Well, it’s official, FK and I are members of the YMCA. Yahoo! We joined this afternoon to enjoy the benefits of personal trainers, free classes, an indoor track, whirlpool, an amazing weight system and Tony, the man that took us on a tour. Tony, stud that he is, was a long haired, buff wee-man that enjoys long walks on the beach, poetry and step-classes. I don’t think he was interested in FK, per se, but he was a little more high maintenance than most of my girlfriends.

What we really liked about the Y was the “big brother is watching you” mentality. Tony made a point out of how they keep track of when you have been to the gym through computer systems, as well as help you track your workouts. As we were touring the facility, one of the regulars came up to Tony to let him know she would be out the next week on vacation, so he didn’t need call to see where she was. Either there is some sort of inappropriate relationship going on there or they realllllly keep tabs on the members. I don’t doubt that they would actually call if you were MIA for a few days. Knowing FK and myself, this is actually a benefit. As a matter of fact, if they wouldn’t mind just sending over their friend Larry to casually remind us (while wielding nun chucks), that we should be at the gym – that would be great.

Actually, what was slightly disconcerting was a) the lack of wheat grass (as I am sure you are aware by now, I think wheat grass shots are the only way to go) and b) the fact that there was a woman carrying left over pizza through the gym. She walked right by the indoor track with that pizza. It just didn’t seem right – although I can’t put my finger on it. I mean, I guess it could have been worse – she could have been carrying an empty pizza box…

Last, but not least, I would like to extend my warmest wishes to the UWM Panthers. I didn’t realize we lived in such an athletic powerhouse state (you know, what with the Milwaukee Admirals and the Bucks and stuff…)

So today is beautiful. The sun is out, the snow is melting, the world is crawling out of the rock we have been hiding under for the past 4 months – it is magical. PFM, as Frank would say – Pure Freakin’ Magic.

Lots of stuff has been going on at work, keepin’ me busy. Don’t really want to get into it – it’s only interesting to me which means it will undoubtedly put anyone who reads my blog sound asleep. Friday night it was Sarah & Dan’s anniversary (one year, hoorah!). Dan made a surprise dinner for Sarah at our apartment and she waas definitely surprised. Congrats to them!

While they were wining and dining, FK and I went to Swig for happy hour (not so happy – 1 glass of wine, 1 beer = $11… hmmm). Then we went to Mayfair to go see a movie, but once we got into the theater, decided we were tired and it was time to call it a night.

Yesterday we slept in (FK was on reserve, yahoo) and went for a walk, went back to Mayfair to see if we could get a new phone plan — no dice, FK doesn’t want to trade in his super cool phone for a subpar phone, even though the service would be slightly better. Then my parents came up for Church and Dinner. Yum. Went to Trocadero – highly recommend it – very tastey.

This morning we dozed until 8:30 and then got a move on. Picked up Kupers at the airport and went for a walk along the lakefront. Stopped in at Starbucks and then took Kupers back to the airport so he could finish up his flights for the day. Found out FK has a standup tonight, so I’ll be flyin’ solo for the evening. 🙂 S’okay.

Anyway, gotta get my hairs cut – write more later. .. hopefully… 🙂

Let’s see…

Frank and I helped move some people for Church on Saturday morning. The first house we went to was on the west side of Milwaukee. Generally speaking, the owners who were moving out did not keep the house in the best condition and it was kind of grimey, but that’s really hard to judge since I was only there on the day they were moving out. So who knows. The other house we helped move was just a complete nightmare – totally unprepared for all the people who came out to help and the owners were clearly not able to keep up with the basic cleaning as the house was covered in what can only be described as a very thick layer of dust.

