Falling in Love

Meet Ace (my Ace-y poo):

And my "new place"...I basically have an apartment within a town home. hee hee

The door that is open on the left goes out of my room, and there is a window on the right that isn't in any of these pics. The "window" you can see on the right in this one is actually a door that goes outside!

baaaathrom is the second door on the right.

you can see that my closet is over there...

shooooooes...and such.

This one is from the hallway entrance to my bathroom:

I know the bathroom isn't all that exciting, I just wanted to show what it looked like. haha.

I am very excited about my new place and my new pup. I don't know why on earth that could be...(sarcasm). So my bedroom is in the basement of the townhome. The stairs right outside of my hallway lead to the level that contains the laundry room, the garage entrance, and the front door entrance. Go up one more flight and there is the living room, dining room, kitchen and a deck. Up one more level and there are melissa and Jeremiah's quarters. They have a bedroom, two walk-in closets (bigger...by a lot, than mine), a bathroom, and another deck. It's pretty sweet.

I got the loveseat in my room from a wonderful couple that my parents met at church way back when. I really like the loveseat and I'm very grateful to them for it. There is also a desk type thing to the right of my (Jeremiah's) TV that I got from my wonderful friend when she was moving away.

I am falling in love with these two things, and it's summer, and I just couldn't be happier. I really couldn't.

List Girl

1. I got approved to live with Jake's buddy, Jeremiah, and his fiance Melissa. YAY!

2. I moved IN with Jeremiah and Melissa....hahaha

3. I LOVE my new home. I haven't been able to spend too much time here yet because I was "nannying" this past week (I was "watching" Genna, Jake's little sis).

4. I can't take pictures of ANYTHING because my camera is dead...aaaaand Lauren (bff) stole my SD card! haha. I let her use it, but I haven't gotten it back yet. I meant to grab Jake's big Canon camera today...but I forgot. Surprise surprise.

5. Jake was gone for two weeks. He came home yesterday and told me he had a "surprise" for me....


HE GOT US A DOG!!!!!!!!!!!

He paid $50 dollars...for a $1,200 dollar dog, sooo...I don't really want to say he "bought us a dog" because...he didn't reeeeally buy it.

Anyways, he's a German Shepherd/ Great Dane Mix. He barely has any Great Dane in him though, his previous owners said it's about 10 percent great dane and the rest is just german shepherd. He is HUGE, and only 9 months old. Which means he's going to get even bigger than he is. He's going to be a handful, but I have faith that Jake and I can train him.

J. got him from one of his army buddies who is leaving for Afghanistan in a few weeks and had three dogs to "get rid of." It was quiiiite the experience when he showed up at my work and told me to look in his truck to see what he got for himself. Ohhh my goodness.

Once I finally get my hands on some type of Camera I will take a picture of him, and pics of my new place.


<3!

ohhh...his name is Ace, by the way. =]

Catch-up

So many things to say! First of all, today is my dad's 50th birthday. I really can't believe it.

He's such a goof. That's probably where I get it from.

My family went on a family outing today and it was really nice to spend some time with them. I have three siblings, two brothers and one sister, and I really don't get to see or talk to them much. They're all younger than me, but we're all growing up. It's hard for me to believe that my oldest younger siblilng is going off to college this year. It's kinda scary.

Anyways, the only not nice thing about today was that the reason I really came home, besides to celebrate my dad's birthday, was because I was feeling very sick and wanted my mama to take care of me. My throat has  been aching and extremely painful for the last 24 hours or so. Which I'm really not surprised by, since my Jake had these exact symptoms starting last sunday. I just thought my symptoms wouldn't be as bad as his, since I generally have a better immune system then he does. I was wrong. I almost want to say it's worse then what he had, but I guess I don't know that for sure. He left for Fort Ripley on Saturday night, which is actually a whole different story, for two weeks of training. It has a name but I'm blanking on what it is right now (AT training or something?). This will be his last two weeks of army training. So from the end of this until next march, all he has for the army is one weekend a month of "training." Good stuff.

The frustration with him going up to Ripley was that they told him he didn't have to go, and then that he did have to go, and then that he didn't have to go. So he didn't go, and the next day his Commander called and yelled at him to get to the base where they were. It was pretty serious and bad stuff, and his mind must have  been pretty preoccupied because he didn't even call or text me to say he was leaving. So I didn't get to say goodbye and now he's gone for two weeks, and I'm sure he got in really big, terrrible trouble for not going in the first place, even though it's not his fault at all because they told him he didn't have to go.

*big breath* I feel like that was a big spewing of information.

OK, another update: I am no longer moving in with my friend, Amber. Long story, but it was mostly because I just simply couldn't afford to live in the places she wanted to live. I AM, however, hopefully still moving out of my parents house. My awesome friends, Jeremiah and Melissa (Jeremiah is in the army with Jake, and Melissa is his fiance) have invited me to move in with them in their town home in Eagan. I find out tomorrow if I've been approved by their landlord! I'm pretty stinkin' nervous, and also excited! Their place is really, really awesome. I'll have to write and update when I find out, and if I did get approval then I will definitely be posting about what it's like-- with pictures!

