Naturally Optimistic

Please read this story below (my cousin is Erik Noraas. This story was not written by me...) "Befrore reading this story please click on the tml">link above and view the wcco channel 4 story done on Noraas's and Gormans for Valentines Day. [unfortunately the story seems to have been removed as it was from last year...] My name is Bridget and our entire family has nominated the Noraas family from Faribault , MN orginally but now reside in Big Lake, Mn for ABC extreme make over home edition. Erik and his wife Heidi have 3 children, ages 15, 10 & 5. Some 5 years ago there youngest son was 10 days old and came down with mengiitus which left him mentally disabled. The local news did story on them last year that was heart touching. 2 years later Erik was shipped overseas to Bosnia and while he was deployed his wife was diagnosed with cancer. She will be returning to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester this week for two days for tests. After all this Erik's wife Heidi read...

Sorry for the crappy picture - it's from my phone. It says that these bags (meaning the grocery-store-like-plastic-bags) are now 5 cents a piece in hopes that we will stop using them! Whohoo! Next to it is a bin of totes that you can buy for 59 cents and use until they fall apart. Yay IKEA for promoting green practices!

I'm having one of those afternoons. One where I don't know what to do with myself. I am lonely in my new office (only person in the building no less) and I'm feeling like I can't quite find my flow. I'm grateful for this opportunity and can't wait til things pick up but in the meantime I'm feeling ever so slightly....useless.. Hmph.

Well, the oodles of cuteness, limey green punch and 3 anxiety dreams later the shower has come and gone. Whew. The theme was "Three Peas in a Pod" as Kathy is having triplets. Unfortunately, other than ridiculously cute invitations, I couldn't find much "pea pod" stuff that wasn't stupid or weird lookiing (especially for trips). So my cousins & I opted to go with a springy yellow/green theme which sort of serves the pea pod theme as well as the springy-ness of this time of year. And since we don't know the sex of the babies, it works with that too. We had the shower at Kathy's house as we weren't sure if she'd be on bedrest or not and I didn't want to risk it. It was rather odd hosting something at someone else's house because I didn't know what exactly I had to work with! I came down on Friday morning to take care of the baking and finding out where a few things were. On Saturday morning Kathy & Jay left for a couple hou...

On another note, it's POURING rain right now. And thundering.....spring is springing. :)

I haven't been doing as much as I had intended for CAOK II but a couple items fall into that category as well as "because I wanted to" too. Photo courtesy of Michelle I made this bag for Michelle for her knitting supplies. It is of cats, it is her favorite colors. She loved it! Yay! We knitted & had wine & conversation for the last time* on Thursday as today she's moving to Minneapolis. Hmph. I also included some fabulous Tastefully Simple Bountiful Beer Bread (my fave) and Bacon Bacon dip (my other fave). I made another bag for my sister. I made it in pink because that is her favorite color and since she's having triplets and doesn't know the sexes of the babies...she has no pink currently in her life (only yellows, greens, some blues). I also gave her some knitting needles (purple), yarn (purple), stitch markers and last night I taught her how to knit. She'll probably be on bed rest in the near future and had been wanting to learn. She did re...

Dirty Dancing on DVD for $7.50 (!) at Target (the "Ultimate Edition" no less) and some lovely new stationary. I guess I felt like treating myself!

I feel good when I get a few things done... Like.....writing up a schedule & budget for our upcoming production; putting the finishing touches on the baby shower I'm hosting for my sister (triplets!) this weekend; securing locations for said production for UNDER budget (thank god) and finally puttying the holes in the quarter-round of our new molding in the living room and dining room. *sigh* It's all good....

My friend Michelle is leaving me. Waaaaah! Last Friday was her last day at both of our (now) former place of employment. I met up with the gang for happy hour (as previously reported). We had fun. We had cocktails. This is a good photo from the night. I will be sad once she's back in Minneapolis. Hmph. But I'm happy for her as my matchmaking skills are continuing to pay off! YAY!! :)

We're getting more settled into the new office....here's a sneak peek of one corner...

I am finding less and less time during the day to do things I enjoy like posting on this blog and reading my favorite blogs. I'm used to having many hours in the day when I am literally bored to tears. Since I started working for myself....that is a different story. Hopefully once I figure out my "flow" I will have more time to resume these activities. :) The weekend was good! Friday started off with a Happy Hour with the gang that I used to work with. My last day (and therefore my "farewell Happy Hour" was snowed out a couple weeks ago so it was rescheduled to coincide with a couple of other people whose last day was Friday (hi Michelle!). I met up with the gang at about 5 and much beer was consumed. Some by me, lots by others. It was fun to see everyone and take lots of pictures and "catch up" even though it had only been 2 weeks! After the Old Chicago stop (not my favorite for happy hour, btw) we headed over to the Saratoga for more cocktails. This ...

I went to the Circus tonight with my mentee, Miss M. I have some thoughts.... 1) I don't think I can go to circuses any more. 2) Monkeys, albeit incredibly adorable while dressed up, are SUPPOSED to jump from high thing to high thing in the air. It's not that "amazing" or "outstanding." Cute? Yes. But it also makes me sad that they're jumping from pole to pole instead of treet to tree. 3) All of the lovely ladies of Eastern Europen descent were not only the aerial artists (some of which is pretty cool, others just kind of sad...) also manned the "rides" before, at intermission and after the circus. Spinning by your neck one minute, placing a giant snake around a patron's neck for a $7 polaroid the next. Also leading tiny ponies & air brushing "tattoos" on people's faces. 4) The big cats were gorgeous but also looked TOTALLY pissed off to have Yurgey snapping that whip at them. I don't blame them. 5) During the metal sp...

