Friday's Random Thoughts!

Happy Friday (a.k.a. FIF)!

1. This weekend, a group of friends and I are heading down towards the Bluffs in Winona to become “one with nature”…yep, we’re going camping! I don’t know if I would consider myself a “true camper”, since I don’t like to get dirty, hate bugs, and am not a big fan of sleeping on the ground, but I do enjoy getting out and camping every now and then. We haven’t actually been camping for 2 years, so I figure I’m about due. This time of the year is especially gorgeous with the leaves changing. I’m really looking forward to a weekend away with the “camping crew”!

2. Each year, the U hosts the Community Fund Drive (most companies do something similar) and our goal is to get 100% participation. Normally I delve deep into my wallet and give money each paycheck and donate; however, I think that certain people at the U and within my Department have lost the true meaning of why we’re giving money. For each specific department within the U, if you have 75% participation, you’re department gets a free lunch at the end of the CFD. I guess I feel like being rewarded for doing something charitable defeats the purpose. I think that you should give because you want to, not because you know there’s something in it for you – though, I can understand why the U thinks this is a good strategy for getting more people to donate. But, what really bothers me is that we get heckled non-stop for a month about donating and if you seem the slightest bit reluctant to donate you get the “all you need to give is $1.00 so that we can get our free lunch”….WAIT, does anyone else think that is totally wrong? Maybe I’m being stubborn in my thoughts and ways, but it’s hard for me to hear that. It shouldn’t be about the free lunch, but about knowing that you’re making a difference in someone else’s life who is truly struggling. Therefore, I’ve decided not to donate my money to our CFD this year (I want to stand strong in my beliefs that we shouldn’t donate because we only want something in return for ourselves), but instead am going to take what I would normally donate in a year and give it to something very near and dear to my heart. I’m a strong believer in donating (whether it be money, time or other ways) and feel that the reason behind your donation shouldn’t be about a free lunch, or whatever the “incentive” might be, but because you want to help somebody else out (no strings attached)!

3. I can’t believe it’s October 1st, today. Where did the summer go? I love the fall, but can’t believe that we have to wait another 9 months for warm, sunny weather. I’m definitely not a winter person – It’s too cold and gets dark way to early which leads to me being one bummed out girl! Hopefully we’ll have a mild winter, with very little snow-fall…haha, who am I kidding, this is MinneSNOWta after all!

4. On the upside, we’re having a “tailgate” potluck at work today. I love potlucks, but don’t love the feeling after eating mass amounts of food, which means I’ll be sporting a “food baby” come 1pm today :) Is anyone else suddenly very hungry?!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! A special shout out to the people running the Twin Cities 10 Mile, Half & FULL Marathon this weekend, especially to my friend/co-worker Carly – good luck! I’ll be cheering for you in spirit since I won’t be able to watch in person this year!

Mumm’s NOT the word…anymore! 6/19/2010

It’s been a while since I’ve last blogged, so I’ve decided to get back on track – I apologize in advance if this post seems extremely long (and I promise to try to write something at least once a week). First & probably most importantly, I’m now a MacKenzie!! Yep, that’s right, Kyle & I “tied the knot” on June 19^th. So many people told me that the day would fly by and to stop and take it all in….wow, they were right; the day absolutely flew by. As much as you try to stop and take things in, it’s hard. Here’s a rundown of our day:

Friday night – My bridesmaids and I (minus Joline…) went out to Cooper's Pub in St. Louis Park for some drinks and appetizers. They had fabulous drinks and the apps weren’t too shabby either. Afterwards, we went to Glamour Nails to get our nails all beautified. It’s a brand new nail salon and it was so nice!

From there, we headed back to our Hotel. We stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton. I have to say, I wasn’t all that impressed. I thought it was going to be really nice (especially since it’s BRAND NEW), but it was just okay. The one major downfall was that there was only ONE elevator. I know, we should have taken the stairs, but I had a stair incident the previous night and couldn’t risk another one the night BEFORE the wedding J; therefore, waiting the 10 minutes for the elevator was probably worth my time. We didn’t do much that night – just watched some TV, chatted and I tried my hardest to keep calm. Truthfully, the night was great and I got to spend it with some of my best girlfriends!

