I have an "intended!"

I've been reminded of this blog and reprimanded for not updating more... I've been remiss in my responsibilities, I know. (I guess I like to use lots of R words too...)
Fast forward 4 months from when I wrote my last post and life is extraordinarily better!! I love that. I love my life, it's awesome. I forget that sometimes.
The big news is that I got engaged to Chris Hosch in September and we are planning a July 2010 wedding in Minnesota!! It's been up and down as far as stress goes, but hopefully we can learn from the past and reduce stress in the coming months. Things are moving along, although that's all I'm going to say for now, not wanting to jinx anything.
So here are some recent photos of us at the site of our first date, the Roseville Oval skating center in the Twin Cities. :)

The ring.

The ice was so sparkly in the sun!

Can you just see my excitement?

Chris has become quite the skater since our first date, you can see how hard he concentrates. :)

what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

I find myself really struggling this week. I feel utterly and completely betrayed, by someone for whom I've given so much in the years that we've been friends. Now, I'm not saying that I did it for the glory or to get something in return, but when I receive the complete opposite of friendship back, it makes me sad. I'm really sad. And I'm frustrated that I'm sad, because I know I'm a complete downer and pretty much preoccupied these days.
I'm also angry. And my growing anger is a little surprising and scary. I'm angry at people I thought I knew, at people I don't know, and at people who have been friends to me in the past. I feel like no one is sticking up for me. I know that there are people sticking up for me now, but when it was all going down, before I even knew that I was about to lose a friend, it seems like no one was sticking up for me. There was no fight, just resigned sadness. And I'm not sure how to deal with that.

the ebb and flow of life

Sometimes life really throws me for a loop. I can be lying in bed, half on my way to falling asleep when I get a telephone call. Then, 2 hours later, I've been smacked in the face with the loss of probably my closest guy friend (save for my wonderful and amazing boyfriend) in the world. I was told that his current girlfriend is uncomfortable with the close friendship that we share. She didn't actually ask him to stop talking to me, but as I see it, there really wasn't another choice when it came down to it. So many ironies in this situation, not the least of which is that I'd just started to come to terms with the fact that he didn't have as much time for "hanging out" (via email and telephone) as we'd enjoyed in the previous 4 years of our friendship, only to have this come up. I wonder how all of the struggle and frustration was pointless. I wonder if this is really the best thing to do. Even though it's sort of tearing me apart, I decided that I'm going to go along with this, for him, for her, because I feel called to make that sacrifice. If I can be helpful to them in this way, then that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be angry and hurt and a complete wreck for a while, I have no doubts, but I look forward to learning why this is all happening, whenever it comes out.
I wish you all the best, ML.

baseball

I freakin' love baseball. It's true. I think I come to love it more and more as time passes, and as I see more games that are just awesome games. Tonight was my first Twins game of the 2009 season and what a game it was. The Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6 to 3. All runs were scored with home run hits for a total of 5 in the game. The third of the three hit by the Twins was a grand slam home run from Justin Morneau. Joe Mauer had just gotten beaned in the right arm to walk and Justin came out to show the what's what. It was a rocket to the upper deck of right field. It was simply electric! I'd never seen a grand slam in person before, so this was quite a momentous occassion.
Also, slightly less wholesome of an event was the guy who jumped down on the field and was tackled by 5 security guards. The dude didn't even get a chance to try to run around before one security guard had him in a headlock and the others decended and sat on him. It was pretty intense.
We were sitting in the 5th row behind the left fielder, although because they don't let anyone sit in rows 1 or 2, it was effectively the 3rd row. They are really great seats, courtesy of some friends who have season tickets and couldn't use them tonight. Sorry you guys missed it, but super thankful for the chance to see a great game!

busy busy bee!

Sometimes, being busy and having a lot to do spurs me on to accomplishment. But sometimes I find it impossible to know where to begin, and I am just paralyzed. Today is, unfortunately, the latter.

The Season of the Baby

I'm not sure if there's something in the water or what, but apparently many couples I know have decided to all have babies in about a 4 month period. Seriously, there are 6 babies I expect to hear about between April and July! Two of them have already arrived, my boss had a grandson last month and Chris became an uncle again this past Thursday. 2 down, 4 to go. :)
I haven't yet experienced "wedding season" as many people do, but baby season is sure in full swing! I think I'm ok with that, babies make me smile. What can I say? I'm such a girl.

