Belated Blogging

The final weeks of 2009 were filled with such a flurry of activity I nearly forgot to write them into the Tales of E & C! So now, to fully end the 2009 chapter of our blog ...

We celebrated Evan's 26th Birthday on November 3rd with one of his favorite home-cooked dinners (Balsamic Chicken with peas and corn), funfetti cake, and a scavenger hunt that involved gathering clues via Video Chat, text message, and by deciphering many of Carolyn's encrypted and rhyming notes!

We were blessed to have some visitors to share our first Thanksgiving in our new house.

My parents and Kirsten flew out for a week-long stay and Karrin drove down from Wolf Ridge (about an hour north of Duluth) -- Sarah is overseas for the semester (I think she was in Hong Kong for T-day); We enjoyed a T-day run around Lake Harriet,

a tasty meal,

and a lot of Tim Tams (I'll have to link to a video of a TimTam Slam later).

Evan was able to drive down to be with his family for their noon meal and then gallop on back up here for our evening meal.

I sure think he had his fill of turkey by the end of the day!

We then were off to Green Lake in Spicer, MN to spend the weekend with some extended relatives. We enjoyed many silly games,

Zip-Zip-Bong

heads or tails

played ladder-toss

(Evan and my cousin Erin won!),

some of us went in the water! : O

Crazy Water-Nut Kirst!

While the rest of us stayed on land.

We enjoyed the peacefulness of Green Lake,

and we laughed,

and we laughed,

and we laughed.

Then began December, one of my favorite months of the year. Here are a few reasons why I consider this the Most Wonderful Time of the Year:

The second annual Pierson Cookie Bake was a success! Check out some of our goodies:

My 26th birthday was celebrated with some of my favorite things (and people!). Karrin was visiting as her flight to NJ was cancelled and delayed by a couple of days due to a big snow storm out east. We enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast of pumpkin waffles (I LOVE breakfast!), spent the day sending off Christmas cards and walking around the festive streets of Edina, then went out to dinner at The Good Earth before a little ice skating adventure at Centennial Lakes. Turns out it is pretty hard to skate on an un-groomed, natural outdoor rink!

And finally, one of my favorite places and mornings of the entire year ...

Christmas post to follow shortly -- I just have to process 200 photos first!

**Thanks to Kirst and Dadster for some of these photos -- I honestly can't remember which were mine!

Driving a Tractor 101

Tractor chairs and compartments aren't really designed for two people.

But we decided to try it out anyway! Actually, we've been riding double in the tractor since our dating days, only then it was Evan behind the wheel. For some reason we just love those tractor rides. E even said he had considered proposing out there! (I think he was joking?) Here's a peak at my first tractor driving experience! (I meant to include this with my previous post)

Here's the infamous manure-spreading duo: Our manly machine: Out in the field about to start spreading manure:

Watch these smart ladies ... I am always impressed at how they remember where to go:

Bambi at the Farm

How does a cow end up with the name Bambi, you may ask? Being a descendent of Evan's original cow BonBon, this new calf had to have a name starting with the letter B (that is the naming scheme at SapaSka Farms). But what about the name Bambi is particularly fitting for this calf? Well, I can remember part of that childhood movie when Bambi's legs get tied up when he is skating across some ice. Later, Bambi's father stands above him in the forest, saying "Get up, Bambi, get up." You see, this new calf has some trouble untying those new legs and standing on its own two feet. When she was in the womb her front legs were twisted, causing severe weakness and instability in her front legs and wrists. Unlike most calves who walk within a few hours of their birth, this calf hobbles around on bent legs and spends the rest of her time lying down. Evan assured me they have seen this before at their farm and the calf will outgrow it -- she just needs time to strengthen her legs and wrists.

Evan and I visited the farm the other weekend to meet his new calf Bambi. What a cutie!

Halloween!

Evan and I enjoyed staying home on Halloween and passing out candy to the lil' trick-or-treaters. It was our first halloween where we could enjoy this tradition (or at least this end of it), as our apartment left us disappointed on Hallow's Eve these past two years. We were excited to have roughly 30 or 40 guests stop by! (I think. Evan knows the exact number). Enough to gobble most of our candy but not so many that we had to run to the store again.

We had been delinquent in our pumpkin carving this year so Halloween night we went at it, carving a face out of the pumpkin that had been sitting on our steps, ripening, for most of fall. ... And ripen it had. I do believe that was the first ROTTEN pumpkin I have ever carved! What a slimy halloween treat for us ; ) Needless to say, we forwent the pumpkin-seed roasting part of the tradition! We actually had two pumpkins but since we were pressed for time we decided to team up -- E carved the left side, I did the right. I think they turned out pretty similar actually.

