Puppy Packing Weekend

No, the pups didn't actually pack, and we didn't pack any puppies, so maybe that title doesn't make sense ... it's just that my weekend involved a lot of both!

It was the first big weekend of packing to move. My parents and I drove down Friday night, arriving in Victoria just as the freezing rain started to fall. We packed all day Saturday and into Sunday. I swore I was going to take pictures of all the packing activity, but I guess I was just too busy!

But, you know me and pups. I can't resist. After all, Hannah followed us back and forth, from room to room, so she got just as worn out as us humans. Here's her taking a much needed break:

please ... no more boxes!!!

The highlight of the weekend was most likely this little guy ...

Carleton Rover, call me Carl! And I'm pretty proud of my white goose I've got here...

Isn't he just the cutest guy ever?? A 3- or 4-month old golden retriever/Newfoundland mix, with big gangly feet and legs and super soft fur.

His mom is my friend Nina. She is one of the biggest dog lovers I know, and I'm sooooo happy she got him!


And of course, I can't resist lots of cuddles myself.


I'm looking forward to seeing Carl (hopefully) lots in the future!

The house I have called home since May 2005 is about to belong to someone else.

This is the house Matt lived in when I met him; I still vividly remember the Yahoo! Personals ad that showed his picture and said underneath it that he lived in "Victoria, Minnesota."

And I remember our third date when we came out here for pizza in front of the fireplace.

It's amazing to realize how different this family room looked like on that third date. Matt had different living furniture (it was blue), a big entertainment center, smaller tv, and white walls. And no curtains. Boy did I move in and make my mark!

Our first Christmas together was in this house. And many happy weekends when this was my "country home" away from the city.

When I moved in with Matt, I got my first real chance at starting a garden, and we added vegetable beds and lots of perennial plants. From my hammock in the backyard, I felt such peace in my little paradise. I could imagine kids running down the stairs on Christmas morning to see what presents were under the tree for them.

And now hopefully there will be kids running down the stairs on Christmas morning! They just won't be ours ...

I am happy to announce that we received an offer on the house last week, and after negotiations and home inspections, everything is moving forward for a close on February 19. In just four short weeks, we will say good-bye to this house. We will always have the memories. And since the core of those memories is my wonderful husband, I am thrilled that I get to live with him again!

Adam's New Tattoo

Adam has talked about getting a tattoo for years. Easily a decade. And you can only hear about an idea so much before you don't really think it'll ever happen.

Adam brought it up again in December while he was on leave from work. I treated it the same I always had -- listened, shared ideas, but didn't have too much faith in it. He had to prove me wrong though!


Is that what little brothers do? Prove their big sisters wrong?

That's ok, I don't hold grudges. I stopped by the tattoo shop while it was getting done. Photographic evidence.

And then I took this photo at home:


It seems Adam had finally found a design that resonated with him. He had come home one day and said, "I think I finally have an idea ... a tattoo of the Viking god of justice!" Vikings, after all, were our ancestors. And while searching for images of the Viking god of justice, he instead came across this drawing of a Viking warrior and his ship. Very cool.


So, now I guess I'm next. I can't let Adam one-up me! This fall when I moved north I felt a strong urge to get a tattoo, something to mark my personal journey to be closer to water, the land, and to who I really am. Stay tuned for a possible tattoo update from me!

Intense Beauty, Art of the Velodrome

I knew I had to travel to the Cities last weekend when I found out that Matt had not one, but two photography shows opening.

The first one is Intense Beauty, at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Matt's photo of a fiddlehead fern just opening had received a bronze ranking. It is so precious and intricate it seems like a microcosm of nature, and as if you are watching the fern awaken. Before we even arrived at the show, Matt received a phone call from his friend Kathy saying that the print had already sold! (as a side note, Kathy's photo, which received a gold ranking, can also be seen at the web site above). We went to view all the photos chosen for the exhibit, and as the Arboretum has a People's Choice award, I had the daunting task of choosing three favorites to vote for.





