Ramblings of a Gym Junkie: Ketchup

Actually, my Grandma (Helen) would say "CATS-SUP". TomAto, TomAHto (pun intended). None the less, its time to do some catch-up as its been awhile since my last post. So forgive me if this post lacks structure and proper flow.

Last week I spent an evening at my apartment sorting through anything and everything, in efforts to pack up and move out. I moved to Eagan in June of 2009, with an opportunity to live in an incredibly reasonably priced town home with a then coworker. I inhabited the basement, equip with bedroom, living area, full bathroom, two closets, and laundry. Middle floor was main living room, and kitchen; third floor was my roommates space and a spare bedroom and bathroom. So the town home was technically a 2 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2 car garage, and a terrific space. But that's exactly what it was....space. I never felt like it was a HOME to me.

Long story short, I've spent the majority of my time over the last year with Peter and his family at their HOME Because of some changes with my roommate, I now have the opportunity to conclude my residency at the town home, something I've wanted to do since late Spring. Since the Andrus establishment always has friendly faces (including Peter), fun to be had, and welcoming family it truly has been my Home (away from Home - Prescott). Peter and I have decided that rather than waste funds on renting an apartment, we have decided to stay put at the Andrus establishment so we can save up to take advantage of this buyers market sometime in the next year. With my recent job change, and Peter's recent Hamline graduation we could use some time to get a head start on savings and to get our bearings with where we want to be and qualities in a home we want to look for. It also helps to have a place that we aren't forced into a lease or a strict timeline...at least the 'rents haven't gotten too fed up with us to give us an eviction date yet.

Okay. Again, get to the point. I went to my Crane Creek town home and ended up spending quite a while on Memory Lane instead. With my initial move to Eagan, well, scratch that, with my move from La Crosse to Prescott, I down sized my belongings quite a bit, and even more with the move to Eagan. So I don't really have all that many belongings. My clothes are the issue, and not like most females. Most of my drawers are filled with sweats, mesh shorts, sports bras, tank tops, and my favorite...cut offs. The bulk of the remainder of my belongings....books. I have a slight fetish with books. Textbooks, coffee table books, quote books, autobiographies, photography books, and even many of my 3 ring binders of notes from some of the various courses I've taken and loved. It was fun to revisit many of these pieces of literature and try to justify keeping or getting rid of them. Since my previous downscale, I didn't have to part with many, but I did have to put most of them in storage.

I also came across my basketball memorabilia portfolio, and pretty much got lost in Mitchell Hall Memory Lane for quite some time. Gosh those were great times. Playin' ball with the gang. Can't get much better than that. I decided that between Peter's college football memorabilia, and my La Crosse collection, we will have a pretty sweet 'Man Cave'/Sports Den some day. Its going to be pretty sweet.

I'm not quite finished with packing up my belongings, but I'm getting there. And it feels good to get rid of some irrelevant clothing and miscellaneous things; it makes me not want to spend any money on pretty much anything (besides food).

Jump to the weekend. Friday night we attended a beautiful wedding for a high school friend of Peter's - Vanessa (Leonetti) Rutz. Sometimes weddings hit more than others, meaning, sometimes they make me tear up and cry (joyfully), and sometimes they don't. Well, I took one look at some of the songs listed in the program, turned to Peter, and warned him..."I'm going to cry". The song that the beautiful bride walked down the aisle to, was Etta James "At Last". HOLY GOOSEBUMPS. During the social hour they had some classic jazz (Louis Armstrong, Sam Cook, etc.) playing - I LOVE this genre. And made the evening even more beautiful. Peter and I spent time Dance Floor watching, entertained by the group of adorable little kids dancing with out inhibitions, and watching the spirited adults also dance with no inhibitions. Lots of happiness happening. Great wedding.

Saturday, I got up and went to MIXX class (aerobics) at Eagan - something I haven't done in a long time, and had been missing. Got ready for the day, and took off for DT MSP to have lunch with Peter's parents before we headed to TCF Stadium to watch the Badgers battle...well, slay the Gophers. It was a terrific day for a fun rivalry, and it was a blast to see SO much red in Dinkytown. When we got to the Stadium, while waiting for Peter to get back from the bathroom, I was standing on the main level looking out to the field. I turned and kind of bumped elbows with someone...I looked over, low and behold. Tubby Smith. I smiled and said Hi (he said Hi back), and I was kind of dumbfounded and didn't know what else to say. And I was happy that Peter got back from the bathroom before he went too far, because he never would have believed me (which he agreed that he wouldn't have). None the less, we had a fun Saturday! And its so nice to be able to utilize the light rail and transit. We didn't have to worry about traffic or parking. We are looking forward to 2014 when the St. Paul section is finished!

We both slept like BOULDERS (opposed to rocks), with all the fresh air and walking we got in (not to mention my aerobics class) Saturday. I didn't even stir until 9am opposed to my usual 6:30am sans alarm wake up. I got up, had a nice slow morning, then headed to work, got a workout in, brought some revenue in, and here I am relaxing with my boys (Peter, Clint, and Mac; Laci & Barbi too), getting ready to gear up for a great week. Lately Mondays have been kicking my arse...so I'm pretty determined to have a GREAT day tomorrow. I'm sure this week is going to FLY by, as I have a hot date with my favorite Bride To Be - Brianna Joy and the rest of the bridesmaids for the Hunting Opener. Dress Hunting that is. I'm excited to see my favorite cousins, and to spend some girl time chatting about wedding/bachelorette/bridal shower planning fun.

With that said. Enjoy my memory lane and weekend photos. Sorry for not inserting them into the post where they belong, but I don't feel like doing that much monkeying around this evening. So have a great week, "Oh and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night" (Truman Show, Jim Carey).