I guess the best part of my day was the snow. We haven’t had very much snow this year and that really depresses me. I love snow!  So seeing snow made me happy…but the commute to work sucked.

Besides Eric and coworkers, we spend the most time with Greg, Celeste and Evelyn. Isn't my Goddaughter cute?

Eric it’s your day! Let see we have known each other for 14 years (met in a SMU class) and have been married 8 years.  It hasn’t been easy getting here but it sure has been fun.

I could make you happy
Make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends
Of the Earth for you
To make you feel my love

(ADELE - 'Make You Feel My Love')

A tough one because it really depends on my mood.  I love In and Out Burgers but being they are only on the West Coast it makes going to one a big trip.  So I’m going to go with the default for us, Culver’s (a Wisconsin original).  A single ButterBurger with cheese, crinkle cut fries and Culver’s Root Beer. Yum!  I think I want that now.

Who buys CDs anymore?  But if I base my iPod listening lately it would probably be Adele’s 21.  I love her music but I have to be honest my throat hurts when I hear her sing. It sounds like it hurts her and then I found out she actually did have some vocal cord problems. I’m not surprised.  But nonetheless she is my most played “CD” now.

Conversations that only happen in Wisconsin

We were at the local tavern and a Buffalo County Sheriff stopped by for some food. This is the conversation:

BC Sheriff: "I've never seen you without a beer in your hand on the road or off."
Random guy: Laughing...pulls out a beer out of his pocket with his car keys.
BC Sheriff: "You driving this way or that way"
Random guy: "Yep!"

I like this picture of my family’s farm.  I think it was taken in the late 80’s or very early 90’s.  I’m not sure how I came across this picture but I have it displayed proudly in my house.  I had many happy memories on the farm.  I miss the cats, dogs and cows; they were my “friends.” I loved the baby calves, so soft and sweet with the cute little baaha (ok I know that is a sheep but I’m not sure how to spell the noise they make).  Hearty was my favorite cow, she had a perfect white heart on her forehead. After my dad retired and we moved into town, I couldn’t drive past it without shedding a tear. One thing I don’t miss is all the hard work. 

I’m not much of a night person or a party animal. A crazy night for me is A&W Root Beer, popcorn AND a movie. And I’m too many years removed from college so I’m not sure if I have pics of those nights.  So I’m going to pick Allie and Bernita’s 50^th Anniversary party.  It was a brilliant party.  The food was excellent, the band was awesome (Bisek’s Polka Band of course) and the hosts were amazing. It was a fun night.

Every year we go to my hometown parish, Saints Peter and Paul’s Fall Festival. I don’t think I have ever missed it. It almost seems like that would be a sin. The day is full of tradition. Early in the morning Mike, Danielle and I drop off the cake, pies and tickets. At around 10 am we go back up to play some games and try and win some stuff and of course stand in line for the awesome dinner. First stop, sucker pull for cakes, if your sucker has a pink bottom you win! I think we spend about $40 to win a cake (or two) every year. We stop at the bake sale booth for my Cheese Coffee Cake on our way to try our luck on Roll Out the Barrel (root beer barrels wrapped in aluminum foil, get a number you win). We don’t really ever have any luck there either. After that Eric (and sometimes me if I’m nice), stands in line for the awesome take out dinner. We see the usually suspects in line like my friend Sandy.  We usually do take-out because the dinners are so huge we share them. After devouring our dinners at Mom’s house it’s time to go back up to the festival for Bingo…3 hours of Bingo. I get sick of it but my mom sits there for the entire time. This year she was playing her Bingo card AND doing pull tabs (can we say gambling problem???). Eric gets his annual strawberry shake from the dairy booth and we have our annual popcorn. Like I said we have this event down pat. After bingo we head back to Mom’s to pack our stuff and head back to the festival for the Polka dance. It is such a busy day, but so much fun. It is seriously an all day affair from 8am with dropping off cakes, pies and tickets until 9pm and the end of the dance and drawing.  And it is one of my favorite traditions!