No halloween is complete without a little costume fun! So Evan and I both gave ourselves just about three minutes to come up with costumes. As you can see below, I was a cowgirl. Evan was either some sort of god or a pimp. Perhaps next year we'll have to work longer on our costumes, but I think we did pretty well for just throwing things together!

Enjoy the photos below!

Wolf Ridge!

This is a long-overdue post! During a week in mid October my mom flew out to Minnesota to visit Evan and I, and then the three of us took a weekend trip up to Duluth and then Finland, Minnesota where Karrin is working as a Naturalist at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center. You may remember when Kirsten and I dropped her off earlier this August (two photos in collage are from that trip). It was great seeing Karrin in her new home, hearing tid-bits of nature lessons from her growing repertoire (identifying trees, handling birds, reenacting French explorers!), and sharing in her excitement of the great outdoors. We went on many little hikes (we weren't there long enough to tackle anything major), visited a teepee (we wanted to sleep in one but it was realllyyyy cold), and even completed the Ropes Course -- without falling! Although we were there just about a week or two after peak leaf-season, it was still beautiful. Enjoy some of my photos below, and then head on over to my picasa album for a full view.

Golden light near Gooseberry Falls

Colors near Gooseberry Falls

Gooseberry Falls

Karrin conquers the Ropes Course!

E & C in Duluth

Who's that Indian in my tee-pee?

Colors on Lake Pepin

Evan and I took a quick trip down to Lake City this past weekend to visit his family on the farm. We went down to Frontenac State Park overlooking Lake Pepin for a little hiking. It was beautiful! Below are some photos from our excursion.

Fall, fall, fall!

Fall on our street is quite beautiful -- burnt oranges and golds bedeck the ground and squirrels scurry about preparing for winter (I think we are the only ones who pay attention to the squirrels on our block!). I just finished my first round of leaf raking at the new house and think there will be more in the near future as the big tree in our neighbors yard still carries quite the load of leaves (which is surprising considering the thick carpet of leaves it has already laid down!). I was tempted to jump in the big pile at the end, but settled for simply lying back, nestled in the crinkling pillow of leaves, and looking up towards the darkening sky. Ahhh, I love the sounds, smells, and colors of fall.

I finally got around to taking some indoor photos so you can see the progress our house has made these past weeks. But of course I couldn't stop there on a nice fall day, so I ventured outside to snap a few of the street.

The Oberles

Here are a few photos I took of our good friends Marit and Tim earlier this fall. They are fellow St. Olaf '06 grads, got engaged the day after us, were married two weeks before us, and live 1.5 miles away from our new house in Minneapolis! Needless to say, we've enjoyed sharing in each others' lives, through dinner parties, coffee dates, cross country skiing outings, relaxing at the lake, and spontaneous pop-ins! They are wonderful friends and a fantastic couple (with the cutest house imaginable!). Here's a peak into the lives of the Oberles:

(I am still working out the kinks to incorporating a little logo with my photos, so please excuse any imperfections you may notice... like blurry and pixelated text. I also made a slideshow with a selection of some of my favorite photos and am in the process of figuring out how best to show that -- for free. So more updates may be coming soon!)

To view all of the photos from this shoot, check out my shutterfly site!

The Space We Live In

Imagine if you limited yourself to just one place and experience because nothing beyond those borders could be as perfect as where you are. It is great to love your home, but if that is your only somewhere, then there's a whole lot of nowhere out there.

During the whole move process Evan and I took some time to decompress and think about the changes we were going through. One of our final nights in Apple Valley we happened upon a little park I am sad we discovered so late in our time there. But we enjoyed laying back, looking at the stars, and pondering the importance and meaning of change in our life, especially the role of space in our move and how our new space will impact who we are, how we feel, and how we will interact with it and each other.

We think we know what to expect in the move (more space, less annoyances due to cramped space, etc.) but we don't really know until we are there living in it. I think that is what is scary about a move, but also what can be exciting -- learning how we will interact and be in this new space. Where in this new house will we create new routines? Where will we greet each other when we come home in the evening? Where will we go when we want time to ourselves? When we move we leave the established space for the unknown; we must embrace this and not shy away.

Too often we tie our identity to the space we are in, binding ourselves and limiting the space we are 'allowed' to explore. I think as humans we have a tendency to cling to space we know and understand. That's why so many people settle in one area of the country, or town, and never move. We come to identify ourselves by the birds that fly nearby, by the restaurants we frequent, by the accents of the people. There is nothing wrong with that -- it is great to be proud of where you're from and enjoy all the qualities that place has to offer. And it's natural to place your identity in those things. I too feel most myself when in a space of comfort, like riding my bike under a canopy of trees on the East Coast, relaxing on the beach to the sound of seagulls and waves, or hiking in the Black Hills.

