The Right Now

The Right Now
Originally uploaded by playbsides

Photo By Michael Roeder - The Right Now

Bazing!

In my second tornado chasing weekend in a row, The Queen of Howktown pops in on old friends from Chi-town and left with few more friends and a different impression of Iowa. Mostly, don't go there unless my profession is officially changed to tornado chaser.

Update to come, so stay tuned!

Conference of Awesome Wrap Up

The Weekend of Awesome is in full force and it is only lunch time, yet I still have not acquired pants. Considering Southdale was next to where we had lunch, we decided to quick run in, get me some pants and go on with our day.

Macy's was the first store we saw, and we noticed they were having a big sale, so we buzzed in for a quick look... Let's just say the look was not quick and it wasn't until we visited 5 other departments that we made it to the pants.  We tried everything from undergarments, swimsuits, shoes, and trenchcoats on before we even looked at them, in fact.

I had been looking for a new rain jacket, preferably blue, for a while now, and was excited to see the one that I had tentatively picked out on line on clearance at the store. BAZING!

By the time we got the pants, it was practically a grab and go situation. I ended up with some indigo blue Ralph Lauren jeans... which in normal circumstances I would have rolled my eyes at, but my sisters were helping my find things and the sales lady just LOVED "LARRRENNN" and forced her to bring them to me. The didn't look too bad... and they were $19... so BAZING! Pants. It's about dang time, too!

Finally! On to bigger and better things like DINNER!

We each had a different ginger ale or lemonade! Tasty!

The next day, Sara led us in water aerobics at the pool, then we relaxed:

We eventually had to leave, but not before stopping at Sara's on our way out of town for a last minute lay about in the grass enjoying iced tea:

(You may notice that enjoying various types of beverages is integral to my relaxation. Tea, gingerale, lemonade, water, martinis, coffee... it's all good)

All in all I came away with some very important information from this Conference:

My sisters are AWESOME:

The Case of The Missing Pants (Conference of Awesome Part 2)

Did I mention that I got up at 5am, donned my walk/running clothes and jumped into the car and sped down the road on my way to fantastic weekend with my sisters??? I think I may have remembered that part... how about the part where I forgot my suitcase with all my clothes? Oh, and I was on a schedule because I had to be at Sara's by 7:30am at the latest?

I had just enough time to to turn back grab my suitcase and head out again, and then as I was barreling down the road listening to Pomplamoose and Michael Jackson it occurred to me, that maybe, just maybe I had forgotten my pants. 

I wasn't sure.

I remember taking my jeans out of the suitcase because I noticed they were dirty, but I didn't remember putting a clean pair in.  Well, too late now... it would have to be a pants free weekend. After the 5K we were planning on lounging around the hotel... swimming, frequenting the hotel bar, and girl talking... who needs pants!

Until my dad called and said he was going to be in the area (on the same street actually) and had about an hour to kill... Did we want to get lunch?

Of course we did. So we rush back to the hotel, clean up, discover that I did indeed forget pants, that I can borrow a pair from Kylie, that we'll have to go shopping after lunch, and discover Kylie actually irons her t-shirts.  Naturally, we made her iron ours, too.

Things that we learned at lunch:

• Ironed t-shirts are pretty nice to wear
• Art Supply stores are neat
• My dad loves The Container Store
• It's easy to get a song stuck in Kylie's head
• Sock Monkeys can save the day
• Sara carries a pocketknife at all times... just like my dad
• I throw the mash down on a banana... with my fist

The next question is... Will I ever Get Pants? Stay tuned to find out.

The Rubdown in Howktown Conference of Awesome

It started out simple enough.  I was just going to stop by Ingvaldia to hang out with my sis... that is until she remembered that she also had asked the Czarina of Saarisburg to walk a 5k with her that very same morning... only she didn't remember until I told Kylie that I was going to Sara's and she asked if I was doing the 5k with them...

That's when things started to stir in my brain. "Wait a sec... there is no reason we couldn't make this all work..."  So I agreed to walk the 5k with my sisters... little did they know (or I know) what this last weekend would evolve into.


Two days before the weekend. I email Sara this:

Then I announce the The Rubdown in Howktown Conference of Awesome!

The goal of the conference is to do things together as sisters that we each like to do and share in the experience. Plus to make it extra awesome, we are not allowed to whine, complain, or otherwise talk about things that aren't awesome. Plus we have to use the word Awesome as much as possible!

Let me tell you... my weekend... was AWESOME! 

The fancy frenchy name hotel wasn't even the beginning of it. It was how I bribed them to go along with my awesome plans! I got up at 5am to drive to  Ingvaldia to pick up my sisters and then off Minneapolis to walk 3 miles at 9 Am. Do I need to mention that Pomplamoose, Michael Jackson, and bobbing my head back and forth to the music was the first awesome thing of the day?  I didn't think so (well, actually there is some debate about that, because my sisters thing the first awesome thing of the day was me forgetting to bring pants... but that's another part of the story)!

We arrived at the starting line just in time for the race.  Here are some awesome things that happened at the race:  

• Perfect parking spot at the finish line
• Awesome weather
• We walked around Lake Calhoun
• Sara made mini egg bakes in muffin cups
• We all put our team name as The Rubdown in Howktown
• In the name of awesome we all went our own pace
• I decided to walk to a podcast of 'Wait Wait Don't Tell Me'
• My walk took the exact same time as the podcast
• I beat my old time by almost 10 minutes
• The weekend had only just begun!

As we are leaving the race area, we are surprised by another awesome thing:

We are about to have lunch with our Dad!

And Sara tries to teach us a trick about a perfect smile for the camera... 

Stay tuned as the Weekend of Awesome Continues!

i do not like to fish.
i do not like to camp.

i may have PTSD.

Look Out, Howktown, I've got some plans...

Heya folks, I've got to warn you, it's the least I can do. See that 'look' in my eyes? That means I've devious plans coming up and I'm excited to execute them. Bwahh haha haha aha hahaha! However, I can't reveal what they are, exactly, I can maybe only allude. 

Guess what garage sale season is here.

In fact, I've already assisted by Jo Jo Potato in her first garage sale in her own personal garage this season. We took advantage of the warm spring weather (and its a good thing we did because this month has been annoyingly cold) and put out a few things.  Since that time I've been to several more sales around Howktown including the city wide sales.  Where I found such gems as this:

 I wonder what I could do with something like that.  If only I knew someone who liked fishing and camping a lot. I bet they would love something like this. They could put it on their kitchen table and then I could get them matching plates and dinnerware to match.  I think I know just the person. 

I plan to take full advantage of the sales this year, if not for tormenting someone with pictures of fish items, then perhaps for finding the weird things people try to sell. It should make for an interesting summer!

Amy's weekend with Aunt Sara

April 2010
Supper: spaghetti and a lesson on making rubbings.


Morning hair, breakfast pizza, and a "good morning" call home.


A little morning worm hunting with Grandma and Aunt Sara.



Taking Aunt Sara's Godbaby Kate to her first garage sales.

Good Thing I cleaned out the trunk.


A nice dinner to round out the day.