I could go for the obvious one and say my dad, which is true I do miss him.  Then there are the people that are still alive that I haven’t seen in a while.   Or college friends that have moved away. I really didn’t know who to pick but then mom sent me this nice picture and I knew that I had to pick the Mish Sisters, Aunt Alfreda (left), Aunt Josie (center) and my Grandma (right).  Alfreda was the professional, working her whole career at AT&T. She always was dressed up really fine and her mannerism were very business like. I remember sitting at Alfreda’s house dreadfully watching Larry King Live in the evenings (not what a 10 year wants to watch!) I never got to watch what I wanted at her house.  And she would make me slave all day cleaning up her basement and all I’d get was $5 (this is an important fact when get to Josie). Then there is Aunt Josie. She was a little spit fire old lady and she always made me laugh. She taught me how to swear in Polish. She drank her “water” (vodka) straight up and chain smoked here Parliament cigarettes (she always hid them from us).  Someday I will pour her some “water” in Heaven.  She would give me $5 for carrying ONE load of laundry up from her basement…very generous!   Finally there is Grandma. Since my mom’s parents were gone way before I was born and my grandpa died when I was young, I really only had my grandma.  She was an amazing person, living into her 90s. I spent many Friday and Saturday nights at her house watching Golden Girls and Empty Nest. She would rub my back until I fell asleep and every morning I had to wake up to watch the 5am train go past. (I was a weird kid)  I think I drove her nuts.  But the thing I miss most about the Mish sisters was playing cards, especially 31.  Oh the memories….

A picture of my dad, grandma and grandpa taken in 1934. It makes me smile because he looks like a little trouble maker sitting on the keg. I wonder what they are drinking…prohibition was lifted in 1933 so I wonder.    I miss them all!

I can’t really find a picture of failure or cancer so I’m going to go with snakes.  I hate them and I’m frightened by them.  It doesn’t help that my husband loves watching snakes shows and thinks they are cool.  I had to put a stop to him watching those shows before bed because for weeks on end I would dream about snakes attacking me. And we aren’t talking about little garter snakes or even a boa.  These were King Cobras, black mambas and diamondbacks, etc. You know the deadly ones. And I know that here in Minnesota I really have zero chance of running into a diamondback but they are out there.

I dedicated a day to Danielle so this day is for you Dylan! You were my first nephew/niece of the 37 or 38 that I have now (thanks to Eric’s family). I remember when you were born. I was dreaming about John Elway (it was Monday Night Football, but it was Houston/Cincinnati) and Mom woke me up and said you were born…my first thought of the name was “dill pickle” sorry I was groggy.  I remember the way you carried the cats in the barn by their hind legs. The YouTube video is still one of my favorites. And every time I drive past County Rd. OT. I think of the time you and Danielle convinced me you had to use the bathroom so bad that we had to stop at Mc Donald’s.  After an order of fries and an hour in the Play Place, I don’t think you ever did use the bathroom.  And hey in 3 months you will be a college graduate.  Hum…how the time flies.

One thing that means a lot to me is my wedding ring.  It has so much significance to my life.  It represents that I’m forever banded together with Eric. I know that sounds really lame and sappy.  And I have this somewhat annoying habit of tugging at it when I’m feeling insecure or stressed (or bored). I don’t know why I do it, maybe it makes me feel safe. I know it is a very weird habit and there is probably some psychological explanation but I’m not going to explore that.

My day:

5:59 am - The Dalek Alarm clock screams “Exterminate…You are an enemy of the Daleks…You must be destroyed" (it’s from Dr. Who for those of you who don’t know)

5:59 am – (and 15 second) Swirl jumps on me and purrs in my ear to make sure I’m up.

6:10 am – Annoyed with Swirl’s constant kneading and purring, I sadly roll out of my warm bed and shower

6:30 am – feed Swirl on a silver platter

6:35 am – Grab my toast and Nutella and head out the door.  Today is an unusual day as we have to drop my car off at the park & ride since I have to ride the bus home (boo!) because Eric has to leave work early. 

