Apartment

It's official. I am a real live adult with my very own apartment. But before we get to that, I've been up to a lot more recently.

Disclaimer: This will be a highly picture-intensive post.

A while ago at work, we had our all office picnic. We all contributed some food/drinks, and quit working at noon to head over to the park for an afternoon of grilling, beer, and yard games. It was quite fun to see that other side of my co-workers.

How many Leads does it take to put together a ladder golf game? (I ended up going over and doing it for them, fyi)

Very pretty lake!

I got a bloody nose. No, I didn't get hit. It just happened.

Over 30 vs under 30!

This is one of my bosses, Gayle. She's hip.

We played volleyball, frisbee, ladder golf, and horseshoes. Horseshoes is harder than it looks. It may have been that we were not playing it right...but that's neither here nor there. Picnics sure beat working.

A few weeks ago, The Boy and I spent the afternoon coloring. He picked a picture of Cinderella, and I picked Snow White. He never finished his, so I couldn't take a picture of it. I think I should go into the coloring business.

This is me sitting in my new apartment just after I picked up my keys! ALL MINE.

I sent this picture to The Boy, and he said that I would have to convince him of the second thing. Poo. That may be hard to do.

So I got two sets of keys when I got my apartment. I immediately put the first set on my key ring and put the second in my purse. SOMEHOW, it fell out of my purse and into that little space on the floor of my car where the seat is bolted to the floor. When I went to pick it up, it fell further under the seat and out of sight.
...
It's a good thing my dad was coming up that weekend, because what we ended up doing was unbolting the seat from the car and ripping up the carpet to get at the key.
That key turned out to be a lot more trouble than it was worth.
It is in a safe place now.

I spent the week bringing over a carload of stuff every night- which made for a messy apartment! Here it is partially filled with my stuff. Thanks to Tiffanie for telling me that buildings usually have shopping carts to help people when they have a lot of stuff to bring to their apartment!

And here it is again, but with stuff! Mom and Dad brought up a bed, a chair, and a table! (Mom is TEXTING, people. She's so hip.)

Here is Dad, trying to figure out where the studs are in my walls. Lawrence: "Dude, if you don't know, you don't know."

Dad using his skillz to hang up my curtain rod. So glad they were there to help!

I wanted to see how my shelves would look like on the wall, but didn't want Mom to have to hold them there- so I made her take a picture. Watch out guys, she is getting pretty adept at the iPhone. Next thing you know, she'll be using it to navigate and buy things on the interwebs!

Yay, curtains! Thanks, papa!

No biggie, just some dude grilling behind the parking lot. About 2 minutes before this picture was taken, the po-po were there asking him questions. I guess he checked out, because they left.

So there's an update on how my apartment is! I have lots more to write about, but this post is long enough already. Coming soon: The State Fair, the 10 best things about having your own place, and 10 things I have learned since having my own place.

Sushi

So I have this list. It's a list of things I've never done before, and it's pretty long.

One of the things on the list is sushi. I've never had sushi.

Before last week.

Zach decided that needed to change, and I was open to trying something new.

So we went to Wakame Bistro for their Happy Hour.

It was a cute enough place, not too busy, and we got a window booth. It was a little too dark for me, but I guess that's what you get for going to a restaurant at 9:30 pm.

BUT FIRST: THE VERY FIRST PICTURE OF THE BOTH OF US TOGETHER. THIS IS BIG, PEOPLE.

Zach got out the menu and asked me first, "is there anything that you don't want to eat?"

I replied, "Well, I don't want squid. And I don't want octopus. And I don't want eel."

So we ordered our food and this is what came (after the pre-sushi snack of edamame):

Clockwise from top left: Minnesota Roll, Tuna Roll, Crunchy Monkey Roll, and Spicy Salmon Roll. Pretty sure that stuff in the corner is ginger & wasabi.

I'll just let the pictures do the talking of what happened next. there was a lot of deep breaths and talking to myself in preparation.

The tuna roll was....bland. But that was fine for my first taste of raw fish! I kept having to tell myself that people do eat this and they don't die from it.

So I went along my merry way, eating and dipping and taking deep breaths. I really liked the Crunchy Monkey Roll, there was salmon and cream cheese and avocados in that one. That roll and the Minnesota roll both had this sweeter sauce covering them, so I asked Zach what it was.

He looked up for a second, thinking.

Laughed.

Looked at me and didn't say anything.

"It's eel sauce, ISN'T IT?" I said.

Lesson: Never let your boyfriend order for you.

His Birthday

Yesterday was Boyfriend's birthday. 25 big ones. Quarter of a century. A score and 5 years. One more than two dozen.

I worked all day, but then I got off work, went home and got all dolled up in my dress and high heels, wrapped his present, and headed over to pick him up. I got all nervous when I went up to the door, which is weird because we've been on 1023897389 dates.

He walked up the stairs to greet me wearing grey slacks, a white shirt with thin blue stripes, and a yellow tie with blue and silver diagonal stripes. He looked good (not that you normally don't, honey).