<3's Vee

Something to Write Home About

Ohhh how I love Northern Minnesota...even if I'm freezing cold, like in this picture:

Canal Park

Justin (J's cousin) on their fishing boat trip that I conveniently did NOT go on...

His face...

Gooseberry Falls:

Grand Marais:

(we were on the roof of The Trading Post)

 That up there is Genna, Jake's sissy, and I posed in front of Worlds Best Donuts. Facebook thought I was Jake in this picture and tagged me as such. I guess after many years of practice, I'm starting to look like him. In my opinion...Gen looks more like he does then I do.

I feel like the North Shore is something that you can "write home about"...because, it's just so wonderful.

North Shore Bliss

I can currently hear the crazy crashing of the waves on Lake Superior RIGHT outside the window I'm sitting by. The water is super loud right now, but I love it. Wave noises are great.

I've had a great time on this vacation. We go home tomorrow, and I figure that since everyone else is sitting around watching TV right now that it's o.k. for me to blog real quick. I'm currently at Bluefin Bay Resort, and I'm in Jake's aunt and uncle's room. They have six kids who are all here, along with their oldest son's girlfriend and her daughter. Their family totals ten. Then Jake's sister, Genna, is here 'cause they invited her to come with one of their kids, and then there is Jake and I. That's 13 of us that are all here right now. The three or four younger girls are all sleeping right now, the rest of us are sitting in the living room/ dining room watching "Deadliest Catch."

Jake and I decided we didn't want to be complete moochers and take advantage of his aunt and uncle, so we got our own little room. When I say "little" I mean LITTLE. It's just a bed and a bathroom basically. We've spent most of our time at his aunt and uncles four bedroom place. We don't have a microwave or a fridge, so all our food is here. Thus the biggest attraction of hangin' out with all these crazy people. Haha. They are crazy, but I love it.

Today was my favorite day so far, though. I spent most of the day in our room while Jake was on a fishing trip (which I am VERY glad I didn't go on. The people who went said it was windy on the boat and that they got sea sick. ew), I read a book and I took a nap. Then when I woke up I went for a swim with almost everyone on the trip. Haha. It was glorious. A wonderful vacation day.

Yesterday Jake, Justin (his cousin), Mai (Justin's girlfriend, and my friend =] ) and I went on a 20 mile bike ride. We were all hurtin' today. But it was really fun.

All in all, this vacation has simply been wonderful. I haven't taken a lot of pictures, but I HAVE taken some, so when I finally get back to MY computer (Jake's laptop doesn't have the ability to upload my pictures) I will have to give you a photo update.

Dancing and Babies

I know it's kind of strange for me to post so close together...I've been more selective about what I blog about this time around. I guess I just want to write about the important  things instead of any of my random thoughts like I have on my other blogs in the past. But today it's sunny and for once I just feel like sitting inside. My feet hurt since I worked from 11 to 4, and I'm going Swing Dancing at two different places tonight (ouchie feet!). Thus I am trying to give my poor feeties a little brake before I go galivanting off.

Ok, so for anyone that might be reading my blog who I don't know or don't know very well...if you haven't gone swing dancing before, YOU SHOULD. It is SO much fun! The most fun swing dancing I've ever had is swinging with my kindred spirit, Laurel, as my partner. Haha. I know that sounds pretty bizarre, but she is fantastic at swing dancing. She knows the boys part and the girls part...because our "group" that goes out is usually very short on guys. She and her friend Amanda are really good at the boy part and I usually just dance with them when I go to the Wabasha Caves with that group of friends.

ONE time I went swing dancing with my bff and her then fiance (now husband) Phil, and HE is also an amazing swing dancer. She and I "shared" him as a dance partner that night, and it was super fun. I got to know his certain style of dancing really well and it was a fun and easy time. He basically just whipped me around, but I loved it. Haha. Obviously I had a part in that crazy-moving dancing. Anyways... tonight I'm going dancing with my friend Laurel at the Wabasha Caves in St. Paul, MN and THEN going to The Tapestry in Minneapolis. One is from 7pm to 10pm and one is from 10pm to midnight or one(am) I can't remember. I'm going to The Tapestry with Lauren, Phil (husband and wife) AND my bf. I'm excited for Phil to teach Jake how to dance the way he does so I can dance with Jake like I once danced with Phil!

That was a looong speil, but like I said... if you haven't gone swing dancing...doooo iiiit. I recommend The Tapestry for beginners cause it's bigger and colder...thus better for practicing. But GO EARLY... it get's busy and crowded. The Caves is great because they have live bands, but it is VERY small and crowded and HOT (Jake says this is because of the limestone. He doesn't like it there 'cause he gets overly-hot way too easy).

One last thing:

Dennis =]

This is my friend's baby. He's going to be 2 months next week. I'm in her wedding on the 18th of this month...and I'm in love with her baby! He's the sweetest thing, and makes very entertaining facial expressions/body movements. According to his mom I'm his "favorite animal at the zoo" AND "his favorite pillow" haha. He makes me want one. Not really, but ya know. I'm living vicariously through my friend. Haha.

(yes... I took a picture of  myself WHILE I was holding a baby. Don't worry about it =P)