6:45 am – car is parked, we start our commute into downtown Minneapolis.  We got a late start and having to drop my car off at the park & ride made us even later…traffic is actually kind of heavy today.  Thankfully we get to use the car pool lane. Oh and the sunrise was amazing.

7:15 am – arrive at work.  It’s going to be a busy day as it is getting near “crunch time” for year end filings.

7:20 am – the EVP swings by; I’m listening to his very caddy commentary with the people around me.

8:10 am – Finally got around to eating my cereal but my bag is nearly empty so only about ½ cup of Cinnamon Toast Crunch today :(

8:16 am – Take a picture of my new hand bag and post to Facebook so my friend, Becky, can see it.

9:08 am – Walk to Caribou with coworkers.  Small Milk Chocolate Hot Chocolate, Extra Half Shot of Milk Chocolate, 2%, NO WHIP!

10:31 am – Nebraska why do you have to be such a pain?  Working on state forms for year-end filings.

11:16 am – Eric phones, he is excited about his raise and has to tell me about it.  Way to go Eric!

11:48 am – “They changed those numbers again!” Ugh!

11:59 am – Forgot that I brought in a lunch (*wink*) and went to the cafeteria with a coworker for the $2.99 Chicken Tender Basket special

12:06 pm – Daily Twitter feed check, best tweet was a retweet from Dylan of some dude named “TheCousinSal” It said, “The difference between Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin is only one of them throws bounce passes intentionally. “ LOL! That is a good one

12:07 pm – Daily check-in on Callista Gingrich news. Just keeping tabs on my cousin…Google alerts are great.

12:26 pm – Eric phones for his daily check in on me.  Isn’t he sweet?

1:17 pm – Nancy calls me to discuss, among other things, what color nail polish she should get for her mani/pedi today.  I want a pedi!

1:42 pm – why is my phone almost dead already?

2:00 pm – another meeting in the Board Room (every time I say that I think of Mr. Rumbold on the TV show Are You Being Served?...if you have ever watched it you know what I mean) But  I love the board room.  It is near the top floor of our building and the view is amazing and since it is the board room it has got all that fancy stuff. 

2:21 pm – Yum! Ate a yellow cupcake that our VP brought in, her daughter scored her 1,000th High School career point (!!!) and they had a party; we got the left over cupcakes (yum!) and they have cool a basketball ring on top. (note to self, ate too much already today, need to work out)

2:39 pm – More changes…

4:18 pm – EVP swings past to ask a question.  I surprisingly knew the answer (which is really amazing) and now I feel cool!

4:38 pm – run to the bus, damn I missed it. 

4:57 pm – still waiting for the next bus. Ugh! I'm so spoiled now that I car pool with Eric.

5:58 pm – Finally got home and making dinner.

6:02 pm – Eric is home :-)

6:35 pm – Need to leave for band rehearsal but still trying to finish the timeline and photo for 60 day photo

The question is what don’t I want to change?  I would love to change my house with a newer and nicer one but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.  I would love to change my rosy cheeks because they make me look red in the face and I don’t like that they turn purple when I run…people think I’m dying.  I wish I could change people’s minds when I think they are doing something stupid. I wish I could change my trombone to a nice, new shiny one. There are so many things to list, it could take me a while. So without further ado, I would like to change my hand bag. I bought this bag in Tijuana, Mexico. I thought I liked it but the more I use it the more annoyed I get with it.  The magnets don’t hold so the outside flaps keep flapping when I walk and it drives me nuts.  I just can’t seem to find the perfect bag. 

Happy Valentine’s Day! I go in phases where I read a lot (like in November/December) and then I stop.  Right now I’m in the anti-reading mode (I have Brothers and Sisters to watch over and over again!) I generally like biographies (Judi Dench, JFK, Bush, Roosevelt, etc) and true stories.  I occasionally go for the smut like a Nicolas Sparks book.  But it seems like his story lines start to overlap and it’s the same thing over and over, death, love, pain.  Favorite book…I could be a good Catholic girl and say the Bible, but I’m not. I’m actually going to pick a book that should probably be banned by the Catholic Church – The Thornbirds.  I know it seems like a strange choice but I loved the book and have read it many times.   It is a great epic saga.  (and  Richard Chamberlain as Father Ralph de Bricassart…yum!)