See, here’s the thing, I know that the first house was owned by a single mom and the second house was owned by a mom and dad who both worked and had 2 kids. So I guess time was not on their sides, that’s for sure. Needless to say, it was eye opening – we came home and took apart the kitchen and the bathroom and scrubbed. Then we cleaned out our closets. It was quite cleansing, that’s for sure

Other than that, we had a nice weekend – we hung out with Dan, Sarah, Becky & Jeff on Saturday. Jeff managed to nearly drop a buffet of a China cabinet on Saturday so Sarah and I went with him to get stitches at a local clinic. His wife, Amy, didn’t beleive we were at the clinic, even though Sarah (the most honest person I know) got on the phone to tell her so. Oh well – Jeff has probably earned at least that level of doubt with all the practical jokes he has played on his lovely wife in the past several years. 🙂 We love Jeff!

Church today was interesting – the Worship team has been having their ups and downs because the worship pastor went to Kansas (I think), so they are looking for a new worship pastor. Worship today was “tight.” Everyone had their stuff down, harmonies worked, etc – good stuff. Outside of that, Frank and I had a nice nap. We were going to go down to Dave G’s Oscar party (aka Oscarpalooza), but the 2 hr drive down and back up on a work night was not so appealing.

In other news, Happy Birthday to Jamie & Michelle B!! Congrats on your big birthdays – Jamie is 26 and Michelle is a quarter of a century – 25! Yay!

ALso, want to congratulate Jane P. for updating her blog – very nice – loved hearing about your happenings!

In other news, wanted to let Kate A know that my prayers are with her & her family. Kate’s grandpa is sick – I’m thinking about you!!

Other than that, Meg and I are traveling out to Utah for my work – Happy day! It’s a spa/ski trip (we’ll be spa-ing it – what is this ski thing? no way!) I love it when work lets me bring a guest!

That’s it for now!!

Well, it has certainly been a while since I posted. Everything is going really well. I have been working a lot, but learning a lot too. I am really enjoying work – challenges and all!

The home front is good too – Frank and I are having a blast together. We are learning a lot about each other and we are growing a lot in our marriage, too. We are both pretty active in the church now, too, which has been both a great way to grow closer to God, but also to meet a ton of people in the area.

We went to Kohler on Saturday for Frank’s Mom’s birthday. I have a new niece, Julia Michelle, who was born on 1/26/05. She is just TOO adorable!! She is a very calm, peaceful baby and beautiful to boot! I don’t get too excited about kids, but I saw her big, beautiful blue eyes and just melted. Aww! What can I say, I’m a doting aunt 🙂

I wish I had more exciting news to post about, but that’s it for right now. Yahoo!

The snow started coming down around 7 pm on Friday and didn’t let up until Saturday afternoon. Once the snow storm passed through, the lake-effect snow machine turned on and the winds whipped up and everything that had been plowed was covered with blowing and drifting snow. Woohoo!

We ventured out to Starbucks in Franklin and met up with my friend Sarah and Frank worked on route cards and then his friend, Kyle, also a pilot, met up with him. Despite the awful weather we had a nice time. At around 2, Janice from church called to say that church was canceled last night. Since the wind was still blowing snow around and covering roads, we decided we weren’t going to Frank’s company party either. We stayed in and I made some spaghetti, which was pretty darned good if I do say so myself. I have to confess that I mooched the recipe for the sauce off of Carolyn (she rocks!) and it was stinkin’ awesome. Frank and I watched Collateral, which was surprisingly good. We had a generally rockin’ time just hanging out and cooking and eating. Wooho!

THis morning we went to church and it was packed. Don gave a great sermon about tradition and the good and the bad of having established traditions. What was cool was that I thought it was going to be a long one, but it was really interesting and relevant. Tradition the fuels belief would generally be considered a not good thing, but tradition based on faith and belief is a good thing.

So anyway – that is that. We have Bible study tomorrow, Turbo small group training Tuesday. I am jetting off to Cali on Saturday to visit Kate & Sean (& Ryan & Caitlin, too) – very excited to go out there. I would bet that it is much warmer out there than here 🙂 It’ll be trippy to leave the cold and snow for just a few days and then come back home.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Well, here we are, 15 days into the month and I can barely keep my eyes open. It is a frigid, windy day in Milwaukee. The fact that there aren’t any clouds in the sky and the sun is shining brightly is rather disarming. The truth is this: it is only 10 degrees out and it feels like -15 degrees. If it was spring and the sky looked as blue and pretty as it does right now, I’d be outside, soaking it in.

