happy Day of LUUURVE!! Chateau Blanche, etc...

it's Valentine's Day!! who's excited!!!

ME!

this is an extra special valentine's day for me because of two reasons. oh i mean three. here they are, in no particular order...

wait, i just added a fourth.

1. James and I get to "celebrate" Valentine's Day today, in the same state, together!! that has not happened for a very long time. 

2. today I had an unexpected exciting surprise - I talked to my dearest friend Ladunni! We haven't chatted much lately due to busy lives and the fact that she is living in NIGERIA and me in the States (obviously) and the time difference is quite inconvenient. Anyway, I am so happy that we connected...she is my sole mate. and when i say "sole," it's meant like the shoe. she is the left and i am the right. politically, that's pretty accurate and really, what good is one shoe without the other? that's the real clincher. Happy Valentine's Day to my best gal, college roomie, sistahh from another mistahhh, Ladunni. 

3. I am super thrilled to give james his little Valentine's gift!! it's more of just an "i love you, thanks for being awesome, and i believe in what you're doing every day" gift, but i've been holding on to it for a few weeks for THIS NIGHT. tonight! yes, i am truly that excited to finally give it to him!

4. tonight we are having a very special Valentine's dinner... James so thoughtfully made reservations a couple weeks ago, thank goodness, because this place is very difficult to get into on tonight. for one night and one night only, White Castle goes 5-star dining and accepts reservations for their romantic dining experience! they put tablecloths on the tables, dim the lights, and serve you at the table!! oh gosh, i wonder if we leave a tip!? i've never tipped on a Crave Case before, but i guess it is appropriate tonight! seriously, i am so, SO excited for White Castle tonight, i cannot even fully explain it!! I am so thankful that James puts up with my quirkiness!! heck, i don't even know if he likes Sliders! i guess he will, tonight!

moving right along....HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to everyone!! and PS how CUTE are these Target brownies, made with HOT PINK frosting and hearts!! ......

this morning i had the pleasure of taking sweet baby Nash for his morning walk. well, it had snowed a bit overnight and after our 5:15 AM gym class (yikes), we got home and while james went a'shoveling, Nash and I went a'walking....in this winter wonderland!

it was so gorgeous, i swear! and it was about 30 degrees (almost), 

so it was very warm.

this one was while Nash was looking behind me at a person shoveling.

i think he wanted to help the guy - or play with him.

Aren't those gorgeous pictures? or are they just that to me, since I was there? it was so serene and really a very relaxing walk... a great workout, my dog emptied his tank, and the sidewalk and driveway were all shoveled before 7 AM today! an amazing start to a great day!

have a LOVELY night - celebrate something, someone you LOVE!

'snow face like home! winter in Minneapolis

Lucky me! I had Thursday off of work, so I decided to treat Nash to some open fields in the heart of Minneapolis...and by open fields, I mean the size of a football field fenced in, courtesy of the City of Lakes, Minneapolis! the latest and greatest addition to Minneapolis' off leash dog parks is located on King's Highway (Dupont Ave, South) and approximately 38th Street. Nash LOVED frolicking, sprinting, and rolling in the open area with his fellow canine friends. The weather was a nice 20 degrees with little to no wind; in other words, warm enough to be out for almost two hours! we had a nice time walking to the park, playing around (still working on the whole "fetch" game with him!) and walking back home. For anyone interested, he pooed three times!! THREE TIMES! luckily i had enough bags to pick up after him. so, note to self (and others), bring extra bags with to the dog park!

Lily: great dane/black lab mix, 

Coco: great dane, 

Nash: Redbone Coon Hound/shepherd/goofball mix

Once Nash felt comfortable enough with Coco, he was running under legs like she was just another bridge. pretty hilarious...and she didn't even mind! Lily and Coco were both very sweet dogs and were quite polite to Nash.

Wednesday night I worked pretty late - by the time i headed home, it was just after bar close so the streets were very bare. except for this snow mountain! What!? since when do the snow plows leave gigantic now piles in the middle of a street? DOWNTOWN!? It was kind of fun to see, at least. 

that's a ~10 foot snow pile! 

completely blocking a lane in downtown Minneapolis!

I swear it was huge, in person! 

it was certainly higher than my SUV, 

and about 4 car lengths long.