There are so many things I wish I was better at.  I’m kind of a jack-of-all-trades; I can do a little bit of everything.  I can play a lot of instruments but none of them really well.  I wish I could play the trombone better. I love to draw, paint and mold clay but I don’t have any masterpieces and I wish I was more creative. I love to bake but I can’t cook, I wish I could cook better. I can (and love to) play a lot of sports like tennis, basketball, volleyball, softball, etc…but I can’t play any of them that well.  I would love to enhance my game. My problem is I don’t have the attention span to dedicate so much time to one thing.  If I did, I could probably get better but I get too antsy or bored.   But the one thing that I wish I was better at above all right now is running.  I’ve been on this running kick (again) but I just can’t run faster or longer.  It is very discouraging when the old guy (and I mean OLD) laps you. I’m working on it but like everything else, I’ll get bored with it and move on to something else.

I still have vivid dreams of the day I totaled my mom’s minivan running into a dump truck in Montgomery, AL with my mom, Aunt Grace and Aunt Bev in the car.  I’m very thankful, nobody got hurt.  But the stress of the 24 hours that followed was the worse that I’ve ever felt.   And to make matters worse, I didn’t have Eric there either for support.  I really needed him.  After many phone calls, we all had flights home (we got home 2 days early).  I really wish I could forget that it happened and get the memory out of my head but I can’t.

Wow this couldn’t be the perfect day for me. How many pictures can I merge into one? For the expanded list see day 15.  Well, this one is pretty easy for me.  I want to take Eric to Italy to show him my old stomping grounds.  Living there for a semester in 1999, I really want to go back and see how it has changed.  I want to see Fiesole, Florence, Rome, Sienna, Lucca, Pisa, Orvieto, Elba Island, San Gimignano, Venice, Milan, etc….)  I had a such a great time (even if I complained daily to my mom).

August 1978 -  I picked this one because I was so damn cute and it will also embarrass Nancy and Mike. HAHAHA.

I have many insecurities.  One thing that bugs me is what other people are thinking and saying about me. It always bothers the living daylights out of me to see people whisper and talk behind someone's back, including my own. I'm always worried that I've done something wrong, said something stupid or I look completely stupid which ties in with my biggest insecurity… my weight.  I’ve always been fat.  In 2007 I really hit rock bottom.  I quit drinking pop, started eating healthier, started riding my bike again and working out.  I lost quite a bit of weight but I’m still way too heavy.  I’m still working on get thin and healthy but I don’t think it will ever happen.  It sucks!

My new lime green iPod Nano has made a huge impact on my life. It is a life saver with my busy time at work. I can blast classical music while I calculate, foot and cross foot thousands of numbers.  It also makes running fun…if that is possible. I love that I can jam to my tunes while running laps at the track and the little man inside the Nano tells me how far I’ve gone, how long I’ve been working out and what my current pace is (which is usually exaggerated and makes me happy).  But it really makes me push myself.  It also is a pedometer so I can tell how many steps I do a day. And not only that, I can hook it up to my car so I can listen to what I want to while I drive.  It was the best 2011 Black Friday purchase. I LOVE IT!

Many things inspire me.  My love of traveling inspires me to work harder to make more money so I can travel more (see Day 15). Eric inspires me to be lazy and try to tone down my Type A personality. He also inspires me to run laps at the track even when I complain and say I’m too slow or I’m not a runner.  He inspires my new found love for soccer (Go Chelsea!) and my tolerance of Doctor Who. My mom inspires me to be nice and caring because to be honest she is the nicest, most caring person in the world.  My dad always inspired me to go to school (especially St. Mary’s University) and to be an honest and pious person.  After 8 years of college and 2 degrees I think he was still much smarter than me.   Mom and dad inspire me the most because I want to make them proud of me. They inspire me to be hard working, honest and loyal.  I just need to work on the patience part. :)

I like this photo! I cropped out my dad's infamous black socks. LOL! It was his last vacation. 
This is taken in Kennebunkport, Maine - August 2006.

