Random Schmandom Part 2

Because I have so many little things to talk about, this is part 2 of the Random Schmandom I did last week. If I wasn't out doing so many things, I would have time to blog but not much to write about. It's a Catch-22, people!

• The weather this past week has been pretty nice. In the Twin Cities, we set a record of 95 degrees last Monday, around 20+ degrees above average.
• Because it's nice weather, that means I need pretty toes to show off so I got the spring/summer season's first pedicure about 2.5 weeks ago. The toes are holding pretty up well still.
• In the last version of Random Schmandom, I told you of all the bad dreams I was having. I remembered the one that I couldn't remember at the time....I had a dream I was cheating on Michael (emotionally) with Craig Ferguson. My dreams have since been better or I haven't been remembering them at all.
• My sister had a garage sale last weekend and while the weather was ok on Friday, she shut it down for more than half the day on Saturday due to rain. She is going to have her garage sale 2 more weekends in June. I spent every night for a week over there bringing my stuff over, setting it up and pricing it. I wanted to make $200 total for all the weekends and I ended up making $199 on Friday and $36.50 on Saturday, which made me happy. Lots more yet to sell!
• I had my doctor's appointment a couple of weeks ago and I was really curious to see how my numbers were looking after cutting out refined sugar (as much as I can stand it) for the past 4+ months and here's a synopsis of where I'm at: Blood Pressure: 110/80 (So not normal for me! WAY better) Cholesterol: 185 mg/dl (good for me if I work at it) Triglycerides: 165 mg/dl (VERY good for ME!) A "normal" triglycerides level is less than 150 mg/dl. In April 2009, mine was 256 mg/dl. After 3 months of no alcohol and cutting out as much sugar as I can and a repeat test in July 2009, it was 197 mg/dl, still high but improving so to see that I've come down to 165 mg/dl, just above what's considered normal makes me happy. Ah, all the stuff I never worried about before I was in my 30's!
• I went to see Sex and the City 2 with my sister today, despite feeling slightly guilty about being in a movie theatre for almost 3 hours while the sun is out and shining. The movie didn't have the greatest plot but we had to see it. As long as Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, Samantha, Mr. Big and AIDAN is in it, it can't be that bad of a movie in my eyes.
• M and I went on a motorcycle with a bunch of family and friends two weekends ago through Minnesota and Wisconsin, which will be part of the same path that the Cherry Ride will take place in July. Here's a picture of a race car we saw while waiting for the whole group to meet and a picture of our bikes at a pit stop we made. We had 3 other bikes with us but they joined us for only part of the day.
  
  
  
• Finally, have you seen this video? Everyone seems to have seen it by now but it's still amazing. This kid is 12 years old and was just taking part in a school talent show of some sort. He's been playing the piano for 3 years and has never taken voice lessons but now has a record deal. At the time of this posting, this video has almost 24 million hits. The song he is performing is Lady Gaga's, "Paparazzi".

Macrolicious Friday

Happy Friday peeps! I've been busy all week again so I haven't had much time to dedicate to A) finding macros photos that I have already taken and B) taking new photos, so this one will have to do for the long Memorial weekend. Have a great long weekend, whatever you decide to do and be safe!

Photo taken at Mounds Park in St. Paul

MS150- Accept the Challenge

For those that don't know, the MS150 ride is a bike ride from Duluth, MN down to the Twin Cities that is 150 miles spread out over the course of two days that raises money for Multiple Sclerosis. Michael will be doing this ride for the 9th time on June 11-13 and he needs your help. He has a long way to get to his goal and every little bit helps. Please consider donating! Thank you everyone!

Hello Blog Readers! It's that time again, time for me to ride my butt off. ☺ Multiple sclerosis stops people from moving. I want to make sure it doesn't. That's why I'm riding in the Bike MS: MS 150 Ride 2010. I hope you will also make your mark against MS by supporting my fundraising efforts. Please click on my PERSONAL PAGE for my story. Your tax-deductible gift keeps the National MS Society moving toward a world free of multiple sclerosis by funding cutting-edge research and supporting programs for people living with MS. Movement is something many of us take for granted, but for people living with MS movement isn't a guarantee. Support me and together we'll move forward on behalf of those who may not be able to do so themselves. Click here to visit my personal page. If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/MNMBikeEvents?px=1867336&pg=personal&fr_id=12417&et=JCI4wSCxbPWEJ6II3fhdjA..&s_tafId=170974

Random Schmandom

There are many times in my life when I just have busy streaks and that makes it hard sometimes to sit down and write about my life and that's when the Random Schmandom comes in handy. In addition to being busy, I have tried to unplug a little bit more from the world in the evenings, usually allowing myself one hour on the computer after I've come home from work. It makes me feel better and I'm doing other things besides just being on the computer.

Anyways, here's a quick recap of some things that have happened over the past few weeks. I have some other things I'll write about in detail shortly.

I went out to dinner with my sister and my nephew to Baja Sol a few weeks ago and got this cute picture of the two of them. My nephew has recently changed his mind that he no longer likes tacos, much to the chagrin of both his mom and auntie. I guess that's ok...Jamie and I eat enough tacos to make up for it.

