Thursday, January 22, 2015

silos


Time for a quick update.
I had a last minute gallery show!
My professors own an art therapy studio/gallery space down in Bay View and they last minute decided that they were going to have a show with art therapy students.
I made these silos in about 2 days time. 
Not that hard to do.
We didn't have a great turn out (cold dark night in MKE), but I did sell two silos.
I'm going to put the rest on Facebook and see who wants them.

Amidst the silo-creating I've also been working on my large and annoying annotated bibliography.
All 20 annotations are currently in good enough shape to turn in on Monday...but they're not quite complete. I should do just a touch more work on them. 

I will work on them on Sunday after my parents leave...
Yay! Mom and Dad are coming for a weekend visit!


We went to Madison to see Taylor last weekend.
We honestly hadn't seen her since summer because we both had a ridiculously busy fall. 
Shared some good beers, laughs, and pizza.



I'm also super excited for the spring because I'll be working more groups!
Three, to be precise. 
One after-school elementary group, one in-school elementary group, and another alternative school group. 
One of my co-workers is a bartender out in Riverwest. 
He likes to hold a "drink and draw" group on Wednesdays at the bar, so I decided to keep him company. 
Made me a real nice hot toddy.

The last semester of my graduate school career starts on Monday! 
What an amazing break it has been. 
I needed every second. 
I've been cooking with more veggies and exercising most days ever since we returned from holiday traveling. 
Feels better.
Nice to get over all of my stifled sicknesses and feel like a normal, healthy person without intense grad school reading and writing to fog my brain. 
And now only  a little less than 4 months of it!
I am ready to go. 

Thursday, January 8, 2015

stuffed birdies


Here's my parents' Christmas picture. 
We took this during our time in Freeman.

Just wanted to check in and let you know that I haven't left the house since Tuesday evening (It's Thursday evening). 
Been some awfully cold and snowy days here.
And if you don't need to leave...you don't. 

I've been...
watching Grey's Anatomy,
working out, 
sewing small stuffed bird decorations for my pregnant friend, 


cooking, 
cleaning, 
drinking coffee for pure enjoyment, rather than the intention of staying alert,
analyzing my research data, 
and anytime that I am not moving I am underneath my glorious heated blanket on the couch. 
Our house is a bit drafty. 

I also bought textbooks for my last graduate school semester!
Get ready for a lot of "lasts" to start coming up. 
I get to turn in my "intent to graduate form" in a few weeks!

On Wednesday Ben had to go teach...despite the fact that it was a high of 0. 
His school's overall attendance for that day was 42%
FORTY-TWO PERCENT!!!!
The public school system got the hint and decided to cancel for Thursday and Friday.
(it also snowed a bunch and is still SUPER cold)
So much for that first week back to school. 

Looks like we'll be doing wine and a movie tonight!
I hear there's a blizzard in SD right now...so wherever you are...stay warm. 

Sunday, January 4, 2015

more holidays


More pictures from our holiday travels.

This year we took new family pictures as a gift to our parents.
Afterwards Paula and Tom took us out to supper at McNally's Pub in Sioux Falls as their gift to us.
Then we went to Paula and Tom's town home, which they are temporarily living in while their new home is being built.
Paula loves, loves, loves her J. Lohr cabernet, so that is what we are enjoying.
Ben and I brought our gifts along to give as well...


Copper mugs for everyone! 
They are specially made for Moscow Mules, a tasty vodka, ginger beer, and lime drink that we learned about when we moved to MKE.
You can read about why they use copper mugs for this beverage HERE.
Mom doesn't consume alcohol, but we gave her one to keep her drinks cold anyway.
After we gave our gifts, P&T surprised us with a limo ride to see the Christmas lights in Sioux Falls. 
Sneaky and fun.


We saw some beloved friends and family in SD.
Here is a shot of Cousin Jordan and I while we spent our last evening in SD with friends. 
Jordan manages a popular restaurant, Brasa, in the cities and he has been bugging us to visit him for a long time...so we're planning a trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul sometime this spring. 


I already mentioned that we spent some time in Lindsborg.
It really is an awesome little town with a lot of cool Swedish cultural elements, such as dala horses. 
Ben and I explored some of the art galleries and shops downtown.
A National Geographic photographer from Belleville, KS actually has a gallery and sells prints there. Who knew?
Also, I think you already know that I love eating ethnic food.
It turns out that while eating a Swedish breakfast at the B&B I discovered that I really love pickled herring.
Who knew?


We participated in two white elephant gift exchanges this year.
Ben really lucked out with this gift.


We can't make a trip to Lawrence without a visit to Love Garden Sounds, a record studio on Massachusetts Street...with cats wandering through the shop. 
Kyle befriends a cat in the picture above. 

Friday, January 2, 2015

new years 2014


We had a lovely time in Lawrence celebrating the new year with our friends.
Brad cooked a lot of amazing food for us: curried soup, cornbread, quiche, roasted beets and potatoes, and cheesy grits. 
He normally cooks at The Roost on Massachusetts. 
If you're ever in Lawrence, check it out. 
Because he's such a foodie he got Ben and I an amazing Southern cookbook for Christmas called Heritage. It's worth it just to look at the beautiful pictures. There's a special section about pickling that made me wish I had a garden...so I made cucumber salad instead. 


We went to Jacob and Chelsy's house on NYE, hung out with friends, and played a little 2014 trivia. 
Ben's team won. Ben is very good at trivia. 

The next day we made our 9 hour trek back home, so we are finally back in MKE after our 2 week Christmas vacation driving extravaganza.
Had a wonderful time, but it's nice to be back home and not living out of a suitcase. 
Because I am FINALLY feeling better I can actually relax (or even feel well enough to do chores). 

Because we awoke to no food in the house we decided to go out for one finally luxurious breakfast.
We headed to Cafe Hollander for Belgian waffles and coffee. 

I have the next 23 days off. 
I plan on cooking, cleaning, baking, art-making, exercising, homework-ing, and spending time with friends.
Can't wait!