This should be of no surprise but I want to buy a round-the-world ticket and a rucksack and run away. I might take Eric with me or I might go by myself. I’m not really sure.  I want to hit all the continents.  I want to float down the Amazon, explore Patagonia, take an African safari, cruise around Antarctica, rough it in the Australian Outbank, explore the Holy Land, kiss the Blarney Stone, view the Pyramids of Giza, walk the Great Wall of China and much, much more. But I’m definitely not hiking on the Iraqi-Iranian border like those 3 stupid hikers I had to pray for in church for 26 months (one of the hiker’s father lives in Shakopee.)

If I was drinker I could be clever and say Jim Beam or Jack Daniels but alas I’m not. Eric would say Doctor Who (I think I rank second or third after Doctor Who). There are a lot of people that I could never imagine my life without.  Obviously Eric but that is a given and since I’m sure Doctor Who rates higher than me, I’m not picking him…LOL!  And my mom and dad and the rest of my family. It is really hard to pick one and if I pick one person I could hurt other people’s feelings.  So nobody get mad at me but the person I could never imagine my life without has to be my “twin” Danielle.  We have some weird connection.  We have the same rosy cheeks, birth marks in the same spots, moles in the same spots and use to have this habit of show up wearing similar clothes without even discussing.  It is very bizarre. Love ya Danielle!

I love all types of music.  My favorites are classical, classic rock and polka. I really don’t like country or rap, but I tolerate them.  If you consult my iPod, the Beetles dominate my song line up but that isn’t hard, how many hits did they have?  I like the Beetles but I’m not sure if they are my favorite band.  I have to really be in the mood for them. My always go-to music for most situations, especially at work is classical.  If I’m in a dark somber mood, I go with “Mozart’s Requiem” or “Adagio for Strings”.  Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" always makes me happy.  But usually though it is Tchaikovsky that I love. “1812 Overture,” “The Nutcracker” and “Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23” to name a few.  So he is my favorite music artist.

There are many things I love and to pick just one is a bit challenging so I’m going to say today I love Chocolate Malt O’Meal. I know…how random. But it is my standby breakfast, lunch or dinner when I don’t know what else to make.  Eric hates the stuff so I try to eat it whenever I can when I’m home alone. Seriously, I live on the stuff during Eric soccer season.  I don’t want to make a big meal for just me so I eat it on an almost daily basis.  I grew up on this stuff. I used to make it for my dad and me all the time.  I LOVE it thick and chunky (I know I’m weird) with 3 tsp. of sugar and a dash of milk.  Yum! I think I want to make some now!

There aren't too many things I hate.  Broccoli, yes, Watermelon…yuck! My ex-sister-in-law…most definitely.  But the weirdest thing (as I have been told numerous times) that I hate is ice cream.  I’m not sure why I hate it.  Growing up with a family that loves it and husband that eats quarts at a time you would think I would love it too.  And growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, it’s almost a cardinal sin to hate ice cream.  (Thankfully, I love cheese so I’m not completely shunned from my home state.) I don’t like the taste of it I guess, maybe the consistency, I’m really not sure.  It’s weird but I am not normal.  By the way, Eric was excited that today was “hate” day because he got to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream so I could get a picture.  

Sorry Angie! Let me start out by saying there is never a dull moment being your friend and living with you for all those years was a blast.   They were really the best times; young, free and fun.  But considering I’ve had very few run-ins with the law, well just one actually, and you were involved, that makes you the person I did the most messed up things with.  As most of my friends and family are well aware of the Domino’s Pizza sign incident, I won’t go into details.  There are other stories that fortunately didn’t have police involvement.  But there were some with bouncers and such that rank as fond memories.  I’m not going to share anymore to save both of us from embarrassment.  You know what they are. Thanks for making me have fun…be it legal or not!