outside or not today. Sigh.

Roommate Reunion!

Taken from our trip to Boston for a Pine Street K reunion.

I’m not sure if this counts exactly as an adventure, because we didn’t really explore Boston very much. Most of the time we spent in Holly’s friend Ellen’s gorgeous apartment on Beacon Street. We did explore some restaurant choices near her apartment and had a brief visit to Quincy Market.

Of course, sightseeing in Boston wasn’t our primary motive for making the trip. We spent a lot of time catching up–after all, I hadn’t seen either Rachel or Gillian since graduation, which was hard to believe. It was really nice to see everybody, but I felt sad that we don’t have very many opportunities to all get together more often! I hope that can change a bit because it’s nice to be able to see your friends. I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures to share, as I managed to forget my camera! Actually, to be honest, I’ve become a lazy photographer ever since Jake got a new digital camera because he takes so many better pictures than me. And now he has an even NEWER camera…

Another thing that I realized after my trip was how much I really do like Minneapolis and what a great city it is! (I like it far better than I like Boston, but I don’t mean to offend anybody). Minneapolis is just much smaller, it doesn’t feel as crowded to me as Boston does (after all, there are only half as many people in Minneapolis), and I love that Minneapolis has so many outdoor recreational opportunities right within the city limits. Such as…cross country skiing at Theodore Wirth Park, or going to a nice clean beach and for a swim at any of the Lakes, tons of biking trails and parks to have picnics at or just to enjoy. You can even go cross country skiing AND see some polar bears at the Como Zoo! How terrific.

Anyways, now that I have started thinking about it, I realize there are lots and lots of things that I really like about Minneapolis and I’m glad that we aren’t planning on moving anywhere right away. Also, I feel as though (at least for New Englanders), the Twin Cities are a hidden gem that not many people know about. I’m glad we found it!

This was also perhaps the most fun I have had in Vermont. We spent one morning shopping in Montpelier (quite successful considering that the snow prevented us from making it to hipper Burlington), tromped around in the forest behind Jake’s house in snowshoes, climbed the roof to shovel off the 2.5 feet of snow that had fallen(!), frolicked around in the snow, were entertained by carollers, took naps by the fire and also drank lots of hot chocolate and ate lots of cookies.

But there are lots more winter adventures to come…perhaps a downhill skiing trip with the bro, perhaps some roommate reunion in the big city of Boston, and who knows what else? I am also happy to sit at home with some books and to practice my Wii Super Mario Kart skills. By the end of vacation, I will be doing all sorts of wheelies and jumps and things and crushing Bowser, Princess Peach, and Donkey Kong.

Sadly, two days before Christmas, I have thought of a whole list of things that I would like to ask for…but it’s too late now. Two weeks ago I was stumped and couldn’t think of even one little thing that I would want, but now I have a lifetime’s worth of little things. Too bad!!!

Durenberger made a comment that has really stuck with me: he said we would be the first generation that does not make as much money as our parents. I became panicked. My first thought was that I was going to have to live like an Americorps member for the rest of my life. My second thought was…but I thought the economy was only temporarily broken. I thought by the time my “real life” had started, it would be back up and working again. Apparently the Senator does not agree.

So, I have an idea. It came about from reading about about pitcher CC Sabathia’s $160 million dollar deal with the Yankees. How come everybody else is hurting during this time except for professional athletes, who continue to make completely ridiculous sums of money for playing games? Why are these institutions wasting their dollars when they could be providing a noble service to their country: start by offering donations and while our economy recovers, make games cheaper so that all of us who are sad about not making any money can go watch them and feel better? I think maybe professional sports teams should help bail out our failing car industry, and then we’d all feel better.

It’s Thursday, classes have ended, and I have several Look Forward Tos on my list! In chronological order…

1. Listening to the rest of the 89.3 morning show
2. Possible afternoon ski fun
3. Holiday office party, featuring Indian food from my favorite Twin Cities Indian restaurant
4. Friend from Iowa in town!
5. A weekend where I perhaps do not need to spend more than 50% of it at the HHH computer lab!
6. Holiday cookie baking extravaganza!
7. And of course, our extra-long visit to New England!

Anyways, a lot of funto be had. First I need to get through one more (real) day of work…I hope you guys all have lots of Look Foward To’s these next few weeks too!