But imagine if you limited yourself to just one place because of fear or pride, never opening yourself up to change and new experiences and the chance to see how you will develop in a new space. There is a lot of space out there to explore, all with its pros and cons, benefits and limitations; our job is finding how we can enjoy being in that space. My mom once told me that my dad is good at being himself no matter where he is -- from hiking in South Dakota to walking home from work on the crowded streets of New York City (and picking some discarded furniture up along the way!), he is always comfortable and finds adventure and whatever he needs to be happy. I truly believe we can make any space our own, we can find what we need if we keep out eyes open. I may miss the quieter countryside runs I've enjoyed while living in Apple Valley, but in the cities I can run around the lakes and enjoy being a part of that energy. I may miss our big apartment window and the views it boasted of the stars, but in the cities I can enjoy our own backyard and sitting on the front steps welcoming the morning.

After our discussion in the field that night, Evan and I decided we are going to embrace the change ahead and get out there and explore! I don't want to find myself discovering a new hidden field at our new house days before our next move -- I want to find it right away. Instead of worrying about how a space isn't the way I'm used to, I am going to find where I fit in that space and how I best resonate.

... and we're back in the game!

Yes, we're alive! Just very very busy. I cannot believe it has been 2 months since my last post! Oh well, I guess that's what happens when you get tied up in moving and working on a new house. For a while it seemed like every weekend our main focus was on something house oriented, whether it was finishing big projects like our shower, or smaller things like hanging blinds, organizing, and tackling some yard work. Just recently we have started to feel a bit more settled and can start taking time to enjoy some of our favorite hobbies -- like blogging!

And now for a quick summary on our life since my last post in July. As you probably know or realized from my previous posts/photos, we bought our house beginning of July but were still living in our apartment for a while. We didn't actually move into the house until July 31st... then we were off to an out-of-town wedding for the weekend, the following weekend was another wedding, and then we flew to New Jersey for 2 weeks of fun with my (Pearson) family! Back to Minnesota for the final week of August, which was spent with college friends in town, at the State Fair, another wedding, and driving my sister Karrin up to her new job/school experience up North. So.... we were basically living out of suitcases and boxes through most of August, and worked on our house intermittently. Evan did a great job on the shower, but it took (much) longer than we first anticipated. Luckily we belong to a gym which we frequented to use their showers... come to think of it, I think that's all I did at the gym for a few weeks ; )

Now Evan is back in school (Lakeville North High School, Chemistry and Forensic Science teacher -- recent recipient of the Blue Ribbon award!) and I am enjoying getting into a routine. One of the biggest developments to my routine will be playing in an orchestra that starts later this week! The Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra is all the way down in Northfield, and I am a bit hesitant to commit to a long commute every Thursday evening, but I figure I'll try it out this first semester and just see how it goes. I know there are more community orchestras in the area, but I am kind of excited to tap back into my Northfield roots. I think I'll take advantage of my time down there this fall and hit up the old St. Olaf cross country trails a few times!

Before I head out on a run this afternoon to enjoy some of our first fall weather, I will post a few videos and photos to help recap the last couple months:

House Progress Interview #3: getting close to moving day! / Having fun getting some "yard work" done ; )

From left to right you get the general progression of the shower in its last couple stages. Of course before the cement board went up (as seen in photo at left) we had to tear down the old wall, don our plumbing hats and run pipes up to the shower -- this included soldering!, and prep the studs for the new cement board (I'm probably forgetting a few steps too). I am happy to say the shower is now up and running! Of course the rest of the bathroom is still a bit of a project, but at least we can shower in our own house -- what a luxury!

The next montage shows just a few snippets from our summer. From left to right, top to bottom you see:

Saying goodbye to Hearthstone Apartments, our first home; Visiting South Street Seaport in NYC; Sunfish Pond, the destination point on our hike in NJ where Max (dog) chased a bear and her cubs - and survived!; Evan 'stealing' eggs from the chicken coop at Howell Living History Farm, where Karrin was working in NJ; My favorite photo from our Pearson photo shoot; Kirst, Karrin and I on the chilly shores of Lake Superior in August!; E and I on our two year anniversary; E and I sharing some corn on the cob at the State Fair; Getting some yard work done...; Kirst and I up at Wolf Ridge, Karrin's new home for the year.

Many more updates to come, so stay tuned! I promise I'll be back before another 2 months have passed!