Merry Christmas

The Christmas Gift of Knowing You

The Christmas season fills our hearts with joy;
Bright, happy days bring special kinds of pleasure.
We're wrapped in the excitement of it all,
The sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes we treasure. Yet when we have some quiet time to think
About our finest blessings all year through,
We focus on our family and our friends,
And appreciate the gift of knowing you! By Joanna Fuchs

A great friend

I've been eagerly anticipating each batch of pictures from my friend Jena's October wedding. This was one of the last shots of the night.

Jena has posted many beautiful pictures of her and Justin's wedding on her blog. Cheers to Jena and Justin!!

Someone else's words

I saw this this morning and it resonated. Enjoy

From a speech to environmentalists in Missoula, Montana in 1978 and in Colorado, which was published in High Country News in the 1970s or early 1980s under the title "Joy, Shipmates, Joy."

One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am-a reluctant enthusiast... a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards. -Edward Abbey

A small boost for the auto industry

Seriously. It's cold out. But it hasn't been cold for very long.

Apparently these folks didn't know they were parking on the not-quite-frozen lake. This happened about 2 hours south of where I live.

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=532526&catid=2

A taste of Minnesota

It's so cold out! So cold that I'm wearing my winter boots and long underwear all day! Yesterday I woke up under my mountain of blankets to rain and a temperature of 38 degrees. What a nice memory. The temperature dropped all day (and the rain turned to freezing rain, and then to blowing snow) until it bottomed out at -8 early this morning. (That's not including the windchill which is just plain ridiculous!) Today's high is supposed be to -3, that's right our HIGH!

In case you're wondering it's currently -5 with a windchill of -26. I know, yuck. My theory is that once it gets down to the single digits, it's cold, but when you add the bone chilling wind it can't get any colder. You can't tell the difference between -10 and -20, it's just plain COLD!

Getting ready for Christmas

My cards are ready to go, cookies are mostly baked and most of my presents have been purchased. We put the finishing touches on Christmas preparations this week by making a gingerbread house and setting up a tree.


Notice the modifications after a day...

Turn on your lights!

I've blogged about this in the past, but it bears repeating. One of my biggest pet peeves this time of year is people who drive neutral colored cars and don't turn their head lights on. When it's gray and gloomy out and you don't have your lights on- you're just asking for trouble!
Bah.

Justin Timberlake

I admit I'm a fan of Justin Timberlake, it all goes back to the days of NSYNC. I thought this two minute clip from last week's Saturday Night Live was pretty entertaining!

A walk in the woods

Here are some pictures from a recent work adventure. We trekked across park property that often doesn't get explored thanks to a lack of access. The historic sites we visited were on the shores of Spring Lake an outflow of the Mississippi River- humans have been using these locations for over 800 years!

Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Yesterday, my good friend Mary and I enjoyed a day of art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It makes my head hurt thinking about art- what is it? Who decides it's art? Some of the pottery remnants and artifacts from ancient Chinese dynasties were mass produced durable items that were common in peasants homes. Does that mean if I bury my dishes deep enough they too could be a bit of history some day?

I also get a headache in museums because I spend too much time reading the dimly lit, cramped narratives and story boards. I forget to look at the item, because I'm too busy trying to figure out what it is. Some of my favorite pieces from yesterday are included in this post.
I did discover that I enjoy photographs- I like the life that is depicted in pictures. Sometimes artifacts and paintings leave me with a cold feeling. (Pictures: Top left Ansel Adams, bottom left Double Gourd Shaped Ewer, bottom right Bamboo and Rocks.)

Children of the corn

So... how easy is posting pictures? I'm about to find out! Below is a trip that Chris, my sister, her boyfriend Adam, and I took a few weekends ago to a corn maze. It was fun- well it would have been even more fun if the guys hadn't gone GI Joe on us. (We got that thing done way quicker than anticipated!)

The transition

Have you ever switched email addresses? Then you know how painful this type of transition is! Hopefully, this has less confusion and un-answered correspondence than a forgotten hotmail account. Anywho, I've been meaning to switch from my blog on MSN for quite awhile now, and with the boy working nights I have some time to tinker around and begin the transition!