Service with a Smile

With all the recent Michael Jackson coverage and trying to navigate the paperwork nightmare of buying a house, I almost forgot that I have a birthday coming up. It wasn't until I received an email from my mom that I realized that, oh, right, it's next week. Thanks mom for the reminder!

So along with this birthday comes the renewing of my driver's license. And I realized this funny fact: This (Minnesota) is the first state I've ever lived in long enough for my driver's license to actually expire. So today I made the trip down to the DMV to ceremoniously recognize the commitment I've made to the great state of Minnesota. And it was delightful.

Though you might think I'm being a bit sarcastic, I'm actually quite serious. The place was filled with a myriad of cultures and colors and ages and basically contained a perfect representation of the United States. And since people watching is one of my favorite activities, it was quite a thrill. I eavesdropped on the Brazilians sitting ahead of me and laughed at the mixed race couple's exuberant children. When I was finally called to the window, I was greeted by the most delightful Middle Eastern woman. She acted incredulous when I answered that I was in fact over 21 years old, so I wouldn't be needing a special driver's license. That in fact, I'm turning 27! And she went on and on about how wonderful and cute my drivers license photo was. I could have hugged her.

So a special thank you to the Minneapolis DMV for turning my annoyed-at-having-to-renew-my-drivers-license frown into a smile in just under an hour. The pleasure was all mine.

A Place to Hang Our Hat

The last couple of weeks have been a blur of house listings, viewings, open houses, loan documents, Realtors, and neighborhood statistics, but I'm happy to announce that as of last night Eric and I bought a house! I'm sure that those of you who have purchased a home before know the insane flurry of things to follow before it can be officially official, but that doesn't make this moment any less fantastic!

We ended up finding a home that needs just the right amount of TLC, just a couple of blocks from the Mississippi River. It was built in 1924 and I believe it may even have the original owner's player piano in the basement. :) It has a nice backyard for Harper and when we told him about it, he did a little dance. I'll admit it, I did a little dance too.

There will be more pictures to follow - especially as we start putting it together - but here's a few for now.

The Front

The Back

The Living Room & Dining Room

P.S. Speaking of the Mississippi River, I thought I should post a link to the most hysterical story of two 'adventurers' who attempted a Huck Finn-style voyage down the Mississippi in recent weeks. (Thanks to Eric for alerting me of this gem).

I feel It All

I love the new video "I Feel It All" by Feist for the following reasons:

1. Catchy tune

2. That's exactly how I dance (especially at 1:15 and 2:49)

3. Who doesn't love fireworks?

4. One take - are you kidding me?!

Catching Up

The last month has flown by and since I have been M.I.A. on my blog, I thought a bit of catch up was in order. Let's bust out the bullet points, shall we?

Our new race car

• Bought a car! After nearly 5 years of being a single car family we finally broke down and bought a second car. A car that I'm still learning how to drive because it's a manual. We fell in love with the 2005 Saturn Ion and after it was explained to me that once I got comfortable with the manual system it would be like driving a race car, how could I resist?
• Eric is a real life attorney! One Saturday in April, Eric and I were driving down to Marshall for my baby brother's prom when he got a phone call. Thirty minutes stopped at a SuperAmerica later, he had a job offer! He now gets all gussied up everyday to fight crime at a small firm in the twin cities. And by fighting crime I mean mostly representing clients in bankruptcies and divorces. If you live in Minnesota and you're in need of competent and good looking representation, email me. I'm just sayin'.
• Baby Brother Graduated! We got to spend a long weekend with my family for my brother's graduation a couple of weeks ago. And when we all get together for a celebration, it gets a bit wild. It was so nice to see everyone and I swear my cheeks hurt by the time I got home.
• Feng Shui'd my office! Okay, I really don't have a clue as to how to feng shui, but as part of my new happiness project I decided to spruce up my office space a bit since I spend 8 hours a day there. A bonsai plant and a new fountain have really made a big difference (although when my coworkers pop in to visit, they keep telling me it makes them have to pee). It's still a work in progress, but I think surrounding myself with things that are calming and motivating are important - now I don't feel as if I'm just sitting in a box. What do you do to make your workspace feel more inviting? (FYI - I was inspired by this article.)

Eric and I at my brother's graduation

A friend lost, A lesson learned

I ran into an old friend at the gym the other night on my way to a weightlifting class. We quickly caught up and I asked about a few people we both had known when we had worked together. I was particularly interested in one lady, Cathy, as I had thought about calling her every few months since I had last seen her two and a half years ago. When I asked about her, my old work friend said, “Oh. She’s dead. She died last June.” 

I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I had really admired Cathy and even though we hadn’t spoken in a long time, I considered her one of my good friends. How could this have happened and how could I not have known about it?

Because I did not get the chance to say goodbye, I have decided to do it here and send it out into the universe. So, to the best Norwegian knitter and joke teller that I know, I will miss you and your hilarious stories of the Peace Corp and our gabbing sessions over silly TV shows. Thank you Cathy for your warm friendship and for always making me feel like I had a seat at the table. I will miss you.

Lesson Learned

The loss of this good friend caused me to think about others I hadn’t spoken to in a long time. So I picked up the phone yesterday and called one of them. And it was so good to talk to her.

My challenge to you is: Find someone you’ve lost touch with and call them, or email them, or send them a postcard. You’ll be glad you did.

P.S. I looked back to see where I was in my life when Cathy died and turns out, I was doing this. And the funny thing is, Cathy would have gotten a real kick out of that.