You ought to give Iowa a try!

I went to Iowa this weekend, my first trip to the state of corn and Shawn Johnson. Chris grew up in Adair, the home of the first western train robbery and a seriously awesome smiley faced water tower. We visited and I was given the full tour. I think we saw maybe 5 people total on a rainy Sunday afternoon.














There were also lots of windmills, which fascinated me! I've seen them before, but they are just so cool. We thought we heard a train at one point but it turned out to be a windmill kicking it into high gear with the strong wind we had.
The reason we went to Iowa was to visit some of Chris's college buddies. That was a tad overwhelming, but really fun and enjoyable. It was neat to see Chris with his peeps. I learned a new drinking game, ate walking tacos and generally had a good old time. Now I'm going to be catching up on sleep for a good week, but it was so worth it. :)

Lookee what Lizzie did!

You guessed it, I blew out a tire. I was doing inspections in the work truck and ran over an unstuck traffic directing reflector tape thingy. At least, that's what I think happened, and I'm pretty sure. That hole is about an inch and a half long. It was quite impressive.
Thankfully, I the spare was in good shape. I finally figured out how to get the jack and spare out of their hiding places and my co-worker Dave showed up. That was a good thing because my feats of strength were not enough to loosen the lug nuts. Then a neighbor offered to use his hydraulic jack and air compressor gun to do the rest. That was very nice of him, so we took him up on the offer.
This is the first time I've been faced with a non-functioning tire. I was surprisingly relaxed about the whole thing, even about the change in expected schedule. And if you know me, even a little, you know that this is notable. :)

my wonderful Easter...

...began with going to church with my wonderful boyfriend. We got up for the 8am service. 8am is very early for Chris.

Then we spent the day with the Hosch family at Matt's house. Matt is the oldest of the siblings.
We ate good food, enjoyed the beautiful day, and Simon, who is 3.5, sat in a box. We all celebrate differently I guess.

We also enjoyed a bit of car racing on the wooden floor. And just like in the movie, Mater kept going backwards!

I frequently get bummed out about being an adult, when the kids get to have all the fun. But I realized that it's just as fun to hide the eggs for the egg hunt (we were helping out the Easter Bunny) as it is to find them. Score! Being an adult can be just as fun as being a kid!

These photos are from our egg dying session the previous weekend. Chris with his niece and nephew. They are so cute.

And these were our eggs, post-dye. We used some brown eggs too, which gave the colors more of a muted, earthy look. It was very cool.

a natural fact

Friday's kick abschminki.

my little sister

Jenafer and I are coming up on our 2-year anniversary of being matched through Big Brothers Big Sisters. Amazing how time flies!
One of the first activities we did was attend an intro party where we made time capsules. Opening it this afternoon, we discovered that there was a piece of hard candy in there, something neither of us remembered. I think that will remain a fossil.
We'd also written various things we hoped to do together and goals for our friendship. It was neat to see how many of those things we'd gotten to. And to generally look back on the past 2 years.
Jenafer also wrote, "When we open this, Jenafer will be in 9th grade, which is a really big grade...and Elizabeth will still be old."
Thanks little sis. :)

I didn't lie, I just changed my mind.

So I was trying to remember what I promised in an earlier post, but upon review, those items now seem so much in the distant past that to write about them now would be silly. Either that or I don't have all the photos I wanted, since I'm at work at the moment and not where my pictures are. Never-the-less, I will endeavor to be witty and interesting in this current post, a somewhat daunting proposition considering the late hour and the early start I got today.

What's happening with Lizzie these days? Let's see if I can come up with a random list...

Work is picking up, although with less construction this year than previous ones, it's not "quite" as crazy. I'm struggling with work a little bit, with the changes that I've seen since I started almost 2.5 years ago. There has been lots of turnover, so the mood and feel of the office is different. It catches me off guard sometimes, and I'm not yet sure how I feel about it.

I'm feeling a bit of cabin fever, but on a larger scale. I haven't gone on an airplane in 2.5 months!!! That's insane! AND I don't have any plans to go on an airplane for another 3 months! I feel the need to travel and see my people. But my bank account is loving having my feet glued in Minnesota.