Later that night, we went to One on One Bike Studio for Art of the Velodrome. It was fun ... and a little surreal ... to be around cyclists and thinking about bike stuff in January. But it was also refreshing, a breath of fresh air. One on One did an amazing job with their grand opening reception ... tons of food, wine, and beer, and a much bigger crowd than I would have expected. At one point there was no way I could have navigated from one end of the shop to another!











Matt had eight track cycling photos on display, and there were about five other photographers with images on display as well.

(I had to take this second photo as it seemed like the most humorous thing ever. A bike shop? With taxidermy on the walls? In downtown Minneapolis ... really?? Well, what a good use for antlers!)

Matt pulled off a coup when he sold another two prints at One on One! The grand total of three prints in a day ... we were all so proud.

Thanks to Jeff and Kathy, and Erika and Aaron, for coming out to the reception on a cold January night!

101 Things Revisited

Last February, I blogged about my newly created 101 things to do in 1001 days. It's been awhile since I've updated on my activities ... hmmm, think that could have anything to do with the fact that my life has been turned upside down with a new job and a move? Yeah, maybe. My attention has been focused elsewhere, and there are some things that just aren't feasible anymore, but I've still accomplished a few. Here's an update on a few of the 101.

• Pass the AICP exam - I passed this in November! I now get to use those letters after my name ... Jenn Reed Moses, AICP.
  
• Get promoted at work - At SRF, I may have received a promotion after passing the AICP exam. But getting promoted in Duluth can only happen if there's an open position at a higher level than mine. Does getting a new job count as a "promotion"?
  
• Find a way to reduce my hours at work - Technically, I did this; at Duluth we have 37.5 hour work weeks instead of 40. Not exactly what I was thinking when I wrote the list ... but still ...
  
• Sign up as a HHH mentor - I did sign up to be a mentor, but when I moved to Duluth I had to pull my name out of the mentor program; Twin Cities mentors only.
  
• Start a micro-loan through Kiva - This has been on the list, but now I am reconsidering after my friend Erika was telling me about some questionable reports of their practices. I'll have to look into this more. If it's true, it's very sad ... seems like a great idea.
  
• Support Heifer International (for myself or as a gift) - I donated to Heifer for Christmas this year.
  
• Have a family portrait taken (me, Matt, Hannah) - Matt and I had our friend Kerri take a family portrait last summer. Which reminds me, I have to track those photos down! I know they're in Matt's safekeeping ... I really should share them on the blog.
  
• Roast marshmallows over an open fire on my birthday - thanks to my mom, I did this on my birthday last year at their house.
  
• Go to the Wabasha Street caves with the Reed family - Matt and I brought Adam and my parents to the Wabasha caves on July 4 last year, followed by a late lunch at Brit's Pub. Very fun!
  
• Take Mom and Grandma to the Arboretum and Minnehaha Falls - I'm not sure this will happen, as for their road trip this year Grandma wanted to go to Ely. And now that we'll be living up here I'm not sure it will be feasible to do this. I did take my mom to the Arboretum this summer. Teacher, can I get half credit?
  
• Go hunting at a game farm with Adam, Dad, Matt, Hannah, and Molly - We all went to Pheasants Plus in September!
  
• Finish scanning the photos from my baby album for Mom - Not only did my mom buy her own scanner, but now I'm not even living in the same place as my scanner. We'll see what happens with this one.
  
• Take Hannah walking on the trails at Minnewashta Park - I wrote this as an attempt to take Hannah and I out walking/hiking somewhere new. But now we don't live near Minnewashta. Maybe I can find someplace near Duluth that would suffice?
  
• Finish wedding scrapbook - I have a very slow start on this. But I'm working on it. Really.
  
• Take the photography class – Photographing the Ecosystems of the Arboretum - I really wanted to take this class, but before I could sign up found out I was moving to Duluth. It's a multi-day class offered in August or September, so I'd have to take time off of work, and now I'd have to find lodging. We'll see what happens with this.
  
• Photograph the Arboretum in every season - This may be doubtful given that I no longer live within a couple miles ... ;).
  
• Take a writing class at The Loft/Open Book - This sure ain't gonna happen. If I find a writing class up north, though, that may be substituted.
  