I had made reservations for 7:30 at the restaurant, and we had left his house at around 6:30. We ended up parking at around 6:50, because Laura is just horrible at estimating how long it will take to get places in the cities. Seriously, I'm no good at it.

BUT I let him open his present before we left the car, and the restaurant is right next to Loring Park, so we walked around there for a little bit before it was time to go eat.


I had hoped he had never been there before, so I made reservations at Cafe Lurcat. I put so much thought into this night, he had no idea (he does now, 'cause I told him). I researched restaurants in the area, had it narrowed down to 5, then asked my co-workers and friends for their recommendations, as well as reading reviews for each of them on Yelp!. Then I took interior tours of them (thanks, Google!) and finally picked Cafe Lurcat!

Boy. Was. I. Good.

We walked into the restaurant (after finally picking the right door) and were immediately brought to our table, a little secluded one in the corner by the window. Our waitress came over and walked us through the menu- she was very knowledgeable. After lots of discussion and concessions of "you get that, and I'll get this, but can I try some of yours?" we finally decided.

Our waitress came back over and I ordered for the both of us. Usually when I go out on a date with Boyfriend, one of us will order for the both of us (usually whoever is going to pay). She seemed a little surprised that the girl was ordering, so Boyfriend explained it was his birthday, and I was in charge. :)

We got sweet corn as our "vegetable" (I know, dad. It's not a vegetable, it's a grain), which was grown locally and they cut it off of the cob right there and drowned it in this delicious buttery sauce. Om nom nom.

For my entree, I got salmon with prosciutto butter, spaetzle, and toasted almonds. It came to the table with slivered green beans on a clean, white plate. YUMMO.

Boyfriend got the star of the restaurant. I'd read SO MANY good reviews on this entree that I practically made him get it. Chilean Sea Bass marinated in Miso. Never have I ever had fish that good. It had a sweet crispy outside and a smooth inside that fell apart as soon as your fork touched it.

Since it was Boyfriend's birthday, the restaurant gave him their mini cinnamon sugar donuts with a little candle. But we couldn't stop there, so we got a dessert. If you're gonna go out, go all out. So we ordered the Triple Chocolate Cream Cake with a Peanut Butter Feuilletine Crunch topping with raspberries and a chocolate cigarette.

There were 6 donuts, but he grabbed one before I could snap a picture. :)

After eating a meal like that, it makes me want to never eat again, because anything I eat in the future will pale in comparison to this food.
We met up with some of his friends after dinner, and finished with a good night in Uptown!

I had hoped he had (and he said he did) have a wonderful time, and I can't wait to celebrate more wonderful things with him!

We both decided that more picture taking needs to happen, though. We aren't very good at it, apparently.

I'll try and be better in the future. I promise.

Photo Post

Hey guys. Remember me? I used to write on here sometimes. Sometimes you guys laugh at what I write. Sometimes I don't write funny things.

This will probably be one of those times.

It's a photo post! Pictures of what I've been up to lately- usually the fun things.

I went home for Logan's graduation/going-away party. Dad was having fun bouncing Natalie on the exercise ball. She is such a joy!

These next three pictures are classic. Instead of scooping up the rocks with the shovel in her hand, she bends over, picks up a rock,

sets down the shovel,

and sets the rock in the shovel. Classic.

This is one of the only pictures I have from my internship so far this summer. The two people in this picture are two of my bosses. On our floor, about half of it isn't finished yet, but there were all these furniture movers in there yet from our move. So they were having fun shoving each other on the movers. I'm also pretty sure they played frisbee in there the other day.

June 9, my friend Kayse got married! Hannah was a personal attendant, and I drove Hannah to SD for the wedding, therefore I was able to take part in a lot of the behind-the scenes stuff. Isn't she gorgeous! Congrats, you two!

Becky came and visited me! The ceiling is incredibly low in the basement, so you have to be careful when jumping on the trampoline. We then went over to the mall and shopped around until we met Alecia at Good Earth for supper.

This is totally a card my sister would send me.

Good Earth with the gals. Alecia had to cut up her sandwich, as...it was too big?

Boyfriend and I had spent almost the entire day together, and when he left, I got bored. And colored.

Later that week, Tiffanie took me out to eat at Good Earth! It's incredibly delicious. I'm so happy that we live in the same city now! We also live 3 miles from each other. What luck!

These were some sweet clouds visible from the window at work one day. When they were on top of us, it got really dark and I'm not sure the sky knew what time of day it was.

Zach and I went mini-golfing at Centennial Lakes. Super long course, but it was really fun. He beat me by about 11 strokes. Since then, I decided I like golfing, even though I'm slightly terrible at it. He took me golfing over the 4th of July break. I am also terrible at that.

He may or may not dislike me for posting this, but I just can't help it. Boyfriend got stuck in the chair when he was a little tyke, and the first thing his mom does is get the camera. There's a series of three pictures where he is just in tears over being stuck in the chair, despairing because he can't move, and finally this one where he just gives up.

We were going to go boating with Boyfriend's friends, and so we made some treats to bring with us. He's quite the little Suzie Homemaker.

I made monster cookies. They were delicious.

I went wakeboarding for the first time on Waverly Lake! Noah was a good teacher, but BOY was I tired.