Morning came so fast…and like most girls, I’d been waiting for this day for as long as I could remember – and it was FINALLY here! I was excited, nervous, anxious, happy, worried and super emotional. But, by 8am, we were out the door (we allowed ourselves extra time for the elevator J)! One of my high school classmates does hair and she so kindly agreed to do my hair for the wedding! She and one of her co-workers came in on their day off to help make us look [more] beautiful. We had the whole Salon to ourselves so that was F-U-N! We enjoyed bagels, fruit & mimosas whilst getting our hair done…it was the perfect start to a perfect day!

From there, we headed to Edinburgh where the wedding and reception took place. I was really starting to get the nervous/excitement feeling in the pit of my stomach. I went to check out the flowers, table decorations and room…it all looked so perfect! We ladies headed to get our dresses on. It was so surreal putting my dress on – it fit perfectly and I felt so wonderful in it. Our photographer, Rob (who was amazing, by the way) snapped a few photos of us ladies getting ready and then he took me outside to do a few pictures of me before the boys arrived. As soon as I got word that the boys (most importantly, the GROOM) had arrived, I became instantly excited; I couldn’t wait to see Kyle on OUR wedding day! The boys got ready and our photographer took Kyle out to snap some photos of him…then he got him into place and came to get me. All I could think was “oh my gosh, I’m gonna see my future Husband, I sure hope he likes my dress”! When I saw him (his back was facing me), my heart started to pound faster and harder than it ever had and I tried with everything I had to hold back the tears. When he turned around, I felt much calmer. He looked so handsome…and I’ll never forget the look on his face when he saw me. It was an amazing moment in my life. After seeing each other, we started our pictures, followed by wedding party pictures and family pictures. Family pictures were the last and I was starting to get really nervous and super emotional…so much that I started crying! I tried to explain that they were tears of JOY (okay, and some from nerves). Once pictures were done, we headed into our respective locker rooms to “hang out” until it was time for the Ceremony to start. I’m thankful to my friends for keeping me occupied and for telling me all sorts of funny stories (to prevent more tears). I think I went to the bathroom about 10 times within a half hour time span and asked what time it was every other minute. My personal attendant and very dear friend, Sonya, came in just a bit before 4:30 to tell us that things were going to be delayed, of course, my 1^st thought was, “CRAP, Kyle went running in the opposite direction”…thankfully that wasn’t the case! I was told later that people were still being seated…

About 4:35, Sonya came in to tell us it was “show time”. My heart started pounding, I could feel that pit in my stomach, and yes, I had to hit the bathroom up ONE MORE TIME! As we walked out of our locker room, the boys formed a bridge over us with their arms. For whatever reason, it made me smile (& made for some really cute pictures). As we started walking, it kind of felt like my legs were detached from my body; I was obviously moving, but felt like I had no control. As we got in line, I demanded, I mean politely asked my MOH to tell me one last funny story or joke…we had one last laugh and before I knew it, I was walking down the aisle. I was trying to hold my tears back and focused on not tripping. I made it down the aisle successfully, where I met my best friend and love of my life. Once we were holding hands and standing next to each other, I felt at ease. I was calm. It felt like the Ceremony took about 2 minutes…I couldn’t believe it when I heard, “I now pronounce you Husband and Wife”…Even though Kyle forgot a couple of his lines & I nearly took a spill in front of everyone after the sand ceremony, it went perfectly! Nothing I could write could ever describe the way I felt in those very moments. They truly were the best moments of my life!

As we walked down the aisle, I felt relaxed and could actually look at our friends & family without crying. Right after, we shared some celebratory hugs with our family & friends. Our guests were instructed to head inside for some appetizers & drinks while they prepped the outside for the reception portion of the night. Kyle & I, along with our Best Man, Josh, and Maid of Honor, Jaci, went and made things “official” by signing the Marriage License. We were able to get some mingling and before I knew it, our cocktail hour was over. It was time to gather the wedding party for the Grand March!

