A Good Life

My parents had to put our cat, Mystic down today. I never realized how much I would be affected by the loss of one of our cats, but it leaves me with a very heavy heart. We had Mystic for 15 years and she was a big part of our family. Now that my brother and I don't live at home, Mystic and our other cat, Smokey, have become "the kids" to my Mom. I am feeling very sad for not only the loss of Mystic, but also the pain I know it will cause my Mom.

This picture was taken on my birthday this year - all of Mom's kids. Brian is holding Mystic. I'm glad she was part of our lives for so long - she lived a very good life!

Faith

I started reading Mitch Albom's book, have a little faith. I'm not that far into, maybe only 30 pages, but am really enjoying it so far. It's a true story about Mitch Albom being asked to deliver his hometown rabbi's eulogy at his funeral. I've always enjoyed Mitch Albom's book so I decided this would probably be another worth my money.

Albom goes back and forth between his meetings with the rabbi or "Reb" as he calls him, his encounters with faith growing up, and another boy his age in his rough conditions growing up. It is a story of this other boy, Henry, that brought back a story of my own. Henry got to go to a summer camp every year - the only place he really got to rest and have fun. One day a counselor noticed him and asked if he wanted to pray. He said yes and so they prayed together.

Outside of church, camp, and saying Grace before dinner, I haven't prayed with many people. When I was in high school I went to this weekend church retreat in the Cities. I had been grounded at the time, but my parents allowed me to go - something I am grateful for to this day. We did all kinds of group activities and being the outgoing person I am, I always found myself involved in them all and making many new friends. Later in the evening we were given free time and I had noticed this little girl hanging out by herself. I introduced myself to her and started to get to know her. For such a little girl she already had a lot of struggle in her life. She was sad, depressed, and didn't receive support from her family. She had to be on medication, wasn't allowed near sharp objects, and lived every day being called a freak by her brothers and sisters.

The more I listened, the more my heart was breaking for her. I spent every minute with this little girl trying to make her realize how special she was, how precious her life was, and how there were people who cared about her. That night I made her promise me she wouldn't hurt herself anymore, and if she couldn't do it for herself then I needed her to do it for me. I prayed with her and I cried with her. The next morning we packed up our things and I was eating breakfast with some of my friends. She came over to me, gave me a hug and handed me a letter. The letter talked about how she had been admiring me all night before I had gone to talk to her. She wished that I was was her sister and that she was going to keep her promises she made and she would miss me. It ended by saying that I saved her life . . .

I haven't thought about this in a long time and it's amazing how it can still make me emotional. I wrote this little girl a couple times after that weekend. Sadly, I never got a reply. I have no idea if she is still alive, but I hope that I really did impact her as much as she had impacted me.

Slackers!

I have noticed one bad trend, a lot of us have been horrible bloggers lately! It frustrates me when I don't write for so long because it's like trying to play catch-up! So all of you are going to blessed with a bullet posting . . .

- Working on the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house was such an awesome experience! For 3 days I felt like I was living in a different world. I worked the late shift and had fun working in the dark, in mud up to my knees, and with strangers who became friends. It was an eye opening experience, but one that I take a lot of pride in being a part of. The show aired this past Sunday and for those who worked on the house, we definitely had a different perspective watching it.

Paulie from EMHE - the hardest worker on the show!

The finished house.

- My birthday has come and gone. I'm officially in my upper 20's and so far loving life at 27. My birthday party was a ton of fun! My friend Todd (aka Huna http://www.hunamusic.com/ - go check him out) played an acoustic show for us at the Hawthorne Suites. Then it was out to Blackwater and Score for some drinks and dancing - thanks to Ben, my favorite DJ, we had a fantastic soundtrack for the evening! I've had a lot of good birthdays, but I think that this may have been the best ever! :)

- My life has been a bit of a whirlwind since my birthday. My weekends now consist of time with Cody being that he lives in the Cities and I'm in Duluth. I can't complain though being that the longest we have gone without seeing each other is only 5 days! We have had 3 weddings, the State Fair, my family picnic, and then for my Papa's birthday, my mom, dad, brother and myself went to a Twins game - my Papa's first (and last) ever at the Dome! I kept thinking life would slow down after the summer, but it is the last day of September and I'm still busy for another month! I suppose I would be bored though if I didn't have anything going on.