Self-Potratit w/Jason in the background Originally uploaded by carrster .

Who knew that working for yourself, setting up an office & business, going to a film festival and being in pre-production on your first HD feature could be so time consuming and exhausting? GAH. Slowly but surely I'm starting to feel the ground beneath my feet again. We picked up office furniture yesterday, I'm paying bills and getting accounts taken care of and trying to think of ways to make my life more organized again. I think a weekend AT HOME with cleaning supplies and just TIME will help a lot. Whew.

So I may have found my lost phone in Fargo but as soon as I got back to Duluth last night....it died. Dead, dead dead. I can plug it in to the charger where it will then proceed to flash on and off and never shut off nor turn on completely. I cannot make calls, pick up voicemails, or anything else. It stinks. I tried my old battery, I tried my new battery, nothing. Occassionally it will randomly vibrate which makes me think it may be possessed. It wouldn't be *that* big of a deal but as a land-line-less household I feel a bit hamstrung. Especially since I'm working from home today. I guess I'll be making a stop at the Verizon store today. Hmph.

(not where we screened but the main venue of this event which was very cool.)

All is good. Both items were turned in to the theater by this morning. YAY!!!!!! :)

I'm so bummed out right now. After returning to the hotel last night following the last film. I realized I didn't have my cell phone! I dumped out my purse & the bag I've been toting around all weekend and it wasn't there. I rushed back to the theater in hopes people would still be there...they were. I checked the counter, I checked the seats, the floor, etc. No sign of it. Back at the hotel, I checked my bag & purse again. Nothing. Then I realized "crap! What if it was in my popcorn bag and I threw it away?" So, I rushed back to the hotel where I looked through the garbage (it wasn't that nasty) and found my little popcorn bag (I knew it was mine because there was a diet coke can in it and it was upright in the can. Nothing. I rechecked the theater & the bathroom to no avail. Back to the hotel. I decided to cheer myself up by looking at the pictures I took around Fargo today in slideshow format when I realized....HOLY SHIT! I don't have my...

Greetings from Fargo Film Festival! Our film screens in one hour and we're hoping for more than 6 people to be in the audience. hee hee.... we're having fun and watching lots of flicks!

All pictures by Steve First we hiked on the creek from Superior Street down to the lake. The building you see is Glensheen Mansion - now owned by UMD (University of MN Duluth) - but previously the home of the Congdons. In fact.... a scandalous murder happened here .... Also the film You'll Like My Mother was shot here. It's a beautiful mansion which I love to tour because I'm a geek like that. Anyway - this creek goes next to the Glensheen property so you get a unique perspective otherwise not available during the summer months. We went down to the lake (Superior, that is) and out a ways. I was a little gunshy though as the cracking noises are disconcerting. Then we hiked upwards - it was gorgeous. We chould've been 75 miles up the north shore! And then! the pine forest!! Incredible. It was a beautiful hike and I hope to explore more of that forest in the summertime. Blizzards are definitely good for something!!

well, yesterday went a different way than I had originally thought it would. Jason & his girlfriend picked me up around 9;45 or so to head to Minneapolis for our auditions. I had to walk a ways to meet them because neither my street or my avenue had been plowed yet. (or my alley for that matter)...after a quick ATM and gas stop we were on the road by 10 - our targeted leaving time. About 20 miles or so down the road, we came to some slush in the passing lane. The slush was covering, unbeknownst to us, black ice. Jason said 'slow down, slow down' and before we knew it we were spinning on the freeway and landing in the ditch with a big thump and an explosion of white. I think we spun around twice on the freeway but I can't be certain as I shut my eyes until we hit the snowbank. I am thankful that we didn't hit the cement median or another car. The scariest part of this was waiting. We were there for probably an hour and a half waiting for AAA and the state patrol. In ...

We quite literally spent all day yesterday digging out. I had imagined a snow day more like this: get up late, drink hot cocoa, knit, watch MARTHA, have lunch, sew, read, nap, watch a movie, etc. Instead it went like this: get up late, shovel, take a break, shovel, take another break, shovel, take a 10 minute cat nap, shovel, etc. Thank god Steve got the snowblower working last week or it would've went on longer than it did! Last night was nice though - we hung out with our neighbors - a champagne toast to my last day of work, fabulous conversation (capitalism doesn't work, Dustin!) and a rousing game of Taboo. This morning I'm off to Minneapolis (if I can get picked up, we're not plowed out yet) to hold auditions for the first 4 Track Film. There is also an IFP party that we're planning on attending tonight. Should be fun. The sun is out this morning and the sky is a brilliant blue. The white unspoiled snow is just amazing. Happy Weekened, everyone!

Me in The snow Originally uploaded by carrster .

We're closing our office at NOON! hee haw. I love snow days! And this may then be my last day of work. eeeeeeeeeek. :)

Because it's a snow day and I love to read and I'm quite done with any "work" tasks and why not? Via Leah In the list of books below, bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole, put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of. In the comments, let me know if you're up for it; I'd love to see if y'all have been puttin your book-learnin' to good use. 1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) 2. +Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) 3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) 4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) 5. +The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) 6. +The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) 7. +The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) 8. +Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery) 9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) 10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) 11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) 12. ...

We're in the middle of a lovely blizzard. Sadly I am at work. Hmph. All the schools are closed, there are white-out conditions - the winds are wicked. Canal Park (the area where I work) is VERY very blowy & white. We've just had the first wave of this storm so far with wave #2 coming tonight. Whohooo! :) I'm keeping my fingers crossed for getting out early....we'll see....