I saw this license plate while in a parking lot. Those that are Minnesota Vikings fans will appreciate it.

M and I went out to the pond in our backyard to see any wildlife that we could and we saw some turtles, fish, frogs and birds, including these mallard ducks. Their heads were such a beautiful green in the sunshine.

A frog in the water

A turtle with it's head popping out of the water

Guess who's car turned 100,000 miles this past week?! This is the first time I've had a car with that many miles that I've owned from the beginning. I bought the car in December 2002 and put on 25,000 in the first year so you can see that I've mellowed out on driving since then. I pretty much only drive my car Monday-Friday, 50 miles a day. I've driven enough miles in my car to go around the world four times.

M and I were on the motorcycle and saw this memorial by Lake Phalen on the Bruce Vento Trail where Sgt. Joe Bergeron was shot and killed a few weeks ago.

I've had bad dreams lately. I've had six bad dreams in about a week and I can remember five of them, which all mean terrible things if you believe in dream interpretation. 1) My teeth were chipping and falling out of my mouth (I hate this dream. I've had variations of it in the past and it seems so real.) 2) Babysitting my sister's baby (she is pregnant now but in the dream the baby was a boy) and forgetting about him sitting in his high chair for TWO DAYS. I did not feed him or change him and when I did realize I had forgotten about him and looked at him, he was starving to death and looked like he was about to die. 3) A NASTY spider that was orange and slimy crawling across the grass in my yard 4) My friend being chased by a bear and watching her get mauled--What's wrong with me?!?!? I have had some drama in my life lately but that's settled down a bit so maybe the dreams will too.

Speaking of my sister and being pregnant, she did find out what she's having about 10 days ago and it will be another BOY! I told her all along that I thought it would be a boy and she didn't like that as she wanted a girl but of course is now fine with having another boy. Now if both her and her husband could agree on a name...

To all you fellow bloggers....I've still been reading your blogs but have left little to no comments for lack of time. I'll be commenting again!

Macrolicious Friday

I haven't even blogged since last week's Macrolicious Friday. I've been sooooo busy with things that I'll catch you up on later but after I posted my macro last week, I asked M if he liked it. With hesitation, he said, "yes, but it's not really what I consider a macro photo."

Ok, just so we're all clear here, I do know what macro photography is but after reading a definition of it, the definition has expanded somewhat from the original meaning.

Here is the definition I found the most:

Macro photography is close-up photography. The classical definition is that the image projected on the "film plane" (i.e., film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject. On 35 mm film (for example), the lens is typically optimized to focus sharply on a small area approaching the size of the film frame. Most 35mm format macro lenses achieve at least 1:2, that is to say, the image on the film is 1/2 the size of the object being photographed. Many 35mm macro lenses are 1:1, meaning the image on the film is the same size as the object being photographed. Another important distinction is that lenses designed for macro are usually at their sharpest at macro focus distances and are not quite as sharp at other focus distances.

In recent years, the term macro has been used in marketing material to mean being able to focus on a subject close enough so that when a regular 6×4 inch (15×10 cm) print is made, the image is life-size or larger. With 35mm film this requires a magnification ratio of only approximately 1:4, which demands a lower lens quality than 1:1. With digital cameras the actual image size is rarely stated, so that the magnification ratio is largely irrelevant; cameras instead advertise their closest focusing distance.

For purposes of Macrolicious Friday, the photos featured are photos that were taken with my camera's macro/super macro setting. I only have an Olympus point and shoot so if you need to, take that into consideration.

This photo was taken by M on March 20th, 2010. We were at Target Field sitting out in the sun and I wanted M to take a picture of my lips as my lip gloss was very sparkly in the sun. The picture reminds me of summer and with this weekend's weather forecast of mid to upper 80's, I thought it was appropriate. Click the photo to enlarge and see all the flecks of glitter including blue/purple on my lips.

Have a great weekend!

Macrolicious Friday

I've been thinking about this idea for months and I've finally decided to move forward with it. From July 2009 to February 2010, I posted Friday's Fun Facts EVERY Friday for people to enjoy. Nobody complained or was sad when I stopped doing it and maybe you didn't even notice but somehow your life was lacking slightly but you just couldn't put your finger on what exactly was missing. Well I'm here to fill that void again. My new gimmick will be...wait for it....Macrolicious Friday. I love macro photography and I thought it would be fun to post a macro photo that I've taken at some point in my life as a nice way to start the weekend on the blog. I might even have M take a photo every now and then just to mix things up a little. Can you stand the excitement?! So now that I've agonized over but perfected the title of the blog....Macrolicious Friday, I'm ready to start posting pictures! Without further ado, here's the first Macrolicious photo!

Who says dandelions are just a weed and are ugly? Photo was taken on Mother's Day.