Once we were seated we immediately heard the clanking of the glasses…of course, we stood up, kissed and sat back down. Ah the joys of having that ONE person think they’re clever in clanking the glasses every minute (ahem, Howard). Salads & dinners were served soon after. Kyle & I choose to have the “Harvest Stuffed Chicken”. We thought it was so delicious when we did our taste testing and loved it just as much on our wedding day. We also had a Steak & Walleye combination and a Vegetarian Pasta dish for the non-meat eaters. Hopefully everyone enjoyed their dish. My Dad did a Toast / Speech…wow, holy waterworks! I think I cried throughout most of it. It was so heartfelt and meaningful….it even had some humor in it as well! I knew my Dad would deliver a fabulous speech, I just never thought it would be that amazing! Soon after, it was time for the MOH and BM speeches. Jaci went first (she must have drawn the short stick on that one). If you know Jaci at all, then you know she’s one of the most creative, funny and animated writers and storytellers out there. She did NOT disappoint! I wish I could repeat the whole speech in my blog, but there was a Kickball trophy involved; enough said J Josh, the Best Man also had one heck of a speech up his sleeves! Though he didn’t bring any props, he told some great stories, shared some great moments and said some very kind words. Once the speeches were done, Kyle & I escaped outside to have some more photos taken (out on the golf course). While we were saying “CHEESE”, our guests were eating CHEESEcake out of Martini glasses. Who doesn’t love a Martini cheesecake bar?! Each slice of cheesecake was placed into a Martini glass and our guests were able to add toppings such as: shaved chocolate, fruit, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and nuts. Soon after the dessert was set out, we had our “favors” set out. We decided to do something a little bit different and had a candy table. The table had 8 different kinds of candies and guests could pick & choose which candies they wanted to fill their bags with to take home. I think this might have been child heaven! The kids went nuts for this one….one youngster in particular filled his bag so full that it actually broke! By the time I was able to get back to see it (seriously, like 15 minutes after it was set up), 90% of the candy was gone, YES….another success!

As our guests enjoyed their dessert, we played our slide show (thanks to our helpful slide-show guru, Shannon). It was fun picking out pictures to include and it was really fun to see people’s reactions to the pictures (which usually involved a lot of laughing)! Once the slideshow was done, it was FINALLY time for some dancing. We started off with the traditional “first dance”, which we danced to Ray LaMontagne, You Are the Best Thing. I think the song title sums up the way I feel about Kyle; it just seemed so perfect! The first part of our dance went well, and then (as Kyle was singing…) the waterworks started up again. This time, though, they seemed to be a little out of control. Luckily, the hubby had a Kleenex in his pocket, which I quickly used to wipe the mass amounts of tears from my face. It was a fabulous dance and I wouldn’t change a thing about it! Then, it was the Father/Daughter dance. I picked the song I Loved Her First, by Heartland. I’m not a country fan by any means, but once I heard the lyrics to the song, I knew it was it. My Dad is such a good dancer and he was trying to do all kinds of “moves”, but I was just so nervous/excited/anxious that I just couldn’t seem to follow his lead for the life of me. It probably didn’t help that my vision was blurred..yep, you guessed it, I was crying, AGAIN (but this was the last time, I swear). Seriously, who knew one person could produce so many tears in such a short amount of time?! Thankfully, they were all tears of Joy. Once those dances were done, our DJ invited our wedding party on to the dance floor. Instead of having all of our guests watch us dance around like a bunch of fools, we did the “waterfall effect” and had each person from the wedding party, go out into the crowd and grab a guest to come dance, and we kept doing that until the dance floor was packed! It was a fun way to start off the dancing!

The dance seemed to be going well and I was having a blast. I actually don’t think I left the dance floor for the remainder of the night. We had quite a few kids at our wedding and they seemed to have so much fun dancing (and they looked pretty darn cute, too)! Around 9pm, our DJ made an announcement that stating someone had spilled a drink on the dance floor and that he needed everyone to leave the dance floor while it was being cleaned up…this was our QUEUE! Queue for what? For our prepared Thriller dance! Yes, Kyle, myself and a group of our friends got together prior to the wedding (every other Tuesday for 2 months, to be exact) and learned Michael Jackson's Thriller Dance. It was so much fun to finally “perform” the dance….some of our friends taped it and put it up on YouTube (so, I guess you could say we’re famous)! It was definitely one of the highlights of our whole day. We continued to dance the night away….however, our friends had one more trick up their sleeve. Around 11pm, we were informed that our friends Wade, Shannon, Kate & Adam (in spirit) brought us a Piñata, a Sesame Street one, of course! So everyone gathered around as they watched Kyle & I try to break it open. PROBLEM – it was so full that the thing wouldn’t burst. Thankfully, one of our friends gave us her super spikey, high heal and we used that to break into it….candy, toys and other trinkets fell to the ground! Everyone grabbed as many goodies as they could…I felt like I was 5 again! Really, nothing much can top a piñata at a wedding…thanks, guys! The rest of the evening was spent dancing & enjoying friends/family. It really was the fairytale day that every girl dreams of! Even if I had the chance to change something, I wouldn’t!

