Oh Gary, You have stolen my heart!

Well, I knew you all were waiting for this moment: I have found somebody! He is tall and rugged and loves the outdoors. He is still finding himself so he doesn't have a steady job, but he really is motivated by adventure. He is everything I have been searching for!

I guess you shouldn't get too excited though because I am talking about a bike. My mom bought me a bike to ride while I am home and I love it. (DO NOT tell my other bike, he will be very jealous that I am seeing other men!) It is a Gary Fisher and it has front shocks and is a very smooth ride. I love it!








I rode the bike home from the shop and already had fallen in love. Unfortunately, I did not have a helmet, so I had to go get one this afternoon. I had a nice little ride around Rhinelander. It was fun!

My mom is very kind. Thanks for always taking care of me and for "Gary." He is an Orange Dream. I will call him my "Dreamsicle!"

Little Alice!

Well, it has been an uneventful few days. Just chillin' as you should in summer, I guess. I decided to take my fun co-worker up on her tag. I hope you like the fun picture of little Alice(notice how I look just like my mom in the train picture from a previous post!). Little Alice was quite a character. She would always be carrying around a cat even though she was very alergic to cats. She also liked to go "Farmering" with her grandpa, which pretty much just consisted of chasing cats and petting baby cows; no real farm work was involved!

Here are the questions from Cassie:

1. What are some of your favorite memories of summer?

The Fourth of July is very special in our family. My grandpa(on Dad's side) loved this holiday. He would always have firecracker wars with the men in the family. I remember being woken up many Fourth of July mornings thanks to firecracker in the window sill of the room I was sleeping in. We stil honor him to this day by lighting firecrackers on his grave on the 4th. Sounds weird but it is a family tradition and I love it.

2. What are some of your favorite treats from your childhood?

Blue Moon Ice Cream for sure. It is actually blue and tastes like fruit loops and milk mixed. I also love Nerds candy and candy buttons. They were little pieces of sugar candy put onto paper. If you were lucky, sometimes you would even get a piece that didn't have paper still stuck to it.

3. Where was your favorite place to be as a child?

My favorite place would probably be the crabapple tree we had in our front yard. I used to spend hours up in those branches. Having crabapple fights were pretty fun too. My other favorite place was on our driveway playing basketball. I became quite a good shooter because of the hours I spent there.

4. If you could show your children a glimpse of your childhood what would it be?
Man, if only I had children to show a glimpse to. I think I would just have a fun time letting them know about all my adventures and how I really had a fun childhood and was able to be a kid. I don't think kids truly get to be kids these days! (I really want kids by the way. It is like a disease. I am always making faces at kids and trying to get their attention in public. I am sure their mothers think I am weird!)


Well, that is it for now. I need to find some motivation to do some work that I need to this summer. It is hard sometimes to be motivated!

The Train, The Train!

First we will start with breakfast. I had lasagna for breakfast. I love to be home and eating real food. Of course, it does not help me lose weight but it tastes good. I love to eat leftovers for breakfast. Very yummy. It beats Mini-Wheats.

We will then continue on to adventures. Today my mom treated my sister, her daughter and daughter's friend, and I to a train adventure. It was so fun. I think I turned back into a five year old. We got to ride on a real live train(well trains aren't really alive!) and go to a place where it was like stepping back into time. Camp 5 is a logging museum in the Northwoods of Wisconsin located in Leona. The highlight was sitting in the cupola on the caboose of the train on the way to Camp 5(see pics). Actually, I think actually saying cupola was even more of a highlight. My seester and I kept using the word cupola as much as we could while sitting in the cupola. It was cupolaishious. The second highlight was the petting zoo. I know, I am 31, but it was awesome to pet a baby goat and hold a kitten. I have always loved those things. I think baby animals raise endorphin levels. It was a beautiful day to spend time with my family.

Didn't do much beside that. I did have a fabulous all-beef hot dog my dad grilled. I love grilled food. Summer with the parents is famous for grilling out! :)

I am going to Carrie Underwood in November in Salt Lake. I am very excited about it. Thanks Cassi for the insight to the concert; I had no idea she was even coming to Utah! Yipee.

Relaxation!

I have a favorite place in the world.
It is not exotic or foreign
But simple and soothing.

In a land of Hodags and paper mills
My paradise beacons me.
There I hear water
lazily lapping against shore
I feel sun rays bronzing my skin
I see large trees and fluffy clouds

This is a place where it is okay to be
Flip-flopped
Non made-up
And care-free

I have a favorite place in the world
It is not exotic or foreign
But simple and soothing
It is home.


***I didn't really have much to write about today. I took those pictures at my favorite place: Hodag Park. The specific favorite place is a dock that goes out onto the Wisconsin River. My favorite thing to do there is lay on my back and close my eyes and listen and feel. It is one of the calmest places in my hemisphere. I think poetry is one of the only ways I could really describe it! :)

Antique Treasures!

Marla and I went through memory lane as we went through the boxes that were in her living room last night. All of these things brought back childhood memories. I personally wish I had those Barbie books. Flipping through them and reading them was fun. Barbie truly can do anything! My favorite one is Stories about the Fabulous Barbie and her Boyfriend Ken Very well written! :) I loved that movie viewer too. I put the Mickey ghost one in that pic because it used to freak me out as a kid. Spooky. Speaking of spooky, that dang mannequin scared me this morning as I walked down the stairs into Marla's dining room. She is very well dressed though, don't you think? Marla's mom puts her out on the porch while they have their annual rummage sale. That is always a hoot because Marla's mother is so very silly and fun. She truly is friendly to anybody she meets. I wish I could have been there to see the mannequin's head blow away. I guess it was pretty windy that weekend. Marla was very proud of her new pans so we had to showcase them! They are very nice pans! It was spooky to first see my bed and have those Wizard of Oz dolls staring at me. They just creep me out with those little beady eyes. Creepy! I have to admit it was pretty funny, way to go Marla!

We played softball last night. It was so very fun to catch up with all the cool ladies I play with. Some of us have been playing together since middle school. It is truly a very special thing I am able to do here each summer. Best 37 dollars I will spend! We lost but it was still a blast. It was our first loss this summer and I think it is my jinx. My team out in Utah only has won one game. Sad! Hopefully, it really isn't me and my bad karma! The coolest thing about the game last night is that I ran into one of the girls I went to school with. We attended grade school, middle school and high school together(I hope she doesn't remember how weird and awkward I was back then, hehe!). She got to first early in the game and I looked over at her and thought she was familiar and when her teammates called her "Billie" I thought to myself that she looked like "Bille Jo" but I wasn't sure. I then asked one of my teammates if it was her and come to find out, it was. I approached her between innings and it was so fun to re-connect. We chatted for a few minutes after the game. I loved that. It is cool to know that the world can be pretty small sometimes and you can find and re-connect with people from your past. Awesome.

It was a beautiful day. Marla and I went to lunch and shopping. I got a pair of shorts out of it and that was my goal. Go me. I then headed back up to Rhinelander and had dinner with the family. I am loving the good food! Beef barley soup is one of my favorite things! Then I ran to the river(funny thing was that I wasn't even being chased!) and met up with my mom and niece. My niece is cute and silly. She loves playing down by the river on the beach there. She can keep herself occupied for hours down there finding rocks and sticks and playing in the sand and water. Good times.

I am loving being home. It is a great place. Stay tuned for more adventures!