Spring Fever

While I do love the spring (I have even left the house without a coat- gasp!!!), apparently it does not love me. Hay fever has hit in a BIG way. Friday was a slightly sore throat and yesterday was full blown, can't breathe, can't swallow, no contacts, head exploding allergy attacks. Not cool... I've now dug out the allergy drugs- all sorts along with lots of tissues... Let's hope that whatever is blooming dies quickly.

I've continued to be crafty during the nice weather, though soon I may move my knitting sessions to a blanket outside- it's not that warm yet! Here are some "in progress" pics of the burp cloths that I'm knitting- there will be bibs also!

On the cake decorating front, we made gumpaste flowers in class on Sat- I love the daisy's and the "fantasy flower" though I'm calling it a poppy! There will be another cake next week!

Misc. Happenings

I've been plugging along on a few knitting projects lately- the orders for baby sweaters keep coming in so I'm trying to get those done. Here is a pic of the latest one for Sam's friends...

I'm also working on some socks (as always) and a hat.

I've been up to my usual baking and cooking- I made mini cupcakes- dangerous to just pop in the mouth!

I've also been inspired to take another Wilton Cake decorating class. I've already taken Course 1 and taught myself Course 2 so I thought Fondant would be interesting... Plus it is at a reasonable hour on Saturdays in March. Now, I've heard that the Wilton Fondant is both expensive and tastes absolutely horrible. I've decided to make my own... there are some very easy recipes on the web for "Marshmallow Fondant". It is basically adding two pounds of sugar to melted marshmallows. It tastes great and seems to be quite malleable from my playing around- Hopefully it will work fine for the class. Here are some pics of the process- imagine powdered sugar everywhere!

Finally, while I believe I've weathered the worst of the winter, it is still cold. Here are some pics of cars frozen to the ground with icicles from the parking lot...Burrrr....

Fun Filled Weekend

I had a busy but fun weekend Jan 30- Feb 2. It was my friend, Alessia's, birthday - she is actually from Italy and we (the Lange Lab) thought it was a good idea to take her to the Olive Garden- so she could feel at home (can you hear my sarcasm?).

On her actual birthday Alessia made pizza from her family recipe for Nancy and I- plus I kicked both their butt's in Oceanopoly (Monopoly with a sea theme- from my marine bio days).

Then, on Sunday, we got together to watch my Steelers beat the Cardinals at my place!

See- I told you it was a crazy weekend! Crazy but lots of fun...

Minnesota Swarm

Minneapolis/St. Paul has a professional lacrosse team named the Swarm. They offered free tickets to students to the first game of the season so I went to my first lacrosse game! Here are some pics!

Gwen and Kris:

Alessia and Jose:

The Game:

The Mascot:

The Cheerleader/dancers:

Winter

I'm surviving my first winter in 6 years pretty well though I've learned that there are several essential pieces of information I've picked up.

First: layers- the more layers the better these include: land's end long underwear- the best thing ever...: turtlenecks and tanktops for under shirts- another layer is always welcome...: sweaters for over shirts- the previous comment applies: puffy down vest: fantastic under the jacket on especially cold mornings...: Hat, scarf and gloves- any exposed skin at -10F is bad- very bad

Second: snow boots with miraculous traction- they appear not to shovel sidewalks here so you need TRACTION so you don't fall on your butt (I've already fallen twice and now wear my last season's style boots ALL THE TIME)

Third: don't put mascara on until you get inside- if your eyelashes freeze on the way to the bus the mascara runs when they thaw and you look like a raccoon- if you haven't guessed, I learned this from experience....

Last: underground tunnels, though confusing, are our friends...

Smokey is home...

Smokey appears to be HAPPY to be back in Minneapolis and has taken up his usual reclining position in the chair beside my bed....

Happy Thanksgiving

I cooked a WHOLE Thanksgiving Dinner this year... Here are some pics and I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings wherever you are! Miss you all!

Hakan's Shopping Visit

My good friend, Hakan, from grad school in TX, came for a weekend visit. We spent lots of time in the Mall of America but watched some movies and walked around one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. It was a wonderful weekend and I'll miss him!

Ready, Set, SHOP!!!

First Purchase

Round 1

Beverage Break

Inside Coasters

SNOW!!!! Well sort of...

OK, so as most of you know I've been dreaming not only of a white Christmas, but of white EVERYDAY. Sadly, I've been sorely disapointed up to this point but there was a hint of snow- here are the first pics (hopefully there are many more to come).

Halloween Burgers

Instead of stuffing ourselves with candy on Halloween, we stuffed ourselves with great burgers from Ike's in downtown Minneapolis!

The Bog Blog

A friend, Alessia, and I went to visit the bog in the middle of Minneapolis! It is called the Quaking Bog and it was fantastic! We got a bit lost in the park and wondered around for a bit but it was totally worth it.
Here's Alessia and me:

And here are some pics of lots of the fungi and cat tails in the bog:

I also got some great pics of the leaves changing colors: