The past month or so has been very exciting. We really enjoyed our recent trip to Ohio and spending time with family. Grandpa Nick and I made our annual trip to Arlington Race Track just last week. Jenelle and I are definitely ready for a nice relaxing “vegging out” type of vacation. We’ll see what we can do about that.
Just in case you think this is a boring post — those links above take you to photos. 🙂
June 21: Happy Birthday, Jenelle!
June 25: Happy Birthday, Ed!
June 26: Happy Birthday, Ben!
Happy July! Jenelle and I are busy preparing for our annual fireworks party, scheduled to take place tomorrow evening. Last year, inclement weather forced us to grill partially under the garage, causing smoke to pour into the condo and sound a few detectors. This year, we are prepared, even though the forecast says the rain won’t show up until very late. We bought a really cool 12′ x 12′ canopy that can supposedly set itself up in minutes. We also have more meat than last year. Why? Last year, we ran out of meat. 🙂
Oh, yeah, it’ll be a fun time. And with luck, we’ll actually be able to SEE the fireworks this year.
Another fun day in Wisconsin. This morning, I participated in my first ever Lighthouse Run. I ran ten miles in 1:24:49.1 (a new personal best). The official results are right here. Yeah, you’ll have to scroll down a bit to see my name, but it’s there. 327th place. Oh yeah! Special thanks to Mom & Dad for taking pictures and video, Grandma Iz and Grandpa Nick for their enthusiastic cheers, and Aunt Sue for a much-appreciated bottle of water at the halfway point. I’ll have some photos on the internet soon.
Also coming soon to the blog — photos and recaps of our trip to Oregon this past week.
Jenelle and I returned from Oregon late last night. We’ve got lots of pictures to share and stories to tell, but they might not show up here until this weekend. For now, I’m going to catch up on a few milestones:
June 2: Happy Birthday, Fil!
June 5: Happy Birthday, Brinkles!
June 7: Happy Birthday, Adam H.!
June 11: Happy Anniversary, Jeff & Josie!
June 11: Happy Birthday, Aunt Sue!
We’ll be in touch. 🙂
…is out of the bag
For all you family members, you may be thinking that for an East Coast girl that I have become (hey – if you’re from Oregon, Wisconsin is more like the east coast than the midwest!) Vegas sure is close to Portland.
So after soaking up the sun in Vegas, I’ll be flying to Portland for a few days of soaking up the rain. Ben is meeting me in Portland late Friday night and we’ll be up with the sun on Saturday for the Rose Festival Parade. I don’t think I’ve been to a Rose Parade since high school, so I am very excited. And, I am even more excited to see my favorite 3-year old nephew. I hear he’s quite the fun guy.
Jenelle here…
I’m sitting right now on a plane to Las Vegas. Like last year, my two bosses and I will be giving a presentation at the Corporate Communicators Conference at Caesar’s Palace. This year, we’ll be talking about how we redesigned our corporate publications to make them more interesting, engaging and effective.
I’m sure this begs the question – what exactly do you do? Well, my journalism professors always told me to be concise, so in short — I write stuff. I manage the company’s 4-page color tabloid-size publication and make sure it gets out to our employees and retirees every 2 weeks. That may seem like small beans, but our publication rocks, and it really is quite a big task. And it certainly keeps me very busy. I do other stuff too – but that’s my main job.
I just successfully whittled the e-mails in my inbox from 122 to about 2, so it’s time to take a break. I’m flying over the Grand Canyon right now. From the air, it looks just like a hole in the ground – like when the ground dries up and cracks.
I’ll be in Vegas until Friday, enjoying the sun, the conference, the food and the occasional slot machine. We get these great rooms in the Palace Tower at Caesars – its the kind of hotel room where the bathroom is bigger than the bedroom – Jacuzzi, phone near the toilet, separate glass shower, etc. I’m looking forward to this trip – I’ve been really busy lately, and while I still have a lot of work to do on this trip, I’d much rather do it lounging by the pool than sitting in my moldy office.
I formally retract my previous statement about the Grand Canyon being a hole in the ground. We just banked left pretty hard – which gave us a phenomenal view of the canyon.
And yes, I did bring my sunscreen. Although I am hoping the sun will remedy this awful v-neck tan I currently have going on. Who knew it could be sunny in Wisconsin?
Whoa, another big time desert bank, and some funny engine noises. That must mean it’s time to land. It’s Jackpot time!
On Friday: Happy Birthday, Dave! (or should I say, “Dad-in-law”)
Here’s some content to keep everyone happy over the long weekend:
1. Memorial Day Weekend Cookout Photos
2. BenCam Archive – For those of you who can’t get enough pictures of me. 🙂
3. My name appeared in a news article a few days ago. A co-worker of mine, Ken Rustici, ran a total of 25,000 miles over 22 years. That’s the equivalent of circumnavigating the globe! HERE is the article, and HERE is a photo. I’m on the right.
Enjoy!
Jenelle here…
I’m excited to see new people reading our weblog! Thanks for leaving a comment Diana — it’s good to hear from you! Ben and I used to think that our moms and grandmas were the only ones that read it, so we like hearing about loyal readers in the under 30 crowd.
On a side note…Is it just me, or has there been a complete and total shortage of green grapes lately? And this is not just an isolated problem — Jewel, Wal-Mart and Woodmans have been out for about a month. I’ve searched high and low and can’t find them anywhere.
Sure, its only May and the ground has only been thawed for a month or so, but come on! Can’t they truck some in from California or something?
This is almost as disgraceful as paying $5 for half a pint of blueberries. But those things are chock full of antioxidants and worth every penny.