I finished my taxes on Monday evening. I'm glad to have that all done.

Chris is still around. Nothing terribly new on that front. Although one of the topics I was going to write about earlier was our trip to see his brother and family in Michigan. That was good fun. They are such brothers.

I'm trying to stick to a regular sleep schedule that allows me more sleep than I'd been getting. That's going alright, although it can always use improvements. At least I'm sticking to the "no TV after 9pm" rule and starting to wind down then, even if I don't turn out the light until 10:30pm...

So many people are having babies! I find that amazing and exciting, in an "I'm so glad it's them and not me" kind of way. Last count was 6 due in the next 3-4 months.

At the moment I'm hanging out at work doing both work and non-work things (case in point) until I go to hang out with my knitting friends from church. I know that sounds like a wild and crazy time, but it's good stuff. :)

I'm in the process of knitting two pairs of socks that I gave as Christmas presents to Dad and Uncle Tom. Shout out to you two, but no, sorry, the socks aren't done yet.

Wendy and William

When my brother and I were younger, Uncle Tom used to call us "Wendy and William Whiner" when we got upset and complain-y. Well, everyone in the state of Minneosta should have the same name! They are as hearty as anyone until the end of February, at which point someone flips a switch and everyone starts thinking about spring and warm weather and how cold it is. Being in my third winter here, I've really noticed it this year. February and March are SUPPOSED to be cold, it's still winter for goodness sake!

That being said, I am really digging the 50 degree weather we had today. :)

a Valentine's trip to Wisconsin

Last weekend, Chris and I took a trip to Journey Inn in Maiden Rock Wisconsin. I'd discovered the place somewhere along my travels and when I found a coupon for a stay, well, you know Elizabeth and coupons. So I booked the trip for myself, adjacent to President's Day (a holiday for us government stooges) only to realize that it was also Valentine's Day weekend. I couldn't very well leave my valentine at home, so I made him drive. :)

Once I realized that it was less of a retreat and more of a B&B, it was a wonderful stay. The food was EXCELLENT, all home made and organic, complete with a snack every day at 4pm. Elizabeth and snacks just go so nicely together.


On Sunday afternoon, we decided to imitate some of our fellow guests and climb the big hill that's right across the street from the Inn. It was a big hill. Above is the view from about half-way up. You can see the Inn grounds and although it's difficult to see, there is a walking labyrinth behind the red building. It wasn't in very good shape because of the winter and some flooding, but it's neat and I hope to be able to walk it some other time.
Below is the convenient resting place that some previous explorer had left. It wasn't very comfortable, mostly just amusing. And although it does look like Chris has a tire around his waist, it's just his scarf that he tucked in his front pocket in case he got chilly. Honest.

Our walk lasted the better part of 3 hours, which left us exhausted. But then we had snacks and all was fine again. Snacks make everything better.
We had a very nice dinner in Red Wing and enjoyed more extremely tasty food, including Cuban pulled pork with rice, black beans, and carrots. White chocolate bread pudding with dried cherries wrapped up the meal deliciously. I'm just realizing that much of this post is about food. In fact, much of my life is about food. Hmmm, food (!) for thought...

Oh, and back to our giant hike, Chris was simply fascinated by this big snowball. It doesn't look as big in the photo, but it's all a perspective thing. It was really huge.

We had a leisurely drive back to the Cities on Monday, poking around and enjoying the sunny, albeit cold, weather. It was simply enjoyable and relaxing. It was a great vacation.

So, Happy belated Valentine's Day to all!

curious or hi chris

In my recent lagging blog habit, I'm wondering how many out there check for updates. Apparently this is a pretty futile exercise lately, so I will try to reward the faithful with some more posts soon.

Teasers:
My trip to the American Girl store at the Mall of America.
Last weekend's visit to Michigan.
A Facebook phenomenon.
And other random stuff that has yet to be concocted.

Stay tuned! :)

temps

-21 degrees F, air temperature.
feels like -37 degrees F with the wind chill.

It's not gotten above 0 since I returned to MN on Monday evening... from southern California where it was sunny and 85!!

Ahh, home sweet home. :)