Now begins the next chapter in our lives. Even though I’m not sure what the future holds for us, I know that I couldn’t have picked a better person to spend the rest of my days with!

Pay It Forward

My day started out like any other day...alarm goes off, get out of bed, shower, feed the dog, blah, blah, blah. My day usually starts to look up when I head to get some delicious coffee with my co-worker Carly...today was no different. We made the trek (it's really not that far) over to the nearest Starbucks so that we could fulfill our caffeine addiction! After I ordered my usual (tall Pike, ONE petite vanilla bean scone and a bag of their oh-so-delicious popcorn) I went to reach for my handy dandy credit card, when I heard, "there's no charge", confused, I asked "why?". Well, some really nice person left their remaining Starbucks gift card to use on the next however many customers, because they were leaving town or something & wouldn't be able to use the giftcard up. So, to my surprise, my food & beverage were FREE! It was such a wonderful way to start my day. Now I'd like to pay it forward. I haven't exactly figured out how I want to do so, but I have heard a couple of good suggestions. One being, going through a drive-thru and paying for the person's food/beverage behind me; what a great idea! Other suggestions/ideas welcome!

It's so re-assuring to know that there are so many good people out there! It seems that more often than not, we hear about the bad things or people and we don't hear nearly enough about all the good things/people. It certainly is making me think more about doing nice things for others - even something as simple as holding the door open for someone. At any rate, I'm really looking forward to doing something extra nice for a someone that won't be expecting it!

Happy Thursday :)

Changing Gears...

I realize it's been a while since I've last written - I've been fairly busy wrapping up some last minute wedding things. I can't believe that there's only 11 days until the "big day"! Now that I look back on this past year, I realize how fast time really goes. Even though I knew that my our big day would come, I never imagined that the time would fly by so fast! It's almost surreal, but I'm very excited to start a new chapter in my life.

As I was laying in bed last night, I got to thinking, "what am I going to do with my time once all this wedding stuff is over"? Hmm, good question, huh? I really want to continue with (or at least be more disciplined) my goals of getting in to shape. Currently I'm only doing the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, mostly because that's all that time allows for right now, but I want to really get back into shape. I'm not really sure the best way to conquer this feat, but I'm definitely up for the challenge! I ran my first 5k this past April. I really didn't have high expectations (other than to finish) and found that I did better than I expected...and it didn't hurt that I had a good time, too (thanks to my fabulous co-workers). My time was 28:11, not half bad. I'd love to get it under 27 minutes, but it will definitely take some work on my part! I'm not sure if I have it in me to ever run a marathon, but my goal is to perhaps give a go at a half marathon. But, before I get way to ahead of myself, I'd like to try a few more 5k's, a 10k and then perhaps a half. This all sounds so easy, but the problem is, I'm not a huge fan of running. I don't mind the occasional run when it's nice out (you know, the 2 - 3 milers), but I tend to get really bored while running. I'm not sure if I just need some inspiration, or if I just need to train myself to like it, but it's something I'm willing to work on. I really need training tips, advice and/or some fun races that I can look into running in the future, because come July 1st, I'm changing gears from wedding planning to getting in shape!!

My loves!

Thanks to my co-working, friend Carly, I was tagged to do this so, here it is - 10 things I love!

1. Kyle! (Que the cheesy music) He's my very best friend and I feel so lucky to have him in my life! He's one of the most generous, nice, funny (at least he thinks he is), supportive, caring people I know. He has a heart of gold and I truly love him to pieces!!

