Cookies that I baked.

I'm proud of these cookies. That's rare. I'm very self conscious of edible things that I make.

Raising Hope.

A big thanks to Tath for pointing this out. I've seen a preview for the new show Raising Hope on Fox a few times and completely missed something somewhat significant. I know (or knew) the main actor! His name is Lucas Neff. He went to UIC and lived near me in Pilsen. We weren't best friends or anything... but I had been to his apartment a few times, eaten lunch at UIC with him a few times, things like that.

Here is the preview, in case you're interested.



So... Congratulations Lucas! :)

I definitely felt it moving last night when I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep. Somersaults, I think. Oh my!

Ultrasound on October 4th!

Dabbling in editing.

I tend not to take the time to edit photos but I know that it is something that I need to explore and hopefully master at some point. On a whim I gave it a go tonight. I'm hoping to set up a new etsy shop sometime soon for photography - mostly starting with prints of flowers and need to do some editing before doing that. Here is an example of my first kind of try. I'm pretty sure I spent between 5-10 minutes on it but I sure am happy with the results. Hopefully it looks decent on more monitors than just my own!

Original:


Edited:

Christine.

Last week I received an email on our larger Willard Homewood/Hay listserv from a woman who lives quite a few blocks south on our street. She was wanting some input from the neighborhood about starting a massage therapy and doula services business in her home. I immediately responded and first mentioned that I thought that was a great idea. I then immediately inquired about her doula services as she had mentioned she is getting certified. Her response was better than I could have asked for - she needs to do one more birth before she can be certified and it would be for free! Doula services is something that I've known a bit about and have researched briefly but decided we probably can't afford that extra expense. So obviously free services would be wonderful and quite a blessing if it works out.

Christine came over tonight after we got home from work so we could meet, learn a bit more, and decide our next steps. I think she seems like wonderful a wonderful and positive person, I think she would be a great fit, and obviously a useful asset to this entire process. It's also neat that she's from our neighborhood. She may even be interested in having a website made for her. :)

If you're interested in learning more feel free to check out www.DONA.org.

Up North.

I shouldn't spend much time here this evening so I'll try to keep this brief. Over Labor Day weekend Tyler and I went camping for one night up near the north shore of Lake Superior. We went to the William Crosby State Park where there are multiple hiking trails and a few backpack in sites. When making reservations we were rather limited as it was a holiday weekend and we were a little late to make plans, thus we were only able to camp for one night. Our site ended up being amazing though!

It was 1 1/4 mile hike - lots of elevation change, rocks, boulders, and roots. Tyler carried my backpacking bag with millions of things attached. I carried a much smaller backpack and pulled/carried our cooler. It was a little rough. I had to leave the cooler on the way in and Tyler was wonderful enough to go back and get it for me while I set up the tent and prepared for our evening fire.

Our reservation informed us that wood would be available at the office. There was no office and there was no wood so, even though we're not supposed to, we had to hunt the area for wood, most of which was damp and squishy. Not sure we would have been able to carry wood in anyway! After a failed attempt at creating a dinner fire I searched around for birch bark and dead pine branches, rebuilt the fire, and got it going really well. I prepared dinner in our "kitchen" steak, vegetables, and garlic potatoes. After dinner we made some Mexican hot chocolate - mmmmmm! And of course s'mores. I spent a really funny 15 minutes trying to toss some rope over a branch in a birch tree while shinning a flashlight and wearing mittens hoping to bear proof our food, trash, and dishes - just in case. When I was about to give up I got it over. :)

The low was supposed to be 42 that night but we're not sure what it ended up being. That night and in the morning we could definitely see our breath! It was a chilly night but we tried to stay cozy in our sleeping bags and pile of blankets with a dog on top.

Speaking of dog - I think Honey had her most exciting two days ever. We let her roam around for the bulk of the time. She immediately ventured into the river when we arrived and kept venturing further down the surrounding trails. We'd notice she had been gone for a few minutes, call her name quite a few times, and she would come running (so fast!) down the trail right past us down the next trail. She was completely knocked out on the car ride home.

On the way home we stopped at Gooseberry Falls to go to the lake shore. It was a little too chilly and windy for me which most likely bothered me more since I was tired and sore... We headed back into Duluth where we hoped to eat the yummy Indian place we found last time we were there. Unfortunately it was closed, like many other restaurants. We checked out the tourist area but decided against all of the places were basically refuse to eat - Old Chicago, Green Mill, etc. So we got on the road, stopped at a few places with intriguing names that ended up being mostly bar-like, and found ourselves at a Perkins in Cloquet where I had a very un-mocha-like mocha. We had some great conversation inside and in the car about cities, living situations, and homeschooling.

In summary... I cannot wait to go camping again! We don't think we could ever settle for a drive in campground again, unless it was a really good one. But the weather is changing - it feels very fall-like here so we may have to wait until next year when it'll be an entirely new experience with a 3 person 1 dog family.

Enjoy the photos! :)

[gallery]