Each day on my way to Orange Theory Fitness, I see these awesome snow sculptures. I think they were put into place in celebration of the Loppet that was held last weekend in Uptown (Loppet = Cross Country ski race). This is just one of the sculptures - I snapped this pic Thursday from my car and hopefully will get a chance to stop by and loop at all of them before they melt on Saturday. My favorite is a horse...might be a unicorn even! these sculptures are pretty amazing, to me, and are huge! i would guess they are about 8-10 feet tall and 4 feet across. Yes, that's a huge face! Something else I think is pretty cool about these sculptures and their locations is that in the summer time we have sand sculptures just down the street. I love Minnesota - we really do find a way to embrace each and every season.

so, word on the street is that the NE is supposed to get clobbered with snow this weekend. No offense, but why is it always such an earth-shattering news story whenever the NE states are forecasted to get any type of storm? they get hit with one big snow storm EVERY WINTER! get over it already! be prepared! i feel like they are just always making a mountain out of a molehill when it comes to weather (not including Sandy. I will give them that one). You don't hear Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Iowa or Minnesota crying whenever we get hammered with snow! we know where we live, we know what winter brings... it's not a surprise that sometimes it snows 10+ inches. duh.  I feel like it's as much of a no-brainer as FLorida getting sunshine... hello!

anyway, we are supposed to get some heavy snowfall starting Sunday morning and it's rumored (if you listen to WCCO they will try to scare you into thinking the sky is falling!!), depending what station you tune into, we could get up to ten inches of snow! in one day! I am really excited!! I think we will rev up the snowblower saturday to make sure she's primed and ready to rock on Sunday - because that's a lot of snow in a short amount of time, which means it's snowblowing a couple times during the day OR nonstop shoveling. I like the first option better! well, i mean I think James does. ;) Love my "man power!"

as my friend Lisa Christine says, Enjoy the weekend. Like, really...enjoy it!

OK!

what's in a name?...Nash and, of course, BOOTS. Let's GET 'EM

ok. WHAT is up with people naming their kids ridiculous names? no, they are not even names...they are WORDS. Hi, my name is "Chaos." Hi, my name is "Barbados." Hi, my name is ridiculous. I recently read a blog of a distant acquaintance (sounds redundant, I know, but that's who she is) and the names of the new babies in her family are flat out silly. One of the names, I will use Michael as an example, is simply the same sound but the first letter is replaced: Tichael. Another name is the name of a tropical island but just spelled differently.  If you ask me, which NO body did, I think these names are trashy and obnoxious. Oh well. I am very thankful for my unique name, but still admire my sisters' names, Jessica and Kristin. They are both simple and both of these women have personalities that far exceed their semi-common names. Anyway, I think those bogus names are just outlandish cries for attention and quite tacky. No thanks.

wow, how about a positive post for once, eh?

Sorry. I have had this terrible, nauseating pain in my neck/shoulder/back for about three weeks and I think it's really making me much more sour than usual. Please, excuse me. 

While at a used furniture store the other day, I ran into this little gem that will soon be my Grandpa's birthday gift. it's beyond perfection.

I hope he loves it. he will!

Last night Nash was being his usual goofy self and allowed me to hold an impromptu photo shoot, with him serving as my main model. mo-dellll. look how handsome he is!! 

it's almost a mug shot! he's under arrest...for being too cute! and funny.

Sorry, was that too corny?

and here he is, smiling his little grin when 

he knows he's being too cute for me to say "no." stinker.

yes, i am officially one of those pet-parent people who is constantly doting over her pet, as she has no human children. i love to talk about him, how my life has changed because of him, take and post pictures of him...and yes, i absolutely speak to him as if he can and does understand the english language. right now i am trying to train him to understand my facial expressions and body language. so far he seems to understand my death-stare (when he needs to chill the heck out!), my smile and kisses face, and when i wave hello to him. more useful things I need to train him on are commands such as "stay" and "down," in terms of jumping up on us when he gets super excited. I am telling you, he just has lots of love and energy that he can't keep contained! 

we are supposed to get some more snow coming up in the next day or two, so I hope to snap some pics of him wearing his new super-sporty jacket. really, he is just the most stylin' doggie on the block...well, along with his BFF Brutus, of course!

I cannot wait to get home tonight - my new Sorel boots finally arrived and they are waiting for me!!! ahhh! BOOOOOTSSSSS!!! LET'S GET'EM! I am pumped. so are my feet. both of them.

watch THIS - it is the most amazing song ever and every female worthy of $300 boots must see this. it's a life changer! thank me later. OhMyGod.

check it OUT!

Super Bowl brings a Super Warm UP!

Super Bowl weekend FLEW by! Is it just me, or did it seem like ghost-town Sunday? I kept wondering if stores would be open regular hours...then I would remember that it's just Super Bowl Sunday...not a real holiday like President's Day or MLK Day or...well, you get it.

So anyway, we started off Sunday morning with some coffee...and fancy-schmancy mustache mugs. 

sexy and he knows it!