• Paint the following rooms in our house: guest room, living room, kitchen, our bedroom, our bathroom - We painted the kitchen, and decided not to do the rest once we found out we are moving.
  
• Go the gym enough in a month to actually earn my insurance rebate - Alas, no gym membership anymore now that money is tight! And I don't even know if my insurance plan still reimburses for this.
  
• Go to the gym enough to earn my insurance rebate for three months in a row - See above.
  
• Put our reusable bags/baskets in the car. Use them for 25 shopping trips - This is one of the most successful items on the list, as using my reusable bags have become a complete habit!
  
• Try 50 new wines - I know I've tried a whole bunch. The problem? Tracking them all! I have no idea how many I've had or even what they were. I should see if I can find an iphone app to track these. But I know I'll have missed out on a year of possibilities, so 50 may not be possible.
  
• Eat at 112 Eatery - Went here with Erika last summer. LOVED it. Their cheeseburger is orgasmic.
  
• Go to one last Twins game in the Metrodome - Thanks to some motivated Twins-fan co-workers, a group of us went to a Twins game in July. Thanks guys!
  
• Get a video camera - I'd had a video camera on my wish list first for my birthday, then for Christmas. In the meantime, my iphone broke, and the expense of a phone negated possibilities for gifts for me. Lucky for me, the new iphone has a video camera!
  
• Read one book a month - I may have missed a couple months in the move/job transition/AICP studying.
  
• Try a new recipe every month- Like with books, I may have lost track of some of these. But I've been pretty motivated about trying some new Pioneer Woman recipes this fall and winter.
  
• Buy a new iphone (more space!) - As reported above ... done!
  
• Contribute to the shack fund each year- This is an interesting one. I did write a check to my dad this fall to contribute to the shack fund, and a month or so later he told Adam and I that he intends to turn his share of the shack over to us. So we've met with an attorney and are in this process. Now I'll likely be contributing to the shack fund every month instead of every year.
  
• Refinance our house (if it proves to make financial sense) - With us selling our house, it obviously didn't pay to refinance it ;)...though now that we are nearly six months into having our house on the market, we're kind-of wishing we had so that we'd have a little more disposable income to help us out.
  
• Document the 101 things in a scrapbook - This sounded great, but so many of the things just seemed too boring to try to take pictures of. Maybe my blog is enough of a scrapbook? ;)
  

Out of 101 things, I've completed 26, and another 9 are in progress. It's interesting to look back at the list, as I've noticed some categories haven't really seen much progress -- "creativity" and "travel."

What’s next?
I feel the need to focus on a few specific things to keep working towards those goals. I'm going to look for an iphone app to track wines I've tasted. And now that I'm entering a quiet time of year, I'm going to work on my wedding scrapbook. Let's see ... what else? I think donating toys to an animal shelter is an easy thing to do even in my temporary living situation, and I can definitely tackle some more books :). January, here I come!

pups in the snow

It was a day filled with fun ... two holiday parties, great food, awesome friends.

And yet what was the highlight of my day?

It was when I pulled in the driveway, on a dark, cold winter night ... and let the two pups out.

Of course I got the typical crazed greetings, which I always love. And then Molly and Hannah started to run and play in the snow, chasing each other. Since we just got that two feet of snow, they are able to run on top of the snow, and they seem to love it! Adam cut a trail through the snow for them, but instead of running on the trail, they use it as an obstacle in the middle of the yard, and chase each other, jumping over the trench. I always feel such joy in my heart at the pups playing, but on this night it reached a whole new level. Hannah couldn't catch Molly, and not only was she growling while running, but eventually started barking at her. I've never seen my dog bark continuously while running as fast as she could, and it was so humorous I started laughing hysterically, which only made Molly run harder.

They ran, stopped to dig and tunnel through the snow, rolled in the snow like happy dogs, and chased each other some more. Hannah couldn't quite figure out Molly's obsession with digging in the snow (what are you digging for? there's nothing down there ...) and tried so hard to get Molly to chase her, including doing play bows right in front of her nose, and lunging at her side to break her concentration. I've never known Hannah to work so hard to get someone else to play. It was cute.

And both dogs were happy.

And there was peace on earth.