The Myth & The Majesty

Stop! It's still me! In the vein of this particular weekend, I decided my blog needed a few changes. Like a new name. And a new layout. And a new background. And some slightly revised titles. Basically, I left the posts alone (although played with fonts a bit). Sometimes you just need a change, eh? The address remains the same (yeah, that'd be far too much of a chore) and the lists haven't really changed (yet). What do you think of it so far?

... or sunshiny bright? Okay, I hate to immediately start talking about the weather -- after all, isn't that the standard conversation fallback? -- but today was basically perfect. After almost a solid week of rain, the sun came out and insisted on staying out. And while I was kept indoors most of the day (against my will), I managed to get out for a bit and enjoy it. Now, if only it could be equally perfect for about two more weeks. Then it's more than welcome to feel like fall. Let's see ... Um ... Did some driving again ... Further than I intended, but it was a gorgeous drive. Took a "study break" to do some moderately essential shopping and ended up taking the scenic route home. Good stuff. Considering I spent the rest of the day cozying up with my laptop and the Spreadsheet From Hell, I think the drive was more than worth it. Saturdays were never supposed to be fair game. Grr. The productiveness of the day seems to have pulled me out of the listless funk I wa

Any arbitrary turn along the way and I would be elsewhere, I would be different. -Frances (played by Diane Lane) in "Under the Tuscan Sun" I live in Wisconsin. Don't worry -- I'm fully aware that this is old news. Every once in awhile, though, it catches me a bit off guard. Like this evening. I was driving back from Minneapolis having just dropped my sister off at her temporary residence. As I crossed into Wisconsin, I had that same strange feeling of being back in "my" state that I always got when we were headed home from soccer tournaments in Minnesota or concerts in Denver. For the first time, I even thought to myself, "I'm from Wisconsin now." And ... it's true. I grew up in South Dakota and deep down I'll always be a South Dakota girl. But when people ask me where I'm from? The answer is Wausau. Life is strange. A year ago I was cooking meals for large groups of kids and families, wondering what the heck was in store for the ne

Like so many things in life, it all started with an email. A late one, for that matter. “Hey, I saw you were going to have a couple Russian parties, and I thought I might try to make it out for one ... Oh, by the way. I moved to Wisconsin not too long ago.” What started on that awkward note turned into a great weekend in Superior/Duluth. Saturday, I met up with Danielle (who, much to my jealousy, spent the last year in St. Petersburg teaching English and just this past Saturday started the venture back for another year) and did some sightseeing. Since I had never seen Lake Superior before, most of our activity was lakeside. The beach, the lighthouse, the Rose Garden ... We even went geocaching (which was even more fun because it was Danielle’s first cache), finding one right down on the shore. After that, we met up with Amy (another member of the 2005 Russia crew) for supper, and then ended up at Marilynn (yep – another one!) and Amy’s apartment to get caught up. Sunday started at a ba

Why, oh why, can't I get the spacing of my previous post right??! I'm going to bed.