I posted this on Facebook, but to all the skeptics, here is a picture of 'both' of us. He does exitst.

Fourth of July weekend I took Boyfriend up to Pillager to meet my family and have some fun!

We were going to do fireworks on the 4th, but a big storm came through and we had to postpone the show a day.

While Neal and his boys were working on the swingset outside, Boyfriend and I were relaxing inside with the little ones.

Benny Boy is the only kid I know who puts his two middle fingers in his mouth. Such a sweet kid.

Yesterday, Boyfriend and I got to babysit these two lady-killers. Lego time with the boys.

Benny kept wanting me to dump out the Legos so he could put them back in the bag.

Jackson became an architect and designed and built a house with Boyfriend so I could live in it.

He's quite the storyteller. I was making lunch at this point, but I couldn't help but take a picture of these cuties. Boyfriend is constantly reading, but then asking the boys questions relating to the book, getting them actively thinking. Made me smile. Later, Benny and Boyfriend were eating grapes and one of them happened to grunt like a pig. Then Boyfriend would oink, which prompted Benny to oink right back at him. cutest. thing. ever.

This is my view right now- Boyfriend plugging away at grad school homework while I putz around on the internet. And finally write things.

So that's what I've been up to lately. What's new with you?

Ten Reasons You Know You're Poor

So, recently I've begun thinking about money. People do that. People who just graduated who owe a lot of money do that. So I came up with a list. These are ten reasons you know you're poor. Or frugal. In either case, this list works.

These are all things that I have either done in the past, or I'm doing right now. Here goes.

1) You use your blow dryer as an iron.
     This doesn't work as well as you think it would. But it works if you're in a pinch!
 
2) You watch squirrels for entertainment.
     No lie. There are baby squirrels at my house and they are so playful! The other day when Zach came to pick me up, I was laughing as I got into the car. I had just seen a little baby squirrel try and jump over a car, only to do a faceplant into the door. He then fell onto the ground, stunned, and just laid there with all his limbs splayed out for a few seconds. 
 
3) You use your boyfriend as a chauffeur.
     Same day as the squirrels. He is good for something, at least. ;) 
 
4) You cut your own bangs and think they look good (they don't).
     Seriously, I would have to get my hair cut three times as often as I do if I wanted to have a professional cut my bangs. Refer to #10.
 
5) Your mattress is on the floor.
     As it has been for the past year or so. At least this time it's not an air mattress!
 
6) A trip to the playground a block away is considered an outing.
     There is a park down the street. It's nice. I've been there more than once.
 
7) You give plasma even though it's pretty sketchy.
     I don't do this anymore, but it was a good source of money while it lasted...and when I was eligible to donate. Towards the end, it wasn't even worth it to drive there when I was just going to get my finger pricked and then sent on my way.
 
8) You try to only buy food if you have a coupon for it or it's on sale.
    This is more of a frugal thing, but food is EXPENSIVE. Yeesh.

9) Your pantry size doubles after every trip home.
     I love it when my mother gives me food. She's wonderful. I always seem to come back with more stuff than I went home with, and most of it is food. Refer to #8.

10) You wash your hair BEFORE you get it cut so they don't charge you for it.
    Okay, seriously? They charge you to wash your hair now? The other day I got my hair cut and I washed my hair first. Saved 10 dolla. And that doesn't even cover what they charge you to style it as well. So. Haircuts are expensive as well.

And there's my little schpeal on how expensive everything is.

 

I'd balance 20 cookies on my head, too, if I knew I'd get to eat them afterwards.

Thankful

Today, I'm going to write about things I'm thankful for. Because there's a lot. And who says you have to wait until Thanksgiving to do that?

And so, without further ado, Laura's thankfulness list (as of 6/3/2010):

1) Sundays without homework (need I say more?).

2) Falling into a bed at night that is not an air mattress (even thought it is still on the floor).

3) Loving siblings:
      a) Rebecca- How can you not be thankful for a girl like this? One that sends you hilarious links to fun crafts or creepy LOTR fans that build replicas of Bag End or gives you the most adorable nieces ever?
      b) Matthew- With a big brother like this, who needs to know anything about computers when you can just ask him? He's been there when I need math help, when I need background checks done on roommates (I didn't ask him, he did it of his own accord), and to make me jealous by Skyping with me when Maggie looks adorable sitting up in a computer chair.
      c) Emily- She's been my inspiration for many things, from piano lessons when we were children to excelling in school to writing this blog. She's been there for me when I want to talk about anything, and I am sad she lives so far away, but glad she is building a new life there!

4) Gracious parents who let me pay them back for school instead of a mean old bank.

5) Cousins who let me say in their house and taking over their basements. Seriously, this couldn't have worked out better.

6) Last, but not least: ADORABLE NIECES. (AND #3 COMING IN NOVEMBER).

      a) Claire Elizabeth

      b) Natalie Jean

7) Okay, LAST: I'm thankful for the internet because it gives me things like this:

And there you have it. Only a few of the things that I am thankful for.

Oh, and I'm thankful for the man in my life. Probably should have put that sooner. ;)