We also had some shoveling to do....correction: James also had some shoveling to do. What a champ. I think i should give him a golden shovel trophy or something. He's earned it! What a relief that I haven't had to bust my butt shoveling! I can just take Nash for a walk while he takes care of the snow. GREAT trade off! And afterwards, our worlds collide: my little boys enjoying each other (maybe Nash is enjoying this more than J?). 

say it with me, "awwwwe!!"

After a quick run to the gym for some StairMaster domination (hardy, har-har), it was time to prepare the Super Grub! I had a fantastic idea about taking before, during, and after pics of our food, but...well once there was edible food in front of my face, all "ideas" flew out of my head. Girls Gotta EAT! So I have ONE picture I can share. at least it turned out pretty well...in the pic and real life!

bacon wrapped Brussels sprouts with peppercorn. EZ-PZ.

We headed to the Hardestys for some football watchin', commercial critiquing, and face-stuffing and had a great time! James passed out on the couch (food coma?) a few times and i took it upon myself to constructively criticize Beyonce's half time self-obsessed seduction... mehhh, i wasn't impressed... I was happy to see Kelly and Michelle, but the positive feelings were washed away once Bey-noying gyrated herself to the floor, ending in a disgusting crotch shot. I am so happy she faked her pregnancy and was therefor able to keep her almost-svelte physique, otherwise it would have been really painful watching her shake her leg-jelly in that pleather teddy! somewhere out there is a surrogate mother i need to thank!

deep breath.... ahhhh.

James and i hit up OTF this morning for a fun 5:15 AM workout class..holy smokes, 4:45 AM comes quick! Luckily for us, the workouts are great, fun, and make a pre-dawn wakeup call totally worth the struggle. we have 30 days until we arrive in Fort Myers, so i think we are officially down to GO time. And i love it! 

The snowfall last night and this morning was beautiful!! I love the big fluffy, sticky snowflakes. On my post-gym walk with Nash this morning I saw a handful of runners heading towards Lake Calhoun and found myself feeling positive pangs of envy. Running outside in the cold, especially in the snow like we had this morning, is absolutely amazing. It's very peaceful, calming, and very rewarding! I miss my cold-weather snow runs...maybe I can get one in this weekend. Trust me - as long as you dress appropriately for the weather and activity, it's an awesome experience! and the sights are BEAUTIFUL! 

Today's high is about 27 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a definite warm-up! hooray!! I think i may even have to bust out my *new* Sorel boots for our evening walk with Nash! they are totally waterproof, warm, and cute!! my current ones are alright in terms of warmth, but are not waterproof - which in this weather is a must-have attribute! 

Like the lights in the SuperDome, I'm out!

Happy Tuesday.

rodeooooh, so tough!

Friday is here. It's upon us. Do you feel it?

I had the great fortune of kicking my Friday morning off with a fantastic workout at Orange Theory Fitness, and a SUPERB soundtrack...ready? set? JOCK JAMS! yah! Like, the original Jock Jams, peeps. ARE YOU READY TO RUMMMMMBLE!! it was great!! i would like to have my alarm clock to play back some Jock Jams mixes ("Are You Ready TO RUMMMMMBLE" announcer, included!) each morning. What an exuberant delight it would be to wake up to those jams each morning. 

this weekend should bring us tons of fun... Saturday we have all day to lounge and do as we please, as James finally has the day off!! So we have a 6:45 AM workout, then we can come back home and be as lazy (or productive!...wink wink) as we want. I mean, we do have to finish plastering our bedroom and kitchen....but...doesn't a lazy Saturday sound delightful? I think so, too.

Come Saturday night around 7:30 you will find us, along with our neighbors the Hardestys at the World's Toughest Rodeo! YESSSSSSS. I cannot wait! I LOVE the RODEO!!! Pretty sure "Rodeo Rick" is the most excited of the four of us....but his excitement may be mostly for the whiskey flasks. ha! Look out Saint Paul, here come the cowboys...and cowboy BOOTS! yes! YEEEHAW.

hoping to see some of THIS...

and hoping this hackey-sack of a man is ok!

Sunday, of course, is the Super Bowl! I might bust out my "vintage" Randy THE BOSS  Moss Vikings jersey... I think I can find it! ha. I don't know who I am cheering for...I think this year I'm in it for the binge eating. OK, and I guess Randy Moss...so maybe the 49ers. ehhh. whatever. I think our smorgasbord of grub is going to be quite impressive, so I'm happy with that. And bloody marys, of course.

uh oh, here comes the snow. just in time for the weekend kick off!! 

just wanted to share this pic because i think it might be the Gospel. 

just sayin'

ok, ok...and we might hit the mall tonight and someone feels like SHOPPING!

Sorry James! but come on... we are going to Fort Myers in a month and it's spring break shopping season! I cannot resist.

Happy Weekend!