- I'm into my second week of our United Way Campaign at work. I'm not sure if we will meet our goal this year - it's been a little tougher this year which I expected, but I'm now starting to stress about our outcome. I stress every year though and somehow we always have an amazing campaign - I'll continue to keep my fingers crossed and send out good vibes :)

- There is plenty more to come, but I'll stop there for now. Looking forward to being a better blogger again!! :)

Extreme Makeover :Home Edition

Ty and the gang are here and ready to change the lives of one lucky family. Today was the day of the infamous door knock telling the Huber Family of South Range, WI that they will be getting a new home. The father of this family is a decorated firefighter with a wife and two children ages 3 and 6 with a house that is falling apart.

I have been so excited from the moment I heard they were coming here. I knew before a lot of others being that my good friend, Jeffrey's neighbor was in charge of this massive project and my other good friend, Billy was selected to do excavating work at the site. I knew that I would immediately sign up and was so glad I did. They got such an overwhelming response that they actually had to turn volunteers away.

Since my volunteer work at the actual house doesn't start until Saturday I am doing a toy/book drive throughout the week with drop-off spots at 4 different businesses within Duluth, Superior, and Hermantown. The real fun will start when I work Saturday-Monday at the house and I am thrilled to say I will be there for the "Move That Bus."

I am so overjoyed to be a part of this experience and think it is so wonderful to have a local family being honored in this way. Today their was a news article in the Duluth News Tribune once the family was revealed. It was sickening to see how many negative people there are around. I couldn't believe the rude comments on this article and found myself getting so worked up about it. I was happy, however, to see that there were plenty of others who defended this process as much as I have - it's a wonderful thing, why do there always have to be people to try to drag the rest of us down?!!

I can't wait to write about my experience being part of this - keep watching for it!! :)

Babies and Bach Parties and Weddings, Oh My!!

People say that I'm at that age - everyone is getting married and having babies. That holds so true for this summer! Although I am doing neither of the above mentioned I have plenty of friends that are. In May I had two back to back bachelorette party weekends. The first was Lindsey Lu's down in Minneapolis.

Here are all the girls out @ The Loon for Lindsey's Bachelorette Party

The following weekend was a Bachelorette Party for Lindsay Hack (Hack's Glamorama Extravaganza) - which was a night of mayhem in Superior. I have never seen so many girls in one house before in my life. We all piled up in vans and were escorted around Superior with one stop in Duluth. Hack's soon to be mother-in-law made her these oh so beautiful underwear which she most definitely wore out at the bar and showed off all night long!! :)

This past weekend was Tommy & Danna's wedding. I decided we could've just called their wedding our 10 Year Reunion and been done with it! :) It was fun to see so many people that I rarely get to see.

The bride and groom out on the dance floor!

And now in baby news - Tim and Amanda(Hallfrisch) Boberg are having a baby girl! Before the sex of the baby was known it was simply known as Bam-Bam. Amanda is still attached to that, but Tim now calls her Bella Baby. Although Bella will not be her real name - I have now fallen in love with Amanda's belly - Bella Baby!!

This was Amanda & I at Lindsey's place for her bachelorette weekend. I was trying to be preggo with her - I think I actually may have gotten my belly sticking out bigger than her real preggo belly is!! :) This was before we knew Bam-Bam was Bella!

I absolutely love touching pregnant bellies!! Here's LeClair and I hoping for Bella to kick at Tommy & Danna's wedding. Amanda couldn't look any more beautiful pregnant!!

Day of Caring

Yesterday was United Way's Day of Caring. It is a a special day when volunteer teams help out community organizations with a variety of activities. When I was in high school I used to participate in the event and it wasn't until last year that I found myself once again involved in the great event.


Last year I was recruited to be a member of the planning committee for the United Way of Superior-Douglas County. It was fun learning the work that goes into the planning of it and was able to get my company involved in a few projects. This year I was asked to chair the planning committee - a position that I gladly accepted. I learned far more this year than I could've ever expected. I found out that this event isn't one that the community is truly embracing and is in danger of not happening in the future. I am really learning the different dynamics between Duluth and Superior - who know a bridge could make such a difference!