2. My family. My parents are 2 of the most important people in my life and I wouldn't be where I am today without them! Even though we may have our moments, I know they are 2 people that will love, care & support me in everything I do!

**Son of A...I couldn't find a picture of my family on my computer....

3. My friends...I have the most amazing friends in the whole world! We always have the best times together and I know I can count on them for any & everything! In a sense, I think of them as my other "soul mates" - love, love, love them!

4. Beer...enough said!

5. Pesto pizza with fresh garden veggies! There's nothing better than walking outside to the garden, picking some veggies and putting them on a pizza with homemade pesto....YUM-O!

6. Outdoor concerts! One of the many reasons I love summer is because I absolutely love the experience of an outdoor concert! Yes, I have a few favorites in mind (DMB, Jack Johnson, OAR), but I think any outdoor concert in the summer is amazing. Sitting out under the stars, listening to some good tunes, enjoying a beer....ah, pure bliss!

7. Hannah! Hannah is our 6 year old golden retriever. We "adopted" her when she was 3.5 years old from a friend of a friend (follow the bouncing ball) who was moving over seas to go to school. We gladly opened our home to her; it's like she was meant to be ours! She's the most well-behaved & sweetest dog ever!!

...hmmm, is it really sad that I got stuck after #7? Apparently my brain must be on it's lunch break, too :)

8. My Job! Well, I'm an Accountant which is by no means a glamorous job, but I really love working at the U. The people (for the most part....) are awesome and the work is fairly interesting (or at least that's what I tell myself). I really just feel lucky to have a job these days!

9. Target! I absolutely love shopping at Target! Kyle usually cringes when I say "I need to run to Target to get a couple things". Mostly because he knows a "couple things" turns out to be a shopping cart of things. It definitely doesn't help that there is a Target about 2 miles from our house.


10. Sleeping during a thunderstorm! To me it's such a peaceful and relaxing time to be in bed. Now, don't get me wrong, the second that storm turns "severe" I start to panic a tiny bit, but I love the sound of a nice, steady rainfall with a few thunders here & there!

Wow, I can't believe I finished! I don't think the hard part was necessarily coming up with 10 things I love, but narrowing down the list was the challenge!

Soapbox

Forgive me, but I'm going to jump onto my soapbox for a minute...Alright, so what's up with the people that go to the bathroom and either DON'T wash their hands (I just threw up in my mouth a little bit), or "wash" them by trickling a couple drips of water over their hands? Didn't their mothers, fathers, people in general, society teach them anything? First of all, it's not hard to put some soap on your hands, lather up and rinse them; I mean, what, it takes all of 20 seconds?! I don't claim to be a germ-a-phobe, but dear God, I do believe in washing my hands after I use the bathroom. I don't expect you to sit there and give yourself a bath after you've done your business (although, I have seen a person or 2 practically giving themselves a bath in our restrooms, but that's a whole different topic), but I do expect that you would have the common courtesy and decency to at least use some soap & water...is it really that hard? Moral of the story, WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS AFTER USING THE RESTROOM!

Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'm happy to report that this weather we're having is absolutely gorgeous! I'm so glad that summer is finally here....knock on wood! I'm really hoping to get in a nice run tonight (and by nice I mean 2-3 miles TOPS...anymore than that seems silly), watch The Office season finale, and maybe even a few wedding things. Thank God the weekend is almost here!

Thriller Tuesday!

As if our wedding wasn't already going to be "the wedding of the CENTURY", we decided, along with a group of our friends to learn Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance to "perform" at the wedding. Wow, had we known how hard the dance was, we may have changed our minds. So, for the past 2 months, every other Tuesday, we get together with our friends for some dancin'! We quickly learned that even though it's a challenging dance to learn, if you break it down into chunks, it's definitely manageable (thanks to YouTube, of course)! Unfortunately, I can't get the words for the dance steps out of my head..."booty bounce, booty bounce", "swim together, swim jump", "shake-a-and-a-up-a & a shake-a-and-a-up-a" - just to name a few! We hope to have the whole thing memorized by June 19th - heck, even if not, throw some alcohol into the mix and I'm sure we'll think we look good! I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, but we plan to take video of us doing the dance, so I'll be sure to post it for your enjoyment!