This morning Frank and I went to brunch at a restaurant called Coast. They serve excellent brunch, so we are rather full. With every meal they serve warm, delightfully crispy popovers (warm, hollow bread). The popovers are served with strawberry, cinamon and creamy butters. Delish! I could have just had the popovers and soup. Very yum!

We also stopped in the Milwaukee Art Museum to take a look around. I’ve been there to see the Masters of American Art gallery, but it’s quite an impressive building. It is shaped like a ship with massive wing-like white sails created by the retractable roof. Go check out the site because I really can’t do it justice.

Later this month, 1/29-1/31 I will be traveling out to LA to visit Kate and Sean. Ah – the benefits of having an airline husband 😀 Speaking of airline husband – we are going to his company party on 1/22, which should be a good ole time. Lots of pilots crowded into a VFW hall. Doesn’t get much better than that!

Hope everyone is doing well – time for me to get my sleep on!

So. It’s almost 11 pm. Frank is in Ironwood, MI (it’s north, it’s cold and it’s snowy up there) and I’m here in Milwaukee.

And what am I doing up at this late hour on a Monday night when I have work the next morning? Naturally, I am contemplating my life, and, of course, my weight. See, the holidays were an awful blur of food – mostly chocolate in nature. This lead to weight gain. On top of the weight gain over this past year, I am quite sad and anxious and upset.

What’s worse is that Frank isn’t here, so I am also lonely. And I can’t call him because he has to be up in a few hours – 3:45 am to be exact.

So here is my action plan. I am going to continue writing down everything I eat. I am going to throw out the pecans my mother in law gave me as well as the chocolate chips in the fridge that I sometimes snack on. Once I’m done with that, I am going to get myself into a routine, darn it. I am going to work out and like it. And I am going to NOT HAVE ANY MORE HEADACHES. How much advil can a girl take??

I am also going to become re-obsessed with weighing myself because for some reason, that helps me instead of making me into someone with an eating disorder. See, if I can see immediate positive or negative reactions to what I eat, I get better about cause and effect with good food vs. bad food.

Wow. I am actually in a near panick about this. I need to get sleep.

Three days into 2005 and I haven’t gone to work yet, so here I am… at home… I went up to Green Bay to be with Frank last night and drove home today and now have a ridiculous headache… so… I should be resting some more… Hmmm…

Work tomorrow… headache must go away…

Well, before we can say hello to 2005, it’s time to say good bye to 2004.

It’s amazing how much changes in a year. In 2003 Frank and I were engaged and married and I thought that was a pretty wild ride. This past year, the ride continued – Frank received the good news that he got a job in Milwaukee and I found a job and we moved our entire lives up to Wisconsin and made new friends and started a new life in a new place. And it has been outstanding!

I love my job, I love our new church and our new home. It has been challenging, but still rewarding. God has done amazing things in our lives and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us. I know that things are going to be challenging – that growing is never easy – but I am working to have faith in God and that He has a plan for us.

So as 2004 is coming to a close, I am extremely grateful for the many ways that God has blessed us, our family and our friends.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful new year!

Yes… it is 10:30 and I just emailed a project that I was working on (which isn’t done, btw) to myself. I am getting into panic mode: work is consuming all my time, I am not done Christmas shopping, I can’t keep up with the mail coming into the house and I can’t stop eating!!! HELP!!

Fortunately, I have my little snuggle bunny of love – Frank. Aw. Come to mama!

Unfortunately this lack of time to do anything has made me mildly bitter and I am definitely not in the holiday spirit. What’s worse is that not being in the holiday spirit is only making me stressed about not being in the holiday spirit. HELP!! It also seems that everyone else around me has oodles of time and can get everything done… How is that possible??? I work 6 days a week and sometimes 12 hours a day… today was 13… or 14… can’t keep track.

I’m such a whiner. Happy holidays!