Although I feel the community doesn't embrace this day, it doesn't mean that yesterday wasn't a successful day. It was truly amazing in my eyes!! We started off with a pancake breakfast at Applebee's for volunteers and agencies. Not a single thing went wrong and Applebee's did such an amazing job - thank you!! Next it was off to the Salvation Army Thrift Store to sort through donations - a position that I have learned is endless and thankless. I believe that some people use the Salvation Army are their own personal trash can - sad the time and effort that goes into sorting through stuff like that. There were definitely some treasure that were found though . . .

I found myself upset once while sorting through stuff. I watched a man who is a regular volunteer at the Salvation Army throw away an entire box of books. I was literally sick to my stomach thinking of all the other places I could've brought those. There are so many organizations/programs that thrive on donations like that!

My day wasn't over after I left the Salvation Army. I then picked up all the collected items for our donation drive for Little Treasures childcare center in Duluth. I was so amazed at the results! It was so fun getting to deliver all the items and getting to see all the kids that will benefit from them. This picture doesn't even do justice for what is inside those boxes . . .

Totals: 8 bags of cotton balls, 9 packs of cotton swabs, 80 glue sticks, 11 containers of chalk, 15 packs of baby wipes, 11 boxes of crayons, 8 coloring books, 15 packs of stickers, 31 tubes of glitter, 22 tubes of paint, 7 packages of buttons, 15 boxes of markers, 77 paint brushes, 2 containers of clay, 2 spools of ribbon, 4 sets of water colors, 10 packs of construction paper, 1 sketch pad, 88 containers of play-doh, 2 rolls of paper towels, 4 spools of yarn, 3 packs of notebook paper, 2 packs of safety plugs, 15 toy cars, 8 tubes of finger paints, 2 packs of white paper, 1 play-doh spaghetti factory, and 1 play-doh duffle bag. Sounds like a big fun mess to me!!

If you get an opportunity to do something like this in your community, I highly encourage you to participate. I felt so much pride yesterday driving around Duluth/Superior and seeing so many people out volunteering wearing LIVE UNITED t-shirts for the Day of Caring. There was an article in the Duluth News Tribune today http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/123680/ Check it out!! :)

Here and There

If I could choose one word for my life lately, it would be "chaotic." I have been so on the go for the last month. I frequently tell myself I need to blog and then something else comes up and then I find myself thinking the same way another week later :(

So to start with, I'm no longer homeless. I moved back into a place I lived a few years ago. I used to live there with my friend Jeffrey, but he bought a house so I moved back in by myself. I gave it a little makeover with some paint and new decor. I'll have to show some before/after photos in my next post.

Jamie was home for a few days and LeClair and I were able to meet her for dinner one night. When the three of us get together it is so much fun. Time and distance never seems to effect our friendship in the least bit because we always fall right back into place!

About a week after moving in I went to Chicago for 6 days. The first few days were for fun. I flew out there and Jeff drove. Since he used to live out there he was a fabulous tour guide and I appreciated his willingness to see sites with me that he has already seen.

This is a view of Navy Pier and the city from the ferris wheel.

When we were driving into the city I saw a huge billboard for the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Jeff will tell you I was like a little kid when I saw it. He agreed to go which was SOOO fun!! Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures inside the exhibit, but this was the banner for it inside the museum.
I got back from Chicago on a Wednesday and then I Friday I left for the Boundary Waters on Friday. Jeff's family has a lot of land up there and although no cabins have been built yet, his dad has built a "shed". It sleeps 4 pretty comfortably so myself, Jeff, and then two friends, Corissa and Lee went up for the weekend. Our luck with weather wasn't too great. When we got there on Friday night it was pouring rain and extremely muddy. I woke up on Saturday and walked outside to it snowing. By the afternoon the snow stopped and the sun came out, but it was still cold. The weekend was still a lot of fun, but I would like to go again when it's a little warmer! :)

Lee has joined a photography club and he had to try taking pictures of star trails. This was his first attempt while we were up in the BWCA. I think it turned out pretty neat!

Last weekend was Memorial weekend and I enjoyed a nice long 4-day weekend!! Friday was spent working on my apartment since as noted above I haven't been around very much. Saturday we spent down in Minong. It wasn't too hot, but if the sun was directly on you then it was! The rest of the weekend was just kinda relaxing which I really enjoyed. This coming weekend is Lindsey's bachelorette party which should be lots of fun. Let the wedding season begin!!