As always, click on the picture to enlarge for further detail.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Target Field: Twins vs. Baltimore Orioles

M and I went to Target Field last Thursday night for what would be my first night game of the season, however it was M's 2nd night game as he went earlier in the week. It was a dreary day...cloudy, rainy and chilly. I wore my winter jacket and I was not cold for about the first hour but then the wind picked up a little and with the moisture in the air, we both got chilled and spent some time under the heat lamps watching the game from left field or even the TV monitors. I hope you're not sick of my pictures from Target Field. I know some of them are the same thing over and over again but I am always finding new things to take pictures of and realizing that I keep discovering new things in the stadium that I never have seen before despite touring the place at length. The Twins just couldn't do much and ended up leaving the bases loaded two times during the game. The Twins lost 2-0 in a somewhat boring game.

Anthony LaPanta and Ron Coomer doing Twins Live on FS North before the game. Ron Coomer is sooo nice in person and I think he's cute.

I love this program! I hope for a broken bat every game! This broken bat went into the crowd.

Me staying warm under the heat lamps on the Captain's Deck

Captain Morgan that is!

The rain coming down. Good thing my seats are WAY up there. We're covered from the elements!

Walk for Animals-Success!

First of all, a huge THANK YOU to all that gave me donations for the Animal Humane Society's Walk for Animals. With your help, I raised $310 with online and offline donations.

The walk took place on Saturday, May 1st at the Animal Humane Society's Golden Valley location. M and I usually walk together, just us, with no pets, however Chris joined us this year and brought their English Bulldog, Cosmo with for the walk. Unfortunately, Tanya had to work Saturday morning so she didn't get to come along. Hopefully next year, Tanya!

Bulldogs are not known for their great endurance so a 5 mile walk probably seemed daunting for Cosmo but she did really good. Cosmo has been known to stop walking and lay down where she's at and not move so we were trying to find that balance of whether or not we would have to turn around before the 2.5 mile half-way point, where everyone does a big loop and comes back on the same route. Cosmo looked like she was starting to get a little pooped out around the 2 mile mark so we turned around and instead of a 5 mile walk, Cosmo was able to accomplish 4 miles.

For the past seven years that I have been doing the walk, there is always some out-of-the-ordinary animal that presents itself each year, whether that be a horse, a goat, a wallaby, an iguana or this year, a baboon. He was sitting on his owner's shoulders wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He looked mean, but I think that's just the face they have and later got off the owner's shoulders and walked hand-in-hand with his owner. I wish I would have taken a picture of him but they came by quickly and were gone before I could process in my head, "Hey, that was a baboon wearing clothes."

Some of the other animals out there this year were of course, dogs. There are thousands of dogs out there and it is fun to see all the different kinds. I always get excited when I see one of my favorite dogs, a Pomeranian. If I ever get a dog, this is the kind I probably want or maybe one of the dogs that kind of look like a fox. They are a short hair and have longer pointy ears. Does anyone know what kind of dog that is? One of M's favorite is a Yorkie, which I also think are cute. Besides dogs, we saw a handful of cats. Some just in their owner's arms, others in screened strollers or in cages on a wagon. We also saw some ferrets, which were the same ones we saw last year, rabbits, a guinea pig and heard a bird.

Here are some of the pictures from this year's walk. Again, thank you to all those that donated. If you left a name of your pet when you donated, I made up a name tag for your pet and carried it with me on the walk and whether it was in honor of them or in memory of them.

I walked in honor of:

Tuanis

Schroeder

Cosmo

Teddy, Dulce and Kida

Kessock kittens

Daisy and Diago

Fuzzer

Powder

I walked in memory of:

Keino

Baxter

Eddy

Barlow

Wee Baby

This dog was Bad to the Bone

Chris and Cosmo

I ran into some friends at the walk--Manilath and Michelle or as I call them, Money and Kus

Cosmo found a baby bulldog named Belle

A Shar Pei. I thought he would be soft but he wasn't at all. He was very coarse.

I took this picture because I thought they looked like partners

Wait, someone's not doing this correctly

Cosmo taking a break

One of the water stops for the dogs. This dog got right into this pool and kept turning his body around in the pool. I loved it.

This little puppy was cold so she put him in her shirt

Ferrets-The same ones as last year

I couldn't escape without seeing some clowns. Aaahhh!

This was the softest cat

Craig Ferguson

In our monthly Quest for Comedy, M and I went to see Craig Ferguson on Friday at the State Theater, with no days to spare for the month of April. A comedian by the name of Randy Kagan opened up for him. Craig Ferguson was one of the most polished comedians I have seen. I've seen plenty of comedians and a lot of them do refer to notes sitting on a stool or a chair and Craig did not, as well as telling jokes or stories so well and with much charisma and charm. For those that don't know Craig Ferguson, he is the talk show host of The Late Late Show. If you still don't know who I'm talking about, he was played Drew Carey's boss on The Drew Carey Show. Craig was born and Scotland but became an American within the last couple of years and truly LOVES America. He starts out his TV show with, "It's a great day in America" and he started out his show at the State Theater the same way. Check out his show if you haven't. He is goofy and a little far out but if you like that type of humor